here's a hand to hold on to

row, row, row your boat

2011-11-21T05:00:00.030-07:00

I was feeling like
I'm wasting my time,
spinning my wheels,
day after day.
I needed these quotes and sayings.
Hope you enjoy them as well.

Now looking back over this post
it seems likes it's all over the place
but it felt good just put in everything
I was thinking and feeling over the last
couple weeks.
Thanks for listening.

"It's a funny thing about life. If you refuse to

accept anything but the best, you very often get it."

-W. Somerset Maughm-

We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then, is not an act,

but a habit.

-Aristotle-

"As one goes through life, one learns that if you

don't paddle your own canoe, you don't move."

-Katherine Hepburn-

"The difference

between

"I can't"

and

"I can"

is often

"I will".

By a simple act of the will,

we can do wonderful things

we could never imagine we could."

-anonymous-

"Until you make peace with who you are,

you'll never be content with what you have."

-Doris Mortman-

You don't have to solve psychological problems

in order to change your life for the better.

Often, however, internal changes are a part

of external changes.

-Sandra Felton-

I remember hearing someone

(don't remember who)

saying,

"you can take therapy for years

to find out

why you behave a certain way,

but in the meantime

just stop doing it."

It's kind of like this ad for a bank.

or the old saying,

“If you’re in a hole, stop digging.”

Remember

Nothing Is Impossible With God!

The world says,

"can't succeed,

can't change,

can't hope."

God says..."Oh, yes, you can!"

Because He can do anything.

Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.

Luke 1:37 The Message

Favorite Quotes

2011-11-05T09:16:00.002-06:00

“Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven,

Blossomed the lovely stars,

the forget-me-nots of the angels”

-Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

The whole end of Rhett Butler's speech as he is leaving Scarlett.

"I want peace."

"We have too much,

do too much,

keep too much,

love too much,

buy too much.

Let us give ourselves

the gift of simplicity.

What can you eliminate from your life?"

-Sandra Felton-

Happy First Day of Autumn!

2011-09-23T05:00:00.006-06:00

From one pumpkin to another!

Here is a cute little story.
I don't know who wrote it.
It's an interesting way to tell someone
what it's like to be a christian.

A woman was asked by a coworker,

"What is it like to be a Christian?"
The coworker replied,

"It is like being a pumpkin."

God picks you from the patch,

brings you in, and washes

all the dirt off of you.

Then He cuts off the top

and scoops out

all the yucky stuff.
He removes the

seeds of doubt, hate,

and greed.

Then He carves

you a new smiling face

and puts

His light

inside of you

to shine for all

the world

to see."

The LORD
is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him,
and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
and with my song I praise him.Psalm 28:7

He changes times and seasons;
he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
Daniel 2:21

Planting spring bulbs and practice makes...what?

2011-09-04T09:51:00.000-06:00

Here are some lovely pictures

of the Keukenhof.

This is an amazing garden

in Holland that is only open for

2 months each spring.

It is planted with

thousands of bulbs.

More information and history

can be found here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keukenhof

here is their official homepage,

http://www.keukenhof.nl/

This is the time of year when the bulbs become

available at garden centres

and I start planting new sections

in the garden.

The pictures are terrific inspiration

to get started and

some of the

color combinations

are unusual and beautiful.

AND

here is my latest quote.

Love this.

"Practice does not make perfect,

practice makes permanent,

and we all get the same

24 hours a day".

-Don Schula (NFL coach)-

Here

is something

just for fun.

School is starting again

and with that comes essay writing.

I hope you get a chuckle out of this.

Easter - Mud - Easy Place Card craft

2011-04-22T09:58:00.005-06:00

I love Easter!

I love that we celebrate Easter in Spring.

Easter Sunday renews my hope

for mankind and myself.

Easter Blessings

(from Dayspring.com)

The love of God at Easter

is there for all to see-

He died for us and rose again

and won the victory!

From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. John 1:16

A Celtic Prayer (Traditional Celtic)

May the Christ who walks on wounded feet

walk with you on the road.

May the Christ who serves with wounded hands

stretch out your hands to serve.

May the Christ who loves with a wounded heart

open your hearts to love.

May you see the face of Christ in everyone you meet,

and may everyone you meet

see the face of Christ in you.

The Mud

Oh boy! Do we have mud.

DH drove the car around the back and sank.

I don't have a picture.

He got the car out himself

before he came and told me.

We have had a miserable Spring.

I stopped posting about it snowing

because it was just so depressing.

To update anyone who is still

paying attention.

We had another snow storm this past week,

the week before that and so on and so on.

I have done no yard work as of yet.

The snow is slowly melting again but

the mud needs to dry as well.

The farmers can't get onto their fields.

Folks around here are predicting,

no Spring,

just Summer

in another month.

Easy Easter Place Card Craft

Here's a fun place card and treat idea

for your Easter table from Martha Stewart.

ttp://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/easter-egg-hunt?xsc=eml_crd_2011_04_19&#slide_10

God bless you with His peace & joy at Easter.

Rare winter solstice lunar eclipse

2010-12-21T10:49:00.006-07:00

First let me just say how sorry I am that I re-post over and over again. I don't know why but the post never shows up the way I see it when I publish. Parts have jumped to the bottom and it is so exasperating. I have to edit 3 or 4 times.
It happens almost every time I post.
I feel I spend endless amounts of time redoing every post.
Thanks for listening.
Now on the the reason for the post.

Last night my kids and I

stayed up to watch the lunar eclipse.
It has been quite cloudy
and we didn't have much hope of seeing
anything coming into this week.
But the skies cleared up and we a had
a great view from our front step.
Most of the time we were inside
as it was bitterly cold.

At 11:45 I looked out the front window

and could see the beginning of it.

A small black crescent

covering a piece of the moon.

Here are a few of the pictures I took
over the next hour.
Click on the picture to enlarge it.

They aren't very clear and the moon is so small.

The rest of my pictures didn't turn out at all.

The Vancouver Sun had much better pictures.

Here are some of theirs.

They show what we really saw.

It was very exciting.

Everyone slowly went to bed.

Two of us made it till 1:20 a.m.

Then we had to go to sleep.

Here is a small part

of what was written about this eclipse

in the paper

and a link to read more and see more pictures.

Enjoy!

Rare winter solstice lunar eclipse

The moon was in a total eclipse

late Monday evening/Tuesday morning.

During the eclipse,

the Earth aligned

between the full moon and the sun,

covering the lunar surface in shadow.

The eclipse is also falling

on the same day as

the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere

— a rare occurrence

that hasn't happened in 372 years.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Lunar+eclipse+winter+solstice+makes+rare+cosmic+coincidence/4007874/story.html

Shortbread Cookies

2010-11-13T05:00:00.097-07:00

Thanksgiving in Canada is in October.
So we've already had ours.
I've been thinking
serious Christmas thoughts
since before halloween.

I thought I would share some
of the recipes we used for our
abundant table, with:

3 different salads,

3 vegetable dishes,

Turkey and stuffing
plus 2 desserts.

It reminded me of the scene from Garfield's Christmas

where Jon asks for potatoes and his mother replies with,
"scalloped, whipped, fried, baked, or boiled?"
and Jon exclaims,
"Oh Mom! You always fix too much food!"

Here's the video,
the part I'm talking about is right at the beginning.
It's one of our favorite Christmas shows.
A must see every holiday season.

You may have been thinking,

3 of everything besides the turkey.

Why not 3 desserts?
Well....it was my turn to make dessert and
I had 3 but

because we usually celebrate my

husband's birthday along with thanksgiving

(they are very close together)
I asked him to pick one of the desserts and

he asked for shortbread cookies and

I did make them,
as well as
Gingersnap Pumpkin Pie
and Chocolate Toffee Bars,

but he wouldn't share them!?

Here is one of the shortbread cookie recipes

I have been making for years.

It's out of the

Canadian Mennonite Cookbook

1978 edition.
I bought this book when I was 19.

(Yes, that's a rubber band holding it together.)

The original recipe calls only for margarine

and I used margarine for a few years.

It makes a lovely cookie.

But for me a shortbread cookie

needs to have real butter in it

so that is what I have done
for years and years now.

This is a delicious cookie

that melts in your mouth either way.

Whipped Shortbread

1 pound room temperature butter or margarine
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup sifted icing sugar
3 cups flour
1-1/4 tsps. vanilla

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Cream margarine or butter with electric beater. Add icing sugar and cornstarch a little at a time while still beating. Add flour and continue beating until mixture has the appearance of whipped cream. Drop by spoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until golden, but not brown.

Yield: 5-6 dozen

P.S. -I used my one inch ice cream scoop to form these and they look like little scoops of ice cream even when baked. However you can flatten them slightly with the bottom of a drinking glass to give them a more traditional shape.

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

45 lessons in life....

2010-10-31T05:00:00.003-06:00

I didn't create this video

but it is beautiful.

I love the words.

I love the music.

I love that I can put this up
for others to see and enjoy.

I love the winter scenes in the photos.

I know that once
I'm in the middle of the snow drifts
and I have to shovel my car
out of the driveway
I am going to hate winter.

But when I think about
Christmas
I really feel like it's
the most wonderful time of year.

Ya, that's right, it's
Halloween
and I'm thinking about
Christmas!

Anger Makes us do Stupid Things

2010-10-16T05:00:00.003-06:00

After reading the following story I had three thoughts.

I think it's wonderful that Violet Booth got her ring back but
It's probably not as meaningful without her husband.
Anger sometimes makes us do or say stupid things that we can't take back.

Pensioner gets back engagement ring 67 years after throwing it away...

When Violet Booth took off her diamond engagement ring and threw it into a field after a tiff with her fiance on a summer walk 67 years ago, she thought it was lost forever.
She and husband-to-be Samuel had quickly come to their senses and made up, then got down on their hands and knees to search through the mud but could not find it.

However, nearly seven decades later, astonished Mrs Booth, 88, is now able to slip the ring back on to her finger.
Violet Booth with her grandson Leighton who found the engagement ring she thought was lost forever.

It took just two hours for Leighton Boyes, 33, to unearth the ring, which was still in perfect condition despite all those years in the dirt.

Mrs Booth wept with joy when she put it back on her finger and declared it the perfect way to remember her late husband, who died 15 years ago.

The childhood sweethearts were just a few months from their wedding day when they had their fateful disagreement while out strolling in rural Gilmorton, Leicestershire, in 1941.

They later bought a replacement ring and married as planned, but Mrs Booth never forgot the day she literally almost threw their relationship away, and the story of the lost engagement ring became a part of their family folk lore.

The ring was buried in the soil for nearly seven decades but was still in one piece when Leighton unearthed it.
She said: "I was in such a state when we couldn't find it. Samuel didn't tell me off, he wasn't like that. We got a new one, but it's not the same, is it?"

Her vivid memories of the drama helped her pinpoint exactly the same field when Mr Boyes offered to search for the ring.

Mrs Booth of Thurmaston, Leicestershire, said: "I didn't ever think I would see it again. I couldn't believe it when he brought it back. It's amazing.

"I was very emotional and shed a few tears. It certainly brought back a few memories. It's something to remember Samuel by - he was a very nice man.

Despite the tiff which ended in Mrs Booth throwing away her engagement ring she and husband Samuel still made it down the aisle
"I suppose I had stopped thinking about it after a while. Now it's just unbelievable that I've got it back. I can't stop looking at it, it means a lot to me."

Mr Boyes, whose hobby is metal-detecting, said: "I suggested having a look to find it, though I thought the chances were really very slim.

"I went round to my nan's with some maps, and she managed to pinpoint the field. Then I got permission from the landowner and headed out.

"I never expected to find it, especially after all those years of modern-day ploughing.

"I dug up a whole load of other things before I found it. It was only buried about three to four inches down and it wasn't even damaged. I just gave it a wipe, and that was it. It was incredible."

Mrs Booth's son Andrew, who lives with her, said the only downside to the extraordinary tale was that his father had not lived to witness the ring's return.

He said: "I remember hearing all about the tale of this lost ring and going with my mum and dad to the spot when I was younger.

"I suppose that, with it being gold, it doesn't tarnish. It just makes you think about all the things that have happened while it has been lying there."

Story by DAVID WILKES

Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd

Thanksgiving - Monday October 11 2010 - Canada

2010-10-09T05:00:00.002-06:00

I was familiar with this

Norman Rockwell painting.

Have you seen these?

Most of us are planning a Thanksgiving

and are fairly certain we will have it.

But there are some folks

that are not as fortunate.

Please remember them in the

coming months and holidays.

There are also a lot of families

hoping and praying for this.

(Home for Thanksgiving by Norman Rockwell)

Happy Thanksgiving Canadians!

Beautiful Things

2010-08-19T09:51:00.003-06:00

I have a few things

I want to share with you today.

The first one is the give away

on Prairie Flower Farm,

the button is on the side bar.

This is my favorite photo from Linda

of Prairie Flower Farm.

She has put up

many inspirational photos

on her blog

that she is willing to share with all of us.

Thank you Linda!

My favorites are always changing,

with the seasons it seems,

but there is nothing like

white night gowns

hanging on the line

in the

brilliant

summer

sunshine!

The next thing

is this painting.

My mother and father-in-love had that print

hanging in their home.

I feel blessed to now have it in mine.

I don't know who it's by or what it's called,

so if you know, please tell me,
I can't seem to find out.

We have it hanging

at the top of the stairs

so I see it during the day

as I run up and down.

I love that door.

(I'd tie a ribbon onto the knocker

to make it easier for little ones to use).

It reminds me of the scripture:

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.

So be earnest, and repent.

Here I am!

I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,

I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

To him who overcomes,

I will give the right to sit with me on my throne,

just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Revelation 3:19-21 (New International Version)

Such an amazing promise

I'm so grateful for God's

provision of grace.

That I,

an undeserving sinner

could become a child of His.

And finally,

I have always called this time of the year

apple pickin' time.

Then I saw this painting

The Apple Gatherers by Frederick Morgan

Now we are apple gatherers

and have put up bags

of apple crisp filling in the freezer.

I gave the apple tree quite a hair cut last year

and was prepared for a minimal harvest.

But God has blessed us with abundance again.

Today I will be making apple jelly

and then, apple sauce.

AND I have given some apples away as well.

Oh the Lord is good to me!

Have a beautiful day!

Are you feeling the heat?

2010-07-13T16:21:00.002-06:00

Hope you are enjoying the summer.
I'm busy planning my daughter's and nieces's
joint birthday party.
I hope to make this cake.

I found the picture here. http://aswewalk.wordpress.com/2009/07/

I will use a white cake and food coloring
smothered in white icing to hide the surpise inside.

So here's a Little story I have been meaning to share.
I LOVE THIS ONE!

'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

This verse puzzled

some women in a Bible study

and they wondered what this statement meant

about the character and nature of God ..

One of the women offered to find out

the process of refining silver

and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith

and made an appointment to watch him at work.

She didn't mention anything

about the reason for her interest

beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith,

he held a piece of silver over the fire

and let it heat up.

He explained that in refining silver,

one needed to hold the silver

in the middle of the fire where the flames

were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot;

then she thought again about the verse that says:

' He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

She asked the silversmith

if it was true that he had to sit there

in front of the fire the whole time.

The man answered that yes,

he not only had to sit there holding the silver,

but he had to keep his eyes on the silver

the entire time it was in the fire.

If the silver was left a moment

too long in the flames,

it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment.

Then she asked the silversmith,

'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?

He smiled at her and answered,

' Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

Remember that God has his eye on you

and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Whatever you are going through,

you will be a better person in the end.

Thank you God, for teaching me to laugh again......
but please Lord,
don't ever let me forget that I cried.

My Cell Phone and Easter

2010-03-29T05:00:00.011-06:00

I have had a cell phone for 5 years. I'm sure some of you have had one so long you can't remember life without one. This is the vintage phone I have sitting on my bedside table. I love the way it looks.

Before cell and cordless phones, if the phone rang a lot and I was tired of talking on the phone I would go out and do some yard work, garden or shovel snow depending on the time of year. Then someone invented cordless phones. No excuses. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "If you go outside, take the phone with you." before my husband left for work. Didn't he realize that I didn't want to answer the phone all the time?

On days where the phone calls were relentless I would make up excuses to leave the house for an hour or two. There's always a birthday coming up soon, that needs shopping for.

My husband has had a cell phone forever.

In his family the phone has always been very important.

They were the family with a parent phone and a kid's phone I'd only heard about as a child. My sister-in-law lived on that phone after school and on weekends.

Over the last 5 years I have often forgotten the cell phone at home, brought it but didn't hear it ring, had it but the battery was dead, or the ringer was shut off for church, a concert or movie. The car is the only place I hear it all the time but I never answer it while I'm driving.

Don't get me wrong I love talking to my family and friends. We laugh, we cry, we exchange information and love over the phone as well as in person. Since my cell phone is for when I'm away from home, on a mission to supply groceries for my family for instance, I concentrate on that goal not the ringing of a phone.

I don't understand people like that 15-year-old girl, in the news, who sent and received 6,473 cell phone text messages in a single month. She said about her constant communication with friends, “I would die without it.” AND research says that US teens with cell phones average more than 2,200 text messages a month.

I remember being on the phone once and heard the call waiting bleep . Knowing my call was ending, I ignored it. Almost immediately the cell phone began to ring. My call ended and I checked the missed call there. Then I checked the cell and they were both my father-in-law. When I called him back, he asked why I hadn't answered the cell. I explained that I was on the land line and he replied, "I know, I just called you." We still laugh about that and the fact that while most people embrace the cell phone wholeheartedly I treat it like a necessary evil. I'm grateful for the safety aspect of a cell phone and I'm really trying to do better. I just don't want to be a slave to my phone.

For Easter I have added "Cell Phone vs. The Bible". The last line is why I celebrate Easter. "Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

Cell Phone vs. Bible
(author unknown)

I wonder what would happen if we treated

our Bible like we treat our cell phone?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we travelled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?

Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry

about our Bible being disconnected

because Jesus already paid the bill.

We stand at 'The Gate of the Year' 2010

2009-12-29T09:35:00.019-07:00

-photo from ilovecontainergardens.com

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,'Give me a lightthat I may tread safely into the unknown'

And he replied:

'Go out into the darkness
and put your hand
into the Hand of God.

That shall be to you

better than light
and safer than a known way'

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God,
trod gladly into the night.

(The whole poem is at the bottom of this post.)

"It was whilst at Warmley House where standing at the upstairs balcony window and looking down the illuminated driveway to the gate that Minnie was inspired to write the words of 'God Knows' which for a while was put away and forgotten."

"Born on 12 May 1875, Minnie Louise Haskins... was a popular member of LSE [London School of Economics and Political Science], retiring in 1939 but then reappointed a year later to continue until 1944...She penned The Gate of the Year in 1908. It was privately printed and circulated in a volume called 'The Desert'... The Gate of the Year caught the public interest when it was read to the nation by King George VI soon after the outbreak of the Second World War. She was reportedly profoundly astonished to hear her poem being read by the King in his Christmas broadcast of 1939, and, according to LSE records, gave royalties earned from subsequent interest in the poem to charity. According to press reports, it was HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother who first introduced the poem to the King. The Gate of the Year by Minnie Louise Haskins was read at The Queen Mother's funeral on Tuesday 9 April, 2002."

(Information from googleanswers.com)

"The Gate of the Year"

I said to the man, who stood at the gate of the year

Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown

'And he replied'

Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known Way'

So I went forth,

and finding the Hand of God,

trod gladly into the night.

And He led me towards the hills

and the breaking of day in the lone East

So heart be still!

What need our little life

Our human life to know,

If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife Of things

both high and low,

God hideth his intention.

God Knows. His will

Is best. The stretch of years

Which wind ahead, so dim

To our imperfect vision,

Are clear to God, Our fears

Are premature; In Him

All time hath full provision.

Then rest; until

God moves to lift the veil

From our impatient eyes,

When, as the sweeter features

Of life's stern face we hail,

Fair beyond all surmise,

God's thought around His creatures

Our minds shall fill.

-by Minnie Louise Haskins