Bee Happy

On another visit to our favorite apple orchard a few years ago, I was enjoying a chat with Mrs. W. while browsing her charming antique store.  It's a small converted house, and she has furniture and treasures artfully tucked into every corner.  She  mentioned that their crop had been small that year because of a Spring frost, and that the frost had occurred two years in a row on exactly the same date.  I could tell she was concerned - - this was their livelihood, and I promised to pray for them.

When that date approached the following year, I began praying - determined that there wasn't going to be a crop-destroying frost.  Part of my prayer was that the harvest would be the BEST they'd ever had.

That Fall, on our annual pilgrimage to the orchards, I asked about the harvest.    "Oh, it was the BEST we've ever had.  No one else in the valley had a crop like ours."   I'm smiling.  "So, what do you think made the difference?", I asked.

"It was the bees.  We had thousands of bees."

Now isn't that just like God.



He that diligently seeks good, finds favor   Proverbs 11:27

 

Here's a little friend that sits on the breakfast room shelf.

He's a News Bee (:

 

near the vintage mustache cup that says "Be happy"

on a book about bees

 

bzzzz

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Opportunity

You can count the seeds in an apple,
but you can't count the apples in a seed."
Pastor Jim Partington, England




See other Words to Live By at Notes from a Cottage Industry

Antique Apples

September twenty-second, Sir, the bough cracks with unpicked apples, and at dawn the small-mouth bass breaks water, gorged with spawn."
-   Robert Lowell

Well, it's officially Fall at our house.

Mr. D. has gone fishing.
And I'm enjoying apples.  

Edited for Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

                                                  So here's my version of "enjoying apples"

                                                 Vintage pottery with an apple theme

 This  is early 1900's Weller in the Baldwin Apple pattern.
It belonged to my Grandmother.

It gets moved around in the living room.  Right now it's back on the mantle.

Roseville pottery in Green Apple Blossom from the forties.
My  favorite pattern.

                                                              I love the twig handles

 

A Ewer and a small Cachepot

Pink Apple Blossom Teapot, Creamer and Sugar

 

I lost the lid to the sugar bowl the last time we moved.

I think I left it in the wrapping paper.  sigh.

And lastly I'll sneak in this hand-painted Cider Set

I keep it in a small china cupboard in the den

because it has a serious crack on the inside

 

I once thought of getting rid of it. 

  So glad I didn't.

I have a theory about the difference between a Cider Set

and a Lemonade Set.

I think it's the cups.

  Cider cups have handles, and lemonade cups don't. 

And of course I loved this one because

it had a bird on a branch.

 Chirp!

What's in Your Hand?

Every Fall we like to take a family outing to "apple country" that's about an hour's drive away.  We have our favorite orchard.  I'm hoping it's still open this year, because everything there is old.  It's owned by a couple in their eighties, that grow "antique" apples, and have a horse that's something like 36 years old - although I didn't see him last time.

Mrs. W sells antiques (at least she did); Mr. W gives out samples of the apples.  You can't just buy the apples from him, you have to sample the varieties -- all of them.  It's a rule.  If you time it right, you can buy cider made on the antique  apple press.  One year we got to make our own on the hand-cranked press, and saved it in the freezer for Thanksgiving.

Mr. W once told me the story of how he got started, and the old-timer from the neighboring orchard that had mentored him.  He said the old fellow loved his orchard and had worked it for a life-time.  One day the daughter came to visit. He wasn't in the house, so she went out to the orchard to look for him.  He was there, sitting on the ground leaning against one of his trees.  He had passed away with an apple branch in his hand.

That story has always been inspiring to me.  I hope to enter Heaven with my apple branch in my hand too  - having done exactly what I was created to do, not departing from my "life path".  I've been spending time with the Path Planner - just to be sure I'm in the right orchard producing the right fruit.

Wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life. 

Proverbs 9:11 

 Learn more about antique apples

 
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Closing a Window

I haven't quite gotten the rhythm of blogging.

Most of you have already said your good-byes to summer and moved on to fall foliage and pumpkin recipes. So I'm taking my cue, and saying farewell to the season.  Although in Southern California you know we don't really have seasons - unless you count Fire, Flood, Fishing and Fashion.

My personal ritual that indicates Fall is upon us consists of closing the kitchen windows.  During warm weather the window sill is cleared off, and the windows are propped open.  Then everything's put back in place. My asparagus plant was so happy this year that it connected with the granite colander nearby. 

I sometimes change out the decor on the mantle in the living room.  But that's not too important to me anymore.  Last winter, during an especially rainy week, moisture got into the wall above the fireplace through the chimney.  It weakened the plaster and the nail pulled loose that was holding a large picture.  The picture fell, sweeping everything on the mantle onto the bricks below.

Passing by the room and glancing in I first noticed that the picture was down, and when I went to pick it up I found vintage Roseville and Weller pottery broken to pieces underneath it.
 

So here's the good news.  When I saw the broken Roseville, I thought to myself, "Well, if I'm going to do without the pottery, I would rather have sold it and given the money to the Homeless Project."

What?!  Being a lifelong collector and sometimes hoarder, I was stunned by my own thoughts.  It was then that I realized I had passed "the money test", my heart was right, and I was ready to be used.

I gathered up as many shards as I could find and Mr. D glued them back together.  But somehow lots of pieces had gone missing.

I spy the pottery on a shelf in the garage from time to time.  And by golly, there's not even a teeny twinge of grief when I see them.  For me, that's huge.  These days I'm interested in helping put shattered lives back together - and that's a window I plan on keeping open.

He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.  Proverbs 11:25

Tickle Me Tuesday

I'm declaring today Tickle Me Tuesday, because sometimes you just have to be happy on purpose.

One of my favorite family anecdotes is about my nephew, the youngest of our brother's four boys.

The family was out to dinner at an Italian restaurant where you can order your choice of pastas and sauces.  After my sister-in-law made her pasta selection, the waiter asked her what kind of sauce she wanted.  Looking up from her menu, she answered, "Alfredo sauce".

My little nephew, who was in the chair next to her, sat up on his knees and boldly declared, "I'm not afraid of sauce!"

Selah.

A wise son brings joy to his father.  Proverbs 15:20

He Doeth All Things Well

I read an article the other day written to seminary students as a word of encouragement, sort of.  It was reminding the students that they were very busy people, and that it was impossible to do everything they had to do perfectly, so stop trying.  Sounds like a valid message to many categories of people I know, including working mothers.

This morning as I was attending Church On The Blog (seriously), I listened to a beautiful song over at Beverly's How Sweet The Sound.  In the background were excerpts from the memorial service for Mrs. Billy Graham.  It made me cry.  Sadly, not for her or her husband, or even for my love for Jesus.  I cried for me.

What I was relating to was her as a mother and wife, family member and friend.

If I were to die today, my one regret - and really the only one - is that I didn't love my family well.

It's given me pause.  Not too late you say.  And you're right, it's never too late.  But loving well now, versus loving well, REALLY loving well for a lifetime....well, there's a difference.

It was said of Jesus, "He doeth all things well."

That has new meaning for me today.

Her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.  Proverbs 31:28

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