Finishing this blog

Thank you to all who have followed and enjoyed this blog but my health is too poor now to be able to maintain it. My main blogs such as

http://goldenagepaintings.blogspot.com/

will continue but I must cut back on what I can do - though I still love sharing some lovely images.

Oliver Knott presents aquatic plants for Malawi and Tanganjika

Self Confidence

 

Self confidence all comes from the thoughts in our mind.

I am sure all who read my Blog and my comments on theirs, will think I am a very self confident person.

Well, this may surprise you, because I am not!

It's taken me years to build up confidence.

And still I have times of terrible self destruction in my mind.

WORDS...

Our Words to our self..

And the Words of others to us!

Can do much to destroy our self esteem and confidence.

In my first marriage (over thirty years) I was constantly told I was stupid.

So much so, that I believed it.

  and I sometimes still tell myself this, often aloud!!

Then I have to remind myself, WHO I am in Christ.

And that God loves me,  just as I am.

In His Word.....and His Word is truth, 

He tells me He lovingly formed me.

“And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. 

We are the clay, and you are the potter. 

We all are formed by your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)

I was formed by God's hand, now that can make me feel better!

By this I know, I am not so bad after all. 

Sometimes our thoughts are completely wrong.

Our mind can run away, thinking something that is not true.

When this happens I/you/we, need to ask ourselves.

"Where is the evidence to what I am thinking?"

An Example:

A friend doesn't call you, so YOU THINK they don't care.

*When the truth is, they have problems of their own and they are waiting for you to call them.

You attend a new church and not many, or no one, come to greet you.

So you feel unworthy, unwanted.... and walk away, despondant, never to return.

*INSTEAD, you could walk forward and introduce yourself to those around you. 

Proverbs 23:7 says..

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is."

We think with our feelings, and our emotions. So that's where the devil attacks.

In our most vulnerable place. 

He wants us to feel unwanted and unloved.

He wants to reduce our self image, and esteem.

He wants to take away our confidence, that we are beloved of God.

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against principalities, 

against powers, 

against the rulers of the darkness of this age,  

against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Ephesians 6:12 

When I get down in spirit and my thoughts are misconstrued. 

I speak scripture aloud because I know it is the Sword of the Word..

I know that if I resist the devil, he will flee from me.

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God 

for pulling down strongholds.

2 Corinthians 10:4

Because...

"I have been crucified with Christ; 

it is no longer I who live, 

but Christ lives in me; 

and the life which I now live in the flesh 

I live by faith in the Son of God, 

who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Galatians 2:20

AMEN

Refresh your soul.....God loves me/you/us.

Green Spotted Pufferfish (Tetraodon nigroviridis) for sale at Tyne Valley Aquatic

Cryptocoryne wendtii Green

Cryptocoryne crispatula ´balansae´

http://www.aquapage.eu/Plants.php?hledani=LAT&detail=350#350

Rigid bubble wall 23”

http://www.rocketaquatics.co.uk/rigid-bubble-wall-58cm-rigid-bubble-wall-p-845.html

Talking to Jesus

Greg Olsen- Talking to Jesus.             TAKE A LONG LOOK!!!

What a beautiful painting, with a great lesson.
Some people get all confused about how to pray?
They think they need to recite?
Or, read a pray someone else has written?
Can you imagine doing that to your best friend....
They'd look at you and wonder... why you couldn't simply be yourself.

"What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer."

Just TALK to Him, he is your Best Friend, and He waits for you......



Jesus said -

^"No longer do I call you servants, 

for a servant does not know what his master is doing; 

but I have called you FRIENDS, 

for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."

John 15:15

"Fear Not For I am With You,"  

Says Jesus,

"I have redeemed you and called you by name, 
YOU....  are mine."

Bubbles Aquascapes

http://bubblesaquarium.com/images/Aquascape%20Test%20Page/front%20page/Aquascape%20Front%20PageF1.htm

Innocent or Guity

I am sinful, perhaps more than some, perhaps less than others. 

I do not deny it.

 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Romans 3:23

The reason I am a sinner is because I am imperfect....

And anyone, who truly belongs to God, admits, they are sinners.

So, I am not perfect.

The only perfect one, is God!

So why do many, who profess to be Christian, point the finger and condemn??

When we perform the act of pointing the finger at another...
There are three fingers on our own hand, pointed back at ourselves...

   

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

Romans 8:1

How do I know if I walk after the spirit?

^"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, 

joy, 

peace, 

forbearance, 

kindness, 

goodness, 

faithfulness,  

gentleness and self-control. 

Against such things there is no law."

Galatians 5:22-23

I will defend the helpless and advocate to ensure justice on their behalf.
For such, I will not be put down, or condemned!!

 I have a good non Christian nursing mate who refers to wrong doer's as a cow, a pig or a dog.
I can't even do this, as I am a lover of animals. 
Many are much nicer than, some people.......



  "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."

1 Peter 4:8

 

                                           My beautiful granddaughter Shiarn, growing in the Lord each day.
Photo by: Femia Shirtliff.

HYDROPOLIS - Unterwasserhotel

Acorus pusillus - Dwarf rush

http://www.aquapage.eu/Plants.php?hledani=LAT&detail=129#129

Kuroshio Sea - 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world

Cardinal Tetras

Tetra Redeye

Aquascaping on Sky1 TV

Boehlkea Fredochui (Blue Tetra)

http://www.rainbowfish.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=161

Healed by Prayer

As many of you know I entered hospital last week with anticipation.
For a long time I have suffered with Left Bundle Branch Block.
This effects the electrical system of the heart.
It causes the heart rhythm to go out of sync.

Before my journey into the unknown, I asked my church to pray.
The following verse was read out from Gods Word.

" Is anyone among you sick? 

Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.  

 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. 

If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.  

 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. 

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

James 5:14-16

Well, in two days I am back home again and feeling very well! 

My cardiologist informed me my heart is in wonderful condition. 
Its like a new born babies heart, only, the size is my size.

He told me he was very surprised / shocked to see this.

Well he should be because he has know me now for four years. 

My last E.C.G. recorded by him in his office, showed Left Bundle Branch Block.

The telemetry recording my heart the whole time I was in hospital, showed normal sinus rhythm.

There was a nine lead E.C.G. taken again in the hospital. but I was not informed of the result. 

So now, as my knee improves, I will walk daily and loose some of the weight I have gained.

Many miracles happened on my trip to the hospital.

A young man needed money, so I gave it to him.

A man sitting next to me on my three hour train ride, informed me what station I needed to change at next.
After a second train ride I connection to the hospital.

Getting off the train, a couple, showed me the way to admissions.
When I got there, a huge Cross hung on the wall.
I prayed and asked the Lord for a room overlooking the brisbane river.
I got the room.
Next I prayed that the Angiogram, wouldn't be too uncomfortable.
It wasn't.
Then the doctor told me everything and gave his wonderful verdict.

Christ heals today!! Praise His Name!

I wish to thank all the staff at the Wesley Hospital Brisbane especially:
Kalinda and Lisa... 
Wonderful caring thoughtful nurses.
The whole hospital was a valuable experience. 
I am sure many agree. 




 

Waterfall Paludarium HD

"A Conga Line of Suckholes"

This was the former leader of the anti-American Australian Labor Party, Mark Latham's, view of politicians of John Howard's administration visiting George Bush in Washington six years ago. It looks like the Suckhole is on the other foot. The pictures of Prime Minister Julia Gillard and President Obama from the APEC conference were just as cloying as those we saw of the Howard-Bush "love-ins", but strangely haven't attracted the same political criticism. Had Messrs Howard and Bush come up with anything as tacky as the grass shirts and coconut-bra banter the two concocted for the cameras, they would have been mercilessly lampooned.

"Julia Gillard is fawning over this US president like I've seen no other Prime Minister do over past presidents...but that's forgiven in a Labor leader", says Andrew Bolt, journalist for the Herald Sun newspaper. Greens leader, Bob Brown heckled the previous president to address Parliament; this time he's silent, even though Obama is about to station US forces in the Northern Territory. Amazing!

Obama, who came to office brainwashed by his father to resent America's exceptionalism, bowing to the Saudi king and Japanese emperor, apologising for the US to the Middle East and playing nice guy to China, has been smartened up sharply by reality. On this visit he has defied China by moving troops here, declaring the Pacific region his special focus and boosting a new trade Trans-Pacific Partnership that excludes China. Labor's flirtation with anti-Americanism is now over. It really was just a fit of ideological madness.

Obama and Gillard have engineered a historic recasting of the alliance to manage security and disaster contingencies in Southeast Asia amid the rise of China. We're probably now even closer to the US than ever, with the ever fatuous Greens mute and Labor charmed, so much so that it was embarrassing to to see our Julia, trembling like a school girl, speaking to reporters about Obama being Australia's best friend. What she didn't mention is he is more popular here than at home and we are still inspired by a black man being president. Of course our socialist lame-stream media is delighted that he's of the Left as well but never questioned the mystery of the obvious attraction of white women to black men.

The Way I See It....opposition leader Tony Abbott was the consistently better public speaker, with a more intellectual and thoughtful message than Gillard's servile demeanor. He couldn't resist a few political jabs in his speech of welcome to Obama in Parliament, noting, for instance how Labor took a long detour before backing uranium sales to India. His speech revealed depths of his leadership character that are at odds with the cynical media's stereotype.

What all the speeches made clear is that what binds us to the United States is what will NEVER in our lifetime bind us to China -- our shared values, including those of a free vote, free speech and a free press. However, the fact remains that the greatest danger of military conflict remains in the Middle East and northern Africa. And one of the greatest financial dangers lie in Europe. Let us hope that the Pacific focus is not an excuse to ignore potentially greater and more intractable challenges.

Careful!

Asian carp

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/09/27/life/doc4e821a29af7bd709543500.txt?viewmode=2

Fluval Chi

http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/catalog/fluval-nano-fluval-chi-c-1125_1126.html

Fluval G6 External

http://www.externalaquariumfilters.co.uk/external-filter-reviews/fluval-external-filters/fluval-g6-external/

Where's Mum?

I enter The Wesley Hospital in Aukenflower, Brisbane tomorrow, for my heart.
Last night my church, the pastor, elders and friends, prayed over me, and anointed me with oil.

"Is anyone among you sick? 

Let him call for the elders of the church, 

and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord."

James 5:14

I am so grateful for all the love and care I receive.
I won't be here on my  blog, for a while. Only a short time away I hope...

I have an extra baby to come home for.
Monty and Mille`, have a new friend, Marley.
They wait at the gate lost, until I come.
Then there is great rejoicing.

Monty (Australian Terrier) Mille`(Toy Foxy) Marley (Toy Poodle)

Henri Matisse - Goldfish

OWS: Occupy Wall St. OR Overall We're Stupid!

The Occupy Wall Street movement is a "primal scream" against inequality, said Nicholas Kristol of the New York Times. They chant: "The world is watching!" "This is how democracy looks!" Unfortunately, the media and some demonstrators have had the nerve to compare the OWS to the 2010 Tea Party movement that brought about a re-balancing of political power. At least the Tea Partiers have jobs, showers and have a point. Actually, a more correct term for this mob would be the Flea Party; as in wingless, bloodsucking and parasitic!

So far the only major accomplishment of the protesters is that they put an end to their previous initiative, "Occupy Our Parents Homes". They talk of being the 99% that got the rough end of the economic stick while only 1% got the gravy. Actually the group is made up of 1% main street folks and the 99% are a mixture of adolescents seeking a cause, leftist public sector unionists, drug dealers, criminals, teenage runaways, pick-pockets, homeless people, Trotskyists and die hard-Marxists who have been at every protest since the Berkeley Free Speech Movement (whose hair is now in their ponytails).

No one knows what the Wall Street protesters want--as is typical of mobs. This is true of the other Occupy mobs across the U.S.A., Europe and even stupidly in economically prosperous Australia! They say say they want to abolish capitalism while wearing designer jeans and T-shirts emblazoned with global corporate logos. They say they want Obama re-elected, but claim to hate Wall Street. These ignorant fools forget that it was the same Wall Street that gave its largest campaign donation in history to Obama, who in turn, bailed out the banks and made Goldman Sachs the forth branch of the government. That's why hypocrite Obama allowed the new regulations on Wall Street traders and banks to remain toothless. Of course, this way he is hoping for more donations for his 2012 campaign.

Back to reality. Besides watching these scum urinate on police cars and defecate in store fronts, Zucotti Park has become overrun by sexual predators attacking women in the night. The organizers felt compelled to set up a female-only sleeping tent, guarded by women, to keep the sickos away. This "safety tent" idea has spread to others sites around the country. It's shameful that most press outlets (like the protesters themselves) look the other way at the depravity happening inside "Obamaville", with actual rapes being shrugged off because they're bad PR for a movement they support.

The Way I See It....once Obamas Zombies frame precise demands -- like nationalising the banks -- the movement will die in the full light of the realities of American politics. Maybe the coming of Winter will help as well. In addition, its elitism will cut it off from working people. The traditional Left believed in the abilities of the working class to change the world and create a society of plenty. However, this gaggle of hipsters and leftists display a trendy disdain for the brainwashed workers which will only lead them to succeed in throwing out a no-hoper president in next year's election.

That's what democracy looks like.

Paludarium Construction journal

http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/Paludarium-Construction-Photo-Journal/28/

Penn-plax cascade 600 internal filter for aquariums up to 200 litres

http://www.rocketaquatics.co.uk/pennplax-cascade-internal-filter-aquariums-litres-p-149.html

Convicts in Tasmania - Australia

We saw this sailing ship on the way. How appropriate.

I love history, yet much of it is built on the hard labour of others.
On slavery, bond servants and convicts.
Many of these people were oppressed into an empty life.
Such was the penal colony of  Port Arthur in Tasmania.
Tasmania (Tassie)  is an island that sits on the bottom of Australia under the state of Victoria.

 

Remember, Australia is approximately the size of the U.S.A. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur,_Tasmania
Ray and I visited this notorious place where only a remnant of what once was, now remains.
Once a bustling harbour side town, built on convict labour, it has ended a tourist destination.
As I sat on a bench and reminisced, I thought of the cold, hunger and inhumane conditions.

I imagined the whip cracking over skeletal backs and the cries of powerless men.
Many went mad.
Here are some of our photos.

On the way to Port Arthur: A wild coastline.

 
Port Arthur as viewed from the water.

The Commandants House.
This was built and added to, over a period of time. It has three levels.

To the right side of the Commandants House is the Guard Tower.

The ruins of the main prison was used for those considered to be hardened criminals..
There was another which was know as the separation prison..This was built later to help rehabilitate.
Where the grass is, was once just dirt.

Many of the men went mad and were placed into this building,  an asylum.... It chills my blood..

 

The church, it was compulsory to attend. 

The Isle of the dead.
This was where everyone was buried.
The convicts were placed in pauper graves down towards the water.
The upper class and officers in a graveyard on the hill with stone monuments.

 

There was another island.... designated especially for boys. 

As young as nine years old, they were considered responsible for their actions and sent here.

This may once have been an officers cottage?

I liked the lovely shrub at the side.

On the way back to Hobart we stopped for a rest and I saw this little fellow.

He is an echidna or spiny anteater. They are mammals and lay eggs. 

Ray picked it up to give me a closer look.

Ray also found a bearded dragon.

 "There is a time for everything,
  and a season for every activity under the heavens:

A time to be born and a time to die,

A time to plant and a time to uproot,

A time to kill and a time to heal,

A time to tear down and a time to build,

Ecclesiastes 3:1-3

Cryptocoryne parva

http://www.aquaticinspiration.info/plant-list

Week in Review: “Rowing” with Jesse Bear

Finally we much delay due to our recent move, we were able to resume our homeschooling two weeks ago towards to end of October.  To celebrate, we rowed our first book this year.  

Our first choice for BFIAR was “Jesse Bear Jesse Bear, what will you wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom. In the book, Jesse Bear is excited about his day as he wakes up, gets dressed,  plays outside, eats, takes a bubble

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda ~ John Williamson

Today is a special day.
It is the 11-11-11. and November the 11Th is the day we remember
the Great War, W.W.1.
Please listen to the song.... its a bit rough, but so is war.
So in memory of all service men and women....
My own grandfather Samuel WW1, father Arthur WW2, and hubby Ray Vietnam War.
God Bless them all.

"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. 

Such things must happen, but the end is still to come."

Matthew 24:6

Henri Ottmann - L'Aquarium

Danio choprai

Flying the Coop

When your children fly the coop you're left with the empty nest, bewildered and wondering? Was that only a dream? Yes, they grow up and leave too quickly. Suddenly gone are the dashes to soccer and athletics training with games and competitions to attend on weekends.
Racing a child to school in the car because they missed the bus. Hoping it doesn't breakdown because you are still dressed in your nightie. You'll die with embarrassment if anyone sees you and realises. Then a policeman gets you for speeding and you are asked to produce your licence. Fumbling apologetically you tell him it's at home in your purse, while your child looks on intently noting every word for "Show and tell" in class.

Yes, I was a busy mum. I kept a huge house clean and cared for four children while also working in a family business.
Life was hectic yet so rewarding.
Then suddenly one day, they began to leave.
The hardest was the first one, and I cried on and off for six months. Of course she visited, but that's never the same.
Then joy of joys, suddenly I was a grandmother. I had to contain myself not to take over, reminding myself I wasn't the mother. The precious bundle was mine only to cherish for a short while and then I had to give her back.

Now what has caused me to reminisce today? I know, I can hear new life chirping in the trees around our house.
Parent birds are busy gathering food, sheltering from the weather and meeting the demands of their young. Tender wings will slowly strengthen as the parents protectively watch the first feeble attempts to fly. All to soon the fledgling will be ready for flight. Then without a backward glance and uncaring of their watchful nurturer, gleefully they will soar.....and begin their own saga.

 "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it."
Psalm 24:1 

The birds are the Jabiru.

Photo taken outback by Ray.

To learn more about them click below.

http://www.wiresnr.org/Jabiru1.html

turkey

turkey

turkey

turkey

turkey

turkey

turkey

turkey

turkey

turkey

turkey

turkey

turkey

turkey

turkey

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez

selena gomez