Yes, we are getting caught up in the thing!

This video shows some of the uses. Enjoy!! I love the instrumental hymn in the background, (Wonderful Words of Christ), though obviously made in the Orient.

The press is not exaggerating when they say the "Star Walk" app is wonderful. We uploaded it and within minutes we were outside faces turned to the sky, poking buttons like the kids do to learn how to use it. Found constellations I have never been able to "see" illustrated before me with actual stars in the sky!
Did you know that Venus rises at about 9:13AM and sets at 11:56 PM?
I can choose constellations, the solar system, deep space, stars or satellites from the screen. and get information about all of them in details.
I think we will be spending time face up on the back deck this summer....or further out in the country with less light clutter!

Elfin Magic? or the Lord at work!

G. K. Chesterton wrote in "The Innocence of Father Brown" "The most incredible thing about miracles is that they do happen. A few clouds in heaven do come together into the staring shape of one human eye. A tree does stand up in the landscape of a doubtful journey in the exact and elaborate shape of a note of interrogation .... In short, there is in life an element of elfin coincidence which people reckoning on the prosaic may perpetually miss. As it has been well expressed it he paradox of Poe, wisdom should reckon on the unforeseen."

 

I was lamenting recently that I had missed our early spring wildflowers. The trout lilies have gone to seed. There was only one fresh daffodill left when I got home, and we planted hundreds over the last few years. I was told the tulips I planted would act as bait for the white-tailed deer. And before we left two of the tulips were bitten off to the ground. But wait, I did not miss early spring. I spent it on vacation in New Mexico!!

 

Oh, how quickly I forget my blessings and murmur about my current circumstances or anything else that does not suit me.

 

The miracle of spring is unfolding about me even as I lament parts of it.

 

There is an elfin magic in sun shining through tulip petals! There is a mystery regarding things buried in the ground and rising from what seems like death.

The forecast about "deer bait" has become the glory of the garden and the deer do not seem to mind at all.

Whoever bit off the first two just created a surprise for me by not coming back to finish the crop!

 

And these little violas are from last year!

The slugs in the spring rains last year ate them to the ground, but they obviously did not eat the roots! Here they are with blossoms galore and oh, the fragrance!

 

So while I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the southwest, spring is perhaps my favorite season at home. And the Lord has been determined to show me that I did not "miss" but a part of the spring.

Lord, forgive my grumbling. Thank You for the grace to live in the present moment. Thank You for rising from the dead and making a relationship with You and the Father possible through Your Holy Spirit. May I yield to Your longing to grow in me. Bloom on, My Savior!

 

Hardiness Thinking

Some years ago a study was done to try to determine what made some people hardy even though stressed. The conclusion is stated here:

Patience, One of Nine Great Fruits

It is often said in Christian circles that some hesitate to pray for patience because after praying for patience they feel the Lord sends situations their way that demand patience. I have heard this increasingly lately and it causes me unrest. So I started asking the Lord why I was not at rest with this sentiment.

A few things happened to bring me clarity on this. I heard a wisp of teaching to the effect that patience is only one of the nine fruits of the Spirit. We are to pray that the Lord will manifest Himself in our lives through the Holy Spirit.

Everyone has circmstances in life that require patience. They abound in every day and night! The Lord does not need to break through the heavens and send these situations to us as if we could not find them on our own!

So asking the Lord for help at these times should become a routine part of our dependence upon Him for help to live as His people. " Lord, give me patience" should not be a dreaded prayer. We must pray earnestly to be made in His image! So when conditions arise where we need patience, I think it would be a good experiment to pray asking the Lord to manifest Himself through us with the fruit of patience. Just as we ask Him to make us more loving, to teach us to pray and to remain faithful, we can desire to be more like Him in the attribute of patience without fearing that our world will crash down around our heads.

He has promised to be with us at all times. He can teach us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Through His Holy Spirit we can be made new in His image. Never fear, little flock, our Good Shepherd cares for us eternally and He is kind to us every respect.

 

The other song I was blessed with

Then closer to the airport I heard this one. It too spoke to me and continues to reverberate in my soul. Enjoy!
Lyrics It don't have a job, don't pay your bills
Won't buy you a home in Beverly Hills
Won't fix your life in five easy steps
Ain't the law of the land or the government

But it's all you need
And love will hold us together
Make us a shelter to weather the storm
And I'll be my brother's keeper
So the whole world would know that we're not alone

It's waiting for you knocking at your door
In the moment of truth when your heart hits the floor
And you're on your knees

And love will hold us together
Make us a shelter to weather the storm
And I'll be my brother's keeper
So the whole world would know that we're not alone

This is the first day of the rest of your life
This is the first day of the rest of your life
'Cause even in the dark you can still see the light
It's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright

This is the first day of the rest of your life
This is the first day of the rest of your life
'Cause even in the dark you can still see the light
It's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright

Love will hold us together
Make us a shelter to weather the storm
And I'll be my brother's keeper
So the whole world would know that we're not alone

K-LOVE - JJ Heller "Love Me" LIVE

As we were driving to the airport from Cooksey's home this song came on the radio. It expressed some of my sorrow about leaving them. You see, these are people who really, truly love Bob and I just for who we are. The Lord comforted me with this song saying that the love towards and from the Cookseys would continue and hold strong.
Also that He always loves me best and most. [Video at the bottom of page]

 

Songwriters: ASH, DANIEL GASTON / HASKINS, KEVIN / JAY, DAVID

He cries in the corner where nobody sees
He's the kid with the story no one would believe
He prays every night, "Dear God won't you please...
Could you send someone here who will love me?"

Who will love me for me
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me
'Cause nobody has shown me what love
What love really means

Her office is shrinking a little each day
She's the woman whose husband has run away
She'll go to the gym after working today
Maybe if she was thinner
Then he would've stayed
And she says...

Who will love me for me?
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me?
'Cause nobody has shown me what love, what love really means

He's waiting to die as he sits all alone
He's a man in a cell who regrets what he's done
He utters a cry from the depths of his soul
"Oh Lord, forgive me, I want to go home"

Then he heard a voice somewhere deep inside
And it said
"I know you've murdered and I know you've lied
I have watched you suffer all of your life
And now that you'll listen, I'll tell you that I..."

I will love you for you
Not for what you have done or what you will become
I will love you for you
I will give you the love
The love that you never knew

The Neighbors

Betty and Dan keep horses, Sugar and Morgunn. Caroline moved recently and TJ and Rickie moved in Next door with their goats, Frankie and Pickles. Angora goats, that occasionally look to me like overgrown Afghan dogs. It's too cloudy right now to get a good photo of the horses...Maybe later!

 

 

Oh the places you'll go, Oh the things you'll do!

Dr. Seuss wrote:

" Oh the places you'll go!

You'll be on your way up!

You'll be seeing great sights!"

So here are a few of the wonderful things we have been seeing!

From the side of Cooksey's house facing the Sandia mountains.

 

Inscription rock petroglyphs.

El Malpais, where lava rock meets sandstone and the Ventana Natural Arch resides.

The weather was a blessing, (though Bob hoped for snow), sun and not too much wind. More inscriptions pecked into the stone centuries ago.

Lava flow!

 

And our very best friends on earth!

Thank you for another collection of wonderful memories! I miss you already.

Flowers and Butterflies

The iPad lessons continue! Dan taught me how to share my videos with you. Hope you enjoy!

 

Another Day At iPad School

I started to scold myself for not being faithful to the blog discipline, and then I realized, I am still in school. By the time I finish with the new items to learn and learned items to work at I do not have much energy left for creativity! My thought have not all been techno so I will try to entertain with a couple here.

There are rabbits here, both cotton tails and jack rabbits. The baby bunny photo was too cute to resist! These animals are just trying to stay alive here, and believe it or not they eat CACTUS.

They eat thorny cactus, right down to the nubbins. Look closely at the thorns on this thing! I want to know where all those thorns go! Gives a whole new meaning to a high fiber diet!

Keep curious and look all around you at this marvelous world!

 

Gardening in the High Desert

The landscaping in the neighborhood is a wild education in what it means to LIVE in the high desert. At 5,000+ feet there are new challenges here we never face in Ohio. Xeriscape is the term to describe the most conservative method of planting here. It means a form of landscaping that employs drought-resistant plants in an effort to conserve resources, especially water.

Many times decorative rocks and various sizes of gravel are used to highlight paths and cut out weeds that hog the water.

It can be quite lovely! The neighbor below is growing grapes along his fence.

This ambitious guy is trying for a fruit orchard. His water usage must be way up there to keep this dwarf trees alive! Remember that without the drip irrigation it will all turn to rabbit, coyotes, sage and tumbleweed .

 

It would take some major seasonal adjustments to live here! I always say I would miss the deciduous trees the most. But then Betty reminds me that they sunshine here 310 days a year. Even on rainy days there is some sun and rarely, if ever, a full days of clouds.

 

On Being Dry and Arid

In this part of the world the only way to keep most plants alive is with drip irrigation. If you look closely at the above photo you can see a little black hose with a tip on it. Look closely and you can see the soil closest to the shrub is darker, i.e. wetter, than the other soil. Being from the Midwest where things grow lush and full, (especially this past year when we broke records with the annual rainfall averages so far above average) the concept of things only growing with a constant water source that is not mainly from the sky gives me pause.

In Jeremiah 2:13 the Lord chastises the people for forsaking Him, the a fountain of living water, and building cisterns for themselves that crack and cannot hold water.

When I look beyond the lots here that have a drip irrigation, the photo above is the view.

That being said, the blue water faucet is a lovely sight!

Where do you get watered for the chores of life? Do have a steady source of refreshment from the Lord, or are you just hoping for rain?

Return to His word and some quiet time for refreshment. At least stop here and take one deep breath turning your attention to Him in that moment!

 

TECHNO WEARY

"Life is not about how fast you run or even with what degree of grace. It's about perseverance, about staying on your feet and slogging forward no matter what."

Dean Koontz

No matter what the educators might say, learning is tiring! I need some recess!

Having fun learning, and any miles to go before I feel accomplished in any sense of the iPad world!

 

Opps for me!

Last evening I grabbed Bob's camera and snapped a few great photos of the sunset and a roadrunner nest.. Unfortunately, he did not pack the upload cord for his camera, so I cannot show you what I saw! I will try to catch a video of the rabbit bouncing off the house wall and vaulting over the garden wall. He was awfully fast when he took the leap, so I might not be able to catch it.

Today I will stick to my own camera and try to share with you what we are seeing!

Walking into Betty and Dan's house felt like coming home! Such a glorious place to rest and be restored. Being with our favorite people, (one of those once in a lifetime relationships where all 4 people get along terrifically with never a cross word, full of mutual love and acceptance) oh, what joy!
For those of you who know about past trips, when I asked Picasa to show me an Albuquerque rabbit, the hot air balloon of the Eveready Bunny!
Last evening I grabbed Bob's camera and snapped a few great photos of the sunset and a roadrunner nest.. Unfortunately, he did not pack the upload cord for his camera, so I cannot show you what I saw! I will try to catch a video of the rabbit bouncing off the house wall and vaulting over the garden wall. He was awfully fast when he took the leap, so I might not be able to catch it.

The View Through Bob's Camera Lens

Remember a few days ago when I wrote about the sudden snow fall? I finally got hold of all of Bob's photos from that day and here is his take on the scene. Just remember, same hill, same flowers.  WHAT A COMEBACK!!

The Little Red String

Do you remember the little red string that was used to facilitate opening a Band-Aid wrapper? I looked it up and that string was introduced in 1940. They redesigned the wrapper in 1993. It took me a while to realize how much I miss that red string! The remembrance was brought on by a recent injury and that set me to wondering why I missed that string.

When I was about 8 I had great trouble learning to ride a bike without training wheels. Balance was my issue. (I have never been athletic.) Once I crashed at the end of my best friend's driveway. Her Dad kept a layer of cinders on the driveway apron to the road for better traction in winter.  When I  fell I landed on my knee, grinding cinders into it. The Doctor said either I could scrub the cinders out or he would have to.  I chose to do the task myself. I remember sitting in the tub with a fingernail brush working those cinders out. Then Mom would bandage the oozing wound. I thought the red string in the wrapper was cool. We went through a lot of Band-Aids with that injury.

A few weeks ago I was injured in our backyard. As I went up the hill to cut the very first daffodils of the year I used the stone steps to climb the hill. We had record breaking rainfall all of 2011 and unbeknownst to me the soil anchoring the stones had begun to erode. When I stepped down on a three-inch thick stone it flew up and cracked me in the shin. After icing my leg I kept the area bandaged and clean. After a few days skin began to grow over the wound. I was delighted. Several days later I discovered a nasty infection under the skin.

I have been washing the wound with peroxide, then treating with iodine, and bandaging with antibiotic twice a day. It is healing properly now. This time I advanced to gauze bandages and tape wondering if the cover on the Band-Aid had made things worse. And I remembered the little red string.

What was it about that string? We hear a lot these days about deep breathing for relaxation and health, focusing prayer and centering prayer, all manner of simple things we can do to help us remain calm and collected. I think that little red string became a focal point for me to take a deep breath and concentrate. When I was old enough to bandage things myself, I had to stay calm enough to pull the red string down the side of the wrapper in order to remove the Band-Aid. Then I learned I had to be careful not to touch the gauze area. Then applying ointment to the pad I had to place it over my cut or wound. Without even realizing it I was focusing not on the pain or the injury, but the process of bandaging with courage and ultimately the process of healing.

The red string is certainly a thing of the past. Johnson & Johnson did not even have a photo I could use for this blog. Calmly taking care of ourselves is something that has become more and more important as the years march on. Bob and I are trying to lose weight and exercise more. We are also taking our preventative medicine ideas more seriously than in years past. The calm self-care might have started with a Band-Aid red string, but it now continues with the goal of living longer and finishing stronger than generations past.

Take good care of yourself!
Molly D.