April flowers

After a long, long, long winter, it is wonderful to see the flowers of April.

Not really any flowers in this view but it's a lovely April 12 morning by the Sheboygan River in Kohler, Wisconsin. There were scilla nearby in bloom. I loved seeing the mist rise off the river and no snow in sight.

Bleeding hearts in front of my house on April 23.

Daffodils on the side of my house on April 23.



I love the combination of the white daffodils and early red tulips.




Grace United Methodist Church - Easter 



He is risen. He is risen indeed!

Friends and Gems

A couple of weekends ago, my friends and I visited the Lazzadro Museum of Lapidary Arts in Elmhurst, Illinois. It's located on the south end of the Elmhurst College campus. It's a lovely small museum with wonderful Chinese jade vases and tons of other pieces. There is also several educational displays of mineral samples. There was a special exhibit on flourite - which was mined in southern Illinois - such beautiful crystals.  One can spend an hour or so at this museaum viewing the beautiful works of art. There were also lots of opportunities to buy at the museum gift shop. Both adults and children will enjoy this place. As we viewed many of the intricately carved pieces, we marveled at the incredible amount of time that craftspersons now long dead spent creating these works of art. The patience and skill still is evident centuries later.

We took a couple of photos in front of the museum.  The first one is with KC and Diane. The second is with KC and me. Check the museum website for more info - it's well worth visiting!

Alex and Me

A couple of Christmases ago, I dragged my family out to see "Marley and Me". Somehow I hadn't heard about the part where the last half of the movie is spent watching the beloved Marley die. As we drove home after the show, a voice from the backseat said, "Thanks, Mom, for ruining my Christmas."

Saying goodbye to a beloved pet is just part of the deal of pet ownership, but is never easy. Alex DaBulls Hickok had a great run of 15 1/2 years. He was always rambunctous even in his advanced years. We gave up wondering when he was going to settle down sometime after his 12th year. It just wasn't going to happen. Last Saturday, he breathed his last. He was a good dog, even when he was bad. A wonderful and loyal companion who always had time for treats and chasing squirrels. Although I miss him so much, I am grateful that he was part of our family.

Here are a couple of photos of Al. The first was taken around New Years and shows Al sniffing around Lisa's snow dog. The second was taken 2 weeks ago.

Simple Truths of Life

I recently read a book entitled "Simple Truths of Life" by Linda Ellis. It was very uplifting with many inspirational and wise quotations sprinkled throughout.  One came to mind this past week attributed to Will Rogers: " Common sense ain't common."  When I came home after work, my daughter greeted me with her cat, John Robie, sitting on her lap and wearing one of those big dish collars. Robie had decided to investigate a doggie treat in the process of being consumed by our aged golden retriever, Alex Dabulls Hickok. Normally an fairly easy going canine, Al took exception to the intrusion and bit Robie near his ear. So perhaps a new simple truth for Robie will be: "Nothing good can come from inserting one's nose between canines and their treats."

DeWitt

I was thinking about DeWitt Jones this evening. He spent many years as a photographer for National Geographic. He is a motivational speaker who has produced DVDs. Here is one of his quotes from his DVD "Celebrating What is Right with the World":

"Vision controls our perception and perception controls our reality."

I've posted a few of my photos from 2010. Maybe not quite as good as DeWitt's, but nonetheless a reminder that it is good to celebrate the beauty of our world and to acknowledge that one can find beauty in each person and in each situation on a daily basis.

At the end of May 2010 I was in Cincinnati and visited the butterfly exhibit at the conservatory in East Walnut Hills. Here was one of my art shots.

I was traveling through Tacoma, Washington in late August 2010 and came across the most beautiful public garden out by Puget Sound. Rows and rows of dahlias were in bloom. Here is just one of hundreds that I was able to enjoy.

Buses & Mounds

A couple of weekends ago, March 11 & 12, I drove down to Belleville, IL to attend a conference on the changing faces of poverty. It was hosted by the Illinois Council of Churches and held at the St Mary of the Snows Shrine. It was an excellent conference - learned a lot and met some great people. I was especially impressed by the bus ministry conducted by one of the local local Roman Catholic groups (St VIncent DePaul, I think). The idea was to retrofit a couple of school buses into traveling soup kitchens. They drive into the poor neighborhoods of East St Louis and Belleville and serve meals to those who show up - lots of children. The bus can seat 24 people at a time and an average of 80 people are served each day. I believe that this model could be duplicated in many communities for not only serving meals, but to provide tutoring and other services.



During one of the breaks, we went out to the parking lot and were served a snack.



Stove in back of bus.

Tables and seats are built into sides of bus.

The sink is up to health code requirements.


Then on the way  back I stopped in Collinsville at the Cahokia Mounds State Park for about a half hour.Wow! There's a great historical museum and then one can tour the many scores of mounds here. It's about 15 minutes from St. Louis and well worth visiting. I want to return when I can spend more time.

Front of the Cahokia Mounds museum.

One of the larger mounds. there is a pathway & stairs to the top of the mound.

Cake walks

It's an interesting term "cake walk". Is a cake walk really that easy? Are you really guaranteed to win a cake? All I know is that our church had a cake walk last Sunday after services and I didn't go home with a cake (which is not all a bad thing). But perhaps it's not so much the winning of a cake, but the walking in fellowship with others that makes life a real cake walk.

Here's the 2 cakes that I made for the event: a peanut butter and jelly cake and a chocolate bundt with peanut butter glaze a liberally sprinkled with mini M&Ms (sure to get the kids' attention).

This is best photo that I took of Brian (in green shirt). When he was in 8th grade he decided that he could organize a cake walk event at our church to raise money for the general fund. This is his third year running this event. Some kids just have that kind of spunk which make you know that no matter what, they will be alright. He's special.

The lucky winner of the M&M bundt.

Max, a guide dog trainee, at his first cake walk.