Best Thanksgiving Dinner Recipe

18 Nov

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

 

 

 

 

My friend stopped by the other day. We sat at the kitchen table and chatted. She rumbled in her purse. “You have to see the pictures I took during our trip,” she said.

I smiled.

“Oops,” she added, “I always forget you…well…that you can’t see.”

“I forget myself,” I said with a chuckle. (I like folks with a sense of humor.)

For me, having no sight is a way of life…actually a wonderfully blessed life. My days sweep by with gratitude, so much thankfulness that I can hear, walk, talk, and love. I am truly rich with so much.

And for that reason, I thought I’d share my unique recipe for this Thanksgiving dinner. I don’t mind if you copy it and serve it to your loved ones.

  1. Gather the ingredients stored in the cabinet of God’s Word.
  2. Stir together large portions of His promises, spoonfuls of His direction, and dashes of His admonitions.
  3. Place in a large bowl several cups of commitment to read His Word.
  4. Add generous amounts of faith to cover all traces of doubt.
  5. Blend together, adding sprinkles of laughter, of enjoyment, fun, and unexpected surprises.
  6. Bake in the oven of your heart till triumph is golden brown.

With songs of thanksgiving playing in the background, present it to the guests who come into your life. And unlike the rest of the world, instead of entering the doors to stress, gloom or anxiety for the days to come, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name” (Psalm 100:4).

Why? “For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:5).

It’s your turn, can you share some things you’ll be giving thanks for this year? Would love, love to read them. You can send them to me via comment.

Did you know most of my writings are drawn from my bestselling book, Simply Salsa: Dancing Without Fear at God’s Fiesta? Did you get your own copy yet? And how about one for that person who needs encouragement and a reason to feel joy again?

Simply Salsa is available HERE.

Janet

Video sneak peek:  https://youtu.be/Ox9zAIeRRTA

Source: http://www.janetperezeckles.com/blog/best-thanksgiving-dinner-recipe.html#comment-961

 

 

 

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It’s in the Air!

17 Nov

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

 

author of Window Wonders

 

 

 

Something stirred in my soul today,
an excitement deep within.
The “Little Kid” in me wants to express herself.
“It’s holiday time again!”

 

There is something so special in the air,
It reaches down deep within our soul.
To glorify Christ in all that we do
should be our ultimate goal.

 

Look up. Around, and deep within.
His presence is truly made known.
How comforting it is for us to know
God is always “on His throne”.

 

Our mission on earth is to glorify Christ.
Our actions speak volumes. that’s true-
Think carefully before you speak.
Let others see Christ in you.

 

Let Others See Jesus In You by Eliza E. Hewitt

 

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Road Trip~Amarillo, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico

16 Nov

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

 

September 11, 2017 Day 5

I awoke early, tired from a restless night and anxious to hear from our daughter who had decided to ride out Hurricane Irma alone.  She sent a video text of her back yard around 7:30 am and I was relieved that she was safe and her property as well.  It was with a thankful heart that we began the next leg of our trip.

You can read her story of Hurricane Irma on her blog, Rebekah Lyn’s Kitchen

Leaving Amarillo we passed fields with beautiful yellow flowers. Unfortunately, the flowers were not the scent we were smelling.  Amarillo is  home to of a number of Cattle and Livestock companies. If you would like to know more about livestock auctions, I found an auction house online.

I hadn’t noticed when I was in the planning stages of this trip, how close Amarillo is to New Mexico. In no time we were crossing the border!

 

 

 

Judy Wills, a blogger here on Old Things R New wrote an extensive series about her life in New Mexico and I was anxious to visit some of the places she wrote of. You may enjoy reading her posts, Memories of New Mexico .

Once we entered New Mexico, the cattle ranches fell away replaced by arid landscapes. One of the most fascinating features of New Mexico was the variety or rocks in their mountains. More about that next week.

 

 

We arrived at our hotel in Albuquerque around  3pm and after carting up our ridiculous amount of luggage, we set off to explore. I had asked Judy which restaurants in the Old Town she would recommend. I wanted to experience real  Mexican flavor. We decided on El Pinto. What a beautiful restaurant. It has extensive garden seating with more fountains than I could count and the landscaping was lush. Our server was a delightful young man. He asked where we were from and he was surprised to learn with both grew  up in Orlando!  Even more coincidental, he lived in a subdivision our where our daughter once lived and his grandparents were still there. Small world!  We asked how they fared during Hurricane Irma and were happy to know they were safe. I asked him why he decided to move to New Mexico and he said school and the weather. He hated Florida’s humidity. We could certainly agree with his feelings!

 

 

 

After supper we decided to visit Old Town to walk off some of the delicious meal. There was a lot of road construction in the area, so it took a couple of tries before we made it into the entrance. It is a beautiful and quaint area and we enjoyed exploring it.

 

San Felipe de Neri Church, the oldest building in the city, which was built in 1793.

 

We managed to get turned around leaving Old Town. We went down a couple of alleys that seemed a bit dodgy but eventually found an on ramp to the interstate.

Only one more day of driving was left until we would reach Denver where our daughter and a friend were flying into the international airport to meet us. Rebekah had spent the day assessing  a leak in her kitchen due to the storm and trying to find someone to go up on the roof to find the source.

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America’s North Country Trip~Part 9

15 Nov

A Slice of Life
Bill Lites

Bill

 

Day 9 (Saturday)

This morning I had to do a little back tracking, as I headed south out of Missoula on I-90, back thru Butte, to pick up I-15 south toward Idaho Falls. The first stop was to visit the Beaverhead County Museum located in Dillon, MT. This was a small but very well kept museum situated in the Old Pacific Railroad train station. The station has been restored and now contains the Old Depot Museum, with local artifacts and memorabilia, the Old Depot Theater, and the Lewis & Clark Diorama Bird Display. Outside there was a restored one-room schoolhouse, a restored 1885 one-room log cabin and an early 1900’s Shepard’s wagon.

 

 

Now as I was leaving town, I happened to pass a curio shop with the sign that read “Bitterroot Trading Post” and I just had to stop and take a photo. For some reason, that sign just yelled out loud at me, “Come See the Pioneer West Here.”

 

 

At the suggestion of the tour guide at the Old Depot Museum, and just a few miles down the road, I visited the Bannack State Park located in Beaverhead County on Grasshopper Creek. The town of Bannack was founded in 1862 after a major gold strike was made in the area, and got its name from the local Bannock Indians. The town of Bannack grew so big that it served as the capital of the Montana Territory until the capital was moved to Virginia City. After the gold ran out and the last inhabitants left, the abandoned town, and its 60 buildings continued to decline, over the years, from wind and weather until finally becoming the ghost town that it is today.

 

 

As I continued south on I-15 I stopped at a rest stop to check out a sign for the Nez Perce War. As it turned out, the Nez Perce War was between the Nez Perce tribe and their allies the Palouse tribe and the U.S. Army in 1877. This conflict was motivated when the Indians (called “non-treaty Indians) refused to move to the Idaho Indian reservation. In fact it was a violation to the 1855 Treaty of Walla Walla for the Army to force the Indians to leave their established ancestral lands. The Indians resisted, and the Army chased some of them all the way to Canada.

 

 

Next I visited the Pacific Fighter Restorations, located at the Idaho Falls Regional Airport in Idaho Falls, ID. This was a one-hanger warbird restoration facility that had several WWII aircraft in various stages of restoration. The folks were very friendly and allowed me to walk thru their shop and take photos of their various projects, while they watched the airshow going on from their hanger door.

 

 

During the planning of this trip, I had researched 2017 airshows to be held in the U.S. and discovered there was one in Idaho Fall on the weekend of July 22-23 at this airport. That worked into my scheduled route, and I had purchased an online advanced ticket for the 23. While I was at the airport today, I checked out the parking area with Greta so I could drive right to it in the morning.

 

 

Now I headed south on I-15 for a quick trip to visit the Idaho Potato Museum located in Blackfoot, ID. This museum is located in what was the original Union Pacific Railroad train depot there in Blackfoot, and displays all sorts of potato industry related artifacts and memorabilia. I found the “Timeline History” of potatoe consumption in the U.S. very informative, as well as the 1600 year old Peruvian-made vessels that are believed to be the first ever containers used to store potatoes.

 

 

As part of the museum, they have a small “Potatoe Station Café” where you can get potato-themed foods of all kinds. I’m sure DiVoran would have liked their chocolate dipped potatoe chips. And then of course there is the Spud Seller” gift shop. They had a series of catchy video advertisements that I thought were very creative. Try the link below to see what I mean.

 

 

Now it was time to head back to Idaho Falls to find my motel and look for a place to have dinner. On the way, I stopped in Shelley, ID to see if anyone was flying model airplanes at the Red Baron R/C Modelers field. Greta had a hard time finding the field since it was located within the North Bingham County Recreation Area. The club has a nice field, but no one was flying this afternoon.

At tonight’s motel, there in Idaho Falls, I ask the desk clerk if she could recommend a good restaurant. She said she liked Jalisco’s Mexican Restaurant located not far from the motel. That sounded good to me, so I gave Greta the address and we were on our way. I tried their “Casa Ranchero” and it was wonderful. Of course there was way too much for me to eat at one sitting, so I would have plenty left to enjoy again tomorrow night.

 

—–To Be Continued—–

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Creating a Florida Butterfly Garden

14 Nov

A Time to Live

Melody Hendrix

 

 

God might just have designed things in our world to bring us pleasure – that it might have given Him pleasure to create such a diverse and interesting world of color and intricacy to point us to Himself!

I feel close to God when I am in my butterfly garden.

 

 

Anyone can create a welcoming haven for your local butterflies. It takes some planning, but the rewards are great! You can even attract butterflies in a small container garden on a porch.

 

 

Let’s start with finding out what zone you are at the link below.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Each butterfly species has it’s own nectar flowers and host plant. Find out what your common butterflies are and what are their nectar flowers and what are their host plants. Some plants may not be possible for you to grow, so pick at least two species of butterflies that you can provide for it’s life cycle. For the Monarch, it’s nectar plant and it’s host plant is the same. The milkweed.

 

 

There are several kinds, but the most common is the tropical milkweed. It is not native or the best one, but it’s rare to find the swamp milkweed which is native. One advantage of the Tropical is that you can grow it from seeds or preferably cuttings. You will need a lot of it. The caterpillar is a voracious eater, capable of consumming an entire leaf in less than five minutes. They gain about 2700 times their own weight.

 

 

Here is a link to butterfly garden designs.

The location of your garden is important. It should be an area where no insecticides such as malathion, Sevin and diazinon will be used. Even benign insecticides are lethal to butterflies.

It should have some shade but mostly sun. Butterflies feed in the sun. They are cold blooded and need to warm up and dry out from the dew in the morning.

 

 

 

Try to choose plants that bloom at different times of the year for continuous flowers.

Here is a link below for butterfly nectar plants in Florida

http://www.nsis.org/butterfly/butterfly-plants-nectar.html

These are the plants I have had the most success with.

Milkweed, tall red Pentas, Mexican sunflower, Firebush, Firespike, Jatropha, Butterfly bush, blue Porterweed, coral Porterweed, Lantana, Salvia, Parsley, Dill, Plumbago

If you can, plant for each stage of the butterflies life.

Here are some fun pampering you can do for your butterflies

Make a puddler

 

 

Many species of butterflies congregate on wet sand and mud to partake in “puddling,” drinking water and extracting minerals from damp puddles. In many species, this “mud-puddling” behavior is restricted to the males, and studies have suggested that the nutrients collected may be provided as a nuptial gift during mating. It provides salts and minerals for egg making.

Fill a container or bird bath with play sand and add about 2 tablespoons of manure. Mix well and push to one side to leave an emply area for some tiny gravel and flat rocks. Pour enough water in to soak the sand, but don’t let water sit above the sand or the rocks.

Feed them a fruit treat. Some butterflies enjoy the sweet nectar that comes from fragrant fruit.

http://butterfly-lady.com/butterflies-and-fruit/

The cute butterfly houses you see with the slits in them are a nice decor, but the butterflies do not use them.

A group of butterflies is called a “Flutter” Often times you will see a female with more than one male following her scent. Eventually one will win and they will fall to the ground and connect the tips of their abdomen. The male will transfer his package of sperm. Sometimes they fly connected for a while. The female has about 100 eggs to deposit on her host plant.

 

 

She lays one egg at a time and each are fertilized as they pass by the sperm package. Only about 2 percent will survive. Ants, wasps and other pests will devour most eggs and caterpillars.

 

 

Next week we will learn all about the Monarch butterfly. See ya then…

 

 

 

 

 

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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Wisdom From a Nonagenarian

13 Nov

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

 

I’m reading a memoir by a 91 year old author that I met at a community sale on Friday. From it, I gleaned this valuable tip on living a good life.

 

 

 

 

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Circuitous Travel~Part 12

12 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 

We are getting close to the end of our week in London – much to our sorrow. We love all things England, and the greater London area in particular.

However, we were excited about the day ahead of us. Our first venture was a bus tour to Warwick (pronounced War-ick, not War-wick) Castle.

 

Gatehouse

 

We were eager to able to visit this beautiful castle. We were told that many motion pictures that involve castles are filmed at this site. Makes sense – it is a beautiful site.

 

Castle grounds and gardens

 

From “Primary Facts” I gleaned: …..facts about Warwick Castle, located near the River Avon, in the county of Warwickshire.

 A motte-and-bailey castle was built on the site of Warwick Castle. This early castle was built in 1068 by the Normans following William the Conqueror’s victory in the Battle of Hastings.

The motte-and-bailey castle was upgraded to stone during the reign of Henry II. A curtain wall was built with buildings up against it.

 In the 14th century, a gatehouse was added and several towers were constructed.

 In 1469, during the time of the Wars of the Roses, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, imprisoned King Edward IV in Warwick Castle.

 Richard III ordered for two gun towers to be added to Warwick Castle in the 1480s. These were called Bear Tower and Clarence Tower.

 During the 16th century, Warwick Castle started to fall into disrepair. In fact, when Queen Elizabeth I visited, a separate building had to built for her to stay in.

 

Caesar’s Tower

 

We were pleased to see the Red Knight on display for us.

 

 

When Fred and I visited back in 1970, the castle was in private hands. At this point in time (1983) it was owned by the Madam Tussaud’s company, and the company had added animated figures in some of the rooms. Quite interesting.

Following our visit to the castle, we went on to Stratford-Upon-Avon, and we especially wanted to see Anne Hathaway’s Cottage.

 

The town gate

 

Again, when Fred and I had visited in 1970, the thatch on the roof of the cottage was being repaired. Seems that a young man in the village wanted to impress his girlfriend, so he set fire to the roof! We were fortunate to be there at the time the roof was actually being repaired. It gave us a true insight into how a thatch roof is constructed. Most interesting and entertaining.

 

1970 – Anne Hathaway’s Cottage with Reconstruction sign

 

 

Wikipedia provided the following: Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is a twelve-roomed farmhouse where Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, lived as a child in the village of Shottery, Warwickshire, England, about 1 mile west of Stratford-upon-Avon.

We also found the town of Stratford-Upon-Avon to be quite entertaining. While we knew, of course, that it was the birthplace of William Shakespeare, it had other interests as well.

 

Shakespeare’s birthplace

 

The official Stratford-Upon-Avon website states:   Stratford-upon-Avon, a medieval market town in England’s West Midlands, is the 16th-century birthplace of William Shakespeare. Possibly the most famous writer in the English language, Shakespeare is known for his sonnets and plays such as ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Hamlet’. The Royal Shakespeare Company performs his plays in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and adjacent Swan Theatre on the banks of the River Avon.

 

The Old Weaver’s House – built in A.D. 1500

 

So much history in England…and we thoroughly enjoy it!

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

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How to get rid of panic attacks.

11 Nov

Walking by Faith, not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

 

 

Reblogged 11/11/17

 

Temptation got closer and I nearly succumbed to a low-grade panic attack.

Excitement was building in me as I sat at the gate in the San Francisco airport. The trip from Orlando had been long, but I was now closer to my final destination. Once I boarded that 30-passenger plane, I’d soon be in North Bend, Oregon to keynote a ladies’ event.

But that anticipation vanished when I heard the gate agent make this announcement. “We’re offering a $300 credit for any volunteers to stay and we’ll pay hotel and meals.”

Gulp. Does that mean the plane is full? With white cane in one hand and my bag on the other, I was ready to board.

The airport escort who was to help me in the plane leaned toward me. “They are in big trouble because you, who needed assistance, should have boarded first. They didn’t do that. And now no more passengers can board because the plane has reached the weight limit. Next flight isn’t till tomorrow.”

No way. If I missed this flight, I’d miss the event which had been booked one year in advance.

But before my heart would begin beating fast, I was distracted by the flare of anger from passengers to my right and my left. Cursing, ranting, accusing and nearly attacking the gate agent.

I could’ve joined the madness. Or I could’ve panicked, complained and demanded my right to board. But I learned that I must never, never give something or someone the power to rattle me.

How about you? Here are three stern instructions from God that keep us from granting power to external influences:

  1. Refuse to give the situation the power to control our thoughts. All begins in the mind. We can choose thoughts that align with the victim mentality, thoughts of indignation, or thoughts of dark defeat.

Or instead, go with this option: “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

God’s excellent plan for me to speak would prevail no matter the flight obstacle. That became my foremost thought.

  1. Refuse to give it the power to bring on worry and anxiety. No one can make you worry. No one can make you frustrated. And still, no one or nothing can bring about anxiety…unless you give it the power.

God says “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:27)

  1. Refuse to give it the power to take over your emotions. The world gives us reasons to be frazzled, and we receive it. Announcements at airport gates give us news that brings on stress. Sadly, we receive it. And others give us reasons to make our blood pressure rise, and what do we do? We give it the power by receiving it.

Good news is that victory comes when we refuse to give each of the above power. And, instead receive what Jesus offers: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” (John 14:27)

Receiving His peace brings the most important solution—a calm heart. And with that peaceful heart I smiled big when the airline attendant said, “C’mon Mrs. Eckles, take my arm, we’re going to board you now.”

Father, I confess. I’m tempted to burst into negative emotions when things don’t go my way. Help me to remember that with You at work in me, I have all the power to conquer any attacks of panic, of fear or worry. In Jesus’ name, amen.

When facing panic attacks, can you identify to whom, or to what have you given power?

Janet

Video sneak peek: https://youtu.be/oZptO6OkLEY

 

Source: http://www.janetperezeckles.com/blog/get-rid-panic-attacks.html

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The Things You Should Always Remember

10 Nov

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

 

author of Window Wonders

 

 

 

 

The events in our life are meant to be.
God has a plan for our life.
Putting faith in that plan
will ward away the strife.

 

May you always remember God is in control.
Trust Him as He leads you each day.
We are weak. He is strong.
His way is truly the best way.

 

There is a peace that can be found,
knowing His plan is playing out in our life.
Putting our faith in that plan
will ward away the strife.

 

God truly wants the best for us.
Walking in His footsteps is His plan for man.
To be more like our Savior
is God’s ultimate plan.

 

Photo by Jake Melara on Unsplash

 

 

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America’s North Country Trip~Part 8

8 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

 

 

Day 8 (Friday)

 

After a short drive west on I-90 this morning, I visited the World Museum of Mining located on the outskirts of Butte, MT. This museum is located on a 22-acre site of what is an inactive silver & zinc mine named the Orphan Girl. As part of the museum, there is a 37- building reconstruction of a typical mining town called “Hell Roarin’ Gulch” which displays thousands of articles common to the miner’s way of life in the early 1890’s. I didn’t try to walk on the cobble-stoned streets, and stuck to the boardwalks on either side of the street.

 

 

I-90 makes a swing northwest, thru the mountains as I headed to visit the Old Montana Prison located in Deer Lodge, MT. I discovered that the Powell County Museum & Arts Foundation (PCMAF) operates what they describe as a museum complex, with several museums within a three block area. This included five of the museums I had on my list to visit there in Deer Lodge. I started with the Old Prison Museum. This is a massive prison complex, said to have been built using prison labor. This early 1800’s Montana Territory prison is now being maintained by the PCMAF but is not restored. As a result, there are only certain parts of the prison that can be toured.

 

 

Since one ticket gets you into all of the Museum Complex museums, I now walked next door to the Montana Auto Museum. This museum consists of over 150 beautifully restored automobiles dating back to 1903. It’s hard for me to walk thru an auto museum like this and not want to stop and take a photo of each and every auto, as well as read all about them.

 

 

Across the street I started with the Powell County Museum which consisted of local early Montana artifacts and memorabilia. Another store next door included handmade items (mostly leather goods) that inmates have made at the Montana State Prison and are brought here for sale.

 

 

The Cottonwood City park was a collection of restored early 1850’s Montana prairie structures including a church, a one-room schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop and a gazebo.

 

 

Next door was the Frontier Montana Museum which consisted of mostly pioneer and early Montana artifacts and memorabilia, including a covered wagon and a sheriff’s office and jail cell, and the Capa’s Cowboy Collection. This building also housed the WWII Exhibit which included U.S. Army and USAAC artifacts, and memorabilia. I was surprised to see a display for the memory of Bud Anderson, a B-24 pilot during WWII. I knew of a Bud Anderson who was a P-51 fighter ace during WWII, so couldn’t correlate the names with the planes they flew.

 

 

Now it was back onto I-90, heading west to visit the Smokejumpers Visitor Center located in Missoula, MT. This was a very informative facility, located adjacent to the Missoula International Airport. I was informed that Missoula is home to the largest smokejumper base in the U.S. The Visitor Center also has a smoke jumpers loft that allows visitors an opportunity to learn about firefighting procedures, smoke jumping history, and other fire related issues.

 

 

At the other end of the Missoula International Airport I visited the Museum of Mountain Flying. This museum turned out to be situated in a one large hanger with several beautifully restored aircraft, including the original DC-3 used to drop the Mann Gulch smokejumpers in August 1949. Unfortunately 13 jumpers were overcome and died in that fire. The museum also displays artifacts and memorabilia related to the Rocky Mountain flying history.

 

Now I went looking for the Boone & Crockett Club located on the Clark Fork River there in Missoula. Here again Greta had a hard time locating the address. She would tell me I had arrived at the requested address, when actually the building was below that location on the riverbank. This turned out to be a private club, founded by Theodore Roosevelt and other visionaries in 1887. The idea behind the club was basically wildlife conservation for future generations. Since I was not a member, and wasn’t a guest of anyone, I wasn’t invited in. That was just as well, since it was time to head for my motel there in Missoula for the evening.

 

 

 

As luck would have it, on the way to the motel, I came across a Fuddruckers’s Restaurant (one of my favorites) and stopped in to experience one of their “Elk Burgers” for the first time. No. it didn’t taste like chicken. It tasted like venison, in case any of you has ever eaten venison.   As usual, it was delicious, and I went to the motel with a full and happy tummy.

 

 

—–To Be Continued—–

 

 

 

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