An Oak of Righteousness

I am

a

planting of the Lord.

I am

an

oak of righteousness

for

the display

of

His Splendor.

This the true meaning

of

my

life.

Be blessed in the name of Jesus who is the Splendor revealed in you.

Isaiah 61:3

from, Gwen

Hellebores

 It is near the end of April and the Hellebores are in full stride.

 About 15 years ago I planted 3 or 4 teeny, tiny, baby hellebores in a woodland garden.

I now have a woodland garden full of hellebores! These easy to grow beauties will happily reseed were ever you let them. My hellebores are the Royal Heritage Strain. They are a great perennial for dry shade.

 I love the freckled ones.

Though this double is a winsome beauty.

 The combinations are so varied and each one has a charm of it's own.

 Hellebores make nice cut flowers. They do however, have a propensity to grow with their faces down.

 This kind of vase makes for an enchanting hellebore arrangement.

 Cut a handful of flowers.

 Stick them in the vase.

 Enjoy!

South winds jostle them,

Bumblebees come,

Hover, hesitate,

Drink, and are gone.

Butterflies pause

On their passage Cashmere:

I softly plucking,

Present them here!

Emily Dickinson

Garden of Gethsemane

Welcome to The Garden of Gethsemane

A song for you as you walk these ancient paths........Yesternite

I visited this garden in 2008 when I was on a trip to Jerusalem.

It is a garden like no other.

It has got to be the oldest garden I have ever been in; it is at least 2000 years old.

Gethsemane means 'the place of crushing or pressing". 

In this grove of gnarly old olive trees,  they used to press the oil from the olives.

As the olives were crushed the oil flowed.

Here, Christ wept and sweated great drops of blood before he was crucified.

The Bible tells us that Christ was perfected by the things he suffered.

May you have a place of pressing and crushing in your life.

May it become a place of beauty to you.

May the oil of the Holy Spirit flow.

May you be perfected by the things you suffer. May you even count

your trials and tribulations ALL joy!

Grace and Peace

Organizing the Garden Shed

 "The year's at the spring and the day's at the morn" but the spring wind blows chilly. The ground is still frozen solid and there are aging piles of lingering snow in the yard. There is not much I can do right now except prune the fruit trees or clean out the tool shed.

        Sorry- the only picture I can find of my shed was taken in May not March. I opted organize my garden shed which was in a shambles of unorganization. I do not know how this  happens as I really love everything in its place.

Somehow things just do not stay in their place like they aught!

 So everything comes out all in a jumble and goes back in nice and orderly.

I found these large hooks at Lowes and they worked very well for hanging anything with a handle, like spades and forks.

      I found a great idea for storing long handled tools at Ashbeedesign that I am going to make.

...organizing your garden shed, one of the simple pleasures of gardening. May you enjoy this day that the Lord has made and may you rejoice and be glad in it!
                                                                     In His Mighty Hand! Gwen

How to replace wheels on rubbermaid cart

My husband bought me this cart over 15 years ago! It has served me well. Any one who has one of these Rubbermaid Utility Carts will tell you that the main complaint with this cart it that the plastic wheel spokes on the tires will break and finding a replacement tire is difficult.

....and that is what happened to me.....

Thanks to Google I found a tire that worked. It costs $32.99

Marathon Industries Tire

The description of this tire on Amazon does not tell you but it comes with 3/4 in bearings and 5/8 in bearings. You will need the 5/8 inch ones.

IMPORTANT: This Marathon Industries tire in flat free and is slightly smaller that the original tire. If you are a slave to perfectionism you will have to replace both tires so they match. I know about these things as I will explain later.

The hardest part of this job turned out to be getting the broken tire off the axle. The nut holding the tire on was very rusted and when I tried to loosen the nut the whole axle would just turn. I actually had to have someone help me. They held the axle from turning and then I was able to loosen the nut.

After that the next challenge was getting the wheel off the axle.

I sprayed the whole thing down very well with rem oil. You could use whatever lubricant you have. Next turn the wheel a few times to work the oil down into the bearing.

As my tire was already broken I did not have to worry about breaking it, so at this point I took a hammer to the underside of it and convinced it to come off.

After that it was very easy to put everything back on in the order it came off, using the 5/8 inch bearing that came with the new tire.

........now about those wheels not matching. I used to be a slave to perfectionism. I could not love anything that I thought was not perfect. By the great love and mercy of God I have been set free. I particularly love my misfit wheel barrow because it reminds me of how 

God Loves Me.

 I have failed. 

I have made mistakes in my life.

I have been broken.

I have been a misfit.

I am not perfect.

I accept Gods love through Christ Jesus, for me, as a failed, broken, ugly, imperfect, misfit. 

And behold.......

all things are new.

I am a new creature.

May you know this God who makes beautiful things out of the mess of our lives.

May you know The Love that frees us from slavery.

 If you have read this post.

I have prayed for you.

Love, Gwen

Replace Wheels on Rubbermaid Cart

   

My husband bought me this cart over 15 years ago! It has served me well. Any one who has one of these Rubbermaid Utility Carts will tell you that the main complaint with this cart it that the plastic wheel spokes on the tires will break and finding a replacement tire is difficult.

....and that is what happened to me.....

Thanks to Google I found a tire that worked. It costs $32.99

Marathon Industries Tire

The description of this tire on Amazon does not tell you but it comes with 3/4 in bearings and 5/8 in bearings. You will need the 5/8 inch ones.

IMPORTANT: This Marathon Industries tire in flat free and is slightly smaller that the original tire. If you are a slave to perfectionism you will have to replace both tires so they match. I know about these things as I will explain later.

The hardest part of this job turned out to be getting the broken tire off the axle. The nut holding the tire on was very rusted and when I tried to loosen the nut the whole axle would just turn. I actually had to have someone help me. They held the axle from turning and then I was able to loosen the nut.

After that the next challenge was getting the wheel off the axle.

I sprayed the whole thing down very well with rem oil. You could use whatever lubricant you have. Next turn the wheel a few times to work the oil down into the bearing.

As my tire was already broken I did not have to worry about breaking it, so at this point I took a hammer to the underside of it and convinced it to come off.

After that it was very easy to put everything back on in the order it came off, using the 5/8 inch bearing that came with the new tire. I did have to use the hammer to get the new tire to pop into the 5/8 in bearing. To do this I laid a board over the new tire to protect it before gingerly tapping new tire down onto the bearing.

........now about those wheels not matching. I used to be a slave to perfectionism. I could not love anything that I thought was not perfect. By the great love and mercy of God I have been set free. I particularly love my misfit wheel barrow because it reminds me of how 

God Loves Me.

 I have failed. 

I have made mistakes in my life.

I have been broken.

I have been a misfit.

I am not perfect.

I accept Gods love through Christ Jesus, for me, as a failed, broken, ugly, imperfect, misfit. 

And behold.......

all things are new.

I am a new creature.

May you know this God who makes beautiful things out of the mess of our lives.

May you know The Love that frees us from slavery.

 If you have read this post.

I have prayed for you.

Love, Gwen