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how do you get a fish to smile?

cj and i took a drive so that we could take a walk someplace different
than down the nearest road.  we went a few miles into town where there
are sidewalks and stores (even though it was memorial day and most of
the stores were closed).  as we walked we found the pet shop to be open.
i had my little camera with me and didn’t think the fish would mind too much
if i took their picture. 

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etymology
~ farm (n.)
c.1300, “fixed payment (usually in exchange for taxes collected, etc.), fixed rent,”
from O.Fr. ferme “rent, lease,”
from firmus “firm.”
Sense of “tract of leased land” is first recorded early 14c.;
that of “cultivated land” (leased or not) is 1520s.

drawings found here
the one word carnival is hosted by peter pollock
and the word this week is “farm”


i don’t really have any farm stories of my own, but, my sister does.
she grew up as a small town girl in illinois and ended up on a farm in
wyoming.  her husband grew up on a farm there, and went back
to farming after they were married for a few years.  they had three
boys, so you might imagine that there was always a new story.
i do know that it is not an easy life, yet, it is very different than
any other type of life.  in the summer, there is plenty of work to be
done, so no such thing as summer vacation.  everyone must be
up early and right out, back in for a breakfast around nine, then
back out again.  supper is usually after dark, and then straight to bed.
summer is usually when i would visit, so i got lessons on setting
water and other such things.  i heard about sad things that can
happen with accidents and broken marriages and loss of life.
i heard funny stories of things the boys would do.  i sat at the
cafe in town (that is not open anymore) and would hear all the talk
about the weather from old men in overalls.  i saw wheat fields
golden against a big blue wyoming sky and a crop of corn that
became nothing after a five minute hailstorm.
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This photo is a print from a stamp that i just made.  To make the stamp i used a dense rubber block
made especially for carving.  This material is much softer than wood or the usual linoleum block.
To do the carving i used tools that are made for wood carving.

This summer i have planned to spend a week at girl’s horse camp doing art projects with the girls.
horse camp is held at my sister in law’s place in Indiana.  It gets hot and humid during the summer
months there, so it is necessary to be doing a few things in the shade with the girls so that they, and
the horses, have time to cool down a bit.

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Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don’t.

Pete Seeger
born May 3, 1919 

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“Do you wish to be great?  Then begin by being.  Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric?  Think first about the foundations of humility.  The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.”

Saint Augustine
november 13, 354 – august 28, 430

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These eggs are pretty.  Not?

Eggs remind me of my grandma.  Let me explain…

My maternal grandparents had a grainery which was a short walk from their two story
white farm house.  They also had a white shed that had little cubbies for the hens to lay their eggs.
As a small, tow-headed girl with time to wander, i would always go into the chicken’s building
when we would visit.

Memory leaves me with the sight of nice looking chickens sitting on their nest, and i was afraid to
bother them because i thought they might peck me.

What i would like even more was to play in the grainery.  There were sacks full of grains stacked
in a room of wooden poles and beams and a wood floor.  I remember the beautiful delicate light and
the most wonderful smell of the grains.

In the summer there was a special treat to be had in my grandma’s garden.  I would find the green
tops of her carrots and pull out a couple of small thin ones, take them over to the pump…work the
handle a few times so that i could wash them off with the cool water and then eat them.

Last time i saw her house was a few years ago.  My cousin lives next door and grandma’s  house has
been sold.  It is now an office of some kind.  It was a sunday, and so i couldn’t get inside to see it.

Part of me wants to have one of those days back, to be able to go and see my grandma.

~
Below is some information that i found online this evening.  here

~
Ben Holtkamp was my grandpa Henry’s father.  It appears my grandpa was named after 
his uncle Henry.  I already had the information that Ben and Caroline had eight children.


My grandpa, Henry Holtkamp, and my grandma, Cathrine Marcus, had seven children,
one of which was my mother.  I assume that Henry and Catherine lived in the same house
that Ben and Caroline had lived in previously, and where little Henry grew up.

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The posting of the Champoeg quilt show is now finished.
Twenty photographs in all.

If you want to take a gander, head on over to daisies and dandelions.

For those that might want to look later, i put the link gadget
at the bottom of this blog, with all the other gadgets and doodads.

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“For a short time we lived quietly.  But this could not last.
….White men had found gold in the mountains around the land of winding water.”

…….quote by Chief Joseph

about the photo . a bracelet that used to be in my mom’s small collection of jewelry. 
and “gold” is the photo prompt this week at three from here and there.

this is what i’m thinking…

for me to agapao God and others, it must come out of my decision to believe in God and Jesus the Christ.
i can not see any other way that i could possibly do this without God’s direction and power.  if it is to come out of any goodness, than that goodness must be God’s in me.  it must be from God as to have an affect that includes all four together of the heart, soul, mind and strength.  something that can only happen when i am with God and for God.  and the heart, soul, mind and strength must all be involved and worked together in the right kind of balance/miracle that is agape.

so, i am thinking that the only way to do as commanded, to agape Love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and to agape Love my neighbor as myself, is know that God is alive and active, and He is the one working this through me.

God will able me to Love Him, because of His Love that He gives.   it is like a circle of Love that starts with Him, works through me, and goes back to Him, only this is more and better than i can put into words.
Who and What He Is, works a miracle mixture in and through us and with us.   agape.