Pioneer Cemetery

We took just a short walk to a small Pioneer cemetery today. How interesting to view those 150 year old marble grave stones, most of them humble, but some quite grand, (only a few newer ones decorated with fresh flowers), to read names and dates, representing short lives or long. Its a special place which we've visited over the years. It continues to fascinate us. Memorial Day seemed the perfect time to see it again.

Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory,

nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds,

yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored.

~Daniel Webster

The Little Things

The little things? The little moments? They aren't little.

~John Zabat-Zinn~

~~~~~

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back

and realize they were the big things.

~Robert Brault~

~~~~~~

Precisely the least, the softest, lightest,... a breath, a flash, a

moment - a little makes the way of the best happiness.

~Frederich Nietzsche~

~~~~~

The eagerly awaited chicks have arrived.~(part of Ilex's birthday gift)

8 in all ~ a mix of 'Easter Eggers' and 'Rare Breeds'

Of Roses and Boxwood Hedges

Although it has been incredibly cool and rainy this spring,
a few of our roses are beginning to bloom. I'm so ready!

This Dogwood tree is making me happy this year. It has finally
come into its own. (they really are a slow growing tree!)

And the little boxwood hedge~is the best addition ever! (two years ago)

Planting

Now to plant the things we bought...

The Rain Held Off

long enough for us to enjoy a fun afternoon with Ben and Shannon at a place we've been wanting to visit.

Let The Fields be Jubilant

The LORD reigns.

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!

Then the trees of the forest will sing,

they will sing for joy before the LORD,

for He comes to judge the earth.

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;

His love endures forever.

I Chronicles 16:31‑34

The Five Thousand Year Leap

I feel compelled to recommend a book I have just recently finished.
Without exaggeration, I would call it essential reading for every American.
Have you ever wondered what sudden phenomenon caused the giant leap in civilization?

~~Epiphany~~

:epiph-a-ny/ sudden manifestation or perception of

the essential nature or meaning of something.
~~~~
As I began reading this book I realized almost immediately that it would cause a huge leap forward
in my understanding and comprehension of the foundations and underpinnings of our amazing country
and why we have been able to prosper in freedom. (Also, perhaps, the reasons why we may be close to losing it all.)

But most importantly, in these pages, I found hope.

In 'The Five Thousand Year Leap', W. Cleon Skousen has done a masterful job
of outlining the basic principles -
or, as he calls them - '28 Great Ideas That Changed the World'.
America's exceptionalism and uniqueness are outlined and
its Founders quoted extensively throughout the book. Not only are its
Founders quoted, ( Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Adams, etc.)
but also the great thinkers whom they actually considered as their pattern
while crafting our Founding documents : men like

Polybius, Cicero, Thomas Hooker, Coke, Montesquieu, Blackstone,
John Locke, and Adam Smith.
The framers were also careful students of the Bible.
Amazingly, though they came from widely divergent backgrounds,
they shared the experience of having read and studied
the same great books.

Skousen says~

Their historical readings included a broad perspective of Greek,
Roman, Anglo-Saxon, European, and English history.
To this writer, nothing is more remarkable about the early American leaders
than their breadth of reading and depth of knowledge
concerning the essential elements of sound nation building.

This, he feels, explains their remarkable unanimity in fundamental beliefs.

On particulars, of course, they quarreled,
but when discussing fundamental precepts
and ultimate objectives they seemed practically unanimous. [ ]

From all of these valuable sources they sorted out what they considered
to be the best and most enduring for the prosperity and peace
of a free people under a republican system of self-government.

Get a copy of this book~read it for yourself~pass it on to someone you know!