Sunday Song "I Smile" by Russ Lee

I went on a 3 mile run yesterday.  While I was "slowly" moving down the road I was trying to choose a Sunday Song for today.  There were so many beautiful songs going thorough my mind.  I was thinking of the songs we sang on Wednesday night at Celebrate Recovery & of the songs we would be singing today at AUMC.  Wonderful songs of hope, joy, & love.  I was also thinking of all the difficult things that we face in life & the fact that God is with us as we encounter what at times seem to be constant storms.  I was running with my head down, stuck in my thoughts. Then I looked up & I began to look around me.  I saw God's creation in the trees, the flowers, & in the sky filled with downy white clouds.  I felt the cool morning breeze.  I thought to myself....even in the midst of difficulties if we are strong enough to take a moment to look outside of our situation, outside ourselves, just for a single moment we can find some reason to smile.  That is when I decided to choose "I Smile" as my  Sunday Song.  Enjoy the song and enjoy some of the pictures that make me smile & then go find some things in your world that bring you joy....& take time to smile.
Happy Sunday:-)

Happy Birthday Brodie:-)

A year ago on May 20th 2009 I adopted Brodie from a shelter in Chapel Hill.  My goal in going to the shelter was to find a little lap dog.  Erica was with me on my search. Well, she spotted a large dog with an odd but endearing personality.  I could not figure him out.  He would walk toward us in a very slow wiggly manner and then turn away and go back to his spot &  lay down.  He did this many times and would just look at us &  return to his spot....no doggie kisses, ...he just  looked sad.  With Erica's persuasion we choose Brodie.
Oddly enough  the day we picked him up to bring him home was also the day my little brother died.  I was sitting on the grass with my new dog just getting to know him.  Erica was there too. My cell phone rang it was the call about David.  As I sat on the grass crying with my daughters arm around me Brodie walked up and gave me a kiss, he seemed to know something was not as it should be.
Brodie has been my shadow ever since.  I walk with him, run with him, & just hang out with him. He was the dog I needed and has brought much joy to our lives. He remains the dog of few kisses.  I think I have had 3 kisses from him in the year he has been with us. One kiss when I really needed it.
Here are some pictures of Brodie in his first year as part of our family....Enjoy!

Dog walking group. Brodie made a new friend:-)

Erica with him on his first Halloween, Brodie was a bumble bee.

 Christmas

Joe & Brod

Brodie on a car ride to the park.
He has haunting eyes:-)

Brod with the
visiting grandpuppies,
Morgan, Roxy & October

Brodie with his birthday
cupcake.  As Joe always says about him, "He's a good ole boy"  and he is.
Happy Birthday Brodie!

Enjoy your world:-)

Sunday Song "Never Alone" by Barlow Girl

I thought of this song while I was watching The Green Mile this week.  It goes along with the scripture that came to my mind when I heard the quote from the movie that "we all walk our own green mile, each in our own time".  The scripture is from Hebrews 13:5 "I will never leave you nor forsake you".  I believe God is near during the hard times in our lives....in death, in loss, in illness, in sadness.  He is near when we don't know who we are or what we believe.  He is here when we doubt & when we cry when we run from ourselves & from Him.  He is also here in the good times, when we smile when we laugh, when we reach out to help those around us, when we enjoy the world He has given us...we are "Never Alone"!

Happy Sunday Everyone!!:-)

Movie Review "The Green Mile"

This week I found myself watching a movie that I have watched before and love.  The Green Mile.  In spite of all the difficult themes in this movie I find hope, love and selflessness coming through as the bold theme.  To me this movie depicts, through its characters,  goodness in it's strongest light and hatred in its extreme, with all the other characters falling somewhere in the middle.  I always cry when I watch this movie, I cry at the injustice and again at the extremes of love & hope.
I have to give this movie a 10/10 on my rating scale.  Granted I saw the TV version not the R rated version, so I am sure if you see the original it will be much more intense.
 One quote I took from the movie was, that we are all "Walking our own green mile, each in our own time".
I believe that we do not walk alone in this world, I believe God walks with us.  “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”Hebrews 13:5 

Exploring Kathiey's Local World.....Symphony Lake Trail @ Regency Park

Last week Brodie & tried in vain to find Symphony Lake Trail @ Regency Park in Cary NC.http://www.townofcary.org/Departments/Parks__Recreation___Cultural_Resources/Parks_and_Greenways/Greenways/Symphony_Lake_Trail_at_Regency_Park.htm

 With a new map from map quest and an actual physical address I could plug into my GPS we set off again...full of hope.  The map from map quest was on the money, pleasant change from the map we had on our last attempt that excluded at least 2 roads that were needed to reach our destination. This time we made it.  Brodie was happy and I was happy, I did not want a replay of him vocalizing from the back seat.  We walked the paved trail around the lake once taking pictures along the way.  The second time we jogged...it was a nice flat trail...the kind I like:-)  We saw runners, walkers, plodders like me, turtles, geese and goslings, & a Great  Blue Heron.  Here are the pictures...enjoy!

Brodie leading the way

Nice family of turtles:-)

Brodie just looked at them and only one brave turtle remains.

Get out and enjoy your world:-)

Exploring Kathiey's Local World....Parks

Last week I scoured the internet for an area park with a lake that Brodie and I could do a little jog/walk around.  I found one and it sounded great..."Symphony Lake Trail @ Regency Park in Cary.http://www.townofcary.org/Departments/Parks__Recreation___Cultural_Resources/Parks_and_Greenways/Greenways/Symphony_Lake_Trail_at_Regency_Park.htm

We loaded up with water bottles, clean up bags, and a couple of treats and jumped in the car to head to the 1.3 mile paved trail around the lake.  I entered the information I had into my GPS.  The GPS voice said "unverified area....caution".  I thought, oh well I have directions I had printed off a map site so I should be fine.  Sadly the map was less then accurate.  Nearly an hour later I was still driving and frustrated, and Brodie was singing or swearing from the back seat, I could not tell which....& still no park.   Feeling defeated & with Brodie still "singing" from the back seat I headed home.  Then I remembered a tiny community lake on my route and decided to check it out.  It sits beside a Dunkin Donuts that my husband frequents off of highway 55.  It is not a public park and I don't know the name of it but it was a pleasant relief to park my car at the donut shop and then walk down to a lovely lake.  By this time Brodie had stopped singing and that too was a relief.

He let us get pretty close.

We walked the lake once and jogged the lake once & headed home.  Brodie was no longer "singing" but seemed content & I was glad just to have found a place to explore.  Next nice day that I am off and the weather is good I will again attempt to find Symphony Lake but I will use Mapquest instead of the site I will not name.  Mapquest, for me, has always been extremely accurate.
Happy exploring everyone:-)

Sunday Song "Chicken Dance" for Bruce:-)

My Sunday Songs of late have been a bit reflective  & while hopeful they still lean toward sorrow.  I decided to change things up and go the other extreme this week.  I decided to make a "Chicken Dance" movie for Bruce, my brother with Downs Syndrome.  You may ask "what in the world does the chicken dance have to do with God?"  God created the chicken as well as the family & friends you will see in this video.  He also created humor.  So enjoy the music, the pictures, and if you really want to have fun...do the Chicken Dance.  I know Bruce will:-)
Happy Sunday

Kathiey's Recipe Review. "Lemon Thyme Chicken with Angel Hair Pasta & Banana Cupcakes"

I had Friday off so I decided to try a few new recipes, which I love to do.  I started out making Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, that I found on another blog.http://joelens.blogspot.com/2010/05/banana-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese.html

I gathered my ingredients & began the process.
I followed the recipe exactly for the cupcakes.  The icing though I had to tweak to my personal taste.  I ended up adding some vanilla, lemon juice and a pinch of salt.

 

Now it is time to start dinner.  I found a recipe in "Taste of the South" magazine that looked good so I again gathered my ingredients.

If you click on the image it should enlarge so you can read the recipe.

Dinner is served:-)
The cupcakes were very good.  I just took a taste & now have more then a dozen cupcakes in my fridge.  I will have to find someone to give them to.
The chicken was good although it took some time to put it all together.  I would probably give it a 8/10 on my cooking scale.










 

 I would be lost in my cooking without Brodie's supervision.
He was always underfoot hoping for something to drop.
Happy cooking everyone!:-)

Kathiey's Book Review "Apparition & Late Fictions" by Thomas Lynch & Fishing for Erica's Birthday

I have not had the best of luck with books lately.  This book came highly recommended on a web site.  The content is a series of short stories that center mainly around death.  The only story I could bring myself to read in its entirety was the first short story, "Catch and Release".  In a nut shell it was the story of a man who was very close to his dad.  When his father died his ashes were divided between his adult children and they had to decide what to do with these remnants of their father.  This man's dad had taught him to fish & so he ended up on the water with a thermos containing the ashes.  The story was sweet until the end.  He had lovingly scattered ashes in their favorite fishing spots but had one teaspoon of ashes remaining.  You don't want to know what he did with those ashes.   Reading the final paragraph I just gasped and shook my head & realized we all think a bit differently:-)   Would I recommend this book?  No.  I will give it a 4/10 on my reading scale.
I can relate to this one story in the book due to the fact my dad used to take us fishing.  We would all get on his boat and fish off the coast of Ocean City Maryland.  Sometimes it would take us hours to reach our destination where we would fish for Marlin, Dolphin (not flipper), & Blue Fish.  Other times we would go just off the coast to catch Shark and bottom fish.  Good memories.
Last summer we decided to charter a boat for Erica's birthday.  Granted I am still paying for it today but it was worth it.  We had a wonderful time.  Here are a few pictures of our adventure.

Erica, Steph,
& Josh

Steph & Joe

Me, the first mate & some type of fish???

Josh & his fish.

Erica & Steph getting ready to pull in the big fish of the day:-)

Josh holding the little fish with monster teeth.  Scary!

Erica

Our family and their fish

We took our fish to a local restaurant where they cooked them for us.  Delicious!

A fun day was had by all.

Happy reading and adventures everyone:-)