Monthly Archives: April 2020

Not Enough Time

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

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

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

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

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

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

A good thing not to do.

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

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

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

I love our flag.

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

This is the view out this bedroom’s window.

 

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

\

And I love the shadows it puts on the ceiling.

It almost looks like a doily is on the ceiling.

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

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

\

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

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

 

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

 

The garden is still beautiful.

The azalea was full of blooms.

The crabapple tree from our front porch.

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

Making it Through the Quarantine

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

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

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

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

I absolutely love the color we painted the walls.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then David took some close ups.

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

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

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

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

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

More pink flowering almond beside the house.

The Azalea in full bloom.

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

Good-Bye March, Hello April

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Everywhere I look there are flowers coming up.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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