14 07, 2014

Wasting time or recharging?

By judythemorgan|2014-07-14T06:00:51-05:00July 14th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|4 Comments

Edie Melson posted this image from her recent trip to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. The scene and the quote made me think about how much time I sit on my porch enjoying the quiet and nature all around.

It’s so peaceful listening to the hummingbirds dive-bombing the feeders and the birds chirping at the birdfeeder filled with birdseed.

I love waving to the neighbors and summer folk walking on the street and meeting them at the fence to chat.

It’s like the Shakespeare quote says, “I like this place and willingly waste my time in it.”

I don’t like to consider that I’m wasting time and I feel guilty when I willingly do nothing.

I find myself thinking of so much I should be doing instead of idling way time (…like writing) and usually get up and go to work.

What about you? Do you enjoy willingly wasting time in a favorite space or place?

Besides my front porch, there are other places where I love to kick back and relax. My favorite would be wandering around in Ireland.

I don’t even feel guilty when I do. It’s as quaint and quiet in the Irish countryside as it is on my front porch nestled in the Rio Grande forest.

After years and years of the hustle and bustle of a major urban area, I love the slower paced lifestyle offered in our little part of Colorado and Ireland. It’s what keeps us here and draws us repeatedly to Ireland.

I’m working to retrain my Type A self to bury the guilt and use the down time to recharge my creative juices.

Not an easy task, but I am improving.

What places do you love that make you want to waste time? Do you feel guilty or do you relish the time and draw rest and strength from the quiet places?

11 07, 2014

Poor Frizz – Miller Farm Friday

By judythemorgan|2014-07-11T06:00:08-05:00July 11th, 2014|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A Guest Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

We have had an unusual, but much appreciated, amount of rain this summer on Miller Farm. It comes in spurts – rain for 5 minutes and then sunshine for an hour. I think they call them “scattered showers.”

Anyway, this makes the chicken yard a bit of a mess. The chicken circles fill with water creating ponds.

When I went out to check on the chickens I saw an unfamiliar chicken in the bantam yard:

At first glance, it looked like the black bantam, but I had already spotted her in the yard.
Upon closer inspection, I realized it was Frizz. She had gotten caught in one of the “scattered showers” and all her feathers were plastered to her body. It was a very sad sight. Poor Frizz!

Fortunately, she dried off and her feathers stuck back out.

Hopefully, she’s learned to come in out of the rain.

9 07, 2014

The Get-along-shirt

By judythemorgan|2021-06-19T08:01:29-05:00July 9th, 2014|one word Wednesday|0 Comments

SOURCE: Piccsy.com

Little sister doesn’t look very happy, does she?

Can’t you just hear the brother thinking REALLY!

The concept of teaching children to get along by using the shirt has been around for a couple of years, but I’m just discovering the idea and wanted to share.

You can read more about the shirt method here in this Huffington Post article.

I think it’s a great way to teach kiddos that you have to get along in this world even when you don’t want to. It’s certainly an idea I could have used when my kiddos were small.

In fact, now that I think about it there are some folks I know today that I’d like to slip the shirt on — and they’re not small children.

Bet you can think of a few people you’d like to use the shirt on, too.

So what’s your take on the Get Along Shirt—good idea or not?

7 07, 2014

DEVIL eggs or ANGEL eggs?

By judythemorgan|2014-07-07T06:00:19-05:00July 7th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|1 Comment

We had deviled eggs for our cookout on July 4^th. I guessing a lot of holiday cookouts included the dish.

My recipe comes from my mother. She never wrote it out, but I watched her enough to know you mix the egg yolks, mustard, mayonnaise, and sweet relish until the stuffing will fill the hollowed out egg whites.

Sometimes I spice the mixture with dill relish instead of the sweet. Mother would be appalled so don’t tell.

I served our deviled eggs on the plate that belonged to my husband’s sister. It’s a way to include those who have gone before in our celebrations.

We always have my aunt’s baked beans, my mother-in-law’s chocolate cake (the one with the secret coffee ingredient that we never told my father-in-law about–he didn’t like coffee, you see.) and, of course, daddy’s homemade ice cream for family cookouts.

The tradition makes us feel like they’re all with us in spirit.

But I digress. Back to the deviled eggs…

As we sat around waiting on fireworks, we talked about how deviled eggs came to be called deviled.

Surrounded by techno-device-loaded friends and family, the race for the answer commenced. Fingers moved on iPhones, iPads, and Androids.

Soon Google came to the rescue, revealing interesting things about deviled eggs.

Did you know?

Deviled eggs have been around since the first century and ancient Rome.
The recipe was first compiled sometime between the fourth and fifth century A.D.
By the 15th century, stuffed eggs had made their way across much of Europe.
By 1800, deviling became a verb to describe the process of making food spicy.

You can read more fascinating details about the origin of deviled eggs here

Googling also turned up the answer to our quest:

The popular egg hors d’oeuvres are also called “mimosa eggs,” “stuffed eggs,” “dressed eggs” or “salad eggs”—especially when served at church functions.

Why, you wonder…in order to avoid an association with Satan, of course.

We also learned that, though most standard recipes include mayonnaise, the condiment didn’t appear in published deviled egg recipes until the 1940s.

That fact led to a discussion of recipes, which included pickles, dill, bacon, crabmeat, sriracha, kimchi, wasabi, and caviar among other ingredients. Some of which I am so glad were not in my family recipes!

So how do you make your deviled eggs?

More importantly, do you call them angel eggs?

4 07, 2014

It’s America’s Happy Birthday!

By judythemorgan|2014-07-04T06:00:43-05:00July 4th, 2014|Holidays|0 Comments

Though it’s not a typical patriotic commercial, this old Chevy commercial is a great depiction of what America means.

A federal holiday in the United States since 1941, July 4th is celebrated with festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues.

Did you know the first fireworks were approved on July 4, 1777?

Here in our little corner of the Rio Grande Forest, we’ll be sitting on the porch watching our local fireworks display. While it can’t compete with the Macy’s show—the largest fireworks display in the country—we’ll enjoy every second.

Watch this video of Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Show 2013 NYC – from Hoboken NJ and you’ll see why most fireworks displays don’t compare.

From all the View from the Front Porch guest bloggers and me

Happy Birthday U.S.A.

Be safe and enjoy your birthday celebrations today…

and as you celebrate, don’t forget to give thanks for the brave men and women in uniform who are serving all of us here and on foreign soil. Pray for their safety as they do their jobs.

2 07, 2014

Graphology – One Word Wednesday

By judythemorgan|2014-07-02T06:00:54-05:00July 2nd, 2014|one word Wednesday|0 Comments

Graphology is the study of handwriting as it reflects the writer’s character, personality, and abilities.

According to the chart below there are 5,000 personality traits distinguishable by the size of your letters, spacing between words, and shapes of letters can all signify different characteristics. A close look at your handwriting can also reveal whether you are lying or not.

Look at the infographic below taken from Pens.com and – for fun – do an analysis of a sample of your handwriting.

My analysis came very close to my character and personality. What about you?

I’m wondering if as we rely more and more on computers and texting and not our penmanship if the decrease in actual handwriting will change the statistics. What do you think?

30 06, 2014

BREAKING NEWS – New Book Release!

By judythemorgan|2014-06-30T06:00:44-05:00June 30th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

I’m interrupting our regular Make Me Think Monday blog for some personal news. I promise I’m not turning View from the Front Porch into a promo blog–it’s just I’m so excited about my new inspirational series debuting today.

When Love Blooms is now available for purchase for your Kindle. Nook and paperback versions will soon be ready too.

After a hit-and-run accident leaves her mother confined to a special care facility, Darcy Clark abandons her dream of an art career. Instead, she focuses on helping her father run the struggling family landscape business. She has no time or interest in romance.

When at-risk students from her old high school become her labor force on a city park project, their teacher Andy Fitzpatrick shows up to help and keep an eye on his kids. The chemistry between Darcy and Andy is instant.

Darcy dares to daydream about the possibility of a happily-ever-after until a dark secret connecting Andy to her mother’s accident comes to light. But will the secret kill their attraction before romance can blossom?

If you’ve been around church long then you know the term PK (preacher’s kid), When Love Blooms is the first in the Fitzpatrick family series of novellas about the siblings of Pastor Colin Fitzpatrick and his wife Patricia, who live in a small town in central Texas.

The idea for this new series came from my many years of service in church ministry.

The fact I also happen to be the wife of a PK and the mother of a PhD theologian/preacher means I’ve got lots of good stuff planned for the other seven siblings of the Fitzpatrick family.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading When Love Blooms as much as I loved writing about Andy and Darcy’s love story.

Click here to get your Kindle copy.

27 06, 2014

More Pet Therapy – Miller Farm Friday

By judythemorgan|2014-06-27T06:00:08-05:00June 27th, 2014|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A Guest Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Our oldest daughter lives in Abilene, Texas as a student at Hardin Simmons University. She spent her freshman year in the dorm then moved to a campus apartment. This summer she has moved to a house owned by the university—a converted duplex. It is very cute.

Her bedroom is one of the former living rooms so it’s large with lots of windows and its own entrance. She uses the extra kitchen as a “coffee bar.” I went to visit her last week and we had a great time.

I left on Wednesday morning. Thursday evening she called sounding distressed because Abilene was experiencing hail – very large hail.

The hail had come through the double paned windows into her room.

It was very frightening for her.

Fortunately her house has a carport so her car and her roommate’s car were unharmed. Beekeeper Brian aka her daddy told her to report the damage to the campus police and have them come secure the house.

When she called, she was number eight on the campus list. It turns out every north facing window on campus was broken as well as those in the nearby hospital.

Nearly a week later, the windows still haven’t been replaced. Ever resourceful, Catherine and her roommate used duct tape and plastic tablecloths to patch the holes temporarily.

Over the weekend, Catherine acquired a kitten which she named Sam.

Catherine is already the proud owner of a dog – Bella – but her college schedule is not conducive to caring for a dog – especially one as special as Bella.

So she and her roommate decided to get a cat for the summer. Sam came from Catherine’s boyfriend’s family and can be returned when school starts if keeping him becomes too difficult.

One of Catherine’s first comments was “Now I am responsible for a living thing.” Yes, yes you are, I thought.

I remember having that same reaction when we brought Catherine home from the hospital. It was a little overwhelming at first. Then instincts kick in and suddenly you become responsible.

Catherine must remember to feed the cat. And when the cat gets frightened, she must comfort it. This is offers a different level of pet therapy. Instead of being comforted or amused, a pet owner sometimes has to be brave and strong. Valuable traits and worth instilling in any human.

The next time Abilene has a storm, I can imagine Catherine putting on her brave face and cuddling Sam. They’ll both feel better when the storm passes.

26 06, 2014

Mother by Mother. Battle by Battle.

By judythemorgan|2014-06-26T06:00:31-05:00June 26th, 2014|Guest blogger|3 Comments

A Guest Blog by Jody Payne

June. Time to shop for a swimsuit. Sob! But that’s another blog for another day. Don’t ask. I can’t discuss it. Not until I lose about a thousand pounds.

Anyway, a friend and I decided to face the inevitable and support each other through this tragedy of middle-aged shopping. We were determined to find swimsuits that showed off our awesomeness while hiding the bulges that go with it. There must be one out there.

By the way, don’t put this off until school is out like we did. It’s intimidating shopping next to a hundred pound eighteen year old. We found ourselves at the swimsuit rack standing next to a mother shopping with her teenage daughter.

The daughter had a lot to learn about respect, but frankly, so did the mother. It was pitiful and the argument escalated until it ended with the mother saying between clenched teeth, “Just who do you think you are?”

I understood the woman’s frustration. Her daughter was determined to buy a bikini that would have made the average Brazilian blush while doing the samba on a nude beach.

My friend and I glanced at each other with a mutual cringe. I happen to know that my friend has heard this demeaning phrase more than once from her own mother.

My first response was to get out of there. Quick. I glanced around the room looking for the nearest exit.

However, my friend put her hand on the teenager’s arm and said, “I’ll tell you who you are. You are a beautiful young woman with a beautiful body. You have every right to be proud of it. Just remember this, it’s yours, and yours alone. It doesn’t belong to anyone else. Because you do have a beautiful body, other people are going to want to possess it. Control it. Don’t let them. Don’t give it away. Don’t let them use you. What is yours is yours and yours alone. Their greediness is their problem, not yours. Take a tip from Gypsy Rose Lee who said, ‘Always leave them wanting to see more.’ That woman was a famous burlesque queen who left the stage modestly clothed amid standing ovations from hungry eyed men.”

The girl was stunned into silence. So my friend used the reprieve to pull several more suitable suits (pun intended) from the rack and hand them to the girl. “Try these on. They’ll look great on you.”

I think the girl was too shocked to argue with these clueless adults so she took the suits and stomped into the dressing room. Probably just to escape us.

After a few minutes, she pulled back the curtain from the dressing room and she peeked out timidly. I realized I was holding my breath. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one because when she emerged there was an audible exhalation of relief from all three of us.

She looked gorgeous. The one-piece suit covered her very few flaws and made the most of her admirable assets. When she saw our reaction, she lost her hunched over posture. Her head came up and her shoulders back. A wide confident smile replaced her surly frown. Princess Di would have been envious.

The mother burst into tears. She turned to my friend and said, “You nailed it. Why couldn’t I have said that?”

My friend shrugged, “Because you’re a mother. Your job is impossible. Mine is a whole lot easier. I’m a stranger.”

The mother whispered, “How can I ever thank you?”

My friend grinned. “Just pass it on to the next stranger who needs help. We can win this war. Battle by battle. Stranger by stranger. Mother by mother.”

As we exited, I looked back to a beautiful young lady hugging her mother. Tears streamed down their faces. I hope to see either those two or someone like them when my own daughter tries on her first adult bathing suit.

And so, pass it on, okay? Battle by battle. Stranger by stranger. We can win this one. Mother by mother.

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