WHAT’S BLOOMING AT THE VICARAGE 7-2-24

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I went today to pick up Joe and his family from Logan airport. They are just returning from vacation in South Carolina at Joe’s mother’s house.

It has been a week and a half of working on the gardens and while everything is growing well, I feel like I have hardly pushed back the walls of the forest at all.

I did manage to mow a few paths through the bushes and I widened this path to the brook. I was hoping for more, but I suppose that was not realistic.

As July 4 approaches, there are lots of things blooming at the Vicarage

The second wave of lilies is beginning, even as the first wave has almost gone by. I have enough varieties now to get me through most of the summer.

The second variety of hosta is also beginning to flower.

I also have two stands of Queen Anne’s Lace putting in an appearance.

I have some baby tomatoes on the vine

And the eggplant is flowering.

I have been picking black raspberries for the last three days.

And the forest is filled with sumac berries

I will be spending July 4 in the garden when I am not grilling. What are you doing this weekend?

A Weekend Of Prayer and Family

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

It is summer. Here in New England with summer being so short (lasting really only two. months) we try to cram in as much summer living as we can. This weekend the Parks and Rec department scheduled inn the annual Food Truck Festival. It was all hands on deck for this huge event, so my daughter Melanie had to work the event from start to finish. Her husband James also had to work, so I got to watch their girls, my granddaughters Daniella and Abigail.

We watched “Bluey” and”Monsters At Work” on the Disney Channel

Then we went to the playground for some much needed playtime in the sunshine. We even stopped at the Food Truck Festival, but the girls didn’t see anything they liked (except ice cream of course) and so we ordered a pizza from where their Dad works and hunkered down until Melanie and James were finished their work.

On Saturday all the kids went to the beach and I met mum with my Father-in-law for lunch at Kerrick’s Tavern in Orange MA. Doug is up visiting his brother and sister-in-law who are both ailing. But we found time for lunch and catching up.

After a ride through the countryside, I dropped Doug off at his brother’s house in Athol MA. Since it was time to pray I decided to take little prayer tour around the area. I stopped at Silverlake St. Cemetery where my family is buried. There I heard I felt the Spirit of God urging me to begin tying up loose ends.

At Tully Lake I contemplated how long my family has been connected to this area of the world. My great great great grandfather was a pastor in this region back in the mid 1850’s. My family has been actively spreading Christianity in this part of the world for a long long time.

At Doane’s Falls I was once again thinking about how much spiritual water has been over the bridge since my family came to this region. How many lives have we been able to touch over the centuries and how many more souls remain to be impacted before the age of the worlds changes.I

I know my great great great grandfather probably thought the same way I am thinking now, but I feel like time is short and the message must be brought to our generation.

HERE IS THE MESSAGE I PREACHED ON SUNDAY OF YOU CARE TO LISTEN.

https://fb.watch/t2Of-Ueiw2

SHARE YOUR WORLD FROM JUNE 24TH

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I am a little late to the table this week, but here is m response to PENSITIVITY’S SHARE YOUR WORLD CHALLENGE FROM JUNE 24TH.

My answers below and then you can click the link above to see how all the other contributors answered.

  1. What do you miss most, if anything, about your school days? I miss the innocence and hopefulness of those days. I feel like we have lost something over the decades since my school days. Maybe it is just me that has lost it, but life seemed a lot less complicated and scary back then.
  2. Did your school have its own sports field or swimming pool? We had neither of those things. I can remember watching football games from the borrowed field of the local private school and swim team practiced at what is now the local YMCA public swimming pool.
  3. What was your favourite day on the school week? I liked school on the whole. I found learning an exciting pass time. But I think my favorite day was Friday because it was pizza and peanut butter sandwich for school lunch.
  4.  Did you have one teacher for a variety of subjects, or separate teachers for each? In elementary school (primary?) we had one teacher for everything, but once we reached Jr. High and High school (secondary school for those of you across the pond?) we had different teachers for every subject.

GRATITUDE: I have had lots of time to play in my little forest garden this week.

Say It Loud

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Recently our family has had several confrontations with our own mortality. We have been reminded again and again that none of us are promised tomorrow. This is no time to be waiting on saying or doing the important truly important things…. Like saying “I love you.”