Category Archives: Pets I love

Things I’m Loving

 

Spring seems to go so fast here in Indiana.  No sooner than something blooms and poof! It’s gone.  The lilacs were so beautiful this year. Even the newer shrubs set on flowers and they smelled so good, but they are gone now.

The wisteria on our little cabin by the pool was just so gorgeous this year. I’ve been trying to grow wisteria for years.  Several years ago we went to a book signing of Susan Branch’s in Cincinnati, where she and her husband passed out wisteria seeds they had collected from their wisteria at their home.   So we brought those seeds home and planted them in pots and when they were larger, we transplanted them, one by the cabin and one by the house. Both plants took off, but this is the first year we have had such a gorgeous display of flowers.  The plant by the house is growing up the side of the house and birds are finding it to be a wonderful place to build their nests.  Birds also love this one on the cabin.  We watch them carrying nesting material into the shrub.

I finally have wisteria and I’m loving it.

For years I  tried to grow azaleas.  Once when we drove through the south and saw all the azaleas growing everywhere there, I wanted one, but thought our climate may be too cold.  Bought this azalea at Rural King a few years ago and this year it bloomed just like I was hoping it would.   I had another one in the front yard that bloomed so beautifully also.  It really must be a good year for flowers.

I have irises growing everywhere.  I love irises because they are so easy to grow and you almost can’t kill them.  They spread and you get a lot of flower for your buck.  I wish I had taken pictures of all the different colors of iris I have, from pinks, to rust, to yellow and these purple and white ones.

We made a trip to our favorite nursery where I bought a lot of flowers to plant in planters and I got this hanging basket for my shop.    Geraniums are another flower that is easy to grow.  You just have to dead head them a lot in order to keep flowers coming on, but they are worth it.

The snowball bush was loaded with snowballs.  Our old snowball bush wasn’t as pretty this year.  It needs a good trimming and I hope it will rebound next year as it looks a little puny right now.

My little garden in front of my shop has flowers coming up. Zinnias, lavender, nasturtiums, marigolds, cosmos and other flowers are coming up.  I just know this will be a thing of beauty later on in the Summer.

There’s even a chicken among the flowers.

I received these two hydrangea plants for Mother’s Day.

They were both set in this little planter, but I replanted them in the kitchen garden so they can grow big and hopefully have lots of hydrangeas in the future.

Speaking of blossoms.  Here are three of the sweetest ones.

Molly, Sugar and Lucy.  My sweet pups who keep me busy.  Lucy LOVES to play fetch. She’d do it 24/7 if I would play with her.   She has me well trained.

 

David finally got the pool opened and has taken advantage of it.  It’s still a bit too cool for me.

It makes me cold to watch him swimming in it sometimes.  Brrrr.  The water has to be in the eighties for me to go swimming.  We will have those days before long.

I have been mindlessly knitting two inch squares for one of my Christmas projects.  Let’s just say I’m loving what I am making with these and will show you closer to Christmas.

I am using a lot of my leftover yarn from knitting stockings.

Here is a little peek at some things I have sewn.  Oh, I love what is in those rolled up little packages.    This week I’m working on aprons.   They aren’t as fun for me to sew for some reason, but I have so much fabric I need to use that would make cute aprons.

That’s all I have for you right now.   David is looking forward to surgery this Summer which won’t be fun for either of us, so I’m getting as much completed as I can before he has it done.

Hope you are enjoying the warmer days.  We did have really bad weather go through our town this week and a lot of people were without electricity.  We weren’t, but our neighbor lost a huge limb out of a tree.  I’m thankful all we lost was the internet.  Bye.

 

 

 

Glorious Spring

Spring is like youth. It’s beautiful and fleeting. When you are young, you spend all your time trying to be older and then when you are really old, you wonder where the years went.  Youth is wasted on the young, one famous person once said.  Maybe not wasted, but we don’t appreciate being young while we are.

Spring is so like that. It comes  and goes so quickly, you hardly have a chance to enjoy it.  Right now everything is in its glory.

The Viburnum is especially pretty this year.

The Daffodils have been so pretty, but their days are almost over for another year.

I love PInk Flowering Almond.

The Redbud. One of the first harbingers of Spring. And they grow wild here in Indiana. Aren’t we blessed?  I did plant this one which came up in our back yard years ago.

Our Jeep goes right along with all the Spring colors!   By the way, the Jeep’s color is called Snazzleberry.

Our neighbors’ lilac is so lovely and we get to enjoy it, too.

I’m preparing my little garden outside my shop.  I find that if I plant things here, they won’t be dug up by pups.  They dug up three of the peonies in the back yard. We did replant them and put a fence around them, but peonies don’t like being moved, so it might be a few years before they do any good.

We went to Lowes yesterday and I bought two more large flower pots, some pansies and three other plants that I can’t remember their names at the present, but I will show you once they are planted.   One is a low growing, spreading grass and I don’t know where we will plant that yet.

Easter came and went so fast I can hardly believe we celebrated it. Our church choir sang a cantata which was lovely and then we had dinner with nine family members.

Our granddaughter and her husband(I still find that funny to say) were here. They have almost been married for a year already.

Our daughter and her family.  These are our “youngest” grandchildren now.

Our son and his wife and son were here as well. We didn’t get their pictures for some reason.  I always mean to get pictures of everyone and I always leave out someone.

David picked Daffodils for the table.

The Christmas cactus bloomed for Easter, too.

Our son and his wife had visited a nursery the day before and was I surprised when they gifted me with some presents.

This is the top of the garden stand.  Looks like angel wings, doesn’t it?   I could put birdseed in it, but it’s too pretty to have birds pooping all over it so I will probably just set it in the garden where I can enjoy it.

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Our son thought he got the best present for me, though.

A rooster windmill.   Yes, I do love it.

It’s been given a real workout with the windy days we’ve been having.

They also brought me a Russian Sage to plant. Or, as my son calls it, a Ukranian Sage.  He even printed it on the tag.  Our son, by the way is a Russian linguist and said he wishes he could go back into the military to help fight.  I’m glad he can’t because I worried enough about him while he was serving in the Air Force.

Miss Honey Sugar Dumpling,   Sugar, for short. She is such a sweet dog.

Cocoa Lucy Belle or Lucy for short is always and I mean always wanting to play. In fact, as soon as I finish this post I’m going outside and throwing her some balls.

It’s been a special time and now we are getting ready for all the work planting gardens and keeping the yard entails.  I’m also busy sewing for my Christmas sale. I know it seems far, far away, but the time goes so fast, it will be here before we know it.  I also got more fabric.  I don’t think I have enough. Ha!

Hope you are enjoying Spring or maybe it’s Fall where you live. Sometimes I can’t get my mind around the fact that when I am in snow, others are in Summer and when I am in Summer others are freezing.  Enjoy every day of Spring. I know I plan to. Bye.

 

 

 

Making an Old Pool Look Like New

After almost twenty years, the liner on our pool needed to be replaced. The puppies helped its demise along when they fell in and clawed their ways out of the pool.  David gave the pool to himself when he retired. He never golfed, fished, hunted, drove fancy cars or did much but work and come home so it was a well deserved gift to himself and he has used it a lot over the years and we have shared it with others and had pool parties.  But now the pool needed some much needed up keep.

It didn’t help the pool liner that when we got Lucy and Sugar, they both at one time or other fell in and in their efforts to get out, scratched holes in the side of the liner.  David patched it and it has held up well all Summer, but we really could not wait to get the new liner installed.  The pool company has been so busy and has had to wait for our liner to come in, but finally they received it and said they would come and get the job done.

It was an exciting day.

Here is the old pool. It still looks pretty good, but you don’t see all the tears in it. It was really getting rather worn in several places.

A whole pool liner in one little box.

A pump was put in to pump the water out. It was attached to just a regular garden hose so it was going to take a while for all the water to be removed.

Put in the bottom of the deep end, it began to pump. It took three days to pump most of the water out!

The pool looked so sad.

The liner had become brittle and came out in pieces. It’s a wonder we could swim this Summer, but we did.  And the liner held up well until the water was taken out.

 

Out with the old, in with the new.

Two very tanned men put in the liner.  They work outdoors all the time. Thus the tans. See the young man in the hat?  

Well, Miss Molly, when she was let loose, ran right up to him, her little backside wagging so hard and she went up to him and laid on her back and just looked at him. I told David I think she was in love. I have never seen her be so friendly with anyone, including us.  David told me she followed that guy everywhere.  I’m sure he liked that!

The liner in. Those guys knew what they were doing.

Time to fill the pool. The men attached a big hose to a fire hydrant that is in the back street back of our house. It didn’t take nearly as long to fill,  Just a few hours.

Finally looking like our pool again.

This is now what the bottom of our pool looks like. It goes so well with our house and surroundings.  Much better than the tropical look the old pool had.

 

I love how the water looks now. It’s so beautiful in the sunlight.

The water was cold. Way too cold for me to get in, but……

David couldn’t wait. I told him I’d join him next Summer when the water is about 85 degrees,

He is very happy with his “new” pool.

And this is his Albert Einstein look after being in the pool!   We both had a good laugh.

In other news, David has been working on a project. We have a lot of old fencing that he took down and now he’s making new fencing, but of the decorative kind.

Picket fencing to be exact.  We are going to put these around some of the flower beds. He made six of them for me and is making more. I painted them a pine forest green.

My new favorite meal. An Arby’s roast beef sandwich and a Jamocha shake. Yum.  We have two Arby’s in town and one of them makes the shake a little stronger than the other so I always want to get it from that one.

It’s really a meal in itself.

Just wanted to show you the old gate I bought on that country tour we took a few weeks ago.  There is an antique store in town that had one similar to this one for sale and they wanted over a hundred dollars for it!!!!  Just saying, I got this much, much cheaper.  It pays to shop around.  Aren’t the zinnias lovely?  They are beginning to fade now, but I am already planning my garden for next year.

Here’s to an almost new pool and the fun that will go with it. Bye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every Day is a Gift From God

I don’t often talk about my faith, but I guess I should do it more often.  I have a deep faith in a living God whose Son is my Master and Savior.  I wasn’t always a Christian, even though I went to church every Sunday with my family. I suppose a lot of people think they are Christians just because they go to church, but that is not how it works.   I didn’t know what being a Christian really meant.     But then one Friday night an evangelist explained what being a Christian is.   It’s having a faith in Jesus Christ, who died for all of us, taking our sins upon Himself so that we might enter Heaven one day.  We all are sinners. No one is completely  good even if you just stole a cookie when a child. That is stealing and God cannot allow any sin to enter Heaven so He sent His Son. All we have to do is accept Jesus’ gift of eternal life for us and it is a gift from One who loves you so much he would allow His Son to die a painful, horrible death on a cross.

Being crucified back in the past was a cruel way to die. You were nailed or hung on a cross until you suffocated or died of other causes.  Jesus did that for us.  I don’t know why it was on a cross, but I’m sure there was a reason. Anyway, I believe Jesus died for me and one day I will enter Heaven, not because I am so good, but because He took my sins upon Himself so that my sins would not enter Heaven.  I can’t explain it all. I’ve been studying the Bible almost all my life and I still don’t understand the mystery of receiving eternal life, but I know our spirits never die and have to go somewhere and I prefer mine goes to Heaven.

I believe every day is a gift from God and it is how we choose to live our life shows whether it glorifies God or it doesn’t.   I am not perfect. I still do bad things all the time like lose my temper or think badly of someone, but I know if I ask forgiveness, Jesus will take those sins upon Himself.

The days of Summer are certainly a gift from God.  I love these beautiful Summer days

Here are several reasons why I love Summer.

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I love these sweet little flowers that I grew from seed.  Each is perfect in its own way.

Rudbeckia.  A wonderful Summer flower.

The flowers in my front yard.

Stella De Oro day lilies.

My backyard full of Hibiscus plants.

This one is by our back porch.

The flowers are huge.

My little kitchen garden is full of Hibiscus and Cone flowers and Irises.  Seen through the screen of our back porch.

The Hydrangea by our front porch is especially beautiful this year.

A few years ago when we had our front porch built, one of the men on the crew who knew I loved flowers brought me this plant.  He told me I couldn’t kill it. And he was right. It comes back every year and spreads all over.

The Passion Flower. Doesn’t it look like a doily?  I think it does.

Someone wrote that God loves us so much He sends us flowers.  He has given me some beautiful ones this Summer and I thank Him for them.  How loved I feel.

He gives us the moon and we had a very bright moon a few days ago that shown in the skylight in our bedroom and lit the whole room.  My picture isn’t that great and it doesn’t show how yellow the moon was.  But it was a glorious sight.

This Mourning Dove and all its family visit our bird feeder every day.  They say people can hunt these in my state, but I don’t know why anyone would. There is not much meat on them and they are such a beautiful bird.  I love to hear their mournful call. It reminds me of the Doves I heard at my grandpa’s many years ago.

Who could shoot one of these birds?

Mr. Bunny came visiting me at the bird feeder.  He or she likes to nibble the seeds the birds drop on the ground. It doesn’t act afraid of me when it comes.

Something caught its eye, however.

And it leapt away.

I’ve spent some time in here this Summer. It has to be really hot for me to get in and it was hot a few days last month.  Hope I can get in at least a few more times before we close it.  We are getting a new liner put in this Summer or Fall when they get to us.  This liner is over twenty years old and has a few holes where puppies fell in and clawed their way out.  Sugar and Lucy won’t go in the water now.

They are such happy dogs. I tell them every day that they are spoiled rotten.

Molly agrees!

Just a few pictures of a drive we took the other day. We had had some heavy rain and the fields showed it.

The rivers were up.

We took a drive through a state forest.

We saw this enormous burl on a tree.  People sell these things.

One last thing.  I planted some old potatoes this Spring and what do you know, I grew more potatoes.

Probably almost a five pound bag full.  We boiled them and ate them and I fried the ones left over and they were good.

Hope God is giving you flowers and all the love you need.  Bye.

 

 

 

 

What’s Happening

Once again I lost a complete blog including the pictures.  Our son got the blog running again and my pictures are up there somewhere in a cloud, I guess, but to get each one in the right place on every blog I’ve written the last several years would take a miracle and I don’t have the brains to figure out how to do it, anyway, and it would take me months to untangle it all, so I’m starting over again.

I’ve been taking lots of pictures because this time of year is just beautiful and we have done some family things and I’m working on several projects.  Maybe my next post I will have pictures ready, but right now I’m just too tired to do it.  David and I have been planting trees and perennials. Well, I point and David plants them where I tell him to.   I’ve ordered nine more peonies that won’t be delivered until Fall so we will have time to get their beds ready.  Since we aren’t planting too much in the back yard right now because of the puppies, I made a little garden in front of my shop with flowers, potatoes, cucumbers and leaf lettuce growing.  We sit out on the swing and I tell David this is my little world, all of it.  When we do plant something in the back yard we have to put fencing around it or it would be totally destroyed.   Sugar seems to be the main culprit chewing on everything she can find.  She hauls up whole logs and chews on them. She must have a stomach of steel as it doesn’t seem to harm her.

Speaking of Lucy and Sugar and Molly, too, all three dogs have become wonderful fetchers.  Lucy goes so far as to try to throw the toy to us when she brings it.  And she’s very demanding about us throwing toys for her.  I’ve never seen a dog who loved to fetch as much as she does.  Sugar on the other hand will run with the toy and won’t bring it.  She needs  a little work, but we will teach her.

I finished another quilt top. A basic four patch and I find I love the simplicity of it and can’t wait to get it completed.  I had the perfect backing for it, just hope it’s big enough.  I have another quilt on the machine and as soon as I get it done, I’ll start quilting the four patch.

Our granddaughter, our oldest grandchild, graduated with honors from Purdue University this week.  She was only allowed two tickets so we didn’t get to go. She graduated in three years with a grade point average of 4.0.   All A’s.  She doesn’t take after me that’s for sure.   She is getting married in July and then will go straight back to college to get her Masters.  She is working in a museum this Summer which is what she wants to do.   Plus she and her fiance’ have already purchased a house.  And they say bad things about this generation.  I don’t think so.

I’ve read several good books. I discovered the author, D.E. Stevenson, who writes about English life in the forties, fifties and sixties. They are gentle stories which I find to my liking. No swear words in them.  What is it with authors and/or writers of all types who think they must include cursing and taking God’s name in vain? Every movie I’ve watched lately the actors use the “F” word.  To be honest, I don’t know anyone who uses that word or curses with abandon.  I’m not saying I’ve NEVER used a curse word, but it’s usually when I’m alone and am frustrated about something.  I’d be ashamed for anyone to hear me, though.  Anyway, I just would love to watch a good movie with no cursing.  David and I did just finish watching Five Stories Up with Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton. Two of my favorite actors.  I don’ think either one has ever made a bad movie.  At least I’ve never seen a bad one of theirs. Seems they know how to pick them.   Some actors just consistantly choose bad movies to be in. Is it poor judgement or do they really think they can make them better?

About my granddaughter’s wedding. Neither she nor her fiance’ like wedding cake so they are asking several people to bring a dessert. I am baking several different cakes and have been looking at a couple I want to test before the wedding to make sure they are good.  One is called Magic Pumpkin Cake, a cross between a cake and a pumpkin pie with whipped topping on top. I think it’s a really good idea of them and lets people be involved in the wedding.  I did ask my granddaughter to please not have me speak in front of everyone.  At our daughter’s wedding years ago me and the other mother had to light the  Unity candle and while we were lighting it, it fell over and I imagined the whole place going up in flames. Luckily the other mother had the sense to put it upright again and we continued with the lighting.   Our granddaughter is having her wedding held in a museum. Seems she has a theme going.

I think I will finish right now. Just wanted you to know I had not left my blog. My blog left me.

Here’s to many more posts to come. Bye.

 

Good-Bye 2020 Welcome 2021, I Think

What a year 2020 has been and it just keeps on giving.  When the new year started, it seemed like everything was so fresh and new and that wonderful things would happen and then,…. China gave us the present of the Covid Virus. I’ve heard that was an act of aggression on their part or even an act of war, but we Americans calmly accepted it and started the journey of quarantining ourselves, wearing masks and not gathering together.  It was all so strange. We are a people who like to do things in large groups.  This year we won’t even be able to gather in Times Square and welcome in the new year. Oh, the ball will still drop, but no one will be there to see it.  Is it kind of like if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there, will anyone hear it kind of thing.

I hate wearing a mask. I have breathing problems at times anyway and wearing a mask gives me claustrophobia and shortness of breath so I try to avoid places where I have to wear one.  Thankfully, we are not required to wear them in church.  I try to do all my shopping at once so I don’t have to go several times a month.  I try to spend time outdoors in the fresh air as much as possible. With three dogs, I have to be outside.

Speaking of dogs, they have been a life saver, keeping me company and giving me entertainment.  Lucy and Sugar have definitely become MY dogs. David can be outside playing with them and all they have to do is hear me open the back door and they are off to the races seeing who can get to me first and jump on me.  We are working on that jumping part because when you have two fifty pound puppies slam into you, you really feel it!  At least they are happy to see me and I am usually happy to see them unless they get muddy paws all over me.

Three needy dogs.  They are all three people pups. They love being with people.  The puppies have grown so much and they are still only about half the size they will be.  Our vet said they were slightly overweight, but they look skinny next to Molly and she has lost some weight. The vet told us Labs were always hungry and she was right. They act starved all the time.

They are so darn cute, I can’t get mad at them even when they tear up everything in the back yard. One of them dug up all the flowers I planted around our porch.  I hope they get that out of their system before next growing season.  Lucy still has those beautiful eyes.

They are all partners in crimes. Here David has a treat waiting for them.  All eyes on it!

All our dogs when they were puppies destroyed something. Well, our new pups tore the pool liner getting in and out of the pool so we are going to have to replace it next Spring. The pool is eighteen years old, so the liner was needing to be replaced.  David didn’t even act disturbed about it. Hmmmm.  When Molly tore up the pool heater he had built, I thought she was dead dog walking for a while.  He is attached to these puppies like no other.

Then there’s the chickens or chooks if you are in Australia.   They are such good little layers.  We haven’t had a period without eggs for a long while.  Our new layers are starting to lay some pretty big eggs.

One of these eggs is not like the others…..

I love our eggs. They taste like butter.  We have given away dozens of eggs this year. People always offer to pay for them, but we like giving them away.  As long as we are able, we will continue to do so.

I call this one our loner chicken because she stays outside looking in. When I feed them, she waits for all the rest to begin and then she will find a place to fit in. She’s not henpecked, just chooses to be alone.  I guess if some people live like that, so can chickens.

This is our bossy hen. She meets me at the gate every single time telling me I’m not feeding them fast enough. She has grabbed a bowl of feed right out of my hand and will peck me if she feels like it.  She is also a talker and will follow me around clucking up a storm.

Our only Buff Orpington left. She has been a good layer and the next time we get chicks, I’m getting more Buffs.  They are a gentle, sweet chicken.

No exactly sure what kind this chicken is. I thought I was getting a Silver Laced Wyndotte, but I don’t think that is what she is. She is a lot smaller than the other hens.

It’s been a little cold for bird watching although I still feed the birds, but the other day I got a few photos.

He looks well fed, doesn’t he?

Remember Frankenbird?  She has blossomed from an ugly bird.

She’s got a crest and more feathers. Here she almost looks rainbow colored.  I’m happy for her.

Sitting in the living room the other day I noticed the light at the window was beautiful through our lace curtains.

I took a few pictures.  “Scarlette, it’s the land you love.”  Does this look like that scene a bit?

The sky was on fire.  Just beautiful. God’s creation on display for all to see.

Back to the puppies. I couldn’t resist.  David had to build this gate because the pups were eating our shoes we leave on the porch and they tore the screen door out.  David didn’t seemed disturbed by that either. Hmmmmmmmmmm.  Is he getting soft in his old age?

In the new year I am starting a new quilt project. I have never joined a quilt along before. A quilt along, if you don’t know, is where several people get together online and follow instructions on how to make a certain quilt and we make our quilts together and when it’s over, we should have a finished quilt top. There are over 5,000 people all around the world getting ready to quilt with this quilt along.

We are using this quilt book by Kathleen Tracy.  All the blocks measure four and a half inches square and there are 72 squares and a middle medallion with a saw toothed edging.

It’s not too late to join, but you need Kathleen’s book and lots of different materials. You will need to follow her on her Facebook page. I’ve been going through my stash.

As you can see, I  am very well organized. I’ve got boxes and boxes of material and it’s like shopping for new when I go through them as I’ve forgotten a lot of these fabrics. but…

Wouldn’t you know?  I ordered more!  And I’ve ordered more again and am waiting for it to come!  And,… I will probably order more before this quilt is done. I always can find an excuse to order more fabric. One of these fabrics has chickens on it, too!  I’m going to try to make two of these quilts at a time. One in reproduction fabrics from the 1800’s and one from Christmas fabrics, so I will have two finished quilt tops by March, I hope.  It’s going to be so much fun.

Years ago, I use to quilt with a friend and all of a sudden one day I lost my quilting mojo. I just didn’t feel like making quilts. It was awful.  I could not get interested. My friend was worried about me. Thankfully, that little blip lasted a very short time and I was soon quilting again. We had just closed our quilt shop at that time and I think I was just burned out with quilts, quilting, fabric, the whole thing. But now I am as passionate about it or more. I love making quilts I can share with others and our house is full of them.  I told my daughter that was my legacy to her and she can do whatever she wants with them when I’m gone.  She already has several quilts I’ve made her as do her two boys.  I love knowing that when I’m gone people will still be snuggling under quilts I’ve made for them.

So I already know what I will be doing the beginning of the new year. These are a few of the blocks I’ve been practicing on.

Do you make new year’s resolutions?  I use to long ago, but I found that I could never keep them or I forgot all about them. I think it’s best to just live each year and be the best you can be. Be kind to people. Enjoy what you do each day.  Find a passion and stick with it. Take a walk.  Get a pet.  Grow something.  Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.  Remember each day could be your last one. We never know.  I’m glad God made it that way.  I don’t think I would do anything much differently if I knew when I was going to die, Maybe patch up some broken relationships if I could.  I’ve tried before.  But the people I love know I love them so I’m good.  Make a new friend.  Go to church because we are to assemble together with one another.  Pray for your country and its leader. We still are not completely sure who our president is.  There was a lot of chicanery that went on with this last election.  I hope it all turns out well. It will be up to the electoral college so pray for those people.  Give money to a charity that helps people.   I’m all for helping animals, but we people are in need of help too. I find that the Salvation Army is one of the best charities to get the most  to more people.  Pray for a cure for all the illnesses in this world. I pray for a cure for MS because my daughter has it and I truly believe she will be healed one day, but pray for anyone you know who is suffering with any illness.  Pray this Covid thing will go away for good.  I could go on and on about what we could or should do, but you know all that.

While it’s been very different this year, I think it’s been a blessing in disguise, too. Families have had to stay together and do things together.  I know my daughter and her sons have had some real quality time. I do hope the boys get back into school at some time because they need that social connection with their peers.  I’ve enjoyed not feeling like I have to be on the go all the time. I’ve read more books, sewn more quilts, and had more free time than I ever have had before and I love it.  My life was not as interrupted as many have been and I know all you social people are ready for a BIG party so I hope you get it soon.

We will face this new year and we will live right through it like we did 2020.  Many did not survive, but we who did have been blessed and we should make the most of every day.  Thank God in Heaven for all you have because we do live in the richest country in the world.  I heard the other day that just one of our states, California, has the fifth largest economy in the world.  One state!  So we are extremely blessed and we really don’t deserve to be. So thank you, God.

I pray for all of you who read this blog that your year will be full of blessings. That your troubles will be few and your blessings many.  Hugs to you all.  Virtually, of course.  Happy New Year. Pray for 2021 that it only can get better from here.  Bye.

 

 

You Can Tell it’s Almost Here

Right after Thanksgiving and even before, hints of Christmas start showing up. Usually the stores are months ahead on every holiday and Christmas is no exception.  I really wish the Christmas season was longer. I’m just getting my house decorated, the tree up, my mantle decorated, the nativity showcased. I pretty much love everything about Christmas and I love buying presents and trying to give presents I know will be well received.

A couple of years ago, we gave all our grandsons Hover Boards.  Probably the best gifts we ever have given and the looks on the faces and the “wows!’ we heard was worth it all. They all rode those Hover Boards with ease. I tried getting on one and almost killed myself.

Last year we gave the younger boys jumping shoes. They could wear them and bounce all over.  Also all the boys got hats with beards and/or hair attached that made them all look like lumberjacks.  My daughter told me later that her boys wore the hats and the jumping shoes to the park and everyone was laughing at how they looked.  Another good gift. This year the younger boys are getting something I found online, but I can’t tell what it is, yet.  It must be popular because when I went to try to buy another one it was out of stock everywhere.  All my grandchildren are getting something that I can’t tell yet, but after Christmas I will show you what it is. I’ve been working on it all year. My grandchildren may read this so I have to keep things secret, you see.  This year our only granddaughter and our oldest grandchild announced she was getting married next year. Another great gift for her grandma.

I  have never been able to surprise David at Christmas, but he surprised me one year.  It was years and years ago and I was at home with the children and someone knocked on the door. When I answered it, a man was there who said he had a piano to deliver. I told him he had the wrong house, but he assured me he was at the right one. David had bought me a piano for Christmas!  I was so surprised.  I don’t play the piano well, but I like to try. I never took piano lessons, but I was always playing on the piano when I was a girl. One time the man who worked on the telephone lines told us our phone had been off the hook and all he could hear was children playing the piano and laughing. It was my younger brother and I.  He was a friend of the family and his daughter was my best friend at the time and they all got a kick out of hearing this about us.  Those were the days of the party line so the whole party probably had heard us!

Christmas was so magical when I was a girl.  And there always seemed to be snow. We haven’t had a white Christmas for a few years.  Every year we would take a trip to town and visit the toy store called Veach’s.  It was the most wonderful toy store piled to the ceiling with all kinds of toys, dolls, trains, etc.  I remember one year looking at bicycles. I had learned to ride a bike that Summer when I was nine years old. I learned on one of my older brothers’ bikes coasting down the driveway in the barnyard.  I was hoping for a bike that year and I got one!  It was a blue Schwinn with padded seat and a place on the back for someone else to ride.  I rode that bike all the time up and down the road in front of our house. We lived in the country and there was very little traffic so I had the whole road to myself.  I pretended my bike was a horse galloping up and down.  I was only allowed to go so far.  A friend of mine lived only about a half mile from our house over the hill. If the hill hadn’t been there, we could have seen her house from ours, but even at that, I was not allowed to ride there except on special occasions. My sister lived about a quarter of a mile the other direction and I got to ride to her house. My sister was eleven years older than me and was married and already had a baby so I loved visiting her house.

My dream was to receive a horse for Christmas, Every year from the time I could remember, I asked for a horse.  I would dream of waking up Christmas morning and running out to the barn and seeing a beautiful horse in a stall just for me, but it never happened that way. What happened was that when I was about eleven, one of my older brothers, Fred, knew a man who had two horses for sale. One was a Clydesdale and the other was an Appalousa.  Fred told me if I had any money, he would put up some and buy the horses for me. So we went to the bank where I had a very small savings account and I took out money and Fred added his and we bought the horses.  They were delivered and I was so excited.  The Clydesdale we called Charlie and the Appalousa I named Tornado and he lived up to his name in many ways.  Tornado was a stallion when we got him and stallions have a temperament and you couldn’t trust him to be gentle so Daddy had a vet come and castrate him to calm him down. Otherwise I probably would not have been able to ride him. I rode Tornado bareback all that Summer and that Christmas I got a new saddle!  Another wonderful Christmas.

I love Christmas because it is the time to celebrate Christ’s birth.  We always had a nativity on the table. My daddy had made my mother one and it had a straw roof from straw in the barn.  The figures were made of some kind of material that would break if you dropped them, Mary had a crack on her head where someone had dropped her.  Baby Jesus lay in a bed of straw. A soft blue light glowed in the stable.  I loved looking at it and imaging the holy family having to stay in a stable. A newborn king, no less.  One Christmas after I had had our first little boy, our church did a live nativity and our baby was Baby Jesus. A teen-age girl carried him and I remember hoping she wouldn’t drop him!

I have so many wonderful memories of Christmas. Sometimes I wonder how I would celebrate if I was all alone.  I probably would not put up a big tree, but I know I would decorate and listen to the carols and read the Christmas story in the Bible.  It will come, whether we celebrate with a crowd or all alone and Jesus will always be the center of it all.  It really isn’t all about the gifts in the end.

I would love to get a Christmas picture with me and the dogs, but I’m not sure how they will co-operate.  So keep watch and see what happens.

How do you feel about the election? I still believe it is being stolen from our president.  Too many lies are being told by too many people and there are way too many discrepancies in the votes to believe Biden really got more votes than our president.  If is it stolen, we all should be afraid of a government that can do that to us. Even if you believe your guy won.  Just think about it. President Trump got eleven million more votes than he did last election, he got more votes than Obama did his second run for president and yet, Biden got more votes than them both. You got to really kid yourself if you believe this vote count was legal.

Here’s to Christmases past and to elections in the future. May we still have them.  Bye.

 

 

Old Books and Loving to Read

I am always on the lookout for old books when David and I go antiquing.   I’ve found some wonderful books throughout my searches.  I also have some old books I’ve kept from my childhood.  Books you can tell were read over and over by the shape they are in.

Before I show you some of my old books, I have a few things to tie up.

We are at the end of Autumn, my favorite season. It’s gone so quickly, Halloween and Thanksgiving already turned over on the calendar.

The foliage on the trees was beautiful. This maple outside our bathroom window really looked like gold.

For the first time, my burning bushes were bright red. I planted these years and years ago and they have never displayed the red leaves like they did this year.  We had even talked of replacing them, but I guess we won’t now.

The light coming through the windows this time of year is so different from any other time.

Here is a paint by number I just completed and the light shining through the windows gave it such a beautiful look.  I’ve really gotten into paints by number and have another one ready to begin after Christmas.

The dogs always seem to find the warmest place to lay and sleep.

This just shows how close Molly, Lucy and Sugar have become.  The puppies pile up on Molly and they are all toasty warm.

Speaking of puppies, a funny story.  The other night David and I were in the living room watching a movie when the door bell rang. David went to the door and a neighbor down the road had all three dogs with him.  They had evidently gotten out of the yard and who knows for how long were playing around the neighborhood. Molly looked absolutely exhausted. Anyway, we had to bring them through the house to get them back into the back yard and while bringing the puppies through, they got loose and began to jump on all the furniture. They were wild. They found my yarn and started grabbing it and running and David and I were chasing them all the way!  One of them got a ball of yarn and ran through the house, trailing yarn behind her.  We finally each grabbed a pup by the scruff of the neck and got them outside.  Then we had to find out how they got out. We walked the yard and all we could figure out is they jumped the gate, so David built a higher gate by adding wood and screen.  They haven’t gotten out since so hopefully it’s fixed.  I’m still wondering how fat Molly got over that gate. I’m sure she felt the need to stay with the puppies to protect them and she got over somehow.

We went to the Artist’s Colony restaurant in Nashville with our daughter and her family. This is what they served. It was all delicious, and I didn’t have to cook!

Now for old books.

I’ve been going through my books and found some I forgot I even had.

This is very outdated but very interesting. Some of the countries don’t even exist any longer, I don’t think.

Korea is around but split in two.  This picture was before it happened,

I have a feeling Canadian children don’t dress like this any more.

Norwegian boys “coasting.”

Evidently they only took pictures during the Winter.

No, here are two darling children dressed in their traditional clothes.  Not sure they would be comfortable to play in.

Romania spelled differently?

We were watching Alice Though the Looking Glass a few weeks ago and I found this book I didn’t know I had.

Lewis Carroll drew the illustrations.

Alice and Humpty Dumpty. Did Humpty Dumpty come before or after this book was written?  I don’t know. I may have to investigate this.

Beware the Jabberwocky!

Enough to give a child nightmares if this were read right before bedtime.

I was collecting Wizard of Oz books for a while, but they have become quite costly.

A story behind this book. I loved this book when I was a little girl and I still had a very vivid imagination. There is a time in the book when Princess Ozma is put into a peach pit and kept there.  It just so happened my mother was doing peaches at the time and I took one of the peach pits and put it beside my bed. I just knew Princess Ozma was going to come out of that pit and be my friend forevermore.  After a few nights, I knew it was not going to happen, but I really did think it would.  To this day, I think Ozma is still in that pit!

I always loved this story of who killed Cock Robin.  “It was I,” said the Sparrow, “with my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin.”  I thought it was the saddest of tales.

I haven’t read this book yet, but as you can see the lady who wrote the Little Colonel wrote this book and I loved the Little Colonel.

Oh, the “Jalna” books by Mazo De La Roche.  Books about a family who settled in pioneer Canada.  You can still buy the books and I have almost all of them. It follows the family as they build this wonderful house and raise their children. I just may have to read these again.

If you like to read gentle stories about good people who care for one another, read the Miss Read books. She writes about a village in England called Thrush Green and the school that is in it and all the characters in the village. I absolutely love these books and snatch one up anytime I find them because it’s hard to find some online.

I learned to read from these books.  I saw new Dick and Jane books were being produced.

This pictures tell a story even if you couldn’t read.

I’m not so old that I learned to spell out of these books, but my parents were.

Even in the classics, there were pictures most times.

Haven’t read this, so not sure what is happening with this spider. I will have to find out.

Back in time this was not politically incorrect, but you won’t see a picture like this in any book today.  It’s hard to imagine now.

I got this book cheaply at a sale.

I got it for the beautiful pictures inside of garden produce and flowers.

I had purchased this next book years ago and thought I would frame some of the pages, but since I’ve changed my mind and will keep the book intact.

In the days when they didn’t use photographs, but actual painted pictures.

 

Silas Marner. Anyone read this in school. I did.

This is well used book.

I am going to read this book. Years and years ago back when I was a second or third grader, we had a little library in a hole in the wall at our school and I remember going there with my best friend and would you believe, this is the book I picked out to take home.  I was a reader already and began to read it, but never finished it.  It’s on my list to complete.

This isn’t even a little bit of my personal library. I’ve been a voracious reader all my life. Right now I like reading psychological thrillers intermingled with feel good books about relationships and love.  I read mostly on my Kindle now, but I found this page I tore out of a magazine years ago.

It tells of the importance of books. Words on paper. I still like to pick up a good book and read it. I still love the smell of bookstores and libraries.  If you love to read as I do, you know what I mean.  Are you a reader? I can’t imagine not having a book ready to read at hand.  I fall asleep reading, after I say my prayers.  They say you are never alone when you have a book to read and you can travel anywhere you’d like to go.

So, here’s to wonderful books and their authors and puppies who love to run with yarn. Bye.

 

 

Pictures to Make You Happy

Just in case the election doesn’t go as you like, or even if it does, here are some cute puppy pictures, Enjoy.

Lucy sitting in her favorite chair.

Sugar pretending to be a wild tiger.

Don’t let those innocent faces betray you!

The three sweetest faces on earth.

Lazing by the pool, but she never gets in it.

Oh, oh.  Lucy sees Sugar hiding in the grass.

It’s safer up here on the chair.

Not sure I should get down.

Watching the action below.

The puppies are growing so fast and are getting more and more brave. They already know how to sit and stay and wait for their treats and soon I will be working with them on the leash.  It’s been so much fun having them.

They watch the back door and as soon as they hear it open, they are waiting at the top step to the porch.  It makes it a little hard to walk down the steps, but they are learning to get out of the way.  Molly shares her house and her bed with them and they all sleep together.

David gets up early and feeds them, then I have them the rest of the day.  Just me, the puppies and the chickens.  Ha.   Well, I’m going to watch the election returns and pray for good results.  God bless America.   Bye.

P.S.  Had to tell you a funny story. We have had Labrador Retrievers for years and our last two are number four and five.  None of our Labs in the past wanted to get in our pool which we thought was strange since Labradors are bred to go into water to retrieve the hunter’s bird or duck. Well, all our past Labs always acted afraid around our pool and we didn’t encourage them as we didn’t want our pool liner to get torn.   Well, yesterday I noticed Sugar, our new black Lab puppy leaning down into the pool and I called her out on it.  Later in the day I thought her coat looked so pretty and had a wave in it on her back. Then I pet her and noticed she was wet all over. Then I saw a big puddle  by  the steps into our pool.  Sugar had evidently either fallen in or gone for a swim willingly. It had been my fear one of the pups would fall into the pool and drown, but they have stayed away from it until today. Now one of them has tasted the joy of water and I have a feeling we won’t be able to keep Lucy out  of the pool.  Oh, well.  Life is never boring with puppies.

October Highlights

Here it is,  the middle of October already.  It’s been a wonderful month at our house.  We got two new members of our family.

Lucy and Sugar have almost doubled their size in the two weeks we have had them.  They have made themselves at home and consider the yard theirs.  They are growing out of being lap dogs.

They were introduced to our two youngest grandsons.  They are definitely people puppies.

Molly has become a very good “Nana” to the puppies and they love her.

They play hard and sleep hard.

We have this sign outside my shop.  Beware the Dog!

Yes be very aware of these two. They can trip you up and nip your legs and tear your clothes.  They look innocent, but they are bandits.  I’ve got the bloody fingers and holes in my clothes to prove it.  Their little teeth are like sharp knives.   Working on that biting bit.  One day Molly got in front of me, the black puppy, Sugar, went between my legs and the chocolate one, Lucy, pushed me from behind. A group effort to knock me down and down I went!  Good thing I am good at catching myself or I might have gone into the pool where I was trying to get a ball Molly dropped in it.  I was a little sore, but today I’m feeling fine, so no harm done, but I have got to watch these rascals.  They look so innocent, but don’t trust that look.

The flowers in the garden are giving their last hurrah.

The only one of its kind in the garden and it’s just now blooming.

This zinnias have been so pretty.

The marigolds grew so tall and were so happy looking.

I never can think of this bush’s name, but it has little blue flowers on it in the Spring and now it’s turning golden.  The puppies like it, unfortunately, and are flattening a lot of it. I hope they grow out of this destructive behavior.

My burning bushes never turn very red.  I don’t know why.

These are some of the final flowers left in the pots. We are expecting frost in the next few days so these may not be around much longer.

The view up to our porch. Our neighbor’s maple tree is glorious.  The Hydrangeas are self drying on the shrub and look so lovely.

I plant pumpkins almost every year and some years are good and some years are a bust. This is the only pumpkin that grew and it grew up on the fence and we almost didn’t find it in time.

There are no skies as blue as skies in the Autumn.   I caught a flying bird in this picture I didn’t notice until now.

David and I have been taking road trips on the backroads of Indiana.  So many interesting things to see on the back roads that you don’t get on the main highways.

The trees are at their most beautiful now.

Driving by Indiana corn fields. As a farmer’s daughter, I am always happy to see the farmers having good crops.

This farmer is finishing up harvesting his soybeans.

This is what a burning bush should look like.

Little churches tucked away in the woods.

Into a crossroads called Story where this building houses an inn and a restaurant.  People come from all over to eat here.  We’ve never eaten here yet, but it’s on our list of things to do.  To look at it, it doesn’t look very fancy, but I hear the meals they serve are very elegant.

Another view of it. See what I mean by it not looking like much?  The parking lot was full and people were going in to eat.

We drove many miles on back roads and came across a little antique store that had just been opened. I will save that for another post.  It’s been a good week.  I got a good doctor’s report today and I’m gaining my stamina a little bit more.  My blood pressure is finally under control and everything checked out well so I’m good for another six months.   Nothing is better than having your good health and I’m so thankful I still have mine.

Still knitting socks and trying to use up my yarn in socks of my own creation.  I think these are great socks to wear this time of year.  I just finished a Christmas pair, so  I’m finally to the point I just have to order more yarn.  That makes me so happy!  I don’t know exactly how many pairs of  socks I’ve knitted this year. When I complete a pair I put them in a bag upstairs and I haven’t checked it lately. Probably fifteen pair or more.  I’m still not tired of knitting them.

I forgot to tell you what this was a picture of in one of my last blogs.  I mistakenly took a closeup of Molly’s fur.  It looks like she’s getting some gray hairs there.  Puppies will do that to you!

Hope you are enjoying this wonderful season and can get outside to see all the beauty. Bye.