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.

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!

Whew

What a crazy October and November…I will start with Sunday and go backward for several posts. I hope all are well and enjoying the coming holiday season.

Sunday…first snowfall…

It was my favorite kind. Wet, and clinging to the trees turning everything into a white wonderland…and clear roads. It’s Wednesday night and it is still on the ground as temps have been below freezing all week. But tomorrow it warms up into the 40s so it will soon be gone. Then I can get my outside Christmas lights up.

It’s so pretty how it covers everything in gentle, quiet purity. There is something about the early morning quietness of the first snowfall…what peace should be like.

I pray for areas across the world that are not experiencing peace at this time. If we could all learn how to get along, not be greedy, or power hungry. May we all learn to find peace and share its kindness…like the peace of gentle snow.

Always Be Kind!

Still Fall

We have been blessed with a true fall this year. Coming back from vacation last week I expected all the leaves to be gone. But some of the bright reds and yellows are still with us.

Compared to years past, we usually have no leaves left by this time, and even though we had that spit of snow and 30-degree temps, we got visited by a beautiful Indian Summer.

But this yellow…I just had to pull over and look at it.

The picture is not as beautiful as the real tree but still amazing. If we don’t look around our world during all of its seasons, this is what we can miss. The trees sharing their final gift of beauty before going to sleep for the winter.

Let’s learn a lesson from nature around us. Regardless of the season we are currently living in with our lives, we can still share the beauty in us by sharing a smile or a kind word. There is always kindness that can be given, so give it freely.

Monday Window, 103023, Light

Ludwig gives us the opportunity to notice windows. Windows can have stories all on their own from mystery to beauty and as his post for today – some simple wonder.

My window today is somewhat a play on God’s light but in reality it is His light which is shining in through one window on the south side of the sanctuary and coming through a window on the north side of the sanctuary at the courtyard. I was taken in by its beauty and meaning as the window in the courtyard is shining out of is a star.

The light coming into the dark sanctuary…

And the light coming out of the sanctuary…

You can see the light refracting through the stained glass creating reflections on the outside of the window. It was striking from my point of view.

Its a reminder for those of us in the Christian faith to make sure God’s light is shining through us reflecting His beauty to all who may see it.

Always Be Kind!

Nature Photo Challenge #31: The Switch

Yes indeed, the switch finally got hit and all of a sudden, it is Autumn in the Midwest. The reds and the yellows are shining their best giving us a show of the beauty of the season, making all of us smile all the way to church and back..

Our cemetery had beautiful hardwoods. These two monuments frame in the beauty of this maple.

Autumn is a time where trees wish us goodnight with a brilliant show of color before taking their winter’s nap. It is a reminder to not give up even though things may be very hard…spring will come again filled with beauty and love for all to see and feel. So feel the kind beauty they are sharing and reflect that kindness on to others for we all needs hugs of kindness.