Category: Art

Posted on in Art, Beagle, Book quotes, Faith, Family, Humor, Just do it, medical treatment, Memories, Nature, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Worship, Yield

Mahalo, A Word We Learned in Hawaii

  • Mahalo – Thank You – (even on the garbage can flaps)
  • Bird feeders full and busy with bird traffic
  • Cake to bake and pies to create
  • Sweet potatoes 25 cents a pound and bound to cost less after Thursday!!
  • Lucky responding well to Glucosamine Chondroitin, though she still limps
  • turkey!
  • then turkey sandwich spread will follow
  • cranberry sauce
  • lately more sunny days than gloomy
  • Our Lord and Savior
  • Advent begins
  • books of our faith, including prayer books and hymnals
  • online Christian music I can search and play
  • shopping online makes some this so much easier
  • Baby Francesca continues to improve
  • white bread, mayonnaise and left over turkey slices sandwich!
  • fragrant candles
  • those who read my blog and comment
  • those who read my blog and are encouraged but do not comment
  • Betty continues to improve
  • Margie making great strides in her recovery
  • Outdoor Christmas lights
  • the wonders on our walk at Ten Mile Creek park
  • The joy of taking Lucky for a ride
  • wind moving the pinwheels reminds me of the movement of the Holy Spirit
  • those willing to help the less fortunate
  • landscaper who sweeps up leaves off the lawn
  • my friend Lori who absolutely loves all things Christmas
  • banyan tree sending out new leaves on Maui
  • Bob selected cookies for us
  • Willing contributors to Empower Youth toy drive
  • Zoom study of Franciscan book, meeting 10 people there weekly
  • union Township crochet and knit group
  • Crochet and knit monthly meeting at Convent
  • Bi-weekly group with church folks
  • Our family
  • Grandchildren!
  • Mint Chapstick
  • good medical care without too much waiting
  • dental care
  • safe walking area
  • my spiritual director
  • But wait! There’s more!! As Kathy says “There is ALWAYS something to be grateful for!”

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

1 Thessalonians 5: 18 KJV


Posted on in Art, Cooking, Family

Proud of This Young Man

This is not a terrific photo of our son. Just not quite in focus, but we were nevertheless proud to hear of this commendation. He works at Catch a Fire Pizza in Lebanon, Ohio. If you visit there he will be in the background as part of the prep team, but obviously he is making an impact at his place of employment.

He began making sour dough bread for their bread, salad croutons and Italian dishes. Huge hit! Then he made pretzel buns for Hoagies. Sent that to the owner. Now on the menu. He is teaching workers at the other 2 locations how to make the special breads.

Save a slice for me, Jeff!

Posted on in Aging, Art, Cooking, Faith, Family, Humor, Thanks

Giant 53rd Anniversary and Birthdays Party

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.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Art, Challenge, Humor, Listen, Nature, Poetry

Poetry

Waiting for Autumn ©Molly Lin Dutina 

Neighbors yard is filled from
First tree to drop her gown
likely Yellow Poplar
We have a few buttons
And ribbons in our lot from other
Ladies preparing to drop their gowns

Cicadas still sing afternoon melody
Sun shines brightly
Some maple branches turning
getting ready to disrobe
Mostly green on our horizon
Autumn waits at the corner

So humor from proof reading blog. Must have thought I had deaf cicadas in our yard because I wrote “Cicadas still sign afternoon melody.” Oh Molly, bad humor.

One cicada was so loud last evening, for a moment Bob thought it might have gotten into the house. Saw a huge one on the sidewalk when I walked Lucky this morning. Not dead, but certainly slowing down. Was this who we heard last evening?

Posted on in Aging, Amazing Creations, Art, Challenge, Faith, Thanks

Quote from Another Writer

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.

Ephesians 5:20 NIV
Posted on in Amazing Creations, Art, Humor, Memories, Nature

Gossamer Glistening

I have been noticing spider strings in the morning sun. These are not “webs” as such, more like hunting lines? I suppose the spider drops out of the trees because these begin high in the air) and drops down into the grass. The sun catches the gossamer line and glistens in my eyes.

Makes me wonder how all the birds frequenting our feeder miss those lines as they come flying in? We have decals and a blotter marker that leaves a residue that the birds can see so they do not crash into our sliding glass door. Does the spider have something like that in its silk?

I forgot to write about all this until this morning when I put the sprinkler on our clump river birch and then the new Mallow shrub. High heat this week and no rain in the forecast, ugh. Trying to unwind the hose and blech! a spider string was caught in my hair. Now I am wrestling the hose, (and I eventually turned the hose storage roller over on its side), trying to get the string out of my hair and remembering that I did not write about all of this.

In high school I did a science project with Becky about spiders. She was an artist and her family lived in a large house with an old stone basement. We sprayed a piece of cardboard with hairspray, captured a spider web . And repeated the process. Not all the captures were successful. We used the good ones as our displays to discuss the various kinds of silk a spider uses in construction.

Likely the most maddening encounter I ever had with a spider occurred at our last address on Siesta Drive. We had bird feeders (as usual) on our front porch. One day we came home from shopping and wondered how the hummingbird was holding this strange position on the porch.

Upon closer inspection, Grr! A spider had captured it and killed it. I was furious that our little friend had fallen prey to the natural order. Then I began to wonder what size spider could do that? I went inside to get the broom. Believe it or not I found that spider hiding along the edge of the porch. I drove it out into the open and beat it to death with the broom. Not exactly proud of that moment, but I felt justified at the time.

Silk so strong. Arachnid so mysterious. I am not afraid of spiders but like many people I do not like when I get their silks in the face. Walking a trail at the Nature Center I am always sort of relieved when Bob goes first and knocks the hunting lines away.

So with all my unscientific lingo but strong interest I guess I could have the title Citizen naturalist?

A man without God is trusting in a spider’s web. Everything he counts on will collapse.

Living Bible, Job 8:
Posted on in Art, Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Family, Just do it, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Yield

The Shack

Have you read the book or seen the movie?

When it was first published it was quite controversial. Many have found solace and understanding of the Trinity from this book and the subsequent movie.

“So what do I do now?” asked Mack. Jesus replied “What you’re already doing, Mack, learn to live loved. It’s not an easy concept for humans. You have a hard time sharing anything.” He chuckled and continued, “So yes, what we desire is for you to ‘re-turn’ to us, and then we come and make our home inside you, and then we share. The friendship is real, not merely imagined. We’re meant to experience this life, your life, together, in a dialogue, sharing the journey. You get to share in our wisdom and learn to love with our love, and we get …. to hear you grumble and gripe and complain, and …”

The Shack Page 174-175 by Paul Young

The subtitle on the book reads “You are never as alone as you think.”

If you have not read it check your local library. Or try to get the DVD or movie through Hoopla at the library. It will certainly have you thinking about your relationship with the Trinity and their work in your life. Well worth your time and in my opinion, something to give you a good long think!

The most difficult thing about the Christian concept of the Trinity is that there is no way to perfectly and completely understand it. The Trinity is a concept that is impossible for any human being to fully understand, let alone explain. God is infinitely greater than we are; therefore, we should not expect to be able to fully understand Him. The Bible teaches that the Father is God, that Jesus is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God. The Bible also teaches that there is only one God. Though we can understand some facts about the relationship of the different Persons of the Trinity to one another, ultimately, it is incomprehensible to the human mind. However, this does not mean the Trinity is not true or that it is not based on the teachings of the Bible.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Trinity-Bible.html

The Shack is just one interpretation of the Trinity. No one person knows for certain how to teach and understand the complex nature of what we worship.

LORD, help our lack of understanding. Lead us deeper to Your heart. Help us learn to live as loved. Amen.

Posted on in Art, Special Event

Museum Visit

Recently we went to a special exhibit at Cincinnati Art Museum. These were paintings by Pablo Picasso entitled Out of Bounds. The museum notes, “The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), perhaps the most innovative and influential artist of the 20th century. The Cincinnati Art Museum is celebrating his legacy with an unprecedented exhibition, the first to examine Picasso’s lifelong engagement with landscape. Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds brings to our galleries paintings and sculptures by the artist from some 25 public and private collections across the United States and Europe.”

I have never ever cared for his cubist styles. A few of the items in this exhibit showed he really could paint in styles I liked! Well, at least twice.

He could have been an impressionist!

Some of the items looked as if they were drawn by a child with crayons. I should have taken a photo for you!

Here is one of Bob’s favorites.

There are likely folks around the world who like his art along with many collectors. Give me an impressionist any day!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Art, Challenge, Faith, Journal, Just do it, Listen, Memories, Nature, Special Event, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

Nautilus or Ammonite?

I mentioned I would get back to the shell on my soul collage.

“The nautilus and the ammonite are similar organisms. Both are aquatic molluscs with spiral shells. Ammonites, however, have been extinct since the K-T event that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago while the nautilus still roams the seas. There are numerous other differences between the two creatures, most of which are minor.”

https://sciencing.com/differences-between-nautilus-ammonite-8687704.html

Since childhood I have been fascinated by shells. Grandma Rush used to bring them to me from her bus trips to Florida. I likely found some on an eastern seaboard beach with my Dad before age 10. Even the land snails I found along the banks of the stream in Kuhner’s field fascinated me with their shells.

The nautilus creature makes a larger shell as it grows. Then it closes off the old chamber where it lived. Once when we were traveling the east coast we found a nautilus shell that had been cut open in a shop. Bob let me get it. For years it was hanging in my office. It was very fragile and got broken on the edges when not packed soundly for moving. From another vacation I now have a small cut open nautilus in a stained glass piece. In Hot Springs, Arkansas we found an ammonite in a rock shop that had been cut open. Again, Bob said, “Get it!”

Ancient to Arkansas to Ohio
Inner ancient chambers

Why are these special to me? When I was learning about the Center down silence, the nautilus showed me a way to do that. Instead of growing outward, to enter meditation and silence I need to travel from the largest chamber to the smallest, dropping things that hinder my listening to God along the way. Also note, the smaller the chamber, the fewer things it will hold.

During the retreat when I finally was able to come to stillness, a stop, I sensed the Lord saying that I had not been going to that quiet place enough with the Spirit for about 6 weeks or so. That is why I was so tired and drained. It was a gentle enlightenment and I immediately knew the wisdom of the statement. I forgot to drink from the Living Water, daily. I failed to enter the center down silence. Before retreat I was so hungry for silence. No wonder! I had not been there consistently for a long time. Yes I checked off boxes, did devotional readings, even read Scripture and Christian books. But no concentrated peeling away of distracting layers and just listening.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 46:1,4,6 NIV

How could I skip going to the Living Water God offers me? The Word says the heart is deceitful above all else! I am so easily deluded. Help me, Jesus my Redeemer, to rest in Your holy place daily.

Much more important than showing you the photos is to ask you to try entering that center down silence for yourselves. Even Monica Brown understands! Look at the CD cover of hers I found in my favorite colors!

Will you try this for 21 days? Just listening for that still, small voice. It makes all the difference in the world! Give yourself to listening. Quiet your thoughts and heart. Sit still. Be quiet.

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
    in quietness and trust is your strength,
    but you would have none of it.”

Isaiah 30:15 NIV
Posted on in Art, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Music, Special Event, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

Finally home to stay for a while!

What a glorious retreat I had at the Sisters of Charity convent in Delhi. Oh my! The Lord enabled me to peel back the layers of surface-ness and enter the silent place with the Holy One. There is so much we do not understand or realize about that quiet place.

That quiet place is so restorative and life-giving. I did my usual retreat practices. Listen for the Voice from the quiet place. Try to obey what I was told. Read books as they came across my path. I took notes and tried to digest and experience what the words said, what the Voice said. I will attempt over a week or two to show you the holy places I was led to, the things I learned.

First I heard, 

"Peel back
Let layers flutter open
Rest, be revealed."
23-6-4 opening prayer time

And when I went to the art pastels I am trying to learn how to use this is what came forth.

Please ignore black prongs from holder

I used too much fixative when I was finished and the paper wrinkled, oh well. The river of living water lies in that lower, interior level. I determined to peel back my upper, outer layers and rest while being revealed. I had to return to these instructions more than once.

The retreat leader introduced us to the musician Monica Brown. I was totally unfamiliar with her work. The theme for the opening and continuation of the retreat was the songs entitled “Quiet my Soul” and “In the Silence.”

Once I found the music on my iPad I listened to these lovely calls to the Presence of the Holy One repeatedly, especially at bed time or at times my heart and mind got distracted from centering.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:20 NLT

I am praying that this sharing will help you to enter into that place of quiet and restoration with the Holy Trinity.

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
In returning and rest you shall be saved;
    in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.
But you refused

Isaiah 30:15

That last phrase has always made me pause. I DO NOT want to be one who refuses! Other translations say, “But you would not.” This retreat I knew I was running on empty and of absolute necessity in need of returning and rest, quietness and trust. May you, too, set aside time each day to drop down into that ‘center down silence’ of restoration, rest, quietness and trust. Linger and be restored.