How True

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Pigeon Boots and other assorted Pigeon Clothes

I have written about my father before. As I think of him now I would choose the word unique to describe him, but maybe there are lots of people who have had fathers like him, after all - PLUGGERS has had so many comics which "paint" him like he was. 

Yes, every summer he would be repainting something -  like the time the tricycle needed an upgrade for the last child to have it. After the trike was finished in Fire Engine Red almost every tool had the same red for handles, along with bird houses, etc....Other years it was turquoise or white or green...to us this was all normal and I find myself doing this so it must be normal!

Another story of my unique father was when he saved up and eventually purchased through the mail a Heathkit color television set to build. I do not know how long it took him to build that TV, but I know he enjoyed every moment doing so. It was our first television in color and with a cabinet, but unfortunately, it always had issues. He had a real job so the time to work on it was short. While waiting for the time to repair it he bought a smaller TV and put it on top of the cabinet for us. This TV on the TV became the norm.

My father's love for nature is one in which he instilled in me. Camping, hiking, canoeing, sailing, with bird watching and feeding the birds on the top of the list at home. 

I remember all those years with him trying to thwart the squirrels from eating at his homemade bird feeders. He tried every tact he could design. Eventually, he decided to let them "win" by making a big wooden platform for all the birds AND the squirrels, plus he made many squirrel houses for our wooded lot.

When I was three my family moved into the house my parents kept for over 40 years. I remember when he built his first pigeon house. He was fascinated by homing pigeons. Many times he raced them. All the time he trained them. Once in a while he would allow me to come into the pigeon loft with him. He would explain things and even let me hold the baby pigeons.

As time went by the small, square pigeon loft began to fall apart so he designed and built another one twice the size of the first at the corner of the yard. After the change over to the new house the old one was dismantled. What remained was the rock foundation and the flower beds which surrounded it. My sister and I loved to play "house" in the dirt square. It was just joy!

All the while my father raised his pigeons he had special clothes to go work in the lofts. His old grey coat became his "Pigeon Coat", his tall green wellington type boots were his "Pigeon Boots"... pigeon gloves, pigeon hats...

It was only natural for us. Doesn't every father have a pigeon coat?

In our own family every slip-on pair of boots have been called "pigeon boots" and even now when our big old coats are replaced by new ones, the old ones become our "play coats", but mostly, they are lovingly called our "pigeon coats".

As the Piper's Wife if I needed new pigeon boots these are the kind I would have to purchase! I would love to share this photo with my father. He would have had a good chuckle. I can just hear him now:

Recipe Found!

I am always so organized *sarcasm* and because of this a favorite 
cookie recipe went missing years ago. A very simple recipe 
- Shortbread cookies - so I have tried all sorts of other recipes. 

How different could they be? Even so, we continued to "miss" this 
one recipe we treasured. I eventually got rid of all the other recipes - 
why make any of them if it is not what we like?

I have had this recipe since I was in high school. I had all my credits 
my senior year so I took some electives to fill in the time. One of these 
was a home economics class which had us divide up into groups to 
make meals from favorite family recipes at the end of that quarter. My
favorite recipe was my group's shortbread cookie which was unique to me 
so it has been my tradition all these years until it was lost! 

Last month I found it and just as I remembered it, a very simple recipe:

Debbie L's Shortbread Cookies

2 cups flour
1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar

Mix dough by mixer and hand. 
Make small balls.
Press down with palm. 
Poke with fork.
Bake at 350* 8 to 10 (or more).

*Addendum: I have found it works best to have very warm butter or to melted butter.
I have also found that it always takes 20 or more minutes to bake. Personal preference. 
I sometimes push all the dough into a 8 or 9X13, poke with fork, bake ~25min. , and carefully cut squares through the warm cooked pan  :o)

The Joy of Flowers in the Middle of Winter

Amaryllis 

A lovely snowy landscape

This wintery, snowy landscape is a photo of a recent snow fall which was caught up in between my storm window and the screen. The "star" is the flash of the camera. A landscape in miniature like a terrarium.

I thought is was quite amazing, and I praised the LORD for the beauty in His creation. 

Waiting in the LORD

"No Winter lasts forever, 

no Spring skips its turn."

--Hal Borland

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A Stitch in Time: This is me

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Major kudos to PLUGGERS

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Those were the days

My Father: #N8AEG

Longing for spring in a winter wonderland

-Mary Engelbreit, Kitty in Window

Isaiah 1:16-18
“Wash yourselves, 
make yourselves clean;

Remove the evil of your 
deeds from My sight.


Cease to do evil,
Learn to do good;

Seek justice,

Reprove the ruthless,

Defend the orphan,

Plead for the widow.

“Come now, and let us 
reason together,”

Says the Lord,

“Though your sins 
are as scarlet,

They will be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They will be like wool."
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Jesus is Our Source of Every Good

Come, All Ye Pining

 Lord, we adore thy boundless grace,


The heights and depths unknown,


Of pardon, life, and joy, and peace,


In thy beloved Son.

Come, all ye pining, hungry poor,


The Saviour’s bounty taste;


Behold a never-failing store


For every willing guest.

O wondrous gifts of love divine,


Dear Source of every good;


Jesus, in thee what glories shine!


How rich thy flowing blood!

Come, all ye pining, hungry poor,


The Saviour’s bounty taste;


Behold a never-failing store


For every willing guest.

Here shall your numerous wants receive


A free, a full supply;


He has unmeasured bliss to give,

And joys that never die.

Come, all ye pining, hungry poor,


The Saviour’s bounty taste;


Behold a never-failing store


For every willing guest.

-Anne Steele

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Pride, the Most Dangerous: Humility vs Sinning

James 4:5-17

"...do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose:   
“He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? 

But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, 
“God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Submit therefore to God. 
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. 
Cleanse your hands, you sinners; 
and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Be miserable and mourn and weep;
let your laughter be turned into mourning 
and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord,
and He will exalt you.

Do not speak against one another, brethren. 
He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, 
speaks against the law and judges the law; 
but if you judge the law, 
you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.

There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, 
the One who is able to save and to destroy; 
but who are you who judge your neighbor?

Come now, you who say, 
“Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, 
and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. 

You are just a vapor that appears for a little while
and then vanishes away.

Instead, you ought to say, 
“If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

But as it is, 
you boast in your arrogance; 
all such boasting is evil.

Therefore, 
to one who knows the right thing to do 
and does not do it, 
to him it is sin.
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Precious Rememberings...

Remembering my father on his Birthday.

Seeking Only Thee to Know

Jesus, Cast a Look on Me 

Jesus cast a look on me,


Give me sweet simplicity


Make me poor and keep me low,


Seeking only Thee to know

All that feeds my busy pride,


Cast it evermore aside


Bid my will to Thine submit,


Lay me humbly at Thy feet

Make me like a little child,


Of my strength and wisdom spoiled


Seeing only in Thy light,


Walking only in Thy might

Leaning on Thy loving breast,


Where a weary soul can rest


Feeling well the peace of God,


Flowing from His precious blood

In this posture let me live,


And hosannas daily give


In this temper let me die,


And hosannas ever cry!

-John Berridge

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How True! It can be a measuring device of people.

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“I care not much for a man's religion 

whose dog and cat 

are not the better for it.”

-Abraham Lincoln

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Kindness, Tenderness, Forgiveness

-Mary Engelbreit

Ephesians 4:22-32
 "...22in reference to your former manner of life, 
you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted 
in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be 
renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, 
which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness 
and holiness of the truth.

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you 
with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your 
anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.

He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, 
performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have 
something to share with one who has need.

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only 
such a word as is good for edification according to the need of 
the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed 
for the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be 
put away from you, along with all malice.

32Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, 
just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."

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Holding fast to the confession of our hope

Hebrews 10:19-31

"...Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.


For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.

Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”

It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God..."

He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus!

Philippians 1:3-11
 "...3I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,
always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all,
in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.

For I am confident of this very thing, 
that He who began a good work in you will perfect it 
until the day of Christ Jesus.

For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, 
because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment 
and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, 
you all are partakers of grace with me.

For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the 
affection of Christ Jesus.

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more 
in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may 
approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere 
and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with 
the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, 
to the glory and praise of God.

Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances 
have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel,
so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become 
well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to 
everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord 
because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak 
the word of God without fear...

...18Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for 
my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit 
of Jesus Christ,  according to my earnest expectation and hope, 
that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, 
Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life 
or by death.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; 
and I do not know which to choose.

But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart 
and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the 
flesh is more necessary for your sake.

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all 
for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me 
may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, 
so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you 
that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together 
for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents—which 
is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, 
from God.

For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, 
but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you
saw in me, and now hear to be in me."
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You are not a "lost cause"! 

People are praying for you!

Don't despair!

Cry out to God for He hears you!

Psalms 34:15
"The eyes of the Lord 
are toward the righteous
And His ears are open 
to their cry."
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Be Humble,

Repent,

Relax,

and talk with the LORD.

*You are not a "lost cause".

Wear a Graceful Wreath Around Your Head

Proverbs 1
"...Hear, my son, your father’s instruction
And do not forsake your mother’s teaching;
Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head
And ornaments about your neck..."

We are also on duty for our own little Peekaboo!

ROSE is ROSE

Grieving, Mourning, and Dancing

How completely appropriate. 

My precious grandparents now with the LORD for decades were separated by death for a small handful of years. My grandmother carried on in her life, but she greatly missed her beloved.  She successfully lived on in their home, and eventually to an assisted living.

Several times during these years she was found in the early evening (dark) wearing Grandpa's wool sweater sitting in his recliner. I remember the "uproar" some family members gave over this strange behavior.

Strange? Strange?

At the time I was a young wife with little children, but I could understand Grandma's grief and the comforts she chose during parts of the day. I loved her and I learned from her.

When Grandma went to be with the LORD the only thing I asked for was Grandpa's sweater.

Grieving, agonies, sadnesses----Pain is pain. Sometimes it will be a lifetime of dealing with the grief. 

If you are struggling with sorrows then allow yourself time to grieve, find your appropriate comforts, and then carry on with your life for the LORD.

Life is full of agonies. It is the LORD who helps us through life as we look forward to Glory when there will be no more tears.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is an appointed time for everything. 
And there is a time for every event under heaven—

A time to give birth and a time to die;

A time to plant and 
a time to uproot what is planted.

A time to kill and a time to heal;

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to weep and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn and a time to dance.

A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

A time to search and a time to give up as lost;

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear apart and 
a time to sew together;

A time to be silent and a time to speak.

A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
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A Weary Place

Wartime Christmas

Led by a star, a golden star,
The youngest star, an olden star,
Here the kings and the shepherds are,
A-kneeling on the ground.
What did they come to the inn to see?
God in the highest, and this is He,
A baby asleep on His mother's knee
And with her kisses crowned.

Now is the earth a dreary place,
A troubled place, a weary place.
Peace has hidden her lovely face
And turned in tears away.
Yet the sun, through the war-cloud, sees
Babies asleep on their mother's knees.
While there are love and home--and these--
There shall be Christmas Day.

-by Alfred Joyce Kilmer, 1886-1918

Kilmer once wrote, "At present, I am a poet trying to be a soldier."
All the ugliness he witnesses on the battlefields of the First World War 
never shook his faith in God or his belief in the beauty and goodness of 
life. Kilmer was killed fighting in France in 1918.
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 Wars, politics, terrorists, hatred, abuse, injustice...
continue a hundred years later...

We who love and live for Jesus as our Savior wait for 
His victorious return. While we remain we live in 
His strength to do next things for Him even when 
the world is at its ugliest.
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