So Long July...Here Comes August

Tomer, performing his daily routines in the garden.

July has been a very busy month! Between Softball Games, a Tiger game, Graduation and Birthday Parties, Dr.'s appointments, tests, annual eye exam, a trip to Red Cross and sadly, more than one Funeral, It seems that I have pushed the fast forward button on July!


Side gate.

Tomer and Xavier aka Scooter, have ridden off on their bikes and are headed to the bank. So, after making the bed, feeding them breakfast, making a fresh brewed pitcher of sweet tea and starting my laundrocizing. I, am taking full advantage of my time alone! I, am going to sit right here on the back porch and jot down a few lines. Woo...It is a hot and muggy morning. Another day with 90' temps but the rains are supposed to come through later and cool things down a bit...love me some rain!


Love this plant...can't remember it's name though.

So, with August but a few days away, things should slow down a wee bit. Maybe, just long enough to get the painting done and the floors refinished before vacation starts. For now, I will stay put, enjoy the quiet, the bees and butterflies roaming about and keep my eyes open for our resident hummingbird, who shows up most mornings and evenings to hover and flit around our bee balm plants. (also called Minarda by some) There's NO need for a feeder which never seemed to work anyways!
Ooh, the boys are back! No more quiet for this ol' grammy...Catch ya'll later.

God is good...all the time!

Old Hymns

I sure do miss those good old Gospel Hymns. Yes, I know they aren't hip and don't whip us into the frenzy that most feel the need for nowadays. I have nothing against today's worship songs...listen to them as I clean house. But, old Hymns soothe my soul. And in quiet times God moves us, speaks to us. He, requires time with us and in this crazy hubbub that we call life, do we set aside time for fellowship with the Master, the Lover of our Souls?
God help me to seek You, to sit in Your presence and soak in Your tender mercies.
Only you can give us the peace that we long for. Lord, you are everything...

Softball + Heat = Tired...But Happy

Softball is over for a season and we are home after an exciting few days away. We had a great time! But man, were we tired at the end of the day. For one thing, sitting at the ball field when the temp is 94', with no shade...is hot, hot, hot! Thank God, for Umbrella's (for shade) and an air conditioned hotel room, to look forward to at the end of the day.


When making reservations, Tomer made sure that our lodgings had a pool to keep the grandbabies happy and occupied in the evening. Yes, after swimming and showers, Papa was the first one snoozing, glasses still on his face!


Soon, Em was snoring followed by Xavie and Ian. They were all out for the night at 8;30 p.m.! Me, I kicked back, made myself a cup of coffee and enjoyed having the remote control all to myself! The first photo shows proof of my joy...LOL. What a wonderful time we had...but, it's always good to get home.

Peanuts And Cracker Jacks

Son-in-law (Coach) Mike, in front. Maddy, our softball girlie is far right, back row.

You won't find me here for the next week...Our Maddy's team won the District 5 Championships and are on their way to States!!! Woo! Hoo!
We will be spending the weekend away. Then driving back and forth next week since the tournaments are in Clinton...A nice little town not quite an hours drive from here.
It is supposed to be hot and humid, but we have sat in jackets shivering or under umbrellas both for rain and shade. Nothing stops this baseball family! We just slather on sunscreen, never forget the bug spray and always make sure to have lots of beverages and snacks on hand.

Then, we'll root, root, root for our team. If they don't win it's a shame! For it's 1...2...3 strikes you're out at the ol' ballgame! Go Taylor East-West!
Ooh, think I'll have to buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks!
Catch ya'll later!

The Passion Flower Legend

This Passion Plant, was given to me by my late brother-in-law Mike, who could explain every detail of it's story. He lovingly took a new plant sprouting from the ground, planted it in a pot and nurtured it until he knew it would survive on it's own. Then, he kindly gave it to me and Tomer planted it nigh on 20 years ago. It's blooms, are faithful reminders of the Lords sacrifice and Mike's love of his gardens. I miss him.

The story of the Passion Plant...
The story relates that in 1609 Jacomo Bosio, a monastic scholar, was working on his extensive treatise on the Cross of Calvary, when an Augustan friar, Emmanuel de Villegas, a Mexican by birth, arrived in Rome.
He showed Jacomo Bosio drawings of a wonderful flower, ‘stupendously marvellous’, but Bosio was unsure whether or not to include these drawings in his book to the glory of Christ, fearing that they were greatly exaggerated. However, after receiving more drawings and descriptions from priests in New Spain and assurances from Mexican Jesuits passing through Rome that these astonishing reports of this lovely flower were indeed true, and when finally he saw drawings, essays and poems published by the Dominicans at Bologna he was satisfied that this marvellous flower did exist.

He now considered it his duty to present this ‘Flos Passionis’ flower story to the world as the most wondrous example of the ‘Croce triofante’ discovered in the forest. He considered the flower to represent not directly the cross of our Lord but more the past mysteries of the Passion.

In Peru, New Spain and the West Indies the Spanish descendants still call it the ‘Flower of the Five Wounds’. Bosio observed that the bell shaped flower took a long time to form, then after staying open for just one day, it closed back into the same bell shape as it slowly faded away. He wrote, ‘It may well be that in HIS infinite wisdom it pleases HIM to create it thus, shut up and protected, as though to indicate that the wonderful mysteries of the cross and of HIS passion were to remain hidden from the heathen people of these countries until the time preordained by HIS highest Majesty’....

Bosio’s passion flower shows the crown of thorns (corona filaments) twisted and plaited, the Passin Flower Drawing three nails (stigma) and the column of the flagellation just as they appear on ecclesiastical banners. He writes that the insides of the petals are tawny in Peru, but in New Spain they are white tinged with rose-pink, the crown of thorns having a blood red fringe, suggesting the ‘Scourge with which our blessed LORD was tormented’. He describes ‘the column [androgynophore] rising in the centre of the flower surrounded by the thorn of crowns, the three nails at the top of the column. In between, near the base of the column is a yellow colour about the size of a reale, in which there are five spots or stains [stamens] of the hue of blood evidently setting forth five wounds received by our LORD on the cross’.

The colour of the column, crown [ovary] and the nails is clear green and the crown is surrounded by a kind of veil of very fine violet coloured hair. There are seventy two filaments (crona filaments) which, according to tradition, is the number of thorns in the crown of thorns set upon Christ’s head. ‘The abundant and beautiful leaves are shaped like the head of a lance or pike like the spear that pierced the side of our Saviour, while the underside of the leaf is marked with dark round spots signifying thirty pieces of silver’, that Judas was paid to betray Christ.

Decisions, Decisions...Oh, My

I have always loved, the process of getting my design plan ready for a redo. Seems lately, this no estrogen phase of my life is making me indecisive and confused. Do any of you gals understand? If so, can I get an Amen!?
To start off, I have been making lists on the redo in my living room and adjacent playroom. The carpet was ripped from the playroom and the first part of August the hardwood floors in both rooms will be refinished. One decision made...Hallelujah!
Now, what has gotten to me is the paint colors! I used to walk into the store and within a few minutes, the decision was made and I was out of there. Now finally, after at least 3 trips to Home Depot I came home with more than paint swatches! Of course, Tomer had to slightly aggravate me to get me motivated by asking "Are you ever going to buy paint, what are you waiting for?"
Ooh, I purposed in my heart as I hurried to the car, that I would not leave that place without paint! I not only bought paint but spotted some ceramic tiles that I fell in love with and they will be used on the fireplace. And I only spent an hour and a half going back and forth, until I said ready or not...this is it. Took my swatches to the paint guy, had the paint mixed and got myself out of that place!!!
Now, all I need to do is decide on curtains and wall decor...Lord help me please?
This ol' grammy's tired just thinking about traipsing from store to store...decisions, decisions...oh, and did I tell you that I once loved shopping?
Not so much anymore!

Blessings...

Happy 4th Of July

Cover of sheet music for "The Star-Spangled Banner", transcribed for piano by Ch. Voss, Philadelphia: G. Andre & Co., 1862

Lyrics...
O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave![12]

Wondrous Blessings

I can't believe it's been a week since I have been here! Where has the time gone? Daddy always said "Sister, the older you get the faster those ol' years fly." He was right.
This week, we lost a sweet sister in the Lord. My Tomer and I went to the Funeral Home last night and today, Peg and I went to the Church for the funeral. As I sat there during the service, in the church we attended quite a few years back. I felt right at home.
I had sat in that very pew so many times, listening to the voice of the Pastor as he sang and conducted services. Today, it was different...we sat as he lovingly did this at his precious Mom's funeral. What a blessing it was, to see his son who was once in our 4 and 5 year old Sunday School Class. Now a married man with children of his own. And to see him serving the Lord...singing and leading us in worship. Well, it was just awesome.
God has been so good. He has called us to be a part of shaping young lives. What a privilege to serve the One, who calms the seas with but a wave of His Hand. The One, who paints the sky blue and the sun yellow. The One, who had a plan for my life...to work along side my husband as we teach these precious little ones about the mighty, wondrous God we serve.
Oh, I am so richly blessed tonight...my cup runneth over.