Tea Tree Oil and Kitties Don't Mix

This past Wednesday, we had a scare after I'd attempted to remove a tick from my daughter's kitty, Leslie, using tea tree oil.  Little did I know that tea tree oil is extremely toxic to cats and can even lead to death.  (Tea Tree Oil Toxicity) After examining the tick and bite, my daughter did some research online and gave Leslie some raw food mixed with charcoal.  I posted a plea for prayer on Facebook, as well as asking for prayer during our evening Bible study/prayer meeting, and we just continued to watch her and keep her hydrated.



Later in the evening, she began to act just a bit differently... a little quiet, but she still seemed okay.  My daughter took her up to bed as she usually does, and the next morning, I waited anxiously for them both to come downstairs.  Not only did Leslie seem to be herself again, but she even invited my daughter to play a game of hide-n-seek!  Yay!  Thank you, Lord!

Texture by David Gunter

Working Together

Mmmm... can you smell the apple sweetness and spices?  My daughter and I worked together to make shepherd’s pie for dinner a couple of nights ago.  She wanted to have a bottom crust, but since the pie crust recipe was for a double crust, we had leftover dough.  She asked if we had any apples, because she had seen a recipe for mini pies made in a muffin tin, and she wanted to try it out.  So I peeled and chopped the apples, while she worked on the sweet, buttery, cinnamon sauce and rolled out the remaining crust.  Aren’t they cute?  And oh, so tasty!

 

I wanted to be sure to get a photo of them, and I was delighted when she wanted to once again work together.  I’m so glad she did, because she is more creative than I am.  We have turned my married son’s bedroom into a sort of mini studio.  It has a nice exposed brick chimney in it, so we used it as a backdrop.  I used my son’s 60mm macro lens to create the blurry background.  One of the things I’ve learned when composing a photo is to have an odd number of objects, rather than an even number.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it has something to do with the Golden Ratio?

My daughter thought you might be interested in seeing our unorthodox setup:  one of the shelves from a bookshelf, a couple of wooden bowls, a paperback book, a box of tissues, and a box of old flatware.  Hey!  Whatever works, right?

"Tips For College & Marriage"

No, this isn’t an advice column on college and married life.  I never went to college, except for taking a few classes through a community college.

My daughter and I made a three-hour drive to the beach yesterday.  While ordering some lunch, I noticed a paper cup sitting on top of the counter for tips.  It read “Tips for College & Marriage”.  Apparently, the cashier is going to college, and the cook is getting married.  The cook was a young college age man, and I thought of my own son who was recently married.  I want to say I gave them a tip, but I didn't have any small bills, and I wanted to give more than the little bit of change I had.  I would come back.

Later, while making the traditional purchase of salt water taffy before heading home, I noticed another tip cup that read, “Tips for College”.  I was tempted to pull out a pen and paper, but I didn’t, because I remembered that I hadn't really gone to college.  Instead, I pulled out a single green piece of ‘paper’ and put it in the cup.  I wonder if it really was for college since the boy behind the counter looked about fourteen, but I guess it’s never too early to start planning, right?  Perhaps I should have told him that the best tips, "... all things that pertain to life and godliness..." can be found in God's Word.