She's free at last





Welcome to jennyweber dot com
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Home of Jenny the Pirate
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Our four children
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Our eight grandchildren
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This will go better if you
check your expectations at the door.
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We're not big on logic
but there's no shortage of irony.
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Nice is different than good.
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Oh and ...
I flunked charm school.
So what.
> Jennifer <
Causing considerable consternation
to many fine folk since 1957
Pepper and me ... Seattle 1962
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Insist on yourself; never imitate.
Your own gift you can present
every moment
with the cumulative force
of a whole life’s cultivation;
but of the adopted talent of another
you have only an extemporaneous
half possession.
That which each can do best,
none but his Maker can teach him.
> Ralph Waldo Emerson <
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Represent:
The Black Velvet Coat
This blog does not contain and its author will not condone profanity, crude language, or verbal abuse. Commenters, you are welcome to speak your mind but do not cuss or I will delete either the word or your entire comment, depending on my mood. Continued use of bad words or inappropriate sentiments will result in the offending individual being banned, after which they'll be obliged to walk the plank. Thankee for your understanding and compliance.
> Jenny the Pirate <
Ecstatically shooting everything in sight using my beloved Nikon D3100 with AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G VR kit lens and AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 G prime lens.
Also capturing outrageous beauty left and right with my Nikon D7000 blissfully married to my Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D AF prime glass. Don't be jeal.
And then there was the Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f:3.5-5.6G ED VR II zoom. We're done here.
I am a taphophile
Word. Photo Jennifer Weber 2010
Great things are happening at
If you don't believe me, click the pics.
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Dying is a wild night
and a new road.
Emily Dickinson
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When I am gone
Please remember me
As a heartfelt laugh,
As a tenderness.
Hold fast to the image of me
When my soul was on fire,
The light of love shining
Through my eyes.
Remember me when I was singing
And seemed to know my way.
Remember always
When we were together
And time stood still.
Remember most not what I did,
Or who I was;
Oh please remember me
For what I always desired to be:
A smile on the face of God.
Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.
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Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I BELIEVED, AND THEREFORE HAVE I SPOKEN; we also believe, and therefore speak;
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
II Corinthians 4
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Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it, have never known it again.
~ Ronald Reagan
Photo Jennifer Weber 2010
There waits for me a glad tomorrow
Where gates of pearl swing open wide
And when I've passed this vale of sorrow
I'll dwell upon the other side.
Someday, beyond the reach of mortal ken
Someday, God only knows just where and when
The wheels of mortal life shall all stand still
And I shall go to dwell on Zion's hill.
Someday I'll hear the angels singing
Beyond the shadows of the tomb
And all the bells of heaven ringing
While saints are singing "Home, sweet home."
Someday my labors will be ended,
And all my wand'rings will be o'er
And all earth's broken ties be mended
And I shall sigh and weep no more.
Someday the dark clouds will be rifted
And all the night of gloom be past
And all life's burdens will be lifted
The day of rest shall dawn at last.
Someday, beyond the reach of mortal ken
Someday, God only knows just where and when
The wheels of mortal life shall all stand still
And I shall go to dwell on Zion's hill.
Gull watching
In late September, a bunch of us went to the beach together for four days.
We'd solidified our plans (read: paid our money) weeks before anyone knew of my mom's illness. Naturally there was a fair amount of angst over whether we'd be able to keep our reservation.
To quote our Erica, who is an underwriter: Always buy trip insurance.
Chad sunbathes while Erica helps Dagny sandbathe
But Mom was more than holding her own in late September, unlike now, when she is down to her last few days with us.
As I write, she is sleeping. She will wake soon and ask for water, and I'll give it to her via a little sponge on a stick, soaked in her travel mug of ice water.
Baby Ember in an impromptu beach shoot
She will want the sponge re-dipped two or three times, say Delicious, and go back to sleep.
Speaking of water, for our beach getaway we rented a large house in Holden Beach (Supply), North Carolina. Just south of Wilmington.
Ranger cookies. This jar is much bigger than it looks.
The house was across the street from those that back up directly on the beach. We could set out with chairs and umbrellas and towels and, after walking past a few houses to reach the access path, be on beach sand within three minutes.
The back of our house faced a marsh and, in the near distance, the Intracoastal Waterway where pleasure boats glided.
Deer love marshy vegetation
There were cranes and herons and other birds living in the marsh, and several times we saw deer.
Brittany and Ember joined us, as Andrew was still in Alabama completing Officer Training School.
Newly commissioned Second Lieutenant Andrew Weber, USAF
(He was commissioned on Thursday and graduated today, and he's home now with his girls.)
Chad and Erica came along, while Audrey, due to work commitments, had to join the party a day late.
Cherica ... out for a sunset stroll
Stephanie, Joel, and the children came for one night and most of the two days on either side of it.
I had done a lot of cooking beforehand, not wanting to waste beach time in the kitchen and definitely not wanting to go out to eat.
Millinery is required at the beach
I'd made a recipe of ranger cookies, which makes about 140 good-sized treats. I filled a huge jar with them and had enough in reserve to re-fill the jar twice.
We went to the store in Supply -- for supplies, hahaha -- and got stuff like eggs and milk and butter and fresh fruits and vegetables and ice cream and I don't know what all, but it was a lot.
Dagny was always ready for the next wave
Everything we needed was at our fingertips. On the first night in the beach house, we had shepherd's pie with cornbread.
It was pretty great.
Stephanoel enjoy some down time
The next night we had marinated chicken done on the grill with Andouille sausage and colorful peppers, and big baked potatoes and a huge salad complete with croutons.
Night three was baked spaghetti but I'm probably boring you so I'll stop with the menus.
Shell game
The weather was perfect and the ocean just as marvelous and mysterious and metaphorical as always.
I can sit and watch the waves for hours. I never get enough of that sight and that sound.
The only thing that drives me indoors is the sun; I can't take too much of that. So I like to go down to the shore and sit in the early morning, and walk on the beach in the evening and even at night.
Hanging out
We all did all of those things. The children were consumed with joy.
Children on the beach is just special. Their shrieks! Every time a little wave rolled up on their feet. The wild splashing and cavorting and the endless search for shells.
Been there, done that, got the tee shirt
Of course my thoughts were with Mom back in Greenville, and no sooner had we reached home than I re-packed my suitcase and returned to her bedside.
She'd had a difficult stretch in my absence but there would be some good days left.
Brittany and Ember were missing Daddy
Those days are behind us now and we are in the thick of it.
Mom says she has peace.
When she can, she still talks and laughs with my sister and me, and the occasional friend, and whichever grandchild has dropped by to see Grandma one more time.
Allissa, Andrew, Melanie: the Tar Heel Tootsies
This evening, two of my nieces came by to sing to their grandma. Also there was a hospice representative, and she asked Mom if there was anything she could get for her.
Barbecue ribs would be nice, she said, with cole slaw and a big glass of sweet tea.
Ember: quintessential beach babe
We all laughed and then Mom regaled us with a ditty:
Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy
Makes your eyes light up and your tummy say howdy.
Ever the card. The life of the party.
Mackerel sky for the win
Just as it was when we put together our beach trip, all of our plans are in place. This time there's no danger of them changing.
When the time comes, we think we know what we'll feel and think and say, and how we will weep and rejoice and remember.
But all we really know is that the wave will reach the shore and, having come, it will go, taking our loved one with it.
Good thing we know The One Who walks on water.
And that is all for now.
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Happy Weekend