Ketchup (as in Catch-up)

from our neighborhood walk
this week

The past month has been trying, not the least of which was the loss of our cable internet connection for 2 weeks. But that was repaired the day before yesterday and as a result, I'm starting to feel more human again. 

There's so much negativity out there about social media but when forced to go without, the loss of the practical benefits are akin to going without electricity or water. You make do, but it's a rude command for patience and receptivity to unfamiliar options.

from where I am sitting 
as I type this blog post

But please keep reading, Now that the connection has been restored and has proven to work perfectly, I am done with the griping. The experience illustrated that one especially helpful way for me relax is to read and comment on the blogs of my friends and to compose my posts. 

I have commandeered Gary's lift chair in the living room. It sits in a corner where it's impossible to see the TV screen, but I can see nearly 180 degrees in every direction. The late afternoon sun is flooding the lanai and although the large windows are open out there, it's just a little too warm. So here in the air conditioning in this very comfy chair with an expansive view of much of the house, I am writing about recent events and thoughts, breathing easy, and feeling pretty good.

I say I'm "feeling pretty good" because one of my recent stressors has been high blood pressure. My primary care doctor retired this past summer so this week was my first appointment with my new doctor. It was on a difficult day for me, one filled with some painful memories of 6 years ago (regarding the health of my late husband) that I was trying hard to just leave behind me. 

But blood pressure, I'm learning, will hike up in spite of my best efforts to be calm and at peace. In the very near future I'll have the usual annual lab work and then report back to my doctor. We'll talk then about the BP, deciding if my current prescription needs tweaking or if I just need a relaxing vacation in the Bahamas . . . . (just kidding).

me (on the left) and Sister
on a walk in her neighborhood,
2019

Before I leave the subject of medical matters, another important date on my recent calendar was Sister's surgery for a knee replacement. I am thankful and happy to report that she came through it like a champ and is faithfully following the medical orders she's been given. 

Sister and her Basset Hounds

Daisy and Maggie have been very attentive, doing all they can to ensure Mom is comfortable.

Paula and me
2019

Thinking back to 2019 when that walking picture was taken, on our way back to Florida (from the upper Midwest) my late husband and I spent a day in Savannah, Georgia. This snapshot popped up on FaceBook to remind me of my visit with Paula Deen. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at her restaurant. Her biscuits are the best!

our front yard just yesterday

Another pleasant piece of news to report is that my rose bushes are absolutely poppin' with buds. This picture doesn't do them justice. There are 3 bushes. The one in the middle is pink, flanked with two rosy reds. Then on the very far right is the Camelia bush showing off her dark pink/red blooms as well.

Gary watches the filling of the buckets

After the internet repair was done, we had to add more river rock to that area. We bought three 5-gallon buckets from Lowe's and then headed to Yard Stop. I told the girls at the counter that Gary wanted to buy me a rock and this was where he brought me. (snicker) Gary's response was "Stop being so cute!"

Truth be told, Gary has gifted me with both gold and precious stones over the years, so I have no complaints. 

We have survived the semi-annual time change. Every morning since setting our clocks back one hour, we are waking up a little closer to our normal routine. One would think we could more easily adapt to sleeping until our usual time but it's just not that simple.

Speaking of adapting to change . . . . . I don't like to get political on my blog but our nation is transforming right before our eyes. While I still ask God to bless America, that prayer is getting overshadowed by my appeal for all of us to examine our relationship with God. He can't bless what opposes Him. 

For more on that topic, read my last post, a book review of Final Conquest. (Click here to see that.)

With that said, I close and will do the best I can to catch up and comment on the blogs of my readers.

Examine yourselves to see

whether you are in the faith.

II Corinthians 13:5a NIV

Until next time, grace and peace,

Barbara 

P.S. If you need to comment anonymously, please include your first name or initials. Thank you.

Book Report: Final Conquest

 

purchase information link
(click)

Quoting the back cover of this book: Did you know that Revelation is the only book in the Bible that promises a special blessing for those who read, understand, and apply its truth? Though Revelation is filled with mysteries, its message is simple: Remain faithful to Jesus Christ in the midst of persecution, because Jesus is coming again soon to reward the righteous and to punish unrighteousness.

I read this book over a period of two months as a part of my lifelong habit of a daily morning quiet time with the Lord. It is a very interesting subject with much to ponder, so (for me, anyway), reading through at a slower pace was best.

As I've said before, my best way to study is to underline and highlight meaningful sentences that indicate one of the following, each with a different color:

general information, history, explanation

Sin, avoid this

what God has said or done

instruction for me

☆ something especially remarkable or applicable to me

With that said, I marked many of the pages so I can go back at any time to review what really got my attention.

The Book of Revelation is heavy with symbolism, making it tough to understand. It helps to keep in mind that as the Apostle John described these visions, he was hard-pressed to explain with his vernacular to the 21st century reader what he was seeing. 

Dr. Jeffress did an excellent job of defining what the symbols and activities mean as the reader works through the life and events on earth immediately after the rapture and the 7 years thereafter, the Tribulation.

Throughout the book, wonderful and amazing hope is spelled out clearly for those who choose to believe what God is saying. But also the descriptions of what is in store for those who choose to not believe God are vivid and terrifying. 

I found that Final Conquest was easy to follow and clarified for me much of the mystery of the last book in the Bible, The Book of Revelation. 

back cover of the book

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara

P.S. If you are commenting as anonymous, please include your first name or your initials in your comment. Thanks.

A Happy Moment On Line

in our home

To my delight, I'm connected to the Internet this afternoon. We are still waiting on our provider to come (scheduled for next week) to reconnect the severed cable (unexpected doing of a contractor over a week ago ....😠).

from my sewing room in about 1997

Since I don't know how long my connection will last (it's via a Hot Spot on my cell  phone, which has been very spotty and unreliable) I am just posting some seasonal and current event pictures today -- just enjoying getting to write a blog post!!!

jigsaw puzzle

Without the Internet, there has been more time to work our puzzles (and that's NOT a complaint). This is one of the 2 that I gave to Gary for his birthday earlier this month.

This one portrays Puerto Vallarta and was really fun to assemble. Completed earlier this afternoon.

While I don't celebrate Halloween any more, we do enjoy pumpkin pie (and I don't turn down the candy!).

Apricot tree

One of my sons sent this snapshot taken through his office window. I thought it was an Aspen tree, but it's Apricot. He tells me right now is the best of the colors. 

the Rio Grande River Gorge

This same son also sent this photo of where he hike-runs every day. 

This is it for today. I'm thrilled to be on-line, even if briefly. 

Bless the Lord,

O my soul,

And all that is within me,

Bless His holy name.

Bless the Lord,

O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits.

Psalm 103:1-2

Until next time, grace and peace (and Internet!!),

Barbara

P.S. If you post anonymously, please include your first name or your initials. Thanks!

FYI (for your information)

 

Just a couple of hours after publishing my last post, a contractor severed the cable for Internet to our house. 

AUGHHH!

We called our Internet provider and were given the quickest appointment they had -- two weeks into the future. 

AUGHHH!

We have since then learned to rely on cell tower service with a "hot spot" from my iPhone. 

Thankful!

Good friends have also invited us to take my laptop to their house if I need dependable Internet service for anything. We have not needed to do that yet, but will if necessary.

Grateful!

We have learned some new things while at the same time accepting and adapting to things that are out of our control.

Peace

The Hotspot connection I have is definitely slower and seems to not always be dependable (although that could due to me not waiting long enough for service to "wake up", or something along those lines).

Got it.

I am reading the posts of some of my fav blogs but commenting is complicated and so I've been silent in that regard.

That's just the way it is.

Just wanted my fans to know..... 

In all your ways acknowledge Him

and He will direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:6

Barbara

A Hodgepodge of Favorites

 

autumn Maple tree
in Sister's yard in the upper Midwest

Autumn has come to North Central Florida. I'm sitting here typing on my laptop computer at my desk, wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt underneath a cardigan sweater that has a collar, ankle length jeans, and socks with my sandals. Our morning temp during breakfast was 51 degrees. Yay! I love this!

However, when the air gets that cold, I think twice before riding my bike. It's supposed to get pretty windy today, which requires more energy to pump against a headwind. 

We are waiting for some landscaping people to come and don't want to miss them while out on our bicycles. As these things typically go, we have no idea what time of day the fellas intend to arrive. 

Blogger problems. Is anybody else seeing the gadgets on their sidebar column get replaced with photos from previous posts, not intended to be a "gadget"? And then the insertion of other miscellaneous snapshots (all from my camera) inserted in the body of a post -- something I did not initiate.

I sometimes correct these things but am growing weary and skeptical. 

Anyway, here are my answers to this week's Hodgepodge questions -- if you want to link up with your blog, click here.

1. This week's Hodgepodge lands on 'Back To The Future Day'. October 21, 2015 was the date the movie characters (Marty McFly, Doc, and Jennifer Parker) traveled to in the future in the 1989 film Back To The Future Part 2. 

Did you see the movie? Tell us something about what was happening in your life in the fall of 2015. 

Yes, I have seen the movie many times. My favorite in the series was the last one where Marty and the Professor are in a western (as in cowboy) town. 

"Please excuse the crudity of this model; 
I didn't have time to build it to scale
or to paint it."

What was I doing in the fall of 2015? We were living in Castle Rock, Colorado. My friend Loraine was visiting from Arizona. I took her on a hike up the actual Castle Rock that overshadows I-25. In this snapshot we have the Rocky Mountains behind us, with I-25 below us (obstructed by the scrub oak bushes). My house was behind me. That flat mesa was affectionately referred to by the locals as "the ant hill" because that's what it looked like. On the 4th of July we could sit on our front porch with an absolutely perfect view of the fireworks being launched from that mesa.

me (w/sunglasses) and Loraine

Hmmm. Why did we move? It had something to do with politics, cost of living, and all of our 11 grandchildren living in Florida. 

Castle Rock, Colorado
(about 20 miles south of Denver)

2. Which -ber month is your favorite? (September, October, November, December). Explain why. 

November -- because that means October 31 is behind us (horrible holiday, in my opinion), the weather has cooled off considerably here in Florida by then, and Thanksgiving is a beautiful holiday before the crazy of December takes over.

3. Red, yellow, orange, bronze...your favorite fall color to wear? To eat? To see in nature? 

This is my current favorite color to wear in the cooler weather months. It's not really in my "color palette" but a dark enough shade of orange that I wear it anyway.

What is my favorite color to eat? BBQ red.

What is my favorite color to see in nature? Green.

4. What do you miss most about being 20? 

That isn't something I think about much. Probably a younger body.

5. We're roughly three quarters of the way through the year. What's one goal, habit, or mindset you want to purposely carry into the final weeks of the year? Elaborate. 

I want to maintain a positive, grateful outlook in spite of the negatives that prevail in the news and that naturally come with aging.

another favorite from my closet

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara

P.S. If you are commenting as anonymous, please include your first name or initials in your comment. Thank you.

Blessings in Abundance

 

morning rainbow outside my front door

Every morning before we ride our bicycles, it's my habit to step out onto the front porch to check the thermometer and determine if there's going to be a headwind. To see a huge rainbow was a delightful surprise. (It was a double rainbow, which you can see fading if you look closely.)

The rainbow reminder of God's Presence was welcome. This week became unsettling when I realized it was time to dispose of outdated  paperwork that had a lot of my late husband's handwriting. 

The paperwork was a "trigger," as the counselors refer to it -- a reminder of hurt. God's grace helps us to cope, how to adapt, when that happens. He has done that for me, many times. 

Moving on to more pleasant activities this week: we once again enjoyed a lunch at the historic Yearling restaurant with people who have not been there before. 

The first time we came here, the earthy, rustic outside put us off a little.

As a city girl who was raised living near international airports and sophisticated corporate office buildings, I've learned to appreciate simple, unrefined settings. The locals refer to it as "Old Florida."

We arrived about 30 minutes before the restaurant opened; but even with its simplicity, hospitality was provided with sheltered seating where patrons can wait.

Antiques stirred up memories. My maternal grandfather worked for, and retired from, Gulf Oil back when they had offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before they moved their operations to Houston.

John and Pam

Our lunch friends arrived shortly after we got there. Many of you will recognize Pam and her husband from her blog, Closed Doors, Open Windows. With that introduction, I encourage you to visit her blog by clicking on this title, Friday Foto Friends~A "Wild" Lunch.  I've described The Yearling in previous posts, but she has done a much better job than me.

John and Gary at our booth

After ordering our food, we girls got up to walk around and take pictures while the fellas (who have met previously several times before this visit) got caught up with guy-talk. 

my lunch

In keeping with the habit of many bloggers, I snapped a picture of my food. When eating out, I often order what I don't usually eat at home. This time it was a side of collard greens (something Gary's surgery prohibits him from enjoying).

dessert

Pam and I shared dessert, a creamy orange delight. Aside from one bite for Gary, the guys did not have any dessert. 

It was a great visit with good people that was enhanced with the realization by all of us that The Yearling restaurant is pretty much at the half-way point between their home and ours. Good to know!!

Later that afternoon, Gary decided he wanted dessert. Our truck needed no GPS to find one of our favorite haunts....

Another highlight for me this week was a FaceTime visit with one of my sons. He lives hundreds and hundreds of miles from us, so these visits are a good alternative to plane fare, gas prices, and hotel reservations. 

Last weekend he ran a half-marathon through the California Redwoods, so he and Gary had a lively conversation on FaceTime about their marathon experiences. "Blended families" are not always easy. This visit did my heart so much good.

Gary's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I gave him two jigsaw puzzles of classic cars. The first one was completed this week.

food trucks

Autumn has finally arrived in North Central Florida. I'm still wearing my Bermuda shorts and Crocs sandals, but slightly cooler temps and traditional fall activities are filling our days. This weekend is the annual Fall Festival in our +55 retirement community. 

The festival is made up of vendor booths for arts, crafts, food, home improvement businesses, Medicare consultants, and so forth. There was also live band music, oldies (of course!).

apple pie for me

Our favorite vendor is the dentist who hands out slices of pie for free!

pecan pie for Gary

Admittedly, neither of us use this dentist, but we surely do enjoy his pies!! (not all providers accept all insurance)

Gary waits for me

While Gary agreed to take me to the festival because of the pie, he was good to wait for me on a bench at the bocce courts while I walked through all the craft vendors. This is what true love does! 

one of 2 packages of popcorn

Somewhere in all of that I picked on the hint that Gary wanted some popcorn, so I came back to his bench with two flavors.

dish towel purchase

As I've said many times before, I don't shop like I used to. But a kitchen probably never has enough dish towels, so I bought three (3 for $20 was not a bad price). Two have a Christmas theme; I'll probably include them in a post during the holidays.

the "Twirlers"

The last attraction at the festival was a performance by the newly-formed majorettes group. Only four now, they did a fine job of reminding us of our high school and college days featuring choreography with batons.

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara

P.S. If you comment as anonymous, please include your first name or initials. Thank you.