a borscht lunch setting

The coop (Azure Standard) truck arrived in the Walmart parking lot one afternoon, the sun was high in the sky and blazing hot while the asphalt in the parking lot only intensified the heat. Some of us felt comfortable enough to unload and place all packaged boxes, bags, cans and jars in separate piles for the others to pick up and put into their cars. I was especially thankful for this delivery because in this particular order were some organic beets and cabbage. The beets were outstanding and delicious as was the cabbage, and since I had an adequate supply I decided to make borscht soup. The main ingredients are onions, garlic, beets, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, and spices. You may prefer to make it entirely vegetarian and use vegetable stock but I used chicken stock in this day's batch.

This soup involved quite a bit of chopping and shredding, yet the cooking time was no more than an hour. But like so many other soups the taste only becomes richer and tastier as it sits in your refrigerator. The soup may be eaten cold or hot. Now my husband is good about trying new things, even some of my healthier concoctions, but as long as I warm this soup before serving it, he enjoys it and even calls it very good! I topped mine with a dollop of plain yogurt, too lazy to run out into the hot sun and snip a sprig of dill to garnish.

You may use your imagination😊 

goldfinches dining on the hyssop plant

The kitchen table sits with a wall of large windows on one side, these windows look out onto the paved patio and some of the gardens. From this place backyard nature is observed and recorded.

At least twice a day, I sit at my kitchen table and while I am eating my meals I witnessed the most wondrous sight. The goldfinches come to the hyssop plants and dine on the seeds of the flowering spikes of the hyssop plants. A bright spot of yellow radiating amidst the green leaves and lavender blossoms. They bounce and flit from one spike to another.

And many times the shared meal of a couple will romance the moment. 

hope, truth, peace and joy

Quite often I want to open my mouth and give my opinions on a number of things these days... and sometimes I do. But when I looked up the word opinionated in the dictionary I was thinking that was not the word that I would prefer others to have when they think of me.

Opinionated (adjective)- obstinate or conceited in regard to the merits of one's own opinions; conceitedly dogmatic.
Yet, the truth is, I do have opinions so that distinctly makes me opinionated.However, I must keep them under guard, until the right time and even the right people.

So... on to other matters on this typically hot and humid summer day, I want to give everyone a spell of renewed hope. This is not unusual, slack, deceptive, or worthless hope. It is truth, it is life, and it is freedom.

"I(Moses) call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live: That you may love the LORD God and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave to Him: for He is your life, and the length of your days:
 (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

"Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father but by me." (John 14:6)

"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory." (Col. 3:4)

"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past to the fathers and the prophets, has now these last days spoken to us by His own Son, whom He has appointed heir of all thing, by whom also He made the worlds; Who seeing the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"  (Hebrews 1:1-3)

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Hims shall not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

This is the Holy Word of God, not my opinion. And it brings everlasting life in Christ Jesus.

I am thinking after spending time meditating on the truth of HIs Word, an uplifting hymn can also provide an avenue for creating joy and peace in our dailiness. 

Choose a Hymn of the Day, read the words carefully at first and then sing with unadulterated praise to The LORD. You may find yourself humming and singing the hymn throughout the day.

Today's hymn choice for me is "Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord."

Then this thought came to me today in a serendipitous moment. I was driving to the pool  to swim, as I glanced to my right I noticed something that tickled me and made me smile, even giggle, a horse trailer going down the interstate with the horse's tail blowing in the wind outside the opened window. Flipping and flapping...it must have felt good to that horse! It was enchanting even in its barnyard essence. So daily, I am going to record at least one such moment that stirs that "tickling in my innards" smile.