a vacation out west

The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.

Psalm 103:19

We have returned home from being at Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons for the past week.  The girls and I are creating a scrapbook with our "millions" of photos while the trip is still fresh in our minds and the awe factor still lingers in our brains. I have managed to download one memory card so far, so here I am sharing a few.

I must confess I was completely mesmerized by the hot springs, vents, geyser basins, and mud holes. Rose shows her appreciation of the smells that sometimes would surround you.

A local taste treat for us was the huckleberry ice cream.

Hiking Inspiration Point at the Grand Tetons National Park.

A morning at Yellowstone Lake. 

The most difficult part was the extremes in weather that we experienced, the travel books were certainly right on that account. But after a very cold, windy, rainy evening of about 37 degrees, the next morning was lovely.

For any of you who live out west, especially in the states of Montana or Wyoming, I would like to say how wonderful it was to vacation there and see and experience what is common for ya'll. The day we visited Old Faithful I happened to walk beside an elderly lady with a cane. We had a brief conversation upon which she told me she was 96 years old and this was her second time seeing Old Faithful, the last time being about 40 years ago. I have been telling my girls this is probably the only time I will see these sights...maybe not.

young apiarist

A budding honey farmer has begun her first on the job learning experience. Charlotte has from the very beginning shown a growing curiosity and keen interest in the bees.

 No gloves and no fear, the bees were thankfully friendly that day. She minded us when we told her to be slow in her motions when around the bees. It was almost as if the bees were cooperating to teach her the best lessons too.

 I was close, without any proper gear, so this picture is not the best and snapped rather quickly. The queen was presenting herself to us.

I was reading one of Miss Read's books recently and wouldn't you know it, a  character in the book, Village Centenary, is a keeper of bees.

"Heard the latest?" inquired Mr. Willet the next morning. "About the vicar?"
"He's going to keep bees."

celebrating the measure of a father

Witt and Claire honored us with a get together at their house to kythe their affection for a wonderful father. It was as if little notes were sent out to place an order for such a lovely evening. 

Claire hosts a good many events at her house, and many are carried on outside, under the maple tree.

  After we ate a delicious supper prepared by Witt and Claire, we sat around the table and talked, until twilight fell with a gradual hush, and we were serenaded by thousands of lightening bugs. A light show twinkling on the green lawn.

 All to soon it was dark, time to help carry things back into the house and head for home.

the most photographed birthday cake

It was as much fun to photograph as it was to create.

 Charlotte was having a very important birthday.
 It was her decade birthday, so nothing less than a very special cake would do.

So we baked a yellow cake, mixed the icing until we were able to get the perfectly desired shade of green, and she decorated it.

Then we invited some of her friends over and had an afternoon of confectionery delight. Everyone was given their own pound cake and then bowls of buttercream frosting in colors of blue, orange, yellow, purple and pink were placed in front of them.

And dishes of candy to allow individual artistry of the sweetest kind.

hospitality, knitting, and market bags

Not having had a knitting project in my hands for some time and, therefore, not being able to be a part of Ginny's Yarnalong, it was with great delight that I perchance ran across this pattern for a cotton market bag recently, and with summer time lull (who am I kidding?) wrapping me in its grips, I promptly ran upstairs to my stash and gathered several balls of cotton yarn and began knitting one right then and there! Especially welcomed along with the sweet arrival of local farmers markets now dotting grassy lawns, street corners and paved parking lots throughout the town.

this is the bottom of the bag, decreasing having begun

The subject of Christian hospitality and its practice in our society has stirred a deep desire within me to  to learn more about what this imperative and necessary mandate truly means. What were the writers in the New Testament teaching when they told the early Christians to practice hospitality? Somehow I believe my ideas fall short of its original meaning in Scripture. As a part of the body of Jesus Christ, His Church, I am challenged to rethink and search out the historical roots of this fundamental custom. 

                      "Recovering hospitality as a vital aspect

                               of Christian life will be more complex 

                               than simply resurrecting an old-fashioned practice".

A close-up of the artwork on the front cover, a mosaic entitled, Abraham and the Angels,

wonderfully appropriate.

a story of a marriage

"...we have learned to live with each other, accepting each other's edges and corners."

Madeleine L'Engle

Two-Part Invention

For thirty-five years my husband and I have lived with each other.

The edges and corners have not become less sharp necessarily, just accepted with warm appeal all around.

If you have never read this book, Two-Part Invention by Madeleine L'Engle, you should take the time and do so, perhaps this summer. This book is one of the best books on marriage that I have ever read. It is beautifully written; an open, heartfelt, and sincere book about the beginnings of a marriage that spanned forty years, "unto death do us part". While I might not agree with the entirety of the author's Biblical doctrines, I wholeheartedly believe in the principles that governed her life in how she viewed a committed marriage relationship, and the manner in which she lived her life and defined family.  Two-Part Invention is the fourth book in a series she entitled the Crosswicks Journal, all of which are autobiographical and written with her heart and soul completely entwined.

In celebration of thirty-five years together, my husband and I took an overnighter to one of our favorite getaways. We had six windows in our hotel room, two of which were in the bathroom! We dressed up and dined in the fancy dining room that evening while a music trio played the "soft love songs of the past".

Somehow I have always known my edges and corners were sharper than his from the very beginning...but he would never admit it or say that was true. My husband, my love, he is a wonderful man.