Reading poetry

My heart has felt some longing for verse lately, so when my gaze fell upon a book of such at the library not long ago, I brought it home for the allotted time. Here is a favorite:





"The Pulley" by George Herbert (1593-1633)

When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
'Let us' (said he) 'pour on him all we can;
Let the world's riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.'

So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flow'd, then wisdom, honour, pleasure.
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that alone of all his treasure
Rest in the bottom lay.

'For if I should' (said he)
'Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me;
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature:
So both should losers be.

'Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast.'

If you are weary today, why not call upon the Lover of your soul, who promises, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

It's easier than you think and the time grows later than we realize.

Don't put off what you need today--each moment brings us closer to the place where time and eternity meet. Redemption is not hard, because there's only one thing you have to do: choose Jesus.

• That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9-10 •

He loves you.

• But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 2 Peter 3:8-10 •

• The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.
The LORD is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.
Psalm 145:8,9 •

Don't miss the gift! :-)

Happy Resurrection Sunday

He is risen!













He is risen indeed!

What would soccer without rain be?

Enjoyable! ;-) And that's just what we had today for our first game of the season. Not so enjoyable was the goal that the other team scored because our young goalie accidentally dropped the ball when she went to throw it out, and it rolled past the line. She is such a good little goalie and had stopped the ball; she just dropped it. The other team didn't even cheer because they didn't want to score like that. Otherwise it would have been 0-0.

I tried and failed...

But only to accomplish what I was hoping for. Failing is only when we don't recover from the lack of expected results. :-) So what was I doing? Trying to embroider felt and then burn it out to make lace. I remember reading somewhere recently (maybe it was even in the article I was trying to re-create!) that not all felts melt equally and that it is best to always try a sample first. Here's why--it saves you lots of time when it doesn't melt. Oh, well, I got to practice my FME! Click on the picture block for a better look. If you hold your cursor over the larger pic, a little box will appear in the lower right corner; click it for an even larger look.

One of those "We''ll-explain-your-life-in-5-questions-or-less" thingies

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free. In love, you feel the most alive when things are straight-forward, and you're told that you're loved. You'd like to your lover to think you are optimistic and happy. You would be forced to break up with someone who was emotional, moody, and difficult to please. Your ideal relationship is traditional. Without saying anything, both of you communicate with your hearts. Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment. You think of marriage as something precious. You'll treasure marriage and treat it as sacred. In this moment, you think of love as something you thirst for. You'll do anything for love, but you won't fall for it easily.

What'>http://www.blogthings.com/keystoyourheartquiz/">What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

Ending spring break with a creative day

Well, we've had spring break this last week. At the beginning of the week I told our daughter that we were going to do some house cleaning during the week (including the dreaded going-through-of-the-room routine) and that we each needed to learn something new. I'm happy to say that we each learned something new. :-)

She embarked on the path to learning a couple new skills: playing the piano and sewing. Her week included learning and practicing finger exercises and making a quilt top. It did not, however, include the dreaded cleaning-of-the-room. So much for good intentions. I suspect it will wait until summer now, and of course we have so much more time to procrastinate in the summer! ;-) Truthfully it will most likely happen much sooner since I need to seriously curb the packrat tendencies already apparent before they reach grander proportions.

And speaking of packrat tendencies, I did get some of my studio stuff moved back to its proper abode. The dining and living rooms are slowly returning to a state of normal livability. Although I had originally planned to have some much longed for creative time once the taxes were finished, it didn't materialize until the end of the week. So what were the things I learned? How to blog (!) and I finally mastered free-motion embroidery (commonly known as FME). My wonderful creative day allowed me to create a Klimt-inspired angel that I sketched out recently. She is now sold. This picture shows a detail.

Conquering this skill was so inspiring that I began looking around for more victims--I mean projects to work on. ;-) At the bottom of the pile on my desk I found an angel that had been the ill-fated victim (and I mean that word this time!) of metallic thread in my Singer with a fabric with too much stretch. Puckers in the border and silver thread goofs made their presence too known to be pretty. But now they are camoflaged with a lovely silver spiraling border. I still don't think she's good enough for sale, but I've always liked her and she matches my bedroom. Very convenient, don't you think? Me too. :-)

And what about our little boy? Did he learn something new, too? Well, at his age he's learning something new just about every day, but this week we worked on learning to NOT throw fits. On a more fun note, he is learning to shoot hoops. Living near Gonzaga, we watched most of the college basketball playoffs lately. So at different times he has been Gonzaga, George-Mason, UCLA, Connecticut, whatever team he remembers as he shoots. LOL!

My husband--well, I hope he learns to cut his fingers less as he installs siding! :-O

Blessings to you!