Play ball

Henry has a natural ability to throw the ball and hit a golf ball.  Who taught him to use his legs to throw the ball??

 
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1061753883898&saved

God's way

I am truly amazed once again by God's way.  Reading Luke 1 this morning, what appears to be hardship and hurt from man's perspective, God indeed blesses. Elizabeth was barren, yet she continued to be faithful.  God says she and Zachariah were blameless, not sinless, but blameless.  In their day to day life, the mundaneness of life, they had their hurts, and longings and wants and desires, but in all that they remained faithful and 'blameless'.  And our God comes, comes into their midst and blesses.  And not just with a baby, but the cousin of Jesus, the son of God, His son!  Makes me ask, am I being faithful, 'blameless' in the mundaneness of my life? and as I write this, I am reminded how my God has come, come into my midst to bless, blessing too numerous to list and I am amazed by His ways.        I Cor 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?

More than a weekend

Inspired by the 'do it in a weekend' magazines, I documented our 'weekend'.
We've been accused of not being tree friendly in our home, seeing we've removed' several trees from our yard. This corner had two large California redwoods.  With the pool it keeps us from planting things which shed! The dilemma what to do with this corner. Enter, conversation with yourself,'going green, grow your own vegetables, farmer roots, past garden experiences,the taste of homegrown tomatoes and vegetables out my back door! One of those thots lead to planter boxes...which means Duane gets to build them!

We had the empty corner...




add at least one trip to the local Lowe's store for wood and supplies




a little hammering



more hammering


a lot more hammering, bags of planting mixture, oh and some plants...my favorite part



add zucchini plants and an already started tomato plant since we waited so late in the year



can't forget the sprinklers, how many trips to the hardware store did that take?




a few stepping stones...


lots of California sunshine and heat, and thanks to the early started tomato plant, not too long for some homegrown tomatoes! yum!!!


and zucchini...on its way


perfect



watch out...it's taking over!!!


last week, well the zucchini plant is done...zucchinied out! We are still holding out for a few more tomatoes, but its time is short...

'our' weekend project, which stretched into several weekends and actually we still haven't finished the corner,  the stepping stones don't have any gravel in between them, and planting a few more plants...but we are almost done. As the fall weather begins to cool, it really does, doesn't it? we will finally finish our weekend project. One of the benefits? Duane learned to make killer zucchini bread this summer. And we've enjoyed some tomatoes, our weekend project has been fun all summer.

Making Bread

Yep, that's right I'm making bread! With my/our new mixer! Kitchen Aid that is! finally have a kitchen aid, it only took a trip to Arizona to our friend chef Micheal to convince Duane to purchase a Kitchen Aid!Hmmmm...and only a few days before I made bread....many more loaves to come! Yum...can you just smell it baking...and taste it with a little real butter....are you drooling yet!

Henry and bubbles

Had some fun time with Henry boy this weekend. Playing cars, opening a new puzzle for him. And bubbles...soap bubbles.

June, July

Wow how time flies. Since I last posted, so much has transpired. Our son got married! Yeah! and then they moved away...not yeah :( But very excited about their new life and opportunities.

We just got back from a visit with our Arizona friends! Great memories! Sitting on the deck as lightning dances all around as Carole reads from Isaiah 40! Rainbows in the sky!
Good food! Chef Michael wowed us with his good cooking...
Laughter and talking!! Walks, golf and of course more eating...and who can forget watching 'You think you can dance'!

Friendship is an amazing gift from God. As Pastor spoke this morning about not forsaking gathering together, I reflected on our time with Mike and Carole. We have gathered together through the years, and at each stage of our life, because we have known each other before we had children, our gathering together always comes back to our God. We laugh and talk and play games, but we do 'spur one another unto love and good deeds.' And I come away from our times refreshed and renewed to keep on keeping on. I would pray each of you has at least one friend, a soul mate, a bosom friend, to spur you on, to challenge you to press toward the goal, to win the prize for which God has called us.

Summer of '69

Thought you might need a picture of the era!! note: my one store bought dress I wore everywhere!







note to daughter...I made the red short outfit...so, I really can sew....

Time is a funny thing. Seems like yesterday and yet it has been 40 years ago. I remember my grandma telling me the hard thing about old age, is your mind pictures you young and yet your body reminds you, you are not! I was jogged to 40 years ago yesterday.

I have become a recent FB person, like the rest of the world! (yes Jilly you were right) And yes, I have found someone from my childhood, actually my preadolesent and early high school years.

I have thought of her many times through my adulthood, because she was my neighborhood friend. We hung out at each others house, many sleep overs, raiding the refrigerator, sat on the street corner making fun of the people that drove by, we rode horses together. Many a summer morning we would wake before the sun and walk the dark streets, several miles to feed the horses and then ride. Though I never had my own horse, I rode everyone elses! (and who would let their daughters in this day and age walk in the early morning hours to hang with a couple old men and kids all day!!) We went camping in Yosemite together. Her mother's family having homesteaded in the Park, so we had the privilege of having our own park within the Park! Her mother told us stories of herself as she had played in the cabins that are now in the museum! We were friends...And so, as life is, we ended up finishing in different high schools, I got married and moved away and she got married and moved away. I knew what her married name was and through the years wondered where and what she was doing. One time, while visiting Santa Barbara I saw what I thought was her name on the wall for some bakery and shared the story with my teenage daughter. Confession, I've internet stalked her to see if I could find her....which leads me to FB. Though my son and his wife are moving, and they FB, and I would like to sort of keep in the know of their lives, I also, in the back of my mind thought I might be able to find her. And it happened last nite. Wow is all I can say. Which led me to the realization this morning that it has been 40 years....the year America went to the moon! and the year my friend and I sat on my bedroom floor playing solitaire, when I read to her the letter from my sort of boyfriend who had gone to Tennessee for the summer, explaining how he was going to marry me!!! LOL!!! We laughed!!!! and continued to play our card game....40 years...how it goes by and yet is another life time ago...