winter beach

I went down to the beach today.

Every now and then I find myself there,

wandering around...

taking pictures.

The winter beach was...

deserted. 

Quiet, except for the waves rushing to pound on the shore.

It was chilly,

cloudy, waiting for the rain to come.

There were footprints,

but not many.

I didn't see a single bird.

I saw one human.

He was taking pictures like me.

The sun was hiding behind the clouds.

The sea grass was brown.

The swing empty.

I love the winter beach.

The winter beach smells clean and pure.

The sand is pristine.

The winter beach makes my heart happy and glad.

My emotions soar with just a glance of that big, beautiful expanse before me.

Thankful today for God's creation.

For all of the wonderful things He made for us to enjoy.

look what happened...

My Paper Whites burst into bloom.

It only took 23 days from planting the bulbs until they flowered.

If you look closely,

 the other two bulbs are getting ready to show themselves as well.

Such delicate, tiny white flowers right in the middle of winter.

Thank you God for these beauties!

The boys, Harry, Gus, and Archie, spent the afternoon with us yesterday.

They played outside with nerf guns and their scooters.

It was a beautiful winter day.

Lots and sunshine and blue skies.

At one point,

Harry appeared at the door saying he had found a bird's egg.

It was under the mailbox in the round slot meant for papers.

I hurried out to see their find.

Sure enough there was a little tiny white egg, unhatched.

On closer inspection, we found two blue eggs that possibly had already hatched.

This had probably happened before winter set in.

Notice that the nest is elongated...in the shape of the paper slot.

God's world is so amazing.

Flowers and bird nests and tiny little eggs.

These things go on around us everyday.

How often do we stop and look and marvel at His wonders?

I love curious little boys!!!

In other interesting nature news,

I have pink Gerber daisies growing in my garden in January.

There are three of them.

I guess it just hasn't been cold enough to kill them yet.

Lastly,

we were over at David's house on Wednesday night celebrating his birthday.

Lucy was posing holding Red Smith their big ginger cat.

Just when I snapped this pic,

Archie photobombed with Dodger Smalls.

This looks like pure joy to me.

Well maybe not for the cats.

😺

Happy Birthday to David

Today is David's birthday.

Forty five years ago there was much excitement to welcome this guy into God's world.

Never could I have imagined the joy he would bring with him.

From the beginning he has been a light.

One of the things I love most about him is his humor.

He can always make me laugh out loud.

He has a gaggle of kids that also make me very happy.

I am so thankful for him.

Happy, Happy Birthday to David.

May God continue to bless you and keep you in His constant care.

Thank you for all of the love and good times.

Forever,

Mom

watching them grow

These are the Paper Whites that I planted on January 1, 2019.

These are my Paper Whites today.

They have grown quite a lot in 19 days.

I have a room that is filled with floor to ceiling windows.

The sunlight comes streaming in most days. ☼

I can see the blooms on one stem getting ready to burst forth.

All I do is water them and watch them grow.

Thankful today for green things growing in the dead of winter.

Thankful for sunlight on a cold winter day. ☼

Thankful for God's mercy and grace that is "new every morning."

Thankful for family on their way right now to celebrate David's birthday.

🎂

Loving the sweet, simple things of life "in Christ."

you & me

"To my husband...

When we get close to the end of our lives together,

the house we had,

the cars we drove,

the things we possessed won't matter.

What will matter is that I had you and you had me."

By Staripy

This is a very old picture of Bubba and I camping.

In fact, I think we were newlyweds.

This happened a long time ago before I realized that I liked hotel rooms better.

But O did we have some fun times together out in the woods.

Thankful for my husband today.

He is still incredibly handsome,

 amazingly good and kind, perfectly just who I need.

Thank You Lord for Bubba.

47 degrees and cloudy

It's cold!

Three days of clouds and gloom.

Just a little rain at church time yesterday.

No sun at all. 

Dark before six pm.

Cold to the bone.

This is when one starts longing for spring.

My purse tells the truth.

Everyone who sees it loves it.

I had a hard time warming up this afternoon.

I was in town until 2:00.

When I came home I couldn't warm up.

Had to curl up in front of the fire with a quilt to get my insides to stop shaking.

"The sun'ill come out tomorrow,

bet your bottom dollar

there'll be sun...

Tomorrow!"

One can only hope!

☀

my Lucy tree

She knows me so well.

She teaches me so much.

The tree that Lucy gave me for Christmas is perfect.

It fits right in with my "after Christmas" decorations.

She bought it in New York,  

guarded it safely through the crowded streets,

 and brought it home to place under my tree.

She knew it was the perfect gift for her Grammy.

Our house is filled with snowflakes and snowmen.

All of my lighted house scenes are still out and about.

Candles, silver balls, and tiny white lights make things sparkle and glow.

These things are why I love winter.

I think a lot about heaven.

As I get older it just makes sense.

That's were I'm heading as this is not my permanent home.

The Bible says heaven will be filled with God's light.

That is a happy thought.

I love light.

Light brings comfort.

Light brings joy and peace.

Thanking God this afternoon for my temporary home...

a place of peace and rest,

a place of beauty.

It is lived in, loved, and beautiful.

It is His gift.

Thanking God also for Lucy...

 a girl with a sweet spirit and a heart of compassion.

I love her so much!

What blessings abound in my life.

"Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, 

coming down from the Father of lights, 

with whom there is no variation, 

or shifting shadow."

James 1:17

⛄

taking it down

The beautiful ten foot tree came down today.

The tree removal always makes me sad.

I worked from nine until twelve this morning getting all of the ornaments off.

Bubba got the lights off just now and we hauled it outside.

Honestly, 

I think (know) it was the prettiest we've ever had.

It hardly shed at all! 

It maintained it's beauty for a solid month.

I am so thankful for the "blessing of the 2018 Christmas tree."

This is where it landed in the backyard.

Not a permanent home,

just a temporary place for the varmits to nest for a while.

I planted my Paper Whites a few days ago.

They are coming to life.

Will keep ya'll updated about their progress.

Thankful today for answered prayers.

God is faithful.

He hears us when we pray...

always.

starting a new year

Every time I walk into a bookstore I feel euphoric.

As soon as I breathe the smell of the written word, 

my heart pitty pats a little faster.

A new book means a new adventure.

I am going somewhere far away

to spend a few days living someone else's life.

There is nothing quite like a new book.

Lucy and I had a date yesterday.

I had sent her a text a few days ago...

"Hey Lu Blu, do you want to go see Mary Poppins Returns on Friday?"

Her reply...

"Yes I would love too, Thanks"

We ate Mexican for lunch then spent a few minutes at Barnes and Noble before the movie.

So good!

I highly recommend!!

We got caught up on all the news and had a great time together.

The first week of the new year is always fabulous...

except for last year when I was having surgery on this very day.

I like the feeling of having another wonderful Christmas behind me.

All of the stress is gone.

I see a whole month of quiet days with many opportunities to rest and read ahead.

January...

the weather is mostly nice,

the yard is dormant,

the days will slowly start to get longer,

the decorations are down and put away!

(except for my 10 foot tree)

I don't have to worry about dieting because I'm still not eating much of anything.

I start reading the Bible over again.

Thankful today for the rich blessing of life in Christ,

for the indescribable gift of Jesus,

for new beginnings,

for family and friends,

for grandchildren,

for winter!

God is so good!

Happy, Happy New Year ~ 2019

New Year's Eve is always a big celebration  around here.

I marinated a pork loin roast for 24 hours.

Everybody raved about how good it was.

We had black eyed peas with rice and all the fixings,

a squash casserole,

habenero corn bread,

and lots of hot pepper sauce.

For dessert I made a chocolate surprise.

The highlight of the night, of course, was sparklers.

We had the regular short guys and these extra long neon ones.

The kids (and their parents) go nuts!

They (the kids) were running around the house shouting

Happy New Year!!

The parents stay focused (mostly) on the potential fire danger 

and closely monitor the situation.

🔥

I will just share some of my pictures of the sparkler fun...

Lucy got two big ones to start us off.

Walt's first time playing with fire.

Glowing!

Not easy to get all of them to stand still for a picture.

Sparklers are amazing to look at and so much fun.

No one even got injured which in itself is a bit of a miracle. 

Granddaddy, David, and Harry lighting up.

Grammy and the littlest boys.

Just before the party ended we did some scratch offs but nobody won any money.

What a wonderful New Year's Eve.

No one waited for the ball to drop before we called it a night.

The neighborhood sounded like bombs were dropping until the wee hours of the morning.

I could hear them from just on the other side of the haze of sleep.

New years are always exciting.

We'll see what plans God has for this new year...

2019