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Blueberry Month

Blueberry Month

It’s July, the month of blueberries! This year we are still waiting for them to ripen… any day now! When I was a girl in New Jersey, we picked them in the wild. Now my dear friend Karen shares her verdant blueberry patch with us. Ah, blueberries are so...
Record-Breaking Heat Waves

Record-Breaking Heat Waves

Last weekend we had three days that were over 100. Saturday’s high was 108; Sunday’s was 112, and on Monday, we scorched at 116. The highest temperature ever recorded in Portland was 107 and that was three times–once in July 1965 and twice in August...
For Now . . . But Then

For Now . . . But Then

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” 1 Cor. 13:12. It was about noon on Friday, and we were returning home from the west side. Carl asked me if I wanted to go...

Boldness

Reading some more in the Book of Acts — Four things stand out to me this morning and my spirit is breathing them in. Peter is full of the Holy Spirit. It is evident that Peter and John have been with Jesus. The miracle, that has spread to all who dwell in...

I Speak Jesus

Reading in the Book of Acts this morning… Following the miracle of the man at the Beautiful Gate, Peter responds to the people who gather in Solomon’s porch: “And His name, through faith in His name [Jesus’ name], has made this man strong, whom...
Be Anxious for Nothing

Be Anxious for Nothing

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus,…”...

Bless the Lord

On this first Sunday of 2021, I’m speaking to myself (actually, commanding myself) with the words of the psalmist– Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, Bless His holy name! (Psalms 103) I am committed to awaken each day with these words in...

The Lord Bless You

It is Thursday, December 31, and I’m sitting at my kitchen table, proofing the final draft of my student book for Grammar Boot Camp Junior (academy.alicenine.net). I pause and in the stillness of my kitchen, I notice sounds. Ordinary sounds. Cars and trucks are...
Steps Are Ordered

Steps Are Ordered

Truth 4 Today  20-0424 Meditating on this verse… “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way.” -Psalm 37:23 I read the verse. Then as I thought upon it, I did what I encourage students to do. I looked at the sentence structure, looked...
Shipwrecked with Paul

Shipwrecked with Paul

  This morning, I read the account of Paul’s shipwreck. {It is good to read again familiar stories of God’s deliverance. My heart is always encouraged.}  After reading the account, I used a writing/study strategy from my classroom: I wrote a short version...
Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday No. 19-0913 I had decided my day was too full to write a #PoetryFriday post. Then about an hour ago, the quiet of our afternoon was filled with a helicopter flying low and close, circling more than once. I stepped out to watch then returned to my kitchen...
“I like READING!”

“I like READING!”

Slice of Life Tuesdays #190910. She bounces through the backdoor, holding a gift bag by its chocolate brown ribbon handles. Pink it is — trimmed at its bottom edge in brown with rows of white polka dots the size of the punched holes of loose-leaf paper forming...
Poem for Grandma

Poem for Grandma

I.Today I’m sharing a poem from one of my birthday cards, the one chosen by my 8-year-old grandson… “because Grandma likes poems.” A Poem for My Grandmaon Her BirthdayLike jelly  needs toast,and cocoa  needs mugs…Like cookies  need...
September

September

Slice of Life Tuesdays #190903. The air is dry, scented with fading lavender and blooming peppermint that line my walkway. Pears and apples are falling, those that the squirrels haven’t already claimed. My rose bushes are still bearing buds, promising a few more...
Instructions to a Tree

Instructions to a Tree

Poetry Friday It was May 3rd and I was leisurely reading all things poetry shared by my #PoetryFriday friends. That is when I came across Michelle Heidenrich Barnes’s DMC challenge for May on Today’s Little Ditty.  Michelle asked us to write a poem giving...
The Sea Calls Me

The Sea Calls Me

Poetry Friday Walking along the surf is one of my greatest delights. The horizon challenges me to look to the future, to keep dreaming. The steady rhythm of the breakers and the tides speaks to me to keep on, to never give up. The carefree winging of the sea gulls...
This Is a Test

This Is a Test

Slice of Life Tuesdays #190507 It was Wednesday morning, and we were doing what we love doing — taking a long beach walk. It was a cool 49 and the beach was nearly empty. A lone fisherman wearing waders was fishing for surfperch. We hadn’t walked far when...
Spring

Spring

Spiritual Journey Thursday Poetry Friday “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven . . .” Ecclesiastes 3:1 Spiritual Journey Thursday: Carol invited me to join the Spiritual Journey Community to write about the Spirit...
Filled with Song

Filled with Song

Slice of Life Tuesdays #190430 This is not my story, although I’m sharing it. It is not my daughter-in-law’s story, although she told it. It is the story of people I have not met, people with a song. I.Inspiration to share this Story On Sunday, I visited Kiesha...
I Have a Reason

I Have a Reason

Slice of Life Tuesdays #190423 Entry for April 22 from my 2014 Personal Journal– I.I AWOKE in the early morning hours in the midst of a battle, and these words were swelling out of my spirit like a mighty sword — cutting down words of men and fear that I might...
Strangest Story

Strangest Story

Poetry Friday I am celebrating #PoetryFriday Easter Weekend and winning a book giveaway … Whoohoo! A BIG thank you to Amy for her POEMS ARE TEACHERS and to Heinemann.   I share again a found poem I wrote last year, words and phrases that I found in...
I Was a Child

I Was a Child

Originally posted for Poetry Friday. This Sunday, exactly one week before Easter, is Palm Sunday–the first day of Holy Week, perhaps the most celebrated week in Christianity. It begins with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, recorded in all four...
Pink Snow

Pink Snow

Slice of Life Tuesdays #190408 The Tree.Spring is synonymous with the blooming of our beautiful pink saucer magnolia (aka: Chinese magnolia, Tulip Tree). Sometime between the second week of March and the first of April, the buds that started swelling on sunny winter...
Sparks

Sparks

Poetry Friday Happy National Poetry Month, April 2019. SPARKS At the end of day I sit by the fire Under the falling darkness as day fades and night engulfs I think of light and warmth. The campfire pulls me in . . . builds a bridge from years lived to years yet to...