I love the traditionally Southern gardenia, and I have a bush full of sweet smelling blooms.

A female writing spider seems to like it also, and today I noticed that she had captured a large bee in her stunning, white web.

Applying what I learned

How inpatient psychiatry has changed! I remember having an attractive woman patient many years ago whose biggest problem was trying to decide which rich man she was going to marry. That was back when the hospitals had swimming pools and tennis courts and when the staff took the patients horseback riding and to the movies. Now it is quite different. The nice amenities are long gone and the patients have become more seriously ill. In fact, several of the folks I have recently talked with have spent much of their adulthood in prison for serious crimes. Thank goodness I had a little preparation in understanding them due to a research paper I wrote for an ethics class when I went back to school at fifty-something. But still... This week as I was sitting alone in a small room with a person who, without giving too much info, had more than a checkered past, I thought about what I had learned then, and I was more empathetic. And empathy can translate into trust, and trust can translate into safety - my own. Sometimes what we learn in school is useful.

Saturday Market

I love a Farmer's Market. This morning we visited two of them in Greenville.
My watercolor class starts back on Tuesday. Our subjects will be from photos taken at Farmer's Markets, and I think I may use this one that the folks at one booth kindly let me take.

As we remember, a prayer for our country

Great King of nations, hear our prayer,
While at Thy feet we fall,
And humbly with united cry
To Thee for mercy call.

The guilt is ours, but grace is Thine,
O turn us not away;
But hear us from Thy lofty throne,
And help us when we pray.

Our fathers’ sins were manifold,
And ours no less we own,
Yet wondrously from age to age
Thy goodness has been shown.

With pitying eye behold our need,
As thus we lift our prayer;
Correct us with Thy judgments, Lord,
Then let Thy mercy spare.

John Gurney 1838

Less than two months til Jerusalem

Two months from today, if all goes according to plan, I will be at the Sea of Galilee and visiting Old Capernaum. A day later, this group of thirty some Episcopalians and I, the lone Presbyterian, will head for four nights in Jerusalem. When I was first asked if I would like to go to Israel, I said no thanks, but then reconsidered. What was I thinking? I am now so looking forward to it. People ask if it is safe over there. Who knows? I figure the tour company will make that decision. My thoughts are that many devout people pray for Jerusalem, and my Jewish friend said people who go there feel safe and protected. I believe it will be a wonderful experience.

Psalm 122: 6 - 9

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
7 May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”
8 For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.

A Goldilocks Kind of Day

Like the porridge and the bed Goldilocks found in the home of the three bears, the weather on this day has been just right. Not too hot, not too cold. Not too dry, not too wet. Not too still, not too windy. Not too sunny, not too overcast. I suppose temperate would be a good adjective, without drama. It's the first between seasons day we have had so far, and I have loved letting nature's air into the house. The first of many like it before winter comes. Maybe it suggests the slowing down of the year. It's been calming, but too much moderation can be very dull.