It rained last night, and the trees are sparkling as I turn into our friends’ driveway. I take note of the warning sign: “Beware of playing cocker spaniel,” and sure enough, here she comes, bouncing toward the green area in the middle of the turn-around. “Buttercup!” calls her boss, and the little dog turns in mid-bounce.

Allow me to sweep up the crumbs and snippets that seem to collect on my worktable or my hard drive. I try to keep them in tidy stacks, but, sooner or later, they mix in with the only slightly more professional detritus: notes, newspaper clippings, business cards and “_____ for Dummies” books.

With the reality of Pastor John Weber’s retirement finally sinking in, I know I have to seek my usual therapy of writing about it. No one could possibly deserve the rewards of his good life more than Weber.

“You’re where? Why on earth would you be in San Francisco? It’s 10 o’clock here. That makes it the crack of dawn there.”

Dave’s story about the lightning strike at the family beach house sounds the same every time he tells it – and that’s been for more than 70 years. He was about 5 when he witnessed something few people ever see and live to talk about.

It’s looking as though Vacation 2008 will meet the same fate as Vacation 2007. Despite research that has our mouths watering, it never seems quite the right time to start packing bags. I went ahead and scheduled knee surgery in the middle of last summer, figuring I wasn’t going anywhere anyhow because of pain, whether arthritis or rehab.

Gonna miss Dubya when he leaves office in January.

Never thought I’d say such a thing about the worst president I’ve ever lived under, did you?

The boat has not been out of its slip much this year. The weather, of course, gets some of the blame, and low water, but that’s not the whole story. For most of the spring, Lake Eufaula actually has had plenty of water, although one must remain watchful and keep the speed down.

The congregation of Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Peachtree City is dealing with joy and sorrow as their senior pastor, the Rev. John Martin Weber, 62, retires from 34 years of service to the community, both through the church and through Peachtree City’s fire and police departments as chaplain. He is believed to have the longest tenure among clergy in Peachtree City.

Except for the fire in the trash can, our visit with the grandbabies was uneventful.

OK, I have to admit to behavior not becoming a mature person. Dave puts it best. “You just can’t accept a compliment, can you?”

The folders on the window bench next to my work table are full of on-going projects. Here lie ideas not yet ready for germination but too promising to entomb in the file cabinet.

We've been down to Lake West Point, camping at R. Shaefer Heard Park with about 25 friends, as we do twice a year.

“It doesn’t matter who gets the credit as long as the job gets done.”

Someone told me either Harry Truman or Ralph Waldo Emerson said that, but Bartlett’s Quotations does not confirm it.

When I was a little girl, living in Harrisburg, Pa., two of my playmates were Jewish. I didn’t know what that meant so I watched what they did and listened to what they said to see if I could figure out what “being Jewish” meant.

Her plans were specific, but we kept warning my oldest friend Carol Dannettell that the distances are longer than she remembered. She planned to visit a former college roommate in Marietta, then to Peachtree City, then to cousins in Greenwood, SC, Parkersburg, WV, and New Cumberland, PA, with a stop to see a grandson in Washington, DC, before flying home to San Diego from Baltimore.

It was a long time before we got cell phones, and then only to be able to reach each other when one was on the lake and the other at home. And that’s only possible when the one on the boat bothers to have his turned on.

Less than a week ago, a couple of us were forming plans to “do” one more lunch together, as sister and brothers in a unique family. We’ve tried to do this annually, but this time we waited too long.

When Carol responded to my e-mail message late last summer, we swapped autobiographies, compared memories of our early childhoods in Harrisburg, Pa., and marveled at how easy it is sometimes to find people from your past.

This will blow away any surprise factor for shower and wedding gifts from me for the next couple of years, but it’s worth it to snare the perfect gift without spending a fortune.

God strikes again!

In September of 2006, I introduced you to a tiny church that was struggling to stay alive. Mt. Pilgrim Lutheran Church has sat alongside of Ga. Highway 85 since about 1840, and was struggling with an average attendance of five members out of a congregation that numbered 77 on the books.

In these last few weeks of winter weather (one hopes) we began noticing the uptick of birds at the feeders. There have been some birds on our deck and at the feeders all winter, but we occasionally see a real influx to the neighborhood.

Invited to speak briefly to the seniors group at Fayette First Presbyterian, I flipped through some stuff I’d written and found odds and ends that have never been tucked into a file for later use.

Whence this urge to reunite with persons from our past? I suppose it’s part of the aging process. We wonder how this one is, or where, and what have they done with their lives.

If you’ve browsed this space a dozen times, you may recall my addiction to words and syntax. In Germany there are probably three bookstores per block in every town of any size at all, and what amazes me is that they are invariably packed with customers.

Thinking about my college roommate last week when, don’tcha know, her Christmas newsletter arrived. The envelope is postmarked 5 Feb 2008. When I’ve been that late, I’ve dubbed it a “holiday” newsletter, or just an annual update, but Mary faces things straight on, admits she’s a procrastinator and hopes friends and relatives had a wonderful Christmas.

It has been awhile since I’ve undertaken to share the wisdom of my years with those who make the world run, the ones we used to call the “Powers That Be.”

Some “good news, bad news” about birds.

First the good: On Dec. 15, a mild Saturday, 11 volunteers fanned out across the 15-mile-diameter Peachtree City circle for the 108th Christmas Bird Count. Veteran coordinator Brock Hutchins led the pack of sleuths to count the number of species wintering over here – 78 in 2007-08 – and the total number of birds counted – 6,331.

Our Jean lives in northern Virginia and is good to keep in touch regularly. This week she copied me with reports she has contracted to send NOAA concerning whatever weather was happening in her backyard. Snow!

For latecomers, our daughter Mary has lived in Germany since 1984; she is a pianist who has worked for several opera houses but now is with the Mannheim Opera Company. She lives an interesting life, to say the least.