Another flower from this past summer...

Larkspur ~ A yearly friend in our garden, as it self-seeds each year.  It's a beauty!

 The Ten Commandments of Human Relations

1. SPEAK TO PEOPLE — there is nothing so nice as a cheerful word of greeting.
2. SMILE AT PEOPLE — it takes 72 muscles to frown, only 14 to smile.
3. CALL PEOPLE — the sweetest music to anyone’s ears is the sound of his own name.
4. BE FRIENDLY and helpful, if you would have friends, be a friend.
5. BE CORDIAL — speak and act as if everything you do is a genuine pleasure.
6. BE GENUINELY interested in people — you can like almost everybody if you try.
7. BE GENEROUS with praise — cautious with criticism.
8. BE CONSIDERATE with the feelings of others — there are usually three sides to a controversy: yours, the other fellow’s, and the right side.
9. BE ALERT to give service — what counts most in life is what we do for others.
10. ADD TO THIS a good sense of humor, a big dose of patience and a dash of humility.

~Author Unknown~

What an encouraging reminder for each day!  If each of these could be genuinely observed, what a wonderful series of pearls we would have to string each new day.

Christmas at our place..

 

I have wanted to put in an entry about Christmas that is now just a few days in the past.  This year it was snow-filled, cold and quiet;  yet as with all of them, to be cherished, valued and stored in the pages of our memories. If we take the "plate" that we are given and make the best of it, we can make each day a Christmas day ~ full of wonderful memories to be made and treasured. 

I am thankful for these "girl-gifts" near the tree that God gave to me; to this family.  As they stand there with those sweet smiles shining forth, I am reminded of the mercy that God has had towards me as yet another year comes to a close. 

Merry Christmas, merry days, and may many mercies come your way, while you make memories as this next year of days and moments revs its motor.

Don't waste any! As much as you can help it - don't miss any!

Memory of a Lovely Rose......

 Grandma Wolf's rose..

We acquired it when she moved from her home of many years..It had been her dad's rose bush in his flower garden when she was growing up.

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Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token,
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.

~The words and lyrics of the carol 'Love came down at Christmas' were written by the poet Christina Georgina Rossetti 1830-1894)

Merry Christmas

Saturday....Together..

the setting sun in the west at our place

Earlier today we had our typical Saturday lunch:  baked  potatoes with various toppings, which we ate while watching an old VHS of "This Old House".  This 'old house' in Massachusetts had termites!  We have enjoyed this old program for many years together.

Now we are bustling in the warm kitchen; Christmas music is playing as we visit and make supper. Outdoors the sky is gray and the landscape white. A neighbor family stopped by earlier to deliver a plate of Christmas cookies and wish us a Merry Christmas.


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The following photos are of miscellaneous happenings and projects of the past week or so.

~ Peppermint ice cream cake~made for my birthday! ~

..making Mozzarella cheese..

~ A Christmas Tea at a friend's home! ~

~ a plate of cookies they made ~

~ the festive table ~

~Below are some items we have been working on to sell on Etsy~

~ one of the felted wool pincushions ~

~ pink royal icing flowers atop frosted cupcakes ~

                     

~ a table runner..pieced and hand quilted ~

~ a purple hand-knit neck scarf  ~

More Spring flowers..

A very brilliant Iris.

The fragrant Lily of the Valley

 Bleeding Hearts

In Genesis chapter 1 it talks about how these plants came into being; God spoke them here on the 3rd day.  He told the earth to bring forth plants yielding seed.... I tend to enjoy these for their form and color and think of the flower as their purpose but their purpose is to bear seed or fruit for another year and so on.  I am glad for the wide variety of flowers that appear; their wide variety of beauty. However they were created that they may continue on the earth; year after year.

 

Remembering Flowers From Our Spring Gardens...

• During this cold, white, time of year I am going to be sharing   flowers from our gardens to bring warmth and color to this journal. Often the first to appear, Tulips and Daffodils are so common each spring in our area.
• I am thankful for them because they are faithful, they have survived the cold of winter down deep in the ground, and they pave the way for the season's many other flowers. They offer the 'example' of hope, perseverance, and just doing what you are supposed to be doing in life. They don't last all season; just a few short days or possibly a week. Doing their part; they are always beautiful and perky. If I am not too busy to notice them in the busyness of life, they bring me bits of happiness...even now as I enter them here. 
• I am glad that God saw fit to create them to embellish life!

Little Things..

This is a tray in, Amy, my daughter's room.  I thought I would share it's statement here. I need to be reminded of the value of the many small happenings or tiny things in each ordinary day, often!

Honoring the gray head

My friend Wendy wrote a wonderful post of ways to really help the older folks around us. I am copying part of it with her permission. Here is what she journaled regarding honoring the elderly:


Here are 10 Tips, or ideas of things which you and your children can do together for an older person to make them feel included, loved, honored, and cared for :

1. Bring homemade food, or order in, and share a meal with them
2. Bring a small child or children to visit them (children make older people smile! but be careful not to tire them out) 
3. Shovel, rake, mow--if they still live in their own home and have to do these things--and take them grocery shopping 
4. Run errands:  for instance, you could pick up their prescriptions for them
5. Play table games together, such as Scrabble, Dominos, or Phase 10 
6. Put a jigsaw puzzle together with them
7. Play instruments or sing for them (ask them what are their favorite "oldies but goodies")
8. Read Scripture to them and/or sing hymns with them:  find out their favorites (they almost certainly know these by heart, so they can sing along) 
9. Invite them to stay at your home for a night or two and/or enlist their help with a project or work at your home: for instance, they can peel potatoes or husk corn on the cob for a meal, or peel and cut up apples for pies, if they are able. 
10. Ask them to tell (or write) a story about their life in the past. Examples: how they celebrated Christmas or Thanksgiving when they were young; their school days; what it was like if they were a school teacher in a one-room schoolhouse; what it was like before telephones, electricity and plumbing; or if they are not related to you, their grandchildren! 
11. Ask/interview them about their growing up, courtship, first job, first apartment or house, or just about "the old days."

(Ok, I gave you one extra for good measure:)  You will want to be ready with a camcorder on the last two ideas, but what a treasure you will have.  Asking about their life and really listening is another way to say, "You are important to me."  Showing love as a family in these ways teaches a child to have a giving heart, to think about someone other than himself, and to obey God's command to "rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man."

I was so delighted with her post. She and her family are living this stuff. That example has been teaching me so much!! Thanks!



Happy Birthday, Alyssa!!!!!

Today is our daughter Alyssa's Birthday! 

She has been a blessing to our family.  I am very thankful for the inspiration she gives to me as she lives out each day. She is a young lady with a heart to please her Creator, Defender, Redeemer, and King.
"I hope and pray that you have a wonderful day and a year where each day holds a special memory. I am thankful for you!"

Memories of my dad: Just try....

Cliff Cushman was the focus of the daily reading from the book Courage To Run by Jim Ryun that my husband read to us at the breakfast table.  This man, Mr. Cushman,  wrote an open letter regarding his failed attempt at the 400-meter hurdle in the 1964 Olympics. Here, highlighted in red, is what Mr. Cushman wrote:

Don't feel sorry for me...In a split second, all the many years of training, pain, sweat, blisters and agony of running were simply and irrevocably wiped out. But I tried!  I would much rather fail knowing that I put forth an honest effort than never to have tried at all..  Over 15 years ago, I  saw a star;  first place in the Olympic games.  I literally started running after it.  In 1960, I came within three yards of grabbing it (the gold medal); I stumbled and fell and watched it recede four more years away.  Certainly I was very disappointed in falling flat on my face.  However, there is nothing I can do about it now but get up, pick the cinders from my wounds and take one more step, followed by one more, and one more, until the steps turn into miles, and miles into success.  I know I may never make it, The odds are against me, but I have something in my favor-desire and faith.

Romans 5: 3-5: "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us." 

At least I am going to try. How about you?...

I dare you to clean up your language.  
I dare you to honor your father and mother.
I dare you to unselfishly help someone less fortunate than yourself and enjoy the wonderful feeling that goes with it.
I dare you to look up at the stars, not down at the mud, and set you sights on one of them that, up to now, you thought was unattainable.
You may be surprised at what you can achieve with sincere effort.  So get up, pick the cinders out of your wounds and take one more step, I dare you!

Cliff went on to become a captain in the U.S. Air Force and was sent to Vietnam. His plane was shot down in 1966 and he is still listed as missing in action. His life shows that he tried;  he had desire and he had faith. I have heard it said that one out of one person dies. Yet living life with the fear of failing is such a waste. The older I get the more I want to keep trying; and not give in or give up on living each day with hope, with desire. I also know that I can not do it in my own strength, though.

This story reminded me of one of the things I continue to be thankful for in my dad, a hard working yet creative farmer: he always encouraged us to try. Creativity was and is birthed in that. Failures happen, yes, especially when the effort is selfish. This article reminded me that: one person plus God is a much better way to pursue ideas that He may be the author of...in my life anyway. Have a memory-making day!

Dad in his 20's.

Dad celebrating his birthday with his grandchildren approximately 20 years ago.

A Poem of Thanks

A Thanksgiving Acrostic

                           By Shelby

 an elementary student from Michigan with some alterations by me

Thankful for this land

Here is the land of America
America is the land we live in
Native Americans were the first on America soil
Kind of food they eat is pumpkin pie
Speed Well was a boat
God gave us this land to be free
Inviting natives to first Thanksgiving feast
Vegetables are what they ate
Indians and Pilgrims ate together
Nice the pilgrims were to them..
Giving food to others

 

A photo of a vintage punched paper needlework my daughter Alyssa made. It is now framed and hanging in her room.

 

Memories... we are always making them. Make them sweet ones whenever you can.

This is the first entry in a Basketful of Blueberries... ..welcome.

This photo was taken Thanksgiving 2007 at our friends' home as we gathered together with their family and friends. By this time of the year the crops are mostly in and it is cold outside; the indoors are a very welcome retreat, even from just walking from the car to the front door all bundled up with food, smiles, and hugs. What a lovely memory of these times past this picture holds for me.

In Psalm 37 David says this: "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of you heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."