Saturday, June 26, 2021

She's At It Again...



...The Mistress Of The Gardens, that is...gone is our summer sunshine, replaced by constant rain, so she's trained her sights on indoor projects...specifically, refreshing our kitchen.

Consequently, she's changed it from this...



...to this:



From this...



...to this:



And from this...



...to this:



Naturally I helped, mostly by staying out of her way while she did her thing.

Much cleaner and brighter look now, especially appreciated during this extended period of liquid sunshine...and supposedly we've got another week of this weather.

We may have been washed away by then.


In the "almost seems real" department...


...Mirage Pools came out and marked the location where they'll dig our pool.

A little hard to see the flags in that pic, so I circled them...believe it or not, that's a rectangle, but the vantage point I used to take that pic disguises that fact pretty well.

They start by digging out the rectangle, but then massage it into the kidney shape it's going to be when they're done.

They begin work right after the 4th of July weekend, Lord willing.


Lately in my devotions I've been reading from the 1611 version of the King James Bible.


No, I don't actually own one...I do my devotions using the https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ website.

I've always appreciated the KJV, though never got involved in the silliness that surrounded those intra-faith wars about "KJV Only!".

No doubt God has blessed that translation of the Scriptures for many, many years, but fighting about English translations is just dumb.

If you're that tightly wound about the subject, educate yourself and then read the Scriptures in the original Hebrew, Koine Greek and Aramaic, for crying out loud.

Anyway, I'm enjoying reading familar passages in the 1611 version.

Everyone knows John 3:16, right?

C'mon, even if you're not a Christian you've seen the reference held up at NFL games...


Well here it is in the KJV:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

And here it is the original 1611 KJV:

"For God so loued the world, that he gaue his only begotten Sonne, that whosoeuer beleeueth in Him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life."

Why do I enjoy this?

A history thing, I guess...don't know exactly, but I find the archaic English interesting.

Plus, while so doing, I've had an idea about an overarching story, within which I'll place (parts of) my original short story, A Threefold Cord...and tada!  A novella.

Maybe.

It’s just an inchoate idea at the moment, but I'm researching and "writing in my head" for now.


More to come...


And now for a quick hop, skip and jump...



...through the parting shots department...

optimist: a future pessimist who currently lacks experience 



from Larry...life at the lake...note the shimmering moonlight



fun with daisies



our blue spruce Christmas tree surrounded by Tiger Lilies



 I just like this view from our backyard




worth remembering on your way out the door this week


later, mcm fans...

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Saturday, June 5, 2021

D-Day...



June 6th, 1944...never forget.


This is why...



 ...Michiganders love "up north"...that's a view from my friend Larry's cottage near the Traverse City area.

Love the mirror like reflection of the clouds in the water.

The lucky stiff is working remotely from there - for a while, anyway - and every so often he graces me with a pic or two...



...of life on the lake.

He actually gets paid to work from there...go figger...


Saw this scenario on our back patio this week...

hey...what's that?



don't see anyone around...



yep, coast is clear...



mmm...seafood sensations...

Who knew?  Blue Jays like cat food.


Got one half of our Redneck Riviera situated this weekend...









...with our inflatable hot tub...and this year we done gone and got ourselves a ga-ZEE-bo...insert excited "yee haw" here.

2nd half of our RR scheduled for early July when Mirage Pools installs our pool...it's been a 4 year wait on that so we're pretty excited.


Lately I've been on "mole patrol"...

before: that's part of a mole tunnel

...using my 13.5 lb compactor to flatten the network of mole tunnels criss crossing our yard...

after: flattened tunnel and hopefully dead moles

...they're busy little buggers and wielding my "stomper" has become a regular part of my "daily functional fitness" routine.

We've spread grub killer around, too.

This is war, but so far I haven't resorted to dynamite like Bill Murray in Caddyshack...




Just about time to close up shop here at the AMC...


...and as we go we leave you with these parting shots...

very windy day



back patio...love the huge oak tree canopy overhead



a co-worker shared this pic of a couple of foxes in his backyard



roses are beautiful this year



gotta get some of those


more beautiful roses



I'm getting old




later, mcm fans...

* Crass Commercialism Corner *

In the "so convenient you can't stand it" department, you can purchase my books here and on Amazon.com!

Get your paperback books here:



Get your ebooks here: