Tag Archives: Christian bloggers

It Happened One Summer

27 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

Way back in 1961, Fred and I married. We moved immediately to Fort Worth, Texas, so Fred could study at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. We lived about a 12-hour drive from Albuquerque, so we didn’t get to make a trip home very often.

In 1963, we planned on making the trip, and it coincided with my brother and his family being there, as well. Their daughter, Charlene (Renie) was about 18 months old at the time. It was the first time we had seen her, and she was a delight. We have pictures of that adorable little girl in many adventures while there.

She had fun in a galvanized tub full of water in Grandmother’s back yard.

 

 

Grandmother tried to swim with her, too.

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She found a neighborhood cat that was quite agreeable to Renie’s handling.

 

Aunt Judy and Uncle Fred had a great time with her, as well.

 

Granddad thought she was pretty special, too. She was his first grandchild.

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But my favorite set of pictures of Renie from that visit, were of her and her dad playing with a new toy. Somehow, we managed to get pictures that could have been a video, if we even had that capability all those years ago. The toy was a pop-up type of toy: press the button/knob, and up the cups shot!

 

Renie thought it was terrific! Look at the surprise and joy on her face! Such a fun toy. And it looks like daddy was having a bit of fun with it as well – along with his little girl.

That was a fun summer visit for us.

 

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Hope Looks Up

25 Jul

From My Heart

Louise Gibson

author of Window Wonders

The natural flight of the human mind
is not from pleasure to pleasure,
but from hope to hope.
Samuel Johnson

Lord, when I wake up in the morning
my first thought is of You!
This day is truly a blessing.
What would You have me to do?

The day may be disguised as ordinary,
but extraordinary things happen with you
You are our reason for living, Lord.
We find our purpose and strength in You.

 

Green and pink paintingpng

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Beans Gone Wild

24 Jul

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

 

We returned to North Carolina after nine days in Florida celebrating the launch of our daughter, Rebekah Lyn’s new novel,  Jessie. I couldn’t wait to see if our tiny garden had survived the days of neglect. I would say it has survived!

Beans Gone Wild

Beans Gone Wild

 

Gardening in North Carolina clay is very different from gardening in Florida  so our  garden is  an experimental project. The past two years we grew bush beans and they did quite well. This year we decided to try runner beans. Is this height normal? I suspect we may have made the poles too high as we have more vines than beans.  I picked this morning and the majority of the beans came from two bush bean plants  from last years seeds.

Picked beans copy

 

There should be enough for my husband and I to have one serving each for dinner tonight.

We have decided to give up on bell peppers. We just don’t have enough sunlight for them. The first year we planted, our tomato plants grew great but the last two years have been awful. We did plant them in different locations but it hasn’t helped.  Nasty greem tomato worms love to eat the foilage and have to be picked off by hand and smashed. This so grosses me out!  If anyone has suggestions for deterring them without pesticides please leave them in comments.

In the Fall we add in compost from our compost heap and in the Spring add mushroom compost to enrich the clay soil.  I have to admit, I took the Florida sand for  granted. I had no idea it was such a great soil for growing. So far, in North Carolina  we haven’t been able to germinate flower seeds directly in the soil, unlike Florida where one simply  fluffs the soil, spreads the seeds and gently push a thin layer of sand over the seeds. Within a week, the seeds have popped up.

Do you have any gardening tips you can share?

If you would like the chance to enter a super easy giveaway from Rebekah Lyn 

CLICK HERE

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My Western Trip Part~12

23 Jul

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill

 

After lunch, I headed south to visit the city of Tombstone, a historic western town in Cochise County, Arizona, founded in 1879 in what was then Arizona Territory. It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. By the early 1890s, prosperity from silver mining, the town had expanded to the point where the ladies and gentlemen of Tombstone could attend operas presented by visiting acting troupes at the Schieffelin Hall opera house, while the miners and cowboys saw shows at the Bird Cage Theatre, said to be “the wildest, wickedest night spot found anywhere between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast.” The U.S. Army attempted to keep some kind of order in the Territory, but under the surface tensions were growing. 

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Shortly after the Earp brothers arrived in Tombstone in late 1879, an ongoing conflict developed between them and the Clanton brothers and Tom McLaury. The cowboys repeatedly threatened the Earp brothers, over the years, until the conflict escalated into a deadly confrontation that turned into a shootout, the now-famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The city of Tombstone has survived the ravages of time, and is now a thriving tourist attraction, with many period clad characters walking the streets, encouraging visitors to enter their particular establishment to get in out of the heat. I had a sarsaparilla in Doc Holiday’s Emporium , and it really did quench my thirst.

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Before leaving Tombstone, I visited the Wyatt Earp House & Gallery, which was closed at the time, but I was able to look in the windows of the house and read the inscriptions on the bronze statue of the famous lawman. Just outside the town of Tombstone was the famous Boothill Grave Yard (originally called The Tombstone Cemetery until around 1884), were many of the area bad guys are buried. And, of course, I couldn’t leave Tombstone without visiting that historic site. Well, as you might guess, the grave yard was full of famous named people, and the Curator even has a brochure you can purchase, listing many of the 250 people buried there; when and how they died, and who killed them, if known. A few of the famous Tombstone legends you will see on the headstones & markers throughout the grave yard include, Frank and Billy Clanton (O.K. Corral shootout) and their father “Old Man Clanton” (killed by Mexican cattle rustlers on a cattle drive), Tom McLaury (also of the O.K. Corral Shootout) and 3-fingered Jack Dunlap (a train robber) who was shot while attempting to rob an express car guarded by Jeff Milton. On my way back to Tucson I stopped in Benson, AZ to visit the Benson Railroad Museum, but it was also closed, so I just headed back to my motel for a nap and some dinner.

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—–To Be Continued—–

 

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My Diet Journal~Part 4

21 Jul

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistWhen we first started talking about our diet, some very dear friends mentioned that we looked good to them. We appreciated their compliments, but we had both knew that if we didn’t put a stop to it, we would continue until our health was threatened again.

From tomorrow, we have four days of the diet left. Bill has gone under the weight he was formerly happy with, and I’ve lost a total of ten pounds. That’s fine. I didn’t have a specific goal.

When I was reading the plateau page of the hcg protocol, I came across a suggestion to take apple cider vinegar, so I decided to try it. At the store, I saw Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar and recalled how many times I’ve read about their products nutrition books. I picked up the bottle. The vinegar inside looked cloudy, so I read the label, and in large print, it said, “With the Mother.”

Aha, I thought, I remember Mother in the vinegar, my own mother told me about it one day when I pulled a bottle of vinegar off the top shelf and it looked as if it had a jelly fish floating in it. Mother laughed, told me its name, and reassured me that we could still use the vinegar.

Apparently, the Mother in apple cider vinegar (ACV) consists of fine spider-web molecules which account for the cloudiness. It is protein enzyme that occurs naturally and is good for digestion. In 400 BC Hippocrates, the father of medicine, praised ACV for its amazing natural cleansing, healing, and energizing health qualities.

That connected with the new/old information that is now coming out about fermented foods, such as coleslaw and yogurt which have probably been around as long as APC. I have since learned that in olden days when there was no doctor or veterinarian available folks put it APC on the food of sick cows, and sick people and many of them got well.

So there I was catapulted into another world, APC for animals. Naturally I began to wonder whether Jasmine and Lily would accept it on their food. I could not believe that they would.

Jasmine

Jasmine

Jasmine has allergies that make her itch until she scratches off big patches of fur. When left untreated a bacterial infection results. She has also been poisoned by a combination of cortisone, that melter of bones, and flea repellant.

On the other hand, Lily has a heart murmur,

Lily

Lily

probably congenital and though a large cat, weighs only six pounds. Her pharmaceutical is an ACE inhibitor which she is now on. But what if the old-fashioned remedy would work?

It didn’t seem likely that they would take it, but I tried six drops on their grain free, canned fish to see if they refused. They liked it. Wow! We’ll all try it for a while. Maybe we can get well, or a lot better, anyhow.

 

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The Wedding Dress

20 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 

On May 30, 1937, my parents married. Daddy was 44½ years old, mother was 24 years old. Daddy was six months younger than his mother-in-law. I remember mother telling me once that, after she and daddy had been dating a while, she showed Granny a picture of daddy, and Granny’s response was, “Why he’s a OLD MAN!” However, that didn’t deter my parents from marrying. Thank goodness!! And Granny came to love daddy as her son-in-law. They got along quite well.

I honestly don’t remember whether or not Granny made mother’s wedding dress. I know that Granny was a great seamstress, as was mother. Perhaps it was a joint effort. I do know that it had big, puffy sleeves and a straight skirt. She looked very elegant in it. What later surprised me, was that the skirt was full enough to allow a hoop or many crinolines under it. It may have looked straight on mother, but it was very full skirt!

J mom

 

Mother’s sister, my Aunt Jessie, took the dress after the wedding, layered it with white tissue paper, and kept it in a cedar chest. It rested there all the years between mother and dad’s wedding and mine.

When my wedding was approaching, I told mother that I would like to wear her wedding dress – with a few alterations. I really didn’t like those big, puffy sleeves. Really made my skinny arms look even skinnier. There was a lady in our church who was a professional seamstress, and we engaged her to “remake” the dress. She removed the sleeves, essentially making it a sleeveless dress. I say essentially, because mother and I shopped around and found some gorgeous Belgian lace. She made a complete dress out of it to fit over mother’s dress. It had the long sleeves, and even a bit of a train in the back. I thought it was beautiful!

j

 

 

It was while the dress was being “remade” that we discovered how full the skirt was. In my day, the “in thing” was hoop skirts or lots of crinolines. As I look back, I realize how elegant the straight skirt looked, but I wanted that full skirt – and that’s what I got!

 

But I guess the important thing is that I was able to wear my mother’s wedding dress. It always held a special place in my heart. And I think I was able to honor both my parents by wearing that special dress.

 

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Getting rid of stress.

19 Jul

Janet spent this past week on a mission trip to Bolivia but still found time to share a blog with us.

Janet in Lima

 

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Be An Encourager

18 Jul

From My Heart

Louise Gibson

author of Window Wonders

 

 

 

We need “cheer leaders” in our life-

the challenges are many.

When funds are low, and our debts are high-

where do we find help, if any?

 

Encouragement is a gift that is infectious-

the recipient feels compelled to pass it on.

God wants us to be “team players”.

Not everyone gets to carry the baton.

 

Lord, I’d be happy to be the “water boy”-

I have no need to be a  ” star”.

Help us all to do our best,

’til you call us home where You are.

 

“Trust in the Lord, and do good”. Psalm 37:3

Purple Butterfly

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My Western Trip~Part 11

16 Jul

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Lites

While I was in Tucson I had several other places I wanted to visit, so the next place on my list, was the Titan Missile Museum just 20 miles south of Tucson, in Sahuarita, AZ. I was not aware that any of our ICBM silos here in the U.S. had survived the missile reduction treaties (SALT) over the years, which was part of the “world-wide weapon systems modernization program.” As it turns out, this preserved missile site, officially known as Titan II ICBM site 571-7, is all that remains of the 54 “Cold War” Titan II missile sites that were on alert across the United States from 1963 to 1987. It is now a Registered National Historic Landmark.

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On my way back to Tucson from the Titan Missile Museum, I stopped to check out the San Xavier del Bac Mission (White Dove of the Desert) just off I-19. The mission was very simple inside, but very beautifully decorated at the same time. As I was leaving, I noticed a number of wooden shade structures near the parking area where several local women were cooking a verity of dishes for sale to the visitors and parishioners. It was getting close to dinner time, and I was tempted to try some of the food, but then thought better of it, since a trip like this is not the time to come down with a case of Montezuma’s Revenge.                  

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I started the next day with a trip to the Saguaro National Park (West) that our family had driven thru back in 1975, as part of a six-week cross-country camping trip we had taken, when I was between jobs. We were impressed with the tall multi-armed Saguaro cactus, which can grow to as high as 70 feet tall, and filled that part of the Sonoran Desert. Next, I visited the Sonora Desert Museum, which we had also visited in 1975, but it had expanded and changed so much over the years that I didn’t recognize any part of it, except the entrance. Luckily, this time I had chosen a better time of year to visit, so, instead of mid-July and 120 degrees in the shade, it was early April with a mild breeze and a pleasant humidity free 80 degrees.

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Next on the list, and just down the road was the Old Tucson Studios, which was originally built in 1938 by Columbia Pictures as a replica of 1860s Tucson for the movie “Arizona.” It was fun walking the dusty streets of Old Tucson and recalling some of the great movies that had been filmed there, over the years. Films such as The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945), starring Bing Crosby & Ingrid Bergman. The Last Round-Up (1947) with Gene Autry, Winchester ’73 (1950) with James Stewart, The Last Outpost (1951) with Ronald Reagan,  Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958) and Cimarron (1959). My hero, John Wayne, starred in four movies filmed at Old Tucson Studios; Rio Bravo (1959), McLintock! (1963), El Dorado (1966) and Rio Lobo (1970. Movies have continued to be made there, with the latest being in 2013. Old Tucson Studios was opened to the public as a tourist attraction in 1960, and the many extras wondering the streets in their period costumes added much to the nostalgia.

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—–To Be Continued—–

 

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My Diet Journal~Part 3

14 Jul

A Slice of Life

DiVoran Lites

My ten extra pounds, and my egg choir.

My ten extra pounds, and my egg choir.

When I started journaling this morning, everything in me felt low from energy to emotions. Usually when I start writing I tell the Lord what I’m unhappy about, so I planned to complain for about five hours. My routine had changed. I slept in until seven and then it was starting to get hot, so I thought I’d skip the coffee and the writing and hit the trail.

I’ve become able to drink coffee with Stevia and one quarter grain saccharine, but I still need the creamer, which is 2cheating. I tried to do without it one day, last week, taking Anacin with its 32 mg of caffeine, in order to avoid the withdrawal headache. It didn’t work, so I had a cup of coffee in the afternoon. I know I’m addicted, but I don’t want to give it up because I enjoy it, feel that it clears my mind, and have more energy when I drink a cup. I drink two a day. Some studies show that a moderate amount is good for most people, but if doc says no, then it’s no.

We bought some new Stevia called Truvia and we like it much better. I still want a quarter gram of saccharine, in fact I wish I could stay on that combination, even though Dr. Simenon discovered that artificial sweeteners are truly bad for people.

Flashback — Okay, I’m ready for my walk. Hat, key, phone, “sticky” note-pad, church pew pencil, (I found it in my car), tissue, iPod, and dark glasses. At first it’s not unbearably hot. I start listening to a book. Some days I don’t listen, I just enjoy the fresh air and observe, and maybe I’ll listen on the way home to make the journey shorter. It gets hotter as I go. By the time I head home I’m thinking about calling Bill to ask if he’ll come get me. But no, that would be wimpy. I didn’t drink water because you’re supposed to take the hcg and give it a chance to get into your system without interference. What if I pass out from dehydration?

When I do get home I lay on my bed for a while getting lower by the minute. Here comes the addiction withdrawal headache. I think I’ll lie here like this all day. This must be how it feels to be in deep grief, just wanting to stay in bed.

I decide that for a cup of coffee I can make myself get up.

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Now I’m writing. Bill comes in for a minute and we talk about his weight. To our great surprise he has already reached his goal, though he didn’t realize it and wants to keep going, He lost ten pounds his first week. The way I understand it, you don’t go off the diet when you reach your goal weight, you continue with the hcg until the three weeks are up, but you eat more. When you reach your goal, you can eat as much of the designated foods as you wish. You don’t have to count calories, anymore, just stay away from starch and sugar.

After our chat and three quarters of the cup of coffee, I didn’t feel down anymore, so I started writing and here you see the result.

Oh, by the way, in case you’re interested, I have lost 6.05 lb. this week. Thanks for listening.

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