Friendship Friday

"I don't want clones as friends, I want people. People who laugh differently. See what I don't. Think how I can't. Similarities make a friendship common. Differences make a friendship complex. And isn't that what we want? To know people that won't bore us by being just like us."
Jackie Hill Perry

Thrifty Thursday

Don't save money by purchasing cheap shoes. Invest in good shoes. If your shoes are falling apart, it is time buy new shoes.  Cheap is not the same as thrifty.

Wordless Wednesday

Tasty Tuesday

"A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance, and tenacity. The order varies for any given year."
Paul Sweeney

Last Saturday, we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Merrick Inn. We shared an appetizer, enjoyed our entrees, and negotiated our dessert terms. I did not want strawberries. He did not want chocolate. Our server was able to accommodate our terms.

After years of marriage it is never boring.

chocolate on the side ... strawberries on the side.
😀😀😀
One of the best parts of the meal... our son gave us a gift certificate

Monday Musings ...

"In prison, I fell in love with my country. I had loved her before then, but like most young people, my affection was little more that a simple appreciation for the comforts and privileges most Americans enjoyed and took for granted. It wasn't until I had lost American for a time that I realized how much I loved her. "
John McCain, Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir

Sen. John McCain
1936 - 2018 

Friendship Friday

These young friends are incredible. What I love about them... their honesty, beauty, generosity, professionalism, intellect, and so much more.

These young women have forged a strong bond of friendship.  When  unexpected tragedy hits, they are there for each other.  Enduring friendships are a gift. Who are the friends that provide you with  a safe place when your world turns upside down? Who do you call for advice? Friends can truly be lifesavers when we need help.

Our visits would not be complete without a picture to document our time together.
Also... as an older women, I hope I set a godly example to them. I also appreciate their help when I need help with technology. 😃

These women are amazing friends.
In the middle is "J" who is engineer who graduated from Georgia Tech.
On the outside, C and L are high school friends.
Then, they both  attended North Carolina A and T
 Now C has graduated from Law School.
L is an engineer.

Wordless Wednesday

Tasty Tuesday

" Keep your words soft and sweet  - 

you never know when

you have to eat them."

Unknown. 

Monday Musings ... contentment

Yesterday, August 19, we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary.  As were were traveling home, my heart was full of all that we had experienced. We visited the church where we made vows before God, family, and friends.  We hugged, sang hymns, laughed, and shared memories. We looked at wedding pictures and made new memories. My brother sang a song. We ate anniversary cake. As we were driving home, we enjoyed a sweet silence. No music. No news. No talking. It was a fine weekend. 

"Contentment lies between the unspoken lines." D.S.  

Love

If I speak human or angelic languages

but do not have love

I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy

and understand all mysteries

and all knowledge,

and if I have all faith

so that I can move mountains

but do not have love, I am nothing. 

And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor,

and if I give my body in order to boast

but do not have love, I am nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.

Love does not envy,

is not boastful, is not conceited, 

does not act improperly.

is not selfish, is not provoked,

and does not keep a record of wrongs,

Love finds no joy in unrighteousness

but rejoices in truth.

It bears all things, believes all things,

hopes all things, endures all thing. 

Love never ends.

But as for prophecies,

They will come to an end;

as for languages, they will cease;

as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

For we know in part, 

and we prophesy in part. 

But when the perfect comes,

the partial will come to an end.

When I was a child, 

I spoke as a child,

I thought like a child,

I reasoned like a child.

When I become a man,

I put aside childish things.

For now we see indistinctly as in a mirror

But then face to face.

Now I know is part, 

but then I will know fully,

as I am fully known.

Now these three remain:

faith, hope, and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

I Corinthians 13 : 1 – 13 ( Holman Christian Standard Bible) 

Friendship Friday

Each week we spend three hours exercising  together.
They  encourage me to join them for an additional hour each week.
On Tuesday, we joined other members of our class for lunch.
Rita and Elizabeth are always so positive!
Rita (on the left)  gives me nutrition tips.

"Surround 
yourself around
fitness minded
people.
Positivity can be
so contagious!"
Unknown

Why words matter ...

"A love that refuses to 

confront sin is not love.

It is not love

to remain silent

while our friends 

are ruined by

unrepentant and 

habitual sin."

Paul David Washer

Speak the Truth in Love

Ephesians 4:15

Tasty Tuesday ... tapas and tacos

If a restaurant has tapas and tacos on their sign, menu, and daily specials it is a good idea to order one of those dishes.  Today, was my first visit to the restaurant.

I will give this restaurant another chance. I ordered the Spinach, Strawberry, and Grilled Shrimp Salad.
Instead of spinach they served arugula. I enjoyed the four tiny grilled shrimp. The salad was dripping with dressing.

On my next visit, I will order the tacos. What was I thinking... it would have been perfect... Tasty Tuesday Tacos!

Today is #Nationalrumday. Anyone for a Rum and Coke?
What about
a Mojito? 

Monday Musings ... Regret

Some people live a life of no regrets. If you Google the words No Regrets  you will  discover a long list of folks who share that they have no regrets. Who? Actors, doctors, artists, writers, judges, politicians, movie producers, gospel artists, a spy, and even Jack Kevorkian.


Do you have regrets?  Perhaps it was a missed opportunity to talk with a love one,  or maybe to call and reconnect with a friend, or still maybe it chance slipped away before you could apologize to someone.

Is it possible to live a life of no regrets? Is a repentance life ... a life of no regrets...


" Regret is not a proactive feeling. It is situated in disappointment , sorrow, even remorse. It merely wishes things were different without an act to cause a difference. However, repentance is different. Repentance is an admission of hatred of, and turning away from sin before God."
Monica Johnson

Thrifty Thursday

"The habit of saving is itself an education;

 it fosters every virtue, teaches self-denial, 

cultivates a sense of order, trains to forethought, 

and so broadens the mind.

T.T. Munger

Instead of buying books use your local library.
This is the corridor  at one  of our libraries.
Since we pay taxes for libraries ... why not use yours!
The branch of this library was actually a local car dealership in a former life.
Clever way to recycle building. 

Wordless Wednesday

Tasty Tuesday

"Let food be thy

medicine

and medicine be thy

food."

Hippocrates


Everything that looks good is not good for you. 
Everything that looks good does not always taste good. 
Over the past three weeks, I have eliminated sugar from my diet.
I am feeling so much better. 

These little treats looked sweet,
but they did not test as good as they looked.
Treats I tasted before my detox.  

Monday Musings ...

In a few days, a neighborhood Wal-Mart will close.  It has become a familiar sight in our community.  Over the past few years, I have become acquainted with many of the employees at this location.  I will miss the people in the pharmacy. While there are other Wal-Mart stores in our community, it will not be the same.

I have developed relationships with a few of the employees as we exchanged snippets of conversations in the check out lines, or when I needed help looking for an item.  I began to hear pieces of their stories, their lives, their education, and  struggles. Sometimes, I would ask, "What is the best part of your job?" More often, they would tell me about angry customers. Most recently, they shared their thoughts about the next step in their lives.

I am the person who is always chatting in the the check out line. 😀

Inside the store, it is eerie. Everything is almost gone. It was my last visit to the store.

Then, I thought about the people that have worked here over the years. The people who gathered carts in the parking lot, unloaded inventory from semi trucks, cleaned the bathrooms, watered plants, stacked mulch, dirt, flower pots, techs who counted pills,  crew who cleaned the floors, the greeters...
When I see a store that is closing, I think about how the lives of the employees will be interrupted.
I  think about the service they had provide for every customer.

 The following quote Barbara Enrenreich's book Nickled and Dimed, gives me pause.


"When someone works for less pay than she can live on - when, for example, she goes hungry so that you can eat more cheaply and conveniently - than she has made a great sacrifice for you, she made you a gift of some part of her abilities, her health, and her life. The "working poor", as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor, is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else."
Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickeled and Dimed:  On (Not) Getting by in America

the word of our God endures forever

" A voice says, "Cry out."
And I said, "Why shall I cry?
All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD falls on them.
Surely the people are the grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.
 Isaiah 40: 6-8

Pet of the week, Lady

If you are a dog owner you are already aware of the health benefits of having a dog. Now, Harvard Health Publishing is supporting what we already know. Dogs may be good for our health.

"Several studies have shown that dog owners have lower blood pressure than non-owners - probably because their pets have a calming effect on them and because dog owners tend to get more exercise.
The power of touch also appears to an important part of this "pet effect" Several studies show that blood pressure goes down when a person pets a dog."* Harvard Health Publishing is a part of Harvard Medical School.
* Having a dog can help your heart - literally

 I wonder ... do cats have the same health benefits for their owners. 😶

This week's pet of the week is Lady. I met Lady last month while we were visiting  in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Friendship Friday

when friends disappoint you ... 

"When others are expecting retaliation, offer grace instead.
It'll blow their mind and bless your soul."
Chuck Swindoll 

Wordless Wednesday