Proof it is Springtime! & Living life with God's Passion

One of my all time favorite plants is the Bleeding Heart.  It's delicate pink and white flowers looks like a heart that has been split at the point and is dripping out.  My mother had one in her garden when I was a child.  It was a large bush and bloomed early in the year. 


Bleeding Heart

My Grandma Field always had Honeysuckles in her garden.  Also a very delicate flower, the Honeysuckle flower you could pick and break open the little balls on the end of the flower that belled outward.  As you broke it open on your tongue, a sweet taste like honey would land on your tongue.  

Honeysuckle

Both plants have similar leaves.  But a Bleeding Heart is planted with root stock and the Honeysuckle will re-seed itself and pops up in a different place every couple of years.  So despite the weather not getting warmer than 65 degrees this last weekend, I have shown you solid proof that according to my garden it is springtime. 

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Ambivalent... I have always considered this to mean that someone didn't care one way or the other about something.  But as I looked up the definition, they define it "having mixed feelings about something".  I suppose in a way they could be the same.  If you have mixed feelings about something it could leave you not really caring one way or the other.  A continual exercise of analyzing the pros and cons of your feelings could easily saying, "I just don't care that much." 

I started looking this up because the verse that came to my mind today was Revelation 3:16

So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

 

More and more I come across people that in the name of political correctness, take a middle of the road decision.  They are no longer passionate about their own personal beliefs.  Jesus calls us to be passionate about his teachings.  Not to stand on the politically correct words of society but to be passionate!  Hot or Cold it is important to acknowledge where you are in life.  Jesus example was always extremely passionate about life, the love of God, and living a reconciled life (humans and God.)  Let us not tempt him to spit us out of his mouth.  Let us choose to live a life that is HOT, on fire for Jesus.

Exhausted

Weekend days can be so exhausting!

I was hoping to sleep in this morning but my eyes popped open just before 6:30 AM.  I tried to turn over and go back to sleep but it wasn't going to happen.  I got up and walked into the kitchen area and soon after heard a tiller running.  (Dale's tiller was temporarily being stored in my car port.)

I got My Jenny (the dog) out of bed and let her out.  I told her to go find Grandpa.  It didn't take her a few seconds to figure out where he was at.  I quickly changed out of my nightgown and put on outside clothes.  Dale's niece had called and needed both tillers and his help possibly putting a fence around the new garden.  I had told him that I would take the dogs for the day.  So once the tillers were loaded on the trailer, we got the dogs inside my house so that he could take off.  Then the day began:

8:00 AM Chiropractic appointment
9:00 AM leaving town, stopped and talked to a friend going in for surgery in 9 days to have a section of his colon removed due to a confined spot of cancer - Pray for A.D.
9:45 AM drive thru breakfast for me with two plain eggs for the dogs.
10:00 AM drop off the car for an oil change.
10:15 AM Help pick out an Alto Sax (I'm giving my nephew 7 lessons for his birthday present this year.)
11:00 AM Help my sister pick out computer software for graphic design. (She will be helping design the cover of my book, "The Man I Was").
11:45 AM Pick up car; let the dogs out to go potty (they were with me not in the car during the oil change); Head towards church to do the accounting. 
12:00 (noon) Let the Dogs run in the open field behind the church before doing the deposit at church and chatting with a couple of people.
1:10 PM Drive thru the bank.
1:25 PM Go to Sam's Club (re-newed the membership but at a lower level.  I "tried out" a special club that they offered at 100% guaranteed.  I got my money back on that and it was enough to pay for this years membership fees.)  Shopped!
2:00 PM Changed from Sam's Club to Cash Wise shopped some more.
2:25 PM Finally DONE! and Heading home. 
I stopped on the way home to let the dogs run again.  When we got home almost everything was unloaded and all three of us laid down on Dale's bed and took a nap.  He was still over working at his nieces.  Up and down a couple of times, we rested for about two hours.  Then it was time to go over to the park.  The city was having a fundraiser for the pool.  Pork chops were being grilled down by the Fire Hall; and one of the owners of a local restaurant was helping serve up the sides of coleslaw, pork and beans and potato chips. 

I can say anything except, "where did the day go?" It went wild and a little bit everywhere!  Dale was exhausted from his day and both dogs decided to come home with me tonight.  It works better when they are split but I guess they were missing me.

Knee high by the 4th of July

In Minnesota for the corn crops to be successful, they need to be knee high by the 4th of July. That is 27 days away.  I will be watching it closely this year.  I noticed on the way back from the Twin Cities tonight that the crops were barely showing.  Some looked like they have not been planted yet.

As much as this will be unpopular, we need hot, humid with scattered showers to make it through to that perfect harvest. This weekend  will be a short and busy weekend!

Have a wonderful day ~ you only get them one at a time.

Too many good choices for food!

La Galette French Bakery & Deli was the place to have lunch today.  It was located in Delano (not Delano, Minnesota so don't go looking.)  We each had a different dessert and can you believe it that we all finished our desserts even though we didn't finish all our main meal?



Desserts First!

I had a Quiche with ham and broccoli, creamy potato soup and a homemade roll.  The rolls were harder than the traditional American roll with a slightly harder crust.  It was all very good. 

Ham & Broccoli Quiche with Potato Soup

For supper we went to "Old Town" and ate at Hana Café, Sushi bar.  Two of us shared some Sushi.  I only had four pieces and I'd already eaten two before I took the photo.  They always make it pretty!

Sushi

One of my favorite Japanese dishes is Tempura Udon.  Served in Japan at train stations.  People will stand at the Udon stand and have a bowl of soup while waiting for the next train.  It is delicious. 


Tempura Udon

If you are happy and you know it...

Morning World!

....clap your hands!  *clap*clap*  Do you remember that song?  I put my plate down on the breakfast table this morning and I started playing with my food.  I moved the bacon to make a HUGE smile. 
I am in such a good mood this week.  I have a lot of information that I need to get to my publisher. Some of the details of the book, dedications, acknowledgements, endorsements, and an about the author section. 

That last section is the most difficult. My last "about the author" was not written by me.  When it comes to putting together a short paragraph about who I am I seem to lose my words.  Maybe that is why I like putting so many pictures in my blogs?  Like, I treated my self to a favorite dessert this week, Tiramisu! 


Tiramisu

It was so rich that it was difficult to finish. But sometimes you just need to celebrate a little bit of life. ...if you're happy and you know it then your life will truly show it, if you're happy and you know it clap your hands.

I'm too excited to sleep!

After work, I stopped an picked up supper.  By the time I was done eating and making phone calls, I was ready for a swim. From there I had an hour meeting with a co-worker.  By the time I finally got to my personal e-mails it was about 9:30 PM!  I had and e-mail from my publisher. 

It contained five attachments including a Welcome letter to Creation House!  It is official and they have a very aggressive schedule for me and a lot of "to do's" for me to accomplish. 

• choose a photo of my self for the back cover
• get the publisher the delivery instructions for my copies of the book
• choose a front cover
• provide endorsements
• provide acknowledgements or dedications
• They will edit and proof read then send it back to me and I need to turn it back around to them with any final adjustments.
• Approve, approve, and approve.  :^)

I am thinking of going with this photo:

Weekend cooking...

I bought a few yams this weekend and Saturday night we had baked yam fries.


Baked Yam "fries"

(Can you call them fries if they are baked?)  Saturday, we mixed yams and regular potatoes as a modified American Fries.



American Fries (Yams & Potato)

A friend had told Dale that they had bought bourbon marinated steaks and since then they use 1 cup of bourbon with a little brown sugar as a marinade for both beef roasts and chicken.  The chicken was better than the beef. 



Bourbon Beef

Bourbon Chicken

I've heard of using wine and cream sherry before.  The alcohol bakes off leaving the flavoring behind. It is an easy way to add flavor to any meal.