I - made this?! :)

Pumpkin Yeast Bread

I expected to have to practice - to learn by trial & error to make a loaf of oven baked yeast bread that turned out like this.... - which is why I'm so tickled w/ my first loaves.

I'm SO hooked!....on the sense of accomplishment, the aroma & what a special treat it is to share with others warm & fresh from the oven.

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:35

Dance Lessons

These just in .... hot off the press ... taken just before the happy couple left for homecoming. "D's" dad, who sent them our way, must have snapped them as Strike was helping Playmaker brush up on her dance steps last minute. Really, these pics depict progress! ...as I so wish I captured the Kodak moment when Strike helped her big sis walk in those same heels by holding her hand to steady her when she tried them on for the very first time at the mall :)

Dancing is wonderful training for girls,
it's the first way you learn to guess what a man is going to do
before he does it.
~Christopher Morley, Kitty Foyle

Remember,
Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did,
but backwards and in high heels.
~Faith Whittlesey

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
~Kurt Vonnegut

¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

How do you spell Freedom?

note/edit: if you're reading this post for the first time, you might want to start a ways down to the black print & then return here:

"Ironic" (I use that term loosely) - that I found myself viewing AMISTAD w/ my girls today (after publishing this post earlier) as part of Strike's study of Africa. Excellent movie. VERY difficult to watch in some parts - but I highly recommend it. There are few "R" rated movies I will allow my girls to watch ... this is perhaps the only one I've encouraged them to watch ...out of a sense that I owe it to them & to those who have gone before us in the fight against slavery. I was struck (awestruck really) as John Quincy Adams read from a passage written by one of his contemporaries at that time (James Calhoun - I think) ...as war & antagonism are the natural states of man, so to slavery -- as natural as it is inevitable.

John Quincy who fought (& thank God he won) the Amistad "slaves" case at the Supreme Court only shared those words w/ the court in order to create a platform for himself from which to argue that:

the natural state of man is instead freedom - & the proof
is in the length which a man, woman or child
will go to regain it. Once taken, he will break loose his chains...
decimate his enemies....try & try & try against all odds
- against all prejudices - - - to get home.

& "it all" has brought to mind this verse:

¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,

Is 61:1

Our nation's founders spelled "freedom" out in no less than 1337 words in the Declaration of Independence - first read to Bostonians here on July 18, 1776:


However, I (who am directionally challenged) spell it much more concisely...in just three (count 'em!) letters ....

G.P.S!! :)

I suppose my husband gave me one of these trusty little gadgets right before"M" visited from AZ bc I'm so well deserving of one (given how many times I've gotten lost!) - or ph bc he didn't want to be bothered w/ incessant phone calls at work from a panic stricken wife who had no idea where she was ...but - who expected him to figure it out for her - NOW! ... - or - mb it was just bc he loves me & was afraid I'd get myself so lost w/o one that I'd never find my way home?! :)

Knowing I could go ANYWHERE (well almost...the maze of tunnels beneath Boston was one exception :) &, even if I got turned around, I wouldn't get so lost that this little piece of amazing technology couldn't "recalculate" & get me back on track pronto (& minus the usual panic) was so liberating! .

I particularly appreciated the freedom to enjoy interstate travel without government oversight or interference as together "M" & I galivanted all over the New England map...

Leaf Peeping
Kangamagus Hwy
New Hampshire

gotta love their license plate motto


York Beach & the Marginal Way
Maine

Cape Cod & Martha's Vineyard
Massachusetts
even the local bank is beautiful in
a unique "Vineyard" sort of way.

Boston

Historic Lexington & Concord

(Rich history here - where the shot was heard 'round the world - & freedom was achieved via much spilled blood red "ink" before it was ever written onto parchment, declared
...& has been defended ever since)


Tho' my old friend & I had great fun going here, there & everwhere,
my new friend (w/ the initials "G.P.S") quickly became a trusted companion & already has me convinced that indeed...

all roads lead to home :)

ROY-G-BIV

Edit: Some of these pics are mine & some were taken by my friend "M" ... We pooled most of our pics together & would you believe we ended up w/ around 400 after a week of touring New England!?

¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
Genesis 9:13-15

ROY-G-BIV ... is an acronym I learned to remember the order & colors of the rainbow.

As I was busy playing both tour guide and tourist this past week,
I compiled a collection of color from around New England.

Autumn's array is a splendid(!) spectrum this time of year.

Enjoy.

Red

Orange

Yellow

Green


Blue


Indigo

Violet

Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
Ezekial 1:28

Pink Thursday

³ and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

Isaiah 61:3

My friend over at Shells And Bells - Flowers And Showers inspired me to join w/ others & post something pink on Thursdays in October in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Now that October is almost over, I'm finally(!) posting my first one ... better late than never I suppose.

This pic hangs in my corner of the world (or is it the corner of my world?!) ...I've said before that sometimes I just want to jump in & be there! :) ... esp. mid winter here in New England!

Playing Tour Guide

Just checking in to let you know I haven't checked out...I just have a friend visiting from AZ & am enjoying playing New England tour guide. So far we've been leaf-peaping on the Kancamagus Hwy & enjoyed the Maine coast yesterday. Today we're off to Cape Cod.... anyhow I'm looking forward to catching up w/ y'all after she leaves Wed.

Homecoming Pic

& here's one of li'l sis helpin' big sis get ready