Man Plans, God Laughs

~ the Cove, looking from the head of the valley ~

How many times have you made plans only to have them changed by "circumstances"? Yeah. Me too. This weekend is a case in point. We had plans but early hours found me moaning and groaning, stumbling along the hall, clutching at my left eye and thinking, "Oh No. Here we go again!"

Do you remember the Gary Larson, The Far Side cartoon where the spider, or perhaps insect, is standing beside the big foot, toes pointed upward and the caption read, "I don't know what happened. All of a sudden it was just coming toward me!" Apparently, someone was stuffing their foot into their shoe where a family of spiders or insects...for the life of me, can't remember which...had taken up residence. Their world turned upside down when "this thing", meaning the toes and foot, came at them like a freight train so they did what Nature means for them to do...they bit. YEOUCH! Man plummets like a stone and the little family is safe, again, for the time being. Some of his cartoons may be seen here although I didn't see "mine". Then again, it's all I can do to see this print so there it is.

Early hours, when my eyes opened, all I saw was a Big Foot coming at my left eye and before I could slam my eye s.h.u.t. BAM! that Big Foot was in my eye. YEOUCH! This time we weren't even horsing around, so to speak, we were coming awake, stretching to greet the day. It's been mentioned Sadie is a Large Dog and Large Dogs, generally, have Large Feet. As soon as her foot connected with my eye, I knew, beyond a shadow of doubt, the cornea was scratched. This has happened three times over the years, the most recent being in 2004 when a different dog paw, but same Ridgeback breed, connected with my eye. The first two times were decades ago when I was trying out a pair of hard contact lenses and found out, the painful way, my eyes didn't want to wear contact lenses.

If you've never cut your cornea, count your blessings. If you have, you know the intense, sheer Pain such an injury brings to the forefront of your consciousness. As soon as we were able, Dave took me to the emergency room where --- Thank YOU, Holy God --- we were the second people in the E. R. AND the E. R. doc was a person who spoke English as a first language. Yeah, I know that's not P. C. but it is the truth and I much prefer living by the Golden Rule than living by P. C. The later changes with the whim of a society while the former stands the test of eternity.

Doctor G. confirmed my diagnosis as cut cornea and eyelid then put in some drops for the pain, followed by some soothing antibiotic cream. He asked if I wanted a pain shot with pain pills to take home. I told him, "probably not" and he said, "I'll give you a few minutes to think about it." Lovely, wise man. In about twenty minutes I was asking Dave "find the doctor Right Now and tell him I WANT the pain medicine everything!" About that time, a nurse came into the room and I told her, "My stupid twin has left the building, Please give me pain medication!" I couldn't see and didn't realize it was a different nurse; Dave said she looked startled and he explained what I meant. Lovely, wise woman brought me a shot of something that covered the pain with fluffy white clouds. Ahhhhhh. For someone for whom aspirin is a Major Medication, her stuff was "interesting"...to say the least.

Today I went to my eye doctor and he said my eye has begun healing nicely and I should be fully recovered by this weekend. It's difficult to see, mainly due to the ointment and pain medication drops I use so I've been listening to audio books, thinking about projects and doing sa bit of web surfing until my eyes becomes too weary to bear the load.

Joni, Old Centennial Farmhouse, had a lovely post about various charities. She had blog hopped to Meadowbrook Farm where she read about Compassion International, I think because Meadowbrook Farm had written a post. Please, forgive me if I erred, it's due to vision difficulties. World Vision is another good ministry that reaches to folks simply because it's what Christ would have us do. Like Joni, I've participated in the Samaritan's Purse Shoebox Blessing and love the fact it gives useful gifts, as well as fun gifts, in a shoebox.

Generally, I keep my charitable giving closer to home but this year, Operation Smile keeps coming to me in various ways, so, I'll send "a piece of money", as Dave's Mother used to say, to Operation Smile.

I followed Joni's lead and visited Meadowbrook Farm --- funny aside, my high school was named Meadowbrook, no relation, smile --- and on to My Farmhouse Kitchen were I read of a young entrepreneur raising money for Heifer International. Heifer is another good charity but without a Christian slant. I know that's called non-partisan in political terms but it escapes me what it's called in this instance. I tend to support charities with a Christian focus for what good does it do for a man to gain the world and lose his soul? At any rate, I'm proud of Miss Helen, the young entrepreneur, for selling lemonade and cookies to raise money.

Next was a visit to Flower Patch Farmgirl where I enjoyed her tale of 'husband with camera stalking wife'. I'm almost always the stalker with a camera so it was fun reading her version and visiting a bit with those cute little kidlets.


The Keeping Room has changed her header photo and this one is Beautiful! It was with great sadness I read of the death of her nephew, Michael. My nephew passed away a couple of years ago and while the pain becomes easier to bear, it is never easy; you and yours are tucked into prayer.

Continuing my blog trek, I visited LuLu to enter her give-away.

Sew, Mama, Sew! continues Handmade Holidays III and Giveaway Day! If you have a giveaway, they will post it on their Dec 2 blog entry. It's a cool way to meet and greet in Blogland and I'm joining in. If you're not familiar with Craft Gossip, check them out...lots of great information to be had there. Edward and Lilly, one of my favorites, is having a lovely give-away as well.

Feedsack Fantasy is my kinda gal; she's sending Christmas cards...and to the ACLU no less! What a sweetheart and I'm going to join in! Also, Xerox is sending Thanks to our Troops.

My nephew, Wesley, is in Afghanistan now and I'm knitting Helmet Liners for he and some of his buddies. I found a Patons free instruction pamphlet at Michaels store but there's also a pattern on-line. I picked up a few extra, if you want one and would like to send it to Wesley's unit, let me know and I'll send you a hard copy. If you do knit one for Wesley's unit and want me to include it in my goodie box, send it to me and I'm happy to forward it on to him with a note saying you are the knitter.

David Wilkerson always has a thoughtful entry; well I remember him from his Cross and the Switchblade days in NYC. He ministered to drug addicts in the day when people weren't really quite sure what that meant, exactly, and he also founded World Challenge.

Ann Voskamp always, always touches me with both her pen and her camera. A Holy Experience is just that...holy and an experience. Recently she quoted St. Augustine in Confessions:

"Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, every new, late have I loved you!...
Created things kept me from you;
yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all.
You called, You shouted, and You broke through my deafness.
You flashed, You shone, and You dispelled my blindness.
You breathed Your fragrance on me: I drew in breath and now I pant for you."

Doesn't that just make you absolutely weak?

There are so many other bloggers I'd like to tell you about but it will have to wait for another time. My eyes are weakening so I must use my medications and then rest my eyes. You are special and your visit is appreciated So Very Much; your comments even more so. God bless you.

Until next time,

Blessings ~ Doctor G. ~ vision ~ pain meds ~ antibiotic ointment ~ St. Augustine ~ helmet liners ~ our troops ~