My New Look

Before, when I first moved in, this was how I found my backyard. SAD.

The "after" shots. A beautiful, quiet place complete with a singing aviary next door, friendly sparrows, hummingbirds, and the crowing of a rooster and clucking of hens from an adjacent coop. Soon to come, pics of my fountain.

My thanks, again, to my daughter, Sarah for helping me to give my blog a new look.

The picture is my backyard garden, which I love and need to spend more time in.

Here are some before and after pictures of when I moved in, and the backyard my gardener, kids, sister and I planned and put in. It was a great adventure! A wonderful transformation.

It's my oasis from life.

Almost March.

Time is Marching on. I don't have much to say, but really wanted to get that sort of gross spinning picture off the top slot, even though it did convey the seriousness that I see displayed on some of said spinners.

It's almost March. 2011. 7 years. 7 is supposed to be a perfect number, a number of completion.

May it be so in our lives. New season, completed cycle, bring 8- the number of new beginnings on.

I'm supposed to speak on Ecclesiastes 3 at the upcoming women's retreat. On March 11th.

If anybody out there still visits here, please pray for me.

What are they thinking, asking me? Eccl. 3. The "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven." passage.

Seeing as I don't really have any words to put to this,

I'll just quote it. And maybe you'll see something yourself.

"A time to be born,

And a time to die;

A time to plant,

And a time to pluck what is planted;

A time to kill,

And a time to heal;

A time to break 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 cast away stones,

And a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace,

And a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to gain,

And a time to lose;

A time to keep,

And a time to throw away;

A time to tear,

And a time to sew;

A time to keep silence,

And a time to speak;

A time to love,

And a time to hate;

A time of war,

And a time of peace."

" He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."

Spinning, not just an ordinary sport!

I'm finally venturing into the torturous, but great workout- wise, aerobic spinning class again .

You know, the one where you spin around on a stationary bike like a mad hamster, going nowhere rapidly.

What I didn't know is that most spinners take this exercise VERY seriously!

I traipsed in 5 minutes late, adjusted my bike to the proper micro-size and got to "spinning." I even have trouble taking the name seriously. I either picture a bunch of grannys getting ready to knit or baby Miles and Isai when they spin around and around in circles until they lose their balance and fall with silly grins on their faces.

Back to spinning. Since I thought I would fall off the bike from sheer exhaustion last time after 30 minutes, I chose the empty front row, down on the bottom. Better to make an early escape, if needed.

The new "spinning" room is set up like a movie theater, with each row a step up and farther back so that we can all watch the video of a road flowing in front of us. Today's went beside a lake. In this way, you have the illusion that you actually ARE going somewhere. I think this is supposed to motivate you to go faster, thinking you're going farther. Or it's a distraction from the sheer boredom. At any rate, with the help of very upbeat music and motivational challenges from the instructor, I found that I made it the rest of the entire hour.

The video off, we all dismount and impulsively, I turned to 8 or 10 people behind me with the comment, "Don't feel bad that I won, I did have a head start."

The response was overwhelming in it's silence and the various looks I got. They ranged from disgust to confusion, with disdain, contempt, and disregard somewhere in the mix. I stifled my desire to announce that it was only a joke, and took a quick exit.

"That's a serious spinning class, " I told the guy at check out. He emphatically agreed, adding, "Yes, they are, and the early morning ones are the same way!"

So, FYI, don't mess with spinners, if ya know what's good for you!