A Quarter

Who likes to find a parking ticket on your car after a long day?  Not me.  I had the opportunity today to save someone from one of those.  As I was walking downtown I saw the meter man turn the knob on an empty meter (just to double check that the money did not get stuck) and then begin the ticketing process.  For some reason I asked, "Sir, can I put a quarter in for them?" and he let me, voided the ticket, and went on his way.  I only had a dime and a nickel in my bag, but that filled the meter.  I went on with my errands and forgot about the whole incident.  Later in the day, I was walking on a pebbled sidewalk, talking to Adam on the phone, and rummaging in my bag when something shined up at me- a quarter.  "Lucky day" I told Adam, "I just found a quarter" and then I remembered:  I put change in the meter for someone today.  Wow.  That was not luck- I would have NEVER seen that with how distracted I was if the light hadn't reflected exactly right.  In the busyness of life today, God was sending me a message.  Yes, it was just a quarter, but with it came the reminder that it is always a blessing to do good things (big or small) for people and yes, God will reward you in one way or another for kindness and Christ-like actions. 

Barns

I recently got the opportunity to make a monotype for a local farm family of their old red barn.  It is so neat to be surrounded by interesting structures like this one.  The fence and corral area were a bit tricky to pull off, but are such a huge part of the process and production of this sheep farm.  I have a few more barn images in my "inbox" of paintings to do and hope to get to those as soon as possible especially since a few of them are not used and are definitely not in the great shape this family barn is in.  There was an Smithsonian exhibit that traveled through Elkins a few years ago called Barn Again! - barns were and still are important.  If you have not been to a barn dance- you should put that on your list.  I think that is one of the special things about having family roots in Helvetia- I got to participate in and experience things that are definitely not main-stream but give you a window into the past and how creative people were about coming up with ways to entertain within their livelihood.