6/21/22 - WORTH REPEATING

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Everything we say at funerals should be said at birthday parties instead. We leave so much love unspoken. 

~ jmadhu, quoted from Twitter on Facebook

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As I've defined it many times, faith is acting like God is telling the truth. Or another way, acting like it is so, even when it's not so, in order that it might be so, simply because God said so. 

As we have stated so often, faith is measured by your feet, not by your feelings. Your feelings are the caboose, your movement is the engine.

~ Tony Evans // Never Give Up // OnePlace

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Your life is an occasion. Rise to it. 

~ Dustin Hoffman as Mr. Magorium // Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

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Why is it so much easier to be unkind when you can't see the person? Herein, I think, lies the answer: when we speak unkindly to someone's face, we can see hurt. We can see pain. But our devices take that connection, that physical connection, and break it off so that we can no longer see a person's eyes fill with tears or the red climbing into their cheeks. We have lost the ability to be ashamed of ourselves for these comments, and I think that in this, we are losing the ability to communicate with each other as a whole.

~ Cecilia Landis // Kindness and Critique // The Stories Between Us

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Shared laughter is like throwing open the shutters in a gloomy room and letting in fresh air and sunshine.

~ Lila Green // Winning Words: Quotations to Uplift, Inspire, Motivate and Delight, compiled by Allen Klein

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THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful I have a view of our yard from both the kitchen sink and the stove. What's something you're thankful for?

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for a freezer stash of sweet green muffins. What's one thing that you're thankful for?

A STRAWBERRY GALETTE

One of my friends loves to cook and bake, whether following recipes or coming up with her own creations, and feeding people the delicious things she makes is one of her favorite things to do. Tonight she brought strawberry galettes, made with berries she'd picked the previous day, to another friend and I at church. They were still warm from the oven, so I had to take them out to our cars because it made our area of the room smell like an amazing bakery. Needless to say, that would have been a distraction during the service. The smell taunted me on the drive home and I cut into my galette about thirty seconds after I walked in the door. So delicious!

ADELMAN PEONY GARDENS

We took advantage of a clear schedule and pleasant weather to visit Adelman Peony Gardens for the first time today. Oh, goodness, it's beautiful! We snapped a quick picture together before heading into twenty-five acres of fields.

Naomi and Tyler both enjoy drawing, so I had them bring sketchbooks along. They quickly found quiet spots to settle in and put pencil to paper.

I don't like to draw at all, but I really love walking and looking at beautiful flowers. So that's what I did while they were busy with their sketchbooks. 

We stopped in their little shop, then discovered a garden area filled with all sorts of gorgeous flowers. So we struck another pose at the end of our visit. 

I couldn't get it all in one shot, but here's most of the sample cuttings in their shop. They're not all for sale each day, but they have a board set up telling visitors which stems are available. They also sell potted plants for people who want peonies in their yard. So many variations!
 

Living in flat farmland isn't my favorite thing, but I always love seeing Mt. Hood rising above all the crops we live near. 

Just a bunch of peonies. 

I planned on taking pictures of my favorites, but I loved all of them. Should have known! There were more varieties than I have here, but it's a decent sampling of all the stunning peonies in the fields. That first yellow one was huge!

I didn't buy any flowers because I already have some in our home, grown by friends with a different peony farm, so I got a fun sticker of the display truck in their shop. 

Such a fun way to spend a little part of our day!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for the therapy pep talk flashcards I made from notes I took during my appointments last year. What's something you're thankful for?

MY BRACELET

My great-grandma had a gold bracelet. She died when my grandma was three and eventually my grandma wore it. My grandma passed it to my mom when my mom turned eighteen. My mom died when I was fifteen and I started wearing it sometime after that, although I don't remember exactly when. I quit wearing it for a few years in early adulthood because it was reacting to my body chemistry, lotion, or something by leaving a green mark on my skin. I tried again later and didn't have any problem. I didn't take it off for over twenty years. 

I was reading in bed one night in March and felt my sleeve get caught on the bracelet. Strange, since the bracelet is perfectly smooth. I looked down and discovered it had split. What in the world?! It's lasted over a century, my mom wore it constantly for two decades, I've worn it constantly for more than two decades, and it broke while I was sedentary at the end of the day.

It took a while, but I finally got around to having Sherrie's Jewelry Box look at it. The repair was going to be easy because it was on the seam, which is why it was perfect break, but there was another problem. 

The inside of the bracelet had names engraved in it. A mom's first name, hyphen, her daughter's first and last (maiden) name, from my great-grandma to my mom. The cool thing was that it was hand engraved. The bummer was the engraving had been done right over the seam. I had a choice to make. Leave the original engraving as is, with one name permanently ruined, or have the engraving redone, not by hand and starting just after the seam so the problem couldn't happen again. I chose the latter. I also had the name combinations dropped to make room for more generations, so it's just each woman's first and last name. I also had my own name added, which makes me get a little choked up sometimes. 

Not only have I always had old lady hands with all their wrinkles, but I've also always had man hands that are really wide. (Hmmm ... maybe I have old man hands. Whatever. I don't care. My hands look how they look and do what they need to do.) Because my hands are wide, I never take the bracelet off. It's simply too difficult and painful. However, I haven't put the bracelet on in over twenty years and had forgotten that it's easy to move it that direction. I slipped the bracelet that's been part of my family for over a hundred years back on my wrist today and smiled. I love it.