lifestyle – Page 3 – Through My Eyes

Getting Back To The Basics

Listening to someone new on my Amazon Music app, Iron And Wine, I couldn’t help but be transported back to a different time.

The song had a catchy title….something about being naked but don’t let that deter you from listening. Instrumentality it was mello and the lyrics made sense. The sound was soothing not unlike something I might would have listened to during the Woodstock era.

It made me appreciate once more the music of the past. You just don’t find artists or music like this anymore. This was refreshing. It took me back to my teenage years when unlike today there were moral boundaries. Life was simpler and people were actually happy. Yes, we loved to cruise around the hottest drive-ins and I even got caught coming home late on occasion but life had meaning.

It’s reflection on better times that will strengthen our desire to not just settle but to strive to get back some of the values we had back then.

Do I want to give up my new car or Wi Fi? Probably not but if it would mean we could live in a less violent world and a world that has a strong value system, then yes I would. Progress is not always in our best interest.

The last few years have more than ever shown that it’s not the wealth of this world that matters. We need to get back to the basics. It’s really simple, put God first. Next to God is family. God from the very beginning laid out a value system that works. LOVE

May God bless you abundantly.

Perfection Or Not So Perfect

In the last few months I have expanded my artistic journey to include jewelry making. Admittedly I have made some pieces that would not meet my level of perfection… but then I had to stop myself.

I had been throwing out everything that was imperfect and this morning it hit me. If God judged me like that I would have been tossed out a long time ago. The Imperfect Knot might not be pretty but was created from bits and pieces of metals from completed projects. While a recycled project, it can still serve a purpose. Like this bit of imperfection none of us are perfect but we all have a purpose.

While this ring may look more complete it too was a recycled project. One of my biggest frustrations in using soft metals is the unwanted scratches and dents. To make them a little less noticeable I added a few dents of my own.

Working with metal is definitely giving me a lesson in patience. Continue to follow me on my artistic journey.

Have a wonderful day.

A Weeble With Purpose

For those of you who were not raised in the 70’s you are probably asking “What the heck is a weeble”?

I remember fondly playing with these things as a child. They were almost hypnotizing as they rocked back and forth with the slightest nudge.

Sometime in previous years I acquired the 1974 Indian Weeble from the western collection. I have shuffled him around my house over the years because I just couldn’t seem to part with him. Currently he has a home in my office. Here he has a purpose. After paying bills or some other frustrating task I give him a nudge and he just makes me laugh. I watch him rock until he finally stops upright again.

It is funny how something so simple at least for a moment calms my world. The point is you can benefit from just taking a moment to be distracted from life’s stressor.

Here’s my Weeble:

Find the simple pleasures in life. Have a wonderful day.

Of Wings And Wire

Those that know me know I never stop looking for that next adventure in crafting. The past few weeks I have been tampering with metal in particular wire. While I have had experience beading I have not designed with wire itself.

While I love designing anything this is one art that has really tested my patience. I typically like things that I can complete pretty quickly with the exception of painting. I can do a painting in a few hours and sometimes it may take a week or longer.

I think some days there must be a little angel perched on my shoulder to keep me focused. Otherwise, I would surely wreak havoc with some of my projects.

Wire wrapping is not difficult but is time consuming. Here are some of my completed projects to date:

If you are interested in learning this craft there are great videos on both YouTube and Rumble.

Expand your horizon and learn a craft. May God richly bless you.

Finding Peace

Dispite the chaos in our world I have learned to find peace in many places. This just makes me smile.

Can’t remember the name of this lily but the blooms are about 5-6″ across.

Even though they are full of aphids it didn’t affect the actual blooms.

Last year each plant only had two blooms and then became dormant. This year they have doubled and so have my many blessings. God is good!

I have so many changes in the environment over the past six months. The air seems cleaner, seeing more birds, more butterflies and more plant life. When we get rid of evil we give life a chance.

Looking forward to the many more blessings God has planned for us. Have a great Sunday.

Signs From A Divine Source

While this little guy may not seem relevent to you there is a story here. Early in the year I began to see slow subtle changes in the environment. Prior to this time even the air smelled bad. Blame it on jet fuel, industrial waste, whatever you want to but you could tell something was toxic. Anyway, in early march we started to see these little rabbits. While you may say that is not a red flag for me it was. You see we have lived on the same property for 36 years and have rarely seen a rabbit until now.

Then with Spring came new grass. Maybe it was just my old eyes deceiving me but it seemed greener than usual. I don’t have a lot of flowers so I take heed of small environmental changes.

We see the rabbits daily now, morning and night. While the news media paints a dillusional picture of what is happening in the world, I choose to ignore them and see what picture God paints. Lily’s in my garden container will soon be blooming. Last year they only had one bloom on each plant. This year there are four blooms on each of the two plants. Like the rabbits, they are voluntarily multiplying.

You may be laughing this off right now but what is a matter of fact is that God sends of signs of things to come. I believe these few signs along with the increase in birds points to the fact that better days WILL COME!

Don’t get caught up in daily drama and the lies of the main stream media. Trust God, trust that he has a plan for Heaven On Earth. It will come but only in His time.

Have a rich and blessful day.

Knocking On Heaven’s Door

When I stepped outside on my deck this morning, I thought I must have stepped into Heaven. The grass was greener than normal, the sun brighter and the clouds just plain Heavenly.

After a brief morning shower it could not have been a better scene. Just when you think this world has “snapped”, something reels you back in. With the state this country is in and the recent shooting in Texas, it is easy to question “why continue”. It is not for us to question why life continues but it is for us to manage what God has created! So far we have done a poor job.

We have got to get back to the basics people. We have allowed evil people and politicians to dictate how we live our lives. NO MORE! It is not just about politics. It is about life, love, faith. These are the principles we grew up on that have quickly faded away.

You know the old saying “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” There is so much truth in that statement. While there is little to no fix for our government, there is hope for life itself. It begins with me, you, your neighbor, your community, the world! We have to change our attitude and our vision for what we want out of life and what God has envisioned for us.

This world and the universe was not built in a day and only by God’s hand will it be cleaned up in a day. We have to start with cleaning up our environment and getting rid of the evil in it. God did NOT create this beautiful world for us to trash it like a kid with a new toy.

If you want to be “knocking on Heaven’s Door”, you might want to think about what you have done to even be standing at Heaven’s Door. As we draw closer to a time when judgement will surely come, don’t you want to be looking at a field of clouds instead of the Lake of Fire?

It is possible to have a Heaven on Earth but a lot has to change. It begins with waking up to reality and creating GOOD in this world. God wants us to Love and Love unconditionally. Does everyone deserve to enjoy a perfect world? Probably not but we are not judge and jury, we are the caretakers.

It begins with positive motivation. Regardless of how things are in your life find something positive to focus on even if it is only one moment. Share your smile with someone who can’t. Give to those who have nothing…and I am not talking about money. Those moments can and should change your life.

Have a great day in Christ!

A Stitch In Time …Quilting

Today I finished my biggest project to date, a full size quilt. Take a peak.

While it has not made it to my bed yet because I literally just finished it minutes ago but was so excited about its completion I wanted to share.

While I get it is not a complicated pieced quilt, and I have done those, this one has gotten me through this nightmare that we have endured the last few years.

Yes I can hear the comments now, “It took you two years to complete I could have made several in that length of time”. Yes, I get it could have been done quicker. Let me explain, this is not my only hobby and was not my only project. This was also not quilted on a frame but in my lap. The squares and borders were sewed together a row at a time after the individual squares were quilted.

It has not been a complicated project but a labor of love. Love of the art of quilting. I actually acquired the fabric for this quilt several years earlier on a camping trip to the mountains. We landed in Marion, NC. It is a quaint small town that has barn quilts on almost every single building. In addition to being a great photo op it gave me the opportunity to drop by their little quilt shop.

For two years the fabric sat in my stash of other potential quilt options. When Covid hit I said it was the perfect time to start the quilt. Striving for perfection was not the objective, just to get a finish during a stressful time was the goal. So that I would not get stressed over the quilt I also worked on other projects.

Two weeks ago my husband says to me “Are you ever going to finish that quilt”. He was anxious as well to see it complete. So I put my other projects aside and finished seaming the last row of blocks. The last two days have been spent gently binding edges. This morning my husband cooked breakfast. When he brought breakfast to me, I was in my office where I could watch the birds and our favorite rabbit. Again the quilt bundled in my lap would probably look a “hot mess” to most people. I proudly showed my husband the last few stitches I had to make. And his remark, “Are you going to sell it?” No I responded because two years of my life was tied up in this quilt!

It might be a while before I undertake another project like this but do plan to make some lap quilts for donation.

If you have never quilted but would like to learn check out your local community College, quilt shops or center for the arts for classes.

Thanks for following and don’t forget to share this blog.

Have a great and blessed day.

Camping – Trip 2 / Goose Creek State Park

This trip we decided to continue in the State Park system and visit Goose Creek. While it is beautiful grassy wetlands, we were ill prepared for the lack of shade trees.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly of Goose Creek. The only bad was the lack of shade trees as stated above. The ugly was the nasty weather we got last night. And then there was the good, which was a lot.

We didn’t do a lot on the day of arrival other than setup and get used to our new environment. On day two we got up and got ready for our first walking trip down to the swimming access.

It was a nice sandy path down to the river.

These wetlands proved to be a different kind of shooting adventure.

This is approaching the actual swimming area.

The following pictures are from the pier/boat ramp area.

Yesterday morning before the storm we went up into Washington and I got these two pics.

If you are in the Washington, NC area check out Goose Creek State Park. A great place to just unwind.

Stay safe and have a great day.

Camping 2022 – First Trip

Our first trip out we chose Kings Mountain State Park. The main reason we chose this park was because we wanted to check out Two Kings Casino. While we had no aspirations of “winning big” we actually ended up spending little time in the casino and more time in the great outdoors.

Getting there was a great big hiccup as the GPS said it was only 4 hours and 8 minutes…..WRONG! It took us six hours to get there fighting high winds and high traffic. Our trailer swayed like it had no bars attached! The campground was not on a mountain but as we entered it there was certainly similarities in that the road was narrow and curving around foothills.

Arriving at the park office I got out and was met by an attractive man that said “Sorry we’re full” and then just kind of giggled. I of course did not think it was really that funny but since he wasn’t bad to look I went along with the joke.

After parking on the lot I got out and left our door in the truck so we could set up. My husband rolled the window down for him which proved to be beneficial when moments later we hear this click….he had locked himself in the truck with the keys in it! My husband was able to get his arm in far enough to unlock the truck and remove his keys. It kind of fit our mischevious Roco.

With our camper finally set up, it was time to have some fun. Here are some pics from the park.