Archive | July, 2016

The Robin Story

21 Jul

Patricia Franklin

A Few Thoughts

I think I mentioned that the mother robin left a little egg shell by my door.  Since that time, I noticed she had two babies.  I watched them both and worried that they had left the nest too soon.  She tried to keep them in the branches of the lilac bush.  The young one pretty much listened to her, the other one was a little more independent.  (I’m using my imagination here).
One morning I went out and found one of them dead on the back lawn.  It did not look damaged, so I did not know what got to it…. either a cat or a very angry black bird??   It seemed to be the bigger one that was dead.  I kept track of the little one, who thrived, and learned to fly pretty well.  He discovered our birdbath, and loved it.  Whenever he got in it, he had so much fun he did not want to leave.  He would splash around, then just lay there, then kept repeating it.  He was fun to watch, as he loved it so much. Then he would fly up on the fence and shake out his feathers.  No other bird has ever spent that much time bathing there.

I lost track of the birds for about 3 or 4 weeks while we were gone, and busy running around.  Several times since, I have  seen birds in the back, and several were robins with the spots on their breasts, so I knew they were brand new in the neighborhood.

This morning, I was sitting outside and there were quite a few birds around, some still being fed by their mamas.  Then a robin flew into the birdbath and splashed and played for the longest time.  I was sure it was the one from our lilac, especially when he finally got out and flew on the fence to shake out his feathers.  I noticed he was bigger, but still had some of his baby spots.  I’m sure it was him, and I hope he will be our neighbor for a long time to come. I think I’ll always recognize him by his antics in the birdbath.

 

From Flickr

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip Part 3

20 Jul

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

Bill Stars Plane

 

 

Day 3 (Monday)

The day trip from Houston to Galveston took longer than I had expected. My first stop was to visit the Lone Star Flight Museum. This was a very nice museum with about 20 aircraft (in one very large hanger) most of which were restored to flying condition.

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I was surprised to see they had a German Me-262 Schwalbe (Swallow) jet fighter on display.  I ask one of the volunteers if the Me-262 was in flying condition and he said, “Yes.”  Then he told me it was on loan from another museum, and it was actually one of the three beautiful new Me-262 reproductions built by the Classic Fighter Industries at Paine Field in Everett, Washington.

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The next stop was to visit the Galveston Railroad Museum which had a very nice collection of rolling stock. Their train station restoration was amazing and reminded me of several stations I had visited on my travels to and from duty stations while in the U.S. Navy. A large variety of train memorabilia, including original dinning ware, from the 1920s through the 1960s was also on display.

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I was disappointed when I couldn’t find the Texas Seaport Museum where I hoped to see the Tall Ship Elissa. Greta took me to the Galveston cruise ship terminal which was bustling with cruise line passengers, taxis and limousines.  The entire dock area was blotted out by the mass of the cruise ship tied up alongside the terminal, taking on passengers. The Elissa is a two-masted, iron-hulled brigantine sailing ship originally built in 1877 in Aberdeen, Scotland by the Alexander Hall & Company. The ship is one of the world’s oldest sailing ships, and is maintained and sailed annually around the Gulf of Mexico.

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I stopped and took a photo of the famous Willis-Moody Mansion there in Galveston. I had read that the mansion is a 31-room Romanesque historic residence that was built in 1895 by Narcissa Willis. It was later bought by the entrepreneur William Lewis Moody Jr. and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I decided not to take a tour of the mansion and headed back toward Houston.

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The route Greta proposed for my return to Houston took me past the small town of Texas City, TX. I was old enough (9 years old) to remember the tremendous disaster that happened at the Port of Texas City in 1947.  So I decided to stop and see if they had a museum or memorial honoring the many people that were killed as a result of that disaster.

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The small Texas City Museum is said to have a section set aside for the 1947 disaster, but the museum was closed. However, there was a Texas City Remembers park that honored the people killed in that horrific disaster.

I stopped to pay my respects.

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I made it back to Houston in time to visit the site of the Battleship USS Texas

(BB-35). I had toured two other U.S. battleships and a U.S. cruiser, so opted not to tour this ship. However, Wikipedia informed me that the ship is a New York class battleship that was commissioned in 1914. The USS Texas was involved in many actions during WWI, and again during WWII including support of Allied landings on North Africa, Normandy, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

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As I was leaving the Battleship Texas site, I noticed right ahead of me was a very tall monument. So I stopped to see what it was all about. I discovered it was the 567 foot high San Jacinto Monument, located on part of the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. This impressive monument was built to commemorate the decisive 1836 Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution. It was completed in 1939 and is the world’s tallest masonry column (13 feet taller than the Washington Monument). Leave it to Texas to be and have not only the biggest, but also claim to have the tallest!

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Next it was over to the William P. Hobby Airport to see if Greta could find The 1940 Air Terminal Museum. And what do you know; she took me right to it! I was surprised to learn that according to Wikipedia, Houston’s Hobby Airport has been around since 1927, and has had several names; W. T. Carter Field, Houston Municipal Airport and Howard R. Hughes Airport, just to name a few. This building was the first airport passenger terminal built in Houston.

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Opened in 1940, this art deco structure served as the Houston Municipal Airport Terminal until 1954 when it was renamed Houston International Airport. As the air transportation business expanded across America, Houston’s airport expanded with it, and in 1967 it was renamed, again, to what we now know as the William P. Hobby Airport. Too bad the museum was closed, as I would like to have browsed through the history of this beautiful air terminal building.

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On the way to the motel, I asked Greta to see if she could direct me to the ArtCar Museum. As it turned out, this was a small museum that displays mostly post-modern age cars, modified by artists/owners to the specifications of their own idiosyncratic images and visions. I was sorry to find this museum closed for the day, since I would have loved to seen some of those “Artists” handy work.

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Dinner tonight was Baby Back Ribs, a sweet potato with cinnamon butter and cold slaw at Longhorn Steakhouse.  It was all wonderful, and put me in the mood to kick back with a relaxing TV show and a good night’s sleep. I couldn’t find any good TV shows, so I just checked out tomorrow’s weather and went to bed.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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Pray for Peace

19 Jul

A Time to Live

Melody Hendrix

“Let us pray for peace: peace in the world and in each of our hearts.”
Pope Francis
“God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world. peace in the hearts of all men and women and peace among the nations of the Earth.”
Pope Benedict XVI
“Disasters work like alarm clocks to the world, hence God allows them. They are shouting “Wake up!” “Love!” “Pray!”
Criss Jami
pray for peace 2

 

I am retired and enjoying life. My hobbies are my 5 grandchildren, son and daughter, and my loving husband. I am a photographer and extreme nature lover. I love spending time in my garden or in the wilderness connected to God my Creator.

Melody

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More Baby Animals in our Back Yard

18 Jul

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

Squirell upside down

 

The next morning, sitting on the porch with coffee, I see a young squirrel crawl along a power line. I’ve never seen one traveling upside down before, I figure he’s trying to catch up with his playmates who zing over trees and over the heavy black lines as if they were running through air. This small one must have slipped off the top of the line and is now clinging to the bottom looking at the sky. He tries to get back on top, but the lines separate throwing him back into his awkward position. He stops and looks up. Surely he is asking God what to do next. I wouldn’t like to see him fall the twelve feet or so, and I join him in his prayer. He crawls for a second then stops to ponder again. I go closer without opening the screen door so I can see him better, but by the time I get to the screen he’s already greeting his pal on the pole.

Rabbit

 

Again, I looked up from my writing and there was the baby bunny I met on the trail a few days ago. (Not really, I’m sure it was a different one.) A larger one came too, probably a sibling. They came from the Diceranda Sanctuary behind our house. The sun through their ears, makes them resemble pink stained glass. Of course the bunnies are looking for something good to eat. Most of what we have is Spider Plant, Mexican Heather, and Purple Queen, as well as pesticide-free grass and our Azalea bush.

 

Pink azelea
Spider Plant courtesy of wikipedia
Mexican Heather
Purple Queen

To farmers the eating habits of rabbits can be devastating, but I wished they’d find something they liked so they would return. When I look up again they’ve gone to the easement. Tomorrow, I’ll bring my binoculars so I can see the critters closer up. You think you know their habits, but they can always surprise you if you watch. I saw a cardinal eat an azalea once. Did you know cardinals ate azalea petals? I didn’t. In season our big bush has so many flowers I’d be hard pressed to know which ones he has consumed.

 

 

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Fight Your Battles

17 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 

 

During a recent stay in the hospital, Fred and I came upon a plaque on a door that says so much to us, that we wanted to share it with you. It is so very true, and applies to any and all battles in your life. Here’s the picture of it we took:

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We happen to believe that this statement is quite true. You might find it a strange place to find this statement – in a hospital – but it defines the hospital. You see, it is Celebration Hospital/Health in Celebration, Florida. It is part of the Florida Hospital chain, and is founded by the Seventh Day Adventist denomination. I’m not sure that all the employees they hire are believers, but every single one that came in contact with me – up to and including the housekeeping personnel – left me with a “have a blessed day.”   And several of the nurses were talking together about the “spiritual” feel to the hospital, and how that makes a difference in their work atmosphere.

I had felt that before – when I had my total knee replacement last year. The nurses were saying the same thing that time, as well.

Although the hospital has pictures on their walls of Florida scenes, many of them have scripture verses along with them. One area has one picture for each of the days of creation. Impressive and beautiful.

I suspect that if more of us – not to mention our national leaders – would spend more time on their knees, asking God’s help with our problems, we would be in much more calm situations than we are in now.

God is my anchor. My battles will be on my knees.

 

 

Anchor for the Soul

 

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Simple quiz to see how you handle fear

16 Jul

Walking by Faith Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

His Way

LostWhat joy, the plane landed a bit earlier in Quito, Ecuador. My friend would be waiting for me and we’d be on our way to our week of ministering to those affected by the earthquake.

The airport employee who guided me out of the plane grabbed my bags and led me toward the exit of the airport. Then he asked, “What does the friend who’s picking you up look like?”

I leaned on my white cane and gave a silly grin. Although I met her during her visit to the states, being blind, I had no clue what she looked like.

“Don’t worry,” I said, “she’ll recognize me and we’ll be on our way.”

We waited. And we waited. No friend. Then logic filed in my head. What if, since I’ve been traveling so much, I ended up in the wrong country, or arrived on the wrong date.

“This is Ecuador, isn’t it?” I asked, sort of joking.

Whew! He said it was. At least it was the correct country. But with no one there to meet me, I had to decide what to do. I couldn’t use my cell phone; it had no service in a foreign country.

Here’s when we have the choice—whether we allow fear to rule us or faith empower us.

I chose the latter because of this test I gave myself. And I invite you to take it too:

  • Is God aware of our every glitch?
  • Is He faithful when we encounter unexpected circumstances?
  • Is His faithfulness active even when we fail?
  • Does His answer come in ways we never predicted?
  • Is His protection available no matter where we are?
  • Does He warn what to do about fear, worry and anxiety?
  • Can I rest, knowing His hand is upon me no matter if I’m blind, deaf or crippled?

King David might have taken this test because he declared: ”The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)

I passed the test, then gathered my suitcases around me, plopped in a chair near the exit and relaxed while I waited. If you also answer “yes” to all of the above, you’re on the way to a life of faith. And if you recognize His promises as you answered the questions, you’ve arrived at a place where faith rules, where peace reigns, where your steps are firm. And best of all, even when circumstances don’t change, your heart is secure, your thoughts are calm and His answer is sure to come.

And my answer indeed came. My friend had received wrong information from the airline, telling her the plane was delayed for three hours. Eventually she sent someone to pick me up from the airport. And although I didn’t know this person, I still trusted—not so much in her as she was a stranger, but I trusted in god who is truly trustworthy.

How about you? Are you at a place strangely painful? What does the test reveal about your fear, about your faith?

Janet

Source: Simple quiz to see how you handle fear. | Janet Perez Eckles

 

This message from a friend took my breath away. She was recently diagnosed with last stages of leukemia. And she writes:

“My heart has been blessed. My mind is at peace, my direction for ministry is more clear. God heard and is answering. Thank you. I do have a spirit of joy and peace. Even laughter! I smile thinking I get to go to Heaven first. I’ve always loved winning a race. Ha! I’ll beat you there! In reality, I’m not giving up and I am trusting for a miraculous healing and that God will continue to teach me lessons I can share with the world. What a thrill it is to be a servant of the King!”

After reading this note from her, I reflected on my reaction should a doctor tell me I only have a few months to live. How about you? How would you react?

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Smile

15 Jul

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

Louise Gibson

 

 

 

Do yourself a favor-
Smiling is good for you.
It slows down your heart beat and reduces stress,
and lowers your blood pressure, too.

 

A smile can delight your heart,
and is great at lighting a soul.
Lift someone’s spirit today-
Make smiling a top priority goal.

 

A smile is infectious-
It will always remove a frown.
Facial muscles will be raised up-
It’s the best “face lift” in town.

 

I put my theory to “the test”.
The woman in the mirror was frowning at me.
I gave her the brightest smile I could muster-
and she smiled right back at me!

 

Numbers 6:25
“The Lord make His face shine upon you,
and be gracious to you.”

 

Your smile could be a message of cheer
from God to a needy soul

 

Tea cup puppy

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My Dad Changed the Family DNA

14 Jul

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

I have been hearing about DNA Encoding. It seems that when a very traumatic event occurs in a life, it can affect the DNA, and future generations will have an irrational fear due to it. Well my dad was way ahead of the science. He didn’t give me an irrational fear but he did change the family DNA.

Me and dad

Me and dad

As a kid, if I got mouthy around him and THE LOOK from my mom didn’t work, he would grab the hair on the top of my head and pull until I was standing on tip toe. I hated having my hair pulled so I calmed down pretty quick. When our son came along, he did the usual kid thing of throwing himself on the floor and pitching a fit. Nothing worked to stop it. Finally at wit’s end, I reached down, grabbed his hair and pulled him off the floor. (Amazing how one’s body will follow the hair) It worked. Unfortunately, he did this frequently so a lot of hair pulling went on. Now I know, some people will be appalled by this, but it took the drama out of the situation.

When he was in kindergarten, his teacher asked him why the hair on the back of his head always stood up. His reply “my mom pulled it so much it stuck that way.” Embarrassing. Fast forward twenty years and he has a son whose hair sticks up in the same place.

I love this guy!

I love this guy!

My dad gave me a final hug twenty-three years ago today. I still miss him.

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 2

13 Jul

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

My 2016 Mid-West Trip Part 2
By Bill Lites

Day 2 (Sunday)

I was expecting today to be a long day, but that huge storm that hit Houston the day before was getting ready to make today even longer. That storm must have been moving slowly west while I was enjoying a good night’s sleep. I hadn’t been on the road more than a half an hour this morning when I started running into the rain. And it was solid rain from then for the next six hours. It was coming down so hard at times that I couldn’t hear my audio book on the car speaker system over the pounding of the rain on the car.

traffic_in_the_rain

Of course no one expects to have an accident just because it’s raining, but as you might expect, someone did. Just look at the car in the left lane, in the picture above, and tell me that is adequate separation for driving on an Interstate in a driving rain! How can people expect to arrive at their destination in one piece when they drive like that? Over the course of the day there were two major accidents which caused I-10 westbound traffic to back up for miles each time.

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During one of those stop-and-go episodes I was lucky enough to be able to pull off the Interstate for gas and to use the restroom. I was thinking that while I was accomplishing those tasks the traffic might hopefully clear. Well, not only did the traffic not clear up, but there were so many people stopping for gas, that there were lines at all 10 pumps, and people were using the covers over the pumps to stay out of the rain. When I finally was able to snag a pump, my credit card didn’t work. I asked the attendant why my card didn’t work and he said with all this rain his satellite connections are not working. Good thing I had some cash or I would have really been stuck. The light at the end of this very dark tunnel was that the weather in Houston was reported to be clear and dry.

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I finally made it to Houston and got to the Space Center Houston Museum around 2:30 in the afternoon. It was a large facility with a tram tour that included the NASA Human Spaceflight Training Center, the Manned Flight Control Center and the NASA Rocket Park. I ended up spending about 2-1/2 hours there, with the tram tour and walking through the museum.

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By then I was getting pretty hungry and it was starting to rain, AGAIN, so I decided to take my supper at Fuddruckers, which was just down the road. I had one of their 1/3 pound Southwest Specialty burgers. Supper was wonderful and relaxing. Then after a couple of wild goose chases around the northern part of Houston, by my friend Greta, she finally got me to my motel for the night.

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After I got settled in at the motel, I remembered I wanted to pick up a couple of items from Walmart. I asked the desk clerk for directions and found it with no problems. But, as I exited the store I realized I had forgotten to bring Greta with me so I could find my way back to the motel easily. Even with a lot of prayer, and several stops for directions, it still took me an hour to find my way back to the motel. Boy, am I ever glad this day is over. I told myself, “Never leave home-base again without Greta!”

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—–To Be Continued—–

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Find the Good

12 Jul

A Life to Live

Melody Hendrix

“Be the good you wish in the world.”  Mahatma Gandhi
“Life is a gift from God, an unlimited series of opportunities to find the good in ourselves and in others.”  Alan Cohen
“Be happy…not because everything is good, but because you can see the good in everything.”  Dale Partridge
“Life is not only about looking for the good in people… it’s about being good yourself….it’s about giving happiness to everyone you meet. It’s about enjoying the goodness of life.”  Neena Gupta
Find the good swamp sunflowers copy
I am retired and enjoying life. My hobbies are my 5 grandchildren, son and daughter, and my loving husband. I am a photographer and extreme nature lover. I love spending time in my garden or in the wilderness connected to God my Creator.
Melody

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