Do You Have a Doppleganger?

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Do you have Doppleganger?  Do you know what a Doppleganger is?   A Doppleganger(I just love typing that word) is someone who looks like you.  Your twin sort of from another mother.   I have had several in my life.  When we first moved to our present home over forty years ago, we looked for a church and found one. It wasn’t long before I was told there was a woman in town who looked just like me.  That was interesting.

She evidently attended my new church, but had not been there for a while. I watched for my Doppleganger every Sunday and one day, she appeared, but I didn’t know it. You see, we all think of ourselves as looking one way and the world sees us in another way so when I was pointed out my Doppleganger I thought no way did she look like me.  She did have blonde hair and was short, but that was all I saw that looked sort of like me. But after that, I kept looking at her trying to see something others were seeing in her that looked like me.

I went to the library not long after we moved here to get a new library card and it was not long before one of the librarians told me she had seen someone who looked “Just like me” come into the library.  This Doppleganger I never saw and I was wondering if it was the same lady who went to my church.  Crazy.

Do you remember the model Twiggy back in the sixties?  Now in no way was my body like hers, slim as a rail. I had more curves and you might even call me a little chubby, but my boss where I worked said I sure looked like Twiggy.  And I guess I did a little in my pictures. In the face.  Funny how that works.  And in one of my younger pictures I look sort of like Princess Diana.  If I can find the picture, I’ll put it here.  I know that sounds crazy and I’m bragging, but I’m not.  It’s just that in one of my pictures and how I am posed, I look like Princess Diana.  I don’t look at all like her now. Of course she probably wouldn’t look like she did back in her younger days if she were still alive which I wish she was.   I still miss her.  I was one of those who got up extra early on her wedding day and watched, enraptured, the pomp and circumstance of the whole thing and then days afterward I looked for anything about Diana I could find on the TV.  Just wish she and Charles could have made a go of it, but I don’t think the love was equal in that relationship, sadly.

Anyway, back to Dopplegangers,  I put some pictures online a few years back while we were traveling and one of my friends told one of her friends that I looked like one of their friends!  Well, when I saw who they were talking about I asked David if I looked anything like her and he said, “Absolutely not!”  But her friends saw something in me that reminded them of her.

Right now with all the mask wearing it would be hard to see your Doppleganger if they were standing right in front of you.   Do you have a Doppleganger?  Are you happy they look like you or are you a little distressed about it?   Everyone has a twin, they say.  My grandson has a picture of his best friend’s grandfather when he was young and he looks exactly like my grandson.  I almost fell on the floor when I saw their two pictures together.  Twins!  I mean exactly alike.   There has be to a family relationship there somewhere down the gene line.

If you have a Doppleganger or just haven’t seen yours yet, keep looking.  Your twin may show up one day.  Bye,

 

A Walk Through My Garden and Other Things

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Some people say the time is going slow for them during this quarantine time. I have to say time has been absolutely flying for me during these beautiful Spring months. Where has March, April and May gone?  My three favorite months are almost a thing of the past for another year.  I’ve tried to enjoy each day as it comes and goes. It has been a cold Spring, so I’m hoping warmer days are coming.

I’ve knit several pairs of stockings,  pieced four quilts and almost have one of them quilted and bound.  We’ve painted a bedroom and organized another and can finally see the bed again after David stacked all my quilts on an old trunk and in a closet.   I’ve planted tomatoes.  I bought twenty packets of flower seeds which I don’t know why I did because we have very little space in the garden for any more flowers.

We started raising more chicks. Here they are huddled under their heat lamp despite the fact we bought this…..

A heater that simulates a mother hen.  If you’ve ever felt the underneath of a chicken when she is setting you will know just how warm it is.  Anyway, the chicks can get under this and feel like they are underneath a hen. You can actually buy feathers that fit on this to make it feel more like a hen, but we didn’t go that far.  The cone on top is to keep them from trying to sit on the heater and pooping all over it.  You can just see the corner of the cone on the above picture.  The chicks were just getting use to the heater and still were under the heat lamp, but I’ve seen them all go underneath so I know they are using it.

Soon the chicks will be big enough to join the big girls.  That one in the front is the talker who demands her cracked corn even to jumping up and pecking the bowl of it I am holding.  She is very demanding.

The chickens have been providing us with a lot of eggs.

They all usually lay in the same nest even though they have five to choose from.

Because we have very little room left to plant my seeds, we are using these boxes which are really the steps of our old back deck turned upside down. Just the right size to plant flower seeds in.

This is my dog gardener. At least she thinks she is. She has dug up some of my flower beds. I think she was looking for moles. I can’t get angry with her about it because I always have called the back garden the dogs’ garden.  Mostly they keep the moles and snakes out for which I am very happy.   They’re good dogs.

Now the garden is busting out all over. My very favorite flowers, the peonies are starting to bloom.

Isn’t this so pretty?

I can never get enough peonies.

The snowball bush is, alas, almost gone for another year.

It was so loaded with snowballs the branches were bent down.

It covered one whole end of our porch.

David’s grandmother gave us a start of her snowball bush years ago and from that we now have two snowball bushes.  I always think of his grandmother when I look at our snowball bush.  She was a gardener, too.

Now the snowballs fall like snow all over the ground.

Makes me a little sad to see them gone for another year.  I hope whoever lives in this house after us will get the joy out of the snowball bush that I do.

The honeysuckle by the pool house is blooming the best it’s ever bloomed. The hummingbirds love this.  David saw our first hummingbird on this  bush this week.

A hollyhock I found in an abandoned house’s yard one year.  It keeps coming up although I forget about it from year to year until it appears.  Last year it had so many flowers on it.

David’s grandmother’s poppies bloom every year and are spreading all over.

Then there’s the iris. What can I say about iris?  I’ve planted hundreds of them through the years and they keep multiplying and spreading. It’s one of my top five favorite flowers because they are so easy to grow. We mow them down every year and they keep coming back year after year.

I have several shades of purple.

 

David found these in a little woods by the place where he worked and dug up a few and brought them home to me and they have multiplied over the years.

Soon the Day Lilies will be blooming. There is always something growing in my garden.

Someone asked me years ago if I do a lot of weeding and I told them that I don’t.  I just plant a lot of flowers and plant them close together. They smother out the weeds after a while. I do have a lot of Creeping Charley in my yard, but it compliments my plants so I leave it alone.  Some call it a weed, but it has the cutest, little blue flowers on it and it keeps the soil moist beneath the plants so it’s doing its job.  It is from the mint family. Mint is very invasive. I saw where Creeping Charley was actually for sale on some garden pages. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you don’t care if it creeps everywhere. It’s nearly impossible to get rid of so you either learn to live with it or it will give you high blood pressure.

Sometimes I miss things in my garden if I don’t walk around it every day.  I had forgotten about this salvia. It is so dark and brilliant a color. It just glows.

Paired with purple and yellow Iris, it makes a stunning picture in the garden.

I could go on and on about the flowers and I haven’t shown half of them so I will save that for another day.

Molly says, “Hello.”  She enjoyed having David home for six weeks. Ralph Lauren opened his stores again this week, so he’s back to work.  I miss him.   Before, I was use to being home alone for days while he worked, but I got use to having him home so I was not happy to see him go back to work, but he loves his job and it keeps him busy and active.  So I had to get use to being alone again and I will.  Hope you all are finding things to keep you busy and occupied during this quarantine.  Many are not use to having so many hours in a day to fill that isn’t a job. Me, I’ve never had any problem finding things to do. I can honestly say I have never been bored in my life. There’s too many wonderful things in this world to discover and enjoy.   So I hope you are  discovering a wonderful world around you whether it be your family, your garden, your hobbies, books or anything else.  This time will pass and will become part of all our histories so we may as well enjoy it. Bye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My New Sweet Tweets

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I talked myself into getting chicks this week.  I know they are something else I will have to take care of, but since my flock is slowly diminishing, I decided it was time to add a few so the egg supply will continue next year.  I had certain kinds I wanted to get, but when I got to Rural King I saw that they didn’t have the ones I wanted so I chose two new kinds.  I got three Blue Barred Rocks and three Buff Orpingtons that are not buff colored, but will be black when they are grown. I looked them up and they look like they will be big, fluffy birds and good layers.  The Buff Orpingtons I have now are yellow and fluffy and good layers.

So then I had to name them, of course. My last six were named after ladies in my Sunday School class and this bunch are named after more ladies in my church and one is the name of another friend.  They will be Miss Wilma, Miss Shawna, Miss Nancy, Miss Erika, Miss Lori, and Miss Mary.   Now I have to decide who is who.

Before I introduce you to my new birds I have to tell you how much fun it is to have chickens.  After you’ve had them for a while, they get to know you and mine meet me at the gate every day and I have one that’s a real talker and will talk her head off until I get them some chicken scratch. She seems to be the spokes chicken of the bunch.  She also is demanding. She will jump up and peck the bowl with the scratch in it or grab hold of my coat sleeve in order to get to the scratch.  I believe she is hooked on scratch.  It’s like crack for chickens.   Which is why they only get a little of it every day.   Chickens can be as friendly as you want them to be, but you have to work at it because they usually are, well, chicken.   I don’t pick up the chicks too much because I don’t think it’s good for them, but you do have to handle the chickens a bit to get them use to you and to not run from you. I find that once I’ve caught a chicken and held her and stroked her feathers for a little bit, when I put her down she seems negligent in wanting to run away from me. I think they like being petted even though they fight it at first.

Having chickens means you have to get out of the house and take care of them which is good during this quarantine time.  It’s nice to get out in the fresh air and walk to the chicken yard and see my girls all waiting for me.   I like watching them as they scratch and peck around.  Free range chickens have to be the happiest creatures alive. They only live for that next bug, piece of bread(which they love also) or handful of scratch. They haven’t a care in the world unless a predator, like a hawk, comes around.   They are on a time clock with the sun, out at dawn and in by  dusk.  Anyone who thinks chickens are hard to care for aren’t doing it right or have never had chickens. Other than cats, they are the easiest pet of them all. They just need feed and water, don’t have to be walked or played with and will supply you with all the eggs you need.  Mine have never had any health issues except for one lame one I had who lived a happy life despite her handicap.   Sadly, I think a hawk got her or the other hens had a pecking party, I will never know for sure.  And yes, chickens can be vicious to other chickens especially if one has something that makes it weak in the eyes of the others.  I’ve never had that problem before to my knowledge.

So, anyway, here’s my new babies. Snug in their dog crate coop until they are big enough to go in with the other big girls.

I guess I’ll never get over how cute baby chicks are.  My daddy raised chickens on the farm and every Spring, we’d drive to the post office and pick up two boxes full of fifty chicks each and carry them home in the car listening to their peeps all the way. I loved getting chicks day.  We’d take them out to the brooder house, a little building specifically for keeping baby chicks, where there was a big heat lamp in the center of the ceiling. We’d let the yellow chicks out and they’d all rush under the lamp in one big clump. Daddy would fill their water jars and their feeders and then leave them to settle down.  I would go out to the brooder house several times a day just to look at all those baby chicks.  Sometimes I was naughty and would try to scare them and laugh when they’d all run in the one big clump to the other side of the room. My daddy would not have been happy if he knew I did that.  Baby chicks can trample each other if there are enough of them.  But they grew and grew and one day sprouted feathers and then were allowed outside with the older chickens and there were no more baby chicks until the next Spring.

This is a Blue Barred Rock. At least that’s what the sign read on the trough the chicks were in.  It doesn’t look blue to me right now, but maybe it will change.

They’ve got little fluffy white bottoms and white chests.

The lighter ones are the Buff Orpingtons, but again I’m not sure what these will look like or whether they will turn darker.  Sometimes it’s a mystery what you are getting from Rural King.

So now I begin the adventure of raising new chickens again. They will be in this crate for a couple of months at least until they are large enough to make it with the big ladies.

Molly sits outdoor of the cabin where we are keeping the chicks and whines while I’m in there wondering what I’m doing and not including her.

Belle could not care less.

Have to show you what one of my sons sent to me for Mother’s Day.

Good with a nice cup of coffee.

He’s a good son. I’ll keep him.

Here’s to baby chicks. Everyone should have some, sometime. Bye.

 

 

 

Not Enough Time

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So how are the weeks in quarantine treating you?  After I got use to having David around 24/7 it all started going pretty smoothly and the days are flying by.   March, April and May are my favorite months and here is April almost gone for another year.  I hope by this time next year the quarantine will be a distant memory.

I have been deep cleaning this week.   We have a room that years ago I turned into the cabin room. It was supposed to be the grandchildren’s room when they stayed overnight and where all the toys were kept.  For some reason most of the grandchildren didn’t want to spend the night. I don’t think it was because of the ghost stories I told them about our house!   So as they grew up, the room became a kind of catch all for things I didn’t use. Piles of quilts were on the single bed.  So this week, I decided to clean the room well and get it organized.

I found this Camp sign in an antique store years ago. It fit the theme for the room quite well.

A flag, one of our boy’s boy scout shirt, an old tin mess kit, a flag and a talking bird add to the atmosphere of a camp.  That bird was bought when our first two grandchildren were very little. It sang “Zippity Do Da,” and those kids would want me to play it over and over.  I’m not sure it works any longer, but we had a lot of fun with it when the grandchildren were little.

Through the years I bought pictures that had the woods and camp theme.

So we got this room all completed, curtains washed, floor scrubbed and everything dusted. Now I can leave it for another ten years!

A good thing not to do.

David neatly stacked several more of my quilts.  There are still more to get off the bed.

I rolled some more quilts and put them in this old laundry tub.

I have collected American flags over the years. I have several forty-eight star ones and one forty-nine star on and several fifty star ones.   I washed some of them and ironed them and we folded them neatly and now will store them in a basket.

I love our flag.

I put David’s old army shirt on my dressmaker’s form and put an apron on it.  Kind of been the story of our lives, the military man and the homemaker.  And one of our son’s cub scout caps to top it all off.

This is the view out this bedroom’s window.

 

Here’s the chandelier we hung in the bedroom we painted. It’s even better looking in person.

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And I love the shadows it puts on the ceiling.

It almost looks like a doily is on the ceiling.

It’s taken us over forty years to get this house the way we want, but I think we’ve finally done it.

Because we can’t go out to eat like we did, I’m having to cook more and we’ve had some delicious meals. I really don’t enjoy cooking and I never cooked before we were married, but I have some tried and true meals I can throw together that we both like.

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Meatloaf, scalloped potatoes and corn.  I am not bragging, but I have never tasted meatloaf as good as mine at any restaurant.  We bought a takeout meal the other day and we ordered the meatloaf dinner and I could hardly eat it. They had used shredded carrots in their meatloaf, but it overpowered the meat and just did not taste good.  Bonnie and Belle got a treat that night!  One time a long time ago when I was in the hospital, I ordered the meatloaf for one of my meals and it came and I looked at it and could not eat it. It was grey. How does anyone make meatloaf look grey?   So I will stick with my meatloaf until someone makes one I can eat.

Orange Chiffon cake.  It is so yummy and a light dessert.   Not a lot of icing.  If you like oranges, you would love this cake.  I’ve made two since the quarantine began.

 

Blueberry muffins are always a treat for us. These are from a box, but are so moist and full of blueberries. Have we gained weight? Probably. I don’t ever weigh myself. I don’t need that grief right now. David said he has gained a few pounds. He’s use to walking all over the Ralph Lauren store all day for hours.  He’s sitting a lot more except when he’s mowing or working outside.   So when this is over, it’s back to one meal a day and we both need to exercise more.  We will call it the nonquarantine diet.

 

The garden is still beautiful.

The azalea was full of blooms.

The crabapple tree from our front porch.

I just love this tree. You can see it from a mile down the road when we are coming home.

 

The redbuds never disappoint.  I saw a weeping red bud tree advertised and I’m thinking of getting one.

Lilacs and snowballs make a pretty arrangement.  We can smell the lilacs all over the house.

They are around for such a short time, but are worth every second they are around.

And of course, I’ve been quilting and knitting socks.   A lot of people are sewing masks, but I just could not get into that.  I’ve worn a mask once since this happened. At the doctor’s office and as soon as I walked out the door it came off.   I’m still not feeling the panic some people are feeling. I know there are some who have been ill and in the hospital and can’t even have visitors and I just could not stand that.  I told David If I got that sick, keep me at home because I never want to be trapped in a hospital again and not be able to see anyone. I pray you all are keeping healthy and finding some joy in this forced in home time.   I’m sure we all will look back on it with different feelings.  Some good, some bad, but knowing it was a very different time in our nation’s and the world’s history.  So keep staying safe. Love your family, Call someone you know is alone because those are the people who have been hardest hit, I’m sure.  I’m so glad I have David to keep me company.    Bye.

 

 

 

Making it Through the Quarantine

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Does it seem to you that this quarantine has gone on forever?   I’m sure our president has to be very careful about lifting it. Will the media attack him if even one person dies of the virus?  Or will people celebrate they are free to move around again and be out in society not fearing to be exposed?   It’s a difficult decision, but the quarantine has to be lifted sometime.  There will always be a virus around us and we cannot hide out from it forever.

Not to make light of it and  knowing many people were affected and some have died, this quarantine has not affected me very much. We went to the grocery yesterday and there were people walking around with masks and gloves on.  David and I were not wearing either and we were not concerned at all.  The grocery had some shelves that were empty, but most things I wanted were there so we are good for another month.  A friend of mine went to the same store today and actually had toilet paper taken from her cart when she wasn’t looking.  I don’t understand this toilet paper shortage at all.

It’s been nice having David home.  We are finding out we will not kill each other by being together for weeks on end.  He respects my need for privacy and time alone and I cook for him. It’s all worked out!

I told you we painted a bedroom and here are a few pictures after we put everything back into the room, minus a few things.

I absolutely love the color we painted the walls.

We folded some of the quilts on an old trunk.  We also refolded all the rest of my quilts and put them in another room. I must have at least one hundred.

This is David’s grandfather’s old rocker that my daddy stripped and refinished for me one Christmas long ago.  David’s grandpa would sit on his front porch and smoke a cigar every evening. When my mother and I would drive by his house at night, all we could see was the lit end of the cigar and mom would say, “There’s Mr. Henley, smoking his cigar.”  I didn’t know at the time I would be his granddaughter-in-law one day.  These are three quilts I’ve made.

I’ve still got to get some linen pillowcases and we just ordered a Victorian crystal chandelier and the room will be completed.

Can’t remember where we got this old chest of drawers. Probably an auction.

David learned his folding skills while working for Ralph Lauren. He’s folded so many clothes in the years he’s worked there so when I need things folded very neatly, I ask David.  I had a pile of tablecloths I’ve collected over the years and he folded them for me. I asked him to count them so I’d know how many I have.

Here they all are. He said I have one hundred tablecloths!   I had no idea.  I’m going to have to start getting rid of a few I think.  But doesn’t that pile look neat?  I would never be able to fold those so neatly.

When the days are warm ,we spend a lot of time on one of our porch swings and watch the world go by. Of course, not too much of the world is going by at this time because of the virus, but there are people still traveling the roads going some place.  We had an eighty degree day this week, but today it’s in the fifties and will freeze tonight.  While sitting on the swing on my shop front porch a few days ago we saw this…

Peeking through the trees across the road a big moon was glowing.

So David ran in and got the camera and we took some picture of the super moon. The Pink Moon or Planting Moon it is called.

I love the silhouettes of the branches across the moon’s face.

Then David took some close ups.

The moon is absolutely beautiful. They say we only have so many full moons in our lives. I’ve seen most of the ones I’m going to see, but I hope I have a few left.

Skipping along. David found an old fruit press we got a long time ago.  We had a few oranges so he made some juice. How many oranges does it take to make a glass of juice?

Quite a few. And with the juice and some zest I made the best orange chiffon cake with orange icing.  I didn’t get a picture of it, but suffice it to say it was delicious!  I’m going to make another one this week.

Can’t leave without showing the garden and how it’s springing to life.

The weeping cherry is about ready to blossom and the pink flowering almond is full of bloom.

More pink flowering almond beside the house.

The Azalea in full bloom.

We cut down dead foliage, but this space will soon be full of hydrangea and Indigo.

Redbud is everywhere in Indiana.  This one is in my front yard.

Last, but not least, is the crabapple. It doesn’t look like much now, but when it blooms it will be glorious.

Hope you are faring well during this season of  our lives.  Enjoy Spring Or Autumn, if that is what it is in your part of the world.  Wishing everyone a very blessed Easter.  He is risen!   Bye.

 

 

 

 

Good-Bye March, Hello April

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Saying good-bye to March was bitter sweet. I always look forward to the month because it’s my birthday month and I celebrate all month, but this March, well, it sure wasn’t the usual March.  It started okay. We did the usual birthday stuff, eating out, cake, shopping, antiquing. But then everything seemed to go downhill fast.  The corona virus attacked and people went into hibernation, stores closed, people were out of work, people were getting sick and some were dying.  Not what I envisioned for the month of March.

David and I have adjusted to him being off work. Other than a short retirement right after  he left the military, he has never been home this much.  He’s always worked at a job somewhere, Sometimes two or three jobs. Now he has all kinds of time, is sleeping in past 5:30 in the morning and even has breakfast sometimes.   When he’s home I tell him I have to work harder because he’s always doing something and I can’t allow him to outdo me.

Here are some of the things I’ve been doing.

Surprise, I’ve been quilting. This is a small quilt I started January 2019 and I’m just finishing it up today.

 

 

Planting seeds. I’m wondering when the nurseries will be open or if they will be and if I can get some more plants this year. I’ve order two lilac bushes so I can plant something.  These seeds are cucumbers and phlox.  I’ve never tried raising phlox from seed before so we shall see how this turns out.

Decorating for Easter. Our younger grandsons asked us the other day if we are still having our annual Easter egg hunt. I told them we didn’t know yet.  It’s hard to plan things when you don’t know what’s going to happen. They’ve cancelled all the egg hunts around here.

The sky was so blue this day and the bush cherry I planted years ago was the tallest it’s ever been.  When the man next door cut down all his trees, our bushes and tree got a whole lot more sunlight and are growing taller now. I don’t remember this bush flowering like this before, but it was so pretty.

Our neighbor’s Bradford pear is just gorgeous. It fills my kitchen window with its beauty. We are going to get new neighbors over there as our neighbor has moved. It’s always a little worrisome getting new neighbors. You hope they are nice and you get along with them.  We’ve been pretty fortunate with most of our neighbors over the years.

Our little mulberry is full of bloom this year. ( This is not a mulberry tree. It’s a magnolia. I know that just didn’t have my brain in gear while typing.)  I’ve always dreamed of having a mulberry, (magnolia again)now I do.

Checking out all the perennials that are coming up. This is Dame’s Rocket. It came in a packet of wildflower seeds and reseeded itself and there are several more all around it, but this is the biggest one.  I love flowers that reseed themselves and don’t need much care.  It will be tall with pretty blue flowers.  Last year I had to protect it from the contractor’s builders as they were working around it, but it made it through.

Everywhere I look there are flowers coming up.

These big planes fly over us once in a while. They are from Camp Atterbury and the pilots practice their touch and takeoffs at the local airport.  I love seeing them. Our son flew in something similar when he was in the Air Force.

I’ve gotten a pair of socks finished.  And started another pair.  I love knitting socks. So relaxing.

I baked cupcakes, some of which I took to our daughter for her birthday.   Today I baked an orange chiffon cake.  David and I are going to have to loosen the elastic on our pants,

A friend asked me the other day if I had any eggs she could have. Do I have eggs?? At one time I had nine dozen in the refrigerator and couldn’t give them away. Then we took some to our daughter and then this friend got some.  She brought something to trade even though I didn’t expect her to.

Toilet paper!  She wrote on it, “Don’t hurry, don’t worry. Do your best and flush the rest!”  We got a good laugh out of that.  Now we are set on toilet paper for a while. I’ve got good friends.

So how are you coping with this enforced isolation?  We do get out and get takeout and ride around. We took a long ride Sunday through Brown Country down roads we’ve never been on before.  Took a ride through Brown County State Park which waived its entrance fee for the duration. There were a lot of people enjoying being out and exercising.   I try to get outside as much as possible and breath fresh air and play with the dogs.  My daily routine hasn’t really been different other than having David home all day.

When this whole enforced quarantine is over are we all going to come out of our houses like groundhogs on a bright Spring day?  Hopefully we’ll not see our shadows and won’t have to go back in.

Some of you are finding our what retirement is like except without all the fun because you can’t go anywhere. Believe me, retirement is a lot more fun than this.

This quarantine has made a lot of us think about our freedom and how wonderful it is to be able to go anywhere you want and not be impeded.  Right now it’s the grocery store or feed store to feed the animals and people and to the pharmacy to get meds.

This is giving our young people something to tell their grandchildren one day, about the great quarantine when the world almost came to a stop.  How they couldn’t go to school and had to learn at home.

Are you catching up on all that sleep you said you’d get once you didn’t have to work any longer? I know I am and I’m retired!  Between the quarantine and the cloudy, rainy days we have had and it still feeling cold to me, I want to sleep all the time.

Molly and Belle don’t know there’s a quarantine.

They just know David is around a whole lot more.  They like that he’s outside with them working around the yard.

Well, it looks like at least another month of this, so I will continue to look for projects. David is building a new fence along the back of our property so that will keep him busy for a while.  Hope you have something to do that you enjoy.  This time is really a blessing.  Really, it is.  And one day it will be over. Bye.

 

Are You Bored Yet?

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I was reading another blogger’s blog and she wrote that this time was made for introverts.  She may be onto something there as I have been very content to stay at home and piddle around the house during this enforced isolation. Of course, that’s what I do almost every day, so this is not much of a change for me.  The only thing different is David is also at home all day, every day, but we have been enjoying this time together very much.  We certainly haven’t been bored.

We are catching up on some chores around the house we have said we needed to do and we are enjoying watching some new shows we are finding on AmazonPrime and Acorntv.  We painted a bedroom I’ve wanted to paint for a while.  It started out being a white room, but as I painted, I felt very discontented with it and so we bought some new paint in a soft, pink blush color.  I immediately felt more soothed by this color. It’s true that colors do affect how we feel in many cases.  Which is why I don’t think prison cells should be grey, but should be painted happier, softer colors to ease the savage beast.

Anyway, I was very happy how the bedroom turned out. I put a fresh quilt on the bed and we folded all my quilts and stacked some of them on an old trunk in the room. Lace curtains at the window and I’m going to hang a quilt behind the bed and it will be finished.  I just may sleep in that room tonight.

We’ve been working in the yard, raking and cutting down the big grasses so the new grasses can grow up.  Seems Spring has sprung as all the daffodils are blooming, the magnolia trees are budding out and you can see a tinge of green in all the bushes and trees.  My favorite time of year.  Forty-three years ago, I was expected my baby girl.  She was born March 30th so I am going to bake some cupcakes and bread tomorrow and David is going to make ham salad and we are going to take it over to her house and leave it at her door.  She lives up a hill where we also have property so we will check up on that while we are there.

This has been a crazy time for a lot of people.  Having children home all day sounds like fun to me, but I’m sure parents are having to adjust to it.   My grandson is missing a lot of his senior year which is a bummer. No prom, no senior day, maybe no graduation, at least on the day it was supposed to happen.  I’m sure we will have a party for him at some date.  I can’t believe some of the things that are being cancelled that are months ahead.  Do the powers that be think this crisis is going to go on that long?

Again no pictures today, but I have several I will be posting.  Someone posted this on Facebook. Nine months from today there will be a baby boom.  Will some crazy parent name his little girl Corona Virus?  Or Corona Vi for short?  Don’t be surprised!

Just checking in and hope you all are not feeling too isolated. There’s always the internet, Facebook or the phone. Call someone you haven’t actually talked to for a while and make their day.

Be safe, have fun and just know this will pass. Bye.

 

Sharing Toilet Paper

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What is it about toilet paper that has people so anxious?  And why are people hoarding it now?   You can only use so much toilet paper in a month, but some people are buying enough to last a year or two. Why is that?  Did you ever think toilet paper would be the most coveted item on everyone’s grocery list?

And what happens when the toilet paper starts to run out everywhere?  Will we have a government bill passed that ensures that every American would have a month’s worth  of toilet paper sent to them every month?   Will toilet paper take the place of the welfare check?    Or will we have a toilet paper exchange where you get so many sheets of toilet paper for so many eggs?  Or loaves of bread? Or anything?  Will toilet paper become part of the black market where people meet in dark alleys to slip a roll to someone for a few bucks?    I can see it now. The new mega millionaire who gets rich by selling underground toilet paper.  Maybe that’s what all these toilet paper hoarders have in mind.  Would you buy toilet paper on E-bay if it were priced 100% higher than the stores had had it? Would you really get that desperate?

I read where somewhere in the U.S. people were ripping up t-shirts and using it for toilet paper causing major sewer jams.   I call that desperate, but if you can’t flush, what’s the use?   You are left with a bigger problem.

So let’s all work together and buy ONLY what we need.  Don’t hoard. Share. Remember that word? We learned it in kindergarten.  Make this toilet paper scare a thing of the past.

Back So Soon?

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I don’t usually write two blogs so close to each other, but I hated keeping the coronavirus blog up too long. As far as I’m concerned it’s a downer and I don’t deal in downers very often.  I just hope I didn’t disturb or cause angst to anyone who is truly concerned about it all. I just can’t make myself get too upset about it.  I guess if the grocery stores continue to have empty shelves, I may get a little worried, but we are being assured the trucks are delivering and the stockers are stocking the shelves.

Enough of that. I’m sitting here this Saint Patrick’s Day watching John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in the wonderful movie, The Quiet Man and thinking how different this Saint Patrick’s Day is from last years’ for many people. No celebrating in bars or wearing of the green so you don’t get pinched.  I guess I could have made green cupcakes or something, but I didn’t.  Happy Saint Patrick’s Day. We will all remember this one as the one where we were not allowed to gather and celebrate because of a nasty old virus.

I’ve been sewing up a storm in my shop.  I’ve got most of the 123 blocks finished for the six quilts I plan to make.  I’ve been sifting through my containers of fabric finding treasures I had forgotten about and today I found a quilt top I had forgotten I made years ago with my quilt class when I was teaching beginning quilting.  My class made a different block every week learning how to sew straight seams, do curves, match points and other things until they had twenty blocks and then they sewed it all together into a quilt top.  Then they’d come to my house and we would lay their quilt top, batting and backing together and baste them together. Then it was up to them to finish the quilt. I don’t know how many completed their quilt, but it was fun teaching all the ladies I taught.  I always made a quilt right along with my class and I have finished all of mine except this one, but it will get finished now.

This is what my shop looks like now.  Believe it or not my cutting table was clear of anything a few weeks ago, but since I’ve started making all the block, it’s a jumble of fabric right now.

A stack of the quilt blocks I am making.

There is work going on in this mess. Really.

Each of these piles of fabric will be a quilt block.

When I have them all completed then I will have to decide which blocks go into each quilt.

About two weeks ago my sister and brother-in-law celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary. When my sister got married, I was in the fourth grade and she had been like a second mother to me.   When she got a job at a bank in the city right after graduation, she used some of her hard earned money and bought me a bride doll. I still have her. I’ll have to show her to you sometime.  Anyway, I wonder if this was a portent of things to come because she soon met my future brother-in-law and got engaged. When I learned she was going to get married and leave home I cried.  Then at the wedding I cried and cried.  I did not want my sister to leave me.  But she did and 62 years later we were sitting talking and my brother-in-law said, “You didn’t want me to marry Joanne,” and I told him he was taking away my sister.  But he’s been a good brother-in-law and I’ve forgiven him for taking Joanne away.   Seems like only yesterday.  I forgot to take any pictures of them because we were visiting and talking about everything.  My parents’ farm is right next door to my sister’s house and it was sold to a relative who did not take good care of it.  The barn fell down and the house is falling down and there are trees growing in all my daddy’s fields where he use to grow corn and hay and oats.  It’s sad to see it like that.  My parents took such good care of their home and farm when they were alive.

We drove some back roads as usual when we went to my sister’s house.

Saw this along the way.

Never heard of this place, but we came upon it on our drive.

We went through the town of Liberty where my mother grew up and I have a cousin who still lives there.

His father began this supermarket many years ago and now my cousin, Tim, is the owner and manager.   We stopped in to see him. Usually I don’t see him anymore except at funerals, the last one being his mother’s, my Aunt Suzanne, so it was nice to see him on a normal day.  He and I and another cousin were all born within months of each other and we grew up together and saw each other whenever we’d visit my grandpa and my other cousin was down from Detroit where she lived. He was so surprised to see us. We had a nice visit and then we had to go on.

I didn’t show you my birthday cakes so here they are.

David got the candles on there wrong.  It should be 17!  Ha!  Seems like I was just 17 yesterday.

This was a sweet little cake that I let David eat as I ate the entire chocolate by myself. And was sorry for it!

We’ve been doing some chores around the house getting ready for gardening time.

David cleared out what I call the kitchen garden. Right now it looks barren, but it won’t be long until the rhubarb is up and all the perennials I’ve planted  through the years will be coming up.

You can barely see at the bottom of the birdhouses day lilies beginning to pop out.

Daffodils are popping out all around the garden. Spring is only days away.

Hope you are surviving the coronavirus scare and looking forward to warm and bright days ahead.  Bye.

 

 

 

The Coronavirus and Me

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No, I still don’t have any pictures. I’d show you what the Coronavirus looks like if I could. It’s kind of pretty as viruses go.   I’m just writing to tell you how stunned I am at how scared people are and how panicked some seem to be.  I’ve been out and about and most people I see are going on about their affairs while all the news shows are telling us to stay home.

They can stay home if they want to, but I’ve got a life to live and no virus is going to stop me.  It may stop me from getting groceries when some of these scared people go to the stores and clear out the shelves with things they will never use.  More food is being bought than I’ve ever seen. Do people think they are going to be locked in their homes and not allowed to go to the grocery for months?  My preacher couldn’t find a roast. My son couldn’t find one piece of chicken for his curry.  Either there’s going to be a whole lot of cooking going on in the next few weeks or a whole lot of food is going to spoil and  be thrown out.

It really bothers me when churches close. Seems to me that’s where people ought to be during something like this manufactured crisis praying for common sense and patience with people who are so scared.  If you really think you might get the virus if someone breathes on you, then stay home.  I’m going shopping tomorrow in hopes of finding some things I need on the shelves.

How do you feel about this virus?  I’m just amazed that people are having to be told to wash their hands. What in the world have they been doing?   And I hear you should wash with plain old soap and water and not to use hand sanitzers too much as they tend to become useless after a while.  I agree with that.  Maybe we are too clean.  Maybe being exposed to a few germs might be healthier.  And stay out of hospitals if you fear germs because  they have more germs there than anywhere else.

Anyway, the Coronavirus and me might meet up one day, who knows and it we do, I will stay home and drink lots of liquids and take aspirin.  The only time I’ve ever had the flu was after I got the flu shot. Go figure.  I’ve refused a flu shot ever since.  From people who should know I’ve heard that the flu shot is only for one particular flu every year, so if you get another kind, it doesn’t do a bit of good.

I really hope you aren’t one of those who is panicking over this. You really shouldn’t.  As C.S. Lewis wrote, we all are going to die of something. It’s in our future, no matter what.  So should we fear this virus any more than the volcano that might erupt, the tornado that might fly overhead,  or the bullet that might fly?  As FDR said, “There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.”  Wise words because I think it’s the fear that is fueling this more than the disease itself.

I really hope and pray all who reads this will remain well, but should you get the virus, don’t worry.  If you are a relatively healthy person you will pull through as thousands have.  I will pray this all will end soon. And don’t listen to the panic mongers on the news shows. Go out and have some fun with your kids since all the schools are closed.  Bye.

I promise my next blog will have pictures.