another cup of coffee

I’ve moved!

Maria Johnson — Fri, 29 May 2015 20:37:36 +0000

Hi everyone! I want to let you know that I’ve moved to a new blog and want to invite all of you to follow me over to

http://mariamjohnson.com

I’ve been blogging here for years after moving over from an old blogger site, and now it’s time for me to grow a little more and use some professional hosting that, among other things, gets rid of the annoying ads.

It coincides with my big news for the week! My book, My Badass Book of Saints: Courageous Women Who Showed Me How to Live is now available for pre-order.

I’ve enjoyed blogging here and sharing with all of you, and I assure you that I’ll continue to post random pictures of Otis being Otis, poems inspired by rain, book reviews (oh boy, I’m behind on that), silly lists, my amateur photography through the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge, and some new content, too.

But most of all, even if there isn’t a coffee cup on the banner, I assure you the site is fueled by caffeine.

sun-kissed strawberries

Maria Johnson — Sun, 10 May 2015 17:05:22 +0000

I’ve always thought I had a brown-thumb and rarely tried to grow anything because of it. Why? I’d kill it eventually. It turns out, I just needed the time, and the interest in making things happen. Wanting a pretty garden means sweating and weeding.

Isn’t that true of everything in life?

The forces of nature sometimes get in the way of this success. But all the recent rain, although dreary and often inconvenient, has produced all kinds of lush growth in the backyard. The strawberry patch is out of control. Out of control!

I love to sit on the porch with my husband after dinner and survey the crop. It’s amazing to see a big green berry one day, and the next day, watch it turn bright red, sweetened by the sun’s kisses.

Kisses can do that, doncha know.

praying the rosary one checkmark at a time

Maria Johnson — Sat, 09 May 2015 19:54:21 +0000

A few weeks ago Angela Sealana from InspiredAngela asked me about making a downloadable pdf of a rosary checklist I used, so here you go! Share it if you like. I reblogged my original post from 2012, and added the file at the end. Enjoy! And pray as you go!

another cup of coffee

There was a time when I used to come home in the morning after dropping the kids off at school, make half a pot of coffee, and leisurely pray a rosary before I went about my daily chores and activities.

I was fairly new at this discipline of praying daily, and I needed time, and I definitely needed plenty of cheat sheets. I ended up with a lovely little book that had the scriptural rosary. That helped me a lot because I was able to follow along with the story. It was just what I needed to help me remember the mysteries, and I was hooked on the prayer.

As it happens, other things changed. I lost the little booklet, but not the habit of praying. I was already in love with the prayer…and falling deeper in love with the story. Slowly, and steadily, my faith was blossoming … one bead…

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this is war

Maria Johnson — Sat, 09 May 2015 17:32:10 +0000

I’m going to have a bumper crop of strawberries this year. I can barely keep up with picking a little bit in the mornings and afternoons to keep the varmints away, but sadly, it’s an ongoing battle. This little guy was having his breakfast while I was enjoying my coffee.

I’d send Otis after him, but Otis is useless. He eats the berries, too.

I guess it’s an all out war to grow tasty fruit. I can share, a little bit. The squirrel actually looked endearing while he was gnashing away at the berry.

But those mockingbirds better stay away from the blueberries. Or else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOmF5WvxfuU

be back next week!

Maria Johnson — Fri, 01 May 2015 15:09:59 +0000

Congratulations to Jonathan!

In the “I need a mulligan” dept.

Maria Johnson — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 12:32:39 +0000

I’m distracted. It’s finals week. Grades are due. I have more on my plate than I want, or can handle. I’ve been up for a few hours moving from room to room, praying here, writing there, folding and putting away towels. My coffee cup traveled with me from room to room. Yes, and finally to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I put the cup down on the counter, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth. And then I reached for my cup and rinsed with coffee. I’m thinking, not a winning flavor.

#100Poems: Number20

Maria Johnson — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 00:28:35 +0000

Roses are red.

Violets are blue.

That all I got.

Not feeling it , boo.

#100Poems: Number19

Maria Johnson — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 02:21:22 +0000

Chickie chickie
Chirp chirp
Sittin’ on the porch
Eavesdropping
on the trees.

a little motion in the ocean

Maria Johnson — Sat, 25 Apr 2015 14:41:11 +0000

I cheated on this week’s challenge to capture motion. I went to the beach last weekend with high hopes of getting some good photography in — gotta get my 10,000 hours in this fledgling hobby of mine! Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate. I got a few good stills that I liked and included here, but overall it was overcast and stormy most of the time. I tried to get some birds in flight not doing the usual — flying. I got one eating a little fish that a fisherman threw to him. He had to wait for the tail to quit flailing before he swallowed it, and a gull that landed, its wings still stretched out.

One of the things that delights me about this beach happens twice a day. Pods of porpoises swim west in the early morning, and return in the later afternoon and swim east. We’re on a peninsula and I think they must be going to the bay west of us to feed.

I’ve never been able to get good pictures. This time, with a better camera in hand, I was caught unaware and missed one of them jumping out of the water like Flipper. I switched to video hoping to catch it again, but all I got was two pods swimming along. That’s plenty of motion for the morning.

Here’s a bonus:

#100Poems: Number18

Maria Johnson — Sat, 25 Apr 2015 12:45:55 +0000