A Baker and Believer

A memorial page I made for my memory album

 to honor my Grandfather,

George L. Staub

He was a baker and a believer.

So Little it Takes to Make my Day!

Went to the Park in Green Cove Springs Saturday

to do a family photo shoot for a friend of Carla's.

Even then, I got distracted by a bird!

That is, until he had enough of me, already!

Don't I Just Look Like I Knew What I Was Doing???

I took a card-making class tonight.

I felt a bit overwhelmed, but sat next to 

a girl who shared her expertise

after she noticed my befuddled look.

I was pleased with the results

and excited about learning to shade

with the Copic Markers.

We shall see what I retain!

Mom's Eighty-Eighth Birthday

Celebrating Mom's Birthday at Olive Garden 

22 April 2011

Age Sixteen

A lifetime of beauty

GEORGIA LUCILLE

Ponderations on Generations

September 1994

First Grandchild

Photo taken "Just Yesterday"

Sometimes it amazes me that there is only

a handful of decades between the youngest of us

and the oldest of us

who walk upon this earth at the same time.

I know I once felt that there were eons separating us,

but usually it's just a little over two decades

between parent and child,

just four decades or so 

between grandparent and grandchild.

And the decades have wings.

Some Friendships Never Die

Barb and Me ~ Laughing at our Golf Game

A friendship that lasted over forty years is remembered today.

Yesterday was the third anniversary of the loss

of that friendship...in earthly terms.  

But it is a friendship that will never die.

Love, indeed, is stronger than death.

I wrote the following poem at Hospice 

two days before she left our world.

It was read at the memorial service honoring my friend.

"When the Time Comes"

When the time comes and my final days arrive,

Take no heroic actions to keep this frame alive.

My body served me well, indeed, when life and I were young,

But the dance of life is over now, the final song is sung.

And this I pray you understand:  It's just the dance that ends,

My precious life continues on and it's God Himself who lends

His perfect peace and presence now, as I prepare to leave;

I will not have to walk alone, His comfort I receive.

I shut my eyes and I behold sweet visions growing clear;

I hear another symphony your ears cannot quite hear.

The love of God is drawing me down a path you can't yet find,

But as we go He's telling me to leave my love behind.

I have His love, I leave you mine, that's how it all works out.

Please take my love to slay your fears and cast out every doubt.

There's one last thing my lips would speak

and my heart still yearns to tell:

Not only have you loved me, but you have loved me well.

Linda Moser Winebrenner

18 April 2008

Your love and friendship sees us through, my friend.

In Response to my Daughter's Fear

            On March 23, 2011 my daughter, Carla, wrote: 

            "So, when did the avian obsession occur? Is it contagious?"

By my daughter's quaint expression,

(And I guess that I'll concur)

I have an "Avian Obsession,"

That's been diagnosed by her.

She's asked if it's contagious,

But what is there to fear?

It's not likely that John Audubon

Will suddenly appear

To decry my ornithology

Or judge my photo shoot;

And chasing feathered friends around

Won't make me dissolute!

So just relax, my daughter,

It's really not so scary;

The "Avian Obsession"

Is not hereditary!

Enchanted

It's not quite light when I awake,

The sky is gray and still opaque.

I walk outside, I lift my eyes,

To wait and watch and recognize

The dawning of another day:

What glories will the Lord display?

What colors will the morning wear?

What birdsong floats across the air?

What would my heart have missed today

If I had slept the dawn away?

I did not take the dawn for granted,

And God has left my soul enchanted!

LMW

Strawberries in Spring

 Started the day on my aromatic front porch,

then off to the Strawberry Festival

which smelled just as wonderful.

Simple pleasures.

Aircraft on Roadway & The Pickled Pelican

 

A few of the lighter sides of Cedar Key

now permanently preserved 

for my not so permanent memory. 

Winged Joy

Winged Joy

Sometimes it's just the simple things

~A flash of red, a cardinal's wings~

That lift my spirit quite as high

As birds aloft in heaven's sky.

Unfettered joys are unsurpassed;

My soul finds elbowroom at last!

LMW

13 April 2011

Photo Taken in Cedar Key, Florida

I Wish I Could Invite the World

The jasmine just erupted this week.

One day they weren't.  The next day they were.

Roses, Jasmine, Gardenias ~ all blooming at once today!

I wish I could invite the world to share the perfumes

that envelope my humble porch at this moment in time.

Not one soul could be angry or mean or lowly

with the heavenly fragrances abounding there.

A Trip to Cedar Key

Perhaps a Perfect Pelican Shot

(or darn near)

Back from a day-trip to Cedar Key, Florida

A place my friends have often talked about, 

but where I had never been.

Went with my friend, Barbara, on a day-trip.

Too many photos (of course) to put up on one post,

but more to be saved and savored in the coming days.

Cedar Key has a distinct personality, like St. Augustine.

I'm still processing it all.

This photo was almost worth the whole trip, for me.

Taken 9 April 2011 - Cedar Key, Florida

Looking for a Handout

Went and sat on the grass by a lake today

and this unique creature came right up to me.

I think he was looking for a handout,

but I informed him I had nothing.  

He finally believed me, I guess, for he then waddled 

down to the lake, jumped in and paddled off.

I love it when the birds don't seem afraid of me.

This Obsession is NOT Inherited from Her Grandmother!

My granddaughter, Aly Mack,

(Alyson Mackenzie)

was fascinated with and unafraid of

SNAKES

at an early age.

Here she is, unflappable, at age two.

I wasn't in charge of selecting the day's activities!
(I would have taken her to a bird sanctuary)

Pondering Oddities

Well, as long as I'm pondering the llama,

I may as well consider the emu.

This fellow gave me the evil eye

at the Suwannee River campground

where we go a couple of times a year.

It's Not a Bird!

 I'm driving down the road on my way to the bank this afternoon

when something catches my attention.

 

Then I spy two of them.

Not disrespectfully, but sometimes, I must admit,

 I do wonder what was on God's mind

when he made some of His creatures.

 

This fellow could use a bit of dental work!

I thought they might be alpacas, 
but when I looked them up online,

alpacas had the sweetest faces.

So, I'm guessing they were llamas.

At any rate, not a common observance 
in my neck of the woods!

A St. Augustine Sense of Humor

I love St. Augustine, Florida for many reasons.

It's close.

It's unique.

It's laden with history.

I have so many special memories of times spent there

with precious friends and family.

And ~ it has a wonderful sense of humor, too!

I couldn't resist snapping this shot.

Cool Take Off

Snapped this at the golf course today.

His feet kicked up the water as he lifted off.

To Claim Her or Not

I'm never quite sure when Mom and I go out for an afternoon

whether I will end up claiming her or not.

We were at a flea market in Jacksonville

and she was off searching out treasures,

while I was ambling around doing the same.

Eventually, I felt someone standing near me at a table;

too near me for my comfort zone.

Someone dark-haired, I surmised from a surreptitious glance.

Finally I turned toward them full-faced 

and saw ~ this!

Aside from its blackmail possibilities,

it is a pretty fair depiction of

my mother's interpretation of life:

Never Quit Having Fun!

(Or attempting to embarrass your daughter)

A Pelican Convention

"Hey, Dude! ~ It's a Pelican Convention!"

Photo Taken at Beverly Beach, Florida