Porch Pirates

"Porch Pirates" is a new term in our society.
"Porch Pirates" are people who steal your delivered packages off your porch. When we order from a catalog or online, we are encouraged to find out the date of delivery so we can watch for our package. That way, a Porch Pirate won't get to your package before you do. There's also a digital doorbell viewer service which allows you to use your cell phone to see who's on your porch. You can speak to that person from wherever you are. They don't know where you are.
Wow! The times we live in.
Keep the faith,
Sylvia
www.sylviabrownroberts.com

A Happy Cake Memory

October is an appropriate month for this memory picture from 2013. A cake in celebration of my 33rd and final radiation treatment in my fight against breast cancer. I've had 3 great annual  mammograms since then. I continue to praise God and encourage women to get their mammograms.

Traveling Grace

Yesterday I was reminded of how God watches over us through dangers seen and unseen.
I picked up my mother to drive to the church building for a meeting followed by Wednesday Night Bible Class. We were about halfway there when another car zoomed down a cross street on my right. He was supposed to stop, but I could see out of the corner of my eye that he might not. I braked and veered left. Then he saw me. Our eyes met and all I could do was whisper, "Thank you, Lord."
I waited as he drove through the intersection. Forget about my right of way. I wanted him safely away from us. His car could have collided with my passenger side, where my precious mother sat!
I'm sure you can also recall a time when God protected you from danger.
I give praise and thanks to Him.
Sylvia
www.sylviabrownroberts.com

Learning Curve

A note to myself: don't try to get acquainted with both a new cell phone and a more sophisticated computer at the same time. My Baby Boomer brain is almost fried from reading directions and attempting tasks by trial and error.
I still haven't figured out how to copy pictures to my new pictures file. I had to redo my phone contacts because they didn't transfer, although some other features did. Next I plan to get back to my Instagram because I don't want to start a new one. I actually have some followers! A major task is to master the Word program because I use it to write my novels.
I'm not going to give up. It may take me longer than it would take a 20, 30, or 40  year-old, but I plan to learn this new stuff.
Smiles,
 Sylvia
www.sylviabrownroberts.com

No Substitutes

I have discovered that when it comes to certain products, for me there are no substitutes.
Take aluminum foil, for example. My favorite is Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty. It's thick enough, strong enough, and tears off the roll well. You don't have to use an excessive amount to wrap your sandwiches, meats or to cover something.
Nevertheless, I recently purchased a cheaper brand of foil. I don't know what I was thinking. Not a good idea. I don't want to say how many times I've fussed at myself. I've wasted cheap foil and my energy trying to use this thin stuff. Never again.
Is there a product brand you use consistently?
Smiles,
Sylvia
www.sylviabrownroberts.com

Metamorphosis Interrupted

Every year at this time, a couple of large bees that make a loud buzz come to my wooden deck slats and bore holes into the wood on the bottom side of the slats.
The sawdust falls onto my deck surface. I assume the bees lay the eggs and house them in the holes until the eggs reach the larva stage of metamorphosis. I know the bees destroy the wood on my deck. They also like to dive bomb me when I get too close to the wooden slats.

Something interrupted this year.
This is a pic of the larva and sawdust that I found on the deck the other day. The larva and sawdust out of the holes. They are motionless. I don't see the bees anymore.
The next day after this pic, the larva is gone but the sawdust remains.
Hmm...
Sylvia
www.sylviabrownroberts.com

A Favorite

Recently, while I was at Boston Market, a stranger was very nice to me. I ordered, but didn't notice that the inside part of my favorite pendant, a sun face, had fallen off and landed on the floor. I have worn the pendant almost daily for about fifteen years. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a woman approach me and bend down. When she stood up, she had the sun face part of my pendant in her hand.

"Miss, this came off your necklace."  She put the little sun face in my hand and I thanked her. I was touched that she was thoughtful enough to pick it up and give it to me. She could have ignored it and let me step on it.

On my way out, I said, "Thank you again. That pendant is my favorite one. I've had it so many years."

She replied, "You're welcome. I thought you'd want it back. I would want somebody to do the same for me."

Smiles,

Sylvia

www.sylviabrownroberts.com

Consideration

I had a craving for the chili from a certain fast food restaurant today, so I ordered a small chili from the discount menu. Since the price was inexpensive, I added a small burger. I don't do this often, but it was tasty. I chose a sunny window seat and looked out at the avenue. It was nice.
Then I heard two remarks:
One customer snapped loudly to the worker at the cash register, "Is everybody moving in slow motion today?"
The workers behind the counter didn't respond. They kept taking orders.
A few minutes later, another customer angrily handed his sandwich to a worker who was wiping off the tables and shouted, "Feel this sandwich! It's not even hot; take  it back! I hate to get cold food!" The worker quietly took the sandwich, tossed it in the waste container, and went to the counter to get the customer another sandwich. The man looked around like he wanted to get something started.
The elders say, "Speak to people the way you want them to speak to you."

www.sylviabrownroberts,com

Almost

I was in a store recently. A person approached me and said, "Sylvia, I was just thinking about you. I'm reading one of your novels and I'm enjoying it. One thing hit me personally, though. You include the names of some hymns in your book, and  Almost Persuaded is one of them.  I had to sing that song in front of the entire church when I was about ten years old.  I was so nervous, but I sang that song.You really brought back a tender memory for me when I read that part of your novel.  I always wonder why they made a me, a child, sing that song for the church. The last words are Almost but lost!"

Maybe they felt like an innocent child could better persuade someone to hear the message. I'm always thankful when my writing touches a reader's heart.
Smiles,
Sylvia
www.sylviabrownroberts.com

BRR...

Due to a malfunction in the heating pumps caused by the frigid temperature outside, it was cold in the church building this past Sunday morning. So cold that our evening service was cancelled. The irony is that if we were cold inside our building, what about the homeless man I see every time I  drive to and from the church building? He's long ago claimed his outside spot. He has a sleeping bag, a shopping cart he blocks himself off with, several blankets, a stool he sits on when it's warmer outside, and other paraphernalia. But, no matter how many blankets one has, the below-freezing temperature will win. Still, he's a fixture. I think he sometimes gets moved by the authorities, but returns to his spot. Everyone who passes the street near the post office knows he's there. I don't know what else to do but pray for him and for the many others like him who choose to live outside instead of  inside a shelter, even when it's frigid outside.
Sylvia
www.sylviabrownroberts.com

Slow Down

It's always best for me to put items back in their designated place. Right away. This fact was reinforced for me this morning when I rushed out of the house thinking:
Get your keys. Get the garage remote. Grab your purse. Do you have your task list? Yes, it's in my planner, which is in my purse. I'll just check.
My planner wasn't in my purse. I went back into the house to search for my planner notebook. I couldn't find it. A little frustrated because I might be late for my appointment, I decide to search for my planner later. I go outside to the garage and open my back car door. That's when I see  my planner. The black notebook is on top of my car, where it apparently spent the night. I've got to slow down.
Smiles,
Sylvia
www.sylviabrownroberts.com

Fat Sandwich

I told myself I'd go into the shop and purchase a multi-grain bagel.  When I got inside, everyone but me was in line to get the Mega something? Power-ball? lottery tickets. There was  much lottery excitement, but not for  me. I looked at the menu and noticed the FAT SANDWICHES. Before I knew it, while others called out numbers for their lottery tickets, I ordered the FAT ROSCOE sandwich from the chalkboard. The written description: cheese steak, chicken fingers, fries, mozzarella stix, honey mustard. 

It was delicious, and enough for both lunch and dinner.

Bad, bad, Sylvia. I promised myself  to not have another one for at least 6 months.

Smiles,

Sylvia

www.sylviabrownroberts.com

Putting one foot in front of the other.

10,000 steps per day is a health-conscious goal. I thought that should be easy for me, because I walk around a lot.
Meet my new pedometer, which let me know yesterday that I don't yet meet the 10,000 daily step goal. Yesterday, I registered 5,311 steps, and that included a session at the gym. Today is Saturday, so I didn't go to the gym, and you can see my step count so far in the picture below is 4,733. I guess I'll keep walking around the house until bedtime, because I'm determined to at least meet yesterday's count. Gotta get up from this desk and walk now. Talk to you later!
Smiles,
Sylvia
www.sylviabrownroberts.com