Sunday Blessings: A Year of Blogging

This was the view from my back deck one day last week. I think it's beautiful; but then I love snow and hope this will be the first of many winter scenes in my yard this year.

While things in my real world have been cold this week, my friend Rose thinks my blog is HOT!

I want to thank Rose for sending this my way. Usually on Sundays I like to post a wordless one with maybe a picture of some little church I've found but today I'm the one who is blessed by all the friends who read my blog everyday. I have just passed my one year anniversary of blogging. It is the friends who come and enjoy my endeavors that keep me doing it everyday. To be awarded for something I love doing is just icing on the cake. There are others I need to thank for some of those awards that have come in recent weeks.

Thanks Fishing Guy!

(He was the first to leave a comment a year ago!)

Thanks Paz!

(A year later I'm still trying.)

Thanks Again Paz!

(I never thought I could take a decent photo so this one is really SWEET!)

If I've missed anybody please let me know cause I'd love to acknowledge it here. Please know I so appreciate you.

Special THANKS to all my readers this past year for reading and leaving comments - I love you all!

When I started this blog I included a quote that really seemed to say what I couldn't. After a year of blogging it still represents what I'm striving for.

To quote Peter London one more time, “What I am after as an artist is to see around the bend of my life as I have lived it to date, and catch a glimpse of what may lay ahead. Or above. Or beyond. Or beneath.”

Sunday Blessings

Buffalo Church

Circa 1878

Palestine, West Virginia

Photo Taken October 19, 2008

(Be Sure You Click to Enlarge)

The view from the front yard of the church.

Sunday Blessings Everyone

A Note: Thanks to everyone who came by and left a comment on yesterday's post about our beloved Smokey. My daughter Cindy adopted him when she was eight years old from a second grade classmate. Cindy too, has been reading your comments. She and I and the rest of our family thank you for your kind words at this sad time. Please know we appreciate you.

Sunday Blessings

Todd's United Methodist Church

Stockport, Ohio

Established 1894

Have A Blessful Sunday!

Goodbye Summer Sun...Hello Autumn

(leaves at my Mom's)

Sunday Blessings Everyone

An Angel In The Clouds

This was the sky last Saturday over the rooftop of my home. It may be just what I imagined when I uploaded this photo; but I see an angel just to the right of the point in the roof. It's as if she's ready to land on that little cloud and watch over what's below.
If you don't see her it's ok. She might just have been meant for me.

Sunday Blessings Everyone

Sunday Blessings - Childhood Memories

During our entire lives we carry with us our memories - all the people, places, and events that have made up our existence. Some of the most precious ones are those of our childhood.

I wish I could say this is the church steeple on the church I grew up in. Sadly, the church that gave me sustenance as a child is no longer standing. Lightning struck the bell in the church tower and the church burnt down many years ago. The congregation got together and rebuilt the church that stands here today. On completion because of community involvement it was free of mortgage payments.

I can still imagine the inside of the church and where everything was placed. The altar, the piano, the curtain that was pulled to separate Sunday School classes. I can picture where everyone sat. We all had our own little spot every Sunday. I sat on a pew near the gas stove that heated the church in winter. When my Grandma came to church she sat in a pew that faced mine. As I write this I can see the people and friends and hear their voices. I can see us stand to sing and hear the melody of favorite hymns.

Walking on the grounds I can close my eyes and see the yearly reunion and the picnic tables filled with food. I can picture my little brother hunting Easter eggs. I relive funerals and burials of family members. Most of my grandparents and great-grandparents are buried here as well as a baby sister. I can feel the sun shining brightly on my face as I stood on the front steps of the church as guests hugged me and wished me well on my wedding day.
The church I knew is gone. The loved ones in the sacred grounds beneath these skies are in my heart as well as the childhood memories that still give me sustenance and joy each time I stop and remember.