Ephesians 1:18-21, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” (NLT)

Circumstances

Oh it is one of those weeks. I have been full of joy and moving forward with each day, but today the circumstances are creeping in. I am fighting them off, we are dueling!

“Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal. Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs.” Mario Andretti

“He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper but he is more excellent who can suit his temper to any circumstances” David Hume

“Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise.”

And lastly . . .

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances , for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:16-18


In the middle of this dueling match, one of the food reps came by to check in. I had told him that I was selling three of my tables/sandwich stations that I just don't use anymore. He has come across two people in the past week interested. One has to wait to see if the government extends their contract; the other is needing one soon. Yay, a possible positive circumstance!

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And on a completely unrelated note . . . . well, maybe not (since life sometimes seems to be in the crapper . . . )



As I took a moment to peruse Overstock, looking for upcoming birthday presents, lookie what they have for your iPod:

...or, err your bathroom. Yup, might want to hurry over before these bad boys are all gone!

BUT, remember, ususally anything that falls in the bathroom lands in the toilet (even an iPod).

The Pilgrimage

Our camping trip was near a town that has a yearly tour of homes. I heard about it several years ago, knew it was in April, but really never gave it a thought until maybe May of each year. Always missing it . . .

Well, this year we landed in the town during this event. We noticed the signs saying Eufaula Pilgrimage. That seemed like an interesting way to advertise a tour of homes. I assumed because of the folks walking the streets and all those that rountinely come to have a peek.

As we packed up and left the campground, we came through town to find some lunch on our way home. The streets were a buzz with locals and visitors.

Some were dressed in 1800's attire....

We stopped and ate lunch at a place called the Cajun Corner. It was not bad, but the prices and the portions were in stark contrast- we left hungry but with a chunk of our eating out money gone!

While waiting on our meal, The Man noticed the specials on the board. One item was Surf and Turf, one steak of your choice and one fish of your choice.

The Man: "hmmm, that is a good deal up there"

Me: "which one?"

The Man: "that one"

Me: "there are three . . ."

The Man: "the Surf and Turf . . .you know, since you choose your steak you could get what you want and that is a good deal. Usually "rabbai" is good . . . "

Me: "what kind?"

The Man: "Rabbai - Rabbai usually cost 19.95 a pound . . . . " I don't remember what all was said after that, we laughed and let him know it was "rib eye" not "rabbai." Rabbai being a Jewish priest or minister . . . .

So after lunch we decided to walk around a bit. We came up on one house and decided to tour it You could pay per house or buy a ticket, we did not want to spend a whole day so, at the request of The Man we did tour this one . . .

The Petry house. I am glad we did, it was quite interesting. The same family has lived in this house since the mid 1800's - of course not the original original family - no vampires or living forever, but their offspring. I believe they said 4 generations.

I did not snap any pictures in the house since that seems to be what always gets me in trouble - snapping pictures where one is not suppose too. The house was filled with original furnishings and the folks that live there have been busy rennovating for a couple years. We thought it was interesting that that was the style they lived with - very few modern items were seen, I did not even notice a TV.

At the beginning of the tour we found out why Eufaula calls it a Pilgrimage. Not because those that come to see the homes, but those that give the tours of the homes. Every year the descendents of these homes, children, cousins, aunts and so on, come back to provide the tour. In this house there were grandchildren, cousins, long time best friends that came from as far away as New Jersey to help with the tour -all dressed in 1800's attire for the event.

This particular house turned out to be unique to all the other homes on the tour - it is the only home in the town with the original detached kitchen - that is still workable (is that the word). They do not use it, a newer kitchen was added in the main house, and when the newer one was added, the door was just closed and not thought much of. Each year it is opened back up for the tour...

The backyard had a great little garden area with the fountain in the middle (this is from outside the kitchen door). They even had asparagus growing, inspiration to try it, now that I know it can be grown this far South.

We finished the tour and headed back to the van to head home.

Later, Demolition D said the girl taking payment on the porch of the home we toured, had checked him out.

Demolition D: "pretty cool since my hair was a mess and I was wearing not such great clothes"

Me: "was she cute?"

Demolition D: "yep, and you know, I kinda liked the dress she was wearing. I think those dresses should be worn by more girls. Better than jeans and junky clothes. "

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm




That's my world . . . check out more sites from around the globe here

and when the clouds cleared

what did we do? We made memories

Well, we managed to fit in a quick (overnight) spring break camping trip. It has been a year since Will and I have been able to get one in, and that one was without the boys. So this year Demolition D and The Man were along. The Man camps alot with the Boy Scouts, so there was no concern there - he IS a happy camper. Demolition D, well we were not so sure.

Ahhh how wonderful it is when all is well.

Demolition D was happy from the start -he drove us to the campsite, about 70 miles away (loaded down with canoe and pulling the pop-up)

The smiles he had as he took on this new stage of driving was great. Smiles are always great, but smiles of accomplishment are even better.

So as we entered the land of no video games, no tv, how did the boys fair?

Well, great! All you need is

A stump

An axe

And boys!!!

A neighbor camper in need . . .

A beautiful lake with perfect weather

Alligators

Ok, not really, we did not see any. Although a neighboring camper said he spotted a lake placid size mother gator on a bank while fishing. Ok not lake placid size, but he said she was bigger than our canoe.

But there was a catch made while out fishing . . .

Yup! A shoe . . . Will did catch one catfish, but I did not have the camera close by.

With all the rain earlier in the week, our spot was perfect - no campers between us and the lake.

The next morning dawned a foggy morning

. . . with some huge mosquitos (that is that spect)

The fog burned off and another gorgeous day was had. But not before breakfast . . .

The town home to the campground was having its yearly pligrimage. Does your town have one? Mine does not, so I was not sure what it was, and I will share. But not until tomorrow.

More pictures to follow . . . tomorrow . . .

Until then know that more memories can be found at Planet M files.

Riding Down The Highway

...lookin for adventure . . .

Rainy day humor. Yup, still raining, but the sun will come out tomorrow.

Then more rain on Sunday and freezing temps the beginning of the week. Ahh the South. . .

cow commercial

Wordless Wednesday - Sky of Waves

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The clouds were really great to watch yesterday - full of waves. Those waves started letting loose mid afternoon and by 7:00 this morning we were between 2" and 3" of rain. This on top of the 5" received Saturday. It has been so nice to watch and hear the rain, we have had so little over the past few years. On the other hand, homes have had water enter, roads have been washed out, schools cancelled (guess that is not a bad thing :)), and now river banks being watched, but no where near as bad as the Red River (our is expected to crest only 2 feet above flood stage)- for that we are all thankful!

Off to enjoy the sound of the rain . . . .