• #atozchallenge,  faith,  Journalism,  writing

    #AtoZChallenge: Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire. – William Butler Yeats

    I’ve always wanted to be a writer. When I was younger I wrote poetry and received positive feedback. I worked on the yearbook committee in junior high and enjoyed my high school AP English class with Mr. Carter. I would have been on the school newspaper but Mr. Ridgway was the newspaper teacher and he scared me. Mr. Ridgway taught sophomore advanced English. He was known to scare his new students during his initial class of the year to gain their respect. He would find a student who did not establish continuous eye contact with him, embarrass that student by yelling at the person “if you’re not going to pay…

  • Creation,  faith,  flowers,  nature

    #AtoZChallenge: Bouquets or garden flowers?

    One thing that I look forward to in the spring and summer is the variety of flowers and plants that spring up around our house. We have several rose bushes, iris, lilac, lillies – all make for a beautiful, fragrant bouquets inside. However, the dilemma is that once I cut the flowers and bring them inside, they don’t last very long. And, they aren’t visible and make for a barren landscape outside. I also struggle a tiny bit with the question, “Who am I to think that I should cut these blossoms and hurt the plant, just so I can have beautiful flowers in the house for a few days?”…

  • birds,  Celebrate the Small Things,  faith,  photography

    CTST: Baby birds and new life

    Celebrate the Small Things: New life in nature reminds us of God’s care for all creation. This week I’m celebrating the new life of these baby barn swallows. They are the second brood of the season. I marvel over the intricate design of the nest that the birds built outside the building where I work. It takes commitment from both parents to make such a sturdy family home with mud pellets, sticks, grass and other plant fibers, working through natural elements (rain, wind, heat, humidity) to create the nest. They even sometimes battle humans whose first instinct is to remove the nests so they don’t make a mess outside the doorways.…

  • #CTST,  faith,  life after 50,  photography,  rain,  writing

    Short-sighted in the rain

    Celebrate the Small Things: That God sees what’s up ahead, even when we can’t. And, that we can rest peacefully in that knowledge! It rains often in Indiana, even if the temperature is 95 degrees, which blows my mind. I grew up in Denver and when it rained, it resulted in cool afternoons or evenings with the humidity dissipating into the atmosphere. Not so in the muggy Midwest. This morning was a downpour, as if someone was refilling a pitcher and dumping it on the roads. It reminded me of a time when I worked for a publishing company, selling advertising space to businesses. My boss and I were making…

  • faith,  life after 50,  travel

    Life’s moving walkways

    I recently had my second knee replacement (in December) and I’ve been feeling good about my progress. Over my 20-plus year marketing/sales career, I’ve traveled often. A few weekends ago, my husband Joe, and I, traveled for the first time since my operations. We attended his niece’s wedding in Dallas, so we flew from Indianapolis. We got a good parking spot and entered the terminal. We each had a large suitcase to check, I had a purse and Joe had his mom’s birthday present. We hopped on the moving walkway and stood to one side. My suitcase had the 360-degree wheels so it was in front of me. We hear…

  • #RevofKindness,  Celebrate the Small Things,  faith,  life after 50

    Kindness Challenge (wk5) and CTST: Grateful for kindness

    Celebrating the Small Things: For the first time in 43 years, I can see 20/20 without glasses, contacts or reading glasses. I had cataract and cornea reshaping surgery last week and it’s truly amazing what the doctors can accomplish! During this seven-week Kindness Challenge, I’ve become more aware of the large and small kindnesses in my life. Here are a few that I’m especially grateful for, and none of them require money. 1.  Marriage My husband is one of the kindness people I know. He was a struggling college student when I met him, getting his master’s degree in Denver, and yet he always found ways to help people around…

  • #CTST,  #RevofKindness,  faith,  life after 50,  Mr. Happy Man

    Kindness Challenge (wk4) and CTST: Being kind

    This video inspiration was sent to me over the weekend so I had to share (and backdate this post, because I’m running behind). Be sure to watch this short film to the end. Some of the people who are interviewed, who have been positively effected by 88-year-old Bermudian Johnny Barnes, are inspirational also. Johnny devotes six hours per day to greeting passers-by at a traffic circle. One person interviewed said that if Johnny isn’t at his spot in the morning, people worry and call the radio station, asking if he is okay. Another lady (my favorite) said that she was in such a bad mood one morning, that she vowed not…

  • #RevofKindness,  Celebrate the Small Things,  faith,  life after 50,  nature,  writing

    Kindness Challenge (wk3) and CTST: Kind energy

    In Celebrating the Small Things – I got through the week with the flu and work and tried to get enough rest to heal quickly. Still shooting to have my cataract surgery on Wednesday, if I’m not coughing. Please pray for me! Kindness Challenge update: I’m realizing that although the goal of week 3 is to incorporate kindness into my thoughts and actions, that this is probably going to be a life-long journey. I certainly didn’t master it this week. My husband and I both had the flu so I tried to be kind but failed as often as I succeeded, because my energy level was nil. I tried to…

  • #RevofKindness,  Celebrate the Small Things,  faith,  life after 50,  marriage,  writing

    Kindness Challenge (wk2) & CTST: Find kindness

    I’m a little late because the dreaded flu bug got a hold of me late last week. The kindness I noticed around me was encouraging, although I didn’t feel well. My husband and I even remarked that living in a smaller town, people are nicer to each other, whether you talk with them at the local grocery store, restaurant or gardening center. There’s a sense of community even if you don’t personally know everyone. It also seems more important to frequent local, family-run businesses versus large company chains, because you are usually supporting generations of families. It’s sometimes the smallest acts of kindness that stick with me. A co-worker bringing…

  • #RevofKindness,  faith,  kindness,  life after 50,  writing

    Seven weeks of kindness

    I’m participating in a 2016 Kindness Challenge. Each Monday, we’ll have a different prompt to enact in our lives and, by Friday, the blog will be written, hopefully inspired by the topic. The person who is coordinating this challenge is Niki Lopez, on her blog The Richness of a Simple Life. I’m looking forward to it and hope that it is an encouraging experience, not only for me but perhaps for those around me. There can never be too much kindness in the world, that’s for sure. Drop back by to view the full list in the series. #RevofKindness Week 1: Start your day with kindness Week 2: Observe kindness around…