Totally Blessed

We were totally blessed to be in Sanibel for a few days of NO SNOW.  Okay, I love snow, but enough is too much sometimes.  The days we spent in the sun helped me keep my sanity.

I kept it, just to lose it tonight.  Had a book deadline and for the first time,  didn't make it...was so close...had narrowed the number of pages down to 100, but then was not able in the time allowed to pair them up in an attractive and/or sensical manner.  That was mainly because I was featuring two different ORU trips and my files were so confused by the time they were put into the book that I couldn't differentiate between the two.   And it did make a difference.  We didn't have the same members on  those trips.  Oh well.

 I need to remember that there is turmoil around the world and the Japanese are in severe trauma right now. We are home safe and sound. Thank you, God.

Parking for Fuel Efficient Cars

I'm running out of meaningful things to say. I'm enjoying this anyway, so here goes...another layout from my childhood, age 4.  The photo booth was a handy thing at that time.

In the present, cell phones are the thing to have with you when you want to capture a picture.  Recently, my friend Teresa took a picture of a sign at Best Buy that said the parking space was reserved for fuel efficient cars.  I can't find that picture right now, But just a few weeks ago, my husband parked in one on the PA turnpike (I believe it was on the turnpike... at least it was on a trip from here to Philadelphia.)  He took this picture at the time.  While he appreciated having that sign since he drives a Prius, Teresa is disturbed by them. They are discriminatory and she and I both wonder how they can enforce something like that.

I would offer that in the case of a store putting up such signs in their own parking lot, the best thing we could do would be to write them and explain how we feel.  And if that doesn't work, we can quit going there.

 However, the government continues to infringe upon our freedom and there isn't a lot we can do. But we can be very careful each time we vote, no matter how trivial the post may be. We need people who actually believe in the Constitution and individual rights.

The Monster Cactus

Click on image to see complete layout.  

Actually there are two different types of monster cacti between Robin's property and her next door neighbor. No one could have developed a fence that good.  Of course, they had to grow at least 50 years to get that big, since they are slow growing plants.  

You can't tell by the picture, but the one you can see here is over 4 stories high.  I wish I had measured it, because it also covers a lot of ground.

My heart goes out to all the people in Japan.  May God be with them through this.  I pray they will reach out to Him.

Brownie

Remember the Brownie camera?  That was a forerunner of the cell phone. :)  It took pictures and if I remember correctly, most people had one...at least the people I knew.  Film is what came before digital. I'm trying to remember, should probably google to see, how many pictures were on a roll.  It seems like it may have been 12 at that time.     A few years after this, my mom developed her own film in her darkroom.  

After I was married I remember having a roll of film in our camera for a couple of years. I depended on my mom to make most of the pictures for us.

The pictures on this layout were taken with a Brownie.  While I am used to taking group pictures and then photoshopping myself into them, my dad just tied a string to the shutter and pulled to get this family photo. It may have been primitive, but it worked and I now have this picture, with Dad's hand written words on the back, telling how he took it.

Memories are flooding into my head as I do one page after another for my next book, one on my childhood. And yes, Ron, someone does want it when I'm gone. So please see that Chelle gets it.

 Please pray for all those involved in any way with the horrendous tragedy in Japan and the consequent tsunami in Hawaii.

 There is so much suffering in the world today.  I often wonder if we are going into the last days that God promised would happen before He comes again.

Sanibel Island

Just got in the door from  seeing Shrek, the play.  Was not really impressed with it. The amount of money and fame it has gotten worldwide shows that I am not in sync with most.

I prefer nature.  Here are some of the beautiful natural sites I saw on Sanibel Island.

Antiques and Junque

Jane has a sign on her kitchen wall:  ANTIQUES & JUNQUE. It   humorously describes her style of decorating, which invites ones eyes to travel into every nook and cranny, as well as to every shelf  etc.
It is very interesting and changes drastically from season to season... and sometimes week to week.

It just seemed to accurately describe  this layout.  Not that all our life group members are old.  They are not, but our birthday boy, Ron (once a Marine always...) here in the dunce cap is really getting up there. He's at a stage where one would need 3 or 4 cakes to light enough candles.

His wife, not wanting to take the chance of a house fire, brought a special candle back with her from China for this occasion. The middle of the three smaller pictures shows the terrific flame on that wondrous candle, which began to play Happy Birthday over and over again until we had all had enough. Phyllis had warned us that one of her friends had to take hers out in the back yard and bury it to keep from hearing it's tinny version of the birthday song.

Of course none of us believed that tale...until after it had been thrown in a closed trash can on the far side of the kitchen and we could still hear it over our conversation. Then Jeff took it out to a can in the garage...and we still could hear it. Then Jeff stomped on it and threw it away.  It revived itself.  Jeff stomped it once more. It kept playing! After  he stomped it the third time to no avail, he had the presence of mind to dismantle it piece by piece and disconnect the wires.  Success!

Speaking of disconnecting the wires.  We are counting on the Tea Party to do just that for us right now.

I suppose you can tell you are only seeing a portion of the layout.  You must click on it to see the whole thing.

Most Interesting

My mom managed to go to extremes when she took my picture in the snow without a coat and then another one that perhaps inspired the movie "A Christmas Story".  After all, it did come out of Cleveland, which was not far away. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what I mean.  If not, the little brother in the film had so many clothes on to keep him warm that he couldn't drop his arms to his side.  I would have been sure they got the theme from me if I had just stuck my tongue to the barrel in the background.

You  may or may not think  that interesting, but I believe you would have paid close attention had you been with us this evening.  We were blessed to be invited to meet an  ex Muslim at a friend's home. He speaks 5 languages and was born of a Hindu mother and Muslim father. He converted to Christianity when he was 18.  He convinced me  of what I had suspected, there are no Moderate Muslims the way they are defined here in the states.  The Koran reads that they should kill all infidels.  He said that if we were to talk to one, they would tell us that we should read the Arabic, that the English version we were reading is wrong.  But, since this man was Muslim and  speaks and reads Arabic, he knows it reads the same way...Kill the infidel.

He believes that Muslims who do convert  (there are many converting yearly all over the world) are attracted to the love of Christians  and a loving God. So remember everyone, "Love one another as I (Christ) have loved you." John 13:34.