My Father's World

This morning on my bike ride, the hymn This Is My Father's World kept popping into my head. The scenery was so beautiful. It was impossible not to see God's hand in the creation of it all.

I couldn't remember all the words, so when I got home I looked them up. I was surprised to see that the hymn comes from a much longer poem. Here it is in its entirety.

My Father’s World ~ Maltbie Davenport Babcock

This is my Father’s world.
On the day of its wondrous birth
The stars of light in phalanx bright
Sang out in Heavenly mirth.

This is my Father’s world.
E’en yet to my listening ears
All nature sings, and around me rings
The music of the spheres.

This is my Father’s world.
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas,
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world.
The birds that their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker’s praise.

This is my Father’s world.
He shines in all that’s fair.
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world.
From His eternal throne,
He watch doth keep when I’m asleep,
And I am not alone.

This is my Father’s world.
Dreaming, I see His face.
I ope my eyes, and in glad surprise
Cry, “The Lord is in this place.”

This is my Father’s world.
I walk a desert lone.
In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze
God makes His glory known.

This is my Father’s world.
Among the mountains drear,
‘Mid rending rocks and earthquake shocks,
The still, small voice I hear.

This is my Father’s world.
From the shining courts above,
The Beloved One, His only Son,
Came-a pledge of deathless love.

This is my Father’s world.
Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod,
No place but is holy ground.

This is my Father’s world.
His love has filled my breast,
I am reconciled, I am His child,
My soul has found His rest.

This is my Father’s world.
A wanderer I may roam,
Whate’er my lot, it matters not,
My heart is still at home.

This is my Father’s world.
O let me ne’er forget
That tho’ the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father’s world.
The battle is not done.
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heaven be one.

This is my Father’s world.
Should my heart be ever sad?
The lord is King-let the Heavens ring
God reigns-let the earth be glad.



The pictures are from my bike ride. The poem is from Thought For Everyday Living by Maltbie Davenport Babcock.

Olive Oyl

Last week my sister and brother-in-law packed up all their earthly possessions and moved thousands of miles east to the far away state of South Carolina.

The majority of their kitchen's pantry contents made their way to my house, including copious amounts of olive oil. While I was trying to find a place to stash a half-full, five-liter jug of the stuff, I decided i just needed to use some of it up.

I'd seen recipes for olive oil cakes before, but had never made one, so I decided to give it a try. I remembered seeing a recipe a few months ago in Food and Wine, so I started looking through my old issues and found two.

I had all the ingredients for one, and not the other, so the choice of which one to make was easy.

The recipe I chose was very simple, using very few ingredients, and the cake came together very easily. As an added bonus, it smelled heavenly while it baked, almost from the moment I put it in the oven.

Here is a link to the recipe on Food and Wine's website, and below is a picture of my finished cake.



It was quite yummy. Not too sweet and with that kind of fruity taste that comes from olive oil. The recipe article didn't give any serving suggestions, but I think it would be nice served with some sweetened whipped cream and some fresh fruit like peaches or berries. It is just fine by itself, too.



I definitely would make this recipe again, and since I still have a lot of olive oil, I'm sure I will.

Ode To A Crayon

A box of new crayons! Now they're all pointy, lined up in order, bright and perfect. Soon they'll be a bunch of ground down, rounded, indistinguishable stumps, missing their wrappers and smudged with other colors. Sometimes life seems unbearably tragic. ~Bill Watterson

I've been a little bit obsessed with Crayolas today. I bought a brand new box of 64, complete with sharpener no less, at Target, and I've been admiring them all afternoon - reading the names on their wrappers and thinking of all the wonderful pictures I can create.

It's probably been twenty plus years since I had a new box of 64 crayons, and I'm probably as excited to have them today as I was then.

However, I am a little bit concerned because there is a green crayon in the box called "asparagus". Seriously? And it's definitely not even the color of fresh asparagus, but some that has been boiled to a mush.

There are also new colors that I don't remember seeing before such as: purple mountain majesty, wisteria (Desperate Housewives, anyone?), robin's egg blue, timberwolf, macaroni and cheese (really, what is with the food colors?), and the absolute worst - I'm not sure if we are now still coloring or putting on lipstick, mauvelous.

Luckily some of my old favorites are still around. Periwinkle, burnt AND raw sienna, red violet, mahogany, brick red, spring green, plum...

And, as an added bonus, coloring now makes you trilingual. The color names are written in English, Spanish, and French. I now know that I can go to a restaurant and order asparagus, esparrago, or asperge and that the sky is blue, azul, or bleu.

I still haven't colored anything with my new crayons. Part of me really wants to keep my colors in their pristine condition, but I guess if I use them up, I'll just have an excuse to go buy some more. Maybe next time I'll go really wild and buy the box with 120!

Happy coloring!

As an added bonus, here is one of my favorite old time Sesame Street videos showing how crayons are made. I love it.