At the Feeder

We're still getting mostly chickadees at our feeders but I don't mind. They are such a pretty little bird. They're getting used to us too; almost eating from the feeder before we have it completely hung.

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Morning Coffee

The beauty of coffee can be found in its diversity! Just like each of us, with our many different strengths and many different blends, can together make a beautiful world.

3,604 cups of coffee at the Aroma Festival in Australia!

(Thanks to Audrey for sending me the pictures.)

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New felted Mittens

Here is an update on my working with felted sweaters. (Keeping Boredom at Bay) This is really so fun, although I've become a little driven in my search for wool sweaters. I need to branch out now and try something different. Next, might be something patch work where I can use the left-over scraps. They are just too pretty to throw away!

(Wonder if people will begin to notice their sweaters are missing!)

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Morning Coffee

The first sip of coffee at dawn is the always the best, when it is the hottest and most robust. It only gets colder and weaker from there and is never quite as perfect again until the next break of day.

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Thrift Store Finds!

This find is for my brother Tom and sister-in-law Jan who asked me to keep my eyes open for one of these "Grace" prints. Our Thrift Store had this one on the wall this morning. Evidently it had been there a while as it was part of their half-price merchandise. You just can't beat getting a 20" X 24" framed print in fairly good condition for $2.50. And if they should decide it doesn't work for them, I'm sure I can find a place for him here.

The link to the History of this print is here.

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Preparing for Advent

While Advent is something I’ve been well aware of over the years, I really haven’t spent much time looking deeper into this Christian season. Advent has always been that four week period of waiting. I have an Advent wreath and candles, and some years, when the kids were young, we would actually light the candles somewhat ceremoniously and reverently. And we usually had one of those windowed Advent Calendars that we would try to remember to read each day. But that pretty much was the extent of our Advent involvement.

This year I have decided to try and make the period of Advent a bigger part of our Christmas celebration. So, as I usually do, I bought a couple of books (I love books!) and have been looking through them; sort of preparing for the season of preparation. The books I ’m using are: Preparing for Jesus by Walter Wangerin, Jr. and 25 Days, 26 Ways by Ace Collins. Both have provided good information regarding the history of Advent.

For example Ace Collins explained that Advent as a lead in to Christmas dates back to the sixth century, “when church leaders dedicated a special time to properly focus men, women, and children on the real meaning of Christ’s birth and life.” It was to be a time of spiritual revelation as Christians reflected on what Jesus’ birth, his life and his return meant to them. Collins’ question to the reader is this, “if Jesus were to return today, would he see himself in us this Christmas?

I think that’s a good anchor point for my Christmas Season. It really doesn’t matter what I do or even how I do it. The real, bottom line question is, am I reflecting Jesus – or am I not? Will He see himself in me this Christmas?

Merry Christmas!

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Veterans Day

It's just a little thing but it did have meaning, too. Applebees restaurant is serving a free meal to Veterans today. Lots of people 60 and older were there over the lunch hour. Younger men will probably come with their families in the evening. Red white and blue balloons decorated the place.

I'm sure all of the service people there felt a little bit of camaraderie with each other and a little bit of appreciation from the rest of us.

Thanks Applebees but even more so, THANKS, Veterans!

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Morning Coffee

Take your needle, [and a cup of freshly brewed coffee] and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that - one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes (paraphrased.)

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The Art of Natural Wool Yarn

While driving through a small town in Northern Minnesota on Sunday, I noticed a yarn shop that was open. So we stopped to check it out. It isn’t that I knit a lot; I’ve only done some basic things and that was a long time ago. But the felting of some wool sweaters recently has me thinking about knitting again. So we stopped to wander for a bit in this little shop.

The owner was there, knitting away on a project. She was very friendly – just as you would expect in a small town. One of the things she told us is that she actually has sheep and that she sells wool yarn from these sheep in her store. I thought that was interesting. That is really being invested in your project from start to finish. This is her website: http://www.tinshackco.com/

As I looked at her skeins of wool yarn – from her own sheep here in Minnesota – I thought what a neat souvenir. So I bought two skeins. She asked what I might make with them. I told her probably nothing. I thought they were already beautiful works of art!

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Morning Coffee

“If you are a dreamer,come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer. If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire, [have some coffee] for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!”

Shel Silverstein

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Grow where you land!

One of the fun things about being retired is that we can do things on the spur of the moment – which we did today. It was such a beautiful day that we grabbed our toothbrushes and headed north – taking the scenic back roads.

One of the most interesting sights we saw was this tree. It had obviously been twisted over in a storm at some point in the past but this determined tree didn’t let that deter its growth. It simply put down new roots right where it landed and continued moving upward.

And in the process, I contend, it became a much more beautiful tree!

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Saturday thought...

"Every man has a right to a Saturday night bath." Lyndon B. Johnson

I'm not sure this is a right, exactly, but I do support the notion that every man should take a Saturday night bath. Wasn't that the prelude to Sunday morning church?

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Keeping Boredom At Bay!

Yesterday, we took a spin through our favorite thrift store. Luckily this store is very near our house so it’s easy to pop in whenever we’re in their neighborhood. You just never know what great treasures you’ll find.

Our trip yesterday yielded two finds. First, a like-new Presto deep fryer – for only $5. Ever since Vickie at Cooking with Vickie, posted a picture of the Apple Doughnuts she made, I’ve been craving them. Now I’ve never made doughnuts before but I am going to try it. You’re never too old to learn something new.

The other find was a beautiful Virgin Wool sweater that should produce some equally beautiful mittens. It was Jane’s felting post on her blog The Thrifty Countrywoman that got me felting wool. And I have found that I love the process and the resulting felted wool – almost more than the mittens I’ve made. It seems to be much akin to the buying of new fabric and just enjoying the possibilities it offers.

Isn’t blogging fun? Whether I’m writing my own thoughts or reading someone else’s, I find there is so much yet to discover in life; so many things to learn; from so many interesting people in so many different places.

An apple a day may keep the Doctor away; but a blog a day will surely keep boredom at bay.

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Morning Coffee

That first cup in the morning beckons me to enter its enchanted world of stillness and solitude; the calm before the gale.

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It's Not About Me!

"Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings."
1 Peter 4:13

“If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a multitude of experiences that are not meant for you at all, they are meant to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what transpires in other souls so that you will never be surprised at what you come across.”
~ Oswald Chambers

The group my son walked with in a recent NAMI Walk for Mental Illness used as their t-shirt slogan, “It’s not about me”. It’s not about me; great words to live by in this self -centered culture of ours.

And that seems to be the point Chambers is making in his devotional message today; not even the hardships and challenging experiences I face in life are about me as much as they are about God and his larger purpose.

God wants us to be ministers to each other; helpers and encouragers. And if we are to do this well – with caring compassion – then we need to better understand “what transpires in other souls.”

So instead of spending time simply wondering and whining why something is happening, I really need to work through the experience; learning all I can from it. Eventually God will reveal his purpose and I need to be ready so I am “useful in His hands.”

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