“The RoseBouquet”

I realized Saturday morning that I had not pre-registered for that local missions projects session that I had thought all week I would be attending. In which case, I told myself, I can stay home and get some yard work done to winterize. It was a lovely fall day, and mild enough to work without a heavy jacket.

When I came out of the house, my neighbour, Joe, was cleaning eaves troughs with his leaf blower. He had started with his own eaves, then stepped over to my roof, cleaned my eaves, and stepped over to the next neighbour’s houses and took care of theirs too. There is only one giant step between the roofs so this was easy for him to do.

I covered my window box air-conditioner with several layers of large canvas of Dad’s (in fact, I think it was once a horse blanket), and I managed to nail that down - only landing the hammer three times on my right thumb.

Next I swept up the leaves and debris Joe had blown out of the eaves, and after that I tackled the big job I had hoped I would get done before winter. I carried everything out of my little garden shed, and swept up clouds of bird manure and feathers.

Soon I could tell that they must have thought that shed was a vast castle of a birdhouse all summer. I counted at least 6 or 7 holes under the eaves where the sun shone through. The friends who had given me this shed had long ago stuffed some fiberglass insulation into those gaps where the roof met the walls. The birds had tunneled right through that stuff.

Besides my garden tools I stored some boards and odd lumber pieces that I had brought along from Dad’s shed when I moved here. You never know when you’ll need a piece of wood. I picked up a couple of the smaller pieces and tried to nail them over the gaps. I was not doing so well, and banged my poor right thumb again.

Neighbour Joe heard me and asked what I was doing. I explained how I was trying to bird-proof the shed. He said, “measure that distance there, and hand me those three fence boards.” I did. In no time he had cut four lengths, and he came over to nail them in place under the roof from the outside. Voila! All the holes were covered!

All I had to do was carry things back inside and arrange them neatly. Now I even have space to walk around on the floor in the center of it all.

Guess what. Sunday it started to rain, and continued with a fine mist and sharp cold air all day yesterday. This morning - we have snow on the ground! This first snowfall will probably not last very long, but it tells us that winter has arrived.

If I can just get a chance to rinse out my rain barrels before I turn them upside down - I’ll be all ready for winter outside the house.

Incidentally, No more mice this last week!

Well, two busy weekends are behind me. Busy in the sense that I was attending conferences and did not have time for my domestic projects at home. I look forward to finishing off some indoor renovation projects and tidying up my home to make it more appealing for company to come by.

Do you ever let a messy corner build up and every time you look at it, you find yourself promising yourself that you will be thorough when you get started on that? My sack of such promises has been getting heavier and heavier of late. I should be almost a white tornado over the next few weekends.

Tonight I want to cook a turkey. I bought one closes to Thanksgiving when they were on special, and though I didn’t have time to cook it then, I decided that I miss turkey meals enough to cook one just so that I can treat myself for the next while. I don’t mind dividing it up and freezing some for other soups, casseroles and what not later on.

I’ll slip over a few other projects to report some feedback to recent issues of the RoseBouquet.

A couple of weeks ago a dear friend wrote;

“Ruthe, I loved, and needed, your article on solitude. It has great lessons!”

Showers of Blessings,
April

This past week, David, who always keeps me on my toes with his good example and challenges wrote;

“Thanks for the good material in the last issue of RB.

Do trust you are receiving some encouraging feedback to all your tremendous input. The tips for public speaking were good. Must re-read them sometime too.”

Thank you both, April and David. Busy though I am, I am always grateful for feedback to what I write. You might be surprised how one comment can swing my thoughts to writing on another topic, or again on one that was helpful to others. But I only know that if you get in touch.

I feel a bit embarrassed to say that, because I realized recently how shy I am about going up to speakers at a conference and thanking them afterward for what they said or taught. I really ought to get over that and learn to reach out. Knowing how much I like feedback, it is a gift I should give more often too.

Over the weekend someone wrote, asking if I’d like my novel advertised on her site for good, clean Christian books. Well, of course!

(Aside: I went through that virtual writers’ workshop here in the RoseBouquet earlier this year, and say, did I ever get an answer to my questions about whom am I targeting that book to? How should I be describing it in my ads?)

Have you written and self-published a Christian book? Then perhaps you’d like to go see what Sharon has set up and take advantage of her offer. www.Christian=Books-Bible-Stories.com

There is a Bible proverb that says, “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.” (Prov. 3:3-4)

Wow! Do we value Love and Faithfulness so much, that we wear them like jewelry?

Would you like a good reputation, so you may win favours with God, and with the people around, or above you?

We all want such a good reputation, but do you have any idea how to get it? Is it something mysteriously bestowed on certain individuals, or could you do something to obtain a good reputation?

There are two character traits that you can put on and wear like jewelry and after a while, your reputation will improve and grow better and better all the time. It’s a matter of learning to value and apply those two traits in your life. We must think of them as precious treasures and prize them.

These two traits are love and faithfulness. How well do you show love and kindness to others? How trustworthy and reliable are you? If they come naturally to you, people around you may already be aware that you have them, and they are responding to you as if you have an admirable reputation.

Although only God can transform lives completely, these are traits you can learn to develop and practice as new habits until they become a part of your lifestyle. But of course, that only happens if you see them as worthy and honourable goals – treasures to have and use.

You are becoming well-known for your kindness and thoughtfulness to and for others, and for your consistency and reliability in the things assigned to you? Then consider this a glance into a mirror; look at those bright jewels in your spiritual necklace!

You also must be careful not to do things to jeopardize your good reputation. You can kill it with one wild, willful or crazy deed or word. Sometimes we think others are out to ruin our reputation, but most often it is we ourselves who appears to yank this beautiful jewelry off our neck and throw it underfoot.

Expensive jewelry is not found in my dressing area, but I have a few pieces that I really like and admire, and I do try to care for them above and beyond the attention the rest of my possessions get. I confess, I have not been in the habit of prizing these traits in a deliberate way. I am rather enjoying this glance in the mirror.

In a general sense they have always been very important to me. Mainly because I watched love and faithfulness demonstrated in the people I admired and wanted to please. My Gra’ma Kroeker more than my mom perhaps because Mom was so sickly and in and out of the hospital so often. Still, even in caring for my Mom in her final years, she stressed completing my work, and never ever failing someone else if I had promised to be somewhere or do something for them.

Not only that, but in my desire to live in obedience to God, and to please Him, being considerate, gracious and outright loving to others, and to carry through on anything assigned or entrusted to me, or anything I have decided to take on - well, if they are my necklace, then I guess they permanently attached to me. I don’t think I would know how to remove them any more!

Unless I should grow careless. God forbid!

Yes, I did stock up on weapons for my war on the mice last Tuesday. I came home with 4 sonic repellents to plug into an electrical outlet in different rooms, and with 4 sticky traps, so they can NOT walk away, and 6 new Victor traps. Oh, and some poison too, though I haven’t used that yet.

On Thursday I mixed some cement in a pail, and went around the house smearing cement into any holes I saw around the foundation.

Right now the score is 3-0 for me!

It’s a bit unnerving when you about to eat supper and you hear a SNAP, and then a second or two of scratch-scratch as the captive tries to back out of the trap. Then there is silence.

I always wait a while and go to empty the trap an hour or two later. I pick it up gingerly with a plastic bag over my hand, carry it out at arms-length - all the way to the big black bin in the back alley and drop the mouse in there. Then I come in and rinse the trap under the tap before I set it again.

No, in fact, the one trap in which I had put both peanut butter and a tip of rotting apple, that one I didn’t wash. I just set it back int place, for another round.

So I caught the first mouse last Wednesday evening, then another on Friday morning, and yet another when I got home late Friday evening. With the unwashed trap, no less!

I was away at a weekend conference at my church most of the weekend so I wasn’t home to hear much activity, but I’m leaving my traps in place in case there are any more. The weather is turning cooler these days, with frost over several nights.

No course to teach this week. It didn’t suit the primary student for which this was planned. So I’m still able to work at catching up on emails. They seem to flood in over the weekend, and since I was away all day Saturday and Sunday, it is taking a while to get them all answered, starting with the urgent ones from clients.

At the conference in church, we had a number of speakers, and though I was trying hard not to think about all I should be doing at home, I began to wonder if I should really have sacrificed that much time. Especially as I had this daja vu feeling that I’d heard all this before last week. The speakers were almost all the same, and though their had slightly different topics, I’m well-read enough on prophecy that I wasn’t really learning anything new.

I did enjoy the last one on Sunday afternoon by Dr. Randall Price, about his trips to Mt. Ararat to look for Noah’s Ark. He had some really interesting, new things to report and describe.

However, in retrospect I find myself looking for tips for if and when I should do some public speaking. (I believe we can learn even from negative examples). Just recently, in fact, I have added a page to the WTM site, http://WesternTractMission.org/pr/Speakers-Singers-available.shtml to let the world know that we who are missionaries with WTM are available to take speaking engagements, and two can even sing very good quality solos.

I understand that a lot of churches and other organizations are often looking for speakers for their special meetings or conferences. Since Arnold, Rick, Joe, Priscilla and I are all willing to take such opportunities if we can fit them in (and hopefully our travel expenses would be covered), then it just seems wise to let the world know we are available.

With that in mind, my article today is putting together for myself some tips for public speaking. If they help you out too, I’ll be very pleased.

What high school grad would skip her banquet to dash away to help a friend in a crisis? Would you? Ruthe does this right at the beginning of this story. She can be quite daring for a shy, small town girl, when it is for others’ sakes. You’ll like her spunk! Get “Ruthe’s Secret Roses.” the softcover at Booklocker.com

I’ve gathered some ten tips for public speaking from the conference I attended this last weekend, where a handful of speakers got several opportunities to speak on various topics. Since I felt I knew most of what they were talking about, I slipped into critiquing their speaking and presentation skills.

Since I have made myself available as a public speaker on behalf of the mission with which I work, I want to be careful to not do the negative traits I saw, and to develop the best presentation skills I can muster. If you ever find yourself speaking in public, even just occasionally, you may find these tips for public speaking helpful too. (Naturally, there are many more!)

1. Prepare a good outline, know it well, and know how long to stay on each point, so you will finish on time.

2. Don’t allow yourself to run off on tangents (rabbit trails) just because certain words in your notes trigger memories or other stories and jokes. That may entertain a few in the audience, but there will be those who silently grind their teeth at you. Particularly the organizers.

3. Yes, some humor and asides may be appreciated and limber up your audience to be “with you” but plan them ahead, and practice them to appear natural, but then get back onto your theme for your talk. Don’t follow that new train of thought just because it gives you a chance to show off. That’s being selfish.

4. Check your humour and illustrative stories for slants or details that could offend. Edit accordingly.

5. Some speakers go on auto-pilot once they start speaking - probably because they have rehearsed it so often, or memorized it,and it is as if the thinking portion of their mind is switched to neutral for the duration. I would prefer to listen to someone who can think on his or her feet, but if you can’t then do a good job of learning your speech ahead of time.

6. Public speaking is a lot like putting on a dramatic act by yourself. You can over-come stage fright by deliberately choosing to get emotional. Depending on your topic, go a bit over the edge on your enthusiasm, or happiness, or anger. Your audience will identify with you better, and come on-side.

7. Be sure to wrap up well, and call the audience to a specific decision or action point. Or were you just entertaining them? (Stand-up comedy is down the hall).

8. There is good body language, and there are mannerisms that distract from your words. Watch yourself on a video, and you may pick up most of these, but if a close friend or spouse who can think objectively will watch and give you tips that may help the most. You are a visual of your presentation. Your verbal presenting skills don’t stand alone.

9. Another public speaking mistake I have seen, is when the speaker wanders around the podium and gets in the vicinity of another microphone that is turned on. The audience hears strange noises, but the speaker seems oblivious to them.

10. Don’t apologize for your nervousness. Your audience showed up because they are expecting to hear something useful from you. Their expectation is that you will do well. Just do your best, and throw yourself into your topic with fervour and enthusiasm. Later, if someone tells you they were bored or disappointed, then you may apologize to them personally.

You’ll find more tips for public speaking here; Twenty_great_tips_for_public_speaking.html

Presentation Skills Training
There are a number of fine organizations, from Toastmaster Clubs to Dale Carnegie courses to give you polish and presentation skills training. Since I don’t know them personally, I’m not sure which to recommend to you. I suggest you do your own research, if you need special mentoring or guidance in presenting talks.

The best plan is to always be alert to your own way of doing presentations, and looking for ways to do better. Your presenting skills will improve with time, and the things you learn from your mistakes or flops will stick with you best, so you don’t have to re-learn those lessons again.

Whenever you listen to someone else speaking in public, make sure to watch for things you can adapt or things you will be sure to avoid. Either way, you can add to your presenting skills.

What makes for Effective Presentations;
If you are using a power point presentation (and most public speakers do now), prepare it well in advance;

a. Use sharp contrasting text, and large enough, so it can be read (not yellow on white - please!)

b. Get someone else to proof-read your text ahead of time and fix the typos or grammatical mistakes.

(There are always nit-pickers in the audience who lose respect for you, and ignore all you say, if they spot those little mistakes).

c. Practice working with your power-point so you don’t have to keep pausing for technical problems.

d. You may be leaning on your presentation slides to be your speech outline, but that isn’t totally fair to your audience. Have a separate outline for yourself. Remember to break up the text with illustrations for the audience - ones that will reinforce what you are saying - not distract so they miss a lot of it.

e. Have a backup plan if for some reason you can’t use your power point after all. Maybe some are getting tired of power points since they are so common place. How about a show and tell with some objects?

Again, once you are in earnest about your public speaking, and you start looking for help you will find there are many more tips for public speaking. You can hire speech writers and take presentation skills training, and there are lots of interesting things you can learn to do with your power points and videos - even other props too.

Early Saturday morning a plumber and his helper came to change a plugged and bad galvanized pipe from my kitchen sink to the “stack” with a new PVC pipe. The plumber even said, “No charge!” Can you imagine?

I am truly grateful.

However, I’m thinking with the front and back doors standing open a while, and with all the racket they made in installing that pipe, a mouse family moved in to squat in my house. Throughout the day I began to hear noises across the room, or in the kitchen that I KNEW I was not making myself.

In the evening a marble, that Snowflake used to play with, seemed to drop under my desk and tiny feet scampered. It got worse on Sunday evening, as I heard tiny feet in the pantry next to my fridge, and little munching noises!

I got out my new very strong flashlight and shone around and yelled at them to no avail. I even went hunting for the mouse traps that I had cleaned up, put in a plastic bag and in a cardboard tray and put away out of Snowflake’s reach. I believe I did that last fall. No mice all winter, so in May I figured Snowflake would be better off on the farm where he was born. But - I couldn’t find those traps!

Dear Snowflake, would like to come back for a few days visit?

Yesterday I was home all day and didn’t hear much in the daytime, but in the evening they were very active. The one under my credenza played with the marble again, and jerked at the telephone cable. The one in the pantry was really noisy. I went to check several times and twice I saw him/her scamper away. Once I caught it in the flashlight beam on top of the bag of rice. Later I heard some noises on plastic and went to look again, and lo, it had chewed a hole in the plastic lid of a clear little tub in which I had my snacking almonds and peanuts. There were plastic lid bits all over the place!

That’s when I went on a fresh hunt for my traps! Where can they be? While checking in the pantry room where I have a bunch of plants in the window I spied a baby mouse running away from among the aloe vera. Yikes!

I want to be rid of these critters!! So today after 5 pm I’m going to WalMart to load up on traps, mouse poison, and more sonic repellents. (I have one, but learned online that you need one for each room - if they work!)

If he persuades me that it would work, I’ll even let Joe next door come in with his deer hunting guns!

Last week I mentioned that I needed time to mull over the things I’d learned at the conference so I can come up with practical ideas to use that information. Well, yesterday was Thanksgiving Day here in Canada, and since I had done my celebrating on Sunday evening by taking a supper over to my brother Tom’s, my only sibling here in this city, I gladly took yesterday off for a day of solitude and reflection and brainstorming.

I sat from 10 am to just about 6 pm on the recliner with my feet up and my lap filled with a binder and various sheets of hand-scribbled notes. I only got up to go to the bathroom right behind my chair, or to get some nuts to snack on (Fortunately, I got most of them before mousie had a turn!)

There is still the matter of typing them up and carrying out all my ideas, but by that time I was ready for a break so I went outside and emptied my two rain barrels and turned them over to drain. They still need to be washed down.

There were a few other items on my to-do list, but I was grateful for a really good brainstorming session. The other items I’ll squeeze in here and there. But I expect to be away at weekend conferences for the next two weekends, so I knew this major “ideas” session had to happen yesterday - or it might not happen at all.

It’s hard to count in my scribbled notes, but I’d guestimate more than 2 dozen ideas or variations thereof.

There is also a possibility that I’ll be giving a basic computer skills course next week. I’m still waiting to connect the woman for whom this was suggested to see just what she would like me to focus on, and whether I can invite a few others who would like to improve their computer skills.

My Mom used to have a proverb in Plaut Dietsche that is hard to translate literally, but it says something like;
If you’re going to do something - then go all the way!

Thinking about my delight in solitude yesterday and this morning I have an article for you today, with good quotes about solitude and my own recipe for how to learn to enjoy such times. See it below in the Ruthe’s Roses section.