Happy Birthday Big Ben...

Today, London's Victorian chimes of Big Ben carried the customary four notes from Handel's Messiah every fifteen minutes across the city in celebration of the clock's 150th birthday.

On May 31, 1859, the clock officially started keeping time. Big Ben started tolling a few days later, and within months it cracked and didn't resume service until 1862.

At first legislators complained that it was too loud, while The Times of London lamented that the blunders surrounding the project were a "disgrace to all concerned".

But, as the bad memories faded and London's collective ear became used to the bong of the great bell, the tower became a cherished part of the city's landscape, and the country's self-image.

Big Ben is actually the nickname for the great bell of the clock.

Down By The Garden Gate....

Yesterday , as I was away working, my dearest the "First Sergeant" hung my little old gate and created a new piece of rock wall to partner alongside.

It leads into the back of the woods, which I fondly call the gateway to the "hundred acre wood" joshing of course ;)

We had purchased the fencing a couple of years earlier, from an old family homestead, seventeen original picket-fence panels, and one little gate.
We have used the fencing, all around the property, since there was not enough to completely fence the entire area.

It works well, a piece here, a few pieces there...



I understand the triumph and the truth
Wrought into these walls of rugged stone.
They are a miracle of patient hands,
They are a victory of suffering, a paean of pain;
All pangs of death, all cries of birth,
Are in the mute, moss-covered stones;
They are eloquent to my hands
O beautiful, blind stones, inarticulate and dumb!
In the deep gloom of their hearts there is a gleam
Of the primeval sun which looked upon them
When they were begotten.
So in the heart of man shines forever
A beam from the everlasting sun of God.
Rude and unresponsive are the stones;
Yet in them divine things lie concealed;
I hear their imprisoned chant:
~ The Song of the Stone Wall by Helen Keller 1910

The Uplifting Blogger Award...

I have received a new blog award from fellow blogger, Pastor Sharon, at Dances With God a recent recipient of the award herself.

Pastor Sharon, is ONE busy and entertaining lady. Not only is she a seminary student in the process of studying to earn a degree in her second career, she is also a lady who is devoted to God and her family.

Her blog is both entertaining, funny, wise, and enlightening; her love of life and serving the Lord is eminent.

Thank you Pastor Sharon, I am truly humbled.

"The Uplifting Blogger Award, goes to fellow bloggers who visit frequently and raise my spirits with their kind words of encouragement, their beautiful images and their wonderful outlook on life. They make blogging a positive experience and continue to make my life richer."

"Please feel free to pass this award along to your friends. I ask that you do name them but you don't have to link to them.

Just stop by their blogs and let them know you've given them this award."

In the "share the love" spirit, I would like to pass along this award to the following bloggers who daily raise my spirits and offer words of encouragement.

The Writers Porch
A Parson's Wife
Gaston Studio
Home Haven Ministry

Joyful Reflections
The Smith's Bennie and Patsy

The Diary of Dagenham Dave

http://ldburgus.blogspot.com/

Thank you dear friends for always giving me the encouragement to share my musings with you !

How Was Your Day ?

First I had trouble getting out of bed....

Then I had a Stiff Neck...

Washed my hair and couldn't do anything with it...

New diet doesn't seem to be working out....

Got chewed out by the boss...


Got caught in the rain at lunchtime.......

The lunch I had, didn't seem to agree with me....

The new employee stood before the paper shredder looking confused.
"Need some help?" I asked.
"Yes," she replied. "How does this thing work?"
"Simple," I said, taking the fat report from her hand and feeding it into the shredder.
"Thanks, but where do the copies come out?"

I feel trapped....

Uninvited guests show up at dinnertime.....

I'm alone in the house at night and I think I hear a noise in the basement.....

Maybe tomorrow will be better !!

Something's Missing...

Remembering Our Fallen Soldiers.

Lest we forget...


"Your silent tents of green We deck with fragrant flowers;

Yours has the suffering been, The memory shall be ours."

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

For the soldiers and their families, thank you.

It is your sacrifice that has allowed me to experience freedom and joy in this great country.

God Bless America.

A Memorial Weekend Treat...

This is a LIVE camera set up at an eagles nest. Be sure you watch it when it is DAYLIGHT in Washington State ! What a treat !

There are three babies in the nest, both of the parents take turns feeding....

The nest is in an old Garry oak tree in Sidney, BC - a suburb of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, situated on the South end of Vancouver Island. The area is near the Swartz Bay ferry terminal on the Saanich Peninsula. In nest season 2006, the eagles raised 2 eaglets. In season 2007 they successfully raised one.




Video credit: http://www.hancockwildlife.org/staticpages/index.php/2007080118150553

First Piano Lesson....Purrrfect.

Optimism...

Real optimism is aware of problems but recognizes solutions;

Knows about difficulties but believes they can be overcome;

Sees the negatives, but accentuates the positives;

Is exposed to the worst but expects the best;

Has reason to complain, but chooses to smile.

~William Arthur Ward

Of Friendships and Fish & Chips......

I was digging through some photographs yesterday, and came across this picture.

It was sent to me several years ago, from my childhood best friend Caroline, (on the right), taken standing in front of her parents Fish and Chip shop in my hometown.
I think we were about nine years old, and inseparable.

At some point the photograph had been torn, and Caroline had taped it back together, which accounts for the distortion in her little face.
I think someone may have told me NOT to smile :)

Her younger brother (David), shown in the middle of the photograph was a "live wire", always teasing us girls.
Sadly, he has passed away, from complications with his diabetes.
He was much too young to have left this earth.......



We made some wonderful memories in the age of innocence.....

Rain Stops Play....

As with so many other people, Saturdays are a work-day for me.
Not the kind where you catch up on your gardening chores, or plow through stacks of laundry, or do the weekly grocery shopping.

Instead, I wear my broadest smile, and don my hat as a Leasing Agent, with the town's most upscale apartment homes community.

Today, it has rained almost non-stop, keeping all but the bravest of souls inside their homes.

It's a cozy and pleasant place to be, on a rainy day, reminding me so much of England; and so for the majority of the day I was confined indoors, looking out the window, onto an eerily silent and empty swimming pool......

And now..." The Rest of the Story "

Paul Harvey died recently after living a life telling us "the rest of the story". People of my generation remember Mr. Harvey as a nice gentleman with a wonderful voice for telling stories about real people and their real adversity.

I used to listen to Paul Harvey on my daily drive to work. He had an unusual talent of presenting stories and facts, that I'm sure otherwise, I would show no interest.

With the economy at a standstill, and the country at a crossroad, I find myself still tuning the radio dial, looking for that little ray of sunshine.

Paul Harvey, wasn't the writer of this essay, it was written by Lee Pitts, and was included in the Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul back in 2000.

Mr. Harvey enjoyed reading it on the air, and because more people knew Paul Harvey than Lee Pitts, it was attributed to him.

Whoever wrote it/added to it, got the feeling right though .

The feeling that in times of less rather than more, as we watch our young men and women graduate high school /college, in these uncertain times.We have to learn how to live and how to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, when we fall........

These things I wish for you

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse.

For my grandchildren, I'd like better.
I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf.

I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy/girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it.

And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

And now you know "The Rest of the Story".

Mama's Flowers....

Where flowers bloom so does hope.
~ Lady Bird Johnson

These wildflowers were shared with me, by my dear mother-in-law, some twenty years ago.
She had picked a small bunch growing close to her family cemetery, and replanted them in her garden.

Each year, I wait in anticipation , hoping they will bloom once again, always around Mother's day......

I feel it is a fitting tribute to a dearly loved Southern lady.

The conundrum is, we have no idea, what this flower is called, nor have we ever came across one similar.

They have a bloom which resembles an English bluebell.

If amongst all the dedicated and wise gardeners, out there, who may possibly know the name or variety of this flower..

We would be very much obliged !

Snakes alive....

So......just as I was leaving the pond area, checking on my new pump, THIS little uninvited visitor, was sunning himself on the rocks.

I said a few swear.... hmm… sweet words, and left, post-haste... Eeew.

Life's Little Rules....

Stay out of trouble.....


Aim for greater heights...

Stay focused on your job....

Exercise to maintain good health.....

Practice team work....

Rely on your trusted partner to watch your back.... Take your time trusting others.

Save for rainy days....

Take time to rest and relax.....

Always take time to smile.....

Realize that nothing is impossible.......