Just a Reminder...

Mug has a new "home".....paradingchicks.blogspot.com

See you there!

-Mug

Mug is moving...

All future posts can be found over at Parading Chicks.

Mug is still musing about this and that from hither and yon .....

but musings are ponderings....

or maybe "parading" thoughts?.....

so Musings from Hither and Yon is fusing with Parading Chicks...

Did that make sense?

Anyway, please look for me here! (or there?)

Have a lovely day!

-Mug

The Meeting of Cultures...

Our son rents a room in his house to a young man from China who is working as a TA at Auburn University while he works on his PhD in mathematics.  This young man went back to China this past summer....and while he was there he got married.  His young wife could not return with him because she had to wait for her visa to the USA to be approved.  Ye (pronounced as "yeah") finally arrived in December, so now she AND Fung, her husband live in my son's house.  Ye has had  much to become accustomed to......dogs that live in the house (namely my son's) in addition to a whole new language, a whole new culture...a whole new way of life.
Our son brought his girlfriend and this Chinese couple to our home this past Saturday for an afternoon of skeet shooting (None of the three guests had ever done such a thing before!) and a supper of my husband's barbecued babyback ribs (possibly a culture shock in itself to Ye). 

While we waited on the food to cook, Fung entertained us with his talented piano playing...

 

It was interesting to watch Ye watch us  to see how she should eat...everything about America is so totally different from what she is used to.  Their food is cut into bite-sized pieces so that they can pick it up with chopsticks...And here we had these ribs she had to actually "gnaw on" using hands and teeth:).

She's a "trooper", though, and after eating she entertained us with Chinese folk dancing.  Normally shewould have had a bongo drum (that's what I envisioned from what she said, anyway) player for the beat, but since we had no drums and din't know the beat anyway, she sang the beat aloud while she danced:

So graceful, so joyful...

Truly a delight to watch!

Ye seems to be embracing the American culture for all it's worth (my son says she studies English while Fung is at work/school, and when I emailed her these photos...she emailed me back and asked me to please correct her response...She is studying for the TOEFL - Test of English for a Foreign Language (or something like that) - test that she has to pass to be able to stay here, to get a drivers license, etc.)

Yes, I think Ye, Zjong will be fine!

Have a lovely day!

...and remember to check out the "Chicks":)

http://paradingchicks.blogspot.com/

-Mug

New Chick on the Blo-g...

There's a NEW chick on the blo-g! 

http://paradingchicks.blogspot.com/

Enjoy your visit!

-Mug

GO TO THE ANT...

The following exerpts are from

Streams in the Desert

by L. B. Cowman

(first copyrighted in 1925)

Tammerlane used to relate to his friends

an anecdote of his early life.

I once, he said, was forced to take shelter from my enemies in a ruined building, where I sat alone for many hours. Desiring to divert my mind from my hopeless situation, I fixed my eyes on an ant that was carrying a grain of corn larger than itself up a high wall. I numbered the efforts it made to accomplish this object. The grain fell 69 times to the ground; but the insect persevered,

and the seventieth time it reached the top.

This sight gave me courage at the moment, and I never forgot the lesson.

Rubenstein, the great musician, once said,

If I omit practice one day, I notice it;

if two days, my friends notice it;

if three days, the public notices it.

It is the old doctrine, Practice makes perfect.

We must continue believing, continue praying, continue doing His will. Suppose along any line of art, one should cease practicing -

we know what the result would be.

If we would only use the same quality of common sense in our religion that we use in everyday life....

Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.

-Luke 18:1

Have a lovely day,

-Mug

THE ANTENNAE......

is going...

going...

GONE!

Everything is as

it should be!

Have a lovely day!

-Mug

THESE GLOVES....

I gave these gloves to a friend of mine to wear at the BCS Championship Game.

------------------------

These gloves attended the

BCS Championship Game Monday night...

These gloves have accomplished their purpose in life...

These gloves made history:)...

These gloves cheered the Auburn Tigers on

to becoming the #1 college football team

in the nation...

These gloves are, indeed, special!

These gloves accomplished the goal for which they were made...

These gloves cheered the Auburn Tigers on

to the ultimate victory

for a college football team!

Have a War Eagle of a day!

-Mug

P.S. My husband and I, our son, our daughter, and our son-in-law

all graduated from Auburn University...it's a "family thing"...

I've Taken my House Back.....

All

the

Christmas decorations

are finally

gone...

Everything



is back

to....

NORMAL

Even, alas, the ..... antennae...

How long has it been up now?

What is REALLY sad is the fact that we don't even need it any more....

As of Dec. 22, we've been able to get local TV through our Directv dish...

Have a Lovely Day!

-Mug

CONTENTMENT...Good for the soul...

Sometimes one phone call can change a person's whole day...

I had planned on taking down Christmas decorations

(I know, I know, it's January 8) and getting my house back to normal....

Hubby had planned on figuring a job, watching football, and possibly working in the yard...

But you know what they say about "the best-laid plans of mice and men"...

(I'm not sure who "they" are)...

He did watch football...

And I did bake a cake I've been wanting to bake for a long time...

Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Coconut Icing...

from SCRATCH...

Recipe from the December issue of Family Circle magazine...

Hubby did cook chicken leg quarters on the Big Green Egg...

I even painted....

Contentment.....Good for the Soul...

Happy New Year!

-Mug

P.S. My Christmas decorations are still up...My mother would say we are waiting for the wise men to come....but I think Epiphany on the church calendar was January 6:)

I'm trying to allow the Lord to "order my days" without me interfering...:)

"Junk"...or..."Stuff"?

"Hey! That's not junk...it's stuff!" said hubby as I headed toward the "throw-away pile" with an armful of..."stuff"?

I turned and cocked an eyebrow at him

bracing my legs under the weight of the "stuff" in my arms.

We were in the process of organizing "the building" that sits at the edge of the pine trees that surround our yard.....the building was full of "stuff".

And we had more "stuff" we needed to move from an upstairs room in our house that had become a "graveyard" for everything our grown children either didn't have room for or didn't want.

But the stuff I thought was junk and the stuff my husband thought was junk weren't the same "stuff"...hmmmm.....and we kept running across "stuff" we had forgotten we had that we just couldn't relegate to the "junk" pile.....

It's very true what they say..."One man's trash is another man's treasure."

I am reminded of a Bible verse we learned as children:

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

-Matthew 6:21

Lesson: Be wise about what you treasure....Is it really good "stuff"...or just plain "junk"?

The way we live our lives says a lot about what we treasure.

-Mug

Hubby and Christmas.....

In addition to the antennae Christmas tree

(in which Hubby takes great joy, I might add).....

By the way, you readers do realize I had to wrap garlands around the metal tripod base

that holds up the antennae in order to give it the shape of a tree...right?

It's actually all gray metal rods...

and, you know, the antennae actually sort of resembles a star.....doesn't it?

Anyway, in addition to "his" tree, he has added a few glowing creatures to our yard

I guess this isn't Rudolph because he has no glowing red nose....

Looks as if he might be....hmmmm...Dancer!

Hubby says his reindeer will help light the way

for any guests who might have to "see" their way

from our house to their car:)

This angel heralds the arrival of Christ

as she stands at the point of an island of pine trees that our driveway encircles...

I wouldn't like all of this if we lived in town, I don't think,

but it is very festive at night way out here in the country...

still looks a tad tacky in the daytime, though.

But THIS is Hubby's pride and joy...



an 8 foot tall Frosty who stands across the pond
and waves at people riding by on the road:-)

Merry Christmas!



May your days be merry and filled with the love of Christ!

Love, Mug

The "House" That Jack Built.....

Phenix City Children's

Healthy Kids * Happy Moms

This is the "'house' that Jack built"...

my hubby Jack, that is

One of the first things you see when you enter the front doors of this lovely pediatrics office complex is the colorful receptionist area...

The color just keeps on keeping on in this happy place...
This is the "well" waiting room...

If you look up upon entering the foyer,

this is what you see looking down at you...

...And this is on the wall leading into the "well" waiting room...

Colorful creatures adorn the walls everywhere one looks...

makes me wish I had children to take to this doctor:)

Don't you just love this giraffe's eyes?!

...the colors on this parrot

and Sam the Toucan?

...And these monkeys just make me grin with delight!!!

They all adorn this wall that leads from the waiting room to the exam rooms....It's as if the children have their own little cheering squad or support group...

This is Mug...wishing she could be THIS doctor's patient:)

And this is the CAM Builders TEAM

that built the "'house' that Jack built" .

Hubby & son are front center and right...

Have a lovely day!

-Mug