Moonwashed Musings, Reckless

Rears streamed down Rebecca’s chubby cheeks as she stared at her scraped and bleeding knee.

“Rebecca! Are you okay?” her brother asked as he ran up to his baby sister.

“It hurts Bubba,” she whimpered.

“You are too little to ride my skateboard. That was reckless of you. Can you stand up?”

Rebecca stood up wincing at the pain in her knee.

Bubba picked up his skateboard and they headed for home.

“Here, hold my hand and I will get you home safely. Mom’s making chicken noodle soup, your favorite. We will put extra noodles in your bowl to help you feel better. And we will put some love on your knees to make them feel better too. Okay.

“I wanted to ride your skateboard like you do.”

“When you get bigger.”

Always Be Kind

FOTD, January 4

I thought I would share some “Not Flowers” flowers from my trip to Vegas. At the Bellagio, they have a Conservatory & Garden made totally out of dry flowers. It was amazing so I will share those for my Flower of the day.

As you first walk in the lobby area, the ceiling is covered with glass flowers that look like they are floating like balloons.

Then the archway going into the conservatory is bordered with 20 foot tall sunflowers (compare by the huge doorway, column and arch ceiling). Since I had huge sunflowers myself in my yard, I was not surprised by this but the flowers themselves are decidedly larger and all made from dried flowers and grasses.

The mushroom fairy houses of this magical land were fabulous. This is where you could get close enough to see the individual flowers.

And of course you can’t have a mystical forest without a mystical moon…

…with a very large owl.

I hope you enjoyed a walk through the “Not Flower” garden. Remember, all flowers are beautiful, even those that are not flowers. Let their designed beauty and their radiating kindness bring a smile to your face.

Always Be Kind!

CMMC, Close Up & Macro

I love playing with macros and was so busy last month there was no time to play, so today we play. Today is the 3rd day of the new year…not that far from Christmas and since I did not play with Christmas pics this year, lets at least honor the fir tree. I have two in my yard that I planted about 10 years ago and they are finally big enough to really enjoy. I love how the needles hold onto the rain.

And spider webs make the rain look like its floating in mid-air.

Plants, just like people, you always have that one limb that wants to do things differently by swirling around the end instead pf being straight.

And since we are playing with a Christmas tree, lets get a night shot because I was able to put lights on it this year.

As we start this new year, lets remember to let our light of kindness shine brightly giving others a light of hope for their seemingly dark circumstance.

Food and Fables

Being from south Georgia, we enjoy our food. And of course the New Year’s tradition of certain food you must eat are fabled to bring you good luck, good health and good riches. While I am not having the cornbread(my favorite) I did prepare the turnip greens and the black-eyed peas.

I also substituted the pork for the ham…same animal, easier prep. I do have some “gold” on my plate in place of the cornbread in the form of mandarin oranges. I went way overboard with eating off my diet during the holidays so we are slowly curbing that back in for better health in the new year.

Happy New Year Y’all from the midwest with southern charm, and remember to always be kind.

Happy New year

We sit with our feet up, determined to rest

The holidays are over, they were the best

The peace of the fireplace relaxes our mind

For one day, please, no tasks and no grind

Daisy agrees as the pillow supports her chin

For tomorrow the holiday cleanup will begin

So we wish you the best of the New Year to start

May happiness and kindness always fill your cart

Happy New Year!!

Small Town

If you would like to live in a perfect world (that we hope one day will be real) my latest book is out through Amazon, Life in Small Town. A fictional town of encouragement where with a little kindness to those who need it most, learn how to survive life’s disappointments.

If you have Kindle capabilities, you can get it on the Kindle.

This book tries to show how easy it is to be kind and how we should all strive towards the healing powers of kindness. Yes, we still have hard times and conflicts but with the help of others, through kindness, we can survive.

Since the beginning of creation, God has laid before man choices to make. Choices that have the ability to make us stronger in love for Him, for other people, and choices to help us survive in this fallen world.

Small Town shows how with the help of friends, family, or maybe even a total stranger, the hard situations we find ourselves in can be made a little more tolerable. It involves struggles for adults, for children, with coworkers, and yes, even for dogs. All of creation was created by love with God, for God, and for us to find the love He has for each of us with kindness and support of each other.

I hope this fictional town helps show how kindness can be a factor in finding peace as God intended as he told us in John 14:27…

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. NIV”

In 1 Corinthians 13:4, Apostle Paul remind us the power of love and kindness…

“Love is patient, Lone is KIND.” NIV

So, check out my new book and see if it help bring you a smile and helps you see how kindness can bring a healing power to a hurting world. And as always, please be kind.

CFFC: White

Cee’s FUN Foto Challenge is right up my alley for this time of year. Fortunately, we do not have a white ground…yet. I am sure it will be here before I want it. But this time of year, I have lots of white inside my house, it is Christmas after all.

We can start off with the large angel shelf…

Then we have the 4′ white tree in the dining room…well the tree is green but the lights and ornaments are white…

Or if that is not really following the rules, we do have a 4′ white tree in the sun room with 2 other trees that are not white. All toll we have 6 trees.

This is the ocean tree that is white but all the ornaments are creatures from the ocean in their natural color. The those who may be more purest that that we have the white tree, white lights and white nativity scene.

As we smile and enjoy each other’s pictures, remember the purest form of sharing is kindness. If we can be anything, be Kind.

Fun in Christmas Town

Frankenmuth, Michigan is also called Christmas Town and at this time of year, it was amazing. We went this past weekend and yes…I bought more Christmas ornaments…lots more. So let me share my pictures for those who may never get there.

We stayed in the Bavarian Inn Lodge, a fun place where you can swim in December.

But the best part was getting there. You had to go across an old wooden bridge.

The weather was a little cloudy but temps were great. The bad weather did not show up until we left. The lights at night were fun and the town Christmas tree changes its colors as it plays a new song.

Of course one of my favorite sites was the carriage ride where the horses were decked out in wreaths, bells, painted hoofs, and some were driven by a small elf on the shelf(besides the real driver). We didn’t ride cause I wanted to make pets of them because they are work animals…but still.

The main focus for the trip was shopping and good giggly wiggly…its almost too much. Bronner’s by itself could make you dizzy…about $200 dizzy. Plastic can get you in trouble.

But the amazing part of Bronner’s is the Silent Night Memorial Chapel. It was built in 1992 as an exact copy of the Silent Night Chapel in Austria. It is a must see if you go there.

All around the building are signs with the words to Silent Night written in possibly every language.

Inside was quiet reverence and information about the song as it was originally sung with guitar.

Of the trips we have taken this year, this was the most fun and relaxing. Our Inn at night…

I hope you enjoyed my vacation in pictures. I did not realize that Michigan was the Lighthouse state but it makes sense when you have a lake the size of an ocean that needs a lighthouse. The was the lighthouse at the Michigan Welcome Center.

Lighthouses are an instrument of safety to guide you from troubled waters – in my mind, Jesus is our lighthouse. Shining His light of love for all of us to see to walk safely…with an outreaching hand to grab when we misstep.

Remember as you step, step with kindness. Your kindness may be a lighthouse someone else needs to see.

Reality Check

I guess we all need that check periodically…knowing what we believe to be true…and seeing how others…don’t. What we try to figure out is…are they wrong because they don’t believe what you believe or are you wrong because of what you do believe.

I prefer to stay on my course of believing that God is in control and if others prefer to not follow Him, that is their choice. Ultimately in the end…we will all see whether we are sheep for the slaughter or sheep for the shepherd…better known as the separation of the sheep and the goats. There is a saying I saw once that puts into perspective – You can live your life believing in man’s truth, and when you die and nothing happens then you are just dead…OR you can believe in God’s truth and when you die, you are still alive in Christ. Not a difficult decision for me.

Our “vacation” to Las Vegas was a definite reality check for this concept…making me cling that much harder to my belief in Christ, and I was a bit amazed how blatant some could be who refuse my belief system. But we knew ahead of time what to expect and only participated in the few things we deemed as fun. Yes, eating was one of those things and of course buying a few unique Christmas ornaments…like I needed any more ornaments 😕.

We did go see Piff the Magic Dragon and while his comedy was a little rough because we were in Vegas, he was amazing in his magic tricks.

Of course, I did take lots of pictures that I will share in a few posts but spending time with my daughter who has the same addiction that I do (buying Christmas ornaments), we did have a good time. We are going to Frankenmuth, Michigan in two weeks and it may snow while we are there. Snowing in Christmas town…awesome. there will be more picture there. So for now, let’s share a few Vegas pics.

This is the Coca-Cola Exhibit…2 floors of shopping. Spent way too much money there but it was fun.

The coolest thing there, to me, was the picture dome. I took some videos of the ocean scene, that was amazing, but I could not get it to download. so I am including a still shot…not as impressive. We could see it from our room but it was too far to walk too and traffic was crazy. You can find it on line. The emoji face makes me giggle.

One universal truth that did ring out, even in Vegas, was kindness. So be kind whenever you can.

Always Be kind!

Chicago Christmas Fair

We have been living in the Midwest for nearly 12 years and have not yet been to Chicago. So, it was time. And what better reason than to look are Christmas ornaments at the Christmas market that opened last weekend. Yes, I bought MORE ornaments…

They were amazing but the Chicago skyline is something to see as well…

A lot of the buildings had rounded corners. Even this cathedral was not square but had hexagon spires. I didn’t know any of the building’s names but this chrome and glass building made me stop and stare.

And of course, there were many street entertainers that were enjoyable to listen to.

And then as we head home, the sky gave us another beautiful thing to enjoy.

Remember that as you go to places that you may not be familiar with, you can still share kindness as you go. It may be something that can help someone smile.

Always Be Kind!