Monday's Words of Wisdom

"We have a God who delights in impossibilities."

Andrew Murry

"With people this is impossible,

but with God all things are possible.

Matthew 19:20

Where I Live: Roofs

Francesca who hosts Corner View

now hosts a new segment on Fridays.

It's called "Where I live."

Each Friday will feature a different aspect of where we live.

This week roofs are featured.

I haven't found a niche for Fridays,

yet need to write and create some kind of post

to unwind after teaching teen-agers all week.

So I'm joining Francesca today.

This is a small bird's eye view of Barnesville

 looking down from the highest hill on the north end.

We have beautiful stately homes on North Chestnut Street

which runs through the town

becoming South Chestnut after its intersection with Main Street.

This one is sadly in disrepair.

The center window does not have any glass in the top portion.

There are other signs of deterioration, but that's a story for another day.

This green brick home was recently restored and is beautiful--

at least on the outside.

I hope it eventually makes The Mother's Club Home Tour,

because I'd love to see inside!

This is just a section of the huge, multi-level tile roof

of the Presbyterian Church.

The church is quite old.

This shows a portion of the north side and the back side which faces west.

This turret belongs to the 'manse' where the Presbyterian minister and his family reside.

A glimpse of some of the roof lines of the church, its manse, and a neighboring house.

This roof belongs to the First United Methodist Church,

which is where my dad preached and ministered

for nine years.

You are viewing a tiny section of the large, multi-leveled roof.

This is a view looking down from the highest hill on the south end of town.

Note the gray roof of the First United Methodist Church in the background on the left.

Also note the bright red tiles of the Presbyterian Church.

These last two photos were taken

as I stood on a hill surveying the roofs of the town

where I live.

This may be too long a post for some readers;

however, creating it was an antidote to an extremely stressful day at school.

I hope some derive enjoyment from it.

For views of roofs from all over the world.

check out Francesca's Fuoriborgo

Corner View: Room with a View

This is the view from my desk in my class room.

If I go close to the window, lean in, and look far to my right,

I see a bit of countryside.

This is what I used to see from my desk in my first class room

at this school.

Below is what I see by standing near the window;

I don't have to lean in close to see this.

My friend Tracy has this view now.

I did before I was laid off for a year.

When I was called back, it was to replace a teacher who had retired.

I got her room.

I miss my old one.

This is the view my friend Alaina sees from her desk.

Her room is on the front of the first section of building.

Tracy's and mine are in that same section, but on the backside of that hallway.

For five years, I taught in a musty room on the second floor

with no windows.

There were no windows anywhere on that floor.

That was in Cincinnati.

One of my 'musts' for my next job was to have a room with a window.

You can imagine my joy when I got the view of the farm in the distance!

However, even though I don't have that view any more,

I do have a wall of windows

and sunlight does pour in.

So I'm still grateful for my room with a view.

Check out more views on Francesca's Fuoriborgo

Barn Charm #37

My husband and I discovered this barn

on a gravel road that wound back into the countryside

from Rt. 147 towards Bethesda, Ohio.

At first I was disappointed that I couldn't rid the photo

of the utility pole and meter (or whatever it is).

But then I decided I liked the contrast of the old weathered barn

with the modern-day contraptions.

If the barn could talk, I wonder what it would say

about these new-fangled stuff!

Tiny bit closer.

Bursting at the seams!

View from the other end.

A glimpse of the 'rolling' Southeastern Ohio hillside

and other farms in the distance.

For more barn views, click below:

Words of Wisdom

The God Who made the wole world and everything in it

is the Lord of the land and the sky . . .

This God is the One who gives

life, breath, and everything else to people.

Acts 17: 24 - 25

Great are the works of the LORD,

they are pondered by all who delight in them.

Psalm 111: 2

While waiting for my husband,

who was getting a business permit,

I stolled around with my camera

and caught sight of this beautiful tree

and the calico stray

basking in the warmth of the sun.

A Story:

My favorite moment with you:

". . . we were rushing to get to a radio interview [in San Francisco],

so I was race-walking along the piers at Fort Mason,

and you were dreamily watching the seagulls and pelicans

and scanning the water for seals.

I was begging you to hurry it up,

but at the same time

I remember dropping a book,

and my papers were all disorganized,

and I wa trying to shove stuff back

 into my Fibber McGee purse,

and you stopped.

Quote:

You said to me sternly,

"Mom, you'e moving too fast,

and you're carrying too much."

I still think, to this day,

that that explains what's going on

whenever I start to get crazy."

 Novelist AnnieLamott told this story to her son Sam

when asked to sit down with him

and converse

with MORE magazine

April 2012 edition.

Annie has a new book out--

Some Assembly Required:

A Journal of My Son's First Son

May you take time this week to slow down.

enjoy God's beauty,

and patiently 'be' with a child'

or someone at any age

who needs your time.

Blessings as you begin your week.

Corner View: Typical Family Dinner

This week at corner view we are featuring our 'daily' meals

or an interpretation of such a meal

as in Susanna's Van Gogh painting.

Several times a week, Mike and I have a sit-down dinner together.

Last night was one such night

as he had just arrived home from a business trip.

I enjoy cooking, but a lot of nights, due to chronic illness ,

I am too tired after teaching teen-agers

 to deal with much of a meal.

If Mike doesn't feel like cooking,

one of us makes a run to the limited choices of restaurants:

I am a one-pot or frying pan or crock pot cook usually.

I like the following meal because it is one conveniently kept in the freezer

until needed time,

takes only ten minutes,

and serves as a wonderful base for adding other ingredients.

Bow tie pasta, spinach, and chicken make up the 'foundation'.

The fridge's vegetable drawer always serves up additions.

In this case, I added onion (always), red sweet pepper, and cauliflower.

Frozen garlic bread is almost always a companion.

Of all the possible selections in this category,

Bertolli provides our favorite.

You Italians may be shuddering right now--sorry!

                                         One of our wedding (almost 14 years ago) gifts was
                                                    a wonderful pasta recipe book
                                                 complete with a beautiful pasta bowl set.
                                                  Below is a recipe I have tried and liked. 
                                                    Above is a photo of it from the book
                                                PASTISSIMA! Pasta the Italian Way.

For more corner views,

check out Francesca's Fuoriborgo.

Enjoy!

Barn Charm #36

My last two posts have featured the countryside out west of my small town.

This is the first time I have driven so far into this part.

I had been to the dentist and thought I deserved a treat,

which this scenic drive certainly was.

I took long distance shots from a two-lane part blacktop/part gravel road.

The first three photos are of a barn and its inhabitants way down in a valley.

The rustic glow in the lower part of the first two pics is a fence line.

Notice the cattle in the fenced-in area and

the lone sheep looking towards them.

I didn't notice the sheep from my hilltop spot, just the cows.

The next two photos are taken while looking south partly down and then back up.

It's back towards town where barns and neighborhoods coexist

throughout.

For more barn shots, click below:

Monday Scripture & Words of Wisdom

"I've always thought anyone can make money.

Making a life worth living, that's the real test."

--ROBERT FULGHUM, American essayist--

"Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good,

behave yourself,

and never mind the rest."

Beatrix Potter

"For He Who is almighty has done great things for me -- and holy is His name."

Luke 1:51

As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work.

We pray that you will have the strength

 to stick it out over the long haul---not the grim strength of gritting your teeth

but the glory-strength God gives.

It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy,

thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part

in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.

Colossians 1: 11-12 The Message

May you have a blessed week.

End of the Week Musings

The following photos were taken

when I headed out past our small but excellent hospital

into the countryside that borders that edge of town.

I went west far enough that I crossed over the Belmont County line

into Guernsey County which made me a bit nervous

as I was uncertain where I would end up.

However I persevered, stopping to snap shots of whatever 'caught my fancy'.

I am intrigued by vine, brush, and wood piles such as this.

I imagine the hidden treasures within.

Can you imagine what Beatrix Potter would do with such a scene?

I have been on my own for the past two days as hubby is on a business trip.

I had the TV and the living room to myself--a rarity.

I 'seized the moment' to indulge in a chic flick:

the movie about Beatrix Potter starring Renee Zellweger.

It's titled Miss Potter.

It also stars Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson,

who are both as delightful as Zelwiger.

I imagine most of you know that she's the author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit,

the naughty little boy rabbit who did not heed his mother's warning,

but instead headed straight into Mr. McGregor's garden.

I imagine the area in these photos, complete with an old fence hidden in its tangles,

could house a whole village of Beatrix's whimsical animal characters.

Peter Rabbit was actually a pet rabbit that belonged to her and her brother

as did another bunny character,mice, and others. 

Beatrix lived in London, but her folks would take the family

to spend summers in Scotland and also in the Lake District of northern England.

She and her brother would roam the countryside where her imagination would thrive.

She later bought a working farm complete with a lovely old house

and she kept on the workers and maintained its status as a working farm.

This was when farms in the district were being eyed by greedy developers.

There is a scene in the movie where she outbids one such developer

much to his anger.

He instructs her solicitor to control her better.

Renee Z. does an excellent job of playing Beatrix

who, having achieved with her books an independence and wealth

unimaginable by most women of that time period, 

 informs the developer that she is under no one's control.

(A bit of an early feminist was Beatrix--definitely a woman ahead of her time.)

Thanks to B. Potter 4,000 acres of Lake District land was saved from developers

and donated to the National Trust of England

upon her death.

You see, she kept buying up the farms around her

as farmers gave up,

and she worked at finding new ways to keep the farms thriving.

She continued to write and publish books which were the foundation

that supported her and her environmental concerns.

I am giving a loose recap of some of the info from the movie

and the two brief documentaries that accompanied it on the DVD.

I am a B. Potter fan, especially of her illustrations,

so I ordered the movie from Netflix.

I recommend it to anyone who enjoys her books and also enjoys that type of movie.

It was delightful, although there are some sad parts.

Moving on in my musings:

Having turned around, I was headed back into Barnesville when I spotted a home

far out in the distance and a ghost of a road leading to it.

I came upon the entrance to that road

and stopped for two quick shots.

I am fascinated by how folks end up out in the middle of 'nowhere'.

How do they find such places?

They have to be organized or else they have some disappointments

when they go to make a dish or a baking recipe

and find the kitchen bare of milk or eggs or a much needed seasoning, etc.

I do appreciate the proximity of a neighbor when I need some assistance in that area

and don't want to run to the store.

In the above case, the store would be a good twenty minutes or more

with a good portion over gravel roads.

Next:

Why is it that though an abandoned car makes me shudder,

I will pull over and immortalize abandoned farm machinery?

I zoomed in on this relic and came up with what is almost a piece of art.

(Of course art, like many things in life, are in the eye of the beholder).

Next:

This shot reminds me of the forest in the movie The Last of the Mohicans.

When taking drives through the countryside and peering down into densely wooded areas,

I often ponder how the Indians felt treading this hallowed ground.

I muse on how the early frontiersmen, pioneers, and settlers

had to be filled to the brim with a combination of awe and fear

when seeing America's wilderness for the first time.

Last:

I will leave you with this photo of our early blooming trees

and a wisp of road leading out to yet another homestead

snuggled in the hills with only animals for neighbors.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.