Tag Archives: Christian bloggers

Christmas is Coming

3 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I concentrated on Thanksgiving during the month of November 2023.  Now it is December 2023, and I would like to concentrate on Christmas.  I would like to describe decorations – both around the neighborhood, in our house (and others houses we’ve visited), and some of the decorations from years past at our growing-up house and our Aunt Jessie’s house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the decorations that our church does each year.

For those about our church, I want to explain that within our congregation are a few people who were animators for Disney here in Orlando.  Consequently, the ideas they put forth are quite elegant and beautiful. Please keep that in mind when I describe and show pictures of some of those decorations.  

I think I want to start with what our Mother did for our house in Albuquerque.  This one from 1952 is the earliest I have of any decorations – that’s me, with the fireplace mantle decorations, and all the Christmas cards Mom and Dad received taped to the side windows.

 And here’s one from 1958 that shows the “corner” of the living room with the tree and all. 

Another one from 1958 – the decoration Mom put on the mirror above the mantle.  They didn’t have “clings” back in those days – it was probably the “spray-on-snow” that is so difficult to remove – at least I don’t remember Mom doing that any other year.

This one from 1964 shows Mom, Dad and me, and the way Mom taped the Christmas cards onto the front door.

 And this one from 1966 shows my Granny and the decorations Mom placed on the shelf under the side window.

Moving on from the house I grew up in, to my Aunt Jessie’s house.  She and Granny lived about 10 minutes away from us, and had a neat house that DiVoran called “Art Deco” style.  I loved that house almost as much as my own.  

It wasn’t huge, but had some unique features to it – including a basement.  Here are some of the decorations Jessie did:

I remember her making Christmas “candles” by pouring melted paraffin wax into those old (cleaned out) square milk cartons.  The paraffin had melted crayons in them, to make different colors of the candles.  She would then take some of the melted paraffin (no color) and whip it up with her electric mixer to make a “foam” or frosting-like that she spread on the outside of the candle when it  had cooled.  Here is a picture of her holding one of her candles.  This was sometime in the 1950’s

And here is Jessie, Granny and a good friend of theirs that we called “Aunt Clarkie” in Jessie’s house at Christmas time.  You can see the candles Jessie made on the stair-step room divider from the dining room into the living room.  This picture was taken in 1960.

And here is a table arrangement that Jessie did in 1963.  She had really elegant  taste in the way she decorated.

Here is the decoration she did by the fireplace and mantle in 1963.  Loved those stockings!

And here’s a front door decoration she did in 1964.  I have another picture of a front-door decoration she did, but the picture is not good quality.

This concludes the pictures from my childhood – both our house and our Aunt Jessie’s house.  Next time will be the decorations we did with our house.  Unfortunately, I don’t have either my Mother’s or Aunt Jessie’s good taste in decorations – but we like what we do!

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

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Maybe…Not

30 Nov

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

A week has passed since we celebrated Thanksgiving. I hope that it was a special day for each one of you. Our celebration has changed with the years, beloved parents passed on, children are grown and even the grands are grown. No great-grands as of yet to add excitement to the gathering. Still, it was a good day, we have almost finished off the leftover casseroles and dessert is long gone. The turkey was repurposed into a lemon-turkey soup. Very tasty.

I’ve been thinking about two words of late, maybe and hopefully and how best to use them. Maybe seems to carry a positive and negative vibe, whereas hopefully seems all positive.

For example. since we have health challenges, we could say maybe tomorrow will be better. But that indicates a 50-50 chance of being better, leaving room for doubt. When I say hopefully tomorrow will be better, I see tomorrow in a positive light.

Of course maybe can mean simply maybe. As in, maybe I will go the store today. No emotion involved.

My obsession with the two words may seem well, obsessive, but I think word choices matter. They matter whether they are voiced or thought. For me being hopeful makes life sweeter.

Each year I choose a focus verse for my digital prayer journal. I like to create a headline graphic so that it captures my attention as soon as I open the journal. This year focused on hope. Maybe that accounts for my obsession with the two words, maybe and hope.

I love this song. Family get togethers almost always involved guitars and singing. Precious memories.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson( Now in Glory), Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

My 2023 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

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2023 Road Trip-Part 12

29 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 12 – July 26: 

 After Breakfast this morning, I headed east, out of Fort Dodge, on US-20 for about 35 miles, thru Webster City to visit the Hemken Auto Collection Museum located in Williams, IA.  I met the owner of the building out front, and she told me the museum had been closed and all the autos in the collection auctioned off two years ago.  She said several people, like me, had showed up to visit the museum, and that she had tried several times to remove the museum’s website from the internet, but with no luck. This is not the first time I have arrived at a museum’s location, only to find it permanently closed.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

After that disappointment, I headed south for about 30 minutes to visit the Farmhouse Museum located in the middle of the Iowa State University campus in Ames, IA.  According to their website, this small farmhouse was built in 1860, restored in 1976, and moved to its present location as a museum.  You would think this museum would be easy to find, but Greta (My Garmin) brought me to this building, which didn’t look anything like an 1860s farmhouse. I re-entered the website address, but she brought me right back to this building.  Okey, maybe next time I’m in the area we can find it.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

From Ames, I headed south 1-½ hours on I-35, skirting Des Moines, IA (I had visited the Des Moines museums on another road trip) to visit the John Wayne Birthplace & Museum located in Winterset, IA.  Being a John Wayne (The Duke) fan from an early age, it was worth the stop.  This museum follows the life and career of John Wayne (born in the small town of Winterset) with antique cowboy artifacts, life-size sculptures, memorabilia, and of course, a movie theater where you can watch one of Wayne’s 169 movies, while sitting comfortably in seats from the famous Hollywood Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Photo Credit:Bill Lites

After that delightful trip down memory lane (being raised in my younger years in the southwest ‘Cowboy’ state of New Mexico), I turned east for about 25 minutes on SR-92 to visit the National Balloon Museum located in Indianola, IA.  This amazing museum displays all types of hot-air balloon artifacts and memorabilia related to the history of manned ballooning from its inception by the French balloonists Joseph-Michel & his brother Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier in 1783.  As an R/C model airplane flyer, I was fascinated to learn that there was such a thing as R/C model hot-air balloons, using propane to inflate the gas bags.  I am going to have to find a hot-air balloon club in my area and see how that works.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Leaving the Balloon Museum, I headed south on I-35 for 30 minutes to check out the Osceola Railroad Depot located in Osceola, IA but it was closed.  Before leaving Osceola, I stopped to visit the J.V. Banta House Museum.  This Queen Anne style house was built in 1902 for J.V. Banta and his wife Lillie, whose family lived in the house until 1983.  The house is now furnished with original early 1900s furnishings and allows the visitor to experience turn-of-the-century privileged living conditions.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now it was another 35 miles south on I-35 where I planned to visit the Lamoni Colosseum located in Lamoni, IA but it was closed.  However, the Amish Country Store there in Lamoni was open, and on the outside, looked like it could be a museum.  Inside, this huge store was filled with a large varity of hand-made Amish clothes, crafts, antique buggies, and farm equipment, that made me feel like I was in a time capsule.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Since I needed gas, I stopped in at one of the local gas stations to fill up and got the surprise.  The pump showed 87-octane Regular gas for $3.59 and 88-octane Premium gas for $3.44.  Go figure?  I didn’t ask any questions, I just filled my van’s tank with Premium, and saved 15 cents/gallon.  As I was filling my tank I saw a crop duster airplane, in the distance, spraying a field.  Then on my way to the motel, there in Lamoni, I passed a sign for the local airport, and drove out to see if the plane was there.  I found the lady pilot washing down her Embraer EMB 202 (I think that’s what she told me it was) and I asked her about her plane and how she liked her crop-dusting job.  She was very nice and willing to tell me all about her airplane and her job.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

At the motel I checked in, got my things in my room, and heated up my leftover Lasagna from last night, and enjoyed that meal again.  No TV worth watching tonight, so after recording the day’s activities, it was off to bed for me.

Photo Credit: https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;mineral+city+restaurant+fort+dodge+iowa

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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The God Who Answers

28 Nov

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Psalm

65:1-4

You are the God who answers prayer,

All of humanity comes before you 

With their requests.

Though we are overcome by our many sins,

Your sacrifice covers over them all.

And your priestly loves, those you’ve chosen,

Will be greatly favored to be brought close to you.

What inexpressible joys are theirs!

What feasts of mercy fill them in

Your heavenly sanctuary!

How satisfied we will be just to be near you!

Photo Credit:Pixabay

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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After Thanksgiving

26 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Well, Thanksgiving 2023 has come and gone.  It’s amazing to me how fast that happens!  You gear up for it, then POOF!  It’s over.

So what do you do now?  Well, Christmas is on its way now, and there is soooo much to do to get ready for that.  However…there’s still some turkey left over.  Okay…more than a little turkey left over.  What to do?  Well, there’s always turkey sandwiches…made on a hoagie roll with thin slices (or thick if you like) of turkey, lettuce leaves, tomato slices, sliced onions, pickles and any condiments you like (mustard? Mayonnaise? Oil and vinegar? Some kind of salad dressing?).  Cheese of course.  Warmed in the toaster oven perhaps? Or just eaten cold.  Subway…eat your heart out!

But our very, very favorite way to eat up that leftover turkey is by picking the turkey carcass clean of all the meat (light and dark) and cubing it up in about 1″ or smaller pieces, and making my Mother’s recipe of Turkey Tetrazinni.  Fred says it is his favorite part of the turkey!  I’ve included the recipe below.  I cook it in either a 9″x13″ glass pan, or a 10″x10″ Corning Ware dish.  It works well with either.

This recipe makes quite a bit, and with just the two of us eating it, it takes a couple of days to finish it off.  But we manage to do just that!  We really enjoy this dish.  I’ve never tried to freeze any leftovers, so i don’t know how it would work.

I hope you will try this – and enjoy it as much as we do.  It’s a GREAT way to finish up the turkey!

TURKEY TETRAZINNI

By Agnes Lites Yearout

1 cup cooked rice**                                                             2 Tbsp flour

2 sticks diced celery                                                            2 cups (total) broth and milk**

½  onion, chopped                                                               Salt & Pepper to taste

1 small can mushrooms with juice                                    1 tsp Worchestershire Sauce

¼  lb. butter (1 stick)**                                                         ¼ lb. grated cheddar cheese

                                                                                                Cooked turkey, cubed

Cook celery and onion in butter until transparent.  Combine vegetable mixture, flour, broth, mushrooms and juice, and seasoning to make the sauce.  Add turkey and most of the grated cheese to the sauce.  Cook until cheese is melted and mixed in with the sauce.

Put cooked rice in a greased casserole and cover with the turkey sauce.  Top with remaining cheese.

Bake in a 350º oven for about 20 minutes.

**SOME NOTES:  

  1.    Instead of butter you can substitute ½ cup Olive Oil
  2.    For the “broth and milk” – if you have any turkey gravy left over, use that and top it off with milk to make the two cups.  If no broth or gravy, use chicken bouillon and milk.
  3.    This is really good over cooked thin spaghetti or Vermicelli (we like Angel Hair pasta the best).  We like the pasta better than rice.  We’ve not tried it over Couscous, but I think it would be good, as well.  Cook the Couscous in chicken bouillon.  I’ve also made it with egg noodles and that is good.
  4.    I like sliced mushrooms, but stems and pieces can be used as well.
  5.    I am usually more generous with the cheese – we like cheese!

Enjoy!!

Photo Credit by Google Search and Betty Crocker website

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Surrender Your Anxiety

20 Nov

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Psalms :46-10

Surrender your anxiety! 

Be silent and stop your striving.

And you will see that I am God.

I am the God above all the nations,

And I will be exalted throughout the 

Whole earth.

Here he stands!

The Commander!

The mighty Lord of Angel Armies is

On our side!

Photo Credit: Pixabay

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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Happy Thanksgiving

19 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I have many and varied memories of Thanksgivings throughout my lifetime – all of them happy times with family.  I don’t remember making my own turkey or dressing until Fred and I had been married for five or six years, and had moved to Wiesbaden, West Germany with the U.S. Air Force.  Then I was sort-of forced to try my hand at cooking a turkey, whether I wanted to or not!  I did find that it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be.  

I have to say here, that neither I nor my brother, Bill, can remember what kind of dressing (or stuffing) our mother made!  I suspect it was cornbread dressing, since Daddy grew up in Louisiana and that’s more likely what was made there.  I never tried to make cornbread dressing, as it isn’t Fred’s favorite.  However, his mother, who grew up in New England, taught me how to make bread dressing, New England style.  So that’s what I’ve made ever since.  It’s what our girls grew up eating, and they – and we – love it!  

All that to say that I do remember some things about Thanksgivings along the way.  I remember the cranberry/orange/pecan relish in gelatin that my mother made in small forms that were placed on leaves of lettuce.

1955 – Albuquerque – Granny, Daddy, Mother, Bill

Dessert time at the Lites Thanksgiving table

Mother’s cranberry relish dish on lettuce leaves on the table (red)

1956 – Albuquerque – Thanksgiving meal

DiVoran, Bill, Judy, David Bowers (DiVoran’s brother) Daddy, Granny, Dora Bowers (DiVoran and David’s mother) my Mother

I remember the sweet potato dish she made.  And of course there were always mashed white potatoes and lots of turkey gravy.  Pumpkin pies with whipped cream was the dessert.  I don’t remember any other kinds of desserts.

Since our girls are grown and gone to their own families for Thanksgivings now, Fred and I have fallen in the habit of going to Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving meal – usually lunch.  We can get a wonderful meal of turkey and ham, sweet potato casserole, another vegetable of our choice, mashed potatoes and gravy.  Along with pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert.  All for one low price – and I don’t have to cook it or clean it up, either!! 

Photo Credit Google Search and Cracker Barrel website

However, this year will be different.  We have some very good friends in town that we have dinner with once each week – standing date.  Across the street from where they live is another couple that we are all very good friends with, as well.  We have a meal with them once each month.  Usually for Easter or close to Thanksgiving, they will have a meal for a bunch of people, and we  are invited.  Easter brings certain types of foods.  Thanksgiving brings the turkey and ham, etc., and I ALWAYS bring my bread dressing.  This year, they are holding the meal actually on Thanksgiving Day.  So we get to celebrate that wonderful time of family and friendship on the Day itself.  We are blest.  And my bread dressing will be on the table, with probably none left at the end of the meal.

Since we live in a community called Hunter’s Creek here in Orlando, we receive a monthly magazine called “Life at Hunter’s Creek.”  Last year, this was the cover of that magazine.  Since I like to bake and make cookies, this really caught my eye.  I would like to show it here to wish one and all a very

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

JUDY’S TURKEY STUFFING

For an 8 pound turkey:

   (Allow one cup stuffing for each pound poultry)

½ – ¾ cup chopped onion

½ – ¾ cup chopped celery

1 cup butter (or ½ cup butter and ½ cup olive oil)

2 quarts dry bread slices, torn into pieces

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground pepper

1 Tbsp poultry seasoning

1 cup hot water.

Sauté onion and celery in butter.  Mix in salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning.  Pour over dry bread pieces.

Add hot water and mix with your hands to get all the bread wet.  Be sure to get to the bottom of the pan.  If necessary, add more hot water and mix.  Don’t saturate the bread, or it will get too soggy.

Place stuffing in a covered dish in the oven, about 30 minutes.

I prefer the Durkee Poultry Seasoning combination, but use whatever seasoning you like.  

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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2023 Road Trip-Part 10

15 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 10 – July 24:

After Breakfast this morning, when I tried to flush the toilet, in my “Hotel” room, the handle wouldn’t move.  I had to remove the lid from the tank and lift the float bar to activate the flush.  I told the desk clerk about the problem, and that the bedside lamp (bulb) fixture was laying loose in the socket (wires exposed) but he didn’t seem to be concerned about either problem.  Boy, was I ever glad to get out of that “Hotel.”  I headed south out of Winnipeg for a couple of hours, mostly thru featureless Canadian countryside on Canada #75.  At Emerson, I crossed the border into North Dakota, USA. Customs at this border crossing was a breeze, thank goodness.

Photo Credit: https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/Border+crossing/Welcome+to+the+USA

It was another 1-1/2 hours south on I-29 to my first stop this morning, which was to be the Grand Forks Historical Museum located in Grand Forks, ND but they were closed.  After a potty break, I didn’t even stop to consider checking out the River City Speedway, there in Grand Forks, as I was sure there was nothing going on there this early on a Monday morning.  It was another hour south on I-29 to where I visited the Fargo Air Museum located adjacent to the Hector International Airport in Fargo, ND.  This large one-hanger museum displays 12+ (mostly) flyable aircraft, including their beautifully restored C-47 Skytrain “Duggy” along with other WWII artifacts and memorabilia.  I was impressed with their ½ -scale flying model of a German FW-190A Shrike.  I would loved to have seen it fly.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

From Fargo, it only took Greta (My Garmin) ½ -hour to find the World’s Largest Catfish (Wahpeton’s Wahpper) located in the local Kidder Recreation Area Park in Wahpeton, ND.   At 52-feet long and weighing in at 5000 lbs. I’d have to say that is “The Largest Catfish I’ve ever seen!”  Since I didn’t have time to stop and go fishing, there in the Red River that was close, I just took this photo (I wanted someone to be in the photo for prospective, but there was nobody handy) and was on my way, crossing the Red River, to find my next museum.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now, I crossed the border into Minnesota, and headed southeast for another hour on SR-9 to visit the Stevens County Historical Museum located in Morris, MN.  This small museum is situated in the original 1905 Carnegie Library building and displays artifacts and memorabilia describing the early history of the city of Morris and the surrounding Stevens County, dating from the early 1900s.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Continuing southeast another ½-hour on SR-9, I tried to visit the Swift County History Museum located in Benson, MN but they were closed.  

It was getting late in the day, and I was ‘Road Weary,’ so I gave Greta (My Garmin) the address of the motel for this evening, and we headed off to find it.  It took us a while, but we finally found the motel over in Ortonville, MN.  After I got settled in my room at the motel, I warmed up my leftover Fish & Onion Rings from Smitty’s and enjoyed that wonderful meal again.  The meal didn’t look quite as good tonight as it did last night at Smitty’s, but believe me, it was delicious.  Once I was finished with dinner, I looked for something of interest on the TV, but wasn’t able to find anything that would keep me awake.  So, I recorded my day’s activities and went to bed.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/Fish+Onion+Rings+Smitty’s+Restaurant+&+Lounge+Winnipeg

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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The Light of Revelation

13 Nov

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Psalm 36:9-12

In your light, we receive the light of revelation.

Lord, keep pouring out your unfailing love

On those who are near you.

Release more of your blessings to those who are loyal to you.

37:3– Keep trusting the Lord and do what is right in his eyes.

Fix your heart on the promises of God, and you will be secure,

Feasting on his faithfulness.

Make God the utmost delight and Pleasure of your life,

And he will provide for you what you desire the most.

Photo Credit:Pixabay

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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2023 Road Trip-Part 9A

8 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 9 – July 23: Continued:

It wasn’t far from the Manitoba Museum to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights located at the “Forks” where the Red River & the Assiniboine River meet, which is also considered the birthplace of the Metis (indigenous peoples).  The museum’s amazing architecture (and I thought the Canadian Mint Building was unique), with its wrap- around exterior ‘Dove Wings’ and its eight interior Alabaster walkways that take you up, from gallery to gallery, is all breath taking.  Each walkway leads you to where the various aspects of the history of human rights are displayed.  I had to stop and think about ‘The Stuart Clark Garden of Contemplation’ (What are all those short basalt rock columns all about?).  The 360-degree view from the 328-foot-high Israel Asper Tower of Hope gives a person a truly magnificent look at the city of Winnipeg and the surrounding area to appreciate its scope and beauty.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now I headed a few miles out of town to try to visit the Prairie Dog Central Railway Museum located at the Inkster Junction Railway Station.  This turned out not to be a museum as much as a scenic railway system situated in the old restored 1905 Canadian National Railway Station.  This railway offers 1-hour train rides in their restored early 1900s Pullman train cars pulled by a restored 1882 (4-4-0) stream locomotive (Old No. 3) to Grosse Isle and return.  These train rides give passengers an idea of what it was like to ride the train in the Winnipeg/Manitoba area at the turn of the century.  I had missed the scheduled Sunday train ride to Grosse Isle and headed back toward town to check out another museum.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

On my way back downtown, to the “Hotel” for the evening, I stopped to visit the Winnipeg Railway Museum, located in the beautiful old 1911 Union Station building, but it was closed.  So, a few blocks from the Union Station I tried to visit the Fort Gary Horse Museum located in the old 1912 Armory building that was originally used by the 34thCanadian Army Calvery Regiment during WWI, but that museum was also closed.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

By this time, I was getting hungry, and started looking for some place to eat (I didn’t want to have to resort to KFC again).  I spotted Smitty’s Restaurant & Lounge and decided to stop in for my evening meal.  I had their Fish & Chips plate (with Onion Rings instead of chips).  The Cod was deep-fried with an excellent batter and was wonderful, but the onion rings were absolutely the best I have ever had.  Yummm!  There was way too much food for me to eat at one sitting, so, I would be able to enjoy this leftover meal again tomorrow evening.  After that incredible meal, Greata (My Garmin) took me back to the “Hotel” and I was surprised, and pleased, that there was no hollering and banging of doors tonight.  There was no TV in the room, so I recorded my day’s activities and went to bed.  I had a surprisingly good night’s sleep.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/Fish+Onion+Rings+Smitty’s+Restaurant+&+Lounge+Winnipeg

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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