We had a wonderful Easter today. I made our usual Easter dinner and wanted to try the "stained glass" or "marbled" Deviled Eggs that I had seen on Pinterest. They turned out awesome and were a big hit. :-)
It's
official!! Spring is on the way. But we didn't need Punxsutawney Phil to tell us that, did we? I mean it's just kind of inevitable if one is patient long enough. :-) I was struck by the irony of some future culture thinking how primative and foolish we are for using a rodent to predict the future. All in good fun. All in good fun.
Associated Press/Keith Srakocic - Groundhog Club co-handler Ron Ploucha holds the weather predicting groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, after the club said Phil did not see his shadow and there will be an early …more spring, on Groundhog Day, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013, in Punxsutawney, Pa. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
And yes, here at the homestead there are signs of impending spring as well... For now they're buried under the 3 1/2 inches of "occasional flurries" that we got last night. The updated forcast last night said that we wouldn't get more than an inch by 2am but we had 3 inches before midnight. Which leads me to believe that no matter how much I hear that meteorology is quite accurate nowadays, I know in my heart that oftentimes it's just pretty much somebody's best guess. No matter. What would be the fun in always knowing what to expect. :-D
3 1/2 inches of "occasion flurries"
The wooded area beside our place
You can barely see the moon peeking through
the trees.
The birdfeeders
The elm tree
Our neighbor's barn
Our new adopted stray kitty...
Mr. Blue
Oh how I miss my camera!! My iPhone just isn't the same (Daughter #2's camera battery was dead!). :-(
I hope all of my dear friends and family who read here had a wonderful Christmas!!
We certainly did. With our financial circumstances over the past few years, we haven't really been able to buy many gifts but last fall we sold our remaining piece of property to the neighbor who bought our former home (read about it here) and we decided to allow a little frivolity this year by having a bit of Christmas. It was a welcome break and we did over-do a little but I'm sure we'll recover. Daughter #2 had worked all summer at a resort as a housekeeper and she went all out on everyone since she doesn't really have financial responsibilities yet. It was a real blessing to the younger ones since she bought them a new XBox--our old one kicked the bucket several years ago. Son #4 kept saying, "I can't believe that you bought all of these awesome presents!". It's been a long time since we've really indulged in much of anything and it felt heavenly.
For our extended family I made most of the gifts. Hopefully I can post a few pictures in the next day or two showing some of the things we made and gave away. I always enjoy crafting and love to make practical things that I know will be enjoyed. This year I made my customary soap and it all turned out wonderful. I also made the ladies fingerless gloves (aka texting gloves) and I'm still working on the ones for my nephews and sons (I just ran out of time!). The pot holders that I had made in the spring and summer were a bit hit. As was the wild violet jelly I made in the spring.
Previously when our business was going strong I made lots of cookies to give to the superintendants on the jobsites where DH and our sons worked. Then when the business bit the dust I decided to start making cookies for the family. Now I'm hooked and look forward to my cookie making sessions each year before Christmas. So naturally the extended family got cookies this year too.
It would be almost an understatement to say that I was really BUSY from Thanksgiving until Christmas!!!
Yesterday was Son #4's birthday and there were more gifts. I think he's in shock now since he got a few more nice gifts. :-)
Today I have to drive Son #3 back to his place and Daughters #1 & 3 back to my sisters (or at least to Son #3's place so he can do me a favor by driving them back to my sisters.) and that will pretty much conclude the holiday celebrations.
I've been mentally working on my New Year's Resolutions and hope to put those down on paper soon. I'll share them soon.
This year our Thanksgiving is a little different since Son #1 has sick kiddos and won't be here--as well as Son #3 who is not feeling well either. So it's just going to be me, DH, Sons #4, 5, 6, Daughter #4 and DH's parents (whom we live next door to). Son #6 said yesterday "Mom, our family is shrinking." I told him that that's just kind of what happens. But all the missing family members are prayed for and held tenderly in my heart.
Praying for blessings for everyone here in blogland too! Just wanted to wish ya'll a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Those guys are just creepy no matter what stage they're in!
I've been using Pyola once or twice a week and
still having a terrible time keeping up!
"By the sweat of your brow" is taking on a new meaning!!
And a welcome visitor...
Mourning Cloak Butterfly
Doesn't it look quite weary and tattered?
Amazingly, it was able to fly away without any apparent trouble.
Son #1 brought his family for a visit last weekend. We're always so happy to see them.
Grandson #1 was excited to be able to play in the swimming pool
and the littler ones (and mommy and daddy) were content
to play on the teeter totter.
Daughter in law sent me this picture today...
Precious!
From Left to Right:
Grandson #3 1 year old next month
Grandson #2 3 years old
Grandson #1 4 years old
This holiday weekend we will be gifted with a visit of the remnants of Isaac. They're forcasting 2 to 4 inches of rain for our area and I will be happy to see it!! Hopefully it's not the "gully-washer" kind and comes steady and gentle to moderate. Hey, I can dream, can't I? :-)
Have a blessed and wonderful Labor Day Weekend!!! :-)
P.S. As of Thursday morning they've updated our rain forcast to be 6-12 inches. Joy. NOT!
It's a snowy Valentines Day in our neck of the woods this year. We got about 3 inches (or so) accumulation. It's already melting and will be gone by tomorrow, I'm sure.
While out walking the dogs this morning we did some "tracking"...
Kitty tracks! See how they are almost in a straight line?
Perhaps one of these suspects are the culprit.
Speckles (top) and Squishy (bottom): two of my Father-in -law's kittys.
Dog tracks! Here and there and everywhere!
This might be the guilty party.
Oliver, my aged Dachshund
Bird Tracks!
Caught in the act!!!
And this elusive creature?
I suspect she doesn't like having her picture taken!! ;-)
I never tire of this scene.
The barn is not ours. It belongs to our neighbor.
It's one of the very few scenic spots we have here.
Very, very few.
Most of the building structures here are old and dilapidated.
Not at all picturesque!
There is junk everywhere...
Some of it from trying to fix said old, dilapidated buildings.
Some from former renters.
Most of the eyesore objects are DH's parents stuff.
But I will be working to remedy all of that
with cleaning and gardening projects I have planned.
Growing up, my family wasn't one for celebrating every little holiday. But I can remember how we looked forward to knowing if spring would come early or not (usually not!) with the arrival of Groundhog Day. :-) Oh, the mystical forsight of the Groundhog--what great power he holds!!
So what does 2012 have in store for us? Why it will be 6 more weeks of winter according to Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil who saw his shadow bright and early this morning.
Boooooooo...
And a ray of hope... Staten Island Chuck didn't see his shadow today.
Yaaaaayyy...
(Punxsutawney Phil) Gene J. Puskar/AP
Oh the conflict!!! It's just SO wrong!! But I think that Mike Johnston, vice president of the Inner Circle (for Punxsutawney Phil) says it best...
"He's never been wrong." Phil is "incapable of error," he said, because the groundhog smartly avoids being site-specific in his prognostications. "If Phil predicts six more weeks of winter", said Johnston, "I guarantee you someone's going to have six more weeks of winter."
Many people, on this day, will no doubt be inundated with all things Martin Luther King Jr. :-) But how many people have ever really heard or read his "I Have A Dream" speech? In these uncertain times we are living in, and having felt a bit of persecution over the past year due to our circumstances, his words ring a little clearer for me. I'm sure that I'm not the only person who feels a little discriminated against because we aren't rich, have unlimited resources and fantastic health (not part of the 1% per se). So if you've never heard the MLKjr speech or watched the video and you are here reading this, you have absolutely no excuse now. Bwaaa-Haaa-Haaa-Haaa!!! I've posted the video and the text to the speech. The text comes from American Rhetoric.
Thank you Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for your vision. You are assuredly in a place of peace and equality, resting in the arms of Jesus.
Martin Luther King Jr.
I Have a Dream
August 28, 1963
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Book/CDs by Michael E. Eidenmuller, Published by McGraw-Hill (2008)
¹ Amos 5:24 (rendered precisely in The American Standard Version of the Holy Bible)
2 Isaiah 40:4-5 (King James Version of the Holy Bible). Quotation marks are excluded from part of this moment in the text because King's rendering of Isaiah 40:4 does not precisely follow the KJV version from which he quotes (e.g., "hill" and "mountain" are reversed in the KJV). King's rendering of Isaiah 40:5, however, is precisely quoted from the KJV.
For a number of years now I have considered blogging daily. Life can be so unpredictable for me at times and I don't like committing to something that I may not be able to fulfill. So I'm going to commit to the best of my ability to blog on a (near) daily basis. I am especially enamored of the "daily picture" type of daily blogging--so that is my plan. There will be days of course that I won't be able to blog, I'm sure. Someone will be sick or I will not be home. But it's something I want to do and have wanted to do for awhile. It'll be a challenge, I know!!
I'm not doing resolutions this year. But my hope is that we will move forward and make progress in each positive area of our lives and have victory in areas that need some work. :-)
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
OK, I confess that I've been a bit naughty by not posting an update as promised. And I fully expected to get at least one lump of coal for Christmas (and I didn't!! Yay!!) :-)
I've taken a serious Internet vacation these past two months and have scarecly been on a computer for anything. Very refreshing. But my brain still looks at nearly everything as potential blog posts!! Ha Ha!! I've missed blogging and reading other blogs.
I hope and pray that everyone had a blessed holiday season!!
I thought I'd wrap up 2011 with a few pictures that I've taken during my break and wanted to share...
While out shopping one day we stopped in at a Hallmark shop and I found these... I was SO in love!!!
I worked out a pattern in my mind and this is how it turned out. Actually this wasn't the first one that I made but this is the one that I took a picture of--it's for my daughter-in-law for her birthday this past week.
Mind you, I really don't crochet well and only know a few stitches but these just kind of came together on their own. Sometimes I can just look at something and work it out in my head way easier than trying to follow someone else's pattern. *I* was happy with it anyway.
One day while outside (shortly before Thanksgiving) I came across this gigantic sycamore leaf. 17 inches from tip to tip. And it was a beautiful leaf too--shiny and heavy.
Son #6 demonstrating how big this leaf was!
Look at the size of this egg. A double yolker?
Yep (The egg with two yolks at the top is that huge egg)!! Our family loves eggs fried in butter with the yolk all runny. Mmmm...
Pecan Bars made with the pecans that we foraged from a nearby conservation area. You can read about it here. They were so yummy!!
Our micro-Christmas. Thanks to my mom and DH's parents we got to have a little bit of Christmas this year. These were our presents for Christmas Eve. My youngest sister had sent presents that I kept hidden so that we had more to open on Christmas morning.
My mom also sent us this giant goody box from Swiss Colony. We are still working on eating all of this delicious stuff. There was a lot of goodies!! :-)
I saved the best picture for last... On Thanksgiving Day I got to meet my newest grandson for the first time!! Isn't he a total doll? What a sweet baby!!
MUCH to be thankful for this year!! So many years of being thankful--but this year in our down and out circumstances I feel even more thankful because of what we DO have!! :-)
I've been MIA for awhile and promise to post soon. Life has been busy and there have been days that I haven't even had a chance to sit down in front of the computer at all!! Not even to peruse blogs!! Crazy, I know. :-)
I am praying that you all have a super-de-duper, fantastical, Thanksgiving!!
Just because I said that we're not having any Mother's Day festivities around these here parts doesn't mean that I am boycotting the day!! :-) I hope all you moms out there have a fantastical day!!
I'm so thankful for my Mom!!
And my Stepmom!!
And my Daughter-in Law who is mom to my precious grandsons!!
And all the other mom's in my life!!
Thanks for your hard work and dedication in making your kids lives richer and this world a better place!!
Last November Son #3 and I built a makeshift coldframe out of 1 inch insulation board and duct tape. We planted a mix of winter lettuce and mustard greens seedlings. Our intentions were to put dirt around it and add hinges to the glass door. But as fate would have it, we didn't do anything else at all...
I checked on things from time to time but the glass was so foggy with moisture (mostly between the two panes of glass) that it was incredibly hard to see in. All I could really see was just green. So I figured that something was growing in there! :-) We had some days--maybe even a week--that the temperatures were in the single digits or lower. Very cold! I didn't really expect that my lettuce and greens would actually live much less thrive!! So here's what I found when Daughter #2 and I lifted the (really heavy!!) glass...
Can you see what's left of the melting snow? And all that mud? I love spring!!!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!! I'm really enjoying the green in my life!!!
