Be Still and Know...Then and Now

One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is to curl up on my sofa with the fire going with a nice hot cup of something and listen to some Christmas music and enjoy a moment of peace and holiday tranquility. No hustle, no bustle, no shopping, no wrapping, no cookie baking, no running around for this or that…. I wanted to thank all of you for stopping by this past year and also to wish each and every one of you the most wonderful and blessed Christmas holiday. Blessings to all y’all! Luke 2 1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was ex...

  Confession time folks. I am not much of a seafood fan. However my husbands is. This from time to time causes us some conflict upon deciding where to go for dinner. Now don't get me wrong I don't’ totally hate seafood, but it has just never been one of my favorites. The Italians have a tradition of having a huge seafood feast on Christmas Eve called the Feast of the 7 Fishes , well since we are not Italian, the closest we could come was the Feast of the 4 Fishes. My husband indulged his yearly craving for an all out seafood feast by making a stop at the local Korean market that is not to far from our house. They have every know vegetable ever grown upon the earth as well as a very clean, very fresh, very affordable selection of seafood. Some of it is actually still swimming around in very large tanks of water. The have live eel’s and lots of other live things that I will spare you the description of. At least you know they are fresh. Aside from seafood you can also...

Just down these steps and a short walk from the main house is the Conservatory.   There were no restrictions on picture taking in there so having been restrained for the better portion of the day I had an absolutely wonderful time snapping away to my hearts content. It was just amazing inside. If you are a regular visitor here at my blog you will know how exacted I get over God’s creation, and boy was He showing of in big way inside the walls of that conservatory. Here is my tropical adventure in the middle of a winter wonderland! Y’all take my advice if you make a visit to Biltmore make sure you take the short walk down those steps and explore the Conservatory. To sum up our visit to Biltmore, it really made me think. On the way home my husband and I discussed how different life must have been, and the reality that we have no concept what it must have been like growing up with that sort of privilege. Cornelia Vanderbilt, the only child of George and Ed...

  Without boring you to tears here is a very brief background on the Vanderbilt's and Biltmore Estate. George Vanderbilt III (he was not married when he began building the house, I would call this the ultimate bachelor's pad wouldn't you) opened Biltmore on Christmas Eve in 1895. It still maintains the title of the largest private residence in the United States. It took six years to build. The total floor space of the estate is 4 acres, y’all want to vacuum that???? The mansion has a total of 250 rooms, 43 bathrooms, 33 family an guest rooms, 65 fireplaces, three kitchens, and indoor swimming pool as well as the very first bowling alley built inside a private residence. In 1650 Jan Aertsen van der Bilt emigrated to the United States. The family did not become the American industrial icon’s until Cornelius Vanderbilt began the family empire, legend has it that he borrowed $100.00 for his mother and then launched a ferry service across New York Bay which he eventua...

There were so many beautiful places in Golden Gate Park . I probably took over 100 images in the park alone. I will spare you the entire slide show, but here are a few of the more memorable or amazing sights we experienced in the park. It’s long and it stretches all the way to the ocean. There is a museum, a botanical garden, a conservatory of flowers, a dahlia garden, a rose garden, a carousal, a Japanese Tea Garden, free concerts, a playground, ball fields, ballroom dancing and much, much more.   We took a stroll around the Dahlia Dell. It was just beautiful.  The Dahlia’s were in bloom and they were showing off in a BIG way! Dahlias remind me of my grandmother.           The Shakespeare Garden There were chairs set up. I assumed for a wedding. How beautiful would it be to get married in this picturesque setting. I think all total we saw four couples at various times during our vacation in the midst of there wedding. We...

We spent about an hour walking around Chinatown. That was more than enough… Lots of things floating in jars, lots of dried things in baskets, lots of hanging things tied in bunches of string, lots of wonderful smelling food, lots of cheap souvenirs, watches, wallets, handbags, flip flops and jewelry. Origami folded money. My name in Chinese, and no I wasn’t going to pay $5.99 for it so I cheated and just took a picture of it instead. My Bad!   Lot’s of things in here that I am sure have some unique purpose! Then there were these. After a brief internet search I found this out about them. They are called The Beckoning Cat . Who knew! Well that was Chinatown in a nutshell, but in Chinatown they dried the nutshell’s and then grind it up and serve it as a medicinal tea which promotes long life and increased vitality! 再见 zài jiàn - good bye in Chinese! Robin