Sting

I love this song. I play it over and over when I am driving. It's so beautiful.

My Offspring

~Autumn Fires~
In the other gardens
And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!
Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The grey smoke towers.
Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,

Fires in the fall!~Robert Louis Stevenson~

These are my babies, how time flies!

Lifehouse - Storm (album version)

~I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship~~Louisa May Alcott~

Fun Monday

This Fun Monday's host is Deborah, The Humble Housewife. She wants to know what holiday tradition we celebrate every year. Here at our house Thanksgiving has always been our favorite holiday. We just can't wait for the turkey and dressing. Through the years we have celebrated this holiday at our parent's house, usually taking turns between my parents and my husband's. This sometimes included traveling to my dad's house in Texas. We haven't got a tradition that I can think of that has been consistent other than to be thankful. A few years when our children were young and home-schooled, we would put a kernel of dried corn on the each person's plate to represent the pilgrim's and Indian's first Thanksgiving. We would then take turns telling what we were thankful for. Ooh, ended that with a preposition, sorry. There is one recipe that I learned from my mother-in-law that is a tradition at our house every Thanksgiving. I had never had this before I married my hubby. His mom made it every year and so I began that tradition. It is Waldorf Salad. Here is the recipe:
Classis Waldorf Salad
2 cups diced apple
1 cup 1-inch julienne celery sticks
1/2 cup broken walnuts
1 cup minature marshmallows
1/4 cup mayonaisse
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
dash salt
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup seedless grapes, cut in halves
Combine apple, celery, grapes, marshmallows, and nuts. Blend mayonaisse, sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Fold in whipped cream; fold into apple mixture; chill.
I'm going to have to admit that I make the mixture sweeter by adding more sugar than a tablespoon of sugar. If you make the mayonaisse mixture first in a jar and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator to blend, it seems to taste better. This is such a pretty salad and goes right along with the turkey and dressing at the table. It's not like a dessert but just like serving cranberry sauce with everything else.

P.S. I guess another tradition for me has been to make the pumpkin and pecan pies for Thanksgiving. I do that wherever we go.
P.P.S. I thought of something else. On New Year's Eve, my husband plays a Jimi Hendrix rendition of Auld Lang Syne with his guitar and his Marshall stack for all the town to hear. We live way out in the country so the town would be lucky to hear it on a cold, clear night. We also save big fireworks from the Fourth of July and set those off at midnight.

Little Women

An excerpt from Little Women:
"O Jo, it's not so bad as that?" cried Laurie.
"Yes, it is. She doesn't know us, she doesn't even talk about the flocks of green doves, as she calls the vine leaves on the wall. She doesn't look like my Beth, and there's nobody to help us bear it; Mother and Father both gone, and God seems so far away I can't find Him."
As the tears streamed fast down poor Jo's cheeks, she stretched out her hand in a helpless sort of way, as if groping in the dark, and Laurie took it in his, whispering with a lump in his throat: "I'm here. Hold on to me, Jo dear!"
She could not speak, but she did "hold on," and seemed to lead her nearer to the Divine arm which alone could uphold her in her trouble. Laurie longed to say something tender and comfortable, but no fitting words came to him, so he stood silent, gently stroking her bent head as her mother used to do. Soon she dried the tears which had relieved her, and looked up with a grateful face. "I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship." ~Louisa May Alcott~

John Mayer

No way November

Live 8 - Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day! Don't let it get away.

It's a Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day today. The leaves are beginning to change on my Bradford pear, maple, and oak trees.
The temperatures are in the low sixties in the day and cooler at night.

Of course we all know about photosynthesis and that chlorophyll is what gives plants their green color. I found a little site that tells about this color change in leaves. It is Science Made Simple. The yellows and oranges are covered up with the green until it disappears in the fall. The bright reds and purples in leaves come from glucose trapped in the leaves after the photosynthesis stops. The brown color in oak leaves comes from wastes left in the leaves. They make a beautiful display of color for us to enjoy. There is a season for everything.

Byrds -

There is a season for everything.

For Everything There is a Season

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die,
A time to plant and a time to uproot,
A time to kill and a time to heal,
A time to tear down and a time to build,
A time to weep and a time to laugh,
A time to mourn and a time to dance,
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
A time to embrace and a time to refrain,
A time to search and a time to give up,
A time to tear and a time to mend,
A time to be silent and a time to speak,
A time to love and a time to hate,
A time for war and a time for peace.
What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has
laid upon men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also
set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has
done from the beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men
than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink,
and find satisfaction in all his toil--this is the gift of God. I know that everything
God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.
God does it so that men will revere Him. Ecclesiastes 3: 1-14

NaBloPoMo

I began last year looking for some kind of forum or discussion board for women. My husband has joined several guitar forums and discussion boards and has met many people both here and internationally. They discuss guitars, amps, music, and life in general. He buys, sells, and trades pedals, guitars, and amps. He enjoys this pasttime very much. So I thought one day I would look around to see what was available to my interests such as sewing, music, and cooking. I could not find any discussion groups or forums! I did not know a thing about blogging. I had heard the word "blog" but didn't know what it meant. I tried out a myspace page but it was not what I wanted so I deleted it. My kids did not think it was cool for their mom to have a myspace and it wasn't any fun for me either. The only part I liked was the ability to post pictures and to write a blog. That was last year. In August this year, I read an article in the newspaper about "Confessions of a Pioneer Woman". I went to the computer and looked her up and began to read. It was so interesting. I read every day and caught myself up. I really was enjoying this. I began to notice the comments of some people were highlighted and if you clicked on their name, you could go to their blog. I was amazed at how fun this was getting to be. I read several people's blogs and began to think "why don't I do this" or rather "how do I do this?" So I asked Janet "How do you do this?" She very nicely gave me some help and I started a blog on blogspot immediately. I am still learning some new things and I expect eventually I will get some help to modify my blog and make it more "me" but this is how I began blogging. I am finding it a wonderful outlet for expression. Posting pictures and writing my feelings and interests down is liberating. I am so glad I found blogging. I hope to continue many years.

Wordless Wednesday-"Wynona" Judd or Ryder?

Home Schooling and Counted Cross Stitching

I used to love to cross stitch. I haven't done it in years, not since my children were young. Melissa in NZ and Nin are inspiring me to get busy and do some sewing again. I used to sew my daughters and my dresses, all matching of course! That was back in the day. I cross stitched this little Precious Moments boy and girl when I was pregnant with my first child.

I loved these blocks and wooden toys and books as much as my children did.

The Complete Tales of Beatrice Potter, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, the Little House on the Prairie, and Little Visits with God. We had so many good books. I used Ramalda Spaulding's Writing Road to Reading and Saxon Math and Cuisinart rods and Christian Liberty Academy History and Language. And so much more...

These were good times.

God put a smile upon my face

Laughter does good like a medicine!

My Bathroom Haven

My bathroom haven from Junebug57 on Vimeo.

Fun Monday

Candid Karina and her lovely little Meez self would like to know what your security blanket is, what you can't leave home without, and we're not talking about Mastercard.

Ok. You see these sunglasses? I can't leave home without them, not at all, have to, absolutely have to have them, even in the shade I still get glare. Ever since I had lasik eye surgery, my eyes have drastically needed protection from the sun. Sometimes I have had to put two pairs on when I am driving into the sun, I just can't find a pair dark enough. I need some illegal shades, do they make them? I also need my lipstick. It is Clinque Black Honey at the moment. Must have it. And where would I be without my purse? I'd be at home with it. Seriously. If I have to narrow it down, my wallet might suffice, but I would be feeling deprived.

Award

I posted my picture of the moon so you could laugh at it.
Not exactly a close up but it did turn out kind of eerie.

I received this little award from Sandy which originally came from Hootin'Anni. It is meant to be paid forward, but I really would choose Sandy again if I could, but instead I will choose to give this treat to: Pamela @ The Dust Will Wait. She has been very kind to me and all comments to others that I read. I send another treat to: TJ @ humble origins. She is another wonderful lady with kind words.

My Dad, My Hero

After being in the hospital six weeks my dad passed away early one morning after he started bleeding internally and receiving and losing blood as fast as they could give it to him. He finally stopped bleeding, but his heart rate and blood pressure went down to something like 20/30 and his heart finally stopped. We had made the decision that they were to do everything to save him except if his heart stopped, they were not to resusitate. You should have seen the condition he was in, he had a surgery that wouldn't heal. He was cut open from his sternum down to his belly button. He had to have part of his stomach removed to stop the bleeding that an ulcer was causing. He'd had these ulcers for years. He had been being treated for a malignant melanoma on his arm before he ever went to the emergency room with his bleeding ulcers. He couldn't keep anything down in his stomach. He was losing weight. His wife (my step-mom) had passed away less than a year ago. He had so many machines and tubes hooked up to him. I left the hospital once to go get something to eat and came back and they said, "where were you? We were looking for you. We had to put your dad on a ventilator." At least I wasn't there to make that decision, it was made for me. They started asking several times after this, "How much farther do you want to go?" They had to put my dad into a drug induced coma because he was in such pain. I wondered as he lay there just how bad it was for him to be absolutely out of control. I wondered if he was still in pain, if he was crying out to be released, to be taken home. I wondered if he could hear us as we were talking in his room, joining hands around him and praying for him. I wondered if he wanted us to continue or let him go. I told him it was alright if he went. The last thing he said to me before he went into his coma was, "You know that I love you." And I said, "Yes, Daddy, I know that you love me and I love you." At the end when they took him off his pain medications to see if he could wake up and function again because this was an up and down process where they thought one day he was 10% chance of survival to maybe he's gonna make it, don't give up! We lived 5 hours away from him so I couldn't be there all the time, but I came every week for a few days and nights. But at the last one nurse told me that he was getting a response out of him, he would open his mouth to let him swab it out. I wanted to be there to see this and I got to. The nurse said, "Claude, open your mouth so I can clean it." He opened his mouth. Now the most excellent thing about this is that means that he could hear everything that was being said.

Jim Croce - Time In A Bottle 1972

I loved this when I was sixteen. I played this song on the piano for a friend at her wedding in 1975.

Dear God, Please Bring my Daddy Home Safely

Dad on his horse

Dad as a electrician

Dad as a father walking his daughter down the aisle
I looked scared and Dad was saying,"Keep that dress
away from my feet!"

Dad and his Ford tractor

Yesterday I saw an old friend of my dad's at the grocery store. We were in the same check-out line so I asked him if he knew that my dad has passed away. He said yes he did. I told him Dad had been in the hospital for six weeks and that they had given him morphine that had caused him to say some funny things. My dad had been an electrician and he thought he was working on the electricity in the hospital ceiling. He had a tv cable in his hands and was looking up at the grid ceiling thinking about fixing it. He asked my husband for tools and was telling us that if he could just get a certain man he knew to come everything would be alright. I said to my dad's friend at the store that this was funny, but this was before we knew how bad his condition was. So I guess this prompted my dad's friend to tell me what a good time he and my dad and another friend who worked with my dad had at the electric company shop. One time he said someone gave my dad a big jar of homemade whiskey. So the three of them sat at the shop in some big easy chairs that were there and passed this jar around and drank it all. He said that he got up to leave and could barely walk out through these huge double doors that you pulled trucks through. I don't even want to think about the driving that he did. So I laughed with him and told him to take care of himself as I said good-bye. After I got into my car I thought to myself I should have told him, "You guys may have been having fun, but you don't know the countless nights I lay awake in my bed praying for God to bring my Daddy safely home." I would listen every night for his pickup to pull up in our long driveway so I could finally go to sleep. We lived out in the country on a county road in a small town (the same town that I live in now). It was quiet and I could usually tell the sound of his pickup coming down the road. I had an upstairs bedroom and I would go to the bathroom window overlooking the front yard and check to make sure his vehicle was coming down the road or into the drive. He didn't always come into the house right away. He usually fell asleep out in his truck. But at least he was home. My dad quit drinking about 20 years ago but he probably drank 35 years straight before that. That's one of the reasons he didn't make it after his surgery. His liver had some cirhosis (sp?) and they couldn't get him to stop bleeding. That's one of your liver's main jobs is to stop bleeding. My dad has been gone for 3 months now on the 27th. I watched him in the hospital, his body filled with fluid twice his size that his kidneys couldn't work hard enough to get rid of. And it didn't matter to me one bit what my dad may have ever done or not done. I just wanted him to live and be well. He was my dad, just my dear old dad. It's hard to let someone go, but believe me I have many good memories of him. I love you, Daddy. I always will.