Is It You?

I could easily have written this, but I didn't. Robin did. And I'm so glad she did.

In case it is you are the one who needs to read it, here it is.

Tuesday's Tip

Today's Tip: listen to the Word of God

I read my Bible. I enjoy reading my Bible. Most everyone I know who cares about the Bible, reads the Bible. My suggestion to you today is to listen to the Bible.

A couple of month ago I heard on the radio about Faith Comes By Hearing. If you go to their web site, you will read this:

Our mission statement is to record and use heart-language Audio Bibles to bring His church together and make disciples from every nation, tribe, language, and people.

And this:

Faith Comes By Hearing offers the world’s largest catalog of Audio Bibles to individuals and nations who hunger to hear. Offering every person on our planet equal access to the Bible requires meeting the unique needs of generations, technical societies, and fast-paced lifestyles. It also means meeting the cultural and literacy challenges presented when working in underdeveloped countries. Faith Comes By Hearing is rising to meet the biblical needs of a complex world through modern technology.

If you go here, you will see some of what they offer.

I decided to spend lent listening to the New Testament. I chose to download a dramatic reading for that purpose. I have read and studied the Bible for some years now. I in no way claim to be a scholar. I just mean that I have read certain parts of it several times. I put the download on my Zune and began listening regularly.

Can I just say, "Wow!" Especially the gospels. Having someone speak the words to me brought it to life in a way that I didn't expect. They use different voices for different people. Hearing Jesus say the words to me, even as an actor, just seemed more real to me than it ever has before.

I cannot say enough about experiencing the Word of God in this way. If you have an mp3 player, download one of the free versions they have available. If not, you can order it in another form.

You will also notice that I now have a button on the sidebar of the blog. Go check it out.

Tuesday's Tip

Today's Tip: get to know a bee wrangler.

OK, so this may not be something you ever really need to do, but let me tell you, when you need one, it's really handy if their kids are friends with your kids and she'll run right over and take care of things. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

My daughter and I spent a good deal of this glorious day outside. We planted a few things, watered a few things, and did some reading in the grass. We retired inside to contemplate dinner. About an hour later I went outside and found this:

That is my mailbox. With a beard of bees. They all arrived in the hour we were in the house. Amazing.

Fortunately, the mail had already come, so I didn't need to disturb them to find all of the fascinating sales fliers my mailman brought me.

Enter the Bee Wrangler. I haven't known Jennifer long, but our kids are friends. I called her up and she be-bopped right over.

Can I just say, "Wow." I have never seen this process. I am bee phobic enough to be more than a little freaked out at the thought of being in a little net tent with hundreds of bees, even with the protective gear. But Jennifer is brave. Jennifer is experienced. Jennifer went right to work.

She has this cute little bee box that she hooks up to a Shop Vac looking thing. She gently sucks them up and they land into their temporary home. When she gets to the queen in the middle of all the bees, she unhooks the vacuum and holds the house in her lap. She then gets the queen on her finger and puts her in the box being careful not injure her.

The process isn't quite complete yet. She left that little box leaning up against the mailbox. There were quite a few bees that were still airborne and didn't make it into the box. She said they will land there and then quit flying after dark. She will come back by and just pick it up and take them home. She will relocate to them a new hive tomorrow.

I now know more about bee habits than I ever dreamed. It really is fascinating. But I'll leave the bee wrangling to Jennifer. I'll stick to my safe spot on the porch. : )

Has Your Spring Sprung?

I've read around the blogosphere that many of you have little seedlings doing their thing. We here in Houston and SE Texas are full on into spring.

And let me tell you, it is hard to be a proper Southern lady and keep my white shoes and pants in the closet until after Easter when it comes this late and the weather is this lovely.

I thought I would show you what we have going on in our little patch of earth these days.


The little snapdragons are really going after it.


The fig tree is busting out all over.


The bougainvillea is magnificent, even though you can still see a little burn damage on the leaves from the freezes that we get off and on.



My little cherry tomatoes are setting up nicely.


Although this is not a great picture, my lemon tree is covered in little lemons. If half of them make it, it will be my biggest crop ever.

How does your garden grow?