No Greater Love

It's been a sad week for our community as we prepared for the homecoming of Sgt. Thomas MacPherson, killed in action in Afghanistan on Oct. 12.  

Thursday he was flown into the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos on his "Hero Mission", and then transported to the neighboring cemetary.  

We lined the route, standing silently and holding our flags high;

 some cried, some bowed a knee

He was escorted by dozens of motorcycle officers

 and followed by cars of family and friends

close to a hundred sheriff cars with 2 and 3 men per car

 scores of bikers (Patriot Guard Riders)

 

fire engines and the Red Cross

He was serving his 4th tour in Afghanistan,

 and had completed one tour in Iraq.

His entire platoon, Delta Company of the 75th Ranger Regiment,

 came to California for the funeral held the following morning.

  His pastor conducted the service and his family spoke
emotionally remembering his extraordinary life and accomplishments.

  Speakers also included his Lt. Colonel and Sheriff Lee Baca.

His awards include the Bronze Star Medal of Valor, the Army Commendation Medal

 and the National Defense Service Medical.

  He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal,

 Meritorious Service Medal and the Purple heart.

He is a warrior who gave everything ~  he was 26 years old.

Counting My Blessings,

xo  Susy

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

 

 Father  Brother  Husband  Son  Soldier  Friend  Hero

I'm linking to Spiritual Sundays

Start here...

These simple words helped me this week,
and made a huge difference.

      Start where you are.
      Use what you have.
      Do what you can.

Counting My Blessings,

xo Susy

I'm joining Charlotte at

Spiritual Sundays 

Cider Set Notecards

I'm a city girl ~ so I don't have the beautiful fall foliage and ponds and wildlife that many of you have captured in pictures and shared.  I have to make my own (:

I live in a crowded city of half a million, where the average lot size is 50' x 100'.

There's only an occasional empty parcel available (and always very expensive), so the alternative sometimes is to buy a house, tear it down, and rebuild.  That's what's going on right next door.
  

Our house was built in 1937 and was "original".

We chose to restore it and did a bit of remodeling before we moved in.

It's just me and Pizza Man, so we converted an extra bedroom into a small TV room.

In that room is a little mission style china cupboard that belonged to my grandparents in Oklahoma.

And in that little cupboard is a cider set with a lovely hand painted bird on a branch.

It's one of my favorite things, and the subject of my October notecards.

(choose 4 pics from previous posts)

 it has a pitcher and  6 cups

and one very sweet bird

We're all happy in our cozy little cottage.

Counting my blessings,

xo  Susy

 

Here's a link to the original post with other "apple" themed beauties

Antique Apples

I'm partying with

 Vee at A Haven for Vee 

October Note Card Party

Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage

A Favorite Thing Saturday 

Twinkle Toes

I was working diligently in my office / extra bedroom / junque repository,

 and spotted one of my favorite things

hanging on the bedpost

Pink toe shoes!

These were given to me by a dear friend.

 

She'd come across an old stash of them in storage;

  unfortunately most of them were water-damaged.

but she salvaged a few, added dainty embellishments
~ and I was the happy recipient of a pair.

While they are unique and loveable in their own right,

 the thing that makes them a favorite for me

 is what she wrote on the bottom.

"A gift so you can dance thru life"

Well...I'm tryin'

this post prompted me to go a-digging, and look what I found!

These are my sweet little ballet class slippers from C1956

 I took ballet lessons for a very short while

from renown ballerina Audry Share.

  An online article said

"Miss Share, immigrating to America from England, settled in Long Beach with her husband in 1956

 and for twenty five years owned and operated the very first

 Royal Academy ballet school in Southern California.

 During that quarter century the school served as training ground

 for such notables as Yoko Ichino and Bobby Burgess,

 not to mention a huge segment of the Long Beach population."

(that would be me)

I'm not sure why my ballet days were so short-lived, but they were memorable
and obviously I loved my little slippers.
  I remember keeping my leotard for a long time too. hmmm.

  I did, however, go on to have many ballroom dance lessons

 with none other than the aforementioned Bobby Burgess

 from Mickey Mouse Club fame.

  We all had a crush on him, and nearly melted into the floor
 when he asked us to dance.

In a melancholy moment, once upon a time,  I wrote this little poem ~

I have no daughter to give these to

to tell of giggles and leotards

of Audry Share and plies

A time remembered so fondly, clearly.

(sniffle)

Sheesh.  And on that happy note, I'll get off the stage.

Counting My Blessings

xo Susy
 

I"m linking up with
A Favorite Thing
 at Mockingbird Hill Cottage

File This One Under...

I just came in from an instructor's meeting at the Leadership College where I teach a few weeks every year.  We watched a video on the difference between being relevant vs being content rich in our teachings, and the importance of both.

Then ~ I came home and saw this Youtube video and thought it was a perfect example.

Wasn't sure if I should file it under Creative, or Innovative, or Imaginative, or Talented, or Teamwork, or Collaboration.  So I decided to file it under FUN!

See what you think ~

 

Counting My Blessings,

xo Susy

 

Click here to go to an early post  (July 2010)

titled Joyful Noise ~ it's been circulated around the world

and still gets hits daily  /~"



I'm makin' music over at Spiritual Sundays today

A Favorite Thing ~ and Merci Beaucoup

I'm slooowly easing back into blog life since returning from vacation.

We took a road trip to our fishing cabin on the
Old Colorado River, then drove to Williams AZ and took the train into the Grand Canyon and stayed overnight. The next day we hiked and shopped and lunched, then returned to Williams on the afternoon train.

Before leaving Williams the following morning, we went to Bearizona,

 a wildlife animal park that opened in 2010 and was loads of fun.

After driving through and seeing the animals in habitat,

 I spent a lot of time in the barnyard

with the chickens and pigs, peacocks and goats. 

For several reasons I've yet to upload the hundreds of pictures I took. But soon!

(the photos above are all from the internet)

* * * * *

One of the things I've been working on since our return

 is getting things in the garage sorted through. 

 I just took a big load of collectables into my consignment space,

 and have lots more ready to go.

  In the midst of all the culling, I came across some things

 I'd completely forgotten about.

And that's where A Favorite Thing comes in ~ I love surprises!

Look at this beautiful stack of  little Bavarian dessert plates

in four different patterns of hand-painted pansies and roses
in purple and pink and yellow

  I brought them in, gave them a gentle wash,

 and added them to my sideboard in the dining room.

I'm ready for company ~ let's eat cake!

  I love happening upon lovely things like this.  

* * * * *

Another fun find was this 1936 falling-apart-copy of  The Housekeepers Daughter

  It was silly and humorous, and a quick read.

  A movie adaptation of the storyline was made in 1939,

 with Joan Bennett, Adolphe Menjou, and John Hubbard.

  I'll have to watch for it on TCM.

Something interesting I'd never seen before

was on the copyright page of the book:

"Because of the acute shortage of regular book cloths under

war-time rationing, this book is bound in "leatherette", a

sturdy paper fabric especially designed for this purpose."

 * * * * *

And the final surprise was a very special win from Marcia at

The Shop Around the Corner

  These handmade gift tags were waiting for me when I returned from our trip

 

   6 tags of two different designs, strung with black satin ribbon,

 with gilded edges and black feathers.

  They're really quite beautiful!

  I'm going to have to do some fancy shopping and wrapping

 to match the quality of these tags!
Something French perhaps...

 Merci beaucoup Marcia!

* * * * *

 And on a weather note, Fall has finally come to SoCal.

Our days are still warm, but mornings and evenings are getting chilly.

I'm sad to have to close the windows soon.

Last night I enjoyed the crickets and distant train whistles while reading.

Counting My Blessings

xo Susy

I'm linking up with Claudia at

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

for