This Old House

Fond memories this

A house and loving home place.

In good times and bad.

Family gathered here

Not only brick and mortar

But love filled it all!

I remember Christmas, Thanksgiving and summer picnic here.  The Folks, as they were called, always had an open door for us kids.  My grandparents had died before I was born so the Aunts and Pat were all I know as extended family.  There were so many overnights as kids. My celebration after my 1st Communion was here. My first opera, Aida, was shared with Pat.  When I graduated from high school I was gifted with a trip to Washington D.C.  with them all.  We had a grand time.  And when they sold the house, and I was in nursing school close by, I would take occasional walks by it, just to remember the good times.  For those times I am truly gratefully.

~~~^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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Wonders of a Waterfall

r

Upper Falls

Lechworth State Park

on the Genesec River

~~~~~

Waterfalls entrance

Demanding our attention

We are mesmerized

~~~^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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Working On a Scrapbook

Scrapbooking  is hard work

Revisiting adventures

Worth the time it takes

~~~~~~~

Since we started traveling abroad in 2015 I've postponed working on gathering these memories.  It was a big mistake.  I should have started right away when we got home from our first trip to Italy  

My first mistake was not keeping a journal on the first two trips.  So those scrapbooks were more difficult to organize.  But that is what I've done on the next three trips and so far with this scrapbook it's been much easier.  So, I'm nearly finished with Scrapbook3.  

So far I've completed trip to Italy I and France.  It's really a lot of work but I have to say I've enjoyed reliving the journeys.  

~~~^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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Dusk At Howell Wetlands

Dusk at the wetlands

Sounds and colors overwhelm

Oh so beautiful

 I do love a trail that invites me to "The Road Less Traveled."

 The foliage is so lush and green!

But nothing can compare to the surprise we found at the end of the trail.  The scene took my breath away.  There is fish in the water and we saw a muskrat dive into the water.  There were also turtles and flocks of birds.  Unhappily I was unable to to stay long enough to get photos.  It was a terrific way to spend time while waiting to meet our friend for dinner.

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for Through My Lens, Travel Tuesday, and Our World Tuesday.

Pink Flowers

With Petals of Pink

Blossoms bursting with beauty

Glory be to God!

~~~^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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May Flowers

Aw Spring!!

The maple tree in our back yard is so very lovely in the Spring.  It's color is not nearly as beautiful in the Autumn.  There is glorious color today and I will cherish it.

Roses and Gerber daisies are my favorite at this time of year.  I just add to that list as the seasons merge and share their own colors.  I'm looking with anticipation for the blossoms on my daisies.

Azaleas - whitest of white!

White as the drifted snow

Fresh-fallen out of the night,

Before the coming glow.

Tinges the morning light;

When the light is like the snow,

White,

And the silence is like the light:

Light, and silence, and snow, -

All - white!

by Harriett McEwen Kimball 

And I cannot tell you how I treasure the azaleas and their blossoms!  They are so very exquisite in their shape and color.

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday, Through My Lens, Travel Tuesday, and Our World Tuesday.

Ohio River Traffic

Barge on the Ohio

Newburgh, IN

Barge on the water

Transporting a load of coal

Good river traffic

~~~^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!!! 

I Lost My Week

Simba napping

~~~~~

Where has this week gone

Quickly it has passed me by

I wasn't napping

Excuses are easy

Busyness is an excuse

But I can't use it

~~^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!!! 

Glorious Sunrise

Sunrise sunset, sunrise sunset, 

Swiftly fly the days,

Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers,

Blossom even as they gaze.

Sunrise sunset, sunrise sunset,

Swiftly fly the years,

One season following another,

Laden with happiness and tears.

by 

Jerry Bock and Sheldon Hamick

~~~~~~~

I awoke this morning to a beautiful sunrise!  Sunrises always fill  me with such wonder and awe.  And when I see one it gives me such hope.

~~~~~~~

Sun begins to glow

So early in the morning

It lifts up the soul

Happiness and joy

From the Creator's palate

Offer quiet morn

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks to be God,

Cathy

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

Holy Women

Saint Anne and Mary

Birthplace of Mary

Saint Ann's Church

Jerusalem, Israel

Mother and daughter

Perfection, beauty in love

In the love of God

Suffering mother

Teach us how to live and love

In the name of God

~~~^j^~~~

Cathy

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

Ambivalent April

Awoke to snow at 5:00 a.m. this morning.

It was wet, cold at 34 degrees and some artwork was achieved by Mother Nature.

By 10:00 a.m. the sun was shining and the snow was gone.  The Bradford pear was in all its glory.

The leaves on the rose bushes were grateful for the absence of snow.  Those are tears of joy!

Wishing all a warmer week with April weather to which we are more accustomed. 

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday, Through My Lens, Travel Tuesday, and Our World Tuesday.

End o' Day

 Sun's low in the sky

Rays glisten on the water

End of day glory

~~~^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!!! 

Good Friday--Amazing Love

Early morning on the Via Dolorosa

~~~~~~~

Bearing all our sins

The Savior carries his cross

In weakness and pain

All this just for us

So much pain and agony

For our salvation

Pieta

~~~~~~~

Only this is pure love!!!

~~~^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!!! 

Palm Sunday

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout daughter of Jerusalem!  Se your king comes to you; righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey."

Zechariah 9:9

There were so many beautiful palm trees in the Holy Land that it was not difficult to understand how their fronds were used to hail our Lord's entry into Jerusalem.  I can just imagine the excitement and enthusiasm of those cheering their "Hosannas! "

"The palm branch is a symbol of triumph, peace and eternal life originating in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world." (Wikipedia)

For Christians today is the beginning of the holiest season of the year.  We follow Jesus through his last days to his death on the cross and celebrate his resurrection!  We walk with him to Emmaus, eat breakfast with him on the beach at the Sea of Galilee with his disciples.  We witness his Ascension to the Father,  And then, we are in the upper room when the gift of the Holy Spirit is celebrated on Pentecost.   The celebration of our salvation story compels us to celebrate God's love for us!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday, Through My Lens, Travel Tuesday, and Our World Tuesday.

Creation of Rose

Beauty of the Rose

Fragrance and color supreme

God's own creation

All beauty is love

And fragrances calm the soul

All praise creator

~~~^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!!! 

Tagbha, A Place of Miracles

“A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints” ~Wilfred Peterson

~~~~~~~

Tabgha is an area not far from Caphernaum and within this area is the Mount of Beatitudes, as well as, the two churches here.

Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves

Interior garden of the church

The altar over the stone on which Jesus was to have stood to feed the multitude.

Mark 6:34-44

Church of Peter's Primacy

A place venerated As the place where Jesus fed his disciples after the Resurrection.  It is suggested that Jesus wanted to have breakfast with his disciples that he had physically risen from the dead. (John 21: 1-14)

 And so I walked down to the Sea of Galilee where countless pilgrims have walked and tried to envision the multitude that was fed that day, not 80 as we were, but a multitude. 

For the Lord Most High is awesome
the great King over all the earth.
Psalm 47: 2

So it is that next week we begin our journey from Palm Sunday to the cross on Calvary with our Lord.  Then we celebrate with great Alleluias on Easter Sunday with our Risen Lord!!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday, Through My Lens, Travel Tuesday, and Our World Tuesday.

Serenity

O tranquility

Beautiful serenity

Rests on the water

~~~^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!!! 

Capharnaum, the Town of Jesus

“A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints” ~Wilfred Peterson

~~~~~~~

When Jesus began his ministry he chose Capharnaum (Capernaum) as his home.  He would set out from here on his journeys healing and teaching around the Sea of Galilee.  It is here that he taught in the synagogue.

The went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.  The people were amazed at his teaching because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.  (Mark 1: 21-22)

Synagogue

Dated to the 5th century

. . .the synagogue, [is] dated to the fifth century AD by the coins and pottery found at the floor level of its wall. . .Many scholars agree that this synagogue stands on top of a basalt synagogue that goes back to the first century AD. It is almost certain that this earlier synagogue was the very synagogue that Jesus and his followers attended and the one where our Lord spoke about himself as the bread of life (John 6:59).    Come and See: A Catholic Guide to the Holy Land, by Rev. Charles Samson, SSL

Ruins of the City

The Church of Saint Peter

The Church of Saint Peter in Capharnaum is built over Saint Peter's home in such a way that the ruins are still visible.  It was remarkable.

On leaving the synagogue he entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.  Simon's mother-in-law was sick with a fever.  They immediately told him about her.  He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.  Then the fever left her and she waited on them. (Mark 1: 29-31)

It was amazing to walk where Peter lived.  The town where he and his family lived and walked the streets and worshiped together.  Oh, the wonder of it all!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!

Cathy

Please join me for Mosaic Monday, Through My Lens, Travel Tuesday, and Our World Tuesday.