Love this photo of three of my sales associates & good friends at Hallmark;
Teresa, Kristi, and Shirley.
Happy are those who really enjoy their job,
care deeply for their co-workers,
like their customers,
and love their dear manager:)
I am blessed:)
Keith & I lived in picturesque upstate NY for almost 4 years right after we were married (1969-1973). A few weeks after settling into our tiny caretaker’s cottage overlooking a small lake in Olive Bridge, a HUGE music festival, Woodstock, took place nearby. The town Woodstock was about 30 minutes from our mountain cabin, and the festivities took place just a few miles south of there. I must admit it sounded a bit too rowdy & too muddy for the two of us, but on the news nightly we’d see camera shots of hundreds of people pouring into Yeager’s Farm, plus the numerous bands playing. Little did we know it was an HISTORICAL MUSIC HAPPENING, in our back yard!
Recently I watched a special UNC program on Pete Seeger. We saw Mr. Seeger once while he was sailing up and down the Hudson River on his sloop the Clearwater. He and his crew were drawing attention to how dirty the river had become and the need to clean it up.
We went into Kingston to see him, & hear him sing & play. He was a delight:)
Pete Seeger is a legend in the music world. I’m not sure I realized how amazing & talented a gentleman he was when I was in my early 20’s!
Our part in cleaning up in the early 70’s? Our church youth group, kids we grew to love like a family, volunteered to sort glass at the recycling center at the local dump. Now that’s a funky outing once a month, but we were doing our part when recycling was a new idea (once again).
There are more sweet memories of that wonderful time/place in our lives, but enough to ponder tonight:)
Friday, on a pretty & mild Spring day, a few friends & I headed to Seagrove, NC, the pottery meca of NC:) We’re all pottery lovers & we were excited about spending the day together, away, on a field trip:)!
We left about 9:15 & arrived in the tiny town/community by 11. Kathy had never been on a pottery shopping expedition so we couldn’t wait to show her around:)I had not been in a few years but thought I still remembered the general layout. Overall I did ok, & Nancy filled in as navigator when needed (I had sent for a map, which is a good idea if you’re thinking of going. These potteries are quite spread out through the surrounding countryside).
There were shops filled with 20+ potters’ work (a feast for the eye!). There were tiny cabins filled with one potter’s creations. There were fancy shops with glass shelves & spotlights highlighting gorgeous shapes & sizes of pottery. There were old dark barns filled with such elegant artwork you’d have to catch your breath to believe they weren’t in Tiffany’s! There were finely detailed pieces. There were plain & simple pieces. There was every color imaginable! Some pots were unadorned, others intricately detailed.
Towards the beginning we decided we’d buy each other our birthday presents. That way we’d be getting the others something we knew they’d love, and, since we’re becoming somewhat forgetful, we’d be surprised again when it was given to us:)! What fun that was!!
A side note: almost everywhere we went, the potters had ‘at least’ one dog. Often the dogs greeted us before the potter:) A happy life for many a puppy:) Puppies & pots:)
We all wondered about those “happy wagging tails” around delicate pottery???
We ate lunch in Westmore at a nice restaurant right across the road from the local school. The food was very good, especially the coconut cake–yum:)!!
We arrived back home about 5:30, tired but happy campers, clutching our treasures after sharing a sweet day on the “Pot Tour”!!
This is a sign of progress!
So sweet to see paint brushes, used paint brushes:)
I love to paint:)
Painting creates a clean surface & gives dull things of this world fresh color!
These brushes were used for the Habitat for Humanity House.
A brand new house for a needy family.
So these brushes have love & “Peace” all over them:)
This first day of March, bright and early on a Saturday morning, 11 folks from Peace church met and caravaned to East Raleigh to be part of a work team at a Habitat home.
The day was perfect; high’s reached 60 degrees, which meant cool inside & comfy warm in the sun. We had been told we were to help build a deck, nail on siding and put up soffits, but most of those jobs had been completed by a college crew last week. So “Bob the builder”, our house team leader, gave us new assignments: spackling, caulking, painting trim & doors, and nailing down plywood in preparation for flooring.
It was an experience!
All of us worked intently, even as we stepped over and around one another, doing our individual tasks. Once in a while we would check on the team’s progress and offer encouragement.
Shirley had a grand time with the nail gun–she was cruising! And Alex & Bill, the “plywood flooring team”, measured and cut all day long! I was the “spackling captain” for a time, doling out the spackle & making sure all the trimwork was covered:) Cameron & Tim were the “main caulking men” (and believe me, everything in that house was caulked!), while Skye, Ben, Jonathan, & Jeb were the “chalking crew” for the plywood. Heather was assistant to the trim guy, among her other jobs. Beth & Lydia arrived later so ended up helping do a punch list at a nearby home three door’s down, then joined us at lunchtime.
What a priviledge to give time for such a worthy cause—working as a team to help a family own a home of their own!
Our Peace crew worked for the glory of the LORD.
Would you consider helping Habitat?
At our church we have a wonderful advocate for Mental Health Care, Edith, a retired psychiatric nurse. She has shown me, and many other folks, how, through proper guidance by a devout advocate, one can improve the mental health of someone suffering through a mental illness crisis.
I was naive enough to think mental illness was a never-ending downward spiral with little hope, other than medication at best.
Edith knew that with loving care & knowledge of the social system, she could intervene in a desperate woman’s life & walk along beside this hopeless person till D. overcame the crisis & began to function on her own again. D.’s story is a success because she ‘demanded’ help & caring friends responded. Without an advocate(s), D. could not have climbed out of her despair.
Our church family has a number of young people dealing with serious mental health situations. What can we offer them? Where can they go to receive professional help?
N.C.’s Mental System is in a crisis itself, and every N.C. citizen should be alarmed enough to be livid that the state’s Mental Health programs have almost disappeared & funds may be cut. Dorthea Dix, the largest mental hospital in the state, is being closed very soon.
We need to insist that the experts look at those states who have quality, successful, programs & model them here!
And it can’t be soon enough!!!
All families are affected in one way or the other by mental illness, whether it be depression, threatened suicide, anxiety, bi-polar issues, autism, anger issues, anorexia, & the list goes on & on! Countless mental struggles affect families & communities, & schools & churches & the workplace.
How can we turn a deaf ear!
Here is a photograph of the Eva Perry Library after getting one or two rain showers overnight. Our Shepherd’s Vineyard greenway leads directly to this wonderful magical place. This library has the largest circulation of any library in North Carolina. We definitely are a community of book lovers:)
I am home with a chest cold. My throat is sore after so much coughing. I must say I don’t get a cold very often so don’t have much patience with sitting/lying around ALL DAY, then again I don’t feel like doing much else:(
A delimma:(
And TV, even with a hundred plus channels, is not entertaining after a while! HGTV and TLC run the same things over & over; good grief:( The Food Network is pretty good.
I love reading but my eyes feel too weak to read much–ugh:(
So much for the whining….
Now if I were at the beach, rocking away on a shady porch in front of the blue/green ocean, slurping my Dayquil, munching on Hall’s, and drinking Splash, wrapped in a light warm quilt, that would be easier to take, I’m thinking.
Ahhh……
Judy, are you rocking away down there??
Last weekend Keith & I spent a sweet time with longtime friends at one couple’s beautiful home on Oak Island:) The girls talked all weekend catching up on various and sundry while the boys watched TV, we ate delicious food, some of us took a beach walk, and we all played a few sessions of the game Sequence.
This sunset photo was taken along Southport’s waterfront just before we ate supper nearby. Southport is a pretty & charming NC coastal town, graced with many trees, where you can choose to hunt for bargains at consignment shops, check out artsy/craftsy shops, and/or catch a ferry to Bald Head Island or Fort Fisher.
Thank you, Judy & J.E., and Linda & Dean:) The setting was wonderful, but visiting with y’all was my favorite part:)
I wish it could have lasted another week!!
Maybe someday:)
