GRACE NOTES

Here are some more quotes that help me remember to stay open to all possibilities. Gifts of love and understanding are all around and we can share in the adventure of uncovering these gifts. I believe we are here to not necessarily solve all the mysteries of who we are and why are we here, but to just live in the questions and enjoy the process of discovery, however far that takes us.

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Each challenge is there to guide you toward the desire of your heart.

Each problem, seen from the positive side, always turns into a blessing.

Each sorrow leads you to your joy.

Each doubt--to your knowing.

Each lack--to your abundance.

Each debt--to your freedom.

Each feeling of hopelessness--to your power.

Each cry of pain--to your comfort.

Each act of war-- to your peace.

Each act of anger--to your love.

And each journey through darkness--into the light.

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There is nothing to worry about -- ever!

Either you have control or you don't.

If you do, take control.

If you don't, then dismiss it.

Don't waste your energy on worry.

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In the real world

as in dreams,

Nothing is quite

what it seems.

The Book of Counted Sorrows

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When its time, its time,

when its done, its done,

there comes a point when

more is simply more.

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal

with the intent of throwing it at someone else,

you are the one getting burned.

Buddha

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To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill.

To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

Sun Tzu

SOURWOOD HONEY & UNCLE CLEO

See how clear this honey is? This is Sourwood Honey and it is highly prized for its clearness, wonderful exotic taste and care involved in stealing it from the hive.

The bees can only collect it while the trees are in bloom. The Bee keeper then has to be very careful to only collect this clear delicate nectar.

The trees are mid sized and not in great numbers throughout the forests that run from Pennsylvania to Georgia. The best honey is collected in higher elevations and bumper crops only occur every 5 to 7 years. The season of flowering is from June till August and great care is needed to not allow clover and other flavors to spoil the product.


The flavor like the clarity of the honey is light and has an unique taste that makes it prized by all who are able to collect or buy it. The taste is slightly spicy with a hint of anise and has an aftertaste somewhat like gingerbread.

This is my Uncle Cleo when he was still alive and keeping bees. His Sourwood Honey was a prized product to all who knew him and his bees here on the Cumberland Plateau. We loved him as a sweet gentle spirit who had a magic touch with bees and wonderfully with little children. No child, family or stranger got near him without reaching out to be held by him. All us cousins were mad about him and his kind spirit and willingness to pay attention to us. Uncle Cleo was such an angel spoken of in the following quote I'm sure.

Most honey is made by bees. But Sourwood is made by bees and angels.

Carson Brewer

SUNDAY STROLL AT REST

The morning glory says good morning and shines for most of the day. It speaks to the eyes with it color and joy.
But last night I stepped out on the porch and my ears and soul were greeted by the most glorious serenade of natures very own Night Music. I was enthralled again as I always am as I listened to the cadence and various pitches of tree frogs and insects. I knew I wanted to share the wonder of it all.
So I invite you to turn the volume all the way up. The night critters are loud and wildly enthusiastic about their songs.
How loud are they? They are so loud that one of my daughter-in-laws was frightened by the sounds she heard outside the open window the first time they came to visit here in summer on this mountaintop in Tennessee.
Perhaps after all your strolling over at The Quiet Country House and other places you might like to come back, sit on the porch with us and watch the moon dance across the sky to the glorious night sounds that speak to the heart and affairs of the critters in our neighborhood. Actualy go ahead and listen now and come back if you enjoy the courting songs of the little critters.

FLOWERING FERN

Now wait a minute, ferns don't bloom.

Do they?

Of course not.

Ferns create spores that form on the underside of the leaves and drop off when ready to make new little ferns.

This was an easily solved mystery.

After all-----

I have the world of information at hand. I have a computer.

Now I know.

My Asparagus Fern is not a true fern. It is of the genus Asparagus a flowering plant in the Liliacea (Lily) family.

These teny, tiny flowers gave me a chance to try my hand at using the macro setting on my old Sony digital Mavica camera. I'm not impressed or I'm not very good at this. I was hoping for a huge flower filling my picture. All the really close ups were fuzz, no clarity at all. I'm so disappointed. I love the really close up pictures I find on so many blog sites.

Oh, well.

I love my camera, it's big, heavy and uses a floppy disc which I just reformat and use again, but I know how to use it. I tend to be a modern tech wimp and a waste not, want not sort of gal so I'll be keeping my camera and let other folks do the fancy picture taking.

GRACE NOTES

I remember a quote I came across along time ago.

"When I works, I work.

When I sits, I sit."

It aways stuck with me. I may not have the whole quote and can't find it on the internet, but I use it to tell myself to put myself totally into whatever I am doing. Work or rest deserve full attention. I have accumulated several quotes on work or quiet time, I want to share some of them here.

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I'm a great believer in luck

and I find the harder I work,

the more I have of it.

Thomas Jefferson

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Opportunity is missed by

most people because it is

dressed in overalls and

looks like work.

Thomas Edison

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Whether you believe you can,

or whether you believe you can't

you are absolutely right.

Henry Ford

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Nothing is often a good thing to do,

and always a good thing to say.

Will Durant

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It is never to late to do nothing.

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Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning

can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day -

- like writing a poem or saying a prayer.

Ann Morrow Lindbergh

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Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass

under trees on a summer's day,

listening to the mummer of the water or watching

the clouds float across the sky,

is by no means a waste of time.

J. Lubbock

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SUNDAY STROLL

A walk back to the lake seemed a good stroll for today. The path has not been cleared this year and it was pretty wild and filled with bramble and downed timber. So carefully picking our way, with Flutemaker in the lead to clear spider webs and tromp down briers we made it to the lake and the jumping off rock ledge often uses for swimming parties. I love how the lake is slowly revealed as we approached. The path is a slow ramble and possibly an old animal trail.

This little lake is the source of the municipal water works and is fed by another lake piped underground and our little creek that runs through our property.

It is an overcast day with temperatures in the low 60' . Sorry the sun didn't choose to shine on our outing. But--"the sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar--tomorrow--."

It's a pretty lake. Here we are looking across at a pasture where cows are protected by their donkey friends. Locally farmers keep donkeys in with their cattle because the donkeys are said to dislike coyotes and stomp any that get near the herd.

This is the inlet where our creek flows out and we are looking toward our nephews home place here on the right side of the creek.

If we could have seen around the bend of the lake you could almost see the bridge on my nephews land, some of which is on the other side of the creek.

Along the stream are wonderful bushes and stands of Jewelweed like you see here. I believe smearing jewelweed on a mosquito bit is suppose to soothe the itch. It is a tried and true remedy for poison ivy. (I have added this because Aisling reminded me with her comment.)

A friendly dragonfly follows us along the pathway as we wander homeward.

Here we have found some very curious looking mushrooms at the base of this tree. They look like thin wood shavings that have curled around into little disks. I continue to be amazed at the different ways mushrooms choose to appear.

Finally our last photo opportunity is at the site of a beavers handiwork. This log didn't get hauled away and seems to have been here for a few years. We took many more pictures along the way and had a good time reblazing the old trail.

Be sure to check out the other strollers who have checked in at The Quiet Country House.

GRACE NOTES

I love mornings. Maybe I just love new beginnings. A fresh new day, filled with all possibilities. As soon as you start making decisions about anything you begin to limit those possibilities. I put off choosing for as long as I can. I meditate, drink coffee and step outside to breath deeply. Oh, alright those were all choices. We can't not make choices, it is what we were born to do.
So my underlying choice is always to enjoy the moment, not take myself too seriously and extend kindness at all times. Today I'm drawing from my Grace Notes things that I have started my mornings with over the years. In meditation I often draw on my book of sayings to get myself going of a morning.

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This is the day the Lord hath made,

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

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Your life is shaped by the end you live for;

you are made in the imagine of what you desire.

Thomas Merton

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We have only this moment sparkling like a star in our hand---

and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it,

before it is to late.

Marie Edith Beynon

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Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn

Look well to this day,

for it is life. The very life of life. In it's

brief course lie all the verities and all

the realities of your existence.

The bliss of growth.

The glory of action.

the splendor of beauty.

Yesterday is but a dream;

and tomorrow is only a vision.

But a day well lived makes of every

yesterday a dream of happiness and

every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to This Day.

Such is the salutation to the Dawn.

from the Sanskrit

Kalidasa, Indian poet and dramatist. c 400 c.e.

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Prayer of Protection

The Light of God surrounds me.

The Love of God enfolds me.

The Power of God protects me and

The Presence of God watches over me.

Wherever I am God is

and all is well.

James Dillet Freman

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I am not afraid of tomorrow.

I have seen yesterday

and

I love today!

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The photo of our Rose of Sharon show the glory and bane of the trees. Glorious flowers all summer and the spent flowers littering the ground.

CURIOUS - CHICORY

Now, right off the bat, I have to admit that there is nothing really curious about Chicory. The curiosity is in my own mind and my fond memory of my father.

Chicory is lining the highways and byways right now. And it was always a major event to see it in bloom for my Dad. He would get all excited and start planning a fishing trip. He was convinced that when Chicory bloomed the Bluegills would be biting. To hear him tell it, the fish would almost jump in the boat to get the bait.

Fishing was an all day occassion with friends and family, a picnic and games for those who didn't fish. Daddy would grab a couple of bamboo poles and off we'd go to Pontiac Lake when we lived in Michigan. We would catch a mess of Bluegill and maybe a few Perch and then head home for a feast. He was a fisherman from the word go and I was his fishing buddy.

Isn't the blue of Chicory a lovely shade. Be warned --if you want to put it in a corner of your garden it won't stay there. It is a wild and crazy spreader.

And if you aren't familiar with this 'weed' but know the name 'Chicory' this is indeed the plant whose roots are dried and ground then added to coffee for the unique flavor it adds. It is very popular in the deep south.
Referring to my old Rodale Herb Book I learned that the French are very fond of chicory in their coffee. It can also be used just as a brewed chicory beverage.
Now quoting from the book:
"Chicory was ascribed a variety of medicinal uses--including a tonic, laxative, and diuretic. Ancient herbals suggest bruised chicory leaves as a poultice for swellings, inflammations, and inflamed eyes. A decoction of one ounce of dried powdered root to a pint of water was recommended for jaundice and general liver ailments. Blanched, the leaves can be used in salads."
My favorite thing about chicory is still the color.

SUNDAY STROLL with FLUTEMAKER

Flutemaker has taken to carrying his camera with him as he goes on his walks through the neighborhood. This first picture is one of our neighbors shrubs. When he was trimming it last year he gave us a pile of cuttings and we have them started across our drive. They are tiny right now, but we look forward to several forming a nice hedge row and were thrilled to notice this year the flowers in the bush. We never realized the bush had flowers.

This is a close up of the flowers. curious aren't they? Our neighbor didn't know the variety of the shrub so we will have to do some research.

When we first lived here 11 years ago we thought someone was torturing a child. The screams were horrible. We quickly learned this fine gentleman Peacock had lost his mate and was pining for her. It still pierces your heart to hear his cry, but at least we know the source and don't feel the need to call child services.

As Flutemaker walked he took pictures of neighbors flowers and also the vacant fields so there is a mix of wild and tame here to be named.

I would love to know the name of these pretty pink flower spikes.

Mimosa is a pretty flower and smells so sweet. I used to sit under one of these trees at my grandmothers house and read for hours. I remember The Secret Garden, The Five Little Peppers, Captain Abe and The Bee Keeper.

Weed or cultivated, they are all so pretty and different from each other. We so enjoy living where nature is not that far from our door. We are not city folks by any stretch of the imagination.

More strolling can be found at Aislings place.

WORKING CATS

We all know that dogs are working companions for people all over the world. They are wonderful pets and family members. At this time in our lives we have chosen cats for our home. Over the years we have enjoy the company of both. We love cats for their independence and attitudes. Take GiGi, short for Garfield Girl, shes a real character, talks up a storm and gets into all kinds of trouble. We are always treating her wounds. She and her sister KiKi, short for Kitty Kitty, are in and outside cats and walk with us whenever we are out and about.

Here you see GiGi misunderstanding her job of helping Flutemaker find a lost screw under my computer.
Gentle spirit KiKi on the other hand was right on her mark helping me photograph these tiny little mushrooms.

See how carefully she helps give perspective on the size of the wee 'rooms'. Equally true, she was probably curious as to why I was down on my knees in the pathway to the woods. She likely thought 'oh goodie, Ma wants to play.'

Now she has gone and gotten kittenish. I think she is trying on some 'room' bits to see if she can camouflage her catness. She does love to hunt and is looking for an edge.

Well she left a few mushrooms to carry on their lives and traditions. And indeed she was a wonderful help to me. I like to think our cats are working cats as well as companions.

GRACE NOTES

photo by Flutemaker on one of his walks

I wrote quotes, poems and sayings in my book that I call Grace Notes as I came across them and never tried to organize the pages as I went along. Thus each page is filled with random thoughts. This week I want to just open the notebook and transcribe what one page has been filled with.

So here goes.

Ahh....

Nice selection I think.

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Let each one turn his gaze inward and regard himself with awe and wonder, with mystery and reverence; let each one work his own influence, his own havoc, his own miracles.

Henry Miller

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We're all stumbling toward the light

with varying degrees of grace

at any given moment.

Bo Lozoff

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There's a crack in everything.

That's how the light gets in.

Leonard Cohen

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Winter is an etching,

Spring a watercolor,

Summer an oil painting

and Autumn a mosaic of them all.

Stanley Horowitz

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Nothing is so simple that

it cannot be misunderstood.

Freeman Teague

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We make a living by what we get,

but we make a life by what we give.

Norma MacFinan

CURIOUS NUMBERS

Has it been pointed out to you that tomorrow is one of those curious number days that numerologist consider auspicious or at least of interest.

34 minutes and 56 seconds after 12 am or noon on the 8th day of July in the year of 09 can be written out as 12:34,56-7/8/9.

Interesting, but not earth shaking. Just one of those interesting little tidbits that we humans find to be a fun distraction and a mind game to stretch the imagination.

This line up of numbers is not all that uncommon and you can probably come up with your own dates and time combinations.

Here's one more just for fun. In 2011 on Nov. 11, --- you guessed it, at 11 minutes 11 seconds after 11 o'clock it will be 11:11,11-11/11/11

I was alerted to this interesting numbers game in one of my e-mail newsletters Wordsmith.org called 'A.Word.A .Day' by Anu Garg which gives me an interesting word to consider everyday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICANS

Proclaim liberty throughout all the land
and unto all the inhabitants thereof.
Leviticus 25:10

Love

Independence

Boldness

Enthusiasm

Readiness

Trust

Yes !

LOOKIN' GOOD

Goodie. I feel finished with this project now that I see it put to use. This is Jackson using the quilt I made and sent him recently. Knowing he had it and liked it is not the same as seeing it in place. His Momma took these pictures and posted them on Facebook. I downloaded them for my scrapbook of quilts I've made. So far I have made baby quilts and twin bed quilts for each of the nine grandchildren. The oldest is 19 and I am thinking I need to start on some really big quilts for the future.
I made Jack's quilt in the style of his big brothers quilt which is on the top bunk. I used the same basic quilt pattern but modified it so they would match but not be exactly the same.

Here you see big brother Joshua on top with the quilt I made when he was ready for a big bed. Now that Jack has been freed from his crib he needed his own big bed quilt. And there you have it. Sweet boys.

GRACE NOTES - PRAYERS AND BENEDICTIONS

Having grown up in a christian home, prayers and Bible verses played a predominate roll in my life. As a child I often preached to my dolls lined up on my bed. A girlfriend, Irma, and I would play at conducting services ending with a rousing altar call.

As a grown woman I once got to preside over a Sunday morning service at our Unity church and fulfilled a couple of items on my 'Bucket List'.

1. Stand at a pulpit and preach a sermon.

2. Give the Benediction at end of service.

Ah, what a joy for me.

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Benedictions

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God be with you till we meet again;

By His counsel guide, uphold you,

With His sheep securely fold you;

God be with you till we meet again.

Refrain

Till we meet, till we meet,

Till we meet at Jesus feet;

Till we meet, till we meet,

God be with you till we meet again.

^

*God be with you till we meet again;

With the oil of joy anoint you;

Sacred ministries appoint you;

God be with you till we meet again.

^

words:Jeremiah Rankin, music: William Tomer

*(there are several more verses, the second one here is my favorite)

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Sufi Blessing

May the Spirit of God rest upon you.

May God's peace abide with you.

May God's presence illuminate your heart

Now and forever more.

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Old Egyptian Blessing

May God stand between you and

all the empty spaces

where you must walk.

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(-:Old Gaelic Blessing :-)

May those who

Love us, Love us.

And those that

don't love us,

May God turn

their hearts.

And if he doesn't

turn their hearts

May he turn

their ankles

So we'll know them

By their limping.

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Prayers

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The fruit of prayer is a deepening of faith,

and the fruit of faith is love,

and the fruit of love is service.

Mother Teresa

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Lord make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury - pardon.

Where there is doubt - faith

Where there is despair - hope.

Where there is darkness - light.

Where there is sadness - joy.

Oh, Divine Master, let me not so nuch seek to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in forgiving we are forgiven

and it is in dying we are born in eternal life.

St. Francis Assi

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Lord, take me where You want me to go,

Let me meet who You want me to meet:

Tell me what You want me to say,

and Keep me out of your way.

Father Mychal, chaplain Fire Dept NYC

killed 9-11-01 World Trade Center

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1. O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me!

2. Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up;

thou discernest my thought from afar.

3. Thou searchest out my path and my lying down,

and art acquainted with all my ways.

4. Even before a word is on my tongue,

lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

5. Thou dost beset me behind and before,

and layest thy hand upon me.

6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high, I cannot attain it.

7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?

Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8. If I ascend to heaven, thou art there!

If I make my bed in She'ol, thou are there!

9. If I take the wings of the morning and

dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10. even there thy hand shall lead me,

and thy right hand shall hold me.

11. If I say, "Let only darkness cover me,

and the light about me be night,"

12. even the darkness is not dark to thee,

they night is bright as the day;

for darkness is as light with thee.

13. For thou didst form my inward parts,

thou didst knit me together in my mother's womb.

14. I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful.

Wonderful are thy works!

Thou knowest me right well;

14. my frame was not hidden from thee,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.

16. Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance;

in thy book were written, every one of them.

17. How precious to me are thy thoughts, O God!

18. If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

(with apologies to David)

(19. through 22 I skip, you'll have to look to see why. It is not a part of my prayer life.)

23. Search me, O God, and know my heart!

24. And see if there be any wicked way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting!

Psalms 139