Positive conversations with old and new friends. I'd love for you to join me on my back porch.

Friday, May 31, 2013

Flags






I think you know by now I love flags.

I wanted to share this flag with you today.


It was windy when I tried to take this picture in Mobile. The area was close to the water and such a pretty part of town.








I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Premio-Dardos


I was awarded the Premio-Dardos Award by my friend Rose McCauley. If you want to visit Rose, she can be found at http://www.rosemccauley.blogspot.com.


In the spirit of Romans 12:10 I wish to "Honor one another above yourself" by presenting the "Premio-Dardos" Award to the following 6 friends who faithfully share their knowledge in a fun and enjoyable way with their readers.

”Premio dardos” in Spanish means “prize darts”. The Premio-Dardos Award is an award that “acknowledges the values that every Blogger displays in his effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values with each message [he/she writes].” I was most grateful to receive this award and would like to express my thanks once again to MaryAnn Diorio for nominating me for it. I hope you will also check out her very prolific blog at www.maryanndiorio.com/blog

As part of the requirements for receiving the Premio-Dardos Award, the recipient must recommend other blogs deserving of the same reward. So the cycle of honoring others above ourselves will continue with them. No time limit, just spreading the love and honor.

The following blogs have been very helpful to me in various ways. They are all special to me for different reasons. I hope you will check them out and leave a comment for each of these great people.


And the winners are:

Steps by Susan Tuttle...http://stepsusan.blogspot.com/

The Bookshelf Muse...the people who brought us The Emotion Thesaurus...www.bookshelfmuse.blogspot.com

Seekerville always has great information and contests...seekerville.blogspot.com

Michelle Lim is always helpful on Thoughts on Plot...http://thoughtsonplot.wordpress.com

Katie Ganshert's blog is Writing Faith and Romance. I've become a big fan of hers...http://katieganshert.com/

House of Turquoise by Erin. This is a delightful blog where you can just sit back and enjoy the view.
http://www.houseofturquoise.com

There you have it, some of my favorite blogs. I hope you have time to stop by and visit them. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Have a great week!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Flags of Summer


I love flags, and I'd like to highlight flags periodically this summer.



Welcome to my home. Soon I'll have pots of flowers around my front porch and back patio. I enjoy hanging flags from my back deck, but it's rained so much this spring I haven't been able to do that yet.

My garden is underway though. We've got our peppers and tomatoes planted. I've already picked a few strawberries and hope to have a good season. My yard isn't huge, but I'm able to plant a few things.

How about you? Do you like to garden? Fruits? Veggies?

Do you enjoy hanging flags?

This Memorial Day weekend is a great time to show our pride in America.



Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

(Thanks to Scott for the pictures from Washington, D.C.)

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Life is a Whirlwind

Last weekend we traveled to see both mothers for Mother's Day and we celebrated my niece's graduation from college.






Then on Monday after I got off work, Tim and I jumped in the car and drove to Mobile, Alabama to watch Asbury compete in the NAIA National tournament.



We got up early enough to watch the guys warm up and compete. Unfortunately they lost, but they looked better than they did last year. Plus one of our guys had to stay home when his appendix ruptured and he had it removed. One of our guys was sick with a stomach bug and one had a pulled groin. So it's amazing they played as well as they did.




They played hard and showed grit and determination.

Afterwards we followed the guys back to the hotel, and Scott decided to ride home with us in hopes of starting his summer job soon.

We had to drive straight back so we could work on Wednesday, and Scott was dehydrated. We pumped him up with Powerade and Pedialyte. Twice when we stopped his body cramped up when he stood up. Poor guy.


I know I'm getting older because it took me a few days to bounce back from this trip. But I'd do it all over again.

I love cheering for the guys, and Mobile is a beautiful city. One day I'm going to go back and visit and soak in the scenery.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Happy Mother's Day


Happy Mother's Day, everybody.

The sun is shining in Wilmore, KY and it looks to be a beautiful day.

Last night my husband and I enjoyed visiting his parents. We took them out to dinner, and Tim spent some time doing little chores around the house for his mom.


Today we are headed to visit my niece, Kelli, who graduated from college last night. She's officially a teacher now.

Congratulations, Kelli!

We'll see my mother at the graduation party.

(This is my brother and I in January with Mom and Dad.)




This year I have two sweet granddaughters to celebrate. Brooke and Allie. Here I am with Brook and Allie celebrating my birthday. Brooke is full of life. We could all learn a lesson from her. Allie is a sweet baby and watches her big sister. It's so much fun being with these two.




I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Is it wrong to like sports?


What do you think?

I've made many friends over the years through sports.

In high school I made friends on the golf team. We'd go play other schools and for eighteen holes, you walk a course with people from a different school. There's time to talk and get to know each other.

Watching my kids play sports, I became friends with other parents. When you watch enough baseball games, soccer matches, tennis matches or whatever sport, you bond with other parents.

This year Asbury University Men's Tennis team is going to the NAIA national tournament for the second year in a row. We're so excited that we've rearranged our work schedules and will drive eleven hours, one way, to watch the team play. An unexpected surgery knocked the #4 player out, so it may be one and done, but they're going.

Tennis gives the guys opportunities to talk and get to know each other between games. You learn a lot about a player when you see how they handle themselves on the court.



There's so much more to sports than playing a game. It's a time to connect with other people and hopefully spread the love of Jesus.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Gardening with Brooke


Brooke is three years old and has loved my garden since she could walk through it. It's pretty big with stepping stones that lead to a gate in the fence.

Daisies and Cosmos have been her favorite flowers. She loves to look at them and loves to cut them to put in vases.

Six days ago her family moved into a new house and for weeks she said she wanted me to help her start a garden.

Today was the big day. I'd started growing some seeds inside a few weeks earlier. I bought Daisies and Black Eyed Susans at Redmond's Nursery. I wanted to make sure at least something would succeed. And Brooke and I planted some seeds.

While we dug holes for the bigger plants, Brooke looked at me and said, "I'm not comfortable."

I held up my little green kneeling mat. "Do you want to use this?"

She nodded. "Yes."

I placed it on the ground for her, and she smiled. "That's much better."

She was wearing her little yellow gardening gloves, and she pulled them off. "I want to feel the dirt with my hands."

This might be a good time to mention, Brooke and I are home alone with no parental supervision. So I said, "Honey, you'll get lots of dirt under your fingernails."

Brooke looked at me with her big, blue eyes. "We can cut my fingernails off."

Really? Who can argue with that.

At last we had everything planted, and it was time to water. Brooke has a precious little yellow watering can. We walked to the house and filled it and her little green bucket with water. Back and forth we went. Sometimes she helped carry the water and sometimes she let me carry it all while she skipped back to the garden.

All in all I think we had a successful day. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures for you, but stay tuned. In a few weeks I hope to have pictures of Brook in her garden of flowers.

Have a great weekend.

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