While I was working on learning my blog my three year old grandson was working on his art. Please notice the symmetry and color balance from the viewpoint of a little guy. WOW!
Alexander’s Art
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May 5 2015 Day 59 Another Desire Fulfilled!
God is so good!
So many wonderful experiences to remember. I just hope writing the blog will help me remember more than I forget. Any one else out there have that problem?
Today was a lovely, busy day. To just arise in the morning is always a joy to me, no matter what the weather, no matter where I am, no matter if I am to work or play. To just awaken again knowing I have the chance to live another day makes morning all worthwhile. The earlier I rise the better I like it. Someday I will awaken on my last day and perhaps not even know it is my last day. And even that day will have its own wonderful experiences. Perhaps not to remember but to be enjoyed while I have every breath left in me. And oh what an experience it will be to awaken in a new place and be able to stand boldly in the presence of the Almighty God. I actually look forward to that amazing experience but on the other hand I am in no hurry to make it happen.
So, back to my lovely, busy day. Early workout to start the day. And then…I actually walked into a Great Clips by the gym and gave a perfect stranger the privilege of cutting my hair. Now I know my hair doesn’t look like much (that’s because there isn’t much of it) but I only allow one person to cut my hair and that is my sweet hairdresser Angela back in Wisconsin who owns Bonjour Barber. She cut it very short before I left on my trip so I thought it would outlast my journey. I guess I should have had it shaved. My hair had crossed the line into shagginess and I couldn’t stand it one more day. God provided a superb lady named Jennifer the opportunity to work her magic. And magic she worked! It is SHORT again. Not quite as short, but short indeed. Jennifer was wonderful. Not only did she cut and style it, she washed it, (remember I was all sweaty from the gym), massaged my scalp, wrapped my face in hot towels and put me in a vibrating chair while I lay back for the shampoo…then…gave me a short shoulder massage with a hand held vibrator. Oh man…I felt wonderful when I left there. And the best thing of all Jennifer was in love with the Lord too. She was a good listener too. Hmm…does that surprise you?!
When I arrived back at home base my friend Wendy from High School was sitting on the door step. She was early and I was a bit later than I had intended. I changed and we high tailed it out of there like two giggling teenagers we once were. It matters not how much time passes between visits or phone calls, we can just pick up from where we left off and still feel the comradely feelings we shared as teens. We had an enjoyable time together, eating lunch out, driving around awhile on side roads and stopping at the Meadow Lark Dairy in Pleasanton again (for me again) for an ice cream cone. We had great conversation and we had to part. I wish I could share all our conversations but of course I cannot so I’ll just say that God was in them.
After Wendy left I readied myself for the next event which was to leave in a short while to go to Jeanette’s sister’s house for dinner. Linda and Ron live about 5 miles from Jeanette in Danville California. The homes in this surrounding area are all beautiful, well kept homes. The property values in this part of California are exorbitant. I suppose if something retains such a high value it is well cared for. The homes are close but not as close as they are in other areas. So many people have cultivated beautiful flower gardens in both front and back yard. So much warmth and growing season that much can be accomplished in the growing season. I saw flowers I have never laid eyes on. Ron cultivates roses and another exotic flower that he gets from Japan or China (Sorry Ron, I guess I wasn’t listening too well) which are one of a kind here in the states. He orders them and has a collection of them in pots in his side yard. His yard is beautiful! On the other end of his house he has a gorgeous rose garden with a collection of extremely exotic looking roses. Amazingly beautiful. I took a few pics on my cell phone so I could send you some. Most I took with my real camera because they will be beautiful on cards.
I told Jeanette this morning that I wanted to stop in some of the yards in the neighborhoods around here and just pick one rose from each bush (especially at one house I drive by everyday). I told her I would love to have a boquet of the beautiful roses I see. They are so huge and diverse in color, style of blooms, sizes, and smells. When I was admiring Ron’s rose garden he said I could pick any I wanted! WOW! WOW! WOW! There it was again! God just giving me another desire of my heart! Linda came out with the clippers and kept encouraging me to cut more. In the photos I posted I included the bouquet I brought back to Jeanette’s from their backyard. They sit regally in a vase behind me in the office where I am writing and the fragrance mixture of all the varieties smells like a lush wonderful fruit drink of some sort. Sort of lemony and subtle and yet spicy all in one inhalation. I shall sleep with them in my room and then place them in a communal area for all to enjoy while I am gone tomorrow. Perhaps I’ll even take one to each of my sisters whom I will see tomorrow. That is…if I can part with two.
Linda and Ron set a beautiful table and the food was delicious! I’ll try to remember to get the name of the dish Linda served. It was a bit different and ever so wonderful. It will be interesting to find out if anyone has ever heard of it before. Not only is Linda talented in cooking she is also very artistic and creative and prolific in the quilt making department. She showed me many quilts and pillows that she has made and they were all exquisitely and finely made. She does all the quilting herself. Some she actually uses a straight stitch sewing machine to quilt curved repetitive designs in the quilt patterns and they look beautiful. I posted a few of her quilt photos that I snapped this evening. Enlarge them and look at them closely. I shot a lot of the quilts with my real camera too.
I returned to home base, leaving Denny and Jeanette behind to watch a basketball tournament game. Don’t know what team, can’t remember the team name and don’t recall even seeing them on screen to tell you the color of their uniforms (which I don’t know if that even matters). Some pro games to do with basketball must be going on right now because everyone here is ensconced in it. I am happy for them. But…their team lost tonight on this 5th day of May. (I included the date because my computer is blogging things with the wrong dates attached. Even when I put the correct date on tonight tomorrow it will show May 6th. I change it or at least try.)
I will close with Wendy’s words of wisdom she would like to tell others:
“Do not gain weight. Do not let yourself go because it is so hard to get yourself back. Stay active and work on being healthy”.
Thank you Wendy for your honest words to others.
And thank you God for all your blessings on this day. I love my roses!
Oh, and thank you Linda and Ron for allowing God to grow them in your back yard. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. It was so good to see you both and look through your old albums!
Good Night!
P.S. Note to cousin Joyce: I’ll return your call tomorrow but don’t know when.
To Cousin Rita’s House Day 6 and 7
Be aware that what I am writing today on March 21 happened on days 6 through 8. It is now day 15 but I want to post about the days I was in Branson MO. My cousin Rita and her husband Jerry are creating a beautiful sanctuary of the home they purchased a while back. When I think of Rita I think of color. And..I think of purple color in particular. Her husband is one of these people who have been gifted with boundless energy and no moment is to be wasted if he can fix, restore, or create. It will be fun to see their home in a few years with all the color and artistic talent that lives there. I have permission to share some of Rita’s artwork hanging on her walls. Also, I was blessed to sleep under another beautiful quilt at Rita and Jerry’s. This quilt was made by her mom, my dear Aunt Vela. I think I recognized some of the scraps that were part of the quilt. In days gone by there was never any waste. All clothing were made by hand and all the scraps were saved to make warm, beautiful, and sometimes crazy quilts. If it were not for quilts while growing up,the nights would have been cold. We didn’t even know that blankets existed. I can still remember the first blanket I came in contact with. Oh how soft it was and it seemed one had to be so rich to have a blanket. Little did I know about all the love and toil that went into the quilts that kept me warm. I know now. Fortunately I have been recipient of several of my mothers quilts, many made with my leftover scraps of clothing worn as a child.
Again, I came with lots of food and cooked up some chicken broth and quinoa and salads to take to my next destination which would be Aunt Ester’s house. But that is another story. Rita was so gracious to let me use her kitchen and fridge. And speaking of food…I was invited by my cousin Janey (or maybe I invited myself) to come for a Friday night dinner with her family at her home in Springfield MO. My contribution was to be a bag of salad greens. Okay, that sounded easy. Well, here is the story of the salad greens.
Again, I located a gym where I could work out. It is connected to a resort hotel and to say the least it needed a little update. Lots of the equipment did not work, and no, it wasn’t me not knowing how to use it. But I did find out later that the reason the treadmills didn’t work was because they weren’t plugged in. I didn’t know I had to plug my equipment into the electrical source. Go figure. Well, after an exasperating workout experience I headed out to find the store that Rita told me about. Which, by the way, was no where to be found. I asked someone how to get to a market, was given instructions, and followed them. I got there, but let me tell you, Branson is not an easy trip with all the out of town people there. But, I got there. Because I was working out I did not take my purse but put some money in my pocket to pay for the $3.50 fee for working out and some for the salad greens. No more money in my pocket except for $6.50. Surely that would pay for a bag of salad greens. Well, there I was looking at the prices in this grocery store and realizing I probably needed more money because I thought Missouri charged tax on food. I asked the man next to me if that was the case and he said yes. So I spoke outloud (what’s new) that I hoped I would have enough to pay the taxes. Food in Missouri is more expensive than in Madison. This man (named Gary) said he would follow me and pay for anything I was short. I tried to confirm that I thought I had enough but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He told me, as a matter of fact that he was going to pay for the entire bag of salad. I would not let him as I had enough. He said, no, swiped his card, and said that the lady that was with him (by the salad area) was helping him get his B/P down so he could have surgery on a tooth that needed to be removed and he wanted to help someone else. I asked him “Do you have the love of the Lord in your heart?” and he answered he sure did. I thanked him and told him now I could do something nice for someone else but first I would like to pray for his infected tooth and B/P problem and consenting, we went over to the liquor aisle and had an opportunity to pray together. He left and I left. I was going to go out one door when I felt something tugging at me to go out the exit way at the other end. So I did. As I was walking by I hear this woman try to get my attention by speaking loudly. I turned, thinking she was selling Girl Scout Cookies and didn’t really want to be engaged in having to say no. But…it was a lady asking me if I would support Teen Challenge. There was a table full of things they were selling to raise money for their Teen Challenge Ministry which helps drug uses get clean and on their feet while feeding them spiritually.
I said yes, I do support Teen Challenge and would like to tell them a story. I told them about the salad bag incident and reached into my pocket and gave them the $$6.50 I had on me. I did not want to buy anything but what I had, I believed, was for them. As I was walking out of the store I had been thinking, hey, that was really nice that I didn’t even have to pay for the salad. It was not planned so came as a nice something that had happened to me that day. Well, after leaving the Teen Challenge table a realization popped clearly into my head. I felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit within me saying “That was a test”. I turned my thoughts to God and knew I had passed the test. I know this sounds like a little thing, but for me to realize that God is with me always and what I do even in the little things is an important aspect of my walk with Him. I don’t tell you this to tout me being so good, rather the opposite. It would have been so easy for me to just wave off the Teen Challenge young lady and not give any more thought than, “whew, I got away from that one”. I truly believe that that $6.50 belonged to Teen Challenge.
We had a wonderful time at Janey’s that night and the salad was great! We got lost on the way (Rita was driving) and were about 45 minutes late. Going home I drove. It was raining so heavily and was so dark that I could only drive by seeing one or two lines on the highway in front of me to the left of the car. I actually do not realize how we got home in one piece. I have had people sending me emails telling me that God has actually awakened them to pray for me at certain times. Well, I want to tell you, your prayers are working! I have an incident I will tell you about that happened yesterday when I get to yesterday’s blog info that will show you the power of prayer. And I promise I won’t forget this story because I already wrote it in my journal.
We enjoyed visiting with Janey and husband, son, daughter in-law, grandson, and daughter in-law to be. Ate a delicious dinner and took lots of pictures.
Janey is my dear Aunt Esther’s daughter. Janey is believing for healing from cancer that she has. I ask that all who read this will pray that God will answer the believing prayer of His saints and heal her. Also, please pray that she will have peace and joy restored to her.
The Color of Love
The Color of Love
Kathleen Martens
August 12, 2011
God in His love created our world.
Lavish colors sprinkled as His canvas unfurled.
The blue of the sky, and meadows green,
Flowers in rainbow colorful sheen.
What is the significance of the colors He made?
Received each season, never to fade.
If asked the color of love what would be said?
Visions of Poetry 