Strawberry goodness

I love strawberries. Yum! I happen to believe that oatmeal exists primarily to be a vehicle for strawberries. Seriously.

Recently I discovered something interesting about strawberries that I had never noticed before. I have always thought that they were a very pretty fruit inside and out. You have all the little seeds against the pretty red on the outside and all these cool white lines in the juicy redness on the inside.

What I had never noticed before was that each one of those white lines comes from a seed on the outside of the strawberry.

A seed that reaches all the way inside the strawberry to the very center.

To the heart of the strawberry.

Words are like that. They land on the outside of people and then they sink right down inside all the way to the heart. How often have I spoken words that left sparkling lines in someone? How often have I spoken words that cut and hurt to the heart? Sometimes hard things have to be said, but saying them gently can change the hardness.

God is like that. He tells us things we want to hear. And He tells us things we need to hear. I'm good with the first - and sometimes grumpy with the second. Please tell me I am not the only one! What I have to let sink into my heart is that He loves me and He wants the best for me.



For God so loved the world that He gave is only begotten Son

that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

 



 Best.

My turn now - my turn to remember that my words need to be sweet like strawberries and gently reflect the Best that the Father has to offer.

Off to munch a strawberry or two,
Kathy

Funtry Friday Fly By

Interesting.

You never know what you will see around here. This is one confused chicken. In fact this is one peculiar looking chicken, too...

Oh, it's Peter Pigeon.

Peter has led a very confusing life. A number of years ago, he arrived next door during a storm which left him injured and rather bedraggled. My neighbor rescued him and nursed him back to health, but told him he could not invite pigeon friends to visit.

Peter decided that the grub was good and the company was fun, so he stayed. He is the only pigeon around here, but he isn't really lonely. Every spring he helps a couple of morning doves build a nest. He even helps feed the babies when they hatch.

He was a little distracted this week, though.

He found a place to have lunch, but the door closed behind him. The chickens were a little surprised to have company, but they put out the welcome mat for him.

He flew around the coop for a while. Well, rather like a maniac because I was bigger than a chicken - but he calmed down when I opened the door and sent him on his way back home.

Kind of missed having the pigeon in the chicken coop today, but I think he prefers the roof top anyway.

Hope you had some fun fly your way this Funtry Friday!

Blessings,
Kathy

Just a little nearsighted.

Hello, my name is Kathy and I am nearsighted and I like it.

I am used to my fuzzy world and, quite frankly, first thing in the morning it is nice to have a fuzzy world. I can choose when to bring things into focus simply by grabbing my glasses and putting them on my face.  I can even delay focus for a few moments by keeping my eyes shut. Yeah. I do that.

Some people have surgery so they don't see this way. I can tell you that I have never even considered doing that because I like the way I see things.

I do see a little bit better than I used to, though - part of the aging process is that nearsighted people do tend to loose a bit of their nearsightedness. This is pretty close to the way I see things now. Well, as close as I can come to it with Photoshop.

Of course, there are a few draw backs to being as nearsighted as I am. You don't want me to drive without my glasses and I don't want me to walk across the room without them.  I never know what I might step on...

Some surprises are better than others. If it is dark, I turn on the lights and put on my glasses when I get out of bed. Yeah... and I put on my slippers, too. It pays to be prepared when you see don't see the way I do. I didn't always do this. I did learn the hard way. Yes, broken toes heal pretty well. And I won't list everything I have stepped on...

Sometimes I choose to leave my Spiritual glasses off. Guess how bad my eternal vision is then? On a scale of 1 to 10, it isn't even on the scale. Things in life look all blurry and out of focus - nice and soft, with no hard edges. Or teeth. Then life bites me and I wonder what happened. Doh.

Back to digging into the Word instead of reading familiar Bible passages that are comfortable. Back to seeking what the Lord really wants me to do. Back to being His, not mine.

It's a much better deal. When my life is in focus eternally, I am much less likely to be tripped up by the fuzzy day to day-ness of life. I am much more likely to see clearly in the here and now as I look forward to the then and there.

Fixing my eyes on the Lord,
Kathy

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,

since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:18

Real Life Funtry Friday...

Gadfry. (just happens to be one of my favorite exclamation point expressions...)

I repeat. Gadfry!

Welcome to Real Life Funtry Friday where the Real Life Adventures have taken over... Today we are featuring Bethie, who doesn't feel well.

Doh. Ummm... Doe doh... Doe doldrums. Doh. Welcome to mastitis. Yes, goats can get that even if they have never had a kid. Apparently, a precocious udder can have mastitis the same as a normal milking udder can.

 I was going to draw you a map of my travels for her today, but after all the travels I don't have the time. Suffice to say, I went to the feed store for an appropriate goat thermometer (apparently both my neighbor and I have misplaced ours... scary thought), back home to call the vet with her temperature, out to the vet's office to pick up medications, and back home for a further adventure in goat care.

As if the thermometer was not enough of an adventure, the medications are all in syringes. Nice. Four days of two shots a day. Bethie is going to just love this...

Not only that, but I had to enlist the aid of my neighbor who very patiently said "Right cheer!"

Yep, there's a first time for everything. I had never given a shot to goat before. Only six more to go... Hopefully these will make her mastitis go away. They already made her feel a little better. That could add an interesting note to giving her shots tomorrow...

On another higher note... Our first batch of baby swallows are in the air!

And, on that soaring note, another Real Life adventure in Funtry Friday Country ends.

Hope your sun set on a lovely day full of fun!

Blessings,
Kathy

Ah, the artistry of creativity...

Creativity takes such a wonderful variety of forms! Each creative process takes a different path and has a different result. Compare sculpture to painting, and you can easily see the differences. However, there is a creative path - one which twists and turns it's way to a unique finished project and many of the stops along the way are the same no matter what the media.

Take this wonderful book, for instance. - "Trouble in Store" by Carol Cox.

This well crafted mystery is an excellent example of the intricate path that creativity takes. I have heard the words rewrite, edit, and deadline, and watched the travel for research, locating of places for imaginary towns, and "building" of structures in the mind that are both intriguing and believable. Some people may think that the words just drip off an author's fingers and fall magically (bound and ready to read) onto a bookshelf. I know first hand that there is a LOT of behind the scenes hard work that goes into letting me have my imaginary adventure.

On her web page, Carol has a lot of advice for writers. I know that she takes her own advice because her characters are believable, her plot is well thought out, and her settings are the perfect frame on a lovely painting (the picture framing artist in me could not resist that comparison!).

For a very fun historical mystery romance, check out "Trouble in Store" by Carol Cox. Set in 1885, this mystery weaves it's web around a mercantile in Cedar Ridge, Arizona. There is, of course, a nefarious villain - no mystery would be complete with out him. And, for the record, I totally picked the wrong persons... and I am telling you no more! Grab a copy and enjoy trying to figure out the tangled clues for yourself!

Happy reading!

Blessings,
Kathy

PS Just in case you were wondering, the items in the photograph with Carol's amazing book, do have a little bit to do with her chosen subject. Items similar to these may have been sold by Caleb and Melanie at their store.

What you see here is a framed calendar from The Tiffault-Kamps Mercantile, Co. in Wisconsin. I just happen to be related to Mr. Kamps and this lamp is from that same Wisconsin family. Next year I will enjoy using my vintage 1913 calendar (yes, it really is 100 years old!), because it will accurately display the dates for 2014. Imagine that!

Pizza and other changes.

I was 19 years old before a slice of pizza passed through my lips. Yep. It took a bit of convincing, too.

"Like - what is that peperoni stuff? You seriously want me to eat this?"

I came from a Kentucky fried kind of family. Pot roast and tuna salad. You know - a cross between Southern and Yankee cooking with an emphasis on "our favorite recipes".  Repeat daily.

Now I make homemade pizza on a fairly regular basis. And consume it, peperoni and all, with great joy. In fact, my son-in-law introduced me to a delicious dipping sauce for pizza:  Ranch Dressing. Yep - a culinary treat!

After the pizza, I got a lot more adventurous in the food department. Between the first slice of pizza and adding a' la Ranch, I also had frog legs and snails.

Frog legs tasted like chicken and they were teeny tiny. Slightly disturbing...

Snails proved that if you put enough butter and garlic on something, it will taste good.

Okay. The snails may have come after the Ranch dressing. Keeping chronological track of culinary adventures is not my strong point.

In fact keeping chronological track of lots of my life adventures is not my strong point. Even though I keep a calendar and a blessing book (kind of like a journal, but listing a daily blessing from God), I still miss writing things down. 

See, what happens is, I am strolling around in the middle of life doing my day to day stuff and something happens and I just keep on going. And then a few days/weeks/months/years later, I wonder when that totally awesomely important thing happened. It was so day to day, that I didn't write it down.

For example... you can ask me why I believe Jesus Christ is The Savior and I can tell you. If you ask me when I became a Christian, I can't tell you. Clueless. No Christian I knew back then ever told me to make note of the day I decided to let God run my life.  But, frankly, I don't think it's really that big a deal. Seriously - what's more important:  following the Lord day by day or knowing the day the journey started?

I'll take the actual journey, thank you. It's been kind of like my first bite of pizza. Taking that first step to follow Jesus, opened my eyes up to all kinds of wonderful incredibly awesome happenings that just keep on happening. Sometimes it's tough and sometimes it's a little scary, but I wouldn't trade this wonderful walk for anything the world has to offer.

*following my Savior close to see what adventure we will have today!*
Blessings,
Kathy

Lead me in Your truth and teach me,

For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.

Psalm 25:5

...and a partridge in a Funtry Friday pear tree!

Just in case all you critter lovers out there were seeking some great Bird TV, I welcome you to our country version...

 

Wow! LOOK at THAT!

 

 

Yes. I am Awesome. Totally Awesome.

 

 

*nom*nom*nom*food is more awesomer*nom*nom*nom*

 

 

Whoa! Can we have it? Can we chase it? Can we play with it?

 

 

Have what? Chase? That sounds like work...

 



 

*shhhhh... I am not here. I don't see anything and you do not see me.*

 

 

We are just waiting for big wings so we can fly to the pear cottonwood tree.

 

 

 

Well, that is the Tall and the short of Bird TV out in our neck of the woods! Hope you are getting good reception where you are, too!

 

*happy birding*

Blessings,

Kathy and zoo

 

 

Wordless Wednesday... almost.

1940s Paache airbrushes that belonged to my uncle...

Uncle Dunbar did quite a bit of photography including aerial photography for the Army during WWII.

These airbrushes were in a box that also contained most of his camera equipment and lots of photographs from when he was stationed in Hawaii during WWII.

In all of his photographs, I didn't find any that had been hand colored or airbrushed. I did find photographs of an art studio on the base in Hawaii, though.

You just never know what you will find in an old box of "stuff"!

*off to quietly peruse some more family photos*
Kathy

Memorial Day

I wanted to write a blog post to express my feelings...
to honor all of those who have served our country...
to put into words what I am thinking this weekend...

But my daughter said it all and said it much better than I could ever say it.

Thank you, Cynthia.

Be blessed.
Cultivated Graftings: A Memorial

God bless you all,
Kathy

Funtry Friday Feathers, Flowers, and Fiery Skies

The Blogging Business Artisans Challenge for May is flowers.

 

May- BeadedTail - April showers brought May flowers so let's see them!

 Create something with flowers and let your imagination bloom!

 

I am hoping to create some paintings soon because I have been able to get some lovely photographs of some of my favorite flowers.

 

Like this iris - the originals were planted by my dad about 55 years ago. He took them with us whenever we moved and I have kept on doing that, too.

 

 

I love photographing those iris, but then I got sidetracked with some other photography fun. I found out why the killdeer look so plain until they start thrashing around like crazy. Here is one side of a tail feather - with lots of bright colors.

 

 

 

However... the other side looks quite different. Voila - they hide their colors until they want to be seen.

 

 

 

Easily distracted person that I am, I paused between feather photos when I saw this lovely little - and I do mean little! - flower.

 

 

So perfect and so pretty! I wonder how many people really see a flower this small...

 

                    ...and how many people are fascinated by feathers.

 

 

When you look at the guinea fowl, you don't always see their spots. Their feathers really do show their true colors, though.

 

And speaking of true colors, the sun shining on these delicate flower petals will made a very fun painting. I see lots of different colors in here - not just white.

 

 

 

But for truly amazing colors, just turn your eyes on to one of our fiery sunsets.

 

 

Looks like the Evening Primroses are really loving it.

 

Hope you enjoyed your Funtry Friday bouquet!

 

Blessings,

Kathy