4th of July Concert

The Cedar Creek Community Band that I play in will have a concert featuring patriotic music on the 4th of July at 3:00 p.m. at Providence Place. There will be a stage set up outside near the movie theater. Admission is free.

A New Cell Phone

As I have blogged before, I am not a big cell phone user. It’s not that I’m not up on technology; it’s just not my thing. I have one, but mostly use it for emergencies only, and Don uses it on weekends to call his family because there are no long distance charges. I am on a family plan with my brother and several other family members, which we have been on for about 6 years, which is when I got this phone. I don’t need bells and whistles, just a functional phone, which this has been, until now. It won’t charge anymore. So Don and I went to the Verizon store Saturday to have them check it and possibly buy a new adapter.

The representative there tried hard to contain his laughter. They hadn’t sold adapters for that phone in years. I would need a new one. The cheapest one they had: $130.

I knew there had to be a better way and finally got the Verizon guy to admit that I could purchase a phone for cheaper somewhere else and have Verizon activate it. So we went to Best Buy.

They checked into my plan there and told me that I was eligible for an upgraded phone . . . since 2005. As it turned out, all I had to do was renew my contract for 2 years (which my brother or I would have likely done anyway), and I got this phone for free. It is so small, I’m afraid I’m going to lose it! But it has a camera (cool!) and lots of other gadgets I don’t need (the screen is even in color -- wow!). But they too were out of Kyoceras like my old one, so I really had no choice. Oh well.

Gardening Update #4

We're getting more and more goodies from my garden. I've been picking a batch of green beans every few days (regular and Italian). We're getting too many right now to eat, so I've been sharing some and freezing some.

Some ears of corn are starting to form.

I just noticed these this morning. They grow really fast! I see some bread and butter pickles in our near future,

along with some cole slaw.

These are just about ready too.

It's so nice to be able to go out in the garden and pick our dinner. Tasty too!

A Tribute to Farrah & Michael

Two small parts of my childhood died today.

In fourth or fifth grade, I was a huge fan of Farrah Fawcett. I thought her "feathered" hair was SO cool! I used Wella Balsam shampoo . . . because she did. Well, at least she advertised it. I also felt an attachment to her because the character she played on Charlie's Angels was named Jill.

Around about 10th grade, I got caught up in the "Thriller" craze. Even before that, in 8th grade, we had to choose a song in my PE class and make up a dance to go with it, and the friend who did it with me and I chose Michael Jackson's "Rock With You," though I didn't know too much about him then.

Other than those brief phases, neither of these celebrities has played a huge role in my life, but I am still a bit saddened at their deaths, both on the same day. My condolences go out to their friends, families and fans.

Kids’ Photography

Kids today have many opportunities that we didn’t have. One of them is digital cameras. When I was a child I was rarely allowed take pictures because my parents didn’t want to waste the film. Even if I was allowed to take one, it would be days, weeks or even months before I got any feedback on my handiwork. But now, with digital cameras, kids can take all the pictures they want to and immediately see how they look.

My nieces are developing this skill. Here are some pictures my niece Gracie, age 8, took at my house the other day (I have omitted some of her “feedback” photos – most of those weren’t her fault anyway because Aunt Jill needs to learn to keep her eyes open for pictures). Sorry they’re all of me – those were the ones I got her to take because I couldn’t take them myself! My niece Hannah, age 7, took this picture of her dog Lexie recently.
My niece Abbie, age 5, also took a few while she was over. Well, maybe she still needs a little more feedback, but she’s getting there!
Hamburgers ready for grilling, from a 5-year-old's eye level.
I will have to say, this is a very nice picture of a potato. Maybe she saw the potato on my blog and thought that was something you are supposed to take a picture of. Or maybe there’s a deeper meaning there. . .

Father's Day/Birthday Bash

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Two Celebrations

I want to wish and happy Father's Day to my dad, Lou, and a happy 4th birthday to my nephew, Gabriel. I am so thankful to have both of these "men" in my life!

My family is getting together after church today to celebrate these events, as well as my sister-in-law Melissa's birthday, which is next week.

-

Happy Father's Day to everyone!

Strawberry-Pretzel Salad

This has been a favorite of our family for many years. I am making it for a gathering we are having tomorrow and using some of my strawberries from my garden that I froze.

¾ c. butter
3 T. brown sugar
2½ c. crushed pretzels (10 oz.)
1 lg. pkg. strawberry gelatin
2 c. boiling water
16 oz. frozen strawberries, slightly thawed
1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 c. white sugar
1 (8-oz.) carton whipped topping

Mix butter, brown sugar and pretzels. Pour into lightly buttered 9”x13” baking dish to form crust. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes.

Note: I crush the pretzels in the food processor, then throw in the softened butter and brown sugar and run it a little more to mix them together.

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. While still hot add strawberries. Cool until mixture begins to set. (This will happen pretty fast if your strawberries are still frozen.)

Meanwhile, cream the cheese with white sugar and fold in whipped topping. Spread over cooled crust. Be sure to “seal” the edges against the sides of the pan or your gelatin may run down into the other layers.

Pour gelatin mixture over cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until firm.

Yum!

Which Soil Are You?

This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. Luke 8:11-15

America. The land of wealth and opportunity. Most of us have not only never had to do without anything we really needed; we have way too much “stuff” in our lives, providing us with distraction from what’s really important.

I heard a story (I think I have the details straight) about an American and a man from Africa arguing over who was poorer. The American said the African was poorer because he had Jesus and nothing else, and the African said the American was poorer because he had Jesus plus too much else.

I was convicted this morning as I read this passage in Luke. Am I like the thorny soil which never allows the word of God to mature in my life? Do all my activities, possessions and other distractions keep me from forming as true and deep a relationship with Him as I could? If so, what can I do about it?

I have found that it is during the harder times of life, financial or otherwise, that I grow closer to God as I am forced to trust in Him and nothing else.

I’m not sure what the solution is. I was born in America, and it would be hard to live without all my stuff, but I pray that God will enable me to not be distracted by it all, to get things into perspective and discover for myself what’s really important in life and how to rely totally on Him even when there are potential distractions between us.

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. Philippians 3:7-9

You Say Potato, I Say . . .

Wow! I have never grown potatoes before, so I am learning as I go. I didn't think they would be ready for a while, so I haven't bothered to check, but I read the other day that you can begin harvesting them as soon as blooms appear on the plants. Well, that happened a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to take a peek.Wow!

Of course, the longer you let them grow, up until fall, the bigger they'll get, so I'm not harvesting them all yet. But we did have a couple for dinner the other night, along with a handful of green beans that were ready.

I've been thinning my carrots. Our bunny, Heidi, is happy to help me dispose of the ones I pull up. In fact, it's one of her favorite treats.

My cucumbers are getting blooms too. All the rain we've had has made for new surprises every day!

The Blessing of Electricity

I am blogging from the library. Why? The power has been out at our house for 4 hours.

I rushed home today because it was starting to storm and there was a tornado warning in our area. We have a finished basement that is a pretty good place to hang out during tornado warnings, so I brought the dogs down there and turned on the TV. I wanted to know what was going on with the weather. I finally got the TV on (no small task at our house), and about the time I did, "click." It went off. So did everything else.

No problem. I can just check the Internet. After all, my computer is a laptop with a battery. Well, maybe one problem. Our router is electric. OK, no Internet.

Well, at least I can call the power company and report the outage. I picked up the cordless phone. No dial tone. Oh. Guess it's powered by electricity too.

I'll have to read a book. I ran upstairs and got one and ran back down to the basement. Since it was storming outside it was kind of dark in there. I flipped the light switch. Oh. No light.

Never mind then. I'll just take a nap until Don gets home. The electric garage door will wake me up when he pulls in. Or, maybe not. I never fell asleep anyway so got to watch him sitting in the driveway trying to figure out why his garage door opener wouldn't work.

Why is it getting so hot in the house? Oh, no air conditioning. At least we can turn on the ceiling fan. No we can't. I'll make dinner then, ummm, without the stove, oven or microwave?

So we went out to eat, and when we got back, we still didn't have electricity (though I did finally think to call and report it from my cell phone).

I decided to open my garage door manually and come to the library where it's cooler and where I could use the Internet. Poor Don is at home in the hot house with the dogs. Reading a book, in the dark.

How Do You Know the Will of God?

What do you do when you have to make a decision? As Christians, we should always seek God’s answer. But how do you find it?

It’s not always completely clear in Scripture. And while I am sometimes confident I am hearing God’s voice, there are other times when I don’t feel I can hear it at all.

I once heard someone speak on this. I never forgot her principles, and refer to them regularly when I am seeking God’s will on something.

1) God’s will never contradicts scripture. If you think God is telling you to do anything that His word expressly forbids, you can rule out that it is from Him. This is why it is important to study His word and hide it in our hearts.

2) Seek the counsel of Godly friends. They may often have good advice to give you. But again, make sure their wisdom lines up with scripture.

3) Watch for circumstances. Are things falling into place, or are you having to fight every step of the way? As you prayerfully seek His will, God will open and close doors for you. This is not to say that following His will is always going to be easy, but if you are seeking Him, He will enable you to do what He has called you to do.

God has a plan for all of our lives. He gives us all common sense for making day-to-day decisions. He gives us His word to clearly show us right from wrong. He gives us fellow believers to help keep us in line. He gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us. Our job is to use these gifts as we follow Him and try to discern what He is directing us to do.

Flag Day Quiz

Today is Flag Day. How much do you know about Flag Day and the American flag? Just for fun, I've designed a little quiz to test your knowledge:

1) Who is credited with designing the first flag?

2) What U.S. state celebrates Flag Day as a state holiday?

3) Our flag was made official on June 14 of what year?

4) What U.S. president signed into an Act of Congress that National Flag Day be observed every June 14th?

5) The 50 stars on the flag represent what?

6) The 13 stripes represent what?

-

ANSWERS:

1) Betsy Ross.
2) Pennsylvania.
3) 1777.
4) Harry S. Truman, in 1949. You get half credit if you said Woodrow Wilson, who issued a proclamation to establish it in 1916.
5) The 50 states that are bound together into one country.
6) The 13 original colonies.

-

How did you do?

Gardening Update #3

We’ve still been getting a lot of rain, and my garden is flourishing. We added some blueberry bushes, though we probably won’t get any fruit from them this year. Looks like we’ll soon have some tomatoes,
Peppers,
And green beans. My annual herbs (dill, basil and cilantro) are doing well. I’m hoping the tomatoes, jalapeños, garlic, onion and cilantro will all be ready at the same time so I can make lots of my favorite salsa. Pesto is another favorite recipe that I make with the basil. I’ve only had to water it a couple of times. It always does much better with rainwater anyway.

My strawberries have pretty much run their course, but that’s the nature of things. I’m looking forward to a bounty of fresh vegetables soon!

Cade’s Cove (Smokies, part 3)

Our last day in the Smokies was spent at Cade’s Cove. This is an 11-mile loop that can be driven or biked, and where you can see a lot of beautiful scenery. I wouldn’t recommend taking this loop if you are in a hurry, as traffic often moves very slowly, especially if there is some interesting form of wildlife making an appearance. This was at one time a settlement, and there are a number of old houses, churches and other buildings as well as cemeteries that can be seen. You can pull off the road and get out of the car to tour some of them. This is a corn mill that is still in operation. They run it while you watch and then sell the finished product. There are several hiking trails through the woods that you can take (most of which don't allow pets, as we found out when we got stopped in our tracks by a park ranger). There was one area where we were able to get the dogs out and take a little hike into the woods, though. As you drive through, you are likely to see some of these. If you are lucky, you might see one of these. We were lucky. Blessed, rather. Not only to find ourselves just a few feet away from this apparently-friendly fellow, but with two days of nice weather, being surrounded by some of God’s most breathtaking handiwork in every direction and a generally fantastic trip.

Clingman’s Dome (Smokies, part 2)

We climbed Clingman’s Dome (or "Klingon’s Dome," as Don insisted on calling it) on Tuesday morning. At 6,684 feet, it is the highest peak in the Smoky Mountains. Don’t worry, we didn’t climb all the way up! You drive most of the way, up a steep, curvy mountain road that is closed in the winter. When we finally got to the parking area, it was FREEZING. It hadn’t occurred to me to bring a jacket, as it was a warm June day when we left our cabin. Nonetheless, we followed the ½ mile paved trail to the top. It is a constant slope, and made me realize how out of shape I was. I'm sure the altitude didn't help either. They had little benches to rest on every few yards, several of which I took advantage of.
-
Almost there . . . here is the observation deck from below. This activity is obviously not for anyone who is afraid of heights.
We were right on the Tennessee/North Carolina border, so the state line would be here somewhere.
Unfortunately, we found out why they are called the "Smoky Mountains" – we couldn’t see too much. A friendly man did offer to take our picture though, just to prove we were there.
We took a few other pictures on the way back down (a much easier walk) as things began to clear up a little.
There were a lot of "serious" hikers around, many of whom are hiking the whole Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. Guess I’d better get in better shape before I think about doing anything like that.

Trip to the Smokies

Don, the dogs and I just got back from a short but very nice trip to the Great Smoky Mountains, one of my favorite places on earth. We went there on our honeymoon and have been back once since then. I had been there a number of times before I got married too. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it. What a wonderful place to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation!

-

We got there late Monday afternoon and mostly just "chilled" in the cabin that night, but finally got bored and went to Pigeon Forge to play a game of putt-putt.

-

On Tuesday we went to Clingman’s Dome (I’ll do a separate blog about that) and then into Gatlinburg. We decided Gatlinburg itself is really not something you need to do 3 times in 4 years. Nothing much has changed since we were last there. It’s still full of tacky souvenir shops, "haunted houses" and people trying to interest you in timeshares. There are a few fairly nice shops, such as a Celtic store that Don really likes, but he has already purchased everything that has his family's names on it. If you’re in the market for junk food, it’s a good place to go, and I did get a little bag of the saltwater taffy that I really like. They have an aquarium that is pretty nice and a couple of ski-lift-type things that will take you up to the top of the mountain where you can see for miles. Those are pretty fun, but we had done them before and chose not to do them this time.

-

This morning we checked out of our cabin and went to Cade’s Cove. I’ll do a separate blog on that too.

-

We stayed in a nice little cabin, "L’il Smoky," which was pet-friendly. It had a hot tub, jacuzzi and a front porch with a swing, which, interestingly, Dasha really liked (she doesn’t usually like anything that seems unstable to her).

If you look closely, you can see 2 canine faces peeking out.
Takin’ it easy.
If you want to know how to get to L’il Smoky, just follow Dollywood Lane and take the next left past this street.Sorry – couldn’t resist. That sign cracked me up every time we passed it!