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On this journey of sharing BLESSINGS

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Lynda’s Journal of Blessings – #765 

>> Spring House  <<

__My Thoughts

In the 1950s, the Spring House was a favorite place in my neighborhood in Frisco, near Ellwood City, Pennsylvania.

My family lived on Harmony Avenue in Frisco. This was my home from the age of three after my father returned back home from the war in 1945. He was drafted into the Army  just after I was born in  August, 1943. I  lived  during the following two years with my Mother and her sister, Jeanne because both husbands were in Europe, fighting in World War II. My Mother  and I lived with Aunt Jeanne in her home in the village of Wurtemburg, until the men came back from the war.  A brief time after his return to America,, my father, Bill,  and  my mother, Esther, purchased a home for the three of us on Harmony Avenue, in Frisco. The distance from Wurtemburg to Frisco  is less than two  miles away.  Pennsylvania is made up of many little neighborhoods, even now.

My sister and two brothers were born during the following years. We lived in this house  until I was fifteen. At that time, our parents built a new home in a new housing development and our lives changed to a new direction,. I was fifteen that summer.  In a future Blessing Story, I’ll describe the process of imagining a new home, and how my parents designed and built our new home with their own hands.  From my vantage point today, it seems to me that my parents were brilliant and wise.

Our house on Harmony Ave. is still tucked away into a special little treasure chest in the center of my heart.  I can close my eyes, still after all these decades, and see it all again.

But my story today is not about our house, but my thoughts are focused on an incredibly special location near that home. I can still relive those tender years in memories.

Miss Jane lived in a house in Frisco, and she was the owner of a little store that was attached to the big house. Her  store was known as The Spring House, where we could go on sunny afternoons in the summertime to get a nice cold soda or buy some penny candy. My favorite treat was a delicious and fizzling 7-UP float, made with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a tall glass. If I had any pennies left after drinking the ice cream float, I’d spend them on some penny candy.

I imagine that it took quite a bit of time to decide which  candies I would eventually have Miss Jane put into a small brown paper bag.  On my short  walk home, I  wore my black wax mustache  or I sucked on the white candy cigarette to pretend I was smoking.  Oh, how I loved the shiny, sticky  taffy bits in a waxed paper wrapper!  Life was good and the candy was heaven on earth.

But my visits to the Spring House were particularly exciting because just beyond the Spring House there was a hillside. At the bottom of that grassy hill  was a cement pond. Chilly water from an underground stream flowed through a pipe in the hillside and cascaded down into the pond.

The most exciting thing about this location is that this pond is where Mr. Hastings lived.  He was delighted when he saw anyone coming down to the pond to have a little dip in the cool shallow water. Once you dipped your toe in the water to give it that final test, you eventually just plopped right into it, and this is when Mr. Hastings fun began, too. He was a sassy territorial duck, all white, with a bright orange beak. He loved the challenge of chasing anyone around the pond, splashing them, and running about snapping at them as they tried to avoid his sharp nips at your ankles or legs. But there was never a way to avoid him, for he was Lord of the Pond, and eventually he would have his playground all to himself after the kids left.

I took some breaks from playing with Mr. Hastings, and went up a couple of steps to a large swing where I could look out over the pond, and take a break from Mr. Hastings for a little  while.  It was like a little private grotto, surrounded by shady pine trees, and a roof overhead.  This was all part of the Spring House property,  and a place that was so special to me as a young girl.

Mr. Hastings is one of the sharpest memories of my childhood summers growing up in rural western Pennsylvania. I recall the large maple trees where the older boys carved their initials or heart shapes into the bark. From one of the heavy limbs of one hefty tree, there was a tire swing, where I stopped to enjoy the feeling of flying, back and forth, on a distant summer day in my memories. Growing up Pennsylvania – Proud.  I count this blessing in my treasure chest.

__

NOTE:

Inspiration for this story came from reading an article recently posted on Abbie Johnson Taylor’s blog.  You can visit her blog  by clicking on the link Here!

__Scripture

Each morning I  say to Alexa:

“Alexa, Open Bible Verse.”

Alexa provides a daily Bible Verse.

I think today’s Bible verse is very good advice to share with this story.  Tell me what you think about that, too.

Romans 15:1-2

1We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.

__Daily Action Plan

*_Have you thought about your neighbors in this way before?

*_This Bible verse is really a prayer for believers to stop looking at ourselves so much but to think more about how we respond to, or treat our neighbors.  Often we have to look up, and remember that we are blessed to have our neighbors, and we can begin to see them in a new way, as God sees them.

*_Think about the animals and birds that you encountered as a child.

*_Did you have a Spring House in the area where you lived as a child?

*_Remember to pray for your neighbors, too.  Can you look at them in a new way, as God would have us look at them?

*_Do you have a memory of an interesting or unusual animal or bird that you encountered  in your neighborhood?

*_Write a short story or a poem about a childhood memory of it.

*_You are welcome to share your own experiences here – or leave a comment.

Thank you, Abbie Taylor for your “Duck” story   Here!_

©Walking by Inner Vision, since December 2009.

©Lynda’s Journal of Blessings, 2026._

” Lynda’s Prayer Garden”
Photo by Bob Lambert

FYI

Final Note:

What inspired me to begin writing blog posts about BLESSINGS?

Your comments and prayers inspire the best in me.

Let me know if this message is helpful to you.

Thank you for sharing my Sunday Blessings posts with others to encourage them and share the Love of Jesus.

©Lynda’s Journal of Blessings, 2026.

FYI: My Background:

Professor Lynda McKinney Lambert taught fine art and humanities at a Christian college in Western Pennsylvania, She was a tenured professor, an actively exhibiting artist, and a published author.

I created exciting courses across the disciplines – Art –
English  Literature – Humanities.

My courses were taught on campus during the spring and fall semesters.  In the summer, I taught in Salzburg, Austria for a month of travel and studies.

My passions in academia are poetry and fine art.  I author books and I create  fine art in several mediums – Painting  and  Fiber Art.

How I Found HOPEFULNESS in Unexpected Changes:

I discovered a new life after sudden sight loss. For the next two years, I learned to see the world and my place in it in an entirely new way.  I completed training for Personal Adjustment to Blindness, It took two years of training and lots of challenging work to learn to read and write using adaptive technologies for the blind.  Ad the months went by, God was showing me that my creative life would continue,, but in some new ways.

I began to write Divinely inspired life lessons

New experiences and God-directed Opportunities

New DISCOVERIES  to  share with the world

A NEW SEASON on the Narrow Path with Jesus.

365 Days – My ONE WORD for 2026

We are nearing the 1/2 mark for 2026.

I hope you are still on track with living out your ONE WORD for 2026.  Let me know how it is going.  Let’s keep each other encouraged for the next 1/2 of our journey together.

__

Lynda’s Latest Books are available on Amazon and all retail booksellers.

LOOK HERE.

Interview with Lynda Listen Here!

Each Day Holds Some Small Joy – Collection of Haiku and Tanka nature poems.

 You May Also Like:

Songs for the Pilgrimage…A Collection of Poems and short writings from journals and travels

Get Lynda’s latest books!

Songs for the Pilgrimage:

Purchase  Lynda’s Books at Amazon

©Lynda McKinney Lambert, 2025. All rights reserved.

Photo: Courtesy of Allauthor. Thank you!
Books illustrated were created by DLD Books.
Lynda has 6 published books.
Memoir, Poetry, Non-fiction.

More About Lynda

©Lynda’s Journal of Blessings, 2026.