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!

AS WE REMEMBER...

Have a safe 'Memorial Day' weekend!

THE LORD IS.....

(Please mute Playlist first)



The Lord is my light and my salvation --
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life --
of whom shall I be afraid?
Ps. 27:1

IRONY

Hope you're having a wonderful day!

I'm in the middle of Spring Cleaning this week,
with little time for blogging,
so thought I'd
pass along these pics
sent to me by a friend......

MAXINE MONDAY

???

Not kidding on this one!!

S: )

LOOK UP!

I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.

--Abraham Lincoln

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host

one by one,

and calls them each by name.

--Isaiah 40:26

***

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

--Psalm 19:1

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Happy Mother's Day to my dear sweet wonderful mother, who just celebrated her 92nd birthday a few weeks ago!

She would get a chuckle out of this humorous (but fairly factual) list......

I Owe My Mother

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside.. I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet." (Actually, we didn't have carpet, but you get the idea).

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
"Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7. My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"Your room looks like tornado went through it."

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

13. My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

14. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home."

15. My mother taught me about RECEIVING .
"You are going to get it when you get home!"

16. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."

17. My mother taught me ESP.
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

18. My mother taught me HUMOR.
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

19. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

20. My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You're just like your Aunt Bea."

21. My mother taught me about my ROOTS..
"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

22. My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

And my favorite:
23. My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!"

*****

WHATCHA GONNA DO?

Here are three logs we have tied together in the bird feeding area near our garage.
Notice the pileated woodpecker on the ground looking them over.........

A little later in the day, we looked out and noticed this pile of sawdust.

Uh-oh! Bad Boy!!

The next day, he was back pecking away for more worms. Do you suppose he's wondering if the ceramic squirrel on the log might be a threat?
The giant hole you see is even bigger now. He's pecked away about half of two of the logs. Here, one of the chipmunks (on the tallest log) is staring him down.

In spite of the mess he's made, I think woodpeckers are such fascinating birds!

He'll probably be back again tomorrow. Looks like we need to go looking for some log replacements! S: )

SCRIPTURE for SUNDAY

And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
--Philippians 4:19

Wishing you a beautiful Lord's Day!

*****

Today is our 46th Anniversary.
Happy Anniversary, Bill!
God really smiled on me when He sent you into my life.

I hope we have at least 46 more years together! S: )

*****

GOOD QUESTION

Sad, but true, huh?

THOUGHT for TUESDAY

We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.

--Goethe

Girls at the Piano, 1892

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUSTIN!!

Here are 12 candles for your cake....

Guess what!!

We hired a special musician

to play 'Happy Birthday' for you!





And here is one of your favorite

youtube videos....

(Don't forget to mute Playlist first)


Grandad & I wish you a super happy day!!

Looking forward to your next visit with us!

XOXOXO
************

FLOWERS of SPRING

The blooms have now come and gone on our three tulip trees, but fortunately, we were able to enjoy them until they fell off on their own.....no late freezing temperatures to turn them brown overnight, as usually happens.

The wisteria hasn't bloomed for the past two or three years, due to late frost, so it has been so exciting to look out and see these beautiful blossoms once again!

This is the tree beside the pond. We have others, as well as many climbing vines, but their blooms are more scattered.

What are some spring flowers you have enjoyed around your house?