A Fresh Cup of Coffee: April 2023

Sunday, April 30, 2023

Scripture and a Snapshot - Search Me

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Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

~Psalm 139:23-24~

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Friday, April 28, 2023

Five Minute Friday - Persist

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One word. Five minutes to write about it. This is the idea behind Five Minute Friday and this is today's free-writing post.

if cough persists . . .

persistence pays off

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Persistence is often seen as a virtue, and something necessary to success. Certainly that's true. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," right? Courage and perseverance are essential, but only once you're on the right track. Nobody wants persistent weeds in the garden, or a persistent cough that your cold medicine can't cure. Those are signs of a bigger problem.

Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persist in his error. ~Marcus Tullius Cicero

There's no benefit to persisting in a belief that's wrong or a behavior habit that's self-destructive. In fact, it's foolish and self-destructive to persist in a belief or behavior that's wrong. Before we settle in and establish a habit and persist in it, we'd do well to make sure it's the right thing to do.

Never let your persistence and passion turn into stubbornness and ignorance. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo

Here's what God had to say through the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah was prophesying to a nation who kept a lot of religious festivals and checked off a lot of lists of religious practices, but couldn't be bothered to help the poor or oppressed, or to change any of their sinful habits even after God had spoken to them.

Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. . .

Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; please the case of the widow.

"Come now, let us settle the matter," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword."

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

~Isaiah 1:4-5, 16-20~

Paul's letter to the Romans echoes this promise of reward or consequences for what we persist in.

God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

~Romans 2:6-8~

Let's make sure we are most persistent in doing what is good and right.

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Life is full of challenges, but I always have the Three Ps: Passion, patience and persistence. And the fourth one is pizza. ~Butch Hartman

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This post is linked at Five Minute Friday for the word prompt "Persist".

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Thursday, April 27, 2023

Monthly Musings - All About Spring

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Taking a few minutes in a busy day to try and answer some Monthly Musings questions! Holly at Pink Lady and Patty at Good Better Best co-host this monthly sharing of tips, tricks, and conversation starters.

I've been enjoying a vacation "back home" with my family in Maryland, and some of my days have been busy, while others are quite relaxed. I've taken a little bit of time here and there over the last couple days to work on some of this month's questions, which are all about spring. I guess now I just need to wrap it up and share it!

Favorite spring fashion pieces? Well, I don't pay a whole lot of attention to fashion trends, so for me I'm really happy when I don't necessarily need a jacket; and when I can wear flip-flops or sandals and not worry that my feet will get cold.

Favorite spring scent? As a perfume to wear, or just in general? I always prefer the lighter floral scents to wear. An outdoor scent that I associate with spring is apple or cherry blossoms. I don't like the smell, but to be honest, I used to say you knew that spring had arrived when you caught the scent of farmers spreading manure in the freshly turned fields! haha.

Go-to spring meals? Spring is time to fire up the grill for cookout season, and I'm here for it. I especially like grilling things that cook quickly, like hot dogs or kebabs, because that way we can grill even if it cools off quickly in the evening or if rain is threatening.

Share a spring dessert recipe. I'm not sure this is specifically spring, but it's a favorite that doesn't require baking.

Nanaimo Bars

Bottom Layer:

1/2 cup butter (or margarine)

1/4 cup sugar

5 tbsp cocoa

1 egg, beaten

2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

Melt butter, sugar, and cocoa in top of a double boiler (or a heavy saucepan). Add beaten egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat and stir in graham crumbs. You want it to be moist enough to pack firmly and hold together, but not be mushy. Press firmly into an ungreased 9x9 pan.

Middle Layer:

1/2 cup butter (you can use margarine, but trust me - butter is better)

3 tbsp milk

2 tbsp vanilla custard powder

2 cups icing sugar

Cream butter, milk and custard powder together, then add icing sugar and mix well. Beat until light and creamy. Spread over the bottom layer. I suggest chilling it a bit at this point to help that layer set.

Top Layer:

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or 4 squares semisweet baking chocolate)

3 tbsp butter

Melt chocolate and butter together over low heat. Allow it to cool for a bit, but while it's still pourable, spread gently over the second layer. Chill in the fridge for about an hour before serving. Cut into 36 squares with a sharp knife.

Share a few spring traditions. The one that comes to mind is our family's Stanley Cup playoff pool. It's grown from just my husband and myself and our kids to include the kids' significant others, our granddaughters, and my husband's sister and her husband. We are a family of hockey fans so this is go-time for us - the NHL playoffs and the beginning of baseball season, since baseball is the other sport we all follow to a certain extent.

Best spring cleaning hack? Is it bad to say I never did much in the way of spring cleaning? With spring sports in full swing, hockey playoffs to watch, and school to finish up, I really didn't have the time to do a bunch of extra things in spring. I tried to do fall cleaning instead, because somehow that made more sense to me. I switch out flannel sheets for cotton and pack away winter coats, and that's about it.

So here's my cleaning hack, if you can call it that. Fresh air! Opening the windows and hanging laundry on the line. Of course I don't have a laundry line at the townhouse, and that's something I'm really missing.

Will you plant a garden this year? Well, without a yard, the answer to that has to be No. I plan on getting potted plants to have on my patio, but I don't think I'll even bother including herbs in that. I'm certainly not much of a gardener anyway.

Spring rain . . . love or hate? Oh I love it! At the house in Maryland, we loved sitting out on the covered front porch and watching a storm roll in, or just listening to a gentle rain. I will miss that in Ohio as well. The only thing I don't like about spring rain is the abundance of worms on sidewalks and roads afterwards. Eeww.

Favorite spring flower? I can never pick just one favorite of anything. Tulips and lily-of-the-valley have long been my favorites in spring, but I also love daisies, gardenias, and pansies.

Any spring travel this year? I'm on my vacation in Maryland right now, heading home to Ohio on the weekend. My husband and I will be heading back to Maryland again in May for our daughter's graduation from university, but other than that we don't have any plans for spring travel. Spring is his busiest time at work so it's been our habit to stick close to home during these months and are more likely to travel in summer and fall.

Sorry I'm so late sharing this! What are your spring plans - Travel? Gardening? Leave a comment and let me know!

I'm linking up with Monthly Musings hosted by Holly at Pink Lady and Patty at Good Better Best.

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Wednesday, April 26, 2023

What's Up Wednesday Hodgepodge - April 2023

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On the last Wednesday of each month, Shaeffer & Shay host a link-up to talk a bit about what's going on in our worlds - food, entertainment, plans, fashion, work, whatever - in the What's Up Wednesday linky party. I'm late sharing what's up with me this time, because I'm on a little vacation visiting my kids.

What We're Eating This Week . . . I'm doing a lot of eating out this week! Last week I had dinner at a Mexican restaurant with friends. This week I ate breakfast with friends yesterday, and went out to dinner with another friend in the evening. We both had fish & chips, one of my very favorite restaurant meals. I'm also getting to enjoy my daughter-in-law's cooking for dinner, and she's a very good cook!

Just over a week ago, when I was still in Ohio, I tried a new recipe - barbecue chicken and cornbread in a crockpot. It actually turned out really good, and the picture doesn't do it justice, but I think next time I'll cut the chicken into smaller pieces. It turned out kind of like a pot pie, with chicken, sweet potatoes and corn in a barbecue sauce with a cornbread crust.

And we also tried out a new eatery one night, Bubbly Hall, which is sort of a food court and bar. I had Fay's Flamin' Chicken & Waffles from Fay's Crêpes, and oh, it was good!!

What I'm Reminiscing About . . . All kinds of things! Being home with family is like that, with us all remembering little stories to tell about things that happened years ago.

What I'm Loving . . . Well, obviously! All the Nonnie-time with Aubrey, all the time with the kids, and all the get-togethers with friends!

What We've Been Up To . . . I've been "back home" in Maryland for just over a week, so I've been catching up with friends, guest teaching at co-op, visiting our old church, attending my daughter's recitals and such as her senior year at university is starting to wrap . . . and of course spending lots of time with the family.

What I'm Dreading . . . It will be sad to leave here on Saturday, but I can't really say I'll be dreading it. After all, I'm going back to my new home and to my husband. I'm not looking forward to the dental work in my future, or the bills. (Tooth still isn't fixed!)

What I'm Working On . . . Learning music for the chorus. I missed a rehearsal so I'm going to have some catching up to do.

What I'm Excited About . . . Kennady's opera workshop recital tomorrow! Her last opera workshop recital was so good, I'm really looking forward to seeing and hearing what they've been working on this semester! I'm also excited about the women's chorus that I'm joining and the fun music we are working on!

What I'm Watching/Reading . . . I generally don't watch TV much, but while here I've watched what the kids are watching, which has been a lot of Food Network shows. We've watched some movies too. All have been enjoyable. Not sure if we'll have the time to do our Girls' Night movie we've been wanting to do for a long time, which is the movie Babette's Feast. It's one of my favorite movies.

For all the details on what I'm reading, see my book blog at Just A Second.

I'm currently working on:

When Tomorrow Came by Hannah Linder

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

A Perilous Perspective by Anna Lee Huber

Fair As A Star by Mimi Matthews

Recently completed:

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

In The Shelter Of Hollythorne House by Sarah E. Ladd

After the Boxes Are Unpacked: Moving On After Moving In by Susan Miller

Up next:

The Keys to Gramercy Park by Candice Sue Patterson

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Composition As Conversation by Heather M. Hoover

Murder Most Fair by Anna Lee Huber

A Certain Darkness by Anna Lee Huber

What I'm Listening To . . . At the moment it's quiet here as Kennady is at a rehearsal, Landon and Meaghan are at church, and Spencer has gone to his room. Kind of like old times! This afternoon I was out with Kennady and listening to all the newer music on her playlists that I wouldn't hear otherwise.

What I'm Wearing . . . Jeans and a t-shirt today, and most days. My favorite soft and lightweight Danskin exercise pants instead of jeans when I'm just hanging out at home. Though I seldom exercise!

What I'm Doing This Weekend . . . Heading back to Columbus on Saturday and going to church Sunday morning. Possibly joining the church? If we don't do the membership thing this week, it will be soon. And hopefully doing something fun with Harrison and family on Sunday afternoon.

What I'm Looking Forward To Next Month . . . Among some other things, what I'm most looking forward to is coming back to Maryland for Kennady's baccalaureate!

What Else Is New . . . I'm not sure . . . I think I've covered it! I've been paying attention to the activities offered at the Dawes Arboretum and making an attempt to get out and do things. I went on a Members Only tour of the Japanese Garden and it was a perfect day. I really need to look for a job that will get me out of my house and give me some purpose, so that will be new at some point. I've started toying with whether I could get a bird, like a parakeet, as a pet.

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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. April 26th is National Audubon Day, honoring John James Audubon, the French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter known for his detailed study and illustration of birds in their natural habitats. Do you have a bird feeder? Any birds in your home decor? Have you ever owned a pet bird? What's your favorite bird?

I do have a bird feeder! At my townhouse, I just have two―a small seed feeder and a suet feeder. But at my house in Maryland (where I'm visiting right now), I have seed feeders, a suet feeder, a woodpecker stack feeder, and a tray feeder. Also two hummingbird feeders and an oriole feeder, but I haven't tried putting that out yet. I'm hoping that when we get a house in Ohio I'll have a good location for lots of bird feeding and birdwatching.

All that said, I don't really use birds in my decor. We have a couple of things that feature birds, but not much. When I was growing up, we always had a parakeet; and for a little while when I was a newlywed we had a cockatiel. Just recently, I started wondering about getting a parakeet again. I'm not sure I could pick a favorite bird but maybe right now it's the cardinal.

2. What's something you took to 'like a duck to water'?

Oh, this is one of those questions that make me feel like I'm tooting my own horn! Hmmm. I'd say teaching or tutoring writing classes. When I took on the task of teaching high school writing and literature for our homeschool co-op a few years ago, I hoped I'd be able to do a halfway decent job. There was a bit of a learning curve for me, of course, but for the most part it felt natural and I loved doing it. For the most part, I've received positive feedback and I feel like I made the classes fun and informative and useful for my students.

3. Empty nest, nest egg, proud as a peacock, free as a bird, birds of a feather flock together, or the early bird catches the worm . . . choose one and tell us how it currently applies to your life.

The obvious answer is empty nest. That's the stage of life we're in right now, having moved to a townhouse and having no adult children living with us any more. Proud as a peacock also applies right now. I'm so proud of my daughter who is getting set to graduate from university, my sons who are all outstanding men that work hard and take care of family and love the Lord, my daughters-in-law who are both beautiful additions to our family and are wonderful mothers. I'm so proud of my two sweet granddaughters who bring so much joy and laughter to the family.

4. Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds . . . your favorite seed and a favorite food or dish made with that seed or topped with that seed? Have you tried all the seeds on the list? Any you don't care for?

I have tried all of these, and although I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin seeds or flax seeds, I do like all of them. My favorites are sesame seeds because I think of all the yummy breads that have sesame seeds on top. The two best, in my opinion, are challah and za'atar bread, and I bake them myself.

5. Something in the past week that made you 'happy as a lark'?

So many things! I'm so happy to have time to spend with my kids here and be able to participate in daily life with them for a bit. Especially to have time with Aubrey. It made me so happy to hear Kennady sing in her recital, and it was also a huge lift to be able to play with her worship team in church this past Sunday.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I have an awful lot of stuff here at the Maryland house that I will need to move or deal with. It's discouraging to realize how much there is. Even more so when I try to think about when we'll be able to do it. That's a downer to end on, isn't it? The positive spin is that we weren't forced to deal with twenty years of all the things in this house in a huge hurry so we could get the house ready to sell. That would have been really stressful! Instead, we have time to figure it out and the kids can use the things that they do need or find useful . . . and hopefully the things aren't too terribly in the way!

What's up in your world this week? Leave a comment and let me know!

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

And this post is linked at What's Up Wednesday for April, with Sheaffer & Shay.

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Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Everyday Images #7

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Welcome to my another installment of my challenge and reminder to myself to take photos somewhat regularly. I went through past photo challenges and came up with a list of prompts at the beginning of the year and am trying to find opportunities to take pictures of these things each week. These were the prompts I assigned myself for the past couple weeks:

April Prompts - Everyday Images #7

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weather (quarterly)

middle

love

blue

happy

covered

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weather (quarterly) - For the most part, the weather has been good lately, and it was about ninety degrees on Friday! Then on Saturday afternoon while I was out doing a bit of shopping, there was a thunderstorm with high winds and some small hail. Hard to capture in a photo, but it was hailing when I took the second photo. Both were taken from inside the car while in the parking lot as I waited it out a bit.

middle - A pretty tree blooming in the middle of this section of the Japanese Garden.

love - I love this sweet little girl so much! Look at that adorable face!

blue - The bandshell in the park near our place is lit up in blue, against the deep blue of the evening sky.

happy - My beautiful and talented daughter, happy after the successful performance of her Senior Recital.

covered - a field covered in tulips.

And a few bonus photos:

I visited the Japanese Garden at Dawes Arboretum:

Previewed the tulip festival and looked around the retail center at Timbuk Farms:

Flew from Columbus to Baltimore, during the day, and I had a window seat:

I attended the wonderful Senior Recital, and the Honors Convocation where Kennady was recognized for her excellence in vocal and choral music.

And I'm having a super time with family:

I am sharing my photos every other Tuesday, 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.

April/May Prompts - Everyday Images #8

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same spot (monthly)

yard (quarterly)

tiny

spot in town (quarterly)

brick

handmade

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This post will be linked at Pictorial Tuesday, hosted by Peabea Scribbles, and at Wednesday Words and Pics hosted by Denise Whelan Blogs

Pictorial Tuesday

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