A Fresh Cup of Coffee

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Sunday Stills and Flower Hour - Crystal and Wildflowers

I've been meaning to participate in the Sunday Stills and Flower Hour photo challenges hosted by Terri at Second Wind Leisure Perspectives for ever so long, and just haven't done it yet. Well, today that changes, and hopefully I can hop in with a contribution at least a couple times a month. It fits into my Everyday Images photo challenge for myself, because it encourages me to look for beauty and interest in places I might otherwise not notice. Sunday Stills also encourages using older photos where appropriate, so that's what I'm doing today.

The monthly color challenge is Diamond or Quartz. Or crystal. And while I didn't have anything current that fit the description, I thought of our visits to the Ohio Glass Museum in Lancaster.

I absolutely loved this "Excalibur" paperweight, featuring a letter opener in a glass or crystal-like diamond stone.

One thing I was interested to learn at the museum was the way Anchor Hocking Glass Company got involved in a marketing campaign to promote breakfast oats. Personally, I'm a big fan of breakfast oatmeal, but I didn't realize that up until the 1920s, Americans considered oats to be animal feed rather than people food! One way Quaker Oats tried to get consumers to change their thinking was to offer a piece of glassware inside the box of oats. The campaign was successful, I guess! And what a wonderful prize inside the cereal box, right?

I'm also going to include a couple of flower photos for The Flower Hour Photo Challenge. These were spotted on last week's hike in the Blendon Woods Hundred Acre Wood section.

I'm not a botanist at all, and usually ask my husband the names of plants and trees, but if memory serves, this is a trout lily. I actually liked my photo of it looking away from me better!

Off in the woods, there were areas covered with what I assume are bluebells. Thankfully there were a few near enough to the path for a photo.

This post is shared at Second Wind Leisure Perspectives for the #SundayStills Photo Challenge and/or #TheFlowerHour Photo Challenge.

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Sunday, April 12, 2026

Scripture and a Snapshot - He Heals the Brokenhearted

Praise the LORD.

How good it is to sing praises to our God,

how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

The LORD builds up Jerusalem;

he gathers the exiles of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds.

He determines the number of the stars

and calls them each by name.

Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

his understanding has no limit.

~Psalm 147:1-5~

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I also link up at the Sweet Tea & Friends Monthly Link-up Party hosted by Grace-Filled Moments

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Thursday, April 9, 2026

Everyday Images #85

Welcome to my ongoing 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'm more likely to 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. Here's how it works: Every two weeks I have a few words and phrases to focus on, and I try to find opportunities to take pictures of these things each week. The link-up post will be here every other Thursday, sharing my photos and offering a link-up for participants to share theirs. Right below the link-up is where you'll find the next set of prompts.

March/April Prompts - Everyday Images #85

~~~~~

evening and/or morning

current season (quarterly)

beside me

bloom

table

bridge

sparkle

~~~~~

evening and/or morning - I usually end the day similar to how I start it, with a cup of coffee. In the evening, it's more likely to be flavored coffee, or possibly an Irish coffee. In the morning it's regular coffee with just cream.

this is evening - don't mix them up!

morning coffee

current season (quarterly) - the forest over at Blendon Woods is coming back to life for spring!

beside me - hubby agreed to stand beside me for a photo op at church on Resurrection Day. But I didn't take that photo myself, obviously, so I also included another one - his car parked beside me - because I just liked the colors of the sky and the reflections on the car.

bloom - I believe this is a trout lily blooming, but facing away from my camera.

table - I made a caprese salad grazing board for our Resurrection Day meal

bridge

sparkle - lots of sequins and sparkle to be seen anywhere there's a Sweet Adelines chorus performing!

And a few bonus photos:

I was in Covington for Sweet Adelines Regional on the last weekend of March.

view from the convention center

so proud of our friends Y-NOT on the quartet medals!

This past Saturday, we went to Blendon Woods to hike and in particular to see how the eagles were doing.

A couple other families were there and had a nifty phone/binocular/tripod setup that made it easy to see the eagles. They were kind enough to share their view.

Went out for dinner afterwards. Felt lucky to be able to get into the restaurant at all since this Canada goose had appointed itself as a guard. LOL

He is Risen! Hallelujah!

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.

The Everyday Images link-up is posted every other Thursday, and is open for two weeks.

April Prompts - Everyday Images #86

~~~~~

purple

out for a walk (quarterly)

grow

at home (monthly)

trees

big and/or small

birds

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Wednesday, April 8, 2026

A Springtime Wednesday Hodgepodge

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. Egg on your face, putting all your eggs in one basket, a good egg, walk on eggshells, nest egg, or a tough egg to crack . . . which eggy idiom currently applies to your life in some way? Explain.

I'm going with "nest egg" because we are planning to tap into our nest egg to help us with our upcoming home purchase, and we are at the point where we are trying to think very strategically about that retirement nest egg and how we handle related financial decisions.

2. April 7th is National Beer Day . . . are you a beer drinker? If so do you have a favorite? Beer battered fish, beer bread, beer can chicken, beer brats . . . which one sounds good to you? Have you made any of these?

I'm not a beer drinker. I've had beers that I do like, IPAs or brown ales, that don't have as much bitterness. I'm much more likely to go for hard cider or a hard lemonade than any kind of beer. Beer battered fish is one of my go-to items to order at a restaurant, and almost always sounds good to me. I've made my own, but it's a messy process, so that's why I so often get it at a restaurant. Haha. I used to make beer bread quite a bit, but haven't done that in a very long time. I like beer brats and we have them fairly often in the summer and fall.

3. Do you have siblings? What's the best thing about being your sibling? If you don't have siblings, what would you say are the pros and cons of being an only child?

I do have siblings, two brothers and a sister, all younger than me. I honestly don't know what any of them might say about the best thing. I live a long way from my family so we don't communicate that often, and yet I'd say I have good relationships with all of them. When we do see each other, we tend to pick right up where we left off and it doesn't feel awkward, at least to me. I just don't get to have them over for dinner or socialize with them or babysit their kids (well, when the kids were young enough to need babysitters), which I wish I could do! I hope the best thing about being my sibling is something like me trying to stay in touch, being suppportive as much as I can from a distance, and remembering everyone's birthdays.

celebrating our parents' 60th anniversary

The "mid-drink" or "mid-bite of food" photo is a long-standing tradition in the family. Here we are doing the same thing at our parents' 50th anniversary:

We can take a nice photo too. And we like to include our spouses who are amazing additions to the family. One of my favorite things is how well we get along. Which sounds easy for me to say when I don't live near any of them, but I say it because it's true.

4. How do you feel about floral scents in products? Do you have a favorite?

I don't mind floral scents, depending on the product, I suppose. In general, I don't care for lavender, and I don't like rose-scented anything. I love the smell of roses, but not rose-scented soap or candles or anything else. The ones I like best are usually the lighter, sweeter floral scents, like orange blossom or honeysuckle.

5. What's one thing in your home that begins with the letter G that you would say is a keeper, something you'll hold on to? Tell us why.

I had a really tough time with this! Anything green? Grey? Glass? I don't know. How about this ― "Grandmum's washstand". And by Grandmum, I mean my mother-in-law, because the kids called her Grandmum. We brought this little washstand dresser home with us years ago when we helped Grandmum and Granddad move. We use it as an occasional table in our living room or dining room, and I love it for its old-fashioned simplicity.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

House hunting is in full swing! We viewed four possible properties yesterday and are going to see some more tomorrow. It's hard to make a decision! Because of course, nothing is "perfect" and the ones that are, well, they'd be out of our price range. Haha. One might have the fireplace I was hoping for and a fabulous kitchen, but a wierd backyard and still be priced a bit high. Or maybe all the features we want except there's one thing we really dislike or are concerned about that we can't quite get past. Just last night I browsed listings and found one that I think would be pretty great except it doesn't have a dishwasher and I don't know where I'd fit one; and another that is so nice but it's priced a little higher than we'd wanted and it's located on a busy corner and I'm not sure that would be acceptable. Wish us luck, because the timeline we're on means we should get started with inspections and negotiations on something next week, and hope everything goes smoothly so we're not rushed when it comes time to close and move.

What are some highlights of your spring so far? Leave a comment and let me know!

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

I host the Wednesday Quotes link-up every other Wednesday. Stop by and share a few thoughts and quotes on the current topic here: WQ - Simplicity. I host the Everyday Images photo link-up every other Thursday. And find the Scripture and a Snapshot link-up here every Sunday.

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