Hello to you. How are you? I’m doing ok. Todays prompt is thought provoking for me as it’s rare that I am at perfect peace – relaxed. It feels like I’m always thinking and worrying about “what’s next.” Sometimes food gives me peace, sometimes it’s the company of someone, sometimes my spirituality gives me peace. It’s not a consistent thing. Last year, before the episode that landed me in the the hospital, what gave me peace was long walks in nature and praying for everybody next to the water canals down the street before they tore everything up.
Some of the beauty that existed next to the water canals. A drawing I did in honor of Sam our cocker spaniel – how I imagined he looked as a human in heaven. I’m sure he will be one of the first angels I see when it’s my time and he’ll be a dog. I have had several dreams about him since he passed and he always looks so healthy as a dog. I was at peace when he was here with us.
What used to give me peace was creativity – drawing, singing, painting both on canvas and on t- shirts and making jewelry. What happened is I became self conscious. I realized everything I was doing had an environmental impact – especially our water. It takes water to make the paints and water to use the paints. I started paying attention to where my supplies were coming from like metals I was using for my wire jewelry – Pakistan! Hardly anything from the USA. There was a hefty price for my fleeting peace. I haven’t been doing any of it.
I tried to draw in chalk here but it just wasn’t the same as having the privacy of my backyard.
John 14:27New International Version
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Hello to you. How are you? I’m feeling pretty good – got some sleep last night and there were even dreams I don’t remember. Yesterday I got two walks in – forced myself to go. It’s so easy to say I’ll do it later! With the medication I’m on it’s easy to put weight on and almost impossible to take it off. Next Monday I will be doing a chair yoga class through the VA. Hopefully the start of a positive new habit! Just got to keep moving!
Every time I see a sunflower I think of my ex. We were walking and at a stop sign there was a sun flower and he noticed it. “Stop and See” pay attention to the beauty around you. I stopped on my walk last night to see these beauties.
What am I curious about? A little bit of everything! I enjoy seeing what science gets up to. Lately in the headlines there has been a lot of discussion around a claim coming out of South Korea in regards to super conductors: Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Wikipedia Watching a piece of metal hover and move like a UFO is really intriguing. There were several headlines about this the past couple of days which leads me to believe it’s connected to what we are hearing about reversed engineering in extraterrestrial technology. The timing of this release doesn’t seem coincidental to me. I feel like we are being prepared for a bigger story and are being fed bite size portions like infants. You have to be paying attention. If this technology is valid and peer reviewed we could see flying cars and other changes to the power grid very soon. I think the work Of Nikola Tesla is finally getting proven – about free energy being everywhere – ambient energy is a tangible thing – just how to harness it without adverse consequences in the quantities we need it in.
STATE-OF-ART MATERIAL (excerpt go to link for full article)
A superconductor can levitate in a magnetic field and conduct electricity with zero resistance, thus having no loss of energy – a conventional conductor gets hot because it has resistance and generates heat.
It is touted as a state-of-art material that can speed up connections between computer chips, strengthen the electromagnetic field for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners and provide higher efficiency to power grids and maglev railways. However, the cryogenic environment has been a major obstacle to commercializing the material.
It was in 1911 when the world’s first superconductivity was discovered by Dutch researcher and Nobel laureate Heike Kamerlingh-Onnes at 4.2 Kelvin, which is -452.1 Fahrenheit or -269 degrees Celsius. Today, a high-temperature superconductor is discovered above 77 Kelvin, -321.1 Fahrenheit or -196.2 degrees Celsius.
There have been many trials to prove room-temperature superconductors. In 2020, a research team led by Ranga Dias, assistant professor of the mechanical engineering department at University of Rochester, claimed they had found superconductivity at 287 Kelvin, 56.9 Fahrenheit or 13.9 degrees Celsius. But the team’s paper was retracted by the prominent magazine Nature in 2022 due to low confidence in the scientific results.
I think science is interesting but I believe it’s a bottom line quest to explain our existence. Science is like a religion – a quest for God – to be God. I could be wrong but that’s how it’s always seemed to me. The quest for the Why of every tiny detail of existence. I was watching some videos about the CERN Haldron Collider last night and it’s pretty scary what they are doing! https://youtu.be/6IH012umOjQ – CERN Scientists Claim They Have Opened a Portal to Another Dimension. In the absence of a tangible God, science through numbers and equations seeks to explain what just generates more questions and it seems like a competition to see who’s smarter! I wonder if the field of science is almost just a way for smart people not to be bored. If you look at nature there are so many answers to the Why and What of God! Just this spring and all the flowers filled me with wonder and joy. It’s seems that is too simple for a scientist. They need microscope’s and Petri dishes, charts and grafts, tiny particles and multiverses!
When I was having some of my episodes every question had more than one answer – it was exhausting! I would sit in my closet going round and round for hours. I imagine if I had been in a lab such an occurrence would be exhilarating but it wasn’t. If you have ever seen the Dr. Who episode with the Editor – it was like being one of those people receiving all the information through my third eye (the space between the eyebrows) I was thinking so much that area hurt! Only God, the energy that is at the center of all creation, knows how all the pieces fit together. It’s too much for any one person to know!
So anyways I am curious about a lot of things. It will be interesting to see if this discovery out of South Korea pans out. We really could benefit as a world – much more quickly.
I’m also curious about passages like this in the Bible. When I read it it makes me wonder what exactly they were seeing. It makes me think of people trying to describe UFO/UAP encounters! Sometimes there aren’t words from our times to explain things. Think about what it must have been like for our earliest ancestors when they witnessed lightening and thunder:
Ezekiel 1:5-11New International Version
5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human,6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, 9 and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.
10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body.
Hello to you – how are you? I’m just back from meeting with our church’s prayer team. I asked the members to pray for me. I am having problems with my new medication which causes anxiety. I tried to get in touch with my doctors nurse yesterday but was unsuccessful! I was able to get an appointment scheduled earlier which is good.
My morning boy Fruit tree This looks like a miniature peach My neighbors bush is still blooming these lovely flowers
I’m grateful for our prayer team. Going each Thursday gives me a purpose. I walk there and walk home. Going gives me a reason to pray and connect with Jesus with other followers. There is such a beautiful fellowship. We are up to four members now! Today we had a lot to pray for to include several people that have been missing due to health related issues. Our group leader has a call list and checks on many of the people. Today was our youngest members Briana’s 29th birthday!
1 John 1:7New International Version
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[a]sin.
Hi there! How is your week going this far? I’m just back from the Thursday prayer meeting – so glad I went. I got to meet a new person and as a group we talked about something we all had in common – a family member committing suicide and mental health. The pain of the loss be it fresh or a few years down the road never really goes away. Time numbs the wounds, faith restores hope. Some day we will see each other again! Mental Health is so hard to understand. It’s not like a broken bone or a one time problem you can just snap your fingers and fix. Suicide attempts are not just attention seeking but a legitimate cry for help.
Along these lines it comes to me to put it out in the cosmos that no matter what life may seem to be someone cares. For example, in a little gathering of four people just today, strangers to you, lifted you up in prayer. Someone cares about you no matter how it may seem. You are not alone! God has shown me this through my family both blood and not.
Exodus 33:14
14 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Psalm 139:7
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
I was happy to see the return of these purple flowers These looked pretty to me Despite the clearing they did along the banks of the canal, there is life!
Matthew 26:41New International Version
41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
*RIP Sinead O’Connor – they haven’t said how she died but I have my suspicions from her history. I hope she has found peace.
Hello to you. I’m just back from Grace House where we have a prayer meeting each Thursday at 9:30 am. Today it was Lois, Brie and me. We are hoping that may be this fall our group will grow some. I walked over and back. My lower back wasn’t happy but the prayers helped. I have been having some vertigo/swaying spells the past couple of days. I hope this isn’t a side effect of the new medication I’m on! We prayed for my Aunt and Dad too. Just found out my Aunt is having shoulder surgery later this month.
So bedtime and getting up are something I’ve been having to work on. I try to start going to bed at 9 pm and I usually wake up around 8-9 am. It takes me a long time to fall asleep and I don’t like getting out of bed right away. I think the reason I have trouble falling asleep has to do with being on screens before bed time. Last night I didn’t have anything on after lights out and I don’t remember falling asleep! Just takes good practice and consistency I think.
Today was good because I needed to be up early to go to the prayer meeting. It’s good to have a reason to get up and have something to look forward to.
Saw this on the way home yesterday Saw this on walk this morning Such tiny little flowers ! This looks like a perfect flower for hummingbirds For some reason he wanted on my lap!
Psalm 4:8New International Version
8 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Hello to you. How are you? The past couple days I’ve been having a lot of fullness in my ears and with that has come anxiety. I don’t know if it’s the new medication or what.
Have you ever noticed how things look during different phases of sunlight? I can remember reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau and his talking about taking objects from inside his house outside when he cleaned and how different they looked in the sunlight. I can remember when I was really into photography with my first husband Ken how important light was to taking pictures. Early morning and dusk were the ideal times for pictures – the most color saturation:
We used to collect dragons This is an example of a picture taken at dusk – really saturated color
The cameras we used, like a Nikon, had light meters and everything wasn’t automatic like it is today . Who could of imagined cell phone cameras! They can take still photos and videos like devices we used to use that were much more complicated.
John 9:5New International Version
5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Hello to you. I’m just back from meeting with our little prayer group at Grace House. We had a nice turn out! There were four of us. The walk over was nice yet tiring. I push myself even though I feel like a Weeble Wobble! Do you remember those toys?
Some roses still blooming despite the heat I love sunlight on the water Grace House todayWhat it feels like for me to walk – old fashioned Weeble Wobble toys The walk over to Grace House
Now to the prompt – what do I feel is the definition of romantic. I know this will seem weird but when I think of romance a couple movies come to mind and they both have to do with never ending love – Somewhere In Time and Brahms Stokers Dracula. There is something so romantic to me about love that transcends time and space. I can’t watch Somewhere in Time without being a mess afterwards! Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour did such a great job. The dinner date with absinthe and turning tears into diamonds in Dracula is just so romantic! Love the music for both films.
I can remember having an experience like this during one of my hospital stays. There was a young woman named Yamila I met and she seemed so familiar. I asked her if we had ever met before and she said “perhaps in another life.” Such an odd thing to say and it really stuck me. She reminded me of a girl I supervised in the military. Yamila walked, talked and did other gestures just as if I was with Eveline again! Eveline was Dutch and just such a sweet girl – my first troop!
1 Corinthians 13:8-13New International Version
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Hello to you. I’m just back from church and groceries. The message today came from Thessalonians in regards to the return of Christ. Pastor Daniel from the Nampa campus gave the message. It was good to see familiar faces and get caught up on things. Dear Penny lost her Dad recently and she shared her peace about that. The grocery trip was kind of disappointing. I wanted to get some Tillamook ice cream to take over to Ruth’s on the 4th but they didn’t have vanilla and the freezer was failing – a lot of the ice cream was melted. I picked up some Dreyers that wasn’t too melted! Hope it will be ok!
Todays prompt takes me back to the two surgeries I had to remove fibroid cysts. The first surgery removed a cyst the size of a 5 month embryo and second surgery, in August of 2005, when I had my hysterectomy to remove fibroid cysts and all my baby making parts. It was a life changing decision we made to have the hysterectomy. I remember just before being put under anesthesia for the second surgery the technician asking me if this is what I wanted to do. It rained that day as Kyle waited for me to get in and out of surgery. I remember it was hard to wake up from the anesthesia for both surgeries.
I never had children and having the 2nd surgery shut the door on that. It was for my best. From time to time I wonder what my life would have been if we had tried for a child either in my first or second marriage but it passes. Looking back at the wreckage of my being Bipolar, it really would have been rough trying to raise a healthy child. A large part of my dog Links early life was me in the hospital. It would have been worse if he had been a human child.
Some hidden orange flowers my neighbor Marlene walks her dog she calls Number 6 in the later part of the day like I do – she is such a sweetie! She reminds me of my dog Spot Proverbs 16:24
New International Version
24 Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
Hello to you. It’s 89 degrees here as I write to you. I was going to sit outside and write but it’s too hot!
My thoughts today turn to thinking about keeping life fresh. Lately my life has been feeling like Ground Hog Day. Very little deviation from routine. Sometimes I will be ready to do my daily sit ups and wonder if I already did them! Inside of me I am wanting more but my body is resisting. What keeps happening is I get this fullness in my ears and I will feel anxious and hypersensitive to my body. The Mal de Barque stuff. My lower back has not been my friend either. I try to walk and I feel like a weeble wobble huffing and puffing almost the whole walk in pain. The only thing that seems to help the hypersensitivity is taking the olanzapine right now. I will be starting to do the taper off of it starting tomorrow. My doctor wants to taper me off of it because it’s notorious, along with the Depakote, for causing weight gain. We are going to try Abilify (aripiprazole) instead of Olanzapine – I hope it works as well for anxiety, weight gain and hypersensitivity.
I try to stay in the understanding that I am blessed to have the life I have even with it’s short comings! As I keep saying it’s not what I can’t do but what I can. Hopefully with the medicine change I will feel stronger and like I can do more to keep my life fresh.
I love seeing roses ready to bloom – especially the two tone onesSome big Pom poms – I think these are called goats beard
Psalm 147:3-5New International Version
3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. 5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
Hello to you. How are you? Yesterday I took a different walk in the evening and was rewarded with new flowers to see!
The canal has growth again I’m not sure what the name of these flowers are They are in various colors A lovely orange
Isaiah 41:10 ~ Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
To be 