‘Twas

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‘Twas days before Christmas

And all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring,

Not even my spouse.

The chickens were nestled

All snug in their beds,

While visions of juicy worms

Danced in their heads.

Balloons were hung on the ceiling with care,

In the hopes that our grandchildren

Soon would be there.

And I in my Santa hat,

And Dave in his socks,

Were roaming the house,

And checking the locks.

When out on the lawn

There arose a great noise.

“What is it?” I wondered.

It’s our grandboys!

With balloons on their heads,

And balloons on their ears,

They made me laugh so,

It brought me to tears.

Our granddaughter, too, got into the act.

And looked just as funny,

It’s a matter of fact.

Little boys wrestling.

Little boys giggling.

Little boys laughing,

And little boys wiggling.

They were silly and fun.

Quite funny I’d say.

I love them so much,

I could watch them all day.

But then in a twinkling,

They had to go home.

Which gave me the idea,

To write this new poem.

But I heard them exclaim,

As they drove out of sight.

“We’ll be back soon, Grandma. We love you. Good Night!”

Predator Alert!

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I love my chickens. Anyone who knows me knows I love my chickens. I have nursed one chicken back from death’s door and seen her go from a crippled, barely able to feed herself chicken, to a fully recovered, scratching, pecking, running, happy chicken.

Each of my chickens has a name and her own personality. I can’t imagine anything happening to any of them.

Today I saw a striped cat on our front porch. The dogs have been having fits the past few days and I thought it was just the squirrels that were driving them crazy. One night last week I was outside at night and saw something slink away by our driveway. I wasn’t sure what it was at the time, but now I know.

I heard Freedom throwing a fuss in the garden this evening. Yes, I know it was Freedom. I recognize each chicken’s clucking. I thought maybe she had laid an egg, but when I went out to look, Freedom was gathering all the hens in one place chuttering up a storm. Freedom has designated herself as the watch chicken. I know that because she does a walk about the chicken yard each night to be sure everyone is in the coop. She had all the chickens gathered together and was squawking. Then I saw it. The cat. Sitting on the fence overlooking the garden. Watching my hens. Tail switching. I ran over and yelled at it and banged on the fence. I have a feeling it will be back.

Later, I took a flashlight out and scoured the area. The girls were already shut up tight and safely in their coop. They have no idea what is out there waiting to tear them limb from limb. I will have to keep vigilant. I am telling the dogs to “sic” the bad cat. All you cat lovers, I love cats too, but not when they are stalking my chickens. Bonnie and Belle have been put on cat watch. I will have to check the chooks more often now.

Maybe I will have to fit the chickens with vests and helmets to protect them from predators. This will not end well for the cat should it kill one of my girls. I’m thinking a trap set up to catch it might be on my list of things to buy.

If you have any suggestions about how to keep cats away from chickens, I would love to hear them. Bye.

What happened to Thanksgiving?

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I love Thanksgiving. I love my family gathering around the table to eat a feast that I have spent days preparing. After gorging ourselves we then gather around the table to play games. Right now Dizzios is the game of choice.

I don’t like stores being open on Thanksgiving. We Americans need at least one day when we are not out shopping. A time to reflect on our lives and thank God for all our blessings and we surely have a lot of blessings in this country. Do stores really need those extra dollars they make on Thanksgiving? Do people really need to be shopping every single day of the year?

Maybe some just love shopping so much they cannot go one day without doing so. When I see the crowds pushing and shoving on television, I wonder what is so important that you would push other people aside to get it? I cannot think of a single thing that is that important to me. People are what is important to me. If I have to fight for something to get it, then I don’t want it. Someone else can have it.

Now I will step gingerly off my soapbox and tell you what we did this Thanksgiving.

First, I prepared for the day.

I hung up my Thanksgiving towel I had embroidered.

I made good homemade noodles from my eggs from my beautiful, free range, healthy chooks.

I set the table with my Americana Pfaltzgraf dinnerwear. Did I spell Pfaltzgraf properly? They don’t make the Americana line any longer. The plates sell for thirty-five dollars a piece now. I can tell you I bought them for a lot less when they came out. I also used my mother’s hobnail glassware which is not in this picture. We used it on special occasions when I was a girl.

I love holiday napkins. I have quite a collection of them from several years buying them. Why don’t I use them up? They are too pretty for every day use, that’s why.

My Jim Shore Thanksgiving angel was the centerpiece. I love her. I love all of Jim Shore’s things. They all have a quilt pattern on them.

I got to hug these two boys a lot and play games with them. Wish my other grandchildren could have been with us.

We prayed. We ate. The chickens ate potato peelings so they were thankful, too!

By the way. A friend saw something that reminded her of me. What was it???

Gummy chicken feet.

And gummy chicken eggs. If a friend is reminded of me when she sees gummy chicken feet and gummy chicken eggs, then all’s right with the world with me.

Then the day after Thanksgiving we jumped feet first into the Christmas season. I know, the stores have been trying to get us into the Christmas season earlier every year, but at our house Christmas season does not start until after Thanksgiving.

I got out our Christmas pillows.

I have way more pillows than I have room to put them. I love making pillows. I made that big I believe Santa pillow from a t-shirt I bought at Target. That curve at the top fits your neck very nicely and it is so comfortable.

I have a small collection of snowmen and put them on the dining table.

A collection of Santas on the pie safe in our entryway.

I have a nativity scene by Jim Shore I will have to blog about separately.

Love the rustic look of this Santa.

This is one of my favorites.

Haven’t got our real tree up yet, but put this ceramic tree in the living room. When I babysat years ago, one of the mothers gave me this for Christmas. I still love it and put it out every year.

And of course, quilts on the back of all the chairs. This is my chair with my blankets and a quilt I am working on right now. I can settle in for the night here and be very comfortable and happy. Then we decorated my shop, but that will be for another day. Bye.

‘Tis the Season

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It’s that time of year again. The time when I say I am not making Christmas gifts this year and then I begin to madly start making as many homemade gifts as I can. I don’t know what it is, but I always start getting all these bright ideas right around Thanksgiving. Actually, I started a little earlier this year as my sister-in-law and brother-in-law gave us a great idea for gifts for our younger grandsons. We have been working on them and having so much fun doing so. I say we because there is some building involved and since I am pretty much useless building things with wood, I am leaving that part to David.

When I am working on a project I all of a sudden get ideas to work on other projects and before I know it, I have four or five projects going at once. My shop is in shambles right now with fabric and paints all over. I have a sign on my door reading, “‘Tis the season not to be nosy. Santa’s workshop.” This is to keep nosy grandchildren and others out of my shop so they won’t see what is going on in there.

But I am so excited I want to give a little hint about what I am doing, so here are a few pictures that I don’t think gives too much away.

This may or may not be the start of a present.

These are a few of the fabrics I am using in a project which is not a gift. At least not for this year.

I love this quilt. I am going to modify it because I think the shepherd is a little wonky. Here are a couple of my sheep.

They started out with all these pieces.

When I finally got one of the heads done, I was so happy. It’s going to need some eyes, probably buttons, but I know a man who has thousands of buttons so I’m okay on that.

I really admire people who write up patterns for quilts. They can take a few squares and make them turn into a sheep’s head just like that if you follow the pattern carefully which I don’t often do as I get ahead of myself in the excitement of making the block. But this time, it actually looks like a sheep head. I did make a mistake on both the blocks, but I think the block looks better with the mistake in and will do the same to the rest of the blocks. I need to make six more sheep.

This pattern comes from this book.

Look at all the wonderful things you can make. You can make ornaments, quilts, a tree skirt, pillows or a table runner and anything else you can think up using these patterns. You could put things on towels or aprons. Let your imagination run wild.

I may be a little busy for the next few weeks so my posts may be few and far between, or maybe not. But I want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. Hope you get to share it with family and/or friends and have a feast and fellowship all day. God bless you all. I am so thankful for all of you that come here and read my little blog.

Happy Thanksgiving. Bye.

Before and After the Storm

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Yesterday one of our grandsons turned six years old. It seems like only yesterday we were waiting anxiously at the hospital for him to be born. He was the tiniest little baby I have ever seen. But now, he’s a big boy, going to kindergarten and growing fast.

He was basking in all the attention.

That’s his other Grandmother sitting next to me. She is a beautiful lady and I enjoyed visiting with her.

The lighting of the candles. My grandson seemed to be more interested in his presents.

The cutting of the cake. It was a marble cake and my grandson was explaining to us how they put marbles into it! It was really good with Neapolitan ice cream.

We had some bad weather go through here today. All across the midwest there were storms and tornadoes. We had some wind and lots of rain, but missed anything really bad here. It was gray and gloomy all day, but then the storms passed and the skies looked like this…..

The sky got more and more beautiful until it finally looked like this….

Just beautiful. The skies were azure and the clouds were pink and orange with a touch of bluish-gray. I couldn’t stop looking at it. There is always light after the storm. Keep that in mind. Bye.

When the Frost is on the Hot Tub

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When the frost is on the hot tub,

And the dog lies in the shop,

And the leaves are looking hoary,

As from the trees they drop.

And you hear the chickens cluckin’

As they scratch the cold, hard ground,

Chuckling to each other

About all the worms they’ve found.

The gardener plows the garden,

While the wife takes in the seeds.

To supply the family next year,

With all the food it needs.

The sky’s as blue in heaven,

As all the seven seas.

And the chill winds

They are blowin’,

Chasing squirrels among the trees.

O, it brings a chill to people,

That is felt down to their toes.

So they hop into the hot tub,

To ease their bodies’ woes.

There’s something kind of pleasant,

To be soaking in the tub.

It’s getting to it without freezing,

Now, that’s the only rub.

The bubbling of the jets,

As they beat against your skin,

Makes your toes curl up tightly,

As you wear a happy grin.

Then you know you have to exit,

And wonder what you’ll do?

“It’s cold out here,” you’re thinking.

It makes you cry, “Boo Hoo!”

But at last you feel the warmth again,

As you run into the house.

Then you jump in bed and snuggle up,

Like a furry, little mouse.

Good Night.

Grandparents’ Day and Whirling Dervishes

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David and I had the opportunity to attend Grandparents’ Day at three of our grandchildren’s school this week. I always love to go to these because it is always so uplifting to see the kind of education my grandchildren are getting. They go to a large Christian school and I believe they are getting the best education they can get.

When you enter the school you see all these inspirational signs on the walls. This is a Jesus Christ centered school. The children and teachers are all so friendly and happy and there is just a wonderful atmosphere in the whole school.

We grandparents were directed to the auditorium where a jazz band was playing big band music. They had us all tapping our feet and clapping our hands. Sorry my zoom lens wasn’t working. The boy playing the xylophone twirled the sticks as he played. The trombonist was amazing.

There were greetings from the principal and others and then this pastor gave a short sermon using the piano as an object of the sermon. There is a middle C. Christ should be the center of our lives. The black and white keys symbolize the good and bad that happens in our lives. There are major key people and minor key people. He played as he talked using music to enhance what he said. He played one song playing it fast for the young people, slow for the older people and then really fast to show how fast our lives pass. He was a great teacher and it was a wonderful object lesson. I could have listened to him much longer.

The Praise Team sang and that girl in the green shirt. That’s our granddaughter. She sings in all the chapels they have each week. I am so proud of her.

There were two days for Grandparents’ Day The middle school was the first day and elementary the next. This was on day one.

Our granddaughter took us around the school showing us where all her classrooms are. This is her locker.

She is on the honor roll.

There were photographs in the hall taken by middle schoolers. I was amazed at how professional they looked. When I was their age I could barely put one foot in front of the other without tripping!

The next day David and I had to split up. David went with our younger grandson and because he didn’t have the camera, we didn’t get any pictures of what they did. They made hand prints and put them together on a page and our grandson wrote a really sweet note to us. I got to hang out with this grandson. He is so much fun. I noticed he was seated in the front row in home room and I wondered why. Hmmmm. He and I almost started giggling when a man sneezed really loudly. Maybe he takes after me a little.

The students stood up around us and said a really long passage from the Bible from memory. I was impressed.

This is his locker. I looked inside it and was amazed how neat it is because I have seen his room. I love this kid.

Saw this sign on the side of one of the teacher’s desks. I think it could be parentisms also as I have said many of these things to my children.

In the evening we played Dizzios, a form of Dominoes. It’s probably one of my favorite games even though I think I have only won it one time. My grandsons are really good at this.

Speaking of grandsons, I will leave you with some pictures of my two youngest grandsons who spent the night with us last weekend. I brought out the old electric football game our sons use to play with and the boys were entertained for a long time. As you will see, I could not get a picture that wasn’t blurry because these boys were on the move all the time. Whirling Dervishes.

Here’s to wonderful Christian schools and grandchildren. Bye.

Finishing Some Odds and Ends

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David had the last two weeks off for vacation. The weeks went by way too quickly and Monday he will be back at work. We spent some time traveling as you know, but we are glad to be back to home sweet home.

Here is what has been going on the last couple of weeks:

We got to spend some time with David’s brother and sister-in-law, Bill and Terry. We had so much fun with them and they taught us how to play Dominoes. I intend to learn to play it better and challenge them next time we see them. Hope it won’t be so many years before we see them again. They talked about bringing their four grandchildren to visit us next summer to meet our grandchildren. Hope it will happen.

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We walked the beach. Oh, how I love the beach and the wildness of the ocean. This particular beach was almost deserted except for a very few people. Met a girl walking her lab puppy and I had to pet it. Guess we will be getting that new puppy next year.

We took a ferry ride. It was windy. Can’t you tell?

We stayed in motels where the maids folded the towels in decorative ways like these. They looked like little shirts.

I really loved this carpet in one of the motels.

We saw several barn quilts that weren’t on barns. They are really popular in the south.

We passed this truck carrying all these chickens that were probably heading toward an untimely end. I felt really badly seeing them all packed in like that when I know how wonderful my girls have it. I told my girls when we got home they should be very happy that I am their owner. They live a very spoiled life. If they could only see how the other half lives.

We drove very curvy mountain roads. This is really one road that met itself. The little car on Garmin was spinning out of control on the curves.

We saw so much beauty in the North Carolina mountains.

We walked through a really old cemetery. I’ll have to tell you about that some time.

We passed cotton fields. One time in Texas we passed a cotton field and I got out of the car and went and picked a few bolls that I brought home and put in a quart jar that I labeled “quilt starter.” I am sorry I stole those cotton bolls. I still have them if the farmer wants them back.

We ate at several hometown restaurants. This one was in Tennessee. They served the most decadent desserts here that we had to eat ice cream with them to cut the sweetness!

We kept finding these little soaps in antique stores and by the end of the trip I had collected quite a few. They all smell so good. I like using homemade soap as I think it is better for your skin.

Of course I bought some fabric. I really didn’t plan to, but some of it just jumped into my hands. In one antique store they were selling rolls of fabric for a quarter. A QUARTER. Well, I would have been crazy not to have bought some. We also bought a few other things in the antique stores, but we were really trying not to overspend as we really don’t need anything more in our house. Really.

I bought this batik fabric to make a skirt but I evidently didn’t look at it closely in the store because when I got home I noticed it had snails on it. Do I really want to wear a skirt with snails on it? We shall see.

When we finally arrived home David and I hurried and made some soup because we had starved ourselves on our trip. Ahem. Actually, I just found this recipe for soup like the Zuppa Tuscana we love at Olive Garden and wanted to try it. It was better, I think, and made a huge amount. Enough for several meals. David and I laugh and say I make better coffee, bisquits and now soup than any we had in all the restaurants. Why do we need to travel?

I was so glad to see Phoebe, Freedom, Pininnah, Jemima, Dorcas and Beatrice. I think they were glad to see me as they rushed to the gate to meet me. They now have free range in the garden area and have really been scratching up a storm.

Bonnie still sits watch. One day before we left for our trip we were sitting by

the firepit and I saw movement in the chicken pen and it was Bonnie in there. I had forgotten to close the gate!

Bonnie wasn’t interested in the chickens, however, she was looking at what they were eating. She knows the hens get scraps every once in while and was looking for something good to eat. I was so surprised that she didn’t even try to catch a chicken, thank heaven. I still won’t let her have free run of the coop, though.

All in all, it has been a wonderful two weeks. We reconnected with some family we don’t see very often and had a great time together. We got to relax some and slow down and isn’t that what vacations are for? Now to start planning our next vacation.

Whoops, I must go get David out of the stocks. Bye.

Behind the Horses and By the Sea

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Busy, busy day today in Wilmington, North Carolina. Wilmington has Savannah Georgia’s charm with none of the crowds that Savannah always seems to have.

We took a trolley ride today to see parts of the city and hear some history.

Our two “rescue” horses waited patiently for us to board the trolley.

Our conductor drove the trolley and kept up a steady talk about the city. He had that southern drawl I so love to hear. Soft and words drawn out. One syllable words becoming two syllable words. By the end of the day, David was even saying Y’all.

We passed historic house after historic house. Most built one, two or three hundred years ago.

That’s my brother-in-law, Bill, looking with interest at the pretty houses.

Each house had a history.

Each house was a different color. I really loved the color of this house and even David said he wouldn’t mind our house painted this color. Kind of a terra cotta color. Maybe in the future.

My sis-in-law. We could be partners in crime I’m telling you. We are so much alike it is frightening. So much fun to be with her and my brother-in-law. We do this about every thirty years. We said we need to get together more often than that! We have always lived rather far apart.

Terry is an author. Her books are on Amazon. She’s working on another one right now. Really admire her for that. She also publishes books for others.

Outside her house she has this beautiful plant with these big trumpet flowers. Don’t think it would grow in Indiana. She also has a palm tree in her yard.

One of the things I absolutely love about the south is the Spanish moss. It drapes the old oak trees.

There are a lot of old oaks in the south draped with the Spanish moss. No, those two on the bench are not the old oaks. Behind us. Wish you could have seen some of the oaks along the streets in Wilmington. It was magical driving down the streets and seeing the old houses and trees draped with the moss.

Driving down the street, I got all excited because I thought this was a quilt shop. We parked and walked to it. I hadn’t seen the guitar on the sign and it turned out to be a restaurant with musicians. Boo. They really need to change that sign. We did finally find a quilt shop where I could feed my fabric lust.

Went to the city pier. Hardly any people were there.

The beach was long and smooth. Sandpipers and Seagulls played along the shore.

David and I love to walk along the beach.

Last thing we did was drive over to see the U.S.S. North Carolina battleship. It was too late in the day to go through it. That is just another good reason for us to come back to North Carolina.

Many brave men sailed on this ship and some lost their lives.

Here’s to painted houses, Spanish moss and battleships. Bye.

North Carolina Dreaming

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Have you ever been to North Carolina? Do you live here? It is one of the most beautiful states we have visited. I say that about almost every state I have ever been in, but NC is right at the top of my list for beautiful states. It has mountains, rivers, the ocean, palm trees, Spanish moss and some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet.

David and I are spending some time here with family and visiting some pretty sights. Before we got to Wilmington, we passed through some charming southern towns one of them being Blowing Rock. Have you read the Mitford books by Jan Karon? Jan based her books on this little town in the Northwest corner of the state smack dab in the most beautiful mountains you would ever want to see.

Blowing Rock is enchanting, quaint, friendly, entrancing and just plain enjoyable. We spent a long morning there looking in all the shops.

Eating some of the best ice cream we have ever eaten. David got Traverse City Cherry and I got Butter Pecan and Dominacara chocolate. Yum. (We found this same ice cream shop in Wilmington today.)

The town was all dressed up for Autumn with mums and these gigantic pumpkins all over town.

Have you read the Mitford books by Jan Karon? The town of Mitford she wrote about is said to have been based on Blowing Rock and it is easy to see why. You can almost see Father Tim walking down the streets of the town. Esther Bolick carrying her special cakes to someone. Miss Sadie driving her car upon to the sidewalk. Cynthia walking down the street with one hair roller hanging in her hair.

We saw the Episcopal church Jan Karon based her Father Tim’s church upon.

I could just see Father Tim coming out the door of this church. It was so charming.

A nice lady asked us if we wanted her to take our picture and we said, “Sure.” Behind us are some of the gardens surrounding the church. It was just so pretty and I felt like I was in the pages of a book.

David found a friend to share a park bench with.

Hydrangeas grew all over the town and were at their peak.

They were the biggest hydrangeas I have seen.

David saw this cute empty little house on main street and said it would make a great quilt shop. I said, “Let’s sell our house and move here and open a shop.” Nice dreaming, but I think we will stay where we have been planted.

We walked down some side streets and found this little garden lady standing among the flowers.

Everywhere you looked there were Autumn vignettes. I could have stayed all day and looked and looked and looked, but we had to move on.

We wanted to see the place which gave the town its name.

This is Blowing Rock. David decided to climb it. I was taking pictures and hoping he would not fall over the top when he got up there. Legend has it that an Indian brave jumped off this rock and his lover waited here day after day until one day he was blown back up onto the rock by the winds. Snow is said to blow backward here. Still watching David and praying the wind won’t blow him over!

He made it! I would have tried to climb it, but I didn’t have the right kind of shoes on, so I lived vicariously through David. It was harder to come down than to go up.

It was just beautiful up here. I could have stayed all day, but there were other places to go and other things to see.

Here’s to the beautiful state of North Carolina. I’m in love. Bye.

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Snicklefritz

So glad you came. Come sit a spell and read about the tale of my life.

‘Twas

Predator Alert!

What happened to Thanksgiving?

‘Tis the Season

Before and After the Storm

When the Frost is on the Hot Tub

Grandparents’ Day and Whirling Dervishes

Finishing Some Odds and Ends

Behind the Horses and By the Sea

North Carolina Dreaming