Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Somewhere In Time




"People like us, who believe in physics,
 know that the distinction
 between past, present, and future
 is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
- Albert Einstein



1912 Elgin Pocket Watch




 This is a tribute to one of my all time favorite movies,
"Somewhere In Time"

I decided that  I will only reveal certain details of 
this hauntingly beautiful love story in case someone
reading this post has not seen the movie yet.





Richard Collier (Christopher Reeve) is a modern day
playwright who falls in love with the photograph
of a beautiful Edwardian-era stage actress,
 Elise McKenna, (Jane Seymour).
Richard willingly forsakes his life in the present
to travel back 70 years in time to find her.


Based on the science-fiction novel, "Bid Time Return"
 by American novelist and screenwriter, Richard Matheson,
 "Somewhere In Time" was filmed on location at the
 romantic Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island, Michigan.
Matheson makes a cameo appearance in the movie
as one of the hotel guests.



 The Grand Hotel
Mackinaw Island, Michigan





Matheson's Muse



 
American stage actress
Maude Adams
(1872-1953)



While on a trip with his family, Richard Matheson
visited Piper's Opera House in Virginia City, Nevada
where he claimed to have "creatively fell in love" with the 
 beautiful face of turn-of the century American stage 
 actress Maude Adams, after viewing her photograph.
Ms. Adams became his inspiration for the female
character in "Bid Time Return" and later for
Elise McKenna in "Somewhere In Time".


Although the film received mixed reviews when
it was released in 1980, this wonderful fantasy of
love transcending through the portals of time
is now an international cult classic.


 Released in Hong Kong in 1984,
"Somewhere In Time" 
was a smashing success!




"Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini"
From the original motion picture soundtrack
of "Somewhere In Time"
John Barry
(1980)








"O call back yesterday, bid time return."
-William Shakespeare



Finding The Bluebird of Happiness








Knowing there's a bluebird of happiness.
And when he sings to you,
Though you're deep in blue,
You will see a ray of light creep through,
And so remember this, life is no abyss,
Somewhere there's a bluebird of happiness.



Finding The Bluebird of Happiness
James Lockhart






Life is sweet, tender and complete
When you find the bluebird of happiness.
You will find perfect peace of mind
When you find the bluebird of happiness.
Two hearts that beat as one,
'Neath a new found sun,
We are in a world that's just begun,
And you must sing his song, as you go along,
When you find the bluebird of happiness.

Bluebird of Happiness Words by Edward Heyman
 and Harry Parr Davies; 
Music by Sandor Harmati.
















On Wings of Love

The priceless gift of life is love,
For with the help of God above
Love can change the human race
And make this world a better place
For love dissolves all hate and fear
And makes our vision bright and clear
So we can see and rise above
Our pettiness on wings of love.

– Helen Steiner Rice



A World Of Happiness
Zula Kenyon



Sunday, July 17, 2016

Tea Party





The little girl's stirring her tea so sweet;
Tea in the garden is such a great treat,
With a cool breeze blowing, and not too much heat-
And doesn't the tea-tray look charmingly neat?

~Kate Greenaway


Little Girls Having Tea
(1900)





 


I had a little tea party
This afternoon at three.
'Twas very small-
Three guest in all-
Just I, myself and me.
Myself ate all the sandwiches,
While I drank up the tea;
'Twas also I who ate the pie
And passed the cake to me.

~Jessica Nelson North





 Lovely Blue Willow Tea Set





Traditional English scone with
butter and strawberry jam.
Beautiful!





 “You can never get a cup of tea large enough
 or a book long enough to suit me.” 
-C.S. Lewis




Quiet Pleasures
  Gustave Max Stevens

Midsummer Meditations




"The Lord bless and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
and give you peace."
The Aaronic Blessing
Numbers 6:24-26



Wild Tiger Lilies Along A Country Road

 







"Home grown tomatoes, home grown tomatoes
What would life be like without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love and home grown tomatoes."

 Home Grown Tomatoes
-John Denver




Summer would not be summer without
a few homegrown Jersey tomatoes!












Buttercups have honeyed hearts,
Bees they love the clover,
But I love the daisies' dance
All the meadow over.

Blow, O blow, you happy winds,
Singing summer's praises,
Up the field and down the field
A-dancing with the daisies.
-Marjorie Pickthall





Dozens of Daisies
Donald Zolan









“My soul is full of longing
for the secret of the sea,
and the heart of the great ocean
sends a thrilling pulse through me.”
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow





Mediterranean Reflections
 Vicente Romero Redondo






On my fingertips and nose,
I'm covered in blueberries, from my head to my toes.
-Kathy Patalsky 




Unabashed Wild Blueberry Eater








 "Blessed be the Lord
for the beauty of summer and spring,
 for the air, the water, the verdure,
 and the song of birds." 
-  Carl von Linnaeus    

Goldfinch Meadow
Abraham Hunter


Saturday, July 16, 2016

"To Seek New Friends And Stranger Companies..."





 The Dance of the Little People
 William Holmes Sullivan



Where are the fairies?
Where can we find them?
We've seen the fairy-rings

They leave behind them!
When they have danced all night,
Where do they go?
Lark, in the sky above,
Say, do you know?
Is it a secret
No one is telling?
Why in your garden
Surely they're dwelling!
No need for journeying,
Seek afar:
Where there are flowers,
There fairies are!

-Cicely Mary Barker


 Fairies In The Garden
Cicely Mary Barker






 Round and round the fairies dance!
On bitsy feet they skip and prance
through tiny dew drops to and fro,
til morning comes, and then they go.
 -C.J. Heck


Dancing Fairies
Victorian Postcard




Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
-Edgar Allan Poe







Hermia speaks...

" And in the wood, where often you and I
Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie,
Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet,
There my Lysander and myself shall meet;
And thence from Athens turn away our eyes,
To seek new friends and stranger companies.
Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us;
And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!
Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight
From lovers' food till morrow deep midnight."

-A Midsummer's Night Dream
William Shakespeare




Hermia and Lysander
Midsummer's Night Dream
John Simmons
(1870)

Friday, July 8, 2016

Summertime




"That beautiful season the Summer!
Filled was the air with a dreamy

 and magical light;
And the landscape
Lay as if new created 

in all the freshness
 of childhood."
  -  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow



Buttercups
George Elgar Hicks


-

"To everything there is a season
and a time for every matter or
purpose under heaven."
Ecclesiastes 3:1



Vladimir Volegov 






"I know I am but summer to your heart,
And not the full four seasons of the year;
And you must welcome from another part
Such noble moods as are not mine, my dear.
No gracious weight of golden fruits to sell
Have I, nor any wise and wintry thing;
And I have loved you all too long and well
To carry still the high sweet breast of Spring.
Wherefore I say: O love, as summer goes,
I must be gone, steal forth with silent drums,
That you may hail anew the bird and rose
When I come back to you, as summer comes.
Else will you seek, at some not distant time,
Even your summer in another clime."

-  Edna St. Vincent Millay




 Daryl Urig






"Summertime...and the livin' is easy..."
- George Gershwin







"Live in each season as it passes: 
breathe the air,
 drink the drink,
 taste the fruit."
–  Henry David Thoreau

Oaks of Righteousness




I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree...




Estimated to be at least 235 years old,
this towering giant white oak tree in 
 Richland (Buena Vista Twp) New Jersey
died recently from unknown causes.
The township is currently raising money
to preserve the tree as an historic
landmark and a work of art.




A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
-Joyce Kilmer




Robin Hood and his band of merry men would feel quite at home
in this magnificent ancient oak tree in
 Nonington, Kent, England





"...that they may be called

oaks of righteousness...
Isaiah 61:3




In the Holy Bible,
the Terebinth, or the mighty Oak, is symbolic
of the life-sustaining, enduring righteousness 
of Jehovah God.


The leafy branches of an old oak tree
provide a shady rest for tourists
at Tel Abel Beth Maachach, in the
Upper Galilee region of Israel.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Heal Our Land








ALMIGHTY GOD,
our HEAVENLY FATHER,
we come to YOU
in the name of the
LORD JESUS CHRIST,
REDEEMED BY HIS BLOOD,
COMMITTED TO SERVE
AND FOLLOW HIM.



We come to YOU as 
YOUR believing people;
YOUR representatives here on earth,
the agents of YOUR government in the earth.

We lift up to YOU this nation of ours,
the United States.
We thank YOU for the many centuries
of special grace and mercy
that YOU have granted this nation.



We thank YOU for the godly seeds
that have been sown over the years
by men of faith who have
followed in YOUR footsteps-
labored, sacrificed, prayed,
and given for YOUR kingdom.

Washington Crossing The Delaware
Emanuel Leutze
(1851)



LORD,
we desire that these godly seeds
shall develop into a harvest
that shall be reaped for YOUR purposes.
We ask YOU
to extend YOUR grace and mercy
to this nation.

We ask YOU
to send a mighty visitation
of the HOLY SPIRIT,
that will overthrow the strongholds
of Satan, and uplift and
glorify the name of the
LORD JESUS CHRIST.






We ask YOU
for a mighty floodtide of spiritual revival
that will sweep across this nation,
casting down everything that opposes itself
against the knowledge of
GOD.

And we commit to YOU now
specifically the forthcoming election
and all of the political processes involved.

We take our stand in JESUS' NAME,
against every satanic principality and power
that would seek to exercise control 
in these elections.

We break their power;
we release the elective and governmental processes
from their control, and we put them in
YOUR HANDS.

We pray that YOU will guide and overrule.
That YOU will raise up men and women
of YOUR choice;
put down those who will oppose and stand against
YOUR purposes,
and bring YOUR purposes to fulfillment
in this nation.

LORD, we do believe that YOU have a special destiny
for the United States, and we pray that nothing
that Satan will do will be able to hinder that destiny.

We also pray, LORD, for the relationship
of the United States to Israel.
That YOU will keep YOUR HAND upon it,
and that YOU will also guide and overrule,
to the benefit of Israel.




That this nation will not turn against Israel,
or take it's stand among the enemies of Israel.
That YOU will graciously use this nation
continually to support and uphold
YOUR people, Israel,
and their state.

LORD, we ask all these things,
believing them to be YOUR will
and believing them to be for
YOUR GLORY,
in the precious, all-prevailing 
NAME of JESUS CHRIST,
YOUR SON, OUR SAVIOR.

Amen.
(Derek Prince Ministries)



Friday, July 1, 2016

Independence Day 2016




"...proclaim liberty throughout all the land
 unto all the inhabitants thereof..."
Leviticus 25:10





I’m thankful for America:
The way of life we’ve known
And all the precious freedoms 
we can call our very own.




I’m thankful that we have a voice
 that we are free to use
And pray to God for wisdom
 in the leaders whom we choose. 
 I’m thankful for those patriots
 who loved honor more than fame,
Who instigated laws which
 have preserved America’s name.
May it  be always  possible—
Down through the years—
that we through conscientious effort keep
This land safe and free.
   - Ethel D. Posegate



Happy Birthday
America!














You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev'ry heart beats true
'neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there's never a boast or brag.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.
-George M. Cohan 



God Bless America !