And in the Future? - Lyn Kublick

My habitat is History. If you have visited my Pack Rat Papers bog you are aware that I tend to dwell in the past. My novels are historical and my mind, like my home, tends to be cluttered with bits and pieces from former times.

I enjoy comparing life a century, or so, ago with the world we live in now. It is thrilling to view the way God has provided people with the ability to design and produce previously "impossible" objects and machines.

He is God the Creator and man was made in His image thereby being endowed with a need to invent. This need to bring something from nothing takes many forms. As this is a writers blog, those who contribute here have a passion to use words, with the Lord's guidance, in ways that bless others. Inventors may "see" new and useful machines which they strive to perfect. Teachers use a multitude of ingenious methods to instruct their student.

The pictures in this post were taken in 1912. That is less than 100 years ago and it is easy to see the strides that have been made in the field of aviation since that time. The spectators at the July 4th celebration in Alturas California must have been as thrilled to watch W. B. Cook circle over their heads as we would be to view a performance by the Snow Birds. In fact they were probably more thrilled because so few of them had the opportunity to experience flight for themselves.

These pictures are on two postcards sent to my grandmother by my father and his oldest brother. They were young men sixteen and twenty-six years old. It is obvious that they were impressed by this demonstration and decided to share it with their mother.

It is to be hoped that we will never lose the ability to be impressed, excited and fascinated with things in the world around us. I am often saddend to hear children and young people say, "I'm bored!" Their search for stimulation is constant and too often a sense of wonder is sacrificed. We have all been born with a sense of wonder. Let's keep it alive.

Orchids and Prayer - Lyn Kublick

This beautiful cattleya orchid came into bloom yesterday. Its blossom is the climax of a very long story.

Twenty-four years ago my daughter was given several varieties of orchids for a school project. They were all in bloom when they came into our home and several of the others have continued to blossom over the years. This one was quite stubborn, and refused to produce another flower, until this fall.

My daughter grew up and moved away from home, but I continued to nurture her plants. No matter how carefully I cared for his one there was no reward. I assumed that it was my fault. I must have been doing something wrong. I was just not good at caring for cattleya orchids! After ten or twelve years, it would have been easy to become discouraged and consign this one to the compost bin. If that had been my choice, I never would have been blessed to see this wonder of God's creation.

Sometimes it seems that the practice of prayer can be rather like watching over an obstinate plant. There are several things that I have brought to my Father, over the years, with no visible result. I could become discouraged and conclude that I'm praying wrong, or that God isn't interested in my requests. One of the things I have prayed about, for years, is my writing and the difficulty of publication. It would be easy to give up and stop praying. Still, the ways of God are as hard to understand as the puzzles in horticulture. My task is to continue to work, pray and trust in the Lord of the eventual result. His schedule is obscure, but it is faultless. His answers come in His time, and are perfect.

School Children - Lyn Kublick

This class attended school in my home town, Orland California, somewhat before my time. Their teacher was my mother's aunt, May Reager.

As a writer of historical fiction I spend a great deal of time dwelling in the past and I find it interesting to compare life then and now. One area of great change is child rearing methods. As we look at this class picture 8 and 9 year old students, we first notice the difference in the their clothing, and that of the teacher's. Hair styles also catch the eye. Compare this picture to youngsters today that often dress like miniature teenagers.

These physical differences are minor compared to the change in the way children are expected to behave. How would today's kids respond the the old adage, "Children should be seen and not heard"? In many homes, and even in public places, the younger generation tends to claim the center of attention.

Raising children to respect adults is also over looked in some modern homes. In fact, in the worst cases, the youngest members of the family seem to be in control. It's not unusual to hear some of these little people bully their parents by making demands rather than polite requests. Their elders feel the need to buy expensive toys, that they can ill afford, so the children can keep up with others in their play group.

One thing that worries me is the constant need, of this generation, to be excited and entertained. How often do we hear children complain of being bored. Many seem to have lost the ability to enjoy their own company . They expect parents, teachers and youth workers to provide exciting diversions for their benefit. When left on their own many turn to electronic devices to fill their time. What is happening to imagination and creativity

Most important, is enough care given to helping children find Jesus? How can they learn to pray, meditate and listen for God's voice in houses where electronic noise is constant. I visited a home lately and heard the mother say that she keeps the radio on 24/7. The television is constantly on as well, and video games, a DSI and a Wii are available.

I pray that God will bless all of our children and help them to have a desire for Him in their often chaotic lives. Without His presence in their lives they will never know the joy of peace.

Gardens Then and Now - Lyn Kublick

My special interest is history and I love to consider how things have changed over the last 100 years, or so. My own blog has sat idle for the last month while my energy has been focused on the garden, so let's consider gardens then and now.

The young lady in this picture is my mother's sister Hazel Erma Reager, born July 16, 1891. During my early life I delved into collecting family treasures and learning about our roots. By some stroke of foresight I wrote to my aunt in 1961 asking her to tell me memories of her childhood. My request reached her when she was living in a retirement trailer park in Arizona and had time on her hands. she replied with a long and fascinating letter. One paragraph of which described the Reager family garden circa 1900.

"Dad had one of the finest orchards and gardens in the area. I suppose most of the trees were planted by Grandfather as they were in full bearing when I remember. There were all kinds of trees: apples, pears, peaches, plums, nectarines, persimmons and also an orange and a pummelo. Mother canned and dried enough for the year's supply, besides making jams and jellies. Most of this was done in the washhouse so as not to interfere with the cook. Dad had a wonderful garden also, growing all sorts of vegetables and melons. I'll never forget the casabas. They were very large. He would store them in the cooler house and we'd enjoy them at Christmas. There was also a large rose garden grown in the old bed of Stony Creek."

I can't help but wonder how they obtained the great variety of fruit trees and various seeds in a era when transport was difficult. The family used real "horse power" to travel from place to place and do all of the farm work.

Times have certainly changed. However the Master Gardener remains the same. We can plant, but only God can put life into seeds and cause them to grow. Some seeds are so tiny they look like dust scattered on your hand, but He has placed a tiny plant inside each one. This is a beautiful picture of how He is able to renew us, placing new life in our hearts, when we seek Him.

A Teacher in the Great Depression - Lyn Kublick

Mom

May, the month of Mother's Day, is nearly at an end. My passion is walking through history while comparing it to life today. My mom and I both taught school. So much is the same and yet so much differs.

Georgiana Reager grew up in a family of six girls. She lived in small town California and was an excellent student. For that reason she was the one chosen to attend classes at the University of California in Berkeley.

Upon graduation, in 1925, she went to teach in a small town in Northern California where she met my father, Arthur Noble. Georgiana and Arthur began to date and plan for the future, but . . . .

The Great Depression struck in 1929, altering their plans and affecting their lives -- and mine. By that time her sisters were married, and she had 8 small neices and nephews. Her parents had sold their ranch and invested in Bank of Amreica stock. That stock disappeared in the crash leaving her parents with very little savings. Her brothers-in-law struggled to find work, along with many others, and life was grim for the Reager family.

One bright spot was Georgiana's teaching position. She was "well paid" for those times, and her salary was used to cover the greatest needs. Unfortunately, due to the many "family men" looking for jobs in education, married women could not be hired to teach.

If Georgiana and Arthur followed their hearts, her income would cease to exist, and she couldn't see her way clear to abandon her family. They waited through a long engagement and finally married in 1935. This says a lot about my mother's sense of responsibility, and her devotion to her family. It says even more of my father's love and understanding of his future wife.

I was born a number of years later -- an after thought in my generation, and destined to be an only child. My role at family reunions, attended by my first cousins and their little ones, was that of the built in baby sitter. This was in no way a hardship as I loved my little cousins and time spent entertaining them may have led to my own career in education.

Things have changed. We are said to be going through a depression, but it has had little effect on schools and teachers. There are some spending cuts, but no stringent rules about who can be hired to teach, based on marital status.

God's hand was on my mom and dad. He carried them through a difficult time. He continues to be faithful to us when things don't go as we wish. If we remember to turn to Him, we can rest in His perfect plan for each of our lives.

God and Medicine - Lyn Kublick

I spend a lot of time walking in the past. It is where I get the inspiration to write. Many think of the early days as a relaxed and simple time and in some ways this is true. However, it was often a very difficult place to live.

The picture, to the right, is of my Aunt Bessie. Unfortunately I never was able to know her because she, and her younger sister Vivian, died of Typhoid Fever forty years before I was born. Their mother, a recent widow, ran a boarding house to support her five children. It was believed that the sickness came from "bad" well water. Doctors did all they knew to do, but it was not enough. Prayers were said, but they weren't answered as the supplicants hoped.

Today this story would probably end differently. God has helped scientists and doctors to develop many skills in the last hundred years, and typhoid no longer carries a death sentence.

We do still face numerous trials, including illnesses, that can not be easily resolved. We must still rely on prayer, knowing that God is ultimately in charge of our lives. His plan for us is perfect. Despite repeated tragedy in her life, my grandmother continued to cling to her faith and rely on God's wisdom in all circumstances. There are many people today who walk away from Him when His plan doesn't suit their personal design. They have come to expect instant results and immediate gratification in many areas of life. When things go wrong they assume God isn't listening.

It can be difficult to remember that while His ways are not our ways, His plan for our continued growth is the perfect design. Reliance on Him, and His grace, is the only was to find peace now and life eternal.