Monthly Archives: November 2015

So Thankful

I have so many things to be thankful for.  Too many to count, really.  We Americans have set aside one day to thank God for all we have, but we are losing this day to shopping and Black Fridays that start on Thanksgiving.    I refuse to let this special day go.  It is a time for family, for friends, for giving thanks and thinking about all that we have.  Not one day should go by that most of us cannot think of at least one thing to thank God for.  But if you only can do it one day, make it Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving means I spend a lot of time in the kitchen the day before and the day of.  I’m someone who does not like to cook all that much, but I wouldn’t miss this for anything.  I love feeding my family.  I got to cook two meals this year as some family ate with us on Sunday and others today.     Two Thanksgiving dinners.   I will start eating better after today.   The only time of the year I fix oysters which I love.  I use to be allergic to them, but thankfully, that allergy went away and I can eat them as much as I want now.  In fact, I am thinking of eating them cold right now!

After dinner today we played the game, Say Anything.  It’s really fun and all ages can play.   My grandsons love playing games with their grandma.  In fact, all my grandchildren like to play games.  Years ago, when I was young, my brothers and I played board games all the time, Monopoly being our favorite.  We would have a Monopoly game going for days.  Set up on a card table in our front room, we would stop for chores and to eat and to go to school, but would continue the game, buying houses and motels and wheeling a dealing.  I still like that game.

Last night was the Frost Moon. So appropriate for this time of year, although we are having unseasonably warm weather right now.

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I sat on our porch swing and snapped these pictures.

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So incredibly beautiful and awesome to see.  I have seen a lot of moon rises in my life, but I never have stopped being amazed when I see the moon peek over the horizon and lift high into the sky in all its glory.  I hope I never do.

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This is our oldest son.  He brought me that cute bench today.  I love it .  He kept saying if I didn’t like it, he would take it back.  He would have had to break my arm to get it away from me!  Really.    What a nice son.

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Two of my grandsons.  How can you love someone so much?    My cup runneth over.   The one in the glasses is reading for minutes at school  His mother, our daughter, says she cannot get him to stop reading.  I said, “Don’t try!”   I guess they get an award or something for reading the most minutes and he is very competitive.   His brother is a good reader also.  They have been library card holders since they were tiny and always have books to read.  I’m glad.

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This is their parents.  My daughter and son-in-love.  Where they get their good looks.

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I took this picture of Molly and Belle sleeping in the one spot in the sun on our deck.  Snoozing away.

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Snoozing away until……….

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Spotted!  Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember, there is One who loves you more than anything. Bye.

 

 

Birds of a Feather

 

My chickens are molting.  I went out into the chicken house this morning and thought there had been a massacre.  Feathers everywhere.  My poor chooks look like someone has plucked them for dinner.   I think they are a little embarrassed.  They also are not laying very well right now as we are only getting one egg a day.   I tell them they need to get busy and start laying again because we are coming into the baking season!

David got a pointy egg the other day.  It barely fit in the egg carton.   I wonder who is the one laying the one lone egg every day.  All the other chickens do all day is eat and poop which is nice work if you can get it, I guess.

We had another tree cut down the other day.  A big elm that had to have been sixty or seventy years old.  It was beginning to drop branches in the driveway every time there was a storm or wind.  We were thinking it might be dangerous as it was so near to the house.  So several men came and cut it down.

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It has stood over our house for many years, but now it was becoming dangerous, dropping branches and we feared a good stiff wind might blow it onto the house so we called the tree men.

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We have had the same people cut down a few of our trees.  Up the bucket went into the tree and the cutting began.

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The men  worked with precision, dropping the big limbs carefully down where they cut some up for us and mulched the rest.

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David did not want to split the big logs, so they loaded them onto their truck.  They rolled them onto that lift and it lifted them up into the truck bed.

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It took three men to roll them onto the lift.

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The man in the sun glasses did all the cutting off of the limbs.  He sure knew what he was doing.

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They still left a lot of wood to be cut and split.  David has been working on this pile for a few days.  We have wood stacked everywhere.   Wood we will burn in our fire pit.  We love to burn fires and sit out in the fresh air and talk.   Wish you could smell the wood.  There is something about the scent of fresh cut wood that reminds me of days in the woods.  Years ago, we had an old red truck and three children at home and we would load them up and go to Camp Atterbury where we had permission to cut up downed timber.  We would spend the day in the woods, David cutting it and me helping him load it into the truck while the children played.  Then we would all sit in the cab of the truck, five of us(there were no seat belt laws then) and took our load of wood home where we would once again have to unload it and stack it.  They say cutting wood warms you three times, when you cut it, when you stack it and when you burn it.  It’s true.

 

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Fall is the only time when I feel like making donuts.  I decided to make a bunch of donut holes the other day. David fried them while I rolled them out and cut them.  Then I shook some of them in a bag with sugar and cinnamon and glazed the rest with icing.  Yum, were they good.  We took some to Sunday school to share with our classes.

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We had the most glorious sunset the other night.  I was sitting in our living room and noticed the sky looked yellow.  So I took my camera out back and snapped some pictures.

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Loved the way the trees were silhouetted against the sky.

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How majestic is a God who can create such beauty.  I could not stop looking at the sky.  I always feel so close to God when I see something so spectacular in nature.  The sky looked like it was on fire.  These pictures still make me feel awed.

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Had a fire in the fireplace tonight.  Doesn’t it look pretty?  Would you believe this is an electric fire?   No wood involved?   We got this at Lowes tonight and I am thrilled how realistic this looks and it has a heater too.   We don’t burn wood in our fireplace any longer.  We use to have a wood burning stove in it and burnt wood all the time.  One year, when I was baby sitting several children, I felt our chimney(it runs straight up the middle of the house) and it felt really hot.  So I gathered all the children together and called the fire department.  I told him I thought we were having a chimney fire, but it wasn’t an emergency and please don’t use the sirens when coming to our house.  Well, several fire trucks showed up at our house, sirens blaring.   Big firemen in big boots with axes in their hands came into our house.  The next thing I knew they were chopping a hole in a wall and climbing through the ceiling to our attic and going on the roof.  I was so afraid they were going to chop a hole in the roof, but they didn’t. All the while, the little children were watching the firemen bug eyed and I couldn’t help but laugh. They said there had been a fire, but it was out and we had nothing to worry about.  Except for that big hole in our wall!  Thankfully, insurance took care of that.   Therefore, we don’t burn wood anymore in the house.

Now I will leave you with a picture of our cowgirl dog.

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Belle does not look at all happy to be wearing this hat.  We got it in Texas.  I think she looks cute.

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“Me, too, Mom, me too!”  “Yes, Molly, you, too”  Bye.

Mary Poppins!

I first saw the movie, Mary Poppins, years ago at the drive-in theater.  I fell in love with it then, and I still love the movie.  This week I got to see it on stage.  Performed by almost professional people.  High school students.  I was amazed at the professionalism.  Of course, I am not at all prejudiced, seeing as we had a granddaughter performing in the musical.

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They had four performances and we went to the Saturday afternoon show.

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It was a packed, sold out crowd.

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The children were high school students.  Hard to believe that little girl is a freshman in high school.  I thought they had gotten a couple of children to play the Banks children, but no, it was students from the high school.   They were so good in their parts.  That young lady in the hat?  What a voice.  She blew us all away with her singing.

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Here is Mary Poppins with the Banks children and Bert, the chimney sweep.  See those statues behind them?   Three girls stood for long periods of time in one position.   I don’t know how they did it.

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Let’s go fly a kite…..

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Up to the highest height……

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Let’s go fly a kite and send it soaring…….

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Though her words are simple and few, “Listen, listen”, she’s calling to you.  “Feed the birds, tuppence a bag.  Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag.”

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Now as the ladder of life has been strung, you may think a sweep’s on the bottommost rung.

Though I spends me time in the ashes and smoke,

In this  ‘ole wide world there’s no happier bloke.

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Step in time.  Never need a reason……..So many on the stage and they didn’t run into each other!

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Bert does a flip in midair!  Wow.

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During one song, the audience participated by waving penlights in the air.  It was magical.

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See that young lady in the glasses?  That’s our granddaughter.  She is becoming quite comfortable on the stage.

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The young man sitting here who played George Banks that day was only a stand in and had not gone through the entire play.  The original Mr. Banks was having trouble with his throat.  This guy did an amazing job.  You would not have known he hadn’t been practicing for weeks.  Like I said, professionalism.

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The costumes were so pretty.

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The stage crew did an amazing job of changing the scenery.

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Taking a final bow.  The audience gave them a standing ovation and they deserved it.

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Our son proudly posing with our grandson and granddaughter.   Look, his son is as tall as his dad and he’s only an eighth grader. Our granddaughter’s “little brother.”

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Our younger grandson, who I am sure we will be seeing on stage in the future.  His dad was in several musicals when he was in school and in college.  It comes naturally.

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Such a wonderful day.  I cannot wait to see the next musical this school produces.  Nice to be with family too.

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Oh, I didn’t tell you Bert and my granddaughter are boyfriend and girlfriend.

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They are so cute together.  And the best thing about them is they are great young people with high ideals.  He’s a senior so this is his last musical.

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It was a delightful, fun, exciting, and heart warming musical and I am so glad I got to see it. Bye.

 

 

It’s All Over

  We have sucked every last second of fun and relaxation out of our recent vacation.  We knew we were going to take two full weeks because we knew we will not be taking another vacation for at least a year.  At least not an extended one.   The two weeks went by so quickly.  We are home now and I kiss the ground we live on as there is absolutely no place like home.  I was so happy to see Molly and Belle and the chickens and that they had all fared quite well during our absence thanks to some great pet sitters who have cared for our pets for years. 

We have so many happy memories of our trip to Texas.  Here are a few pictures.  Be prepared.  This is just a few of the pictures I took.

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  What can I say about a place that has my very favorite birds in it?  I love seagulls.  Some people call them flying rats, but I think they are beautiful and look so graceful soaring through the air.  These almost look like angels coming down from heaven.

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  They can stand on one leg.  Not many birds do that.  I don’t know why they do it, but I think they look cute standing that way.

  We took a round trip ferry ride from Galveston.  It was just something to do and I am so glad we did.  I have never seen so many sea birds in one place.

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  A man was feeding the seagulls in the back of the ferry.   “Mine, mine!” they seem to be saying. What movie is that from?

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  They soar up and down and can catch a piece of bread in mid air. 

   Another bird we saw on our ride was a pelican or I should say lots and lots of pelicans.

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Old gentlemen’s club talking about the fish that got away!

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I think this is a cormorant.   I could be wrong.  We also saw lots of dolphins.  They followed the ferry back and forth.

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On the ferry, Miss Garmin told us we were driving in the middle of the water.  She was having a fit.

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David and I were almost the only walk on riders on the ferry.  When we leave Galveston, we will drive our car onto the ferry and cross to the other side.

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David did some metal detecting and found one dime.  We’re rich!!

There was a statue on the walkway by the beach which I found intriguing.  Many years ago, Galveston was hit by a hurricane that just about devastated the whole area.   This statue show a mother, father and child with the father seeming to reach his hand to heaven.  Thankful that Galveston is still here.

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I don’t know what the sculptor was thinking when he made this statue, but it was a somber reminder for me of what the sea and wind and rain can do to a community.

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Alas, we land lubbers had to leave the sea and head inland again.  We loved our time in Galveston and in all Texas for that matter, but home is calling, so away we went.

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Onto the ferry.  Here is what I do the entire trip.  Look at an atlas while David makes goo-goo eyes at Miss Garmin. Ha.  I like to see where we are going.

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Past colorful beach houses.

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Away from the beach and all it’s beauty.

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Up…..

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up……

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and over the bridge that took us away from the sea.`

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  With our little scarecrow sitting on the dash, we traveled down the highway, heading north.

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Over beautiful lakes and rivers.  Too many to remember.

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Past road work.  Lots of road work going on in America.

We like to find local places to eat so we arrived in one town,( I don’t remember which one)(Marshall, Texas) and found this restaurant.  This town was already decorated for Christmas.

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Each lamp post had a lighted wreath upon it.  It was really pretty.

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The restaurant  looked so cute and we wanted something different so we went inside.

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But before we did, I had to take pictures of the colorful planters and tables outside.

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Someone likes color and so do I.  Inside there were comfy looking couches and modern pictures on the wall and shelves of books.   We sat at a table and a young woman came up and offered a free sample of homemade peach ice tea.  David liked it and ordered some with his meal.  I am not a fan of flavored teas.  The chicken salad sandwich that I got was so good.

We talked to the young woman who happened to be the owner, baker and waitress.  She told us she had just given away a thousand books from the several thousand she had found in an old building she had bought seven years ago.  So she thought she would give them away to those who wanted them.  Later, as I was looking at some of her books she told me to take one.  This is the one I picked out.

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I love history and this was a true story about how one group of people tried to restore a cemetery that had been all grown over for decades.  Slaves were buried there besides many ancestors of  the blacks in the area.  It was about racial prejudice and racial harmony which we all should strive for.

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This is the owner. She drew the sign behind her also. A very talented lady.  Her business card reads, General Manager and Baking Goddess.  I could have talked to her longer, but she was busy and we had miles to go before we slept.  But how many places do you go to eat where they give you a book?  If you want to know more about this place go to sweetsabines.com

 

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Driving into Tennessee.  I have to tell you Tennessee people, you sure do have a beautiful state.  We started seeing deciduous trees again which was nice and there was color.

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This was the very last antique mall we stopped at and it was the very best one.  We spent two hours there and didn’t see it all.

Well, I could tell you about the books, antiques, fabric and other things I bought along the way.  I made hay while the sun shone since I knew we would not be antiquing for a long time(maybe.)   And I made excuses for all the fabric I bought saying I was going to make Christmas gifts with it and I have already started, so that is true.

Vacations are nice, but truly, there’s no place like home.  Bye.