I found this link for five free reading sites. I'll be the first to own that I really like holding a book in my hand and turning pages. It's a whole different thing to read in an online format. However, I am currently in a state of wanting so many books of so many different genres that I cannot afford myself. Online reading to the rescue! Some of these, like Project Gutenberg, I was aware of. Others are new to me. I'm going to look up a few books this weekend and see what I might enjoy reading.
The rest of this week's post is all about the pictures. I'll try to explain those that need to be explained and the rest will likely speak for themselves.
Mother's Day gifts came from Amie. This was last year's father's day gift which she mailed along with my pretty tea cups and a gift for Katie. Amie knits and did a beautiful job on this afghan.
I also got one of those really beautiful pop-up cards which Sam and family sent me. They let Josh write "togramma" (just like that, lol) on the envelope but they wouldn't sign the card itself. I'm going to put it on my bulletin board. It's a huge Monarch butterfly, on a coral flower.
And he turned six months old...
Misu posed to her best advantage next to the greens in the corner flower bed. Maddie since has torn that very same spot to bits. The hydrangea remains unscathed and that is Maddie's only saving grace.
This little guy is hanging about the back side of the house. I've surprised him sunning on the rock, hiding under the drip pan on the steps, and hanging out about the rose bushes next to the air conditioner. I usually loathe lizards but confess my first thought with this one was "Oh aren't you pretty?"
Both these two photos are from the same spot, a place where John and I snuck away to this afternoon...That's a lovely river there in the mid section of the first photo.
About 50 years ago my uncle took his four children and us three kids to the river one cold foggy morning way out in the middle of nowhere. It was the most breathtakingly beautiful place I've ever been. We could walk across the river on the rocks that day and I think 5 out of 7 of us ended up soaking wet, lol, but what stayed with me was the natural beauty.
I've had a wearing week. One evening I went out to sit on the front porch and just soak in the quiet and birdsong and breeze because I knew one of the things I desperately needed was God's natural world about me. It wasn't nearly enough.
John suggested we 'go somewhere' and having experienced the results of that a few weeks ago, I looked up Sprewell Bluff and suggested we take a picnic lunch to that park. Way back when it wasn't a park...It was just where my uncle went to hunt deer but now it's a lovely state park. We ate our picnic under the shade of tall old trees facing a granite wall full of trees and watched people launch kayaks and canoes and skip rocks and dive from a huge boulder in the middle of the river. It was glorious. And it was a whole 40 minutes from home, for all that it felt we'd actually gone off on vacation. We'll go back. We've vowed yet again we will explore other parks near home.
I was out of balance this week and dead weary but this was just what I needed. I needed to lay down the to do lists and the frustrations and the worries and just let myself sink back into the most glorious few hours of doing absolutely nothing.
12 comments:
Those are bean leaves.
I think those are beans in the second level too.
The afghan is beautiful but I’m pretty sure Amie crocheted it, not knitted it.
I’ll be looking at the free book sites. I’m really enjoying both paper and electronic reading right now,
And the photo of Josh doing school work, I was so surprised he looks so big!
The babies are precious
Yup, beans. Our youngest son who has way too much money posted on Facebook today that he knew the library saved him money but never knew how much until now. He has spent $350 on books in the last 6 weeks. He often spends $200 on a board game so this was just normal for him. Our little lake park renews us just as you said and it is only 5 minutes from our house. We also have one near the lake house with a gorgeous waterfall to sit near and eat lunch. I can't even say how many dozens of times we have been to the one near home over 26 years. The kids grew up going there and now it is just us. Our church does picnics and old fashioned baptisms there, too. Last summer we went early on a Sunday morning and the Russian church was having a baptism there. Hundreds of voices were singing hymns in Russian. It is something I will always remember.
My father would take us kids to tromp in the many woods in farm areas. { with each farmer's ok } Areas you could not get through because the vines and such were so over grown. He would tell stories of how the first settlers would have to get through such areas and hack their way through at times. Making us understand there were no roads or even trails yet to follow at times. How brave and ingenious they were. And then he would teach us more history while we sat among the woods. Another time he found a thron bush and made a real size crown and carried it over to us and handed it to us to pass around. He told us again the story of Christ on the cross and the crown of thorns as we held that crown and felt its sharp spikes It sure made the story more real and our understanding of a loving Savior. He was not a teacher by profession but a teacher at heart. Of course we would later also pick out the 'best' rocks and wild flowers to bring home to our mother. Yet this time of wondering down dirt roads and watching the quiet animals and insects flying around it felt like we were all with the earth and we have all been left with a wonder of the beauty of nature and quiet times. Times you never forget.
We were out today and actually sat inside one of our favorite small restaurants. You could order and sit down in the front of it but not eat or sit down in the dining area. But oh it felt good to actually see the workers we saw so often before closer and be inside a place. We needed that feeling of a closer to reality experience again. There is no way we could have ever imagined how much of our lives would have changed so quickly. Will the day before all of this ' staying home' started be the last day we will have to remember the world as it used to be? Our lives may have seemed ho hum to us then but now it is what we want so dearly to return to.
Coming here is a bit of therapy for all of us I think. :) Sarah
The planter and the afghan are both beautiful.
I made a list this morning. Daily, Weekly, needed to get finished and what bugs the crap out of me...
Mable, That's what I thought but was afraid I was wrong...
Rhonda he is tall and thin...Taylor is a year younger and just as tall as he is.
Katie looked at the afghan and said it was knitted. Katie crochets and Amie doesn't, or didn't. I thought it looked like a crochet piece too...I don't know either way but it is very pretty and super soft.
Lana, Yes, I'm going to look for more 'getaway' spots that are close to home. I think I'd like to buy an annual pass to the state parks and told John if we went just once a month it would pay for itself. If we tried to go twice a month we'd get double value for our money! lol
Sarah, Yes, I really needed that connection to the created world, which is vastly different than our own feeble attempt at 'creation'...John and I both appreciated that feeling of 'almost normal' the day we went out to eat earlier in the month. Yesterday truly did feel normal. People kept their distance but to see people picnicking and sunning and swimming and playing was as lovely as the natural setting!
Anne, thank you!
Juls, I need to make my lists but at the moment it's a go go go go life and I'm too weary to think of what I'm bothered by...
I just have to say your granddaughter has the most beautiful smile! Best, Liz
I think a park pass is a great idea! All the state parks are so far from us that we would not get enough use out of one. We mainly frequent county parks.
We found some of them by doing a Google search.
Terri, You can check out a Georgia state park pass from the library for a week at the time. It also includes historic site entrance passes for a family as well. They don't care how many times a year you check it out. I check it out often then I am supporting the library and my family can enjoy the parks for minimal expense. Hope you have a blessed week. Kip
Sometimes parks have cheaper passes for "senior" (age is only a number) citizens. Doesn't hurt to ask. Got a beautiful card from my daughter yesterday, just because. I have had a frame for about 20 years and knew I would find the perfect picture. I can not believe how well the 2 went together and I am thrilled with my new gift. Same colors in frame and picture and goes with my spring themed hutch in my dining area. I have more cards framed and decorated than actual pictures. Gramma D
Liz, I think she does too...I'm pretty sure the dimples only add to it!
Lana, I can name off four within an hour's drive of us. I'm thinking there are more. I just need to go to the Georgia Parks website and see what all is nearby.
Kip! I love when you ladies give me tips like this. I had no idea.
And Gramma D...I never even thought about using the senior discount. John qualifies for that.
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