Scripture and a Snapshot - Humility

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death ―

even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

~Philippians 2:1-11~

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Everyday Images #64

Welcome to another installment of my challenge and reminder to myself to take photos somewhat regularly. I'm not a photographer, but I enjoy taking everyday photos of things I find interesting or want to remember later, and I find that I notice interesting things when I'm intentionally watching for them. Having some prompts that are open to interpretation has helped me pay a little more attention to what's around me. Every two weeks I have a few words and phrases that I'm focusing on, and I try to find opportunities to take pictures of these things each week.

June Prompts - Everyday Images #64

~~~~~

at home (monthly)

current season (quarterly)

flag

strong

path

water

~~~~~

at home (monthly)

current season (quarterly) - perhaps a bit fanciful, but this doorway vignette at the Lavender Festival seems like a great representation of the season. Summer opening up before us, and beautiful growing things even with a cloudy sky.

flag

strong - I had a tough time with this prompt. Maybe this cardinal sculpture? It seems pretty sturdy and strong.

path

water

And a few bonus photos:

My hairdresser has been working at a barbershop ― like a vintage, next-door-to-the-VFW barbershop ― so that's where I go for her to cut my hair. The antique barber chair is displayed in the shop window, but the chairs we actually sit in go back a few decades too, I suspect. It's like stepping back in time.

Hubby went along and got his hair cut that Saturday as well, and then we went for a short walk along the river before getting lunch at a barbecue place.

This past weekend we took a look around the garden center for Lavender Fest.

Strawberries & Cream hydrangeas - aren't
they gorgeous? I wish I had a place to
plant them.

I need a backyard with a campfire set-up like this. Although
I'll probably choose a different color for my chairs.

We're looking after our son's dog this week, and last night we had to wait out some heavy rain before we could go outside for a little walk and potty break. 

She was very good and patient though. Isn't she a pretty girl?

I am sharing my photos every other Thursday, along with my prompts for the next two weeks. You can use all or some of the prompts for your own photo posts, or none of the prompts and just link up a post featuring your photos. Simple rules: Your posts must be family-friendly; the photos must be your own; and the post must be mostly photos. If you do share I'd appreciate a mention and link to A Fresh Cup of Coffee on your post.

Everyday Images will continue in 2025, every other Thursday, and the link-up is open for two weeks. 

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Click here to enter

June/July Prompts - Everyday Images #65

~~~~~

red

bridge

patriotic

table

abstract

window

~~~~~

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 ©2006-2025 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human.  https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation.  We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

  

Wednesday Hodgepodge - It's Summertime

A hodgepodge is a jumble or assortment of things that might not appear to belong together. Joyce at From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly link-up called Wednesday Hodgepodge that is a little collection of questions for bloggers to answer just for fun and to get to know each other. I always look forward to chatting with friends over coffee, so pour a cup of your favorite and let's visit for a few minutes!

Here are this week's questions - and my answers - for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1.  Summer officially begins this week (in the northern hemisphere) . . . what was your favorite thing to do in the summer when you were a kid? What do you like most about summer now?

 

I'm having trouble remembering one specific thing that stands out as a childhood favorite summer activity. Pretty much every summer we had a family vacation to visit my grandparents and aunts and that was a highlight, especially the times I got to stay with them for an extra week or two by myself. I also really enjoyed going to camp, though I think I only went twice to kids' camp. I remember going to family camp and on camping trips though. These days I think what I like best about summer is grilling because it's always good to share meal prep. A summer vacation is still the big highlight of the season, but it's only a week or weekend at a time instead of a couple months of vacation like it is for a kid.

 

2. Something you'll celebrate this summer?

Our anniversary is at the beginning of August. It's not a milestone anniversary this year, but it happens to fall on the weekend we've chosen for our family vacation meet-up in Deep Creek, Maryland. Hubby and I are planning to take an extra day for ourselves and visit Fallingwater and Polymath Park. 

 3. Summer tastes like? Smells like? Sounds like?

 Summer tastes like lemonade or ice cream. It smells like the coconut scent of suntan lotion or sunscreen. And it sounds like birdsong and the faint buzz of insects and the neighbor mowing his grass.

4. June 18th is National Splurge Day . . . what's the last thing you splurged on? What might you splurge on today?

The last thing I'd consider a splurge was when we went to Westcott House a couple weeks ago and I couldn't resist this beautiful little china tray, even though we'd already agreed on the candleholder in a Frank Lloyd Wright design very like lamps we have. So we got both.

I don't think I'll splurge on anything today though, unless I place an Amazon order this evening. Which is quite possible, but I don't think I have anything "splurgey" I'm intending to buy at the moment. Is it a splurge to pay my credit card statement? Because I'm doing that today.  

 5.  Share a favorite summer quote, saying, song lyric, or meme.

I'm doing the meme first, because this is one of my favorites and always makes me laugh:

Some song lyrics and a song that is so summery:

Oh, when I look back now

That summer seemed to last forever

And if I had the choice

Yeah, I'd always wanna be there

Those were the best days of my life

~Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams~

I'm gonna soak up the sun

I'm gonna tell everyone to lighten up

I'm gonna tell 'em that I've got no one to blame

For every time I feel lame, I'm lookin' up

~Soak Up the Sun by Sheryl Crow~

And a favorite quote:

What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance. ~Jane Austen

Speaking of quotes about summer . . . The Wednesday Quotes link-up theme is Summer Fun, so check it out here: WQ - Summer Fun. And you know you can link your Hodgepodge post there, if you included a quote to answer this question. Please do, and join us for future Wednesday Quotes link-ups too. We do it every second Wednesday.

 

 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This week is shaping up to be one with not much sleep or downtime. Monday was a full day for me, as usual, with work and chorus rehearsal. On Tuesday we met friends for dinner so were out in the evening, and then our son brought his dog over because we're dog-sitting for almost a week while they're on vacation. So that's an extra responsibility for us this week. Today and tomorrow we also have to leave for work together and extra early because our cars are going into the shop, mine today and hubby's tomorrow. His is just getting an oil change, but they're running a diagnostic on mine and I suspect the result will just cement our decision that it's time to trade it in on something else. We do have a church dinner and service project this evening, but I think Thursday and Friday evenings are free. I am going to a Sweet Adelines regional event on Saturday so that will be a long day as I'm driving down just for the day. I have a feeling I'll need a very long nap on Sunday!!

What are some tastes or sounds or songs that say summer to you? Leave a comment and let me know!

I'm sharing in this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.

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 ©2006-2025 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

 This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Tell Us About . . . Blooming: Wherever You're Planted

What do I know about blooming? I love flowers, but I know very little about gardening, and it's certainly not a pastime I enjoy. I've always avoided gardening when possible, to tell the truth. For more than twenty years we lived in a house with a large yard that had lots of potential for gardens, but I didn't know how to do the work (and had little interest in learning), my husband didn't have time, and we didn't want to spend money on having someone else do it. The result was the simplest possible landscape design, largely untamed and wild. I actually loved it though. 

Now we live in an apartment community which means we don't have a yard and we're limited in what we can plant and where. I have mixed feelings about this, because I'm totally fine with not having to tend a garden or mow a lawn, but on the other hand, I don't really have any place for hanging basket either. Just yesterday we visited the garden center at my husband's greenhouse and despite how much I liked some of the planters and flowers, I knew we wouldn't be able to plant them in the ground (so the hydrangeas weren't a good choice) and we don't have a shaded spot for plants (so several planters I liked wouldn't do well). So I adjust my expectations, and I requested plants that would work better in the sunny spot in front of my door.

I absolutely love walking through conservatories and gardens and enjoying all the different flowers and plants in creative and beautifully manicured plantings and designs. And it's always been a treat to walk through a greenhouse and see row upon row of pansies or begonias or poinsettias. It makes my soul happy to enjoy all the beautifully blooming plants, well-tended and thriving.

Tending plants myself doesn't make me happy, and doesn't always lead to the plants themselves thriving. So for the past several years my solution has been to buy myself a cheap bouquet (usually on clearance!) every week or two so I can always have fresh flowers blooming in my dining room. Are they still blooming after they've been cut? I'm not sure, but they bring me joy and cheer.

So . . . what do I know about blooming? Upon reflection, my experiences in how I find ways to enjoy flowers even though I don't have a green thumb or a place to indulge it seem related to the popular saying, "Bloom where you're planted". Sometimes it's easy for us to bloom where we are planted, when we have excellent growing conditions and are surrounded by family and friends and familiar community and everything needed to thrive. At other times it's more difficult to bloom where we're planted for a variety of reasons. Stressful or toxic situations, less than ideal "sun and soil and water", neglect, pests, and many other circumstances can make it hard for us to bloom.

For me, just as I had to do when picking out a planter that would do well in the growing conditions here, I've had to adjust my expectations for what blooming might look like. Blooming means keeping a positive attitude, grateful for all the good things in life. Blooming means choosing joy and doing my best to bring goodness to those around me. Blooming means making the best of things and trusting that God will use it all for my good and his glory, even when I don't understand it right now.

Mostly, though, I dream of good things . . . I dream that flowers will bloom in the streets again and music will play in the houses and kites will fly in the skies. ~Khaled Hosseini

There are always flowers for those who want to see them. ~Henri Matisse

Where flowers bloom so does hope. ~Lady Bird Johnson

Some of this post is adapted from an earlier article, WQ - Music and Blooms, which first appeared on A Fresh Cup of Coffee in February 2024

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Tell Us About . . . is a monthly opportunity for bloggers to showcase their creativity. Each month one of the co-hosts will choose the word to focus on. On the third Thursday of every month we'll respond to the prompt "Tell Us About ---" which could be absolutely anything. And how we respond is also wide open. It could be a blog post with our opinions or reminscences; a poem, photos, a short story or whatever takes your fancy―it could even be a mix of all these! This month's theme, chosen by Sue at Women Living Well After 50, is "Blooming"

This post is linked at Deb's World

Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to A Fresh Cup of Coffee by email. 

 ©2006-2025 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

 This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.