A Fashion Statement

Why am I showing all these pictures of our granddaughter, Anne Marie? Well, they all have one thing in common. When she was about three, her mom let her pick out all her clothes for a week. She could choose the whole outfit, including all accessories. Anything that was in her closet, she could wear. And this is the outcome, day by day, all pictures taken by her mom. I think this is quite something else, a diary of a three year old's fashion sense. Some look like shabby chic, some like Annie Hall, some like a small homeless waif, and some look pretty good! I will mention that though she was wearing rain boots in some of these, it wasn't necessarily raining. It was a fashion statement. Here's another one.

"Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ."

Colossians 3

I will not be visiting or commenting here on Thursday, because I will be gone most of the day and not near a computer. See you on Friday!

Nothing Like The Sun

Sunset April, 2011

Oh, how sweet the light of day, and how wonderful to live in the sunshine! Even if you live a long time, don't take a single day for granted! Take delight in each light-filled hour, remembering that there will also be many dark days..."

Ecclesiastes 11:7

A Brand New Life

"Pay close attention now: I'm creating new heavens and a new earth. All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain are things of the past, to be forgotten. Look ahead with joy. Anticipate what I'm creating..."
Isaiah 54

On this trip, I was anticipating  visiting the shop of Ruth Hamner and seeing what she had created. I don't think I have ever posted this many pictures at once! But I couldn't help myself, all her creations were beautiful. I actually had to remove many other pictures to get it down to this number. It felt like a whole other world in her shop, whimsy and beauty everywhere!!! Her name is Ruth L. Hamner, and her shop is called Ruthie's Rembrandt's. She collects very old antiques, and gives them a new life. Her slogan is "If it's not moving, paint it!" She paints every and anything, including furniture, tools, canes, and hard hats. My last picture shows her in one of her mirrors. I did not buy anything, because it was all pretty expensive. But I'm thinking of returning and getting something small. Since I'm so clumsy, maybe the hard hat in my header. A header for the head. Ya think?

"Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven-and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The day is coming when you'll have it all-life healed and whole."
1 Peter 1:2,4

The Journey

"Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain."
Unknown

Come take a trip with me along the Blue Ridge Mountains and up and over Afton Mountain. This was our journey yesterday as we set off to do a bit of Christmas shopping. There are not many other times or places where I have such a deep consciousness of God.

"Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God."
1 Peter 1:18

My computer day off is Monday, see you all on Tuesday!

Buy Em? We GREW Em!

This house in our neighborhood has fascinated me. They have these HUGE pumpkins and gourds in the yard. One day when I was snapping pictures, a lady came out the door, wondering what we were doing. You can see her in my header. I told her I was taking pictures of her giant gourds. I also told her they must have cost a fortune, and how did they transport them to her yard? She laughed and said "Buy em? We GREW em!" This flabbergasted me, so she continued to tell me that her father had grown them all in the backyard! Well, around to the back of the house we drove, and here is all that was left of their pumpkin garden. One smashed pumpkin laying on it's side, and a huge pile of all the pumpkin stems!!! I still want to know how this man and his daughter managed to transport these enormous gourds to the front yard.


"When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. "What a huge harvest!", he said to his disciples. "How few workers..."
Matthew 9:35

Connected

 

"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men."
Herman Melville


Do you recognize my first picture? It's from my post of a couple days ago about the split tree. Some of you were very curious about that little squished brick house in between the condos. So I went back there today and checked it out. Even though this is practically in our back yard, I had never noticed it till my observant followers pointed it put to me! Turns out it is not a little condo at all! It is in the middle of two condos and kind of connects them. There are no front doors. As you can see in the third picture, each side of this little porch has the front door to it's side of the condo. Here are some images I saw in the few minutes I was back there. The river is in their back yard. And despite the Bartlett Pear tree splitting, they still have some very large and pretty trees left! The picture of the river was taken by Phil, as it was too hard for me to get to.


"Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ's body we're all connected to each other, after all."
Ephesians 4

Jack O'Lanterns Of A Different Kind

Driving through the neighborhood, I spotted these Jack O'Lantern mushrooms. They are such a brilliant orange that I could see them half a block away. I suspected that they are poisonous, and I was right. Nature often uses very bright colors as a warning sign. Lots of people pick these mushrooms and eat them because they confuse them with chanterelles, which are a gourmet treat. They will not kill you, but they will make people so sick that they usually end up in the hospital. Now to why they are called Jack O'Lanterns. It is not just their color. The gills glow bright green in the dark! They contain a luminescent chemical that makes a bright green glow. So these Jack O'Lanterns even have their own light inside! Here's someone who people were afraid of because he glowed, but it was not from a chemical.


"When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony, he didn't know that the skin of his face glowed because he had been speaking with God. Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, saw his radiant face, and held back, afraid to get close to him."
Exodus 34:29



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