Back on track

Back on track?
In more ways than one.

Last night my Cub Scout Pack held our Pinewood derby.

If you wonder what that is, each Cub gets a kit containing a block of wood, four wheels, and four nails.
We also give kits to leaders, parents, and siblings who would like to participate.

The object is to change that block of wood into a car that will race to find the fastest.

In order to assist those who have no tools or knowledge of turning a block into a car, we hold a few "rough-cut" days.
Kids can come with their drawings and we can help them with the basic cuts and supply saws and files and wood tools for them to use. It has been a great way to encourage  kid-made cars, and my take is ... If the dads want to get involved, make their own car and race me.

Last night this Red-Eyed Tree Frog followed me home. Can you see the smile on his face?
He is upholding my reputation that my cars are the ones to beat.

I really seem to be running out of new ideas, I have made so many cars over the years. As we were cleaning up after our second rough-cut day. one father said to me that he was looking forward to seeing what I would come up with this year. Gulp..
I was drawing a complete blank! Oh my, time was getting short and I hadn't even come up with an idea.

As I was thinking, I happened to shove my hand into my pocket and it closed around a small stone I had brought home from the Women's Conference a week earlier.

The stone had a story to tell because the speaker had asked me if I could get her some stones. Well, I had a bucket of small stones at home so I picked out about thirty, washed them and dried them and put them in bag which I delivered to her a few weeks before the conference. As a result, she said those were just what she had in mind, and could I give her about that many more. Well, two bags later, she was ready for the conference and I had figured out only that she wanted at least a choice of rocks for each person attending.

Sure enough, on the evening of the opening meeting, she set out two baskets of rocks and had each person go up and chose one. Walking up I was thinking ... do I really need another rock? I just got rid of these. Oh well, I should play along with the game ... so I looked in the baskets to see if any one of those rocks spoke to me. What I noticed was one small smooth rock. Most of them were black volcanic rock but the one that caught my eye had little white freckles and fit perfectly in my fist.
When I returned to my seat and turned the rock over in my hand, there were two eyes a beak and a wing, a small owl looking back at me.

Huh? I had washed and dried those rocks before donating them and never seen that owl. Well. strange as it may seem, the owl is my spirit helper and when it appears or calls, there is always a message.
At the end of the conference, our rocks could be left holding our concerns on the communion table but I had rather bonded with my rock/owl so picked it up and stuck it back in my pocket.

When I held that smooth stone in my hand  that afternoon, it reminded me to Fully Rely On God.....FROG! Well, why not? I googled some frog images and found the pretty one to use. So, that is the story. My friends who are familiar with my owl stories will not be surprised.

My quilting is also back on track as another snowflake has arrived from my daughter in Boston .... and with the amount of snow they have had this winter, she is an expert. It will be fun to add that pretty pattern to the tree skirt.