Busy As A Bee

Not much text today, it's been a long day and I'm off to bed. Enjoy these pictures I took last year of bees on pretty pink flowers.

A Good Thing

Aren't these blue flowers beautiful? I would never have guessed what they are, though. They are thistles! That's right, this is called a globe thistle, and I came across it in someone's front yard flower bed. The thistle is the national emblem of Scotland, and an ancient Celtic symbol of nobility and character. Of course thistles are invasive and most farmers and gardners hate them. But in fact many parts of the thistle are used for wilderness survival. Milk thistle protects your liver from damage and actually will renew the liver cells, and also prevents plaque buildup in the arteries. And so many of them are actually pretty to look at. So to me, thistles are a good thing.

Then God said "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. And it was so. The land produced vegetation...and God saw that it was good."

The Bluebirds

They say that the bluebird of happiness is very hard to find. That may be because they are all living in my house! This is my collection of bleubirds, and I recently got a new one. Isn't this little crocheted bluebird cute? He is holding an umbrella and singing in the rain! My blog friend Doris over at Crocheting In Georgia, made him. She even wove tinsel into the umbrella that looks like rain! She crochets beautiful and whimsical things, and has an Etsy shop. Happiness is hard to find because it is dependant on circumstances, coming and going. But joy is an inner contentment no matter what, a constant thing. It comes from God and not things. I know people who have this joy and nothing shakes them, they worry about nothing. Not only does it give that bluebird a run for it's money, it beats him.

"But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful."

Psalm 68:3

Spring Celebration

Last night, our granddaughter Anne Marie had her Spring performance at her church and pre-school. The grandparents from both sides of the family were there to watch and cheer her on. All the kids sang several songs on stage, then we went to look at all the artwork they had made during the year. I'm showing my favorites here, her kite, leaf man, and spoon people. Then we all went out for ice-cream. It was a fine balmy evening, and we lingered past dark. The threesome is Phil, me, and Anne. Next is is a picture of our whole group that I asked someone to take. Just before we left, Anne put her bow in Phil's hair, silly grandpa!!

"Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another...They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness." Psalm 145

Tiptoeing

The other day, I happened upon these tulips in front of an office building. So I tiptoed through them, which is not so easy to do when you're wearing Crocs. Just maybe winter is over.

"See! The winter is passed; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come..."Song Of Songs 2:11,12

Songs In The Night

Last night Phil and I went with a friend to see the play "A Little Night Music". Here is all I knew about it: It is a very famous play by Stephen Sondheim that has been on Broadway, and the song "Send In The Clowns" comes from it. So I was excited!! I didn't know the plot, however, and I must say it was full of people running around doing things they should not do, accompanied by bad language. Some of my pictures were even unfit to be posted, and I got rid of them. We will now check out plays more closely before we go to them. On the positive side, the set, actors, and songs were all beautiful. Sitting in the theatre on such a balmy spring evening makes me think of another kind of singing, do you know that God sings to us? He cheers us on, too. We may not feel it at times, but he wants our decisions to be completely ours, as a father teaches his children how to make the right decisions in life.

"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Zeph. 3:17

The Apple And The Pear

"Some say it was a pear Eve ate.

Why else the shape of the womb, or of the cello

whose single song is grief for the parent tree?

Excerpt from "Pears" by Linda Pastan

The pear trees just finished blooming here, and it seems they only lasted about a week! There are more than 3,000 varieties in the world. Did you know they are a relative of the apple? The first pears came here in the 1700's, and they are second only to the apple as the most popular fruit in this country. I would have guessed the banana. Nowhere in the bible does it say that the forbidden fruit eve ate was an apple, we don't know what it was. I think it may have been a fruit made specially for that occasion. Adam and Eve ate it for knowledge. Can one have too much knowledge? In this case, yes. They thought they would be like God, but all they were doing was being was disobedient to their maker. And as much as I love to learn, I do believe that knowledge causes loss of innocence. Perhaps there was more than meets the eye when Jesus told us to become like a little child. Children are trusting to their parents and innocent. Knowledge has not spoiled their view of the world or their innocence. And once that happens, it can be very hard to go back. Something to ponder on this Sunday.

"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."

Genesis 3:6,7