Good Sunday morning, Everyfriend, on this last day of July.  There's elephant ears to go with your coffee or tea.  Have a blessed Sunday.







Parking


While walking through a parking lot on a busy December shopping day, I tripped and fell flat on my face. As I was lying there, a woman stopped her car and called out, "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine," I said.

"Oh, good," she continued. "Will you be leaving your parking space now?"


Mercy & Gatekeepers
(By Michael Newnham)

He would cry when I went outside and called for Miss Kitty.

I wouldn't always see him as he cowered in the bushes, but I couldn't help but hear him.

His was not a weak or meek whimper, but the cry of an animal in real distress.

He was terrified and starving and was hoping someone would care about both.

Those of his kind who had already found sanctuary here cared about neither.

They knew of his presence and his plight, but preferred that he stay hidden from sight and silent.

They also know somehow that I would have mercy on him if I knew about him...and they believed that mercy was for them only.

I started by putting dish of food near the bushes he hid in...his hunger soon overcame his fear and he devoured it if I stood a safe distance away.

Soon, every morning and every evening, he would call for me and I would feed him...inching closer every time I put the dish out.

My objective wasn't just to feed him, though that was of primary importance.

The objective was to bring him fully into the family, to feed him, love him, care for him, and give him a home where all those things are a given.

Real mercy is full mercy.

Soon, he would let me sit with him while he ate, but would run if I tried to touch him.

Then, he allowed me to scratch his head while he ate.

Finally he let me pet him...he trusted me.

His joy was almost amusing in it's intensity...food and loving attention at the same place, probably for the first time in his life.

He thought he had found a home, a place where he belonged.

The other cats who had found mercy here soon convinced him otherwise.

They let him know that even if I felt he belonged ,that he really didn't belong here at all.

When he finally felt the courage to walk in the house, Miss Kitty beat him...she drew blood and ran him away.

She spat at me for allowing such in our home.

My new friend had crossed the path of the gatekeeper to full acceptance.

The gate was closed...slammed in his face.

I can do as I will, but they will not allow him to be one of them...even though they found sanctuary in the same place, in the same way.

He still comes and gets fed, he loves being petted and spoken to...but he knows he's not accepted by anyone but me.

I will always go out to him if he can't come to me because of the gatekeepers.

Gatekeepers.

I've seen more than a few humans who function the same way.

They want the strays, the battered, the homeless, to stay over there, out of sight.

They will only extend mercy if it keeps them clean from the defilement of the lost.

They don't want them in the house.

They were once what they despise now.

The owner of the house is not pleased with them.

Make your own application...






Negative thoughts are like birds. You can't keep them from flying around your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.

--Author Unknown

Good Morning Everyfriend!  Joanie, thank you for the goodies.  I like the inspirational reading this morning. I'll be back later when I feel more lively.  It was a very short night.  Beverly's plane was late due to storms so she didn't arrive until around 11:30 and then it was another hour until we settled for the night.  Doggies got up at their usual time and I got up wide awake.  I'll try to find the lost zzzs later.

Good morning, Janie.  The doggies didn't take into consideration the fact that you had a short night.  Hopefully you can get a nap later today.  Enjoy Beverly's visit.

Good Sunday morning..... I got almost 5 hours sleep, better than some nights.  I seem to be slower & slower getting to bed & haven't had a chance to sleep late to make up for it.  "One of these days"..........

Joan, Gatekeepers can end up with a house full and garage full if they don't watch out, I know how that works, they bring friends.  I can't let one go by hungry......

Jane, I'm going to join you looking for extra zzzs.  Time to have a piece of toast to take my aspirin (my only pill for the week), get dressed and head for church. 

Got word last night that the new Daddy hopes to bring the 3 kids to join us for church & breakfast while new Mommie & her mother sleep in.  You know how plans go.  Have a great day, Every Friend!

Good morning everyone..

Unlike Jane and Shirley I slept in this morning. Today is a day of rest. Going to be hot and humid with temps going even higher this coming week. I am hearing about more wells going dry so rain would be a blessing.

Phyllis, I love your graphic and yes that saying is so true, I have been with people that couldn't see the forest for the trees!

Jane, hope you find your zzzz 's

Shirley , enjoy your company.

Joan, thank you for breakfast...

Enjoy your day evryone

i'm pretty sure the extra zzzs will go begging today.  Both of the extra people in my house are the kind who need help and are used to getting it.  I love them both dearly but they do wear me out. 

Good morning, Shirley.  I know you are a gatekeeper who would never let anything go hungry.  Bless you all, especially the new daddy bringing three children to Mass.

Amy--Good morning.  Glad you are having a day of rest.  Here the ponds where they get the reclaimed water from for the sprinkler system are so low that they've had to turn the entire system off.  Our lawns are looking brown.

Janie--Try not to overdo yourself helping the other two in your home.

Good morning, all y'all.  Last few nights have been short ones for me, too.  Still hot here and on top of that my computer has crashed and I have lost so much that I don't know if I can ever get it back.  It was my fault...I did something stupid.  Well, at least I'll have something to do while the hot weather keeps me stuck inside.   

Thank you, Amy.  There are times for me, too, when it is hard to get by that "judging the book by its cover" thing and see the beauty that is inside.

Make it a good day, everyone....I'm sure going to try to.

Good Morning everyone
hope all you lovely Ladies are having a great day. Hal will be here soon I am sure I got to visit with him on Skype a bit yesterday, see you all later.

Lloyd

phyllis
sorrie for the hard knock. when you get it running again try going to your history some times it will work. I do not know how to tell you ext ,how but every thing you ever posted is there. hack the government they have a coppie of it. Have a great day.

Lloyd

Good morning everyone, I am up “n at it early this morning. Woke with a cramp in my leg, sp got up and stood there till it went away and I could walk.

JOAN  I remember when my 2 sons went to Boy Scout cam for a week. I got 1 postcard from each of them. Younger one said he was only writing because they told him if he didn't he would get no supper. Now he was honest at least.

HAL  I know my red haired grandson was on the go all day when he was young. I wonder how his son will be, he is 1 year now and already walking all over and when they put up the gate to keep him in the room with his toys while they are busy he has already managed to knock it down a couple of times. He is not a red head like his dad. Fall is my favorite time of year, it cools off and that crisp feel to the air.

AMY LOL you are funny.

OH WOW  how rumors start. Jane is pickled? Tsk tsk who would have thought it.

JUNE  I am seriously thinking of getting in touch with the trouble shooter at a local TV channel. I am fed up with this. Still not working right but is is working.

JANE  glad you set people right about who/what is pickled. Darn there goes your first taste of those pickles. Will have to wait till a cold blustery day to try them. Enjoy the visit with your friend.

JENNY  Patti's son and DIL are not very considerate of Patti. I have one DIL who would be like that but the other one is more like the second daughter I always wanted. My sons would go to work but make sure things were convenient for me if I was in that situation.

SHIRLEY  wish your neighbor Sylvia would post here. By now she knows we are friendly and would welcome her into our “family”. Like you I have been thinking about Jeanne. I hope she is OK and just getting used to the oxygen.

MARY ANN  we do not have to be 90 to have ailments. There is one lady here who is 99 and just got back from a month in San Diego. Her daughter makes the arrangements and she travels alone.  In good weather when she does her laundry she hangs it outside. That is more than I can do. Does her own cooking and cleaning. She is amazing. We have 2 98 year old ladies and several others in their 90's. No men that age yet but a couple in their late 80's.

LLOYD  you keep going and that is good. Just be careful and no more accidents.

JUNE  wonderful that you have so many activities there. There was more going on here when I first came but now much less. Been too hot to sit on the porch in the evenings this summer. I miss that.

JANE  wish we would get some good rain here, Lawns are getting that brown look to them.  Not here, every thing gets watered but across the street the beautiful green lawn there looks terrible. The little rain we had Friday did not help much.

JUNEE  hello. I know you lurk more than post now. There are times when I can think of nothing to comment about and others I write books.

PHYLLIS  beautiful graphic for this week and the words are very true. Thanks for your creation.

JOAN  I cannot pass an elephant ear up. Most any pastry will have me longing for it. Parking, talk about an uncaring person that driver is it. I just copied Mercy & Gatekeepers to keep and share. I think we have known someone like that. Like the quote for today. Thank you once again for all the goodies you post and the time spent looking for all you post.

JANE  hope you and Beverly ca catch some Zzzz's later.

SHIRLEY  hope you can get some Zzzz's later but somehow I don't think you will.

AMY  hope you do get a day of rest today.

PHYLLIS  I know I have lost a lot on this lemon when HP  turned it back to original settings, 4 times now they have done that. Glad all the PSP things are in the external.

Happy birthday Patricia

Hope you have a wonderful day!!!

 Gloria
I will try to take your advice. I still have a sore head , especially from the bumble stings. we got my dosser and lowboy home yesterday . my friend called me and said come bring me a tire. told me where he was, said HAD thrown THE TREAD OFF A TIRE ON LOWBOY. I took the box truck and a tire and went. ( my box truck is a service truck) has air compressor and tools in it. also a 50 ton jack. so we could jack the tailor up with out un loading the  Dosser. just parked it when we got home with it. I will unload it tomorrow and do a little work here with it. then load it up back up and go to bob's and finish his pond.have a great day.

Lloyd

we have a humming bird feeder out on the deck . am setting here watching them. they must be brothers and sisters.
there ia a Maple tree close to the deck,so they either set on the stand holding the feeder or in the tree and dive bomb each other.

Lloyd

Patricia, have a very enjoyable special day....
......................................................

Jenny, I got that wrong, thought you meant hubby never went to see her in hospital, oh yes, as far as daughters are concerned, we do share that, another we have in common...

Phyllis, thank you for our new weeks graphic, yes I too am a believer in everything has its beauty...you only have to look around at the teeming life to see that....never mind ask yourself how did it all get here....it is here and in the most enjoyable colours, and sounds.....

Joy

Hi everyone.  It is a beautiful Sunday morning.  I thought we were going to get some rain yesterday afternoon but it went just South of us.  The high today is suppose to be around 92 degrees with only a small chance of rain.

Pat and I stayed in again yesterday but will get out and go to Sunday School and Church and then Scott will join us for a good lunch at Texas Roadhouse.  I think he will come back to the house and spend the afternoon and hopefully early evening with us. 

Gloria,  glad your computer is now functioning but sure it will take a long time for you to trust that is will continue to do so.  Maybe if there is a next time you can insist on speaking to the manager's manager.  You certainly have been patient.

Joan, nice that Finlay wrote to you.  What type of camp is he attending?

Hal, at least in the hospital where Stacey and Pat had admittance's they did have benches in the long halls and a waiting room at the elevators on each floor. 

June, hopefully I am still quite a ways from needing an electric scooter.  I just have to limit where I try to shop and then take things slowly.  Pat is going to need the help before I am I fear.  I agree it is very stressful to walk even in the house sometimes when I am feeling so tired.  If I get too tired I start to lean to one side. 

Jane, your friend must have been totally exhausted.  Air travel is full of perils winter or summer.  If Frankie didn't want her stuff touched perhaps she should have attended to it before she left the house.  It is your house.  You sure had a short night.  Maybe your can get in a nap sometime today if your friend isn't an early riser. 

Junee, you do a great job of posting.  It is just good to see each of our friends post regardless of the content (of course unless it is about an illness or family loss). 

Phyllis, that is a beautiful graphic that you prepared and Joan shared with us for this week.

Patricia, Happy Birthday.  Maybe Farrah will give you an extra little kiss today. 

Amy, always alarming when well start to dry up.  Hope you get some rain soon.  Apparently our water supply is now at the first drought level although a long ways from critical.  Things are still looking very green here even those areas not watered.  I wonder why we seem to think we need to keep the grass green and run up large water bills.  This is the first time I have ever had a sprinkling system and in the past my yards were too large so I had to just let nature do its thing. 

Gloria, the honesty of children is refreshing like the card your son sent you.   

Denver, the hard use they make of the planes anymore it is a wonder there are not more breakdowns.  I know I would have been glad to wait for another plane.  Hope the last leg of his flight went well.  At least he could let you know he was delayed. 

Shirley and Joan, I am also concerned about Jeanne Lee.  I just sent a brief email to Pat Scott Halbach to see if she had any information. 

Lloyd, do you have an air conditioned cab on your dozer?  You sure don't need a heat stroke. My wife has a hummingbird feeder and can see them from her easy chair so really enjoys them. 

Good Morning,

There's a hummingbird war going on in my yard too.  Never mind that there are four perches on the feeder.  Only one at a time is "allowed"!  However, yesterday, I did notice that two of them were there together briefly.
Hmm....maybe it's a courtship instead of a war. 

Wishing Everyfriend Everywhere a lovely day.

Good Morning Everyone!

And a special hello for Angel.  Happy Birthday Lady, hope you have the best ever.

Got to run, as usual.  Late, as usual.

Good morning, Phyllis.  I am sorry about your computer crashing--bummer.

Gloria--Good morning.  I think at the camp where Finlay is they have time set aside for writing letters/cards.  I've received two already.

Hi Amy and Vanilla-Jackie.

Good morning, Lloyd.  Please be careful working on that heavy machinery.

Joy--Good morning.  I'll fix your post for you.  When using code and the center tag, the center one must ALWAYS open and close the rest of the coding/message.

Good morning, Larry.  Finlay is at a Christian Boys Camp in NC.

Callie--Good morning.  Wish we could have hummingbird feeders.

Good morning, halkel.

Hello world. No show today so I'm enjoying the A/C at home.  Today is the 10th anniversary of my wife's passing

Good morning, Radioman.  I know how difficult these special days are.

Happy Sunday Morning Everyone, and Patricia……May your Birthday be one of the very best, with the coming year filled with renewed health and energy and Joy.

I woke at 4 a.m. today, wide awake and ready to face the day. Now the secret is how to stay awake, go to Church, then to lunch, then home to relax and probably sleep. God Willing.

Everyone sounds hale and hearty this morning and that is happy news for sure.

Janie, Who are your house guests now ? You will have to cease with this "open door policy" before you end up needing help recovering. I am concerned for you my little friend.

Gloria, we do have almost constant activities here at Rowntree, with the exception of Sunday. There are the Church services, meals, and then we are on our own, which we really need to rest and recover. At least I do. I hope you follow through on contacting the The Trouble shooter program you have on a local t.v. program. Merchants that have treated you as poorly as this computer place has done is really unacceptable…..you and Tisie both have good reason to expose these crooks.

Larry, I hope you are not being overly confident it all the things you manage to do. Our bodies can be pushed just so far, and then they collapse, being so tired you are leaning sideways is rather a frightening thing in my estimation. When I get severe shortness of breath, which just happens suddenly sometimes, I find I have to bend over and pant for a few seconds, and I make sure I am using my cart/walker all the time now. My son gave me an electric cart but I did not want to depend on it yet, so he keeps it in his storage shed. If I keep adding on the years I may find it an essential in time.

Don, this willl be a day of memories for you my friend. Try to think of all the really good days you had together. My Edward has been gone eleven years now. They would not want to see us grieving Don.

I must get to busy now, make the bed, clean up, and dress for Church. After that will be Sunday dinner, then home to read, nap, write...whatever...but all at my own leisure. See you later.

Don, remember the good days and know you are wise enough to enjoy the life you have... and be grateful that we do have beautiful memories and life in us to appreciate going on.  (((hugs to you)))

   Happy Birthday to you.  Happy Birthday to youuuuu, Happy Birthday dear Patricia, Happy Birthday to you!       

Larry, our hospitals also have benches all along the way, a big help.  I am so much better now (after 3 years) I probably could make the walk without having to stop.  Last time I visited Cas before my surgery I must have looked awful gray, had nurses all along the way asking if I was okay. 

Plans don't always go the way we plan.. New Dad couldn't get everyone organized in time for church but they did show up at McDonald's after... the WHOLE crew.  New mom & dad and even the new grammy seemed all too willing to let the rest of us take over for a few minutes.  When we got ready to leave Aunt Pam (the one holding Kate at the time) asked Amelia if she should take the baby home with her and Amelia very generously said, "Okay".  The Sunday regulars & manager all came to ohh and ahh over Kate, one of those moments in life where we can forget all the outside mud slinging & just grin & smile at everyone.

Lloyd, you are a very good neighbor... and have good neighbors.  As my mother used to say, "you have to be one to have one... good neighbor".  Keeping busy is what keeps you going.  Take care in this heat.

Callie, I don't have a humming bird feeder up but heard one buzzing my head last night.  Guess it's worth a try.  Last time I put it out here I discovered ants going up the shepherd's hook & right into the feeder.  We don't usually see them except during migration, maybe an early fall?  Naw....wishful thinking.   

Time to make a run to Sam's Club for another chicken for the cats.  Tommy 2 wasn't here last night or this morning, everybody else came for breakfast (cats & people).  My mother used to say, "God always sends enough to add another plate...."  and HE does.   

Joan,  thanks for fixing my message.  I must have tried a dozen times, and still couldn't get it to work the way I wanted to.   Still don't understand what I was doing wrong.   But, thanks for your help.

Joy

Joan,  there used to be a place to practice that sort of thing.  I can't seem to find it here, now.

Joy

I wrote to Pat Scott Halbach about Jeanee Lee. She wrote to Jeanne and got this reply which Pat asked me to pass on.

"Thanks Home since Friday. More later. Love"

June--Enjoy your quiet day.

Shirley--Guess Dad just couldn't get the gang all ready for church.  How nice that everyone, including new baby, came for breakfast.

Joy--When you use code and include a center tag, the center opening tag must always be at the very beginning, and the center closing tag must always be at the very end.

Larry--Thanks for contact Pat and relaying the information.  I pray for Jeanne Lee's well being.

I just had a phone call from my son Joe that made me happy.  They pick Finlay up at camp in North Carolina on Friday.  They are then going to head for Florida, expecting to arrive on Sunday.  They won't be here long because Finlay starts school in Alabama again the next Monday.