A Year of Gratitude - He is risen, as he said

"He is not here: for he is risen,

as he said.

Matthew 28:6

Am part of Spiritual Sundays this week

To be richly blessed, please hop over to see many more beautiful posts at
http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/
thank you always Charlotte for hosting this wonderful site

From my heart to yours,

may your day, your weekend, your life not only be blessed

but a blessing to others.....

Lynn

A Year of Gratitude - More beautiful carvings

Wasn't Monday's post of the angels carved in the dead Oak tree beautiful?

I had so many emails/comments about that post.

So glad that tree touched your hearts like it did ours.

So glad we stayed an extra two days to see the tree and take the photos.

Today, I am showcasing two works of Martin Miller.
Another chain-saw artist from Fort Walton Beach, FL.
He grew up in a farming family in Iowa and is a 4th generation artist.
While stationed at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, he became enthralled with a love
of the sea.
After tours of duty in Europe and Middle East he settled in FL.
His art is showcased in galleries, restaurants and private home through the world.
He felt lead to go back to the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2007, volunteering his time
and talents by carving the destroyed oaks and cedars into marine life he so loved.
In doing so, he hoped to bring a "spirit of renewal" to the badly beaten
and destroyed coastal area.

These are 17 foot wingspan eagles at the entrance to
The University of Southern Mississippi.
The Golden Eagle is their mascot.
No picture can do justice to these massive, expertly carved eagles.
Really, you just have to be there to take in the awesome power of hope these give out.

Look at the claws, the intricate way the wingspan is carved.
Mr. Miller is not a young man, he has five children and 2 or more grandchildren.
Yet, his heart was moved to yield the heavy chain saw for long periods of
time to bring hope to the Gulf Coast.

Trying to show the massive power of hope.
There was so much positive, heartfelt comments to the Dean of the University,
Mr. Miller was asked to carve another tree near the main campus.

This was a unique piece that Martin Miller carved
specifically to be ready for the celebration of
Beautify America
in Waveland, MS sometime after 2007
This beautiful piece sits at the intersection of US 90 and MS 603.
Very, very difficult to photograph as it sits on the small center lane of
the busy highway!
Can you see the three dolphins on top?
That is a turtle on the base of the tree with a fish.
Try as I might, I could not get a good shot of the turtle due to traffic/sunlight.

I did get a closer shot of the dolphins.

Have no idea what the letters carved under the dolphins stand for.

I have read that each piece he carved had a unique special meaning to location.

Since my son was stationed at Keesler also, I have a very special

attachment to the one of the last pieces Mr. Miller carved,

another 17 ft eagle on Keesler AFB, in front of the new commissary.

It was due to my son's being stationed in Biloxi that hubby and I

came to love this area so much that even after Bobby had gone elsewhere

we still went back to Biloxi.

Then Katrina hit and we finally went back last year in February.

 

To the courageous, beautiful people of the MS Gulf Coast

you have been such an inspiration.

You have believed.

You have worked so hard.

Together you have rebuilt your homes, your communities.

I salute each and every one of you!

We were coming into Biloxi just as the sun was setting.

So love this picture of "just a little piece" of the

beautiful MS Gulf Coast.

From my heart to yours, may your day be blessed!

Lynn

A Year of Gratitude - The Guardian Angel Tree

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free".
--Michelangelo

Last February 2011, hubby and I took a trip back to New Orleans and the
Gulf Coast of Mississippi for the first time since Katrina hit August 29, 2005.

We were told a story that captured my heart:

100 years ago a member of the DeMontluzin family saved an Oak tree
when the road was going through Bay St. Louis, MS.

When Katrina hit, three people were able to cling to this particular
oak tree for 3 hours during the worst of the hurricane.
The tree died after the storm
but
the three people were saved!

You can see the second set of wings in the left corner.

The three survivors asked Dayle Lewis, a chain-saw artist from Indiana, to carved the
angels that watched over them, instead of having the tree destroyed.

On the night we heard this story, we had planned to leave the next morning.
We changed our plans and stayed another two days so I could capture this "angel tree"
and carvings done by three different people up and down the Gulf Coast of MS,
after Hurricane Katrina killed the beautiful Oak Trees.

"He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all they ways".
Psalm 91:11

This tree is also called "Demontluzin Tree", in honor of the family who
first saved it from the road going through all those 100 years ago.

The artist has been told often how much joy and spirit the beautiful carvings have
given to Bay St. Louis and have become a symbol of comeback in Southern Mississippi.

I love Bay St. Louis, and the warm hearted, courageous people who stayed and rebuilt.

Tomorrow I am sharing another chain-saw artist's work in Waveland, MS, which is the
sister city to Bay St. Louis.

From my heart to yours, may your day be blessed.
Lynn

A Year of Gratitude - Light for your path

"It is better to light one candle than stumble in the darkness".

May the path of your day, your weekend, your life be lite by

LOVE

Both human love and HIS precious love for each of us.

From my heart to yours, may you be blessed.

Lynn

A Year of Gratitude - Birthdays and memories of Mom

This week is about birthdays and my saying goodbye to mom

 March 23!
Since I love my new "quiet inspirations" Friday  going into the weekend,
I am celebrating/remembering a few days early this week.

Happy Birthday

to you

Happy birthday

to you

Happy Birthday,

Happy Birthday,

Happy Birthday to Jo-Anne and Aunt Marcia
Friday, March 23.

This was then

Easter Sunday in front of my childhood home.

Our fathers always bought us corsages.

This was last month at Sand Key, FL

Jo-Anne and Al graciously treated us to a wonderful lunch with a view one never gets

tired of.

Should I dare to say we have been friends for 61 years?
Gasp!!!

NOT POSSIBLE, but she was 4 and I was 5 when her family moved next door to mine.

Happy Birthday my special friend!
Your happiness is such a blessing!

Then another birthday......

Happy Birthday 84th to Aunt Marcia

If you follow my blog you probably have seen this picture,  I so love of it of days gone

by in my parents back yard.

BTW that is Jo-Anne's house to the left!

Aunt Marcia is second from the right between the birches, reaching out to my cousin

Gordon, who just happens to be born on my birthday!

We were the first two grandchildren and both born the same day, 3 years apart!

Marcia is my mom's sister-in-law,

my Uncle Bud is sitting in the stripped chair with Gordon.
After my dad passed away and mom would not move to Florida
My Aunt Marcia made sure Mom was well taken care of in the nursing home.
She was always more than just a sister-in-law.
I thank her for all the years of caring for both my mom and dad
when circumstances prevented me from moving back to New York state.

Many of you prayed this week for my Aunt Marion,
mom's younger sister, as she had her first surgery at 87!

she has her arms in back of her head sitting next to the Coca-Cola cooler and me

finding a cold drink, hehe.
At last report, she is doing well.
I thank you for all your prayers and beautiful thoughts for her recovery.

Then, three years ago on March 23, 2009
my mom passed away.

Mom and Terry having supper in her room.
She loved having guests.
Sometime after dad passed away
early 2002 or 2003

Oct 15th, 2008, my last day with my mom.

I believe this was mom's high school graduation picture.

Mom with me on steps of my grandparents home

(my childhood home would eventually be right next door)

Mom and Dad just a few months before he was sent to the Pacific

during WWII

they were at a Coca-Cola party that day.

Don't you love dad's shoes!!

My parents were the love of each other's lives.

They took care of each other all their lives.

When dad fell in March 2000 and went into a nursing home.

less than 2 months later, mom signed herself into the same nursing home

(she could easily have been in assisted living, but she wanted to be with dad)

They were waiting for "their room" together......

Finally it came and they spent their first night in "their room".

The next day dad was taken to the hospital........never to return to the nursing home.

9 years later as her body was shutting down and all of us here in Florida

knew we had no time to get a flight to Albany, NY to say goodbye,

my precious cousins sat with mom in the hospital that morning.

She was mumbling incoherently, heavily on morphine

then she became quiet....

then, according to those who witnessed her passing....

opened her eyes, and in a loud, crystal clear voice said, "ART!"

and went with my father into paradise........

Having apple cider and doughnuts from the cider mill

in mom's room.

Again early 2001 or 2002.

The day mom passed away I knew HE wanted me to do her eulogy.

If you know me in real life, you know that 4 1/2 years waiting for her fiance in the Pacific during

WWII most likely did something to my mom's mind and heart

so much so that she saw me, her only child, as a "rival" for my father's love, all my life.
and

I have always been terrified to speak in front of a group, but I knew HE would give me the words.

As Terry drove, the minister and I planned the service via cell phone

As Terry drove, I composed the eulogy, prayed, redid it, prayed, redid it.......

until at last I did not hear His voice......I knew it was finally the words HE wanted me to say.

HE gave me the beautiful poem....

"Footprints on your heart",

 and I spoke of my mother's love to everyone else,

 the

footprints she left on so many, many hearts.

Mom had touched so many lives with her quilts, her needlework pictures,

her afghans, her work at the rummage sales in church, and volunteering as financial secretary
of their church in the years before dad retired.

She gave so much to so many.

HE gave me the words and the pride in my mother as a human being who touched others.

At the very end, I looked over to the casket and my heart exploded

with the most incredible love for my mother......

a love that washed away the last drops of unforgiving in my heart.

I love you Mom.

My gratitude's today are family and friends.

Always the Grace of the Lord in my life.

From my heart to yours, may your day be blessed.

Lynn

A Year of Gratitude - Trains/Cabooses we have loved

Happy Monday.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

Today I am going to show you some of our favorite train experiences.

Casey Jones home and caboose motel.

Jackson, TN

Second time we traveled to Arkansas, I made sure we were able to spend the night

in this caboose.  My special surprise for hubby!

All the comforts of home in a caboose.

Hubby loved this, but then so did I.

Way cool!

In Sedona, Arizona we rented the entire caboose to take the awesome train ride.

For three hours we had this caboose, fantastic seating and luxurious food

plus our very own tour guide.

(this was supposed to be our last trip as I thought I was going to retire, but

then the economy turned, so I kept working another 4 years)

Tried to purchase this pillow, but it went with the caboose.

This trip was definitely escaping the ordinary for us.

The entire Sedona trip was "way cool".

Taken with my cell phone on train trip in Boone, Iowa
Part of our two month retirement trip in 2010
The train was not full so we could change seats so we both had window views.

Buying our tickets

We rode on the green car shown.

This was one of my favorite trips in the White Mts. of New Hampshire

From Conway, NH

We ordered box lunches and had lunch near the river and a beautiful Victorian station

in the White Mts.

In front of the North Conway station before the train left.

(so sorry, cannot locate the picture of the Victorian Station we had lunch at that day)

We arrived at the Toy Train Museum 30 minutes after it closed for the day!

This was in Strasburg, PA.

Notice, the top of the sign showing the "Red Caboose Motel"

There had just had a cancellation, so surprise!

We were able to stay in this caboose in PA.

This was our first time staying in a caboose.

Then we found the one in Jackson, TN on another trip.

We also have done trains in VT, NC, upstate NY, some more than once,

and lots and lots of model railroad museums.

Two that come to mind right away are in Foley, AL and Bryson City, NC.

I will share these at a later date.

Also more train trips, one we shared with my Aunt Marion and cousin Pam

in 2008.  Beautiful Fall trip in the Adirondacks I so miss.

Hope you like our passion for trains as much as we enjoy showing you.

Please join me on Wednesday as I celebrate a dear friend's birthday, as well as my

Aunt Marcia's, both on March 23.

Also memories of my mother as she passed away on March 23, 3 years ago.

Friday, I have another lovely "quiet inspirations" post.

Short and sweet to head into your weekend.

Heading out to Lakeland tomorrow, hopefully to see our grandson Georgie

play ball tomorrow evening and then again on the weekend to

see our little "slugger" granddaughter play.

Thursday we have the boys after school since "mom" is on a business trip.

So it will be another busy week.

But I have all the weeks posts already done, ready to post automatically!

I will be around to visit each of you on Tuesday!

A Year of Gratitude - Appreciation and Miracles

APPRECIATE

the

Simple things.

Notice everyday

MIRACLES.

I so thank each of you for you kindnesses and prayers regarding my beloved Aunt.

The last report was she was doing very well.

From my heart to yours, may your day be blessed.

Lynn

A Year of Gratitude - Ottawa Illinois

It is my retirement trip of a lifetime and here we are taking another side trip

to Ottawa, Illinois on our way to Rochelle, Illinois for hubby and the railroad park.

We were driving North in Illinois on when I spotted a road sign

referring to, "Beautiful Historic Ottawa".

It was a gorgeous Fall day and while I am not a big history buff

(don't like all the dates and wars)

We agreed to meander off our route to check  Ottawa out.

We were so glad we did.
Note: for us "meandering" is a big part of our love of road trips.
I research anything we both love in all the area our route will take us by and
have a huge notebook to refer to as we travel.
Even so........seeing roads signs and billboards give us yet another
chance for new adventures.

Welcome to Ottawa, Illinois Historic District.....

These two are the Reddick Mansion
Built prior to the Civil War and this 3 story, 22 room mansion built in the
ornate Italianate style is one of the most expensive and ornate homes built in the
Midwest in mid 1800's.
You must call ahead to schedule a tour so we did not see the interior.
However, the gentlemen at the visitor's center told us
there are marble fireplace, the woodwork, plaster cornices, and ceiling
medallions are unmatched for craftsmanship and beauty in Illinois.

On August 1858 towns' people watched the historic
Lincoln-Douglas debate in Washington Park, just across the street
from the stone steps.
William Reddick, a loyal Democrat sat with Douglas on the platform.
Mr. Reddick was known for being instrumental in bringing public schools
to Ottawa.
In his will he deeded the property to the City of Ottawa to serve as a public library.
For the next 85 years it did serve as the library until the books were moved to a
new facility.
The mansion is one of several that border the park that is on the
National Register of Historic Places.

The Third Appellate Court Bldg built 1857-60
in Classical Revival style with red brick and Joliet limestone which constitutes
"architectural harmony".  The brick, limestone and the classical style make this one of
"Ottawa's most handsome buildings".

A side view also showing how gorgeous the foliage was that day.

Washington Park is the center piece of the Historic District.
If you look to the left of the huge boulder you will see the statue of Lincoln-Douglas.
Let's move in closer shall we?

The boulder for the site of the debate.
In the far right rear you will notice the fountains.
Let's look closer at those....

The figures stand on a limestone podium surrounded by the fountains.

The figures are truly impressive!
Lincoln stand 11feet tall, while Douglas stands 9 feet tall.

Can you see how beautiful this park was that day?
We walked, sat on the benches, and took so many photos.
The trees were stunning, leaves crunched underfoot
and in in mid October there were such pretty flowers along with the stunning foliage.

Of course they were purple!

I know this is a long post with lots of photos.....
can you hang on for just a few more?

Christ Episcopal Church built 1871
Gothic Revival of English Victorian era.
Built with Joliet limestone and has wood door and a very unique
"Wallace window"
No picture as we could not go inside.
The widow of William H. L Wallace gave this window to the church after the
death of her husband at the Battle of Shiloh during the Civil War.
The window is unique as it is "painting on glass" method as if the glass were canvass.

According to records, this church is architecturally superior
to the Gothic Revival style of the
1870 First Congregational Church directly across the street.
Shown below.

We could not go in this church either.
I am from the NE and personally love red brick.
What initially captivated me were the spires on all these churches.
This Historic District reminds me in part of Macon, Georgia.
Macon has some the most beautiful architecturally elegant Churches.
Years ago, I took pictures of many, but my first laptop crashed before I had saved them.
One of these days we are going back to Macon with my Nikon and doing them again.

One last church because I cannot leave any out!

St. Columba Church
Just to the left was a gas station so it was difficult to capture this as I would have liked.
Backing up too far, added the gas station in my picture.
If you look closely the exterior looks shabby.
The church is going through a huge restoration of it's exterior.
Removal of the stucco-like grey exterior and restoration of the
original red brick is schedule to be starting Spring 2012.

With all the beautiful stained glass windows in each of these I so wished
we had been allowed inside.
With the sun pouring in, it must have been stunning to see those glow with light.

Happy flowers entwined with the heavy wrought iron fence
surrounding the Reddick Mansion.

I do hope you enjoyed our historic tour of Ottawa, Illinois.
What is always amazing to me is the grand architecture of the buildings in the towns
of the Midwest.
Then just outside the city limits it is pure country,
barns, bales of hay, silos, for miles and miles and miles.

Everything to me is beautiful in it's own way!



I realize it is actually Friday, sigh and I am just posting.
Later this morning, I am post a simple "quiet inspiration" post.
I will leave both post up until Monday.
Thank you for your patience on my postings.
How can I be retired and still not have enough hours in the day to do everything I love?

From my heart to your, may your day, your weekend be blessed!
Lynn