SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS

Psalm 107, 23-24
I was so pleased to see this scripture on the Fisherman's Memorial at Gloucester, Massachusetts. This memorial has been there for many years. I wonder if they were just now making it if they would include the scripture. I hope so. This is what Psalm 107, 23-24 says: "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep."
Here are photos we took of the memorial. It's hard to see in this photo, but it appears at the bottom of the plaque. I think this is a wonderful scripture that needs no explanation.

Carol & Charlotte at Fisherman's Memorial - October 2009

Be sure to go to our Spiritual Sundays blog to find links to other posts. Of course we would love to have you participate by posting something spiritual or inspirational on your own blog and linking it there. You will find instructions on how to do that on the Spiritual Sundays blog.

WOBURN

Where in the world is Woburn you ask? If you are familiar with the northeast you probably know. This "western" woman had no idea until we started looking online for someplace to stay when we went to Boston. After considering many many options, we decided the Residence Inn in Woburn would be the place for us. We certainly were not disappointed. Besides being a nice place to stay they served free full breakfast every morning and dinner Monday through Thursday nights. We were 12 miles from Boston and a shuttle from the hotel took us to the train station in Woburn where we enjoyed the ride into Boston. We made about 3 stops at small towns on the way and enjoyed the scenery. Here's a photo I took of the Residence Inn.

I've mentioned in a previous post that we did the trolley tour thing and walked and walked and walked. As we started out walking in Boston, we went through this beautiful garden.

This park reminded me of the parks in London.

Statue of George Washington

We saw plenty of beautiful fall foilage, but a lot of it was on the ground as pictured here. We enjoyed that too. We don't see too many leaves that have fallen in our neighborhood. LOL

After that, we walked by Cheers. It was early and wasn't open yet so we didn't go inside. We were told it doesn't look anything like the Cheers place on TV.

CHEERS & CHEERIO!

Charlotte

Now That's a Cannoli

We spent a whole day touring Boston, walking and riding a trolley. We rode awhile and walked awhile, rode awhile, and walked again. We were on and off the trolley all day. At the end of the day we were very tired, but finished off the day at a neat little pastry shop called Mike's. We ate our first cannolis there. We didn't actually even know exactly what a cannoli was, but we were eager to find out, and we were not disappointed. They were delicious. Clif's was covered in chocolate.

I thought the reflection in the mirror was interesting. My, Charlotte, what a big mouth you have. LOL
My Blue Monday post featuring blue buildings in Rockport, MA is on Charlotte's Weblog.

SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS

Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.

-- Luke 6:38 (RSV)

Heart Gifts

It's not the things that can be bought

that are life's richest treasure,

It's just the little "heart gifts"

that money cannot measure...

A cheerful smile, a friendly word,

a sympathetic nod

Are priceless little treasures

from the storehouse of our God . . . 

They are the things that can't be bought

with silver or with gold,

For thoughtfulness and kindness

and love are never sold . . . 

They are the priceless things in life

for which no one can pay.

And the giver finds rich recompense

in GIVING THEM AWAY.

                    - Helen Steiner Rice
Here's something you probably didn't know about Mrs. Rice. I just read it in one of her books.

Mrs Rice married a wealthy Dayton, Ohio, banker in 1929, but their marriage ended in tragedy. Distraught by losses that resulted from the stock market collapse, her husband took his own life. In 1931 Mrs. Rice joined Gibson Greeting Cards in Cincinnati. A short time later, she was named editor of the company's card line and for the next 50 years she wrote literally millions of verses for greeting cards. She was also a great motivator of the company's sales force. When speaking to the salesmen, she told them a legend entitled, "The Windows of Gold." It was so well received that she later put the little story into verse.

Be sure to visit our Spiritual Sundays blog for links to more posts. We hope you will want to be one of the participants.

OUR FIRST HARVARD EXPERIENCE

We rented a car last Friday morning and drove to the Harvard campus. We arrived at the parking lot where we were to meet Carol but we were an hour early. It was lunch time, so we walked over to a beautiful cafeteria that was just a few yards away and ate lunch. Here's a picture of Clif walking to the cafeteria.

Here are more pictures of that area.

And here's a shot I took inside the cafeteria.

After we picked Carol up she drove us to the J.F.K. Presidential Library. It was interesting, but not nearly as nice as the Reagan Library. Of course Kennedy was so young when he died he didn't have time to collect as much stuff.  I'll share pictures in a future post.

OUR DAUGHTER AT HARVARD

I just did a post on my Charlotte's Weblog blog on this same subject, but went into more detail and posted more pictures there. You can click HERE to see that post.

ANOTHER OLD CHURCH IN BOSTON

One of the main attractions in Boston was the Old North Church. We heard a lot of interesting tales about Paul Revere from our tour guides. If you would like to see inside the Old North Church, I posted photos on my other blog. Click HERE to go there. It really is worth the "trip". Here is another historical church with a statue of Paul Revere.

TO MAINE AND BACK

I just did a short post on my Charlotte's Weblog blog about our trip to New England. Since I hadn't posted anything on this blog since our daughter's birthday, I thought I'd do a short post here also. As I said on my other blog, we took tons of pictures and will be doing posts using some of them in the future, but for now, this will be "it." Oh, Sally, you'll be pleased to know we saw blue, blue, blue in New England and I'll be joining Blue Monday again next week. LOL

We spent most of Saturday in Massachusetts and New Hampshire but did drive on up to Maine.

The main attraction in Kittery, Maine seemed to be the Outlets. We stopped here but only went into one store. We can visit outlets anywhere anytime, but, of course, not in Kittery.

We're always on the lookout for beautiful churches, and found this one in New Hampshire.

We didn't spend much time in Maine, we hit the freeway again and headed back down to NH and MA.

Bye for now. More New England travel adventures coming up in the next few days.

Happy Blue Birthday

I'm a little late in posting this, but I was looking for a picture of our daughter to post because today is her birthday. As I was looking at old birthday pictures, I ran across this one of her with a blue elephant birthday cake that was taken many years ago. I won't say how many. Then I thought, I'll share this for her birthday and also for Blue Monday.

Hubby posted about her birthday on his blog with an up-to-date photo of her. You can view it by clicking HERE. She has always been such a joy for both of us.

Happy Birthday to Carol!

Happy Blue Monday Everybody!

Of course Sally is our hostess for Blue Monday each week. You can go to her blog by clicking HERE.

The End of the Road Is But a Bend in the Road

As you already know, I love poems by Helen Steiner Rice. Today for Spiritual Sundays I've chosen another one of her poems to share. It's called The End of the Road Is But a Bend in the Road. So many times in this life we feel like we've come to the end of our road, when in reality it is just a bend in the road, and you never know what wonderful blessings may be just around the bend. I hope you enjoy this poem as much as I do.

When we feel we have nothing left to give

and we are sure that the "song has ended"

When our day seems over and the shadows fall

and the darkness of night has descended

Where can we find the hand that will dry

the tears that the heart is crying --

There's but one place to go and that is to God

and, dropping all pretense and pride,

We can pour out our problems without restraint

and gain strength with Him at our side --

And together we stand at life's crossroads

and view what we think is the end,

But God has a much bigger vision

and He tells us it's ONLY A BEND --

For the road goes on and is smoother,

and the "Praise in the song" is a "rest,"

And the part that's unsung and unfinished

is the sweetest and richest and best --

So rest and relax and grow stronger,

LET GO and LET GOD share your load,

Your work is not finished or ended,

you've just come to a bend in the road.

- Helen Steiner Rice

P.S. Everyone is welcome to participate in the Spiritual Sundays meme. Click HERE to learn more.

LIMO FOR RENT

We saw this limousine Saturday as we were driving to a memorial service at our former church. I was glad I had my camera in my purse. I learned some time ago to always keep it with me because you never know when a strange looking limo might show up.

Who is Micey?

If you follow the Spiritual Sundays blog, you most likely know the answer to the question in the title of this post. If you don't know Michelle (Micey) I hope you will go to her blog and get acquainted. She recently changed the title of her blog to Stepping Out In Faith To The Nations. For several years now she has had her heart set on being a missionary, and now that dream is about to be fulfilled. Those of us who have followed her blog know that she has been a "missionary" for a long time, just not in a foreign land. Now she is looking forward to serving in Africa.

So, why am I writing my Spiritual Sundays post about Micey, who is also a friend of mine on Facebook? I have been inspired by her love for the Lord, her dedication, her testimony on her blog, and I want you to be inspired too. And, I want you to pray for her as she makes life-changing decisions and steps out in faith to follow the dream that God has placed in her heart.

You can click HERE to go to Micey's blog.

Romans 10:14-15 14 But before people can ask the Lord for help, they must believe in him; and before they can believe in him, they must hear about him; and for them to hear about the Lord, someone must tell them;15 and before someone can go and tell them, that person must be sent. It is written, "How beautiful is the person who comes to bring good news." (NCV)

You can click HERE to go to the Spiritual Sundays blog for links to other spiritual/inspirational posts. We hope you will want to participate as well. You will find instructions there on how to do it.