Christmas Walk

5 Jan

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistHi, I feel as if I haven’t talked with anyone for quite a while. I’ve been sick, you know. I’m such a baby about that. I want to be treated like a princess and my prince indulges me. It’s the season for colds and I had the one that was going around. It started about the time we got home from our family Christmas celebration. I was so thankful that I felt good all that glorious, wondrous day.

We drove over to Orange City in the middle of the state where our son and his family live. The house was beautifully decorated for Christmas. Granddaughter, Lacey, grandson, Jacob, and his friend, Tiffany, from Missouri were waiting for company, along with mother and ad. Jacob and Tiffany met in Japan in their Japanese language class. She’s a lovely, quietly unassuming redhead, who loves Jacob’s puns. Our daughter, Renie and her husband, Ron, arrived soon after we did.

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There was more food than any nine people could eat in a day, though we did our best. It wasn’t exactly traditional Christmas fare, but started out as brunch and was enough to feed all of us throughout the day, including take-home.

Of course we enjoyed the chat as we seemed to ebb and flow around various conversational areas. It’s grand how pleasantly the time passes when you’re with people you love and enjoy.The best part was when we decided to go for a walk. We have always walked as a family. I have walked as a pastime for my whole life. I walked my children, and then the grandchildren.

We got in two cars and drove over to Blue Springs which is only five minutes from the house. It’s so charming the way a group of people can take a walk together. I don’t know how it evolves, but somehow a person will be walking and then, for a while, there’s someone coming alongside and they talk sweetly together about the things that matter. The next thing you know you’re walking with, or perhaps standing next to someone else looking over a rail into the water.

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We went to Blue Springs which is only about five minutes away from where Billy and Lisa live. As soon as we got to the head of the stream, up by the boil, we got to see some manatees. Those usually only come up into the spring on very cold days to stay warm, so I was really surprised to see them.

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Tiffany asked Bill about where the swamp was and Bill turned the question over to our son, Billy, the environmentalist, because she’d get a fuller, better answer from him. He pointed down at a pool of apparently standing water (it’s never really sill, though) and said, that’s a swamp. Then he explained a bit about what that meant. The water was clean, but tinted brown from the tannic acid from fallen leaves. Tiffany listened avidly as seems to be her way and then we all went on.

Tiffany is studying languages. She and Jacob met in Japan in their Japanese language class. They ended up climbing Mt. Fuji together. It was grueling, but they were together, so what did they care?

We who live close to the east coast left at about three-thirty in the afternoon. By the time we got home, I was hurting all over and yet thanking God that we’d had such a grand day. I rejoiced that I’d made it all the way through without even knowing I was sick.

For the next picture, we laid five phones on a big stump and asked some passing young men to take pictures. We had several volunteers and a lot of pictures.

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An Amazing Adventure~Part 11

4 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

After we had crossed the Continental Divide at Milner Pass, we drove on up to and stopped at the Alpine Visitor Center, at 11,796’ above sea level.

The air temperature was only 56°!! We were glad we had our sweaters and jackets with us! The tree line is at about 11,000’, so we were well above that, and vegetation was sparse, and we were glad we were inside the vehicle!

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On one side of the mountain was some left-over snow! I guess the sun doesn’t get to that side of the mountain very often.

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There were about a dozen chipmunks running around there—all along the stonewall– at least five or six were running at a time. One even jumped on Brian’s jacket, before jumping off quickly. They were really cute—standing on their hind legs, paws up, begging.

We drove along the Trail Ridge Road and it’s reported to be the highest continuous PAVED highway in the United States. It was still pretty rough and narrow, but at least it was paved.

We drove to and parked at the Bear Lake Ranger Station.

There was a trail Brian wanted to walk, but thought it would be too difficult for us, so he took off by himself. We were to meet up back at the parking lot. Karen, Fred and I began our “virtually flat” walk around the lake. We discovered that their idea of virtually flat and ours, differed greatly! There were times it was pretty rough going—but we eventually made it. It was a lovely walk and a gorgeous lake to walk around. Again, there were stands of Aspen trees that were just beautiful.

 

As we were leaving Bear Lake, we came upon a LOT of cars parked by the side of the road. So we stopped to see what was going on. And we were so glad we did! There was a heard of Elk in the meadow—one bull and about 10 cows, with one rather young calf in the mix. We got a lot of good pictures. We were amused to see that the bull was chasing after one particular cow—and she was having absolutely NOTHING to do with him! He bellowed quite a few times. It was so funny!

As we drove off again, we came to a few more Elk by the side of the road– just eating. We stopped and took more pictures. They seemed to pay us no mind at all.

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It was time to head to Denver for our final two nights. But we stopped in Estes Park for dinner. We stopped at a place called Baba’s Burgers and Gyro’s—just a small diner on the side of the road. They were actually about to close, but they told us we could come on in and eat. We were glad they did, because those who came in after us were turned away! There was one other couple in the diner, and as we all got to talking, it turned out they were from Orlando, as well! Small world! The food was really good, and we were glad we had stopped.

 

 

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

 

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The best New Year’s resolution.

3 Jan

Monday many of us will head back to work or school armed with our New Year Resolutions. Will they fall by the wayside of good interntions or will they thrive?

It is Always Too Soon to Quit

2 Jan

From my Heart

Louise Gibson

Louise Gibson

 

Let your dream be bigger than your fear.

Hold on to your vision and persevere.

The fuel for your journey is a spark.

By perseverance the snail reached the ark.

 

Love always perseveres;

a force strong and true.

It motivates your best interests

and brings out the best in you.

 

Don’t despise the day of small things.

It is the small thing that forms the framework of our day.

Keep an attitude of gratitude

as the Lord leads you to do all things His way.

 

 

Father Jean Nicholas Grou wrote:

“Little things come daily, hourly, within our reach.,

and they are no less calculated to set forward

our growth in holiness than are the greater occasions

which occur but rarely. Moreover, fidelity in trifles, and

an earnest seeking to please God in little matters is a

test of real devotion and love. Let your aim be to please

our dear Lord perfectly in little things.”

 

Small Things

 

 

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Angels Unaware

1 Jan

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

When my beloved dog, Max died,  I decided to not adopt another dog. One reason was that it just hurt too much to lose him.

Max

When we moved to North Carolina I was delighted to discover our new home came complete with a porch dog. At first we didn’t know his name so the grandchildren named him Oreo, so named due to his black and white markings. We later learned his name is Gus. We call him our porch dog because he comes to sit with us on our porch, he is always polite never begging for food or jumping( he does occasionally try to be a lap dog). He just wants to share his love with us. On days my husband works in his wood working shop, Gus is there to guard the door and keep him company and is always ready for a walk to the mailbox. In return we share juicy tidbits of meat scraps. His owners don’t mind.

One day last week Gus did the sweetest thing. It was a very chilly morning and Mike was in the garage, changing the oil in our car  Even though he laid some blankets on the concrete he was still  freezing. As he lay there, shivering, Gus found Mike and crawled under the car. He laid down next to him, then sensing how cold Mike was, he snuggled closer, molding his body to Mike, sharing his warmth with him.

The Bible speaks of entertaining angels unaware, I wonder if Gus might be ours.

Gus JPEG copy

 

Hebrews 13:2  Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Wishing each of our readers a year full of blessings in  2015. In the words of Corrie Ten Boom, one of the most inspiring women I know of, the best is yet to come.

CORRIE The best is yet to come

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My Colonial States~Trip Part 7

31 Dec

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Red Spot Plane

The reason it was late in the day when I arrived in Saratoga Springs was because when I left the Bellow Falls, “Greta” told me to head north 27 miles when I should have been heading south!  What was that all about?  Even though I had missed seeing a couple of museums, it had been a very delightful day’s journey, as the changing of the tree colors had been growing more beautiful as I traversed thru northern New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.

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Even though it was late in the day, I hustled down to Glenville, NY to check out the Empire State Aerosciences Museum, but missed getting in to see their hangered collection by 30 minutes (they closed at 4:00 pm).  I was really hoping to visit this museum as I was looking forward to seeing their restoration hanger projects, which I understood was extensive.  I was however, able to get a few pictures of their outdoor static display aircraft, but had to shoot through the chain-link fence.    But, oh well, you can’t see them all.  Maybe next time.

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I ended the day by taking a leisurely drive thru Schenectady, NY to Albany, NY where I had a wonderful meal of Fall-Off-The-Bone Ribs at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant, and then it was just a matter of finding my motel for the night.

The next morning I headed south again thru Germantown, NY to be re-acquainted with some really old friends (aircraft) at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Red Hook, NY.  I had visited the Aerodrome back in 2011, during a trip to the up-state New York area, and wanted to check out any new aircraft they might have added to their collection.

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 I also wanted to see their freshly restored 1917 Albatros D.Va replica.  This Albatros replica had been built in the 1970s by Aerodrome founder Cole Palen, and finished in the colors of WWI Bavarian fighter ace Eduard Ritter von Schleich of Jasta 21 in 1917.

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The plane had been an Old Rhinebeck Airshow favorite for many years.  Part of the recent complete restoration included a new paint scheme depicting one of the aircraft flown by another well-known WWI Bavarian fighter ace in 1918, Lieutenant Walter Boning of Jasta 76b.

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Two more of my favorite aircraft in the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome collection are the 1911 Curtiss Model D Pusher, and the 1909 Bleriot XI, which has the distinction of being the oldest flying aircraft in the United States.

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      1911 Curtiss Model D Pusher

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1909 Bleriot XI

It was hard to pull myself away from this museum, but I needed to keep moving if I was going to see all the places on my list for that day.  So, heading south a short distance, I skirted the Catskill Mountains on my way to visit the Trolley Museum of New York in Kingston, NY.  This small museum wasn’t open until later in the day, but the lady saw me at the door and let me in any way.  That was nice as I had the entire museum and its rolling stock all to myself.  The museum operates a trolley line ride from Gallo Park to Kingston Point providing scenic views along the Hudson River.

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As I was leaving the Trolley Museum I noticed that the surrounding area looked very familiar.  I had been so intent on finding the Trolley Museum that I had driven right past the Hudson River Maritime Museum, one of the museums I had visited during my Upstate New York trip back in 2011.  I stopped long enough to take a couple of photos of the “Mathilda” which is a 1898 steam tug boat, and then I was on my way again. 

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—–To Be Continued—–

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2014 in review for Old Things R New

30 Dec

I am so proud of my friends who blog here. There faithfulness inspires me to be better.

 

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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A Light Affliction

29 Dec

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and Artist

Pens

 

Purple pen, blue pen.

What do you write pen?

 

scan0102

 

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An Amazing Adventure~Part 10

28 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

                                                  

The next morning, we had a buffet breakfast at the hotel, then stopping for a gas fill up before heading East. Our first stop was at Beaver Creek Ski Resort. Brian parked the van and we headed up to the Beaver Creek Village.

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Very swanky ski resort there—unique shops mostly pertaining to the ski industry. And apparently President Gerald R. Ford and his wife, Betty, were great enthusiasts in the area—so much so that there was Gerald R. Ford Hall, a convention center of sorts.

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We saw some gorgeous bronze figures there.

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It was heading on toward lunchtime by that time, so we decided to just stop there and eat before heading on to Vail. We stopped at The Blue Moose for pizza and a soda. REALLY good pizza! We ate at one of the outdoor tables, and thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and cool weather.

From Beaver Creek we drove on to Vail, Colorado proper and Lionshead Village. We visited Vail Village and Ford Park—the Betty Ford Alpine Park, which is the world’s highest botanical garden. Beautiful garden, with a children’s section in it, as well. Some gorgeous leaf-changing color, as well.

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From Vail/Beaver Creek, we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park.

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We saw Grand Lake, and Lake Grandy. We saw some very old cars! Don’t know exactly why they were there, but it was fun to see them.

There was also a bronze memorial to Park Ranger Suzanne Elizabeth Roberts, who was killed by a rockfall while in the Haleakala National Park on Maui, Hawaii. She had served at Rocky Mountain National Park for 10 years before going to Hawaii. Nice Memorial.

We were most impressed with the huge stands of Aspen trees we saw. Those were the trees that I grew up seeing in the New Mexico mountains outside Albuquerque, so they meant a lot to me. Those yellow and orange leaves were just beautiful!

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The outside air temperature was 71° as we started up the mountain, and was 58° at 10,500’ which was two miles above sea level!   Brian was quite insistent that he wanted to see a MOOSE! So we kept looking all along the drive up. He did finally see one—laying down—but he saw it! It had quite a large rack (of horns) on it, as well. Brian was well pleased.

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We crossed the Continental Divide at Milner Pass, which sits at 10,759’ above sea level. The air temperature was 60° there—rather chilly!

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

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The danger of trusting your emotions.

27 Dec

Janet has a powerful message for us today.

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