'Tis the season

Easter! Tis the season to think on the blessedness of life lived in abundance because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins and rose again to give us eternal life. Tis the season for seeing birds building nests; time to dig in the flower beds; time to run to the river and enjoy the beauty of creation; and as usual, tis the season to bake!

Grow towards the light

Fidget's new bean shoot from a school project. Yesterday at lunch the Pres turned it away from the window.

Here it is this afternoon.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus,his Son, purifies us from all sin.  1 John 1: 5-7
 

Friends, let us walk in the light!

Beauty All Around

The two weeks we had with my in-laws went by so quickly. We ate seafood, barbecued, tried new recipes, and just enjoyed being together. I hardly know how to catch up with showing all we did. These pictures show just one day's events.

 

We went to the Green Animals Topiary Gardens and had a tour of the grand house on the property. Fidget's favorite part were the toy exhibits. One room was all doll houses. The woman who lived there loved children so she hosted a children's party every July. They still carry on her tradition. Too bad we missed it. I wonder if we'll be here for it next year.

There were dozens of animals and people created in topiaries on the property. Fidget delighted in running through them, back and forth. She even hugged the giant bear, right before we were told not to touch the bushes. Oops!

The dahlia garden was exquisite. I could have stayed there all day. There are times when I look back through pictures of all we've done and think, was I really surrounded by all that beauty? 

 The inventive scarecrows welcomed visitors more than scaring any away. 

 Even the gates at the property were distinctive.There was no way to photograph it all!

That same day, we switched gears after lunch and took a boat ride out in the harbor. Not only did we get a closer look at some historic places, we also passed Mirabella V, the tallest-masted sailboat in the world. She was in harbor for the International Boat Show over the weekend. This was the highest-priced boat there, on sale for 49 million euros! I wonder if they had any offers?

  
The first woman light house keeper lived and worked here.  Her father had been keeper of the light before her. I think this sounds like the perfect start to a children's book...

The far boat in this shot, we were told on our boat tour, is the one from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. We knew there was something familiar about it. There were so many beautiful boats and things to see on shore, it was hard to take it all in at once. Looking back, I wish I had more pictures. I am so glad we have at least three more seasons to enjoy here!

Welcome Home

Two words I hope will describe my blog are comforting and encouraging.  Though it wasn't always true, my hope now is in Christ and I hope to live out the verse from Job 16:5 that says, "But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief." You may feel fine. You don't need relief. All the same, I hope you will be uplifted whenever you visit this site.


In the meantime, let me tell you about the Jewel of Bayshore. Around sixteen years ago we bought our first place, a matchbox house of brick, only about 800 square feet (hence the term matchbox) and riddled with old termite damage. It didn't take me long to realize I needed an attitude adjustment about this place. Instead of looking at it as someone's fifty year-old rental property, I started to see it for what it could be if it was truly loved. So I named it Peace Garden, having seen a famous British Peace Garden in The English Garden magazine. I went all out imagining how great this little cottage could be. I researched flowers and planted one for each letter in the home's name: P for petunias, E for echinacea, etc. I established a tongue-in-cheek home improvement society (giving my husband and me its top titles Pres and VP) and a newsletter about the house (the short-lived Peace Garden Gazette). Meanwhile, my Devil Dog, AKA The Pres, wasted no time demolishing plaster walls and replacing them with sheet rock, and taking out rotten floor joists and replacing them. But, being military folks, we had to move after only 18 mos. More on that house's progress later.

By the time we moved back I felt the name was wrong and changed it to Rose Tree Cottage, after our dear neighbor Linda Wendt, who sadly died while we were away- she had given me a wild rose from her garden before we'd moved. While we were gone the white wild rose took over and as it scrambled up over the brick and the porch roof, it gave the house the charm I'd pictured it having long before. The new version of my newsletter was called The Rose Tree Rambler, a publication of the Rose Tree Cottage Improvement Society, and its motto was 'Come see the jewel of Bayshore'. We are now several houses later, but treat each one with a fitting name, an improvement society (now happily also peopled with our kid, Fidget), and a newsletter. But we will never forget our roots, at the Jewel of Bayshore.