A Very Special Visitor

Something very special adorns a closet door in the apartment living room.

It's a wallhanging with a dark blue background surrounding a startlingly beautiful angel.

She was purchased, in secret, at a church fall harvest festival by my daughter.

She has dark blonde curly hair that's very long.

Her dress is light blue and white with sparkling red and gold trim at the bottom and around the waist.

Her necklace looks like a string of stars. 

Above her head is an extravagant, golden halo.

Angel's wings are quite magnificent. They are huge and envelop each side of her pretty head and go three quarters of the way down her dress.

She's floating above three little houses that have lots of windows and a church that has a steeple and cross at its top.

There are also five snowy evergreen trees.

Behind the wallhanging, there is a small, black box. When its switch is moved, hundreds of tiny, sparkling lights fill the angel, the night skies, and all those windows in the small houses located on the snowy lawn.  

As my daughter and I walked back to the car on the day of the church's fall harvest festival, she said I would love the very best treasure she found.

She handed me the folded angel wallhanging! It was a gift for me.

"And it's fiber optic," she added.

The angel is beyond gorgeous, purchased with money and lots of love.

The angel, and my daughter, are both keepers!

Veterans Day

Many thanks goes to the hundreds upon hundreds of veterans who have fought and are still fighting for democracy.

We owe them all a debt that can never be paid.

Democracy is not guaranteed to continue anywhere or at any time.

We have to fight to keep it and that's what veterans have done. 

Veterans who have served in all of the military branches are brave souls.

They had to self-sacrifice and fight for freedom in the United States and secure it.

Many soldiers have come home wounded, including my own late father, Joe, who is shown in the photo at the top of this post.

He fought in the U.S. Army Infantry overseas during World War 11 and was shot. Thankfully, he recovered and lived.

He never liked to talk about the war and rarely did.  It must have been way too painful for him, for he was a deeply sensitive man with a tender heart.  (God bless you, Daddy.)

Some, who never came home from wars on foreign soil, gave the ultimate sacrifice---their lives.

So on this Veterans Day, please take a few minutes of your life to remember those who paid the price (and are still paying) for your precious and treasured freedom!

Salad to the Rescue

Sometimes the thought of cooking something to eat for supper is totally unappealing.

These are obviously the nights there was no advanced planning.

One solution is to stick with a nice salad.

There are even salad kits that mave many ingredients plus dressing.

One the other night had sesame dressoing and all kinds of crunchy additions.

With an addition of canned chickpeas, it was tasty and quite healthy. 

It fit the bill of not wanting to cook!

DO YOU PLAN MEALS IN ADVANCE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WEEK?

A Precious Remembrance

The colorful tin Blessed Mother of Guadalupe shown in this post brings back memories of another time and place.

A former dear friend gifted her to me many years ago.

So much time has passed since we were friends. Sadly, I lost contact of that dear soul of a friend when she moved to Mexico and our family moved back to the east from the southwest.

Now I live thousands of miles away but never lost track of the special Blessed Mother of Guadalupe.

She traveled home with us from the southwest. 

I see her daily on the wall above the kitchen sink!

It makes me think of my friend, Helen, and hold her close to my heart. 

HAVE YOU LOST SOME FRIENDS ALONG LIFE'S PATH?

Loving Books Forever

Used book sales bring as much happiness to some hearts as thrift store treasure-hunting does.

What could possibly be better than buying wonderful books for a dollar or less?

Friends of a library that is not too far from the apartment recently had a fabulous book sale.

They hold the sales three times a year, in spring, summer, and fall.

Hundreds of people always show up and a lot of money is raised for the library.  

Shown in this blog post are books snapped up on my end.

The Chicken Soup for the Soul books will be read to a dear, elderly aunt, one night each week for a couple of hours via telephone.

Now we have three new ones to tackle, including one perfect for the upcoming Christmas season.

DO YOU ENJOY GOING TO LIBRARY BOOK SALES WHERE YOU LIVE? WHAT KIND OF BOOKS DO YOU LOVE BEST?