Category Archives: Home and family

Christmas Must Be Coming

Before I talk about Christmas, I want to show you a few pictures of Autumn.

Is there anything more beautiful than the sky in Autumn? So bright blue and clear. Look up and see the wonder.

A tomato plant that I did not plant is giving me bowls of cherry tomatoes right now. They are so good just to pop in your mouth. It tastes like Summer.

This is our scarecrow. David brought a bunch of plastic wrap they throw away at Ralph’s and we used it to stuff him really good. He sits guard on our front porch.

With the cool evenings it’s nice to have a roaring fire in the fire pit. David and I spend hours just sitting out there and talking.

Nice to warm the tootsies too.

I always know that Christmas is coming when the catalogs start to arrive in the mail. I get so many and love looking through them even though I rarely order from most of them.

This catalog has some exotic things that I will never order.

Like this belly dancing outfit. I had a friend who took belly dancing lessons and she said it was good for her waistline and she had the whole outfit and everything. You would have never known she could belly dance to look at her. I would have liked to have seen her dance.

Or how about this outfit? I could be a bar wench. Hmmm, don’t think so. Even so, there are a couple of really cute tops in here that I would probably wear.

I have ordered many things from this company. Their clothes last forever. I am wearing a sweater I bought from them years ago right now. I still like it.

I haven’t ordered from J Jill for a while. Their line of clothes have changed and I don’t

like them as well as I use to.

Of course I receive some quilting catalogs. This is one of my favorites.

I got this stack of catalogs yesterday. Wonder what the mail will bring today?

I will be taking a break from writing for a couple of weeks. There are places to go, things to see, people to visit, adventures to be had, antiquing to do so I will see you soon.

May blue skies be above you and happiness surround you. Bye.

A Gathering of Quilts and Seeds

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We spent a night in the beautiful hills of brown in Brown County this week. We stayed at our daughter and son-in-law’s beautiful house in the woods. You have to drive a long, long drive to get to their house. It is surrounded by trees and this time of year it is so beautiful there. Have I used the word beautiful enough???

I broke my camera and cannot use the zoom on it so you will have to use your x-ray vision to see the pygmy goats in their pen. They can get out in the larger pen and I did let them loose and had a hard time getting out the gate because they wanted to come with me.

Anyway, for me it’s almost a vacation to go there. We babysat our two youngest grandsons and had a fun time with them, then when they went to sleep, I sat out on their back deck and looked at the stars. They seemed so close and crystal clear out where there are no city lights to dim them. I think I saw a star explode, if that is possible. There was a bright, flash of light and then it dimmed slowly. Planes flying across the sky were more visible in the night sky. All that could be heard were the cicadas in the trees. Complete silence except for the passing of cars way down the hill. Oh, and the baaing of the pygmy goats.

I have given my daughter several quilts in the past and she has hung them all over her house. Here are a few.

I like how she used a tree branch to hold it. I believe this is a Country Threads pattern. We use to sell these in our store.

I really love this quilt, but it looks better in her house than it does in mine, although I would like to make another one.

I had this log cabin fabric and it worked perfectly.

This block makes me thing of Alaska.

Kind of a blurry picture, but this is the double wedding ring I made for my daughter when she got married. I have since made two more. They are really easier than they look.

I called this Cardinal in the Pines. Do you see the cardinal?

As I tucked my grandsons into bed I saw the quilts I had made them for their beds.

I made this Double T quilt because my grandson’s name starts with T.

I also completed piecing a quilt from some quilt blocks a friend from church gave me. Her mother or grandmother had pieced the blocks a long time ago from old fabric and feed sacks.

I really loved how this turned out. Kind of Christmasy I think. It made a pretty big quilt.

I love the old fabrics in it. This could have been someone’s dress at one time.

This fabric looks like fabric from pajamas that my brothers use to wear. Just a side note. When my brothers outgrew their pajamas, guess who they were handed down to? Yes, I wore my brothers old pjs. Funny thing was, I liked it. The fabric was always so soft because they had been washed so many times and besides, I very rarely got new pajamas when I was younger. I was a tomboy, though, so it didn’t bother me.

More pajama looking fabric. The blocks were very uneven and I had to do some trimming to make it all come together, but I think it turned out well.

This time of year I gather seeds from flowers for next year’s garden. I order zinnia seeds from Wild Flower Seeds out of Texas. I usually get a pound of seed and I can have flowers all over my yard that way. I like to mix the old seed with the new to get several varieties of zinnias.

I go through the garden picking off seeds like this and storing them until Spring. I use to help my mother gather seeds when I was a girl. I enjoyed doing it and Mother always had a beautiful garden.

I gather lots of Cleome seeds. These flower actually reseed themselves, but I like to spread them all over. They are an old fashioned flower that has been around for a long time. David does not like them because they always grow around the pool and lean over and drop their seed in the pool. I did not plant many this year and I still had lots.

This would be several packets of seed for several dollars so I save by gathering the seed.

I gathered them in this little china cup from a tea set I bought at Walt Disney World one year.

Well, I have done nothing this morning but drink coffee, watch the news and quilt so I have got to get up and get moving.

Here’s to Brown County, saving seeds and quilts that make a home cozy. Bye.

Rodeo! and Other Things

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David put on his cowboy hat.

I put on my boots and we went to a rodeo.

There were horses.

And more horses.

There was a clown.

There was patriotism and a cowboy prayer.

An announcer who kept everything going.

More horses. Sigh. I want a horse!!!!!

These were some of the bucking broncs that were trying to kick their cages down. They were rearing and stomping and ready to throw anyone who got on their back.

There was even a marriage proposal right in the middle of the rodeo and she said, “Yes!” The clown was in on it and offered the girl a larger(fake) diamond if she would marry him.

It was a fun evening. The moon shone down on us and the crowd enjoyed it all. I plan to go back next year.

Now for what we have been doing. We moved into our house thirty-six years ago. It is now one hundred years old. We had a birthday party for it this summer. We have done a lot of remodeling through the years, but one place we never have touched was our cellar. It is not a basement in today’s version of basements, but a cellar where canned goods were kept for the winter. I never liked going down in the cellar because there were always spiders and I was always afraid I would come across a snake. I never have. We had a cellar in our house when I was growing up and one time I went down the stairs to bring Mother up some canned goods and laying right at eye level in the cellar window was a big, black snake curled up sleeping. I ran back upstairs and it was a long time before Mother could get me to go back down into the cellar. Daddy said it was gone, but I didn’t care.

Our children always wanted us to fix up the cellar into a real basement, but it was not to be. A week ago David did decide he would paint it to make it brighter down there.

This is the cellar before painting. You can see one wall that our grandchildren spray painted during Grandma’s camp. It’s the brightest spot down there.

David began to spray paint. He painted.

And he painted. Pretty nearly everything in sight! Even the shelves and ceiling. He still has some of the ceiling to paint and then we will put everything back. I will wash all the canning jars and cover them to keep them clean and it will look like a whole new cellar.

I will continue to store our canned goods down there. David thinks I have too many cans of baked beans and pumpkin. A couple of years ago, pumpkin was scarce, at least in our town and you couldn’t find a can to make anything so I began to buy up every can I could find. Now I have a very nice supply for this Fall’s baking and I will not run out.

Just had to show you a double yolker one of the chooks laid. The eggs are still pretty small although two of them laid two big eggs, but the silly girls stepped on them and broke them so Belle got to eat them. I have baked two pound cakes with our own eggs and they turned out so yellow and moist.

I told you about these strips of fabric in an earlier post. Fifty-two strips of fifty-two two and a half inch squares which make a one hundred and four by one hundred and four inch square quilt.

This is how it is turning out. I was wondering what were the odds, with so many different fabrics, for the same fabrics to end up together. Well, as you can see it happens even with one thousand one hundred and forty-four quilt squares. I don’t care. I’m just putting them together randomly as I pick them up. You’ll never notice it on a galloping horse, as a friend of mine use to say when she made a mistake with her quilting.

Here’s to rodeos, horses and brighter cellars. Bye.

Deep Thoughts(or Not.)

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David and I took a walk in the dark tonight. I love Summer nights when the cicadas are singing and there is a slight moistness in the air that clings to your skin and reminds you there are still warm days ahead. This Summer has gone by so quickly and I am not ready to see it go.

Today we drove into town and saw children walking home from school with their backpacks and their idealism. At least I hope they haven’t lost their idealism yet. I still have it. Sometimes I expect everyone else to think as I, but it just doesn’t work that way. Anyway, seeing all those fresh young faces with so much future ahead of them made me happy. One of my grandsons began kindergarten this week. He has a long way to go and I hope and pray his school years will be happy and productive and he will learn a lot and never lose his creativity or his idealism. He was telling me about his music class and singing a song he had learned when he stopped and said he couldn’t remember the rest because he had learned it in the morning and it was a long time since morning! He will be learning so much. More things than I had to learn. I hope he is blest with good teachers who love to teach and he will always keep his love of learning.

Now that Fall is just around the corner, can Christmas be far behind? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t even bring that up yet. Seems we are rushed from season to season and not allowed to enjoy the season we are presently living. Halloween things are arriving in the stores. I am not looking forward to putting all my Summer decorations and pillows away and getting out the Autumn ones. I will be ready as soon as the air turns crisp and Fall like. But I just got ready for Summer and it is slipping away too quickly.

I do kind of feel sorry for the children having to go to school while there is still warm enough weather to go swimming or play baseball or go skateboarding. I remember the last day of school when I would have months to be free of lessons and sitting inside. One year we got out of school on May 6th and didn’t go back until after Labor Day. The Summer would stretch before me like a gift just waiting to be opened. I remember walking down the road to my sister’s house. She lived about a quarter of a mile down the same road we lived on. I would be singing, “June is Busting Out All Over” at the top of my voice, the old dog who lived with us at the time following me behind for just a little ways and then he would turn back and go home. I remember days of swinging back and forth on the porch swing reading book after book until Mother would call me for something. There were days when I would hunt for kittens in the barn loft, feed calves from a bucket and hunt eggs in the chicken house. Days of playing croquet and badminton in the side yard for hours it seemed. There was no hurry to do anything or be anywhere. I loved it. I love it when I have days like that now. And I still gather eggs.

I am not ready to put away my Summer things and get out the Autumn things, but I will feel differently when the weather turns crisp and Fall like. I am glad David and I have planned an Autumn vacation. We will be in the mountains when the leaves are turning, I hope. Then it will be time for warm sweaters and hot chocolate and hearing the hum of the furnace as it kicks on. (And seeing the dollar signs roll by as the cost of heating goes up.) But I don’t want to close this with a bad attitude so I will just say, “I love you Summer and this has been an extraordinary one. I have raised chickens and had a wonderful garden and a family reunion and got to visit with friends I don’t see very often. I got to have three of my grandsons for almost three days for a fun filled Grandma’s camp. I have swam and walked and played with the dogs and watched the sunsets and felt the warm sun on my face and have enjoyed every single minute of you. I won’t say good-bye because, God willing, I will see you again next year.”

Here’s to first days of school, Lazy Summer Days and health to enjoy it all. Bye.

A Sexy Old Lady and Other Things

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This weekend because our house is one hundred years old and because we have been married for forty-five years and because we wanted to get some friends and family together, David and I had a party.

I had sent out invitations to many family members and invited my Sunday school class and my best friend from high school and her husband. Most of them came. We planned to have a cookout. It rained.

Happily, David and I had made contingency plans for bad weather and had set up chairs and tables in our house and in my shop for about forty people. Every chair was filled. It was a great time and we had fun. I hope everyone enjoyed the day. I felt so blest.

Here are a few snapshots from the day

David grilled under an umbrella.

Before pictures of my shop.

This is one of my nieces. She is so sweet.

Ah, grandsons, you gotta love them.

Three friends from church. Aren’t they cute? You can just tell they are fun to be around.

My best friend from high school and her husband. She was telling tales about me to my daughter sitting with her.

I met family members I had never met. Another red-headed boy. I told him I was partial to red heads, which I am. I could kick myself because I neglected to take pictures of those eating in the house.. I was too busy reminiscing with everyone that I forgot to take pictures. Two of my mother’s sisters were here who I don’t see very often. They can tell so many things about my mother that I didn’t know. I didn’t get their pictures. I hope someone did.

Anyway, David and I enjoyed ourselves immensely. Is that a giant pimple on my head? Someone needs to pop it.

Years ago, I gave this book to a friend on her fiftieth birthday.

When I turned fifty, she gave it back to me. One day I will give it to someone else turning fifty.

I love Judith Viorst. She wrote a lot of children’s books. “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” was checked out of the library several times while my children were growing up. There is a poem in this book that I would like to share. My sentiments exactly.

A Sexy Old Lady

I’m intending to grow up to be a sexy old lady,

With a gleam in my eye and lace on my underpants.

Never vulgar, of course, but a perfumed and pedicured lady

Whose passions persist long long after the age of romance.

I’m intending to walk around town as a sexy old lady,

The kind that no Boy Scout need hurry to help cross the street.

With a light-hearted bounce that announces now here comes a lady

Who knows all the steps to the dance and has not lost the beat.

I’m intending to finish my days as a sexy old lady,

Yes, spiritual too-and compassionate, wise, mature, droll.

But along with that high-minded stuff I shall still be a lady

Aware of the joys that lie just slightly south of the soul.

I’m intending to go to my grave as a sexy old lady,

There’ll be plenty of time for propriety after I’m dead.

So, if heaven has answered my prayers,

I expect to be found, around eighty, upstairs

With my sexy old husband nestled beside me in bed.

Thank you, Judith Viorst.

Bye.

Forty-five Years

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David and I keep telling each other we can’t be old enough to have been married forty-five years, but this Sunday we are celebrating that anniversary. Forty-seven years ago we started dating and we got serious pretty quickly. I knew this was the man for me. He was my soul mate. No other guy did anything for me. It was like all through high school I was waiting for the right guy to come along and my junior year David came to my high school.

David’s parents had moved to the Virgin Islands and he didn’t want to go there his senior year, so he moved in with his aunt and uncle for the year. That didn’t work out so he moved in with his grandparents later. I knew all his family as I had grown up in the same town. He sat behind me at our first football game, we went to a movie the next Sunday, he gave me a “steady” ring and the rest is history. I know some people think we were much too young to know what we wanted, but we knew.

Fast forward through all the years and here we are. A good time to remember our wedding day. Here are a few pictures from that day. My Uncle Russell took most of the pictures. We didn’t have professional photographers at weddings back then. Somehow it seems better that way to have a family member catch the moments.

I looked like an angel in this picture. Boy, did I have David fooled.

My sister, Joanne and David’s brother, Bill were our only attendants. The dresses were made by a seamstress in town. My colors were pink and white.

We were married by two pastors. I liked the pastor we had, but I also wanted to be married by the pastor under whom I became a church member and was saved. I loved Reverend Stockinger. He was truly a godly man. So maybe that is why our vows took so solidly. No, I just think we took our vows seriously.

My daddy said he just could not give one of his daughters away so my oldest brother, Jack, gave me away. Jack has since passed away. I miss him.

I loved my cake. It was iced in a basket weave and was so pretty. I don’t remember tasting it. I was in a daze that day.

My sister wore a pink dress, pink hose and pink shoes. She did that just for me.

Is that a look of adoration or what? My sister-in-law was about to give birth. My niece and David’s sister look so little. Oh my.

We left the church to get in the car to drive around town honking the horn. David’s brother drove and because he lived in the Virgin Islands, he forgot he was supposed to drive on the right side of the road and we rode out of town on the left side screaming at him to get over. We died laughing over that.

After the reception, we went to get our car. David had parked it at the Stuckey’s where I worked at the time thinking it would be safe from getting decorated. We were wrong.

My co-workers had made sure we would not escape and decorated the car to include bottle caps in the hubcaps that made a racket when we drove away. David finally had to stop and remove the hubcaps and take them out before we went on our honeymoon.

Ah, sweet love. Forty-five years later it is as strong as ever. Happy anniversary, David. You have made my life wonderful just being in it. Love you.

Happy Birthday Daddy

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Some people are blessed with a good father and I was one of them. Okay, I didn’t always appreciate him when I was growing up, but in hindsight he did a pretty amazing job of instilling a good work ethic, morals and a love of God and country in all his children.

My dad was pretty handsome.. He had brown hair and blue eyes that just got bluer the older he became. He would only have to look at me sternly with those eyes to make me behave. I would be crushed if he said anything to me unkindly which wasn’t often. I have a grandson who reminds me so much of my dad. He has his ears and his eyes. Hope he grows up to be like him.

My dad was the youngest in a family of girls. He had an older brother who died from tetanus so being the only boy left and having older sisters made daddy a spoiled little boy. By the way, that tall man is my Uncle Russell who was married to my Aunt Mid. Aunt Ruth is on the left and Aunt Clara is on the right. My grandparents are sitting. Why didn’t people smile in photos back then? They all look like they are being punished.

Daddy grew up in the roaring twenties, was married at the age of eighteen in the midst of the depression and was a farmer all his life. He had a side job working in a factory, but farming was his life. I loved following Daddy around on the farm although I didn’t get to often because he didn’t want me around the machinery. I helped him pluck chickens, haul hay, and work in the garden. I loved riding on the tractor with him. He taught me about animals and how to care for them(somewhere I missed learning about the chickens.) He worked all the time and was only in the house for meals most days. When he would take a few minutes to play basketball with my brothers in the haymow or to make caramel corn or sit at the piano and play the one song he could play because he never had lessons, it was always fun. Don’t think Daddies aren’t important to their kids because they are. We were watching him and learning just like kids do and he taught us kids a lot. The most important thing he taught us was that he loved our mother and she came first. When he would grab her and kiss her we would act embarrassed, but really we loved seeing him do it.

Daddy played basketball in high school. Wish this were in color so I could see the school colors.

This is Daddy with my Aunt Ruth. I love this picture. Aunt Ruth really does look elegant. I always thought she was a good dresser and she always smelled good. I don’t know what perfume she used, but I liked it. She was a gentle soul and so was my daddy. I very rarely saw either of them angry. I only got one spanking I can remember from my daddy because I had sassed my mother. You treated Mother with respect around Daddy. Or anytime for that matter.

I love this picture just because everyone is wearing hats This is Daddy and Mom with my oldest brother and sister. I’m not sure where this picture was taken. Mom always dressed herself and us kids well even when there wasn’t much money.

Mom and Daddy lived over fifty years together. They loved each other and I am sure they are together in Heaven now. I remember that purse Mom is holding. It was tapestry. She always got a new purse at Christmas. They make a nice looking couple. Gosh, Mom looks like my sister Joanne in this picture. Forgive me I am getting a little teary eyed, but I still miss them. Mom and I use to lock horns occasionally but now I know it’s because I was so much like her. Stubborn and wanting to do things my way. I am more like her than I ever thought I would be. You know, you say,” I won’t be like my mother,” and you turn into your mother? I hope I am like my daddy in many ways also because he was a good, godly man.

Anyway, it’s Daddy’s birthday. He would have been ninety-eight this year. Happy Birthday, Daddy. I love you. See you soon.

Grandma’s Camp 2013 or How to Lose Your Mind in Three Short Days

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Okay, that last bit on my post was just my crazy sense of humor. This has been such a busy, hectic, fun, crazy few days. It started Saturday with a bunch of kids coming to swim in our pool. They all had a lot of fun. On Father’s Day, we had some of our children and grandchildren here for swimming and a cook out. Then three of the boys stayed for another three days. All of them are under seven. Need I say more.

We tried to pack a month’s worth of activity in three short days. Monday we took the boys to the Croc store to buy them all Crocs so that we wouldn’t be fastening sandals all the time and they could get them dirty and we could just wash them off. We took them to the park to play. We took them to the army museum near our home where they learned just how many of the army vehicles their Grandpa had driven during his thirty-six years in the Army National Guard. Then we took them to a lake where they bothered an old man fishing so we didn’t stay long there. They painted birdhouses that their Grandpa had built for them. They actually got more paint on the birdhouses than on themselves or me. They helped with the chickens. They swam for hours. We took them to McDonald’s where I haven’t eaten in years. Had forgotten how good a Big Mac is. They sat in the hot tub. They played Dizzios. I took them for a two mile walk. They picked cherries to feed the chickens. They swam some more. They watched a movie(only because Grandpa and Grandma needed a break.) That was just Sunday evening and Monday.

On Tuesday we took them to a really great place in our town called the Kid’s Commons. It’s a place where kids can do all kinds of things like make giant bubbles, do experiments, play games, build things, crawl in and out of secret places, and get flushed down a giant toilet. Yes, a giant toilet, but it is actually a slide. It is advertised as the world’s largest toilet. Our town needs to be known for something. The boys loved it. We spent almost three hours there before lunch. Then we took them to another great place in our town called Zaharako’s, a wonderful old fashioned ice cream parlor. It has a calliope they play every so often and a wonderful old time soda fountain. We almost lost this wonderful place before a man in our town decided to return it to its former glory. The calliope had been stored somewhere in California and he found it and brought it back and had it installed once again in the parlor. The boys had root beer floats and ice cream with a cherry on top after their lunch. By that time, David remembered we were parked in a three hour parking place and we had been gone for four and a half hours. We walked to the car fearing we would find a parking ticket on our windshield, but we were lucky we did not have one. Whew. Then we came home and we tried to get the boys to rest for a while, but no one slept. We had had a major meltdown Monday evening because all the boys were so tired and we didn’t want it to happen again. But all was well for the rest of the day. The boys spent hours in the pool. I think they must have jumped into the pool a few hundred times and our two youngest started to learn to swim. A great difference from last year when our youngest grandson was afraid of the water.

Today at seven o’clock, the older grandson and me were in the hot tub. Soon the others joined us. Then I went back to take water to the chickens and Bonnie got in the pen and grabbed my lame chicken, Freedom. I got her away from her and then she grabbed her again. All the time I was screaming for David to come help me as Bonnie is a very big, strong dog. We finally got her out of the pen and I went to check on Freedom and she was none the worse for wear. The second time in a week she has been attacked by our dogs. Gonna have to be more careful going in and out of the pen. Freedom is one tough little chicken.

We took the boys to the steakhouse for lunch and then drove the two youngest home where the boys played with their pygmy goats and looked at their chickens. We then took the last grandson to a friend’s house. Driving home David said, “Do you hear that?” I said, “What?” and he said, “The quiet.” Yes, I heard it and it kind of made me sad. I miss them already, but the quiet is nice.

Here are a few pictures from Grandma’s Camp.

Cousins swimming.

Hot tubbing.

Peter Pan flying.

The soda fountain. Even the cash registers look old but are computerized. The young man at the register goes to our church. The red head in the forefront is one of our grandboys.

The old calliope at Zaharako’s.

Tossing basketballs at the Kid’s Commons.

One of the many places to crawl through.

Making a giant bubble around them.

Getting “flushed.”

Proudly displaying the bird houses they had painted.

Grandpa with his young men. Love this picture.

Love these guys.

This is how we all feel after three full days of fun and frolic. Wonderful memories. Sweet Dreams. Bye.

Weekend Update or Dave’s and Kate’s Excellent Adventure

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Before I talk about what happened this weekend I want to show you what I have been doing. I decided the floor in my shop needed to be repainted so with David’s help I took just about everything out of my shop. I scrubbed the floor and painted it a dark green. We then cleaned all the things we had taken out and returned them to the shop. I love the look of the shop now. So clean and crisp.

We had this old wash stand that was all rusted and bent and needed some tender loving care. I sanded it and painted it and then polyurethaned it and now it sits in my shop to hold things. I love the way it looks now.

While painting the floor I painted around this picture two of my grandchildren had painted years ago. I just could not cover it.

I also painted around these handprints of one of my grandsons. This year my three youngest grandsons will be adding their artwork to my floor.

Now when I am in my shop I can look at my newly painted ceiling and my newly painted floor and sigh with relief all the work is done. Now all I have to do is sew and quilt and that’s all right by me. Wait, I still have to paint the walls. But that can wait a while.

Now for our weekend. My youngest niece graduated this year from high school and Saturday was her open house. I was looking forward to going and seeing her and my brother and sister-in-law and my other niece who is a veterinarian. David and I packed up the car for the weekend and away we drove to Ohio. We go to their house by way of Cincinnati and then it’s a straight shot to Chillicothe. When we got out of Cincinnati we were driving along the Ohio River. I said to David, “I don’t remember driving by the Ohio River to get to David’s house.” My brother’s name is also David so don’t get confused. David reassured me he knew where he was going and we drove along enjoying the beautiful scenery. We had planned to get there in mid afternoon, but when it got to be three o’clock I said again, “Are you sure we are on the right road? Nothing looks familiar.” We had been to Chillicothe several times in the past. I knew my brother did not live by the Ohio River. Finally, David stopped at a convenience store and asked this girl how far to Chillicothe and she told him about an hour up the road. So we drove another hour and got to Portsmouth, Ohio and then I said, “I don’t think we are on the right road.” “I’ll buy a map at the next service station,” David said. And he did.

When David came out of the service station carrying the map he said something to me I do not hear very often. “I was wrong. You’re right. We are on the wrong road.” By that time it was about five o’clock and we still had another hour’s drive north to Chillicothe. The open house would be over before we would get there and I did not have my brother’s phone number with me. Finally I remembered I had my sister’s phone number memorized and I called her to call my brother to tell him we were lost and that is why we were late. Then we got to Chillicothe and the road David took to their house had a detour and we didn’t know where to go. Then my brother called our cell phone and told us where we were and in a few minutes after driving for six hours, we got to my brother’s house.

By that time we were tired, hungry and out of sorts, but we got some food and spent the evening talking about growing up on the farm and all was well.

Then my niece opened the gift we had for her. A quilt I had made. She is named after my mother and there were a few pieces of fabric that my mother had had in her stash in the quilt. I can’t believe she is grown. We didn’t get to see her very often as they live so far away and now she is grown and going off to college in the fall.

We spent the night in a motel and the next morning we got up and started for home. Now we took the road we should have been on the day before and everything looked familiar. We passed a place called the Secret Garden where they sold all kinds of garden sculptures and garden art. They had little buildings all over with things for sell for the garden and a beautiful garden you could walk through. About that time the batteries in my camera gave out so I only got this picture.

A cute birdhouse that David is going to try to replicate. Wonder where I could find some of these tiny garden tools?

As we drove along we realized we were near a town that had lots of antique stores and little shops, Waynesville, Ohio, so we stopped in for lunch and walked around looking at all the wares that were for sale. I found an old garden gate that would look good in my garden and we bought it. Don’t have a picture though Our last stop was in Shelbyville, Indiana where there is a Cow Palace where we always buy ice cream when we are passing through. I got Blue Moon and Butter Pecan in a waffle cone and it was so good.

We finally got home late Sunday afternoon and I ran to check on the chickens. This was the first time I had ever been away from them overnight and we had left their little door open so they could go in and out. I was hoping I wouldn’t just find feathers laying around. They were all just fine and didn’t even miss me.

It was fun to get away. I love weekends like this and I hope we have a few more this summer.

Here’s to husbands who don’t like to ask for directions, nieces, and enjoying the scenery anyway. Bye

Summer Beauty and an Angel in the Hottub

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You know a few weeks ago I wrote about the vast wasteland in my backyard where it looked so barren and ugly? Well, a few weeks have worked a miracle and the perennials are busting out all over and it isn’t even June.

Wait a minute. Do I see an animal in my flower bed? Who could it be?

It’s Belle, Mom. I would never get in your flower bed. Bonnie has a short term memory because she has already forgotten all the flowers she and Belle dug up a few days ago including a brand new clematis that I had surrounded with fencing that they tore out by the roots. They were in the literal dog house that day. They like to dig for moles and they are good molers, but they can destroy a flower bed pretty quickly. Bonnie shows no remorse.

Oh well, that is what you get when you keep dogs that like to dig and allow them the run of the yard. If I could just teach them to dig up the garden before I planted it because they do till the soil rather well.

David and I went to the pool place the other day to buy one bottle of algaecide and we came out with a hot tub. Really. Shopping together is dangerous to our wealth. We have looked at hot tubs through the years and talked about how nice one would be for our aches and pains, but we always put it out of our minds. We may have been out of our minds that day, but we now have a hot tub sitting on our patio and I must say David is using it a lot and says it is really helping his arthritis.

The grandkids came to try the hot tub.