Guess What I Did Yesterday Afternoon?

Welllllll......

Today is Wednesday.

I have someone, in town, with whom I have lunch each Wednesday -

However,

I have a friend from out of town who still travels to Scottsboro for her dentist appointments and today, following her dentist appointment, she'll swing by my house, midday. 

(I worked on that sentence and I hope that I got it right, structurally. I'm not really sure.)

So - I decided to do a light lunch at my house - but I am intentionally keeping it VERY simple.

I have kept it simple - but I have two lemon dessert recipes

which I've been dying to try, and I couldn't pick between the two for tomorrow

So I've made both!!

I have to say that, thanks to MOM, I'm a good cook from the old school. 

I mean, I can do some of the new stuff - but pastries and breads and comfort food - 

well, I've got those down.

Only thing is, I don't do any of that much anymore.

We're all so, um, trying to be thin and be healthy, and, well, we just know too much now.

I mean, it's hard to eat all that stuff when we know what we know - 

still..... today is special. 3 friends at my house - one other than the 2 I mentioned.

so...

We're having LEMON DESSERTS!!

My kitchen was smelling so delicious and I was strongly inhaling that lucious lemon scent 

and I had Mother in my heart.  

She had some scrumptious lemon desserts which she used to make, and

She LOVED a bowl of lemons on the table.

She considered it extravagant to have real lemons on the table,

Because she was of the WWII and the Depression Generation.

Lemons are not cheap.  

so - to be so extravagant as to have a bowl of lemons on the table - 

well - it just didn't happen except on special occasions.

Today is special and I've made 2 lemons desserts and I bought two bags of lemons.

One for the recipes and one for the table.

Here's the thing -

All that lemon smell has taken me right back to Mother.

She was in the kitchen - but she wasn't, really.

I heard her talking - but I didn't, really.

Then I was all missing her and getting all nostalgic and wanting to write about her

and tell somebody about my mother.

Don't we all? Well, most of us.  Or... a lot of us.

(this picture is in my kitchen)

(my favorite - Mother's so tickled and just being so herself)

I have no recollection of this except I can see her and I know that she was all about Mary Ann and me and probably so excited about the new house she and Daddy were building....

and the look on her face, well, it was her trying to figure out how best to pose for this picture.

 Later.... much later ... and she is about to laugh about something - I am probably making some remark -

and we're on the ramp - the handicap ramp which she very much needed for all the arthritis and osteoporosis - Mary Ann and I need it now.  And as Mother used to say about herself, 

"I'm so shaw-wat!!" (I'm so short in southern-dialect)

the osteo had shrunk her.

But back to the two lemon desserts,

They are done and Charlie and I sampled them last night.

Good.

One is Lemon Brownies and the other is Sunburst Lemon Bars.

We both liked the Lemon Bars the best, but the Brownies turned out the prettiest.

The bar recipe said not to grease the pan.  Mistake!

And I chose the longer cooking time for the crust.  I should have chosen the shorter cooking time.

Too crunchy - but so delicious.

I recommend both recipes.

This post is way too long already, so rather than type the recipes I will give the links to them both.

Lemon Brownies

and

Sunburst Lemon Bars

It's early morning and I have to prepare the lunch - 

Small Baked Ham

Broccoli Salad

Divine Muffins

and

Basil Lemonade

It's Monday

I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  Galatians 2:20

Everything is needful that He sends, nothing can be needful that He withholds.  John Newton

Think about that for the rest of your life.  It will do you good.  Tim Keller on the above John Newton quote.

"We can easily manage if we take, each day, the burden appointed to it.  But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it." - John Newton

or

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. 

Matthew 6: 34

But really, the most peace I receive is knowing that it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. It's all His business - and I am to rest and be yielded.  There is active obedience, yet it's all in trusting Him - Everything is needful that He sends, nothing can be needful that He withholds.

And that is living the life.

If I Could I Would Memorize This...maybe I can....

Jesus, who unties such apparent extremes of character into such an integrated and balanced whole, demands an extreme response from every one of us. He forces our hand at every turn in the story. This man who throws open the gates of his kingdom to everyone, then warns the most devout insiders that their standing in the kingdom is in jeopardy without fruitfulness, is forever closing down our options. This man who can be weakened by a touch in a crowd on his way to bring a little girl back from the dead is a man you dare not tear your eyes from. (And we haven’t even yet witnessed the true depths of his restraint or the heights of his power.)

He is both the rest and the storm, both the victim and the wielder of the flaming sword, and you must accept him or reject him on the basis of both. Either you’ll have to kill him, or you’ll have to crown him. The one thing you can’t do is just say, ‘What an interesting guy.’ Those teachers of the law who began plotting to kill Jesus at the end of this episode in the temple – they may have been dead wrong about him, but their reaction makes perfect sense.

Please don’t try to keep Jesus on the periphery of your life. He cannot remain there. Give yourself to him – center your entire life on him – and let his power reproduce his character in you.

from Tim Keller/kellerquotes.com

Lord, I'm 500 Miles Away From Home

Actually, I'm 443.79 miles away from home - according to mapquest.  I don't have a GPS.

But it all makes me think of the Peter, Paul and Mary song.  So this is what 500 miles feels like.  Although I do have adequate clothing and we have brought money for the trip.  I can go back home, and don't identify with all the lyrics to the song.

Sarah used to be this far from Scottsboro - while she lived in New Orleans.
Now it's just Kate - living in Winston-Salem - and Sarah is with Charlie and me on this trip.

We borrowed Ann and Steve's air mattress.  This is a shout out to Ann and Steve, if they read this post. I'm guessing you've been letting the children use the air mattress as a trampoline - it now has a slow leak.  In the middle of the night Charlie and I decided that yes, we would turn the inflate switch on - which is quite noisy - because the air mattress was starting to feel like a water bed.  I've never slept on a water bed - but it felt like one.  By morning, the mattress had deflated some more.

I woke early, as usual for me, and made coffee - I sat on Kate's porch and enjoyed the morning and the coffee.

Has anyone noticed this added picture on my blog layout or if you follow Laura Beth on facebook, perhaps you have seen it - or seen it on Ann's facebook page.

Last week Laura Beth, Ada and John traveled to Scottsboro per Ann's invite.

This time they stayed with Ann because Steve was out of town for the week.

It was all "unique and challenging and cute and some angst for the moms", 

but they got it done.  

Above is the only picture which was taken the whole week.

Laura Beth took it with her phone.  

I need updated pictures of my McDonough grandchildren, 

but I failed to take any at all last week.

Left to right, above, 

Andrew Barber (3), Ada Moore (5), Ellie Barber (7), Luke Barber (6), John Moore (2),

and Abigail Barber (1)

Those are my 6 grandchildren.  They are all stinkers - that's what I tell them.  They are funny and can be exhausting - especially to their moms.  This grandmother gets more down time than their moms do.

I hope to enjoy still more grandchildren.  Sarah and Kate haven't even gotten started yet.  I think Laura Beth will have another.  I think we're all glad for a little break.

We've just completed Abigail's first year of infancy.  The first year is such a challenge.

Okay - rambling - and I need to get ready for the day.

By the way, below is Kate's house which is actually 4 apartments.

I'm sitting behind one set of those double windows at the top, typing this.

Hers is a very unique apartment, built right after WWII and has recently been remodeled for the year 2012.  There are hardwood floors, a brick fireplace, old wood doors with transoms, all very unique, and, again, updated with modern comforts.

If Only.....

"The secret to freedom from enslaving patterns of sin is worship.  

You need worship.

You need great worship.

You need weeping worship.

You need glorious worship.

You need to sense God's greatness and to be moved by it -

moved to tears and moved to laughter - 

moved by who God is and what He has done for you - 

This type of worship is the only thing that can replace 

the little if only fire burning in your heart.

If only I could feel Him to be

 as great as I know Him to be.

If only I could taste His grace 

as sweet as I know it to be.

And when that if only fire is burning in your heart,

then you are free."

-- Tim Keller

I found this quote on Kate's Tumblr Page.

Dear Blogspot.com

I have been spending time with another cyberspace location.  And....  I'm having more fun there.  I don't have to write anything.  I don't have to think at all.  I just look and look and look.

It's called Pinterest.

I only check in to you, blogspot, to see what my other favorite bloggers have blogged.  I don't want them to quit blogging - so I suppose I shouldn't quit, either.  But they are much, much, much more creative than I am and most of them are a lot younger - with babies and children... and a lot of them make money with their blogs.

I feel very connected to people on Pinterest, because I get to see what they are interested in - and - I get lots of creative ideas to pin to my own boards.

I'm still not on facebook.  I have held out for the old fashioned social interaction of conversing over a cup of coffee - or meeting for lunch - or just stopping by - or over the fence kind of chats - or bumping into someone in town.  I like real skin - flesh and blood - facial expressions and tones of voices.  I like people, in person.

Still - I like to write and say what I'm thinking about -

Trouble is, my schedule has been so full that I don't think I've been thinking - except about eternal things - not everyday stuff - like wanting to spend my days on things eternal - like how Christ is all that matters and being in Him and Him being in me.  I don't know how to communicate those realities so very well.

In my last post I told that I was about to travel to that dear small town of Evergreen in South Alabama - but first have a visit with Martha and Val in Birmingham - I did all of that.  It was all delightful - and energizing - as I had the opportunity to spend time with old friends and family.

Each afternoon, in Evergreen, I would go to the Nursing Home with Mary Ann - there we would visit with our aunt, Florence, who has been there a few months.  Florence will be 90 in November.  Our other aunt, Mary, and Mary's daughter, our cousin, Melissa, would be there also for the afternoon visit with Florence.  It's the kind of thing we've always done in our family - gather together and laugh and talk and visit.  I happen to have a few old pictures of those gatherings from the past.  And then I follow with 3 pictures of our nursing home visits.  Florence and Mary are in the first black and white, 2nd and 3rd from the left.  My aunt, Lucille, is the other lady in the picture.

The gathering below is behind my house.  Florence has the towel around her shoulders.  I'm guessing Mom is going to either trim her hair or perm it or roll it.  They were always doing those kinds of things.

Mother has on the skirt.  Mother usually wore skirts. 

This next one is all of us gathered at Mary's house following Daddy's funeral.

Florence is on the couch.  Mother and Lucille are in front of the window.

Mother is in the white blouse.

And finally here are the pictures taken two or three weeks ago at the nursing home.

We're still all talking and listening to each other.

Florence has on the green velour pants and jacket.  Mary is in the yellow shirt and the white pants.

That's Mary Ann talking to each of them.

Florence has always been a good listener.

Here she is looking at a picture I had brought her - it was a copy of a very old picture of her as a little girl.  I copied it at CVS and put it in a frame for her.  She remembered the details of that day when her mother (Ella, my grandmother) was trying to get her to sit still and stay clean so she could get a good picture of her.  

I've said all that and shown all of that to make some point, I think...

1.  I'm blessed, blessed, blessed with family - we all loved each other and still do.

It's a rich heritage and with that kind of gift, I offer it back to God who is the giver of all things - and I ask Him to use that gift for His glory.  That's all that we can do with what we have.

2.  Life is a vapor.  Isn't it?  Don't we all learn that?  So brief - and then eternity.

We don't die.  We live on forever, either with God or without Him.  I know that to be so.

By His great mercies I am His - Only because His kindness led me to repentance.  

There is nothing for us to do, but to live in Him - not hold tight to anything in this world - just to be His.

Okay - so - I spent lots of time that week with family, cousins, and laughter and remembering.

Then I visited friends in Tallassee and headed home.

After that, the next week, it was to the beach.

Charlie and I took Ann and her 4 while Steve was at Youth Camp.

We had fun - it was work - but it was fun.

Abigail turned one while we were there.

June 27th.

And then it was back home.

Ann and Steve left the next week to go to Dallas

to a Missions Summit/Conference.

Charlie and I kept their 4 while they traveled.  

I want to be able to explain how God is working and leading our church 

to share the gospel to a people who live on the other side of the globe.

That will come later.

Today is today and we are enjoying rain.

We are very much enjoying rain.

I am also enjoying some projects - several furniture redos.

Perhaps I'll show those later when they are all done.

Join Pinterest.  It's fun.