We stopped at Marcella’s donuts at 7:05 AM on the way to Mason, Ohio to watch our Grandson play soccer. This is his first year to play a neighborhood sport. So far it has been a rather dismal event to watch. When we went to pick him up our son was still at home. We don’t usually get up so early for soccer (35 minutes from our house), but our son had an out-of-town event and asked us if we were willing to attend an early game this once.
Much to our surprise they not only won, but our grandson actually kicked the ball 3 times! There was so much dew on the early morning field that most parents agreed when I said, “They did not tell us to wear our boots!” When the ball was kicked at certain angles you could see a stream of water flowing over and around it. We were delighted to witness the team’s first win and Rowan’s increased participation. In fact, he was on the field the entire game!
# 9 our Grandson
Such a wet morning!
Then we drove back to Batavia, Ohio where our youngest Grandgirl had a volley ball game with University of Cincinnati Clermont. Recently she was diagnosed with stress fractures in both calves and has been on crutches. She will miss playing the rest of the year. 😦 She is, however, required to attend all practices and games. When we arrived she was seated at the scoring table.
Our Ellie is #20 at the net, almost in center
Our daughter and son-in-law were also there. We knew our daughter had a funeral to attend. Much to our delight when it was time for her depart our eldest Grandgirl came to get her.
Wait a minute, except for Jeff’s wife, we were able to greet and hug the entire family as an unplanned event in a single day!!
Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, savor you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.
MARY JEAN IRION
This is a wonderful day. I’ve never seen this one before.
Recently while driving, we passed a woman drinking from one of these. I was immediately taken to the past!
Growing up we had drinking fountains like this in all the city parks and on the playground at school. Water never tasted as good as on a hot day when it gurgled up from below ground (I could hear it arriving) and splashed up to my mouth, into the dish, down the overflow drain. There are many modern versions of this from the same company, Murdock.
Murdock’s M-1776 Old Style was one of the very first water fountains to exist, and it’s still manufactured in our factory today. While fabrication methods might have changed with the invention of new technology, our commitment to durability, longevity, and style remains unchanged. In fact, many of our century-old models are still in operation today and can still be repaired with original parts.
Just one glimpse of that drinking fountain and it might as well have been 1958 for me. Eight years old, playing in the park. And if you can imagine, unsupervised by adults.
What was your favorite? The swings, the monkey bars, the teeter/totter?
Enjoy Bob showing the Grandgirls how to dominate a teeter totter!
Summer of 2009
When was the last time you let yourself go to a park? Outside to play? Drink from a drinking fountain? Better hurry, because in winter they turn off the water to our fountains in the parks.
Celebrating the company’s 170th anniversary in 2023, President Bob Murdock reflected on the Murdock legacy and looked forward on new innovations: “If you had the opportunity to go out there and be in a park, chances are you were out there with your family, at a picnic, and Murdock was there in the picnic shelter. Having that long history of involvement with the public is, more than anything else, why the Murdock brand remains strong. As we continue the innovation, all the things that we’re doing to make it a much better product, we’re building on the legacy of what it was in the very beginning.”
For several years Bob has taken the family out to celebrate at this time of year. In October he turns 75, our son turned 45 and our son-in-law turned 55. Our wedding anniversary September 26 marked 53 years. Yes! We have so much to celebrate. Turns out Lizzie’s flatmate turned 25 but we said he would have to wait until next year for the wingding celebration as reservations were already made. We went to a special restaurant called Nicola’s in the Over the Rhine area of downtown Cincinnati, complete with valet parking.
Bread sticks and bread “basket”
All the bread was ‘house made.’ I thought bread sticks and soft wheat rolls were best. Others liked the rolls topped with onion slice, tomato or zucchini. Focaccia looked spicy! Knowing I was having pasta I did not taste every bread, though it was tempting!!
The manager graced us with flutes of champagne.
I ordered Nicola’s Eggplant parmigiana for antipasti and split it with Emily.
I could not avoid the shadows on photos
Once we cut into it share it oozed with cheese and little eggplant was in evidence. I ate the basil leaf with mine.
A lavish party celebrating 175 combined years of living. Several of us ordered the Tagliatelle Alla Bolognese. The meat sauce was made with veal and beef. So rich, so yummy. Came with an unremarkable Caesar salad.
I could not finish my portion. Especially knowing dessert was to arrive! Nice leftover meal!
The gentlemen all got to order dessert of their choice in honor of their birthday. I asked for the chocolate cake with hazelnuts. By then, I had forgotten about taking photos. My slice of cake was very small but so very rich! Yep, I ate it all!
A special festivity over 53 years of marriage. Have I told you how very much I love my husband of 53 years? He is so sweet to me, caring and generous. He goes out of his way to be gentle and caring even with others. Besides, as I joke, “It is too late to train a new one!” Neither of us ever dreamed about the wonderful life we have shared. We are so very blessed.
This is from the writings of Amy Carmichael in Edges of His Ways.
Deuteronomy 2:3: Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. It would take too long to tell what this word has said to me. I will only say it spoke about a mountain of thought around which I have walked rather often. It is time to stop compassing that mountain. After settling that matter, I remembered one who for two whole years has been walking around a certain Mountain of Desire. When the desired thing was not given at the expected time, there was great disappointment. Perhaps the Lord is saying to that one and to others who are constantly praying about something personally desired, “Leave the matter to Me: you have prayed enough about it. You have compassed that mountain long enough.” I know another who always seems to be walking around a mountain of rubble. Self and the feelings of self, doubts and questions, grumblings, little piled-up ingratitudes, what are these but rubble? Is it not very dull to keep on compassing so dull a mountain? Hear the heartening word of the Lord, ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. “Rise ye up, take your journey” (v. 24), “fight the good fight of faith,” begin to possess your possessions.
Trekking in Rubble
This morning after reading Amy Carmichael I kept hearing ‘strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.’ I had to find the source of that line. It is from Great is Thy Faithfulness, by Thomas O Chisholm, verse 3.
Vs. 1 Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
Refrain:
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see:
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Vs. 2 Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
Vs. 3 Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow—
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
What mountain are you trekking around? In the Old Testament God told the Israelites to “take another lap around the mountain.” They were ungrateful and unbelieving.
10 For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.’ 11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
They shall never enter my rest.
Psalm 95:10-11 NIV
I think the New Testament has brought us hope and a challenge to put down our ungrateful hearts and enter into His rest through the shed blood of Jesus. Will we embrace His faithfulness today and marry it with our own? Our faithfulness comes from the faithfulness of Jesus.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
2 Peter 1:3 NIV
Jesus can help us live a godly life and stop trekking about the same mountain ’round and around and around. Are we willing to stop and listen for His direction off the path of endless repetition and futile thinking? He gives us strength for today. There have been days I thought I would never get through. Yet, He gives me strength. Sufficient strength for today.
Bob and I find that as we age (seemingly faster and faster) God gives us strength for each day. Just as the Israelites could not store manna for the next day, but needed to gather it each day, we draw our strength from Him one day at a time. He gives us faith and if we are willing to look for it, joy, too.
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 NIV
I pray this blog helps you to stop walking in the same old ruts, around and around. Stop and ask the Lord of your faith to help you as Amy Carmichael wrote, “Hear the heartening word of the Lord, ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. “Rise ye up, take your journey” (v. 24), “fight the good fight of faith,” begin to possess your possessions.“
When we are open to beauty, it is more likely to appear to us. When we share that gift by pointing it out to others, we find we have even more of it to celebrate.
Trebbe Johnson
When I looked up who is Trebbe Johnson on the internet I found her website https://trebbejohnson.com/about/ and learned some about her. You might want to look into her work more deeply?
I certainly agree with the quote above from her. Many times when we are out and about, Bob with his camera and me with my iPhone, I will point something out that I think would make a great photo. He is so good at capturing those ideas! He is very good snapping photos on his own, too! Imagine that!
Every year we try to get to the Moler race track at least once during the summer. It is a quarter mile clay oval racetrack. We call it ‘eating dirt’ since the dirt flies over the fences and often into the stands. Helps us get in touch with the amusements of our country neighbors. This year I spotted this fellow dressed for an evening at the track. I like his hat with buttons, his hair pulled into a ponytail, his overalls and food for the next race.
At racetrack by r m dutina
Then my Wish-I-was-her image.
Hope she is always this confident! r m dutina
This was amazing. Duckweed, frog and leaf shadow. How does he capture these so nicely?
r m dutina
The busy bees!
r m dutina
“You planted these, here, just for me?” asked the goldfinch.
r m dutina just out our front door
Glory bee by m l dutina
Keep watching for treasures in plain sight! And always give thanks.
always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
My friend and I both have this auto immune condition called scalp plaque psoriasis. It is a scaly itchy condition with lumps on the scalp. I swear I feel like a @#*(&#@% monkey. I scratch unconsciously because it itches almost every waking hour. I have even woken myself up scratching in the night. The warning is not to scratch as that can make for hair loss. When one itches like this the warnings mean nothing.
Not only do we itch but we also shed these overgrown skin cells. Don’t think dandruff, think heavy snow storm. Nope there is no cure. There are some prescription remedies that try to tame the symptoms. No cure. Oh, I remember! They are PRACTICING medicine on us. We are the practice subjects, along with 7.5 million other Americans. yikes.
Snow Squall
I read my iPad mini in bed. Sometimes I am too tired to put it away in the drawer and simply slide it under my pillow. When I got up this morning I heard a slide then bump. I looked in the drawer. Nothing in there. I moved my pillow aside to make certain I had not missed it. Then I saw the blizzard of skin cells on the dark blue sheet. Yuck. Sure enough, the iPad had been under my pillow and slipped off the end of the bed. I got down on the floor (a feat in itself!) but I could not see it. The dog wondered if I was doing morning stretches like she does. I call her Slinky Dog. I got out the bedside mini flashlight. There it was. Had to find the extension picker-upper thingy. Got on the floor again and retrieved the iPad. Finally, I went to the front closet to get the sweeper.
I have heard it said we should vacuum our beds several times a year because each of us shed skin cells, but this was ridiculous. I suppose there is a snow storm headed to my bed every single night as this condition continues. She recently commented how badly she needed to vacuum her black car seat.
I brush my hair and there are snow squalls. At times, white out conditions!
I am not entirely hopeful the dermatologist can bring this under control. And now, sadly, I have it on my ear, too. Never. Ever. Ask what else can go wrong.
LORD, I need patience and now would be a really good time to send that! Amen.
Have you ever tried to slow and deepen your breathing? If so, you may resonate with this quote.
That moment of inward breath, that pause and awareness of “how beautiful this is” is a prayer of appreciation, a moment of gratitude in which I behold beauty and am one with it.
Jean Shinoda Bolen
I have a friend who is participating in a church plant. They are going to have something like a seven minute silence following the sermon. I think that is terrific! Seven minutes to sit together, breath together, rest in the worship and prayers and sermon you just heard. Almost sounds like the Quakers.
It has been said that as Americans in 2023 we do not know how to breathe properly. That’s right a simple, deep inhale followed by a simple deep exhale. And then again. And once more. We want our autonomic nervous system to do it all. In case you have forgotten that science lesson, here is a very short refresher.
You don’t have to think about breathing because your body’s autonomic nervous system controls it, as it does many other functions in your body. If you try to hold your breath, your body will override your action and force you to let out that breath and start breathing again.
BUT there are health benefits to learning how to breathe, how to rest, how to stop and feel what is happening within ourselves.
The lungs are like sponges; they cannot get bigger on their own. Muscles in your chest and abdomen tighten or contract to create a slight vacuum around the lungs. This causes air to flow in. When you exhale, the muscles relax and the lungs deflate on their own, much like an elastic balloon will deflate if left open to the air.
“A prayer of appreciation” the first quote says. Do we appreciate our breathing? Are we willing to make the most of it? My sister recently suggested this book to my husband. As you may recall his lungs are compromised. I have read parts of the book and intend to finish it. Book description below is from Amazon.
No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly.
There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.
Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe.
Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is.
Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, James Nestor
I do not think we can master her prayer of appreciation until we become conscious of our breath. Are you willing to learn something new that simply might change your life for the better? Video below is about 11 minutes. Maybe not smoke and mirrors!
I had a tooth cut out yesterday by oral surgeon. Seems the molar had decayed beneath the crown (on the lingual side?) so badly that if they tried to pull it most likely it would just break. So yes, I had anesthesia similar to twilight sleep during a colonoscopy, then he went about cutting it out. Promised me stitches that would dissolve on their own.
All this to say this type of disruption sends Type 2 diabetes into chaos, not to mention the pain of extraction and subsequent healing. Will be sipping chicken noodle soup broth, milkshake with a spoon, applesauce, whatever I can think of trying not to fill a crater with stitches with food scraps.
Not like I have never been through this before: I will only have 8 teeth of my own left after this procedure. Dentist plans to build a “flexible partial” 4-6 weeks after extraction. This will be an autumn of soft foods and large dental expenditure.
Will be relieved to get the nasty taste from this decay out of my mouth. My teeth have been rotting for over 50 years. I gave up on them a long time ago. With all the other health issues I just got to where I did not care any more.
So please, pray for me and for Bob as he takes care of me during recovery. We had dinner reservations at a church for a program entitled “Death over Dinner.” I had to cancel my reservation since it occurred day of extraction and I won’t be eating anything, needing to stay close to my ice pack. I found it amusing as I age and decline. Humorous that the verse below did not include ‘toothless wonder.”
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 