For years, as we have crossed the Delaware River into Philadelphia, the Walt Whitman Bridge has given us a view of the SS United States in dock since the 1990s.
I have always felt a kinship with the ocean liner. My grandfather worked as a painter for most of his life in the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, or as our family called it, the Shipyard. Yesterday, when it began its final voyage down the Delaware River towards its resting place in the Gulf near Destin,Florida or Mobile, Alabama, I became a bit teary watching the live YouTube video of its progress.
We often eat at the restaurant, Riverwinds, shown in the aerial view of the Delaware as the ship moves down the river.
I’m delighted the ship was not scrapped for parts. Instead, it will be sunk and become a reef, preventing erosion. It will likely become an interesting destination for divers. I like to think of colorful fish and coral ‘painting’ the ship with the help of God’s hand.
I am reading a book by Dr. David Jeremiah titled The Coming Golden Age. If you need a boost of hope in this current age we are living in, Dr. Jeremiah’s book will certainly be a blessing to you.
I’ve known of the Millennium reign of our Lord and Savior, but I didn’t know or understand all the facts surrounding it. After listening to Dr. Jeremiah in the YouTube interview I’ve included at the end of the post, and purchasing the book, I’ve had a sense of great joy within me. I’ve also understood a bit more why the song, Joy to the World, will sometimes burst out of me all through the year. Perhaps my subconscious has somehow known it is more a song of The Millennium reign of Jesus Christ, than it is a Christmas Carol. (Page 34 in the book)
Joy to the world; the Lord is come; Let Earth receive her King; Let ev’ry heart prepare him room, And heav’n and nature sing.
Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns; Our mortal songs employ, While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, Repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make his blessings flow Far as the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of his righteousness, And wonders of his love.
Isaac Watts
I also had little idea of the amount of Bible verses that mention the ‘Golden Age’.
…I’ve been digging them up-hundreds of verses about the coming Golden Age, the impending thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ on this planet. Some commentators say it is the single most mentioned subject in all of God’s Word. ~Dr. David Jeremiah
The word for today’s Ragtag challenge is Gobbledygook. I looked it up to ensure my take on the definition was correct; I was thinking foolishness, junk, etc. I was not far off. Some synonyms for Gobbledygook are bafflegab, double-talk, gibberish, rigamarole, song and dance. Most of these have to do with the spoken word.
I don’t know about your area, but I live near a major swing state and an important city for the upcoming election. I am across the river from Philadelphia, and our media stations are from the city. The commercials, at this point, are constant political GOBBLEDYGOOK. All of the candidates have gifts, talents, and flaws. Of course, I lean heavily toward one candidate, as most of us do now, but I am tired of ALL the negativity bombarding us.
Only a few more days until the election itself is behind us. To counteract, I hope, the possibility of the rampant fraud in the last election, I voted early this year. It was the first time I took advantage of this type of voting. I am in my 60s and have voted yearly for decades.
We thought we’d be one of a few voting early. Oh my! I knew that was a wrong assumption as soon as we pulled into the parking lot of the voting center. Inside, there were long lines, but the atmosphere was wonderful. Doesn’t that sound odd? Everyone seemed happy and lively, and no one complained, campaigned to, or criticized the person near them.
I felt happy to be utilizing my civic right and duty. I voted. I am glad to support the candidates I think are the best choice for the country, county, town, and school board. VOTE! Vote early or on election day. But for those in my country, please vote. Thanks!
Today, I bought a small pot of yellow daisies, which is, in reality, a daisy-like chrysanthemum, to place on my kitchen table for a few weeks. I love the shape of daisies, the colors, the variety. Other similar daisy-shaped flowers are gerberas, the common field daisy, aster daisies, echinaceas, and some dahlias. Horticulture Magazine has a list of 40 Daisy-Like Flowers with Growing Tips, I favorited the link.
I’ve blogged several times about daisies. Here is a poster, or as the new tech age calls them, a meme using a daisy as a backdrop. For me, my first memory of daisies is this well-known rhyme. Did you know the rhyme originated in France and was originally a game? Wikipedia has a bit of its history.
Another Echinacea Daisy seemed a perfect backdrop for the word FAITH.
My family had two dogs named Daisy, and my grandmother had a goat of the same name. The little black poodle adding her blessing to my wedding party forty-seven years ago this month was named after the flower. I still miss her. What a sweetheart.
One Daisy I never met was Daisy McCormack. I found her watercolor either in a shop or at a yard sale. I’ve had it so long I can’t remember the origin. The painting is delicate and sweet, 4 ½ by 3 ½. It is beautifully framed. The writing on the back is neat and straight, describing the flowers and where they were found and ending with hand-painted by Daisy M. McCormack. Since I watercolor and have painted many flowers, I treasure her work even though I will never know her in this life. Judging by the color of the backing paper, the work is decades old.
The Daisy in the photograph, top row, third from the left, is someone I met only once. She was Aunt Daisy to my grandfather. When his mother passed away in the Spanish Flu epidemic, she left behind four children under nine. Aunt Daisy took my grandfather in during this terrible time. Once, when I was small, he took me to her home in the hills near Martinsville, Virginia. I am forever grateful to this kind aunt for nurturing my grandfather when he was only six. She lived to be 94, and I hope she was blessed her whole life for her kindness.
P.S. My great-grandfather is the young gentleman on the lower left.
Lastly, I include a favorite oldie of mine. Somehow, I know a lot of the words. Perhaps from listening so often as a child to Bing Crosby and Mitch Miller Sing-A-Long Records. (Yes, I do mean vinyl records.) My mother loved the voice of Nat King Cole, so this is for her.
I usually write short posts, but this one kept growing, as I hope my love for daisies will grow throughout my lifetime.
In this photograph, my grandson is five or six years old. He is my first grandchild. Becoming a grandmother is a dream that did not disappoint. It was, is, and I hope will always be, even more precious than I had hoped the relationship would be when I first heard the news of his impending birth.
He just turned eighteen and graduated from high school in the same month. The colors for his school match the color of the shirt he wore all those years ago as he marveled over the pea-sized tomatoes I grew in my garden.
A mystery: rain recently washed up a small sand toy he and his brothers played with in the backyard sandbox. Once, I might have packed it up or even thrown it away, but now it is a treasure. Cleaned up, it will be placed in my keepsake drawer, a reminder of how fast time goes and a delightful prompter of lovely memories. God bless you all on these pathways we walk as we travel through life.
One of my first memories of outdoor fun is chasing fairy wishes. I associate my parents and Mom’s cousin, whom I called Aunt Norma, with my first recollection of fairy wishes. The premise behind catching one was the fulfillment of a wish. Upon capturing the wish in your hand, you whispered your hope or dream, and then, and this was important, you had to let it go again.
The beautiful fairy wishes in the photograph were captured as they unfurled from a milkweed pod in my back garden. Anyone, who has read my blog for any length of time, knows I am a bit obsessed with helping butterflies thrive in my garden. I grow common milkweed as a host plant for Monarchs, fennel, dill, parsley, and rue for Black Swallowtails.
My prayer is that God helps me ride the winds of the written word, just like a milkweed wish, to spread the Good News of Salvation and His Love far and wide.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Just a few minutes ago I posted this tweet on what is now called X. It was flagged immediately, and the photo blocked, for being considered sensitive content. I don’t need to say anything more because I know the readers here have sense. Anyway, the Bible says it better in Isaiah.
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Day After Update: In the later hours of Sunday, I noticed the photo appeared again on Twitter, and was not marked as sensitive content. However, that flagging of a Bible Verse happened at all is eye-opening and indicative of the times we are living in.
I did immediately appeal. We will see what happens. The situation had the opposite effect from what they probably expect of people. It immediately filled me with a sense of battle, and I stood just now, and armored up using Ephesians 6:10-18. When I do this, I even go through the physical motions. God is with us.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
I enjoyed a quick walk on this second morning in January. The air, crisp with cold, was stimulating, waking me up and opening my eyes to the beauty in the winter landscape. The limbs and twigs of the trees against the chilly sky are God’s sculptures raising their arms toward the heavens. I could almost imagine them beginning to sing.
I searched for dandelion cones with fluff emerging from their tips. I am partial to dandelions; in fact, I have named 2024 my year of the dandelion. I want to be as productive and as resilient as this beautiful plant.
What do I love about dandelions? Perhaps it’s the color and shape. The flower reflects the Sun. I admire the resilience of dandelions. They will bloom wherever they can and grow lushly, even within the cracks of the street and sidewalks. Just today, I photographed this determined plant thriving in the smallest of spaces between the curb and the blacktop. I have read recently that one dandelion plant can produce up to 2,000 seeds. I hope to be as productive as the dandelion and spread as much GOOD NEWS as possible.
Here’s a fun project to do with children. You can string the unopened pods of dandelion seeds onto a piece of thread, and within 24 hours, they change and open up into perfect spheres. It’s so easy, and if you choose the right place, they will reflect the sunshine and glow and bring a touch of magic into the room. The photos below show the process. So much fun!
The candy is light enough not to break the string but heavy enough to give it a bit of weight. I love bringing a touch of whimsy to winter days.
I found my first Jersey Shore Shell this weekend. I have placed dozens around the area but was still looking for one. We went to Ocean City for pizza on Friday and then to Strathmere to collect some clam shells for painting. We found quite a few nice sizes and textures. As we were leaving the beach, my husband spied a Christmas tree. We saw clamshells surrounding the base even from a distance. When we approached we saw some were painted, but none seemed to mention being a Jersey Shore Shell, and then, oh the joy of it, the most beautiful of all revealed on the back the treasured words…Jersey Shore Shells. The artwork is amazing! I thank the artist from the bottom of my heart. I am thrilled with this, and I will be keeping it forever. It truly is a wonderful way to spread the GOOD NEWS. Thank you.
Jersey Shore Shells is a group for people who love to collect shells, and then paint those shells and hide them for other people to find. Add a message to the side of the shell that is not painted stating “Jersey Shore Shells on Facebook. Keep or rehide!” Painters can post pictures of the shells they hide. Hopefully people will post pictures of the shells they find.
A week ago, WordPress sent me this message in my Reader:
Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!
You registered on WordPress.com 15 years ago.
When I read this, I thought I don’t think I’ve been blogging quite that long. The keyword was registered. I checked back on my first post, and it was published on 2011/09/28 at 3:02 pm.
In reality, I have blogged for about twelve years. It took me three years to get enough nerve and confidence to blog. Now, that would be my looking back. Looking forward to me means more time with my family and projects I’ve had on the back burner for years, finally being finished. The most current is finishing, editing, and getting ready to self-publish a work of fiction I started years ago. Looking up, well, for those of us who follow Christ, that is a constant, daily way of looking at life. I worry about the state of our world, but if I have as many years ahead with the blogging as I have behind me, I intend to keep blogging!
There were a few years when I blogged daily. There also was a year when I didn’t have anything to say. I might write and post more sporadically now, but I don’t intend to give blogging up. Why? It’s all of you, of course. I love connecting with people all across the globe this way. I consider blogging a blessing. Thank you all for reading, and also, thank you so much for posting about your lives. Thank you for offering fun and inspiring challenges for the times my thoughts are stagnant and I need a prompt. I appreciate all the challenges.
The photo I included was taken on the path between Cedar Lake and Washington Lake Park in Washington Township, NJ. It reminds me to keep looking up and forward and enjoy the times I look back too.
A little postscript: I smile when I can’t remember how I did a project or gardening tip and have to search it out in my blog to jog my memory. Does this ever happen to you?
This morning, I felt burdened by my blogging, and pretty much life in general. When I blog about daily activities, such as my garden, it almost feels frivolous amid massive world upheaval. On the other hand, I’m a firm believer in living my life. If we let the terror overtake and paralyze us, we allow those perpetrating the evil to win.
Several things made an impression on me within an hour or two of rising. Number one: I felt led during my devotional time to search out an MMPwQ WordPress post of quotes from Oswald Chambers about prayer and publish them again. You can find these posts at the top and end of the page.
Number two: I put on a necklace of my Mom’s that I enjoy wearing because it’s lovely and it reminds me of her. Out of the blue, the string broke and the beads flew everywhere, they embedded themselves into the shaggy weave of a rug, and scattered into crevasses and nooks where they were difficult to pick back up. Pick them back up I did though, because I won’t let something precious be lost to me if I can save it. I gathered up as many of the beads as I could find. I won’t throw them away, instead I will restring them, and when I begin, I might add a few little glittery pieces to remind me that Mom is up there in the stars with God now. I imagine the necklace will be better than before.
It reminds me a bit of what happens in the world where evil uprisings are concerned. You move through life, and people who are my age will remember the phrase ‘Everything’s hunky-dory,’ and then, excuse the ugly word, ‘All hell will suddenly break loose,’ as has happened in Israel, and for the innocent people caught in the midst of the war in the Gaza strip. I don’t have a solution other than to once again, point to the quotes by Oswald Chambers I’ve included at the bottom and top of this post.
Number three: After I took a walk this morning I went into my backyard to see how my plants had fared during the very cold night. So far, they are still fine. The red zinnias were glorious in the early sunlight. I had my phone so I snapped a photo. Now, I use photo filters once in a while; I think they’re great, but this picture is unfiltered, well let me amend that, it was filtered by God. And I get a little choked up just saying that because amid all this turmoil in the world, I don’t want to forget that he is good, that he loves us, and that he will be with us in every moment of our lives. I am so glad the light was a reminder that he is, and was, and always will be in control.
I hope to pray today off and on all through my waking hours. He is there any moment I need to connect to him. I will be praying for Israel, my family, my country, and my home, and I will be praying for those in power in the world to have wisdom. I will be praying for those innocents in harm’s way who are suffering because those with evil ideologies must have their way. God bless us all.
I’ve been in a bit of limbo for two months. We had more than half of the interior of the house painted. It began mid-February and ended last Thursday. TOO LONG! I will think very hard before I ever begin major home improvements again. No matter how nice a stranger is, they are a stranger, and I am ashamed to say even an attempt at chit-chat and pleasantries began to grate as the time began to drag on and on. I really began to feel a bit wacky due to my routines being disrupted for so long. The job was well done though, and the walls are bright and clean.
We had a break in the two months of painting and went on vacation in Jamaica. The weather was wonderful. We came home to very cold weather in New Jersey. Brrrr….better now though. It is very warm today.
The praying mantis pods I gathered a few months ago, after spending the winter on the porch, are now velcroed to my rose bushes. I am hoping they will keep the sawfly invasion down this year. I also bought some alyssum seeds to sow. Sixteen packs from the dollar store only cost $4.00. I read alyssum helps keep pests that rise from the ground at bay. I am hoping to have a carpet of alyssum beneath the roses this year. Of course, now that I am searching for a link, I can’t find it again. Bah!
Placing a plastic grid from an old market tray over my pots of bulbs worked great. Pots without the grid were dug through by squirrels all winter long. The grid was a perfect shield and easily removed when the bulbs had sprouted.
I started over 200 seeds indoors this Winter. I always start weeks earlier than the seed packets recommend. If grown with heat mats and under light, the plants do not get leggy, well at least most of them did not get leggy. My biggest surprise, the dahlias. They thrived under the indoor conditions.
I have managed to root the tips of geraniums that had become hopelessly overgrown. I was inspired to try this gain after watching Gardener’s World on Britbox. This has become a favorite and it kept me sane through the weeks of painting.
Last week, here in Southern New Jersey, our temperatures were in the single digits. Thankfully, this plummeting into frigidity occurred after the heavy rains, and although we had a coating of ice for a few days, we did not have the mountains of snow that northern areas experienced.
Today, the sunlight warmed the air, and I grabbed my coat and camera hoping to find an area in the woods near me to photograph once a week in 2023. I found this sweet spot, a trail created by a thoughtful, though unknown person, bordered with fallen limbs. Ground pine and holly trees give the scene some winter color. I think this is the perfect place to photograph weekly to watch the changes occur in what is growing and changing.
My next thought was to capture several photos of local birds, perhaps I’d come upon some blue jays, juncos, cardinals, finches, sparrows, titmice, woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, all the lovely wintertime birds who visit my feeders. A few images of them in their more natural habitat would be perfect. I wasn’t having any luck until I turned a corner at the edge of the woods and spied a flock of what I thought were sparrows or juncos. A flash of blue feathers confused me for a moment. No, could it be? Yes! For the first time in my life, I gazed on a flock of bluebirds.
I didn’t have my ‘readers’ on, inexpensive glasses that help me see up close. I didn’t know if my viewfinder was locating the birds. I kept on trying, click after click after click. I had no idea until I was back home and downloaded them if even one image had a bluebird in it. Most of my photos were blurry or missed my subjects completely, but some captured the beautiful bluebirds. Oh, Happy Day! I had a few good photographs.
I’m so glad I followed the advice of, “Never Give Up!” My motto for One-Liner Wednesday.
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison
We revisited Cedar Lake over the weekend. I posted about this place in February 2022, and meant to showcase it again on the blog in its Springtime glory and spectacular Summer abundance, but somehow, missed my window of time and once again am writing a piece when all the growth has fallen away. Whatever the season, it is a perfect place to revisit and blog on Jo’s Monday Walk and Skywatch.
If I had visited when undergrowth was growing wild and lush, I would have missed this sight. “Look, through these trees,” my husband said, pointing the way. I didn’t see much at first, but then saw the gleam of sun on a living creature.
I zoomed in with my camera, and since the doe was resting, and unafraid, I was able to take a good photograph through the twiggy protection around her. She must live in the park, accustomed no doubt to many people walking by her on the criss-crossing paths. Can you see her eye?
Further along the path we saw some robins, hanging around long after the first frosts. They never leave our area to fly south; they Winter over here, finding berries and other fruits. I need to remember to place a bit of fruit on the platform birdfeeder and maybe draw them in.
A few mallards swam within a small pond hidden in the woods. There are creeks, small ponds, and larger bodies of water every hundred feet or so in the park surrounding the lake. A perfect spot for a ‘Water, Water, Everywhere‘ post.
Cedar Lake and Washington Lake Park, Sewell, NJ, is the setting for this post.
The Ragtag Prompt today is the word Save. Without even a minute of thought my post almost wrote itself. Throughout the day, 5:00 a.m. to now, 1:16 p.m. (EST), I set aside the trash in the photograph to save. I realized, that without trying, the items followed a theme: things to recycle for gardening.
The can full of water is soaking the label off a cinnamon spice jar. I can use this to hold my own dried herbs. The can itself will be put on a shelf in my garage, ready to hold bacon grease or other refuse. Empty cans are indispensable in the garden, and in previous growing seasons I’ve used several for small plants. Larger-sized crushed tomato cans are a good one to keep, perfect to measure out a daily portion of bird seed. The mesh bag, cut off a ham that is even now simmering on the stove before baking, can be used to dry vegetables, suspend melons or squash above the ground, and can also store bulbs in the Autumn.
The cheesecake container, empty now, (wish it was still full) can hold expanding peat pots. They make a great instant greenhouse. I have quite a few Moonflower vines sprouting in one I saved a few weeks ago. Hmmm? I wonder what I’ll save next.
My wonderful father, after 87 years of serving the Lord on this earth, is with him in heaven. Even though I knew he could not go on much longer, my heart is aching without him. I know he has rejoined my mother and so many others who went on before him. God is good. I have the assurance of a better world after this one.
He always had movie star good looks. He was often mistaken for ‘The Man from Uncle,’ Robert Vaughn, or sometimes people thought he looked like Johnny Cash. He certainly could sing like Mr. Cash. The photo above is of Dad with my sister and me, Frontier Town, Ocean City, MD, early 1960’s.
This beautiful oak cabinet belonged to my parents. It sits in a corner of my living room; a unique piece of furniture I feel blessed to have it in my home. Inside are vintage novels, many written by Grace Livingston Hill. I haven’t read all of them, but perhaps at some point I will find the time to immerse myself into each one. The stories were written in a different time, and might be considered quaint by some, but they are also comforting in their lack of descriptive violence, swearing, and the ‘other things’ that cause me to cringe when I read today’s brand of fiction.
I also enjoy the non-fiction of Faith Baldwin and was delighted to recently find my sixth volume of her prose. This lady had a sweet wisdom that both counsels me and uplifts my spirit. No matter she lived in an era different from mine. Her timeless words live beyond her lifespan.
Gratitude is a humble emotion. It expresses itself in a thousand ways, from a sincere thank you to friend or stranger, to the mute, up-reaching acknowledgment to God–not for the gifts of this day only, but for the day itself; not for what we believe will be ours in the future, but for the bounty of the past.
~Faith Baldwin
This last photo might seem strange, but it illustrates my life at the present moment. Another person I love has come down with Covid even though they received the vaccination. Everything seems awry today, even something as simple as opening the curtains properly. I laughed when I walked into my living room and noticed the disarray of the front window.
Thanks be to God the new person who has come down with this virus seems to be recovering. I won’t tell you how I feel about the virus, what I believe about the origins, reasoning, and treatments, that is for each person to decide for themselves. I will tell you though that I so agree with the four words one of my cousins texted to me yesterday, “I’M SO COVID WEARY.” I think we can all nod our heads and shout, “Me too!” God bless us all in this time we were born to live in. He will equip us to live for him.
My grand-daughter, aged 6, is a good reader at a young age. Sunday morning, she stood beside me in church services and read, with the rest of the congregation, the responsive reading, Psalm 100.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. ~Psalm 100
I listened to her sweet voice as we read the words together. I was reminded of my second grade teacher, Mrs. Ware. This lovely Christian lady taught our class to memorize Psalm 100. I remember it still, near sixty years later, and I am ever grateful for the treasure she gave us. It was a different time, the 1960’s, there had not yet come banishment of anything Christian from the curriculum.
I felt so blessed to have both my grand-daughters with me in the service, and began to remember all the times I worshipped alongside my parents, grand-parents, in similar services throughout my childhood. How blessed I am that generation to generation the Lord remained forever with us. He is eternal. I know that my grandparents prayed for me, my children, and probably as I do now, for all the generations that will come after us.
I see within this certificate for the Cradle Roll department that my grandfather’s parents were also believers. These would be the great, great, great-grandparents of my own grandchildren. It fills my heart with Thanksgiving, that through the last century and longer, prayers have been spoken by my family for their descendants. These prayers are still being answered today. How could I not make a joyful noise, speak prayers of Thanksgiving, to my Father in Heaven on this special day? I am resolved to pray even more fervently in the coming year for all of my family, and for those as of yet unborn, who will come after us.
Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. Lamentations 5:19
