A Fresh Cup of Coffee

Wednesday, July 22, 2026

WQ - Sunrise

Life was not intended to be simply a round of work, no matter how interesting and important that work may be. A moment's pause to watch the glory of a sunrise or a sunset is soul-satisfying, while a bird's song will set the steps to music all day long. ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

By the time this article is posted, the sunrise here will be over. I hope you saw it today. And I hope you'll pause with me for a moment to reflect on what a wonderful gift it is to see a new sunrise each morning.

This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls. ~John Muir

Let the name of the LORD be praised,

both now and forevermore.

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,

the name of the LORD is to be praised.

~Psalm 113:2-3~

In the twilight of the morning, all life silently waits for the sunrise. ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise. At no other time have I so sharp an understanding of what God means to do with me as in these hours of dawn. ~George Washington Carver

How interesting that Carver felt he understood his purpose better when he spent time outdoors watching the sun rise. There is something so hushed and beautiful about watching a sunrise somewhere in nature, and I think it does spark in us an appreciation of the eternal, and maybe a desire to do something worthwhile with the day ahead. May it also inspire us to want to know the Creator of the sunrise.

Believe in God like you believe in the sunrise. Not because you can see it, but because you can see all it touches. ~C.S. Lewis

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Wednesday Quotes is a bi-weekly opportunity for bloggers to share their writing, poetry, photos, or stories inspired by our theme. We've chosen the themes as a starting point for your creativity, and the only requirement is that your post include at least one related quote. Feel free to combine or "double-dip" with other writing or photo challenges as well. Of course, we'd appreciate a link back to us, if you'd be so kind. Add your link and please visit others and leave a comment! The link is open for two weeks.

Thanks to Marsha at Always Write for introducing us to the Wednesday Quotes challenge, and for passing the hosting duties along so we can continue sharing great quotes! Wednesday Quotes is co-hosted by Kym at A Fresh Cup of Coffee and Sadje at Keep It Alive.

Quoting reminds me there are other people in the world besides only me.

And other thoughts besides mine, and other ways of thinking.

~Gregory Maguire~

Wednesday Quotes 2026 Themes

January 7 - Resolutions

January 21 - Motivation

February 4 - Eating Out/Restaurants

February 18 - Being Responsible

March 4 - Libraries

March 18 - Perseverance

April 1 - Simplicity

April 15 - Conquering Fear

April 29 - Making a Difference

May 13 - Family Ties

May 27 - Courage

June 10 - Teachers/Mentors

June 24 - Connecting with Nature

July 8 - Milestones

July 22 - Sunrise

August 5 - Patience

August 19 - Taking a Break/Rest

September 2 - Learning from Mistakes

September 16 - Best Friends

September 30 - Elegance

October 14 - Reaching Goals

October 28 - Dreams/Nightmares

November 11 - Integrity

November 25 - Generosity

December 9 - Beauty in Nature

December 23 - True Love

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©2006-2026 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/

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Tuesday, July 21, 2026

The Flower Hour - The Floral Alphabet Continued

We continue with the Floral ABCs . . .

Gardenia

Hydrangea

Hard to believe, but there was a time when I didn't care for hydrangeas. When I started seeing all the different colors and varieties, I changed my mind. The white ones pictured above grew at my house in Maryland. They are pretty basic, but they are definitely pretty! The last couple years I've enjoyed seeing the interesting color varieties of hydrangeas available at the garden center, and maybe now that I have a house where we can plant something, we'll add one or more of these to the yard.

Hydrangeas are even pretty once they fade and the leaves have dropped, at least in my opinion.

For the letter I, I turned to the Latin name. This is Ipomoea, commonly called Morning Glory.

This post is shared at Second Wind Leisure Perspectives for #TheFlowerHour Photo Challenge.

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Sunday, July 19, 2026

Sunday Stills - Farm Animals

This week the Sunday Stills prompt turns our attention to animals found on a zoo or farm. Pretty much any animal might be found in a zoo, I guess, and I have always enjoyed visits to the zoo. But I'm focusing on a few farm animals today.

I've never owned a horse, and it's been years since I went riding, but in my opinion, there are few animals as beautiful as horses.

These horses and their donkey companion belonged to our neighbors in Maryland, and were pretty friendly. Usually it made me feel so fortunate to look out over my backyard and see horses or other farm animals grazing peacefully.

And when the weather was not so good, we marvelled that animals were generally okay out there! They had a nice barn to take shelter in whenever they wanted to!

This beautiful team was giving wagon rides at Christmastime and I was so glad to get this photo. I wish I'd got their names.

Sort of straddling the fence between farm and zoo animals are bison. While they once roamed freely in the wild, their numbers were greatly reduced and thanks to zoos, wildlife preserves, breeding programs and more, the American bison has been recovering. Like beef cattle, they are raised on farms and ranches for their meat. Bison are semi-wild and can't be domesticated to the same extent that cattle are, and the ranches require heavy duty corrals and equipment to safely handle these powerful animals. About 200,000 bison are raised on privately owned ranches for their meat. Many wildlife preserves also have bison roaming on open ranges, and it is breathtaking to see just a small herd of them and imagine what it was like to see a prairie covered with herds of hundreds or thousands!

I have seen bison out west but don't have photos of those. This fellow was at the Columbus Zoo . . .

. . . and these are at the Batelle Darby Creek Metro Park in Galloway, Ohio (just southwest of Columbus).

Back to somewhat more traditional farm animals . . . cattle. Where we lived in Maryland, we were surrounded by dairy farms and quite a few of our friends were farmers. Peaceful scenes like this were part of the everyday drives in the area.

They were our neighbors, and most were quite friendly.

These calves were neighbors at the other end of the road.

I don't remember whether these were neighbors or not!

These oxen were not our neighbors, but I was impressed with their patient strength when we watched them work at a farm museum in Geneseo, New York, many years ago. Very handsome!

And I leave you with this darling little guy who was at Timbuk Farms (greenhouse and garden center) this past Christmas season.

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

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Scripture and a Snapshot - Comfort

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

~II Corinthians 1:3-5~

Thank you for joining Scripture & A Snapshot. Leave a link to your own post sharing a Scripture and a Snapshot. Take time to visit some of the other links and bless each other with comments.

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

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Thursday, July 16, 2026

Everyday Images #92

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.

July Prompts - Everyday Images #92

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layers

current season (quarterly)

milestone

getting ready

wings

entrance

young

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layers - the delicious layers of the Coffee Crisp bar I enjoyed for a snack at work

current season (quarterly)

milestone - red, white, and blue fireworks to celebrate America's milestone birthday! America 250!

getting ready - can't remember whether I was getting the grill heated up and ready to cook dinner, or actually getting dinner ready

wings - I gave up trying to get any photos of birds or butterflies, because I just didn't take many photos overall the past two weeks, and none of the opportunities I had to take bird photos worked out. So here is my cardinal windchimes that are in my kitchen right now, but need to be moved outside

entrance - guess we'll need to pull some weeds! It's funny that I really didn't notice them until I took the photo.

young - that's a very young me with my Mum and Dad

And a few bonus photos:

We really need to spend more time on the deck. I love it. It needs an umbrella or awning of some kind because the sun does beat down on it pretty hard in the late afternoon.

On July 3rd we went to fireworks in our city, and on the 4th we went to another suburb city for fireworks and a concert by the Wallflowers.

Furniture lined up against the wall right now, but it will get spaced out and dressed up a bit whenever I get organized.

Soon after I took this photo, we actually got a nice floor lamp, which went beside the china cabinet instead of right in front of it. haha. Slowly but surely we're getting settled and every day it feels a little more put together. It's slow because we just don't have much energy (or time) in the evenings, and this past weekend my husband had some health issues so we weren't home to work on the house.

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.

July Prompts - Everyday Images #93

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at home (monthly)

in my cup

path

Tuesday tranquility

summer

golden hour

out for a walk (quarterly)

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