SCRIPTURE for SUNDAY


I lift up my eyes to the hills--
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip--
he who watches over you will not slumber;
Indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you--
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm--
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

--Psalm 121:1-8

SUMMER IS HERE!

Summer is NOT my favorite time of year, but have to admit it's much more tolerable here in the mountains than it was in Florida! Less heat, & less thunderstorms!
Even in the summertime, there's much to be thankful for.
This little poem paints a pretty good picture of life here in 'God's country'.



GOD'S COUNTRY

Give me green rolling hills,
Give me pies cooling
on windowsills...
Give me birds chatting
on telephone poles,
And corn growing midsummer
in patterned rows.

Give me crickets chirping
on warm summer nights,
And children and picnics
and firefly lights...
Give me cows grazing
and sleeping all day,
And children barefooted
and tanned at play.

Give me church socials
and watermelons, please,
And general stores
and swimming holes
and fresh garden peas.

Give me all this,
round the hillside I roam,
And I'll gladly share it all with you
in my country home.

--Barbara Jean Kissel

FISHING 101



When we lived in Florida, we had a boat, and loved to go fishing miles out in the Gulf of Mexico. What fun!

I was quite a novice, & wouldn't even bait my own hook, (ee-ooh!) but definitely enjoyed catching & reeling in those fish!

Well, if you've never tried it, here's a video you've just GOT to watch!
Nothing like learning from a real expert!!


THOUGHT for TUESDAY


All that is good,
all that is true,
all that is beautiful,
all that is beneficient,
be it great or small,
be it perfect or fragmentary,
natural as well as supernatural,
moral as well as material,
comes from God.
-John Henry Newman



Nympheas (Water-Lilies)
Claude Monet, 1908

TRIP PICTURES

My daughter, Jami, and husband, Bill, recently returned from a two-week trip to Hungary & Slovakia. It was her 2nd trip, and his 4th.
Here are some pictures from their trip:

View of Budapest:



Here are Jami & Julika in the courtyard. This is where they stayed while in Budapest. Julika is the mother of Jami's Hungarian teacher. She doesn't speak English, so Jami's 2+ years of studying the Hungarian language really came in handy!




This was taken inside a downtown Budapest cathedral:


The rest of the pictures were taken in Slovakia, where they visited relatives.


A street festival was going on one evening in Velke Kapusany:


Monika (a cousin), had her picture taken with some of the festival musicians.


This is Jami with two of the festival participants:


Milan and Bill making Kolbasi. This is a staple food that you'll find included in some way at almost all Hungarian meals....yes, even breakfast!


Bill was really wishing he could've brought some home with him. This is enough to last at least a week, or two.......


Jami with two other cousins, Kaitlin and Adela.


What's for dinner?
Cabbage soup (a favorite!) is in the pot on the left; the front pot is potatoes boiling, and frying in the skillet is chicken breast (pounded, and fixed similar to chicken cordon bleu).


Here's a closeup of the cabbage soup....


Dinnertime at Adela's. L to R: Elizabeth, Kaitlin, Jani, Jami, Matthew and Milan.


Bill and Jami, and the red (Russian) car that Matthew chauffeured them around in.


Most of the people live in huge apartments with no yard, so they rent garden space if they want to grow vegetables, etc. This is Bill showing off one of these spaces outside Velke Kapusany, Slovakia....


They had a wonderful time. Jami got in alot of practice acting as interpreter, because only one of the family members speaks any English. I think they were so impressed that she cared enough to learn their language.

Thank you to all of our family members in Slovakia, & to Julika in Hungary, for your kind hospitality. Jami & Bill said you really treated them like royalty!

God bless!

WHO IS SHE?

Please be careful!

This person has found her way
into my house
and could also get into yours.

A very weird thing has happened.
A strange old lady
has moved into my house.

I have no idea who she is,
where she came from,
or how she got in.

I certainly did not invite her.
All I know is that
one day she wasn't there,
and the next day she was.

She is a clever old lady
and manages to keep out of sight
for the most part,
but whenever I pass a mirror
I catch a glimpse of her.

And, whenever I look in the mirror
to check my appearance,
there she is hogging the whole thing,
completely obliterating
my gorgeous face and body.
This is very rude!

I have tried screaming at her,
but she just screams back.
The least she could do is
offer to pay rent,
but, no!

Every once in a while,
I find a dollar bill
stuck in a coat pocket,
or some loose change
under a sofa cushion,
but it is not nearly enough.

I don't want to jump to conclusions,
but I think she is stealing money from me.
I go to the ATM and withdraw $100,
and a few days later,
it's all gone!

I certainly don't spend money THAT fast,
so I can only conclude
the old lady is pilfering from me.
You'd think she would
spend some of that money
to buy wrinkle cream.

And money isn't the only thing
I think she is stealing.
Food seems to disappear
at an alarming rate-
especially the good stuff like
ice cream, cookies and candy.

She must have a real sweet tooth,
but she'd better watch it,
because she is really packing on the pounds.
I suspect she realizes this,
and to make herself feel better,
she is tampering with my scale
to make me think I am
putting on weight too.

For an old lady, she is quite childish.
She likes to play nasty games,
like going into my closets
when I'm not home
and altering my clothes
so they don't fit.

And she messes with files and papers
so I can't find anything.
This is particularly annoying
since I am extremely
neat and organized.

She has found other imaginative ways
to annoy me.
She gets into my mail,
newspapers and magazines before I do
and blurs the print so I can't read it.

And she has done something really sinister
to the volume controls on my TV,
radio and telephone.
Now, all I hear are
mumbles and whispers.

She has done other things -
like make my stairs steeper,
my vacuum heavier
and all the knobs and faucets
harder to turn.

She even made my bed higher
so that getting into and out of it
is a real challenge.

Lately, she has been fooling with my
groceries before I put them away,
applying glue to the lids,
making it almost impossible
for me to open the jars.

She has taken the fun out of
shopping for clothes.
When I try something on,
she stands in front of the
dressing room mirror
and monopolizes it.

She looks totally ridiculous
in some of those outfits,
plus she keeps me from seeing
how great they look on me.

Just when I thought
she couldn't get any meaner,
she proved me wrong.
She came along when I went to
get my picture taken for my driver's license
and just as the camera shutter clicked,
she jumped in front of me.

I hope she never finds out where YOU live!

I really do!