Gabby's Mama Sews!

Mama's first attempt at sewing resulted in this adorable little outfit. She did a great job!

Evensong

I sit on my deck this evening, on my wooden glider that I love. Beautiful and bountiful trees grace my yard as it slopes toward the stream at the base of the mountain. A truly spectacular view!

Callie is beside me, her head rests in my hand while I stroke the sweet spot between her eye and ear. Oh, she does enjoy that.

The rain is falling softly. A tree frog has taken up residence in the reeds below the deck. He sings loudly; I imagine he calls his lady love to come and share the evening.

The fireflies are just coming out, twinkling through the rain in the waning light.

It is a good evening, a peaceful evening. And I am reminded of the words of the prayer I heard at Liturgy this morning:

For a day that in all things will be perfect, holy, peaceful and without sin, let us pray to the Lord.

Amen.

New Authoress

I wanted to tell you all about a new author I discovered through through the blogging world: Claudia Mair Burney. She has been furiously writing this year and has had several books published. I had read an excerpt of one of them on her blog and I was hooked. Her writing is sassy, fun and oh-so-enjoyable. I think my favorite so far is Zora and Nicky, which is more serious and beautifully written.

She's categorized as a "Christian Fiction" author, but don't let that fool you. Normally, I would rather have a root canal than be forced to read anything from that genre, but she takes it up quite a few notches from the norm and it's barely recognizable as such. Here's her author blog.

I first met her through comments she left on other blogs I read. Claudia has an interesting faith journey which she documents on ragamuffindiva: pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic, with a few stops in between. I relate to much of what she has written regarding her journey.

If you're looking for some light and entertaining summer reading with a twist, this might be it.

Cutie!!

Weapon of Mass Destruction

Yes, folks. This is, indeed, such a weapon. But oh, I do love it! It's a custom chromatic autoharp made by a luthier, Buck Lumbert. It has a spruce top, walnut chord bars, maple chord buttons and a maple back. I bought it used, but it's not even a year old. Beautiful sound!

Unfortunately, I have some chronic elbow and shoulder problems which were set aflame playing this bad boy. So, now I'm in physical therapy and being extremely cautious of how I'm using both arms. And if that isn't enough, I did something to my ankle tendon, too, causing a flare there. So as of Monday, I'll be in PT for three different areas of tendonitis. I might as well set up a sleeping bag and camp out at the therapist's office!

This will be a challenging weekend! Hubster is gone sailing for a few days and I'm here trying to rest these aggravated tendons, but still putting them through some stretches so they don't tighten up. Callie can't figure out why we aren't doing her normal walking routine and is a bit restless, and my youngest will be pushing little River out any day now.

Lord, have mercy! (40x, even!!)

How to End Theological Discussions According to the Corleone Family

"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

We could learn a lot from those guys. For those that may be Godfather-challenged, it means, leave the bad, take the good. Simple, yes ... but after many years of theological volleyball, it works for me.

Lord, have mercy!

Gabby Girl

Here's our little Gabby at five months now. We took her to the local Music Fest last weekend. She and I are dancing to Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire." We had a great time, she and I!!


Mama is singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Another big hit!

Evening Walk

We ventured out on an evening walk on the Appalachian Trail a few days ago. Lush beauty that just dazzles the senses! So much rain has made everything very green and beautiful. There's a pic of Callie on the trail and a view from the power line right-of-way, looking out over a village along the Susquehanna River. Bucolic bliss!