First Time to Florida

Our path to the beach began here, an enticing opening to my first visit to the beach in Florida.  

It was certainly different than the beach in Carmel, CA.  We lived in Monterey, CA while Ron was in the military in 1970 and so we could go to the beach there often.  It was so different, though.  The waves crash there and the water is cold.  I remember surfers would wear wet suits.  

My first experience on the beach near Ft. Matanza on the east coast of Florida was so very different.  The water was much warmer, especially in October, and the waves lapped the beach.  I reminded me of the beach on South Padre Island on the Gulf.  It was most enjoyable.

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Gorgeous Yellow Hibiscus

The flora around the house where we stayed was so lovely and the palm tree was most regal.  And, oh. what fun we had sitting on the beach.  I especially liked the red umbrella.

All in all it was a wonderful 5 days of fun with family in a really lovely place.

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday, image-in-ing, and Our World Tuesday.

O Water Lily

Water lily floats

Unencumbered in its space

Free to be herself

~~~~~~~

I love the beauty of the water lily.  It always seems so free, floating ever so gracefully.  Offering peace and reflection when I come upon them.  

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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Florida Sunrise

To say I had a wonderful time in Florida would be an understatement.  The best part of the adventure was the time I spent with family!  You can never spend too much time with your kids and grand kids.  Again, life is good!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday, image-in-ing, and Our World Tuesday.

Footprints In the Sand

Footprints in the sand

How I wish to walk with them

Many and varied

And because I can walk on the beach, listening to and watching the surf I reflected on the many ways my life is good.

Life is good because God created it,

Humanity is good because God formed it,

I am good because God loves me.

~~~^j^~~~

Thank be to God!!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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Early Morning In the Vatican

The fountain

It's been three years since we visited Rome for the second time and I'm reminded of the awesome feeling I had when I first visited there.  It was like coming home.  My cousin, Pat, went in 1976 and regaled me of its glory!  Now I go to my photos and revel in them too.  

We arrived early in the morning in anticipation of our Papal Audience.  It was quiet and cool.  And the fountain was most calming.  I needed to savor the moment!

I still marvel at the beauty of the Michelangelo's Pieta, and the statue of St. Peter that has been touched by so many that it is smooth and polished.  And of course, there are those handsome Swiss guards.   Wanting to go back, but in the meantime will cherish the memories!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday, image-in-ing, and Our World Tuesday.

Words About the Harvest

Silos at Sunrise

Securing the nations grain

Hope for the future

Living in Indiana I've been spoiled over the years to see the Fall come and the harvest begin.  Seeing the vast fields of corn, wheat and soy beans, melons and other fruit fills my heart with joy and hope.  I think everyone should understand the hard work that goes into farming and that we as a nation should never take it for granted!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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Clouds

Clouds are so very lovely.  But being in the mountains and seeing how they cover the very tops of them it makes me happy to be in their presence,  The color contrast is, oh, so wonderful.  I wish sometimes that I were an artist with the skill to capture these clouds on canvas.  

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday, image-in-ing, and Our World Tuesday.

Oh! The Rainbow!

Niagara Falls

Rainbows offer hope

The color is beyond compare

In all their glory

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A few years ago we made an autumn trip to upstate New York and Niagara Falls.  It was just incredible!  The color was exquisite and the Falls were incredible.  I'd return in a heartbeat.  It's just not on the schedule this year!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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Autumn Arrives

See the autumn colors

Pumpkin orange, yellow and red

How they warm the soul

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday, image-in-ing, and Our World Tuesday.

So Runs the River

Cool, clear mountain stream

With white capped  rapids running

So runs the river

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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Beautiful New Day

Sunrise through the fog

Glorious color filtered through

New day has arrived

When we leave early on one of our journeys I am captivated by the rising sun.  And even though the sun rises every morning it is different every day!  It makes me happy, even ecstatic and the prospect of this new day!  It's nearly always the best of days! 

"There's never one sunrise the same or one sunset the same."    Carlos Santana             

Then  there is the tranquility at the foot of the mountains as the day continues on her way.  Glory be to God!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday, image-in-ing, and Our World Tuesday.

Shrinking Glaciers

Rocky Mountain National Park

Crystal clear water

Lake formed by shrinking glacier

Until the snows come

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Remembering all the times I've gone to  "The Park" when I was growing up and all the snow on the mountain tops, it is so saddening to see the tops of the peaks bare.  There were times when we could see mountain goats romping across the snow.  I know that times inevitably change but to see this is disheartening! I do hope that understanding of the climate and the changes will somehow encourage changes for the stabilization of earth!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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Flowers And the Bee

Every year for the last two years as we visit my brother in Fort Collins, Colorado we have gone to the Trial Garden at Colorado State University.  And it is awe inspiring.  

They tell us in their Purpose, "The outdoor display and test areas at the Annual Flower Trial Garden were established to allow students, researchers, industry representatives, homeowners, and extension personnel to learn, teach and evaluate through horticultural research and demonstrations projects conducted in the unique environmental conditions of the Rocky Mountain/High Plains region."

The day we were there it was just exquisite!  The colors incredible and the variety just amazing.  But the what was most exciting about our visit there was the number of bees we saw!  They were in such abundance I cannot help but hope that their population is growing! 

Not only the color was exquisite but the bees were exciting!\

Gorgeous colors and the beautiful bee.

Oh, vivid color

So beautiful to behold

Oh Great Creator

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday, image-in-ing, and Our World Tuesday.

Little Chapel in the Valley

Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel

Camp Saint Malo, Colorado

A  little chapel

High in the Rocky Mountains

Prayers arise from here

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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Lone Tree On the Prairie

Vigilant is he

The Master of his domain

I am filled with awe

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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Italian Memories

I was wondering what to post today so I was going through the photo library when I came to photos of our first trip to Italy in 2015.  

When we arrived in Italy our guide told us that we had time for a n unscheduled side trip on our way to Florence because we were too early for our hotel arrival.  It was a delightful day!  The sun was shining and the sky was so blue.  I was ready to start this "New Adventure."

So our first stop was in Montepulciano and according to Wikipedia it is "a medieval and Renaissance hill town in . . .southern Tuscany.  It was a short walk to the elevator that took us up to the main part of the town.  And then it was a walk in history. 

We walked around the the town and only made one stop which was the most interesting wine shop I've ever been in.  Why?  Because it was also the winery and a museum. 

Ercolani-Underground City

The Museum with its old wine casks and Etruscan pottery

The tour of the winery was really interesting because of the historic background and the fact that it has been in the family for so many years and it was all underground.

So many casks and they are so large!!  After the tour was the wine tasting.  Oh my, but it was good!

And then it was back down the hill and the rest of out journey to Florence.  It was such grand way to begin an adventure!

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And so in two days I'll begin another travel adventure as we head for Colorado for a visit with family and friends!  It's always grand to go home to my "Promised Land."

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday.

Peace In the Valley

Peace in the valley

If cats and dogs can do it

I ask, "why can't we"

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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Autumn Memories

Autumn's nearly here

Anticipating color

Heavenly palate

Our trip to Colorado was later last year.  We traveled in October.  The color we saw in Missouri on the way home was just magnificent.  The sunrise as always leaves one speechless!  We'll be leaving soon for Colorado and hope that the aspen are changing color by then.  It is time for my annal "Rocky Mountain High!"  And, it only comes from witnessing the glory of God's creation!  

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday

Strength and Beauty

Elegant Lady at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods

Happy is the One

Confident and beautiful

Strengthened by her age

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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Nature Sustained

Crepe Myrtle

Do you appreciate the seasonal changes?  Here in Indiana there are four season:  summer, autumn, winter, spring.  I take them for granted, I'm ashamed to say.  Some do not exactly experience the season we do here.  In the summer it's hot and humid.  Autumn has its glorious colors and cooler days.  Winter can be frigid and snowy, but not as bad here on the Ohio River as it is farther north.  And finally, the well received spring.  That's when the floral glory makes it's appearance.  

I have also taken for granted all of nature that I find so beautiful and yet assume they will return year after year.  What if after the trees lost their leaves in the fall, managed to survive the winter, failed to leaf out in the spring?  The butterfly failed to return from Mexico.  The birds had no place to nest.  All of this is necessary to sustain us.  

We need Nature and Nature needs us.  For heavens sake, let's accept it and do what we can to aid in its sustainability!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Sunrise Glory

Sometimes  a sunrise is just overwhelming.  The beauty of God's art is that it always takes me be surprise.  This is one of those times.

Sunrise in the east

Breathtaking wonder of God

Lifts my very soul

"God's in His heaven and all's right with the world."

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday

Cat On the Prowl

Simba, the Royal Cat

Last night, Simba got a treat. . .He got to prowl the neighborhood. He's quite a cat, and I'm sure you've heard that about cats in general.  But Simba is a real treasure.  

I have two cats and a dog.  Duchess is 14 years old and acts her age.  Simba and his sister, Nala, came to me when a friend found she was allergic cats and she had to find a home for them. Rather than split them up I took both.  Family is family, don't you know.

Sissy, that's what I call her, is sedate and happy to lay around the house. Simba on the other hand is inquisitive and anything but sedate.  I find a lot of pleasure in having both of them here.

So, what happened last night?  Well, it was a nice cool evening and I left the family room door to the outdoors open as I have on numerous occasions.  He found a he could push the screen out and there you have it.  Simba was free!!  

I had no idea he was gone until this morning when I fed the animals and he didn't come to the "table."  He did return, however, about 20 minutes after I set his bowl outside.  So glad he's back. 

Cats love the outdoors

Some love it more than others

Simba's one of those

After his night out

Simba's relaxing right now

Content in this place

~~~^j^~~~

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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Summer On the River

Walking together

Summer on the river walk

Sunshine and flowers

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

After the Rain

Gosh, its been so long since I've posted that I don't know where to begin. . .again.  So let's start after the rain.  It was a very gloomy morning!  With thunder and lightning followed by a torrential downpour.  I thought it was going to rain all day, so I started with a hot cup of tea began knitting.  

And then came the sun and the glorious color in the blossoms after the rain.  There's nothing so wonderful as those clear raindrops on the petals that glisten in the sun.  

~~~^y^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Burst of Color

A burst of color

Beautiful colors and hues

Sharing the same home

Lessons for us all

All need the same nourishment

No one more special

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

Please visit recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

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