The Wood's Secret Garden

Each year for our wedding anniversary (which is in May) we purchase a living plant to plant in our garden.  Last year we purchased a "Bleeding Heart" and planted it in our new yard at the Mobile Home Park.  Here is how it looked last year:   It was really beautiful while it was in full bloom; but, once it lost all its leaves it was a twisted mangle of dry wood that I almost thought we should chop down. While watching everything else grow, bloom and flourish in our little garden spots, the "Bleeding Heart" was showing no signs of life.  Just last night, we were discussing whether or not we had room to plant an anniversary plant this May and I mentioned that if the "Bleeding Heart" is dead, we might dig it out and replace it with something else for our Anniversary this year.  Just last night, I truly believed that it had no life in it. Early this morning I went out back to check the basil and the tomatoes to see how they were coming along and as...

Checking the garden after a wonderful, worshipful, Sunday.  These were taken a little after 5:20 p.m. And here is how the Basil that the husband planted by seed is coming along.  It is about 1/2 inches tall.

How many people do you see in the image below? Take a good look and use your imagination.  I will be the first to admit that my husband and I have a very child-like imagination; but, that is a good thing. Unless of course you are sitting at a stop light, oblivious that it has turned green and cars are honking at you, while you are staring at the cloud formations with bated breath watching a giant whale slowly morphing into what appears to be an elephant. Along those same lines, when we downloaded a few pictures from the new blooms in this Year's Spring garden, my husband and I both saw a Calypso Orchestra smack dab in the center of one of the flowers.  There are at least 24 men in black pants wearing those ruffled sleeve Calypso shirts.  Now do you see them? Well, even if you don't, you might enjoy the simple beauty of a few of the flowers that are currently blooming in are tiny little garden, in the tiny little back yard of our tiny little 520 sq foot house....

Barbie Transformation Project It’s a funny thing how inspiration works.  At 54 years old I had no idea I would spend a Saturday playing with Barbie dolls.  In fact, as a child, I spent little time playing with dolls.  That might have had something to do with the fact that we very little money and could not afford real Barbie’s.  The closest thing that I had to a Barbie doll was a plastic doll from the 99 cents store who’s legs where attached with rubber bands (inside of her body) and, well, when the rubber bands broke, which they did within the first week of ownership, all I was left with was a legless lady. This past week, a friend posted a video about a woman named Sonia who has created some really wonderful little dolls, by wiping off the factory faces of dolls she found in a second hand store and hand painting new faces onto their little heads - ultimately transforming them into a picture of sweet, youthful, purity!  I was inspired! After breakfast o...

Old-time cowboy to reign at 12th Raymond Rodeo by Morgan Voorhis OF THE SIERRA STAR  RAYMOND – An all-American cowboy – Clifford Calhoun, 84, of Madera – will serve as grand marshal for the 12th annual Raymond parade. "I was picked based on my age and reputation," he chuckles with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. His reputation is that of an expert horse trainer – something he gave up just 12 years ago at the age of 72. Mr. Calhoun was born in 1913 in Green Mountain, seven miles outside Raymond. His family homesteaded there in the late 1800s, while his father worked in the mines. As for education, young Cliff finished the eighth grade before going to work for Lindsay Wright, a cattleman in Green Mountain. By the age of 16, he was competing in all kinds of rodeo events, such as team-roping and steer-stopping, an event where the steer is roped and stopped. And at 17, he began working for Paul Westfall in Le Grand. Over the years, Mr. Calh...

We received a call this morning from Lucy's son letting us know that Lucy passed away last night.  In his own words, we were informed that "Lucy has graduated".  She was a strong believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and those of us who know the Lord know that, "to live is Christ, to die is gain"! We met Lucy in September of 2011.  She was sitting in her wheelchair at a small bible study that Michael and I attended at Atria just a few weeks prior to him starting his Pastoral Care Ministry and Sunday Preaching ministry there.  I recall that first meeting vividly.  Myrtle, who has since gone home to be with the Lord, was easy to get to know and did a great deal of interacting.  Lucy, on the other hand, did not speak a word the entire time.  After the study concluded, I sat with her and discovered many things about her.  She was suffering with Parkinson disease and was having a rather difficult time dealing with her limited ability to do physical t...

A New Year's Resolution! "My times are in Your hand!"  Psalm 31:15  Firmly believing that my times are in God's hand, I here submit myself and all my affairs for the ensuing year, to the wise and gracious disposal of God's divine providence. Whether God appoints for me . . . .   health--or sickness,   peace--or trouble,   comforts--or crosses,   life--or death --may His holy will be done! All my time, strength, and service, I devote to the honor of the Lord Jesus--and even my common actions. It is my earnest expectation, hope, and desire, my constant aim and endeavor--that Jesus Christ may be magnified in me. In everything I have to do--my entire dependence is upon Jesus Christ for strength. And whatever I do in word or deed, I desire to do all in His name, to make Him my Alpha and Omega. I  have  all from Him--and I would  use  all for Him. If this should prove a year of  affliction , a  sorrowful  year to ...