Relaxing Day

On Friday morning,  Chad and I decided to go for a shorter walk (2 miles instead of 5) after we worked at the gym.  Before we did, we went to downtown Springfield to get a cup of coffee.  Here are some pictures to show you our day. 

Off we go after our work out at the gym!

 

Here's Chad is trying to decide what type of coffee he is going to get

Downtown Springfield

A church with New England style architecture

A quaint looking inn

Me, the ducks, and the geese at the park for our walk

An interesting building along the walking path

We cross the small bridge to enter into Galloway Village

I really like this building (I think it might be a yarn shop)

A pottery shop

 

An art studio

A neat little restaurant on the walking trail.  It's currently not open to the public.  I think it is being worked on by the owners because there is a lot of construction debris outside.  I hope they open it up because it's really quite cute.  The pictures below show the mural along the building. 

This is at the back of the restaurant.  It looks like an outdoor seating area

There's also a cemetery up on  a hill across the street.  On the side of the street along the walking path where we walk is this pet cemetery that is an extension of the regular one. 

There's also a place where they bury police service dogs

After our walk and coffee run, we went home to get ready for the Sabbath. We had a really nice and relaxing day.

Garden Day

I went to the hosta garden today at the Botanical Center.  I like to go there and just hang out.  I read, watch the ducks, pray, and drink coffee.  Even though it's crazy hot outside, when I'm sitting in the gardens, it's nice and cool.

Here are four ducks that are always together.  They're usually by the lake, out with the other ducks and geese, but sometimes, I find them in the hosta garden.   Sometimes, they come out suddenly from behind a bush and they start "talking."  It almost looks like they're guilty of doing something naughty and have been caught in the act.  Once in a while, they take a nap in the garden. 

There are lots of little gardens at the Botanical Center.  You have your choice!

The rose garden always smells wonderful!

Chad likes these blue spruces

The entrance to the hosta garden

Such a peaceful and shady place to sit on a hot day

The view from the bench where I usually sit

Can't forget my coffee

Just the perfect shoes to wear in a garden

Going back home now

Isaiah 58:11 (NASB)

“And the Lord will continually guide you,

And satisfy your desire in scorched places,

And give strength to your bones;

And you will be like a watered garden,

And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

Artichokes

What is it about artichokes that makes eating them so fun?  I really don't know.  I guess because it's a fairly social process.  Pick someone you like hanging out with and invite them over to eat with you.  You get special sauce- mayo with balsamic vinegar.  You steam them with specially selected ingredients- fresh lemon juice, one garlic clove, a bayleaf, and some salt.  When it's ready, take your time and savor each bite.  It might be hard to talk with your friend because you're constantly scraping the leaf against your teeth, but it's fun having that special person nearby.  Especially if you can't remember which way to scrape the leaf against your teeth!

Torahmobile

We celebrated 333,333 miles on our car today.  We bought our little green car (Saturn SL) about 15 1/2 years ago.  We bought it while we were still in college in Madison Wisconsin.  It only had 40 miles on it and it had a wonderful new car smell.  When we bought it, the car dealership took a picture of us, a picture we've carried around with us for a long time.

Fast forward to today, and our car is still driving along.  A lot of changes have happened since we first bought the car.  Chad and I both graduated college, we moved to many different states, had successful careers, had two wonderful dogs (George and Katie) that have already gone on to the Messiah's Kingdom and are waiting for us, gained a little weight, have gotten gray and white hairs, and overall, have had many growing experiences.  Our car doesn't have the new car smell anymore and when you're sitting inside, you'll hear a lot of road noise.  Over the years, we've eaten a lot of food in our car and have dropped stuff down into the corners of the seat, many of which are still there today because we were not able to reach that far down to remove it- most of it is petrified or on its way to getting there.  Because we had dogs who loved to go riding, there's lots of dog hair that just refuses to budge.  That's okay though, they bring back good memories of George and Katie.

Today, we reached the 333,333 mile mark thanks to the Messiah.  We went for a little drive in the country, and had a couple of burgers and a iced fruit drink as we waited for the mileage to turn over.  We wanted to stop and get a picture when we hit the 333,333 mark.  It was a perfect place that we stopped at- a little country road without a lot of traffic.  It was as if the Messiah picked the perfect spot for us to take our picture.

We call our car our little Torah-mobile - that's because we spent many hours driving around with George and Katie, listening to teachings about the Torah.  We like to think, that the Messiah smiled down on us while we did.  Thank you Messiah, for keeping our car running, despite some recent repairs we had to do on it, and for all the good memories we had and will continue to have in it for as long as You want to keep it running.

Madison Wisconsin, December 1997

Springfield Missouri, May 2013

A little country road