Happy Mothers Day to All

 

Happy Mothers Day to All Moms, here and in Heaven. Also to all those who have acted as moms by nurturing young people in many ways including being teachers.
This photo is of my mom and dad and little me.
I can not imagine a better mom or dad than the two I was given.
I believe we will meet again in Heaven one day as Jesus promises to all who love Him. My mom died too young, at the age of 54.

The Watcher - Mother
She always leaned to watch for us,
Anxious if we were late,
In winter by the window,
In summer by the gate;

And though we mocked her tenderly,
Who had such foolish care,
The long way home would seem more safe,
Because she waited there.

Her thoughts were all so full of us -
She never could forget!
And so I think that where she is,
She must be watching yet,

Waiting til we come home to her,
Anxious if we are late -
Watching from heaven's window,
Leaning from heaven's gate.
                by Margaret Widdemer

Poppies, Garden Vista, Heart Monitor and Bounce

 

The view when I was sitting outside on a chair on the cafe patio enjoying a decaf latte at my favorite coffee shop. Surrounded by gardens, now that is mighty fine. See that bench, doesn't that look tempting?

The above are three views taken from the same spot, with the top one the most magnified.

I wore a heart monitor for two weeks, put it in the mail as instructed and today read the results, all tests are normal. My doctor's words. Hurray. Another blessing in answered prayer.

Bounce finds delightful scents in this poppy growing in/near the sidewalk, he is checking his mail or as I call it, his pee-mail.

Above, more golden orange poppies seen on our walk today. Below shows poppy flowers when they are furled up and closed, before the sun warms them each day.

 

 Some say plants don't move, but they do. The poppies close up each evening. Remember the powerful scenes in The Lord of the Rings where the trees are needed to move and to go into battle on the side of good? I love those scenes.

My Birthday Cake, What's Left of It

 This cake did say "Happy Birthday Terra" at one point. I had an upbeat birthday a few days ago, including a surprise birthday party given for me by the 12 women in my women's Bible study group. We are in an 8 week study of the book and video The Armor of God by Priscilla Shirer. Four of the women I had not met before, this is a great way to meet people. They served a feast including two quiches made with eggs from the lady's hens (now that is fresh) and organic asparagus in one, and mushrooms in the other. These ladies are darlings, ranging in age from 40 to 80, and two of them have immigrated to the USA from other countries. Quite a diverse group united in love of Jesus and people.

 

 

 Above is a crystal hummingbird birthday gift given to me by another dear friend who I met in church several years ago.

When the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus they asked him "Which of the commandments is the greatest?". "Jesus answered "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37-39

The Windsor Knot, a favorite book with Queen Elizabeth II solving a murder

 

I loved every minute of reading this book and when it ended I had a warm feeling of happiness. I felt comforted by how The Windsor Knot's author, SJ Bennett, portrayed the central character. Queen Elizabeth II is close to 90 in this book and is written as kind, highly intelligent and perceptive as she attempts to solve a crime. A visitor is murdered in Windsor Castle. The Queen's love of dogs and horses and her quiet faith feature in this book, and she is brilliant in dealing with a mediocre intelligence man who tries to solve the case. It seems to me like Bennett knew the Queen well, which she did not in real life. I am giving The Windsor Knot a prime place of honor in my short list of best books I've ever read.

I am happy to learn that there is a second book in this series, All the Queen's Men. That is the title of the USA edition, I rather think I prefer the title of the British edition, A Three Dog Problem. Now you know those dogs must be Corgis or Dorgis, favorites of the Queen. Another in the series is to be published in 2024. I already bought All the Queen's Men.  Anyone else reading this new series?

My new exercise bike and a Heart Monitor for Me!

 Do you sometimes put off doing something? I've been thinking about buying a recumbent exercise bike for a long time, maybe a year, mentioning it to family and friends. 

Well I have one! On March 12 my sons surprised me with the gift of the above JeeKee brand bike, they brought it over and set it up. No more procrastination. It is in my living room and I can sit on it and read a book or watch TV. It even tells me my pulse rate and how far I've gone and how many calories I've burned. I think we all know it takes a LOT of exercise to work off the calories of ice cream for dessert.

So far I am using it a few minutes each day. It is completely silent and uses magnets so there is no friction to create noise. My main goal with it is to raise my heart rate a bit. Sauntering with my pup twice a day is good for body and soul, but pup likes to check and send his email/AKA pee mail so we stop along the way. Anybody else have an exercise bike and any tips on using it?

My Heart Monitor

I added this note on April 14 to this post and will post more soon in a new post. I will get a heart monitor next week, it sticks to your chest for about 2 weeks. The reason for this is that on April 7 while walking my dog I suddenly felt exhausted, it was hard to walk home and when I sat down at home my heart was pounding hard for about 10 minutes. My younger son drove me to the Emergency Room on Saturday where they did lots of tests which all show my heart is healthy. It was scary! So the heart monitor will gather more info. More later. Have you worn a heart monitor?

My sons and I were happy that we continued our Easter plans and went to church the next day. It was joyful, about 400 people, more people there since before Covid, and 16 people were baptized, from age 10 and up, with many in their 20s, 30s and 40s. This gives us hope for the future of the church, new young members. After church I rested and my sons prepared our Easter feast.

Happiest News, Easter Promise

 

He is not here

He has risen,

Just as he said.  Matthew 28:6

Yes, if you say yes to Jesus' offer to follow him he promises eternal life with him in heaven and on the new earth. That is a joy to know him and to know we will have happy reunions in heaven. 

Philippians 2:5-7 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

I hope you all have a weekend of beauty and grace whether with family or friends or alone. There is much in this world of beauty.

Yellow and Purple for Easter week in my garden

Yellow and purple in my garden this Easter week. 

The yellow shrub is Leucospermum from South Africa, AKA Pincushion. I also planted an orange colored variety 'Sunrise'. I planted the Leucospermum and the purple Pride of Madeira in June 2019 and I love how they have grown a lot. The Pride of Madeira, Echium fastuosum, is now 6 feet tall and wide and the bees love it. The photo below of High Gold Leucospermum shows how they get their nickname of Pincushion.

These plants are in my front yard where all passersby can enjoy. In my previous post you can see the devastation caused by my next door neighbor's tree falling, which stood near these beauties. Happily my garden was not harmed, the main problem was the tree knocked out power to three homes. So I am happy to be able to share these photos of beauty with you.