GrreatTeacher

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Posts by GrreatTeacher

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  150

  Start A Butterfly Garden!

  by Bonsai in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  time to take a break from debating religion.

  take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.. how many of you have a garden?

  how many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden?

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  GrreatTeacher

  OMG, that is the most beautiful English garden, half banana, just like I might expect a stereotypical English garden to look!

  Do all your neighbors have similar? What a beautiful neighborhood.

  My garden (in the US) tends to focus on plantings at the foundation of the house and in window boxes. It has beautiful curb appeal, and when I sit on my front porch, I enjoy it. But in general, the rest of the yard is mown grass which, when viewed from inside, is not very exciting.

  I like the way that an English garden is all throughout the yard and provides great views from the interior of the house, as well as beautiful outdoor rooms to relax in.

  I did add 3 large planters of hydrangeas in the backyard. I move them around, and hopefully when I find the right spot, I will plant them permanently. They bloom all season so they are beautiful backyard plants that can be viewed from the house as well as from the middle of the yard. I need to plant up my backyard in the English style and enjoy spending time outdoors in the middle of my plantings.

  Must say again, half banana, what an absolutely gorgeous garden! Thanks for sharing the photos.
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  19

  Your opinion about dating sites?

  by nevaagain in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been a jw all my life, while i also have a "spiritual divorce", which means i can remarry a jw again.

  i am not sure if i want to go that route again and dating in the jw world feels like a struggle sometimes.

  with all the rules.

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  GrreatTeacher

  DJS, may I suggest a knitting club instead?
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  19

  Your opinion about dating sites?

  by nevaagain in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been a jw all my life, while i also have a "spiritual divorce", which means i can remarry a jw again.

  i am not sure if i want to go that route again and dating in the jw world feels like a struggle sometimes.

  with all the rules.

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  GrreatTeacher

  I agree with freddo. Go where the girls are, even (and especially ) if it's stereotypical.

  My husband and I met in this fashion. I decided to go to work in construction. All of my coworkers were male and I had my pick!

  Interestingly, my husband had pursued a similar tactic in high school. He joined the cheerleading squad. He found his place at the bottom of the pyramid and said he enjoyed the view very much!

  We've been married for 23 years.

  It really is a numbers game. The more you meet, the more likely you are to find a good match for you.
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  36

  "Who is Morris III?" Showed up in an FB thread--A surprising answer followed.

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  or maybe not so surprising after all, you be the judge....

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  GrreatTeacher

  Look at him standing there like he's got a bridge to sell you or something...
• 
  36

  Brother & Sister-in-Law Return to Kingdom Hall After Two Decades, Quickly Get Stumbled

  by TMS in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  it was a mild surprise, learning that a brother and sister-in-law had began re-associating with jehovah's witnesses after at least 25 years of being away.

  the couple, of hispanic ethnicity, are in their early 60's, with their five children all grown and independent.

  the family had been considered nominal jws, infrequently attending meetings, rarely in field service, but using the annual convention as their family vacation.

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  GrreatTeacher

  I suppose only elders and pioneers can clean the toilets, then?
• 
  150

  Start A Butterfly Garden!

  by Bonsai in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  time to take a break from debating religion.

  take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.. how many of you have a garden?

  how many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden?

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  GrreatTeacher

  We went to a state fair yesterday and were able to walk through a butterfly garden. It was an area enclosed with screening and had double doors. There were various types of flowers and hundreds of Monarch butterflies!

  They gave us a little foam style paintbrush dipped in Gatorade and the butterflies would land on them and get a sweet treat. My niece was absolutely enchanted, and with a $3 donation, she got a butterfly mask that she wore for the rest of the day.

  In other news from my garden, the gladiolias bloomed while I was on vacation and there are just a few left. Sad to have missed them. They are a beautiful salmon color.

  My windowboxes are overflowing with miniature petunias. They are climbing up the windows and spilling over the edges. Red, yellow, and orange. I'm painting my front door a bright crimson red today. I can't wait until it dries so I can shut the door and see the total effect.

  It's 96°F today, so my plants will need lots of water tonight. I'm staying indoors in the air conditioning today, and it's having trouble keeping up! Maybe we'll go to the pool tonight.
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  18

  The bitter reality of death

  by Bonsai in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  been a lot of death in my life recently.

  a close family member died yesterday.

  a close friend died 8 weeks ago - both from cancer.

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  GrreatTeacher

  Once you hit midlife it seems there are more and more losses in your life; people, bodily integrity, unfulfilled and unfulfillable dreams and ambitions.

  People who can accept these with grace seem to age well, but those who are bitter and can't come to some kind of resolution about these losses have a rough time in their declining years.

  I hope you all can find some peace dealing with these very difficult things. It can be hard work.
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  3

  Marlon Wayans "my dad became a JW because he had 10 kids.LOL

  by James Mixon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  ktla 5 news this morning.

  m. wayans a crazy guy said his father after having 10 kids.

  that's when he said that's why his father became a jw.

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  GrreatTeacher

  I used to love watching In Living Color in the late '80s. I can still remember one comedy sketch where one of the Wayans brothers talked about living in a box. Those boys were so funny.

  I wonder whatever happened to them.
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  13

  (A Childhood Memory) THE MYSTERY OF THE LOCKED CABINET

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the mystery of the locked cabinet.

  when i was about 10 years old, there was a tall, white handmade cabinet back in one of our storage sheds (a converted chicken house from back in the 30's, when my grandparents raised chickens in the great depression).

  affixed to its door, there was a big padlock on the cabinet.

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  GrreatTeacher

  I grew up just a few miles south of the Mason Dixon line. The KKK had a local chapter and came to town to hand out literature at the single red light. This was in the late '80s. I had no air conditioning in my little Toyota, so to avoid having KKK literature shoved in my window, I rolled them all up. Boy it got really hot in the car at that redlight. It seemed like it would never change!

  Then, the JWs came to town preaching their heathen message and selling literature, and the town council finally had had enough. A no soliciting law was put on the books which included the distribution of literature.

  The local JWs responded by inviting black brothers and sisters up from Baltimore to go door to door with nothing but a Bible and a verbal invitation to the Kingdom Hall. This of course did not sit well with the local members of the KKK who opposed groups of black folks knocking on all the doors in town.

  It was quite a mess with the local elders even attending the town council meetings. They aggravated the situation unnecessarily, in my opinion.

  What a small-minded small town. I left as soon as I could and moved to Baltimore. Yeah, they hated city slickers, too. They pretty much hated everybody.
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  75

  I came here three years ago for support and to make friends

  by KateWild in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this site is such a great and valuable resource and simon is to be commended for running it for so long.

  when i first came i was in such a bad state and really needed support and friendship.

  so many posters commented on my threads and showed genuine care some are real life friends, some are facebook friends, some i talk to on the phone and some are forum friends.. i have just realised though that everyone online is not your friend.

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  GrreatTeacher

  To be fair, though sometimes communicating electronically seems "less than" face to face communication, there are many people who struggle with social anxiety or feel that their thoughts are best represented asynchronously who are actually better represented as a person on forums than in real life.

  When you are an introvert and much of your self is in your head, forums are a real benefit in communicating authentically. Especially across age groups. When you read posts, you are not burdened by snap judgements, including those regarding age. Embarrassingly, I have to say that most of my IRL friends are near my age, and I appreciate the intellectual banter on here that happens across age groups with people I probably wouldn't have much interaction in real life, to my detriment.

  Just a little love for forums...