63 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 9-14-17”

  4. Concerning yesterday evening discussion about God speaking to people.
    About a decade ago, Elvera and I were traveling to Gatlinburg, Tn. We went through the Smokey’s. We stopped at the visitor’s center near Cherokee, NC. I let Elvera out and parked the car. When I approached Elvera, she was talking with a man who was witnessing and handing out tracts at the visitor’s center. I chatted with him a few minutes. He said he felt called to do this and was going to leave for Asheville soon.
    After talking a few minutes, Elvera and I left for the visitor’s center. After going a few paces away, I suddenly turned around and went back and gave the man a $20 bill. He said, “Thank you.”
    I said, “Don’t thank me, thank the Lord, He told me to do that.”
    What happened is that after going a few yards away, I felt the compulsion to go back and give exactly twenty dollars to that guy.
    I didn’t hear a voice. I didn’t think of anything in particular. I just felt the need to give him exactly twenty dollars .
    We went on into the visitors center, then drove through the Smokeys to Gatlinburg.
    After reflection, I think that I was supposed to give hm enough money to get to his friends in Asheville. And that’s all.
    I have felt and acted on other impulses that weren’t as clear as this instance.
    I’m convinced that God works that way.
    Aeons ago, God knew that a guy in the Smokey Mountains National Park was going to need twenty dollars. He had me passing by at exactly that time.

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  5. First order of business:
    I received a lovely thank you card from the KBells Family.
    There is photo of the 3 of them included. I am hesitant to post it on the blog but if you are interested I will copy it and email it to you so you will have more of a sense of them.
    Tim wrote inside:
    Thank you so much for the wonderful gift. Kathy considered you her best friends. Thank you for being there in so many ways. I pray you will be blessed greatly in the future.
    T&C

    Liked by 8 people

  6. God Speaks to BG and Mommy Listens
    I am sure I have shared this story in the past.
    It was the summer before BG turned 3. I drove a dark green 4 door Chevy Blazer with tan leather interior. BG road in the rear, right. We listened to Wee Sing tapes over and over and sang along. We talked about God and how He loves us and is always watching over us.
    We talked about how God listens to our prayers. “Dear God, Bless everyone I love and every one who loves me” is how we ended her bedtime prayers.
    She was just learning to cluck her tongue and trying to snap her fingers.
    One day we were headed out across the Bayway and all of a sudden she says “MOMMY”, I replied, “Yes Baby?” and thus it began…
    Can God hear you when you do this? (clucks tongue) Yes, Baby, God can hear you when you do that
    Some amount of time passes.
    MOMMY! Can God hear you when you do this? (Tries to snap fingers but clucks tongue to make the sound)
    Yes, Baby, God can hear you when you do that.
    Some amount of time passes
    MOMMY! Can God hear you when you do this? (Flutters eye lashes)
    Yes, Baby, God can even hear you when you do that.
    Some amount of time passes
    MOMMY! Can we ever hear God?
    Mommy is thinking fast just how to answer that.
    Yes, Baby. Sometimes when we are quiet we may hear God. It is rare, but when we pray we get answers.
    Some amount of times passes and she is now in her bedroom on one end of the house playing and I am getting dressed in my bedroom…
    MOMMY, MOMMY, I heard GOD!!!!! As she is running across the house towards me.
    Well, Baby, what did God say?

    “Chloe, Be good and let Mommy get dressed and Mommy, let Chloe watch a video”.
    So that morning as I finished getting dressed, BG got to watch The Wizard of Oz for the millionth time and God and I had a good chuckle about what He said to her.

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  7. Good morning. I am back researching refrigerators. I found a possibility.

    Kim, please email me or Messenger me with the photo. Thanks. And thanks for your kind note about the check you received (to include in the donation).

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Good Morning! Kim I would love to see the photo and thanks for sharing the note from Tim..
    Rkessler we are getting pretty dry around here as well…this forest could use some heavy sprinkles but the storms just keep skirting around us!
    Chas similar situations have occurred in our lives as well…the prompting of the
    Holy Spirit is undeniable in the life of one of His own…

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  10. My left rear tire keeps losing pressure — but very slowly. When it its 26, the alert goes on. Last time the mechanic (car was due for service) filled it up and everything was fine for I’d say 2 months at least, maybe longer.

    Then the alert came on again, same tire.

    I took it to a tire store yesterday to have them check for a leak. They filed it up to 60 lbs and put it in water. No bubbles, no leak could be detected anywhere, the tire looked good. Very weird.

    So they put the tire back on (all done at no charge) and said if it happened again to bring it back (the shop is just down the street from my work) and they’d take another look.

    We’re struggling through at work these days, strange times (again, we should be used to this but we’re not, ever) with people departing and the rest of us wondering who’d going to do some of the things these people now do. How can this work with even fewer people than before?

    It feels like the energy, what was left of it, has been sucked out of the room.

    Some of the top editors at our other properties, meanwhile, seem to have have lofty notions of a magic reorganization that’ll fix and save everything. !! They’re busy-busy, huddling in important meetings, mulling all their big ideas.

    I don’t want to feel so cynical about it all, but I’ve been through this before. Nothing so far has prevented the continuing downward slide. It feels only like we’re trying to keep the inevitable at bay for a few more years, at best.

    It really does make one think of that old adage: rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

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  11. When people ask me why I still take the paper, I explain, “for local news. I want to see what kids are playing on the sports teams, what’s happening with our (insane) city council, how to know when roads will be closed because of yet another wine country event, etc.” I like to read the obituaries to know who died and what they did in their lives (that may be my age). I need to know what is happening in my COMMUNITY.

    I’d really rather NOT read an article somehow related to the president every. single. day.

    With new local owners a few years ago (including the widow of Charles Schultz from Peanuts fame who is, BTW, extremely rich and too influencial), they apparently listened to people like me. The obits are now in color–if you pay for it–there’s plenty of local news, but since they all detest the president, we hear about him way too much, still.

    Your paper is different, of course, given the scope of LA and the “competition” from the Times. However, when I lived in that little town by the bay, we read the paper religiously for the above reasons. On that FB page you know about, people refer to the fish wrapper all the time–but, of course, they’re my age.

    None of my children have subscriptions to the paper, but when they stop by the house (or live here or visit here), they read it everyday and someone always works the crossword puzzle. Indeed, I had to hide the puzzle on Sunday mornings or Stargazer would finish it before I got my turn.

    Hmm. Maybe I should copy it and send him the puzzle once a week to keep in touch?

    My thoughts, but then, I’m not a local newspaper baron . . .

    Besides, if I’m a local business, why would I advertise in the paper if it’s not about events my customers would be interested in?

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  12. I’m sitting in the heart of Silicon Valley this morning, having accompanied Mr. Global Energy south for his weekly meetings. I meet with a fashion consultant at noon and she’s going to purchase accessories for my successful clothing trip last weekend.

    When you’re as clothing-challenged as I am, you need help for speaking in professional settings.

    This is someone I know and she was cheaper than flying Kim out for consulting.

    Mr. Global Energy’s college roommates went to graduate school at Stanford, so we’ve visited down here from time to time over the last, gasp, 40 years. It’s amazing how different it is now–extremely busy with traffic, of course, but filled with enorous glass buildings (and we didn’t even catch sight of the new Apple space ship from the freeway!)

    We stopped for coffee before coming into the enormous glass building that houses the headquarters of his company, and the men sitting behind me were having a vigorous discussion of autonomous autos–including references to the Jetson’s car!

    Funny.

    Strange, too. The people, so far, have been unassuming and pleasant. We beat the traffic, however, in our 2 hour drive down 101 through San Francisco. Yes, I do live in a different world! LOL

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  14. Kim, I want to see the photo too. Thanks.

    Well, my little monarch sat on a flower all night. She got a late start to her day (coming out at 1:30 instead of in the morning) and the weather is cooler, so she didn’t fly yesterday. This morning my husband came in and said, “The monarch is pumping her wings.” So I went out, but she was sitting there all prim and proper, no wing movement for me. I guess she had enough of the camera yesterday.

    My husband and I got started burning stuff in the burn pile, and when I went back to look for her half an hour later, she was gone. She was far calmer than the male that left two weeks ago. He raced all over the mint plants beating his wings. She spent more than three weeks in a chrysalis, and then spent nearly 24 hours on the exact same stem the chrysalis hung on. I don’t know if she took any trial flights or just flew off.

    Anyone who wants to see photos, I put together a book of photos of the whole process, egg to adult butterfly. I had more than a dozen caterpillars this year, and about three last year, so there is no telling whether the caterpillars are the same as the adult butterflies, but the whole cycle is included, including several of the little girl yesterday, in the chrysalis and then on it inflating her wings. I wrote explanatory text, and put it in rather large type and in child-friendly language, so hopefully it can be read. I didn’t pay any attention at all to design; I just slapped photos on a page and put in explanations.

    Here’s the link: https://www.picaboo.com/?share=66909a918285a6bd5c7c7e6e236711d4&version=825802&siteID=ViaPreview&utm_source=trg&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=shareproj

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  19. Cheryl, great photo book. I showed it to our bookkeeper and she told me that they had a monarch caterpillar that they took home and it formed it’s chrysalis in September and then nothing. They just left it alone in the corner (busy family) and when they came home from a holiday in April, the butterfly emerged that day!

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  20. Me too, photo.

    Wow, a fashion consultant — very cool, Michelle, you’ve arrived 🙂 One of our editors belongs to some kind of online shopping service where someone works with you, the types of clothes and styles you like, and then they send you a box of things on a schedule which you’re free to pay for and keep or return. I found out about when when I complimented her on how many cute clothes she was showing up in. 🙂

    But if Kim flies out to consult on your wardrobe, send her south for a painting consult on my house, please. I’d like to see her and Real Estate Guy in the same room discussing that topic, in fact. 🙂 I’ve finally convinced him that I’m probably going lighter overall color with dark trim and he agreed that might work. Might. I never brought up the tile roof line trim issue … I thought, nah, don’t even go there, he’ll explode. I would love to find someone local who knows historic homes who would advise me on some of these things, maybe I’ll work through the historic society. The LA Conservancy has a list of folks they recommend, but I’m guessing they’re pretty pricey. I don’t mind paying a fee for a thorough consultation, but don’t want to pay too much for something like that.

    Newspapers: Sounds like our new reorganization will all be built on reporter “teams” covering stories that can go region wide. If I have a “local” story, we’ll need to expand that to take in all the other territories for a blow-out version. Remember, our 11 papers are spread (very) far and wide, from the beaches (north and very south) to the deserts and the mountains. Our editor is one who is trying to push more local stories will be better, but he’s a voice crying in the wilderness here with the “new” bosses (same, worse than in some cases, the “old” bosses). They’ll come and go like the others but probably not before a few more staff cutbacks … So sad.

    We’ve chopped local sports coverage, by the way, which was one of our more popular elements with local readership. And the 2 folks who do ALL our events calendar listings, which is a huge job, are both gone with the buyouts. Have NO idea who’s going to be doing that going forward, or if they may just chop that as well.

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  21. Our editor, whose been here for ages, is so disheartened. He’s definitely on the “outs” when it comes to the “new” philosophy here, so who knows if he’ll somehow be replaced or pushed aside or simply put under the thumb of someone directly above him going forward.

    But we’re the lost tribe at our paper seemingly, just meandering through the ever-changing wilderness, disconnected, our readers increasingly hating us for various reasons.

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  22. Janice, Kare, and DJ, somehow you are also among the lost emails. I sent the photo by email to most of you and tried to send to some through FB but can’t get it uploaded.
    My other technical difficulties were because I am still having cell phone issues, so I bought a land line phone. Mr P unplugged me from the internet because in these here new fangled modern type homes there isn’t a telephone outlet just anywhere dontcha know?
    I feel Michelle’s pain. I can’t get a call to dial out on the land line either. They don’t work the same way as a cell phone.

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  24. DJ, I don’t know that you want me in a room with anyone discussing real estate.
    I got sucked in to being on the forming board of our HOA—we had to do something because the developer was ready to get out and turn it over to the homeowners as he no longer owned any of the lots.
    The across the street neighbor put himself in charge and rewrote the covenants and restrictions. They went from the original 8 pages to FIFTEEN pages. All favoring him and his wants. No certain types of pets, dogs must have a bark suppression device, all work to be approved by the architectural committee and by licensed and bonded repairmen. Owners must park in garages, no yard sells, no this not that no anything.
    A neighbor reviewed them. She is an attorney and wrote the neighborhood a memorandum which prompted an emergency meeting on Monday.
    I informed the Bully that with all those restrictions we wouldn’t be able to GIVE these houses away. He started quoting all the neighborhoods around us who had those restrictions. Yes, but they bought those homes under those restrictions! Then I explained that we don’t have the power to tell neighbor what they may do to their home and who may do the work. In my own case I needed a new garbage disposal. Mr P bought one and installed it. Why would I have paid a plumber to do that????

    Are you ready for it???

    I AM CONDESCENDING AND ACTING AS IF WE ARE NOT EQUALS.

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  25. HOAs can really get out of control, from what I keep hearing. My agent, when I was house hunting, wisely talked me out of going the townhouse route since at the time I had 3 dogs. He said those associations can be pesky, and that was a while ago now.

    Give people some power over their neighbors and it’s not a pretty thing. 🙂

    Of course, it would narrow down my paint color choices, most definitely …

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  26. Working on an article. Do you have a vision in your marriage?

    Why/why not?

    If so, how did you determine the vision?

    How did you adjust it?

    What advice would you give?

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  30. Oh, Michelle I had typed out a long reply to your question. And poof. It was gone.
    I will simply say that my advice is to realize that if you are feeling a certain way, chances are so are they.
    If I am feeling ignored and unloved…he probably is too.
    Realize he has a Y chromosome and you don’t, therefore you can’t possibly understand everything about each other.
    Find a reason to laugh…even if it’s something goofy.
    What you don’t like in someone else is probably something you don’t like about yourself or a weakness of yours.

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  31. FB, Kevin 🙂 Kim, I’ll send you my email address there too.

    So I shared Michelle’s thoughts (sans name) with my editor who read them aloud but admittedly had a sense of let-down when he got to the crossword puzzle finale … 😦

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  33. Continuing from yesterday’s blog:

    Cheryl, you ask for Scriptural proof that we should ask God for direction in the everyday things. I would ask what makes you think that instructions like Proverbs 3:5-7 (also Psalm 37) does not include everyday things among ‘all thy ways’:

    Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

    I can think of many times God provided for and guided people to those ‘everyday’ needs, and not just the prophets. The people of Israel were to remember God’s ‘everyday’ provision in the wilderness. When David fled from Absalom, we are treated to a list of ‘everyday’ items which Barzillai the Gileadite provided for his needs (II Kings 17:27-29). Christ’s miracles included at least four pertaining to ‘everyday’ food supplies, the two involving the seemingly routine catching of fish, and the two involving feeding the thousands, who all but one, forgot the mundane matter of taking along something to eat – in performing those miracles by the Holy Spirit, He made a point of acknowledging the Father’s provision of the ‘everyday’ staple of bread and fish. Paul makes mention of direction and provision during his missionary journeys – those, like Epaphroditus, who ministered to him were ministering to those ‘everyday’ needs like food and clothing. The life of a missionary often means the ‘everyday’ becomes a matter of faith. I have prayed for a place to use the toilet before – when you are in a West African country, where sanitation is poor and running water almost non-existent, such an ‘everyday’ detail becomes quite significant.

    I would challenge the idea that such things are really merely ‘everyday’. We breathe on average 16 times a minute, which means 960 times an hour, 23,040 times a day, 161,280 times a week, and 8,409,600 times a year. Nothing, except heart beats (60-100 per minute), could be more ‘everyday’ – or more necessary to life. As an asthmatic, I have prayed for the ability to breathe. Food and clothing are only a little way further down the list of things that are daily necessary to life. When Paul said in Philippian 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing”, he was echoing the words of Christ to “take no thought” for food or clothing, for the God who sees the sparrow fall, and numbers the hairs of our head (now that’s as mundane as it gets) will provide those everyday details. Paul’s command in Philippians and Christ’s demonstration of the request for ‘daily bread’ in his pattern prayer, show that the way not to be anxious and ‘take thought’ is to bring those ‘everyday’ concerns to God. When a way is made for those requests to be fulfilled, and I have received provision in more ways than I can count, it is part of faith to conclude that it was the Lord who directed myself and also others (some have given food, some money) by the Holy Spirit, just as He did with Elijah through the ravens and the Gentile widow.

    On the topic of not being anxious, I have known my mother to pray for a traffic opening to turn left safely. Not because she was waiting for some supernatural intervention before she turned the wheel, but because driving makes her extremely anxious. It might seem silly to others, but to her, the fear can be barely manageable. Such anxiety in situations that seem mundane runs in her family. None of the women in her family like shopping. I am often conscious, as I face a bewildering array of choices, of a rising sense of panic, rendering me less and less capable of making decisions about what to get. So I bring my fear to the Lord and ask Him to guide me. It works – the secular world would call it a coping mechanism, but in faith, I believe the Lord is helping me. Shopping is also a great physical challenge, so it seems reasonable to ask for strength. I need to go shopping for groceries today. I don’t have a husband to carry heavy things nor do I have a car to transport those things, and I have to budget my finances. Such mundane details can overwhelm me, so that I feel the need to have Someone to depend on. I know I’m not distracting the Lord from more important matters. He created and maintains atoms, molecules, and cells; He has seen to it that that the sun rises and sets regularly – except at the request of Joshua and Hezekiah – since the fourth day of Creation, and routinely sends rain on the just and unjust – except at the request of Elijah. He is an expert at the small, everyday, things.

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  34. I am positive that God has an interest in every aspect of our lives. He loves us, after all. And He loves us perfectly. He may want us to choose what to wear, and will laugh with pleasure at our choices, or He may want a particular something for that occasion as He has somebody we are to meet with and that something will draw their attention in just the right way (like a guy handing out tracts). But I am certain He likes us to share our days with Him. And I am certain His Spirit guides us all along into a more perfect reflection of Himself. I was just saying I don’t think I have heard Him speak out loud to me.

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  35. I think we’ve all had those experience, the Holy Spirit indwells us after all. I still think there are not big differences in the way we all understand it here, but I’ll acknowledge I haven’t read every jot and tittle of every post on it here, either. 🙂

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  36. Michelle. I don’t understand your question
    Are we supposed to have a vision in our marriage?
    We went over 60 years dealing with it day by day.
    Nothing you could calla “vision”.

    Re’s Phos’ comment. I believe it is right to pray about ANYTHING you are anxious about.
    I think I told you before, I have an angel who looks out for me.
    He’s done a great job so far.

    Paul says somewhere, “Don’t you know we shall judge angels?”
    I hope to put in a good word for mine.

    We e

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  39. Phos, I think you and Cheryl are talking about apples and oranges.

    Your references and examples show that God provides for and cares about our everyday needs, and that we should ask him for what we need (including guidance) and trust that he does direct our paths. I don’t think anyone here disagrees with any of that.

    I think Cheryl’s point is that we should not expect to consciously receive specific direction in everyday decisions, or even in big ones. That’s not the same as your examples.

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  41. Kevin, as I (and DJ) said at the beginning of this discussion, the Holy Spirit’s direction, which must be always specific when one thinks about it, is best seen in retrospect. I have had the experience that Kizzie speaks about, that of a strong impression to do something. In retrospect, I can see those strong impressions were most likely the leading of the Holy Spirit – nothing about them contradicted Scripture, and something worthwhile did come of acting on them. That kind of direction, however, is not what I’m expecting when I pray for guidance.

    I do expect that God will lay, to use an expression, a powder train of circumstances to what ever He intends me to do. Sometimes, I become aware of the powder train as it burns just in advance of where I am at, especially when circumstances pile on circumstances, though I can’t see to the end of it. Circumstances which encouraged me to return to school despite the fact my asthma hadn’t stabilized and I was in physical pain included not only my good marks from the summer; but also financial provisions, including an unexpected gift; the plans of my sister and brother-in-law to move in with my parents soon (I’m still welcome, but it will give them space to settle in without another adult to adjust to); a future academic opportunity that would only come from returning this year; and a still deeper feeling of peace about returning, despite my deep fears about my health and ability. Nothing spectacular (well, except the aforementioned gift), certainly nothing mystic, but a powder train nonetheless. It is still burning, as I’m finding strength for each day. We are told that God works everything for His good purpose and also that He knows the end from the beginning, so, to continue the metaphor, He has already laid those powder trains and they always burn along the lines He planned. There is a passage in Isaiah 30:21: “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”. Or, as Abraham’s servant said, “I being in the way, the Lord led me…” (Genesis 24:27)

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  42. But but but…..when I asked the Lord for an answer concerning quitting my job….I was distraught over what had transpired…very troubled feeling as though I needed guidance from the Lord…concerning what to do. I prayed earnestly….my dearest friends were praying with me. Two mornings later I awoke feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted from me….knowing what I was to do. Was my job an insignificant matter to the Lord? I don’t believe so….

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  43. There are so many visceral reactions to colors when I talk to people about houses.

    One friend screws up her face at the idea of “yellow” or “cream,” inside or out. (She’s a monochrome, dark-dark-gray with bright white trim only fan when it comes to houses)

    Someone else shudders at the mere suggestion of blue. She despises it for some reason. She likes soft yellows and oranges.

    So I’m learning that there are some people from whom I simply can’t get a dispassionate or neutral reaction if it involves their particular hated hues.

    🙂

    Guess I never realized what a minefield it was, choosing house colors.

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  44. I mean, who “hates” blue?

    (She almost didn’t buy her car because it had too much blue in the gray color and she was afraid it would look … BLUE — Noooooo!) 🙂

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  47. Paint it orange, or purple, or some really outlandish colour. Then everyone will be horrified, until they cease to notice it. The houses along the street I live in are all tall narrow century townhouses. Most of them have the red brown brick typical of the era in which they were built, but one has been painted pink, a light pink. Beyond the first amused notice, I barely remember walking by it most days. A couple houses where I grew up had baby blue siding, which thinking about it, does not flatter any house, but they were just part of the neighbourhood.

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  48. If someone wants to be fb friends, he or she needs to make sure we know who is making the request. I get many from people I am uncertain about.

    In the two specific instances when I ‘heard’ God speak, I had not asked for anything at that precise moment. I was praying for the situations. What I heard was startling and unexpected. It was also something that comforted me and gave me patience to wait and trust the Lord. God says He comforts us, so that we can comfort others. That has certainly been true in these instances.

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  50. DJ, I don’t “hate” blue, but unless you count orange, blue is my least-favorite color. (God makes orange spectacular, as in monarch butterflies and several different flowers. But it’s a hideous color for clothing or just about anything else manmade, in my opinion.) Blue is my least-favorite simply because it’s too common. On any given day, you can look around a room and see that most people are wearing some blue somewhere. So it’s a color I have always avoided, though it is my husband’s favorite color and my eyes are blue, so now I sometimes buy clothes in my favorite color (green) and sometimes in my husband’s, and of course sometimes in other colors too.

    But I’m probably the only person on this blog who once owned four or five pairs of green pants at the same time. (I was rather amazed myself when they all ended up in the laundry on the same day and I realized it! But I had a pair of green jeans, a pair of green sweatpants, a pair of green Land’s End dress slacks, and at least one other pair.) Now I cannot buy green pants, or blue pants, to save my life, mostly just khaki. Pants are the one piece of clothing I actually do want in blue; since I don’t wear blue jeans, and blue does go with just about everything, blue “on the bottom” gives flexible mix-and-match clothing choices but is a bit more interesting than khaki. But blue slacks are virtually impossible to buy.

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  51. Oh, and growing up we had a block house that was some form of beige (I think) when we moved in, and then pink, and then lavender. Lavender was actually “in” as a house color when we painted it that–not “in,” exactly, but we did see quite a few other houses that color through the early and mid seventies. By the early eighties, when we finally painted it a different color because we were looking to sell, we might have been the only one left in town.

    Neighbors always referred to it as “the purple house.” Mom hated that, always saying, “It’s not purple, it’s lavender.” But it might as well have been purple. It was conspicuous.

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  53. We had a friend who had a large deep purple home. No one mistook that house.

    I wear mostly blue. I always have navy blue slacks and it is easy to mix and match with other shades or designs in blue. I also have a lot of navy shoes. I used to be able to get blue shoe polish, but no more. I never mind being common, though.

    I would not like a blue exterior for my house, however. I do have a navy blue bedroom. The half bath connected to it has a rag painted wall in three blue shades. The navy was suggested by Designer Girl for a couple of years before I decided to try it. I have loved it ever since.

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  54. House color really depends on the style of house. There’s an adorable Craftsman home I walk by with the dogs that is all white with black trim. Sharp. But I don’t think that works on my house, which is more of a Spanish-Mission (stucco) exterior with a notched flat roof.

    When I bought it, the house was painted blue with white trim, a very popular look in the 1990s and early 2000s. The blue has faded now, though my one neighbor who’s lived there since the 1970s(?) said she liked it “blue” more than any of its prior colors (which seem to have been, in order, white, then pink, and then a buttery warm beige before it was painted blue).

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  55. For those who didn’t see the butterfly photos but wanted to, here is a new link. This one also corrects all the typos I made at 1:00 this morning or whenever I finished the book, and it adds a collage of all the caterpillar life stages to the back cover. Here is the link: If you didn’t get a chance to look at the butterfly photos, here is a new link: https://www.picaboo.com/?share=66909a918285a6bd5c7c7e6e236711d4&version=825836&siteID=ViaPreview&utm_source=trg&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=shareproj

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  57. I saw the first link but didn’t get a chance to comment. The butterfly book is stunning in its detail. Are you going to publish and sell? You’ve really learned a lot about the butterflies—it’s incredible to me that you can tell the male from the female! Is that from coloring?

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  58. Thanks, Debra. This book can’t really be sold (photo books are quite expensive, and I didn’t create this one to be sold but just to show the photos), but I am working on another book about butterflies that will hopefully find a publisher at some point–and I really wanted good chrysalis photos for it. And at some point I’ll probably go back to this book and take out a lot of the detailed text and print a copy for myself.

    With a monarch adult, if its wings are open, look on the hindwing. If each has a black dot, then it’s a male. (I point that out on the male near the back of the book.) I also read about how to tell a male from a female chrysalis, and it was quite a small detail, but it has to do with whether or not there was a bit of an indentation at the top, the back. Based on that, I determined mine to be female. I wanted to double-check with her wings, but I never saw the inside of her wings. I was satisfied enough in my sexing of the chrysalis to say it was a female, though. But I couldn’t get the camera into the right spot to photograph that part of the chrysalis; it had several stems and leaves around it, so i could see it but not photograph the right angle.

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  60. It’s usually Victorian houses that I have seen with the pink or lavender—Painted Ladies. They can be quite lovely. I’ve had houses that are blue, yellow, stained wood, white, brick, and now a 1957 cream & red brick ranch. I like the house, but I’m not crazy about the red brick and have considered painting it at some point. That’s a big deal, so I’m not in a hurry.

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  61. While paint is relatively ‘easy’ to change, painting a house isn’t cheap and it’s something I certainly don’t want to repeat any time soon once it’s done.

    Houses on either side of me are a 1920s Crftsman in dove gray with white trim and a 1925 Spanish bungalow that’s a painted a deep terra-cotta with white trim.

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  62. Nice! I’m looking forward to seeing what colors you and your personal decorator (Kim) settle on. Your neighborhood sounds like a pleasure to walk in….well, except for the bobcats and coyotes. :–)

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  63. So here I am on a Friday morning with extra time before going to work. I thought I’d post the Friday funnies so Chas would have something to enjoy with his coffee (does he drink coffee?) But the Friday thread is not up yet. Oh, well. AJ is enjoying his vacation, I guess.

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