Party Animal

You probably thought it was me, not hardly, I gave up drinking in 1976 when I met Jesus.

This is an old photo, 1982. I wish I could say our "Darlen", that was her name, was still with us but we lost her to bone cancer in 1990. We picked her from a litter of 10 when she was 5 weeks old. She was the best dog anyone could ever have, and we were blessed with her for 13 years. We have pictures of her with a hooded sweatshirt on, sunglasses, other hats, you name it she would let you dress her up in whatever. She loved our cats and would eat with them, sleep with them and hide in the bathtub when it stormed. She would let a treat sit on her nose and not move till the drool got so bad I could not stand it any longer and would tell her "go ahead" and she would toss it up in the air and catch it. One of our best stories to tell on her was the Thanksgiving when my husband, son, daughter and myself were just finishing a turkey dinner and we heard sirens outside, we ran out to see what it was, we were only out there about 5 min. when we came back in the whole turkey was GONE, not a bone in site and guess who was licking her chops! Needless to say no one got any sleep that night we were taking turns getting up to let her out. I could talk forever about her, maybe I'll post more pictures later. She was loved and we really miss her. If there is a doggy heaven I'm sure she is there. Happy New Year old girl.

And HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone in Blogland. Be safe and be BLESSED.

Old Year, Old Book

I have this old book, it is called Royal Invitation. I could not find a copyright date anywhere but there was a dedication in the front, presented to Allie Luchsinger Christmas 1886, making this book at least 120 years old.I tried to scan it but this is all I could get.The inside of the front and back is this pretty paper with little flowers all over it. The book is small, 4x6, and only128 pages but the message is timeless. A quote from page nine.

"He says, "Come unto Me", Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by, that both from the depth of sorrow and from the height of glory this Royal Invitation comes to you." For it is the call not only of Jesus Crucified, but of Jesus Reigning and Jesus Coming. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh, for He is coming to judge the quick and the dead. Think of the day when the great white throne is set, and when the Son of man shall come in His glory; when all will be gathered before Him and He shall seperate them one from another, and know that it is 'this same Jesus ' who now says to you, "Come unto Me!" What better way to end 2006 and start a new year than to come to the one who is calling you?

Christmas Trees(old post card)

The Street of The Christmas Trees
During the last week of each year, thousands of persons journey from all parts of Southern Ca. to view the impressive spectacale provided by the illumination of Altadena's mile-long avenue of deodars, popularly known as "The Street of the Christmas Trees".
The trees are majestic Himalayan cedars grown from seed brought from the slopes of the Himalaya mountains in India, where the deodar is famed in song and story, it's name signifying "Tree of God".
There are about two hundred trees that were planted in 1885. For almost a mile they rear their proud heads on both sides of Santa Rosa Avenue in Altadena, a beautiful residential suburb immediately adjoining Pasadena, at the base of the lofty Sierra Madres, overlooking city and valley. This was once the main driveway on the 900 acre ranch of Col. F. J. Woodbury, a pioneer resident.
Beautiful enough at any time, the deodars take on their greatest grandeur between Christmas eve and New Year's night when they glow with the brilliance of the thousands of colored electric lights. The custom of lighting these trees was started in 1920 and sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Pasadena and has been carried out each year since.
Since there is no date on this post card I have no idea when this was published.

The Best Gift Ever

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This painting is called, The Nativity. It was painted by Gerard David, 1450-1523. It is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

And she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger....Luke 2:7

Second Post Card

I tried to get both cards on one post but for some reason I could not. You can enlarge the first card by clicking on it. It is really pretty. So here is the second one. This card was also sent to the Stienburghs by a cousin named Priscilla Cartwright It is dated 1911. Don't you just love these old things?

Hope everyone has a very MERRY CHRISTMAS filled with all that makes you happy.

Remember Jesus is the reason for the season.

Vintage Post Card

This post card was mailed in 1916. Sent to Mr. & Mrs. Stienburgh in Yonkers ,NY. from Harriet Kloetz. It was made by Tuck's Post Card. On the left hand side it says, Raphael Tuck & Sons, "Christmas Hymns" series of Post Cards No. 514
art publishers to their Majesties the King and Queen printed in Saxony.
Harriet's message was simply, Dear friends, A cordial Christmas Greeting to you. From us all.

Sunday's Child is Full of Grace

I wanted to use this with the last post but was unable to remember it. I made a trip to our local library and sure enough, I found it.


Sunday's child is full of grace,
Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is solemn and sad,
Wednesday's child is merry and glad,
Thursday's child is inclined to thieving,
Friday's child is free and giving,
And Saturday's child works hard for a living.

Now what day were you born on ?

Postcard 1942

I rescued this postcard from a thrift store mostly because of the little calendar. 1942 is the year my husband was born. By the dates I could tell he was born on a Monday. That year my birthday fell on a Sunday. However I was not born in 42 but in 43, so I also was born on a Monday. We were both also born at 12:00. Do you think this has any special meaning?
The back of the postcard is blank except for the signature, The M. Kabler's . So we do not know this little girl or anything about her. Since it was the time of WWII and a lot of people were without jobs, and broke could be why she does not appear to be happy.
So here we are 64 years later, we still have troops overseas, loved ones in harms way, and not going to be home for the holidays. Let us pray for peace, for our soldiers in the field and their families that will be miles apart this Christmas. Do you know anyone by the name of Kabler ? Maybe someone out there knows this little girl.

Santa Listens

Does Santa really listen ? You just know he does especially when you are six. This is my youngest granddaughter. She lives in south Fl., can you tell by the way she is dressed?

She has a wonderful imagination and I can only guess at what she is saying---however it

appear to be a secret.

She like her Nini, (that's me) is an only child. Far to grown up for her tender years. I think most children without siblings seem to grow up faster. I would love to keep her young but each time I see her she has changed, not just in size but in her inner self. She is very vivacious which is

good, it helps keep me young. If you've ever spent time with a six year old you know what I

mean.

She loves horses and cats, wonder where she got that, and one of her favorite things to do is have me draw them so we can color together. Now she is wanting to draw them on her own and is doing a pretty good job. Yeah!!!! more artistic flare in the family.

When Mia was younger she had trouble with a lot of the letters and how to pronounce them, one was the T, she usually would say a D. When we sat down to eat we ask her if she wanted to pray over the food. Of course she did, (she never passes up an opportunity to talk) and she begins, Fadder God, now how do you keep a straight face with that one ?

Don't you just know though God was listening and smiling and aren't we thankful He listens, and don't you just know SANTA LISTENS ? What have you whispered in his ear this year ?

Christmas Excitement

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere I go, dum ta dealty dum ta dum, (lets see what the spell check will do with that one) tee hee !!! Don't you just love CHRISTMAS ? The people in our little town have out done themselves this year. So many beautiful decorations. The very air seems to be charged with excitement. I'm hoping all of you that are having a hard time getting with it can sing, dance, bake cookies, eat candy canes, think about all of your blessings , or just whatever it takes to get in the spirit.
I have all of my Christmas cards in the mail. We have had our church dinner and the ladies have had their gift exchange, the children's play is this week-end, we have a few decorations up, gifts are bought and wrapped, we are staying home this year, expecting NO company so all in all it sounds like a pretty good year to me. I will cook us a big dinner, probably bake a very nontraditional pie, (blackberry, our freezer is full of them) and we will kick back and count our blessings.
Snow would be nice, I believe in miracles but---- well north Florida ? I do remember years ago when we first came to Fla. one year in the 70's we were in Ft. Pierce and it got below freezing and it rained just enough to put a thin layer of ice on the ground and then a few flurries came down. Now I do know all about snow as I was born in Illinois, lived there 33 years. Going to share a little winter story with you before I sign off.
When I was about 10 we had a big tree outside my bedroom. It was winter, we had a real bad ice storm. I was getting ready for bed and I heard a kitten crying, I told my dad, we went outside and found this small black kitten frozen to the tree. He climbed up there and poured warm water over it to get it free. He wrapped it in a towel and brought it in. We dried it and fed it warm milk. It lived, and we called it Lucky. It never wanted to go back out--wonder why?
HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS sorry about the green, it is hard to read.

Another one of our cats

This is our inside cat and her name is Cat. She is nine years old and thinks she runs the show. She wants nothing to do with the low life cats outside. She sits by the window and looks out at them as if to say "what is it"? This is not the best picture because of the dark background, but it fits the season with her snowmen buddies.A man we knew in the Keys brought her to me, her eyes were barley open, he found her in some of his crawfish traps. We did not want any more cats as we already had six, outside. I fed her with an eyedropper. We did not give her a name as I did not plan on keeping her
Silly me, anyway we would refer to her as, cat. When she was old enough I tried to introduce her to the great outdoors. She wanted NO PART OF IT. Of course we got attached to her and could not give her away so she lives in the house, has her own bedroom, does only what she wants to do. Does any of this ring a bell with anyone? Surly there are other cats out there that own you. And her name is CAT If you click on the picture it should enlarge.(hang in there, I'm still learning)

from DREAD to DELIGHT

Here it is Monday already. What a busy day yesterday was. Church first thing,I love going to church. Yes I know you do not have to be "in church" to worship God. But, there is just something special going on when people that are of like faith all get together with one thing in mind, to worship the one true living God.When I leave to come home I am so charged up and excited to see what is going to happen next. Well guess what, the enemy of our soul is waiting and ready with his bag of tricks to try and steal your joy. When I arrived home I found my honey washing dishes, you might say, "so" ? Welllll, if you knew Lenny, HE DON'T DO DISHES, but then I don't work, anyway that's another story. I was informed that a couple he knew from the Keys, (where we moved from), were coming by to VISIT. Oh boy, dread began to set in. I did not know these people, the house was trashed, no food in the frig to offer and everything is closed, it's Sunday,you know,THE DAY OF REST. I didn't even bother to change clothes, I usually go back to church in the p.m. leaving the house about 5:30 as it is a 25 min. drive, and besides when they see me dressed up they will ask, "are you going somewhere" right? and I can say, "very matter of fact,"yes I am going to church at 5:30". After all of the introductions and the ice broke, she began to share how she was studying organic eating, hmmm, I've been thinking of this for sometime so I was very interested in what she had to say. I believe she new what she was talking about. She talked on and I listened, by now I am really liking this person.Her next topic, she wanted to talk about God.Why was I so surprised, when will I learn not to relinquish my joy so easily ? When I began to share some of my experiences she opened up and ask a ton of questions.Needless to say the time flew by,I was able to help a sister, made a new friend, and DREAD turned into DELIGHT.And yes I missed church, or did I ? THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH Nehemiah, chapter 8, verse 10

Our River

This is it! Our beautiful river. This picture is the best one I have until next spring when the rains come. The only place more peaceful than this is the woods in my own back yard. My big project is making an English garden behind the house. So far it has three paths, lots of rocks and a few plants. It will pretty much go on hold till warmer weather.Pictures will come next summer.
I got so excited with my last post (since the picture finally went on) that I didn't check my spelling....opps, I really regret that I spelled regret (regrete).
So enough of my ramblings for one day, just want to leave you with this thought. EVERYONE NEEDS THEIR OWN SPECIAL QUIET PLACE.I hope you have one.

Patience and pictures.

I can see now this is going to be a test in patience. I have been trying to download this picture ever since I started this blog. I tried several things, it would always look like it was going to work but then it would just sit there for what seemed like forever. Tonight I decided to try again, I am a very persistant person, well the same thing happen AGAIN so I decieded to minimize the downloading screen and get on with a post. I was reading about patience and trying to get my thoughts together, just when I had what I wanted to say I looked up and there was my picture.

So I guess it just takes FOREVER to get there.

Patience is among the list of virtues that must be developed if you are seeking to be spiritually victorious. This can be researched in the first chapter of 2nd. Peter. I've been diligently working on this for some time and guess what-----I've a ways to go.

Now I need to figure out how you insert the underlined words that take you to that photo or place. My friend Janet emailed and said she would be glad to help me try and figure it out, she may regrete that offer.

This kitten in the picture is our newest one. Her name is Salu, that is a Hebrew word that means "God will restore" she has a hearing problem. But we are trusting it will improve. We have four other cats. Sarah, and Eli are 21 years old, Cat is about 9 and we took in a stray, big black and white guy we call Buddy, he looks to be about 2. I will try and add a picture of them now that I think I know what to do. Hope you like cats!

Jumping In

I have been reading blogs for about a year now and never thought that I would try it. Last night has changed my mind. I had a dream. I was standing by the edge of a crystal clear river, it was flowing real fast. As I stood there mesmerized I heard a voice that said, "jump in". I was considering it when a flood of pictures and sayings came rushing before me. Also many scriptures became fresh in my memory. The first one was, "out of your innermost being shall flow rivers of living waters". Well that did it!
I have a dear friend who introduced me to blog land, so I guess I should thank her that I am trying the waters so to speak. We have been friends since the fifth grade, and believe me that was a long time ago. Although we have not seen each other in many years she is the dearest friend I have. You know the kind, you can tell them anything, you can be yourself, and you know they really care about you. Everyone should have at least one dear friend like my friend Janet. So today is the beginning of a whole new thing for me and we'll just have to see where the river takes me.