If you had to change your name, what would your new name be?
Hello to you. How are you? I’m doing ok. Link and I are moving kind of slow today and it’s raining. We need the water so grateful for the rain!
Todays prompt is about changing your name. I honestly don’t think I would change it! I already changed my maiden name to my married name. I kind of flirted with a name a couple of years ago for a Facebook profile Julia James. Julia was my confirmation name when I was a little girl still practicing Catholicism.
I was looking at my pictures love this two tone rose.
Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Hello to you. How is your week going? Can you believe it’s June already? This year is flying by.
So todays question is what jobs have you had. The only job I had was for 16 years active duty in the United States Air Force. I was a Personnelist or a secretary. I worked in the MPF (Military Personnel Flight) at the bases I was stationed at. Personnelist were responsible for taking care of other military members on base – their careers, evaluation reports, retention contracts, training, retraining, assignments and more.
When I worked in Customer Service I would have to do Identification Cards for widows and widowers. It was such a sensitive thing I would cry after they left. I was a very sensitive person! My favorite job was Personnel Systems Management- working with computers and really fun guys was way better than Personnel. It was short-lived bliss though as they outsourced our jobs to civilians shortly after I retrained into the job! Being the highly sensitive person that I was, I just wasn’t cut out for military life; I didn’t make it to a full retirement. I got so attached to people, places and things that when it was time to say good-bye it was just so hard each time. The people you work with you grow to love like family! I hate good-byes!
My first duty assignment was a Travis AFB California and that’s were I met and married my first husband. Our second assignment was in Germany at Bitburg ABS I really loved being in Europe – didn’t want to leave! Our third assignment was in Colorado. I was stationed at Falcon AFB and my husband Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs. I was at Falcon then HQ Air Force Space Command and then the MPF at Peterson. I loved Colorado because I got to see my Grandma and my Uncle Bill more often, she lived in Ft. Collins and he was living in Golden and was a CEO at Coors. The natural beauty of Colorado was amazing. My first husband loved to fish and I would go with him. I loved falling asleep on the shore of a lake on Pikes Peak – the quaking Aspens would lull me to sleep. My last assignment was at Patrick AFB. I had my breakdown there and was medically retired. I was doing some really unhealthy things trying to cope with my failing marriage and too much work. I liked Florida but missed Colorado! Living in a beach type world is definitely a different lifestyle.
Link doesn’t make it far before we have to stop Love the colors of this rose Some colorful sights from last evenings walk
Colossians 3:23-24 says: “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
What does “having it all” mean to you? Is it attainable?
Hello to you. How are you? I’m just back from a dawdle with Link. I’m lucky to get him around the block these days. I have had to learn patience with him. He isn’t a spring chicken and neither am I. The peonies are blooming in the neighborhood – so beautiful:
My neighbors peonies are open!
Yesterday was nice. My cousin whose son got married yesterday, had a gathering at her house. I didn’t stay long as I was feeling really tired. I still haven’t really recovered from my fall this winter. My lower back is still bothering me.
Todays prompt questions what does it mean to me to have it all. I have learned to be grateful for what I have. When I have everything I need and want for nothing I need I feel like I have it all. Currently I have all my needs met and anything over and above that is icing on the cake. When I was active duty I was busy all the time. I worked a lot and then came home and had household chores. I didn’t have a lot of free time. I guess I never really thought of trying to have it all in our societies standard – working, having free time, hobbies, vacation, spending time with family and friends, being married and having children. I’ve just been grateful as I’ve gone along! I think societies having it all is attainable but not necessarily sustainable. You can get burnt out without balance and that happened to me.
Mark 12:30-31New International Version
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a]31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] There is no commandment greater than these.”
Hello to you. How are you? I hope we’ll. Today would have been my birth mothers 80th birthday. Hard to believe how much time has gone by. She passed when she was 26 and I was barely a year old. Also a shout out about the death of the musical legend Tina Turner. She was a big part of my musical life growing up in the 80’s.
Todays prompt is asking about collections and I really only have a couple. I have collected some crystals and when I was married we collected My Little Pony ponies and dragons. When the divorce happened he got most of the dragons as they were his when we married and I got the ponies (they are in my storage room) . In my little place there really isn’t space for displaying collections. I have my crystals in a couple different places – by my bedside and in the kitchen. One nice thing about living in a small house is it doesn’t leave a lot of space for clutter. I am not encouraged to buy more stuff to collect. Just no place to put it!
A white peony on the walk last night Peonies smell so good! Water in the canals again. They didn’t mess with this side as much Drawing I did many years ago of my momSome sights for the day
A good psalm for today:
Psalm 23New International Version
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,[a] I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Hello to you. I hope this finds you well. My thoughts turn to being seen by God. There have been times in my life that I have felt so close to God – that we were connected. These past couple of years- since my medication change by getting off Lithium, my creativity and spirituality doors have been almost completely shut. Thank goodness for my cell phone camera! I have an eye for beauty and just because I’m no longer creative in the ways I used to be, I can capture images of God and Mother Earths creativity. I have to practice what I preach “it’s not what you can’t do in this life! What can you do – focus on that!” Seeing and being seen by God is a two way street.
A pink Columbine These little beauties remind me of pencil shavings Another Iris in the neighborhood My little reminder of Gods love for me
Genesis 16:13New International Version
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[a] the One who sees me.”
My neighbors yard is a constant delight as I walk by. Always something new and purple is blooming! A lovely Iris – these beautiful flowers come in as a variety of colors much like roses.
Hello to you. How are you today? I went on a walk without Link yesterday and remembered to take my phone so I could grab a couple pictures. The Iris’s are blooming and it looks like Peonies are not far behind. The flowers and trees seem to be doing their thing faster this year. Probably due to the heat and intense sunlight. This earth is the finest florist!
Matthew 6:28-29New International Version
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
I was looking through my pictures from last year and found this natural beauty. I’m looking forward to the time of roses blooming again.
Hello to you. How are you? My thoughts today turn to natural beauty. A beauty that exists without artificial enhancements. I find a lot of this kind of beauty in nature. Especially in the flowers like roses! I hope to capture some new pictures this summer of the roses and flowers around here.
Isaiah 35:1-2King James Version
35 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.
Rose pictures from last year – they are not awake yet
Hello to you. Hope this finds you well. My thoughts today are about the power of focus – keeping your eyes open for what you want to see in the world. If you were to drive into my neighborhood you probably wouldn’t notice much at a glance. It’s when you decide you want to see beauty that all the sudden an ordinary place becomes extraordinary. All around us this time of year nature is showing us the power of rebirth. There is always something new to see! What you focus your sights and energy on gains power. It’s kind of like my asking God about orange flowers and then finding them everywhere!
Philippians 4:8New International Version
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
On the walk home from Grace House there was this vision in purple
Warning a poem by Jenny Joseph
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells And run my stick along the public railings And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain And pick flowers in other people’s gardens And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat And eat three pounds of sausages at a go Or only bread and pickle for a week And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry And pay our rent and not swear in the street And set a good example for the children. We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now? So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
Hello to you. How are you this day- it’s Saturday here. I’m here with Link. We got out for a walk together. I cherish these moments as he is getting older and just doesn’t always feel up to walking. I’m only 55 and feel that way! Walking is something so many of us take for granted until we are unable to for whatever reason. I have family that have had knee and hip surgeries because those parts of their bodies have just worn out. Even after the surgeries there is still pain. The longer we live, the longer our bodies have to be able to carry us. Stuff like joints just wear out! Our bodies are like cars – depreciate in condition the moment we leave the show room floor!
Link out for his morning walk
Mark 6:49-50 NIV
But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
To be 