For all celebrating the resurrection of Jesus today, here is one of my favorite hymns. My grandmother told me once that when she was babysitting a 3-year-old Alison on Easter in Pennsylvania many years ago, she caught me sitting very close to the TV, intently watching a program that seemed intense for a child. She said, “Alison what are you watching?” Apparently I was watching an Easter history special. I turned to her with equal intensity and replied, “What’s the matter Granny? Haven’t you ever heard of the resurrection of Jesus Christ?!”
“I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness
Where is death's sting?
Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.”
—“Abide With Me” by Henry Francis Lyte
The decade I spent out in Washington state changed my life in such incredible ways. I remember moving from Tampa to Seattle as a TV reporter in November 2013, leaving behind warm sun and arriving to seemingly relentless cold rain. Other than finding the mountains, a highlight during that winter was watching the Seahawks rise to Super Bowl champions. I was not a football fan, but the story of that year‘s team was captivating. I soon found myself watching games and cheering on a football team for the first time in my life. Both kids were born out in the Pacific Northwest, so they’ve mastered the cheers of the 12th Man and we will be rooting our Hawks from afar in Florida tonight. Oh - and about the angel wings in the video - my mom got them for Lily and Jack over Christmas. They wanted to wear the wings to church today and we stopped at the store after. Obviously it’s a sign God is a 12. 😜 Go Hawks!
I see women all the time with fancy nails and have recently asked a couple what they pay. It’s usually $75 to $100 every other week! A man once told me I have hands like his - a former hockey player. I don’t think he meant it as a compliment but I worked hard for these hands! Years of horseback riding and now farming, often lugging my own camera gear when working as a reporter in TV news, my dirty nails and knobby knuckles tell the tale of a journey I wouldn’t trade for a lifetime of free acrylics.
This video shows Sassy in winter 2026 and winter 2023. That was the winter I surrendered to nature and we decided to flee back to Florida. We got blizzard after blizzard and Sassy was up to her belly in snow. But she loved it! Did you know that blanketing horses to keep them warm is actually a “hot” topic? (No pun intended.) Those who choose not to blanket often point to the horse’s natural ability to self regulate, and they say blankets interfere with that process (such as hair growth). I put a blanket on Sassy in Western Washington when I lived in Seattle because it was just so wet there all the time, and the blanket helped her stay a little more dry in the cold. On the east side of Washington, I did not blanket her, even though the temperature was much colder, because she was rarely wet, as the precipitation came down as snow and not rain. So I kind of chuckled when I blanketed her here in Florida a couple nights ago.
