Wordless Wednesday-Wonderful World

More Wordless Wednesday is here.

Calvin & Hobbes

Windy weather

My front yard trees:

Clematis

This beauty grows in my front flower bed.

The blooms of the clematis often change color, some very markedly through the life of each flower, particularly when grown in the full sun. The pastel colors will hold their color best if grown in some shade. After the flowers are finished, the very attractive seed heads stay on the plant and can make a welcome addition to most flower arrangements. If left on the plant they sometimes remain well into winter.

Apple Art

Here's little Apple looking for a way to get into the fish pond.
She was thirsty!

Graduation

Our daughter graduated from college on Saturday.

Pictured with dad and mom.  We are proud to say the least.

She and her boyfriend graduated together.

Two sisters, lovely as can be.  

Our entire family with my mom in the middle.

We had an extremely wonderful day.  

Wordless Wednesday-Going Green

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Fun Monday-My Hero

Fun Monday's hostess with the mostest is Kitten.  

She asks us to tell her about our hero.  At first,

I didn't think I would play this week but after

re-reading Anne Frank and watching her movie

again, it changed my mind.  I would say that Anne

was a very heroic person but the person I am going

to name as my hero is the person who helped to hide

her family for 25 months during the war.  Her name

is Miep Gies.  What a hero!  Here is an excerpt from

an interview with her:

What message should the young people of today pass on about Anne's story?
The message to take from Anne's story is to stop prejudice and discrimination right at its beginning. Prejudice starts when we speak about THE Jews, THE Arabs, THE Asians, THE Mexicans, THE Blacks, THE Whites. This leads to the feeling that all members of each such group think and act the same. That results in prejudice. Lumping entire groups of people together is RACISM, because it denies the fact that everyone is an individual. Even our own brothers and sisters or parents are not exactly like we are. So how do we dare to lump entire groups of people together? If any German had ever asked Anne to tell something about herself, I think she would be still with us today. However, nobody asked: she was just a Jew! Therefore, never base your opinion about anybody else on the color of that person's skin, or on the passport that a person carries, or on the family that person comes from, but only on what the person says and does and on NOTHING ELSE.

If you could, would you ever speak to the neo-Nazis that live in Germany today? What would you say to them?
I would urge them to realize that racist ideas caused the death of Anne Frank, an ordinary and innocent child, and also the death of millions of people

Miep Gies said this about being considered a "hero":
How does it feel to be a hero?
I don't want to be considered a hero. Imagine young people would grow up with the feeling that you have to be a hero to do your human duty. I am afraid nobody would ever help other people, because who is a hero? I was not. I was just an ordinary housewife and secretary.

You don't have to be a hero to do your human duty.  Oh, that we would value life like that!

Oklahoma's Coin

Oklahoma's state coin will be the most rare since
they are only minting 416,600,000 of them.

Beauty Mark

Please say "hello" to Natasha. She has a lovely beauty mark.
She came to my house today. She surpassed my expectations.
I'll have more pictures later.  She needs to unwind.  :D

May Day

Happy May Day!
I am always so pleased to see my Lily of the Valley flowers. They are so dainty.

Lily of the Valley


The flower is also known as Our Lady's tears since, according to Christian legend, the tears Mary shed at the cross turned to Lilies of the Valley. According to another legend, Lilies of the Valley also sprang from the blood of St. George during his battle with the dragon. Other names include May Lily, May Bells, Lily Constancy, Ladder-to-Heaven, Male Lily and Muguet.
Traditionally, Lily of the Valley is sold in the streets of France on May 1. Lily of the Valley became the national flower of Finland in 1982. The Norwegian municipality Lunner has a Lily of the Valley in its coat-of-arms. It is the official flower of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, Kappa Sigma fraternity, Delta Omicron fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority, and Alpha Phi sorority.
The name "Lily of the Valley" is also used in some English translations of the Bible in Song of Songs 2:1, although whether the Hebrew word "shoshana" (usually denoting a rose) originally used there refers to this species or not is uncertain. The meaning of this flower is "You will find Happiness." (Wikipedia)

Wordless Wednesday-Reflections

Above: Through the window

Above: The hood of our car

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Images and Reflections

Hello world!

Hey there, Georgy girl...

Gotta itch-scratch it!

This calf needed a good scratch.
The telephone pole was his provision.

It's a Beautiful Day!

This lovely little award has been given to me by Melissa at Family-Fixin's.

You ought to go over and see her lovely header picture.  It's a good one.

Thank you Melissa for making my day also.  

Wordless Wednesday-Three in One

Here are more Wordless Wednesday's.

World Vision

Yesterday when posting Fun Monday I thought about another thing I forgot to mention.  I have been sponsoring a child from Chile through World Vision for several years now.  We have sponsored him since he was three and now he is seven years old.  Just this year I sponsored a girl from Uganda.  She is seven years old.  World Vision is a wonderful organization.  They help people all over the world.  I have been blessed and very happy to read reports of my children's progress.  I receive letters from them and hear about their families.  I hope to continue to sponsor these children for many years.  I want to hear some day that they have completed school and go on to college if that's what they want.  World Vision also helps their communities.  It is a worthy cause.  I can't post pictures of the children but I would so like to.  They are beautiful and healthy too.  

Edit:  I just received a letter from my girl's family in Uganda.  I had sent them some extra money and they were able to build three bedrooms on to their house.  They only had two rooms in the whole house before.  Awesome!  They have 5 children and the pictures show them smiling.  They are also buying some pigs.  The father wrote me a letter for his daughter.  She colored me a picture.  It's so great.  I would encourage anyone who can to sponsor a child.  The money really does go to the child and their family.  

Fun Monday- Magnum Opus

Magnum opus (sometimes Opus magnum, plural magna opera), from the Latin meaning great work,[1] refers to the best, most popular, or most renowned achievement of an author, artist, or composer, and most commonly one who has contributed a very large amount of material. It is another way of saying "masterpiece."

This Fun Monday is being hosted by Southern Doll. Here is her request:

What have you done in your life that was worth doing? I want to know the moments in your life that you hope will be the ones to pass through your mind when your time comes. I hope that doesn't sound too morbid. This doesn't necessarily have to be items you have checked off your Bucket List, it can be those small moments that made you smile, or the time you got that huge promotion you deserved, or the first time your baby smiled at you out of pure joy. I want to know all the moments, big and small, that make life sweet! If you don't already have a running list of these in your mind, you should! These moments help you remember how much your life is worth living, and we all deserve to enjoy it.

Much like Charlotte in "Charlotte's Web", my Magnum Opus would have to be giving birth to my three children.  I really can think of no greater, meaningful, fulfilling, or pleasurable experience.  

Here are a few more things that rate right up there with my children. My marriage is important to me. I cannot imagine being without my husband. I love him and together we are a team. We are opposites in many ways yet we compliment each other.

Owning our house free and clear and owning our business. My husband is the brain of this operation but I am the paperwork/computer person. We work together.

Something that makes me smile: My dad's last words to me were, "You know that I love you." And I will never ever forget that.

Now something I must mention because it was and is life changing for me. I can't say that I accomplished it but it was accomplished for me and I accepted it. Salvation. I gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ and that gives me meaning in this life and in the one to come. That is what I believe. It makes me happy and you might say, "God put a smile upon my face."

I am singing this song in church this Sunday. It's for our pastor's 20th year celebration at our church.
That's all I can think of right now. It always happens and later I think I should have mentioned that, but, oh well. :D

Time it was and what a time it was!

I have this photograph of my mom and dad taken in 1970.
I don't have a single photo of my parents and my brothers
and me together. I know my aunts and uncles took pictures
of us because I remember that but we don't have any copies.
Preserve your memories with photographs. I remember so
many little things about my dad now that he is gone. These
little things remind me of him every day. He loved to drive
around the countryside sometimes looking for deer, other times
just driving past pastures. He loved to take care of his cows
and horses. He liked to garden and mow grass too. He just
plain liked being outdoors. He'd sit outside in his swing in
the backyard for hours. Other things I remember, he liked
to eat crackers and buttermilk, ice cream with milk poured on
it, and he loved to hunt for wild mushrooms. We shared a
hidden bag of soft-centered hard raspberry candy together.
We would hide it in the bookcase. When I was little, after
he washed his hair he would let me comb it and mess with
it. I wish I had more photos.


This is me at age four.  


Time it was and what a time it was it was,
A time of innocence a time of confidences.

Long ago it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you

There's Such a Lot of World to See!

Audrey Hepburn (May 4, 1929-January 20, 1993)

She must have been the most beautiful woman inside and out.
What a legacy!

Here are some words about her:
In 1991, Hepburn said "I have memories. More than once I was at the station seeing trainloads of Jews being transported, seeing all these faces over the top of the wagon. I remember, very sharply, one little boy standing with his parents on the platform, very pale, very blond, wearing a coat that was much too big for him, and he stepped on to the train. I was a child observing a child."
Hepburn also noted the similarities between herself and Anne Frank: "I was exactly the same age as Anne Frank. We were both ten when war broke out and fifteen when the war finished. I was given the book in Dutch, in galley form, in 1946 by a friend. I read it – and it destroyed me. It does this to many people when they first read it but I was not reading it as a book, as printed pages. This was my life. I didn't know what I was going to read. I've never been the same again, it affected me so deeply."
"We saw reprisals. We saw young men put against the wall and shot and they'd close the street and then open it and you could pass by again. If you read the diary, I've marked one place where she says 'five hostages shot today'. That was the day my uncle was shot. And in this child's words I was reading about what was inside me and is still there. It was a catharsis for me. This child who was locked up in four walls had written a full report of everything I'd experienced and felt."
These times were not all bad and she was able to enjoy some of her childhood. Again drawing parallels to Anne Frank's life, Hepburn said "This spirit of survival is so strong in Anne Frank's words. One minute she says 'I'm so depressed'. The next she is longing to ride a bicycle. She is certainly a symbol of the child in very difficult circumstances, which is what I devote all my time to. She transcends her death." (Wikipedia)





Audrey Hepburn's Beauty Tips

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; Never throw out anybody.

Remember, If you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

Sam Levenson

Posted October 1999

Contrary to what some may think, Audrey Hepburn did not write this beautiful poem, Sam Levenson did. Levenson wrote "Time Tested Beauty Tips" for his grandchild, and it just so happened to be one of Audrey's favorite poems. She read it to her children on the very last Christmas Eve she spent with us here on Earth.

Special thanks to Nicholas Darrell for author information.