Keeping Busy Hiding On Winter

Nearly half of our "hide-on-winter" time has passed already!   It takes some time to get the house and porch and yard all tidied up from the long 7 month that we are away.  Then there are always all the fun things that get put first, and rightly so.  New faces and old friends to mingle with .. a few things to volunteer to help with and a couple of trips to visit friends and family.  All this as well as the daily stuff ... meals, housework, swim, play with Miss Lizzie, Skype with grandkids, etc. Not to mention going on a few little trips with the Kayak girls, and Thanksgiving and Christmas!!   Speaking of the outing with the girls, as I mentioned before, we have a thing about making a trip to Mt. Dora to shop before Christmas but mostly we window shop and have lunch at our favorite place, The Garden Gate. At the time of my last post we were about to have our day out.  It was once again a lot of fun and our lunch tasty.

Cream puff 'swan' for dessert is lovely to look at and delicious to eat!

So all these excuses as to why I haven't written something here lately!  The holidays were nice this year and the weather has been great most of the time.

Could it be that I am getting OLD ??  Not as fast as I used to be with the chores! Well, guess I have the option of feeling a bit aged since we had our 12th great grandchild, beautiful Selena the day after my birthday in October and on Christmas Eve we became Great Great grandparents to a new baby boy, Jordan Edward who weighed in at 9 lb.8 oz. !!  He is the firstborn of our oldest great granddaughter Harmonie and her Jason. He is a beautiful baby too.  We are so blessed with all the little ones!  Lots of cuddling to catch up on in the Spring!  Will make this # 1 of my New Year's Resolutions !

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and we look forward to seeing the new year in with our daughter Angel and hubby Paul.  They will arrive here just before midnight, Lord willing and the airports are not snowed in!  We've been seeing lots of folks here entertaining their families over the last few weeks.  SO excited to have our loved ones with us for nearly a week! Weatherman promises pretty nice weather for New Year's Day and only forecasting the possibility of a shower on Thursday, a good Friday in the low 70's and we'll hope for the rest of the days to be like that!

Here is a collage Lindsay and Patrick put together of our little Selena.  

And a picture of little Lauren, the soon- to -be famous chef!

So as another year closes we wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year.  May it be one filled with good things and great opportunities to be the best that we can be.

"With God's strength behind you and His arms beneath you, you can face whatever lies ahead of you. "

                                                                                                                    unknown

A Time-out and A Time Out !!

It is a lovely day here with a very blue sky and cooler breezes this morning and a promise of a couple days coming with temperatures only in the very pleasant 70's. Miss Lizzie Kitty and I are having a time-out here in the porch/Fl. room.  She is snoozing in a chair as we take a break from the hustle and bustle we allow life to be sometimes as things just get too busy.

As I sit and be still, I am joined by my sweet neighbor, Stacie who comes bearing gifts!  She is cleaning out and sorting and re-gifting things she knows she will never use.  As she finds them, she sets them aside for someone she knows who might like them...or as she says, " I thought of you" or " This looks like you". My gifts today are two lovely scarves. Thank you Stacie for your thoughtfulness but mostly, thank you for your friendship!

Today, the devotional I read each morning inspires me to tell the people I admire and love how much I appreciate how they have helped me, by themselves living good exemplary lives.  So many who I have looked up to have passed and how I wish I had spoken to them of how they inspired me to strive to be all that I could be.
The quote in the devotional today was from Joseph Chamberlin, "Some people are like mountains. You have to back away to see how big they are!"

But there are many younger than I who inspire me and who I hope I still have time to thank!

It does one's heart such good to hear from those we have inspired or made a difference to.  I treasure the notes from my long ago Sunday School students, Mary, Mitzy, Ella, Jenny and John. I get these notes out and read them now and again and remember them and those days fondly.

Our local newspaper did an article recently about a wonderful lady who has devoted a lot of her life to volunteering and serving those in need.  At the end of the article, which included an interview, she said, "Every time we hug someone who is lonely or different or kiss someone who won't be here tomorrow or provide a necessary item to one in need, it makes everything we do worthwhile."  Linda Watts 
This is the true Spirit of Christmas, this season and always.  Are we not here to love and serve one another?

Once again we have held our Sunshine Village Christmas For Our Kids Cake Auction !  It is a fundraiser for the party and gift giving to benefit local, less fortunate little children, this year there are 44 and our Elves went shopping yesterday for presents of clothing and toys.  Thursday is gift wrapping day and we the 'helpers of the shopping Elves' will help with that.  We will come armed with scissors, tape and wrapping paper to work away the morning making pretty packages.  The cake  eaters did their part and very generously too, as they bid the cakes right up and paid well for lovely and very yummy homemade creations.  The auction took in $782.00 !

My "Piggies in a mud tub" cake

More of the cakes 

Tomorrow its Time Out !    We are off for a day out. I will go with 4 friends on our annual little pre-Christmas outing to look at all the sights and lights of Mt. Dora and enjoy a nice lunch at our favorite "girly" restaurant",   The Garden Gate.   Then we'll browse around in a couple of really great Thrift Shops looking for a special bargain.  And best of all, enjoy the joy of friendship.   

Enjoy this magical season of peace and joy.  

Happy Thanksgiving Day tomorrow

Well, Finally I get around to writing in my blog!  I seem to have a hard time lately getting all the things I want to do accomplished. It has been a busy and very nice fall, weather wise here in Sunshine Village.  I have had trouble with the internet here this year and find myself getting overly frustrated with technology in general!  I have a new provider as of yesterday and have so far, had no troubles with getting on and staying on until I am ready to log off!
The pool has been a great place to spend an afternoon most days as the weather is so warm thus the pool is really nice.  We have enjoyed a lady's day out at a very big outdoor mall about 50 miles south of here.  It was a fun day window shopping and having a fine lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant.

One Tuesday we tied my quilt as a craft day project.  I have been wanting to get that done for over a year now.

We had a really wild thunderstorm last night, around 11 PM and after we had gone to bed.  It woke us up with a really bright lightening flash and a huge booming thunder clap right on the heels of the flash.  Must have been really close.  The wind driven rain was sheeting against the windows with a fury.  Thankful that it didn't last long!   Today it began to cool down and was in the 60's all day.  They warn of some frost in places near us possibly for tomorrow night.   Hope it doesn't do in our pretty hibiscus bush.  Think we will cover that one up with an old blanket.  

I am cooking one of the turkeys tomorrow for our community dinner at Sunshine Hall.  Again this year there are many working to be sure that the less fortunate are not going to go without a nice meal in the area. 

 I remember last year writing about the Samaritan House in Leesburg and how wonderful an idea this is. (See blog for last Nov.)  I am happy to report that my home church in VT, North Springfield Baptist, is making a place for a warming shelter for the homeless.  A place where those in need can come in for the night out of the cold and have a warm and comfortable place to sleep safely.  A big undertaking but volunteers to staff the shelter in two shifts are signing up to serve.  Renovations are in progress and hoping soon the permits will be in place.  My son in-law, Paul, is very involved in this project.  Blessings to all who are helping this become a reality.

I have a strange looking thing growing in my little garden/flower bed.  A couple years ago I planted some collards which I have acquired a taste for since spending time in the south.  I've just left them there growing away, telling my neighbor to pick and eat them while we are away.  They don't quit!  Keep on growing and have formed a stalk that resembles a crooked palm tree trunk!  Never seen anything like it.  I did pick and eat some of the collard leaves the other day.  Not really too bad but not so good as the tender new leaves as they come up close to the ground. 

Our friends from Ohio are here now and we had a nice time tonight playing cards with them.  It felt like Nov. in VT as we walked home from their house around 8 PM.  Such a change from yesterday!  

I hope you all have a wonderful day of Thanksgiving tomorrow.  May you enjoy the precious time with your loved ones and savor the aromas and the tastes of all the results of good food lovingly prepared.

"Ten thousand, thousand precious gifts

 My daily thanks employ.

 Nor is the least a cheerful heart

 That tastes those gifts with Joy."

                                                Addison

Unexpected 'Guests'

A couple of unexpected guests, a pair of whooping cranes came to visit the front of the house today.  Yesterday they chose to visit the backyard.  They are such TALL birds!  And super friendly too.  We can walk right up to them and talk to them like pets.  

Yesterday they decided to take a little nap in back of our place.

This friendly fellow offered to pose for a photo/portrait

We seem to be all settled and most of the cleaning done.  Porch windows the exception !  Always leave those until last and after resting up a bit.  The weather has been lovely with a nice rain on Sat. morning. It nicely stopped before we traveled to St. Cloud just after lunch to spend the afternoon and evening with Mikayla and family.  Mikayla turned 18 on Sat. and it was fun to celebrate with her and Nick, Joanne and Gary.  Then to go out to a feast at her favorite restaurant, the Golden Coral, for her birthday dinner.  

Kayla and Russell have cotton candy for dessert !

It was fun to go to the flea market with friends on Monday.  We went to the smaller one, a couple miles up the road this time.  They too have fresh veggies as well as all the 'flea' items.  It is cool and refreshing at 8 AM when we get there.  Only had a couple hours to browse this time as the guys were starting work at 10 AM.  Time enough to do some good looking around.  Found a few little items I was looking for... a stitch holder, and a 29" circular knitting needle size 6, and a row counter to wear around my neck so I don't forget what row I am to knit next!  All for $ 1.50 !   Wonderful FRESH from a garden Kerby cucumbers selling 8 for a dollar!  NICE for cucumber sandwiches!  We'll have these for supper tonight as we are pretty full from the Sunshine Burgers we had at the Hall at noon today.  They make the BEST Turkey burgers, YUM!!  

Tomorrow night there will be music at the Hall as the musicians will come for their Jam session.  Twice a month they come here to play and entertain us.  Some pretty good singers too. Things will be booming around here again now that most of the snowbirds have arrived and gotten set up and ready for the new season.  

Had a nice Skype session with Angel and with Debbie and Natalie this week.  So nice to be able to 'step into' their kitchen or living room and sit a spell and chat.  Seeing what they are doing and chatting awhile is almost like walking up to the door and going in for a cup of coffee.  Sometimes we catch each other with a bad hair day or before we get out of our pj's but it is always so good to feel close.

Got nice pictures from the grandkids of their kiddos in their Hallowe'en finery.  I do miss seeing them in person but the pictures are great.  

I continue to be thankful for so many blessings.  I have shared this before but I think it is worth repeating.  It is from "God of the Open Air   by Henry Vandyke.

 ....  "These are the things I prize 

And hold of dearest worth:

Light of the sapphire skies,

Peace of the silent hills,

Shelter of forests, comfort of the grass.

Music of birds, mummer of little rills,

Shadow of clouds that swiftly pass,

And, after showers,

The smell of flowers

And of the good brown earth.

And best of all, along the way, 

Friendship and mirth."

With these thoughts I leave you till next time.  Take time out to remember the good times of our lives as we remember with love the loved ones who we have lost ... for awhile, and to thank our God for letting us have them for as long as we did. 

 Have a blessed late fall.  

Snowbirds Have Landed

Once again we are settling in at our winter quarters.  Like some Native Americans years ago, as Autumn turns cold and frosty, we've packed up our belongings, loaded the car to capacity and fled to a warmer place.

Each year the trip seems longer and more tiring, more traffic everywhere and our little Miss Lizzie sure dreads the long ride.  Mostly she dislikes the strangeness of the motels.  She seems quite content while we are at Cousin Janice & Phil's for our second night out. {Thank you Janice and Phil for your hospitality and the wonderful supper you always prepare for us.}

We arrived on Wed. at mid morning.  Home-away-from- Home.  After unloading and getting some tidying up and unpacking done, I took a break and went for a nice long swim in the pool.  Actually I just mostly 'noodle' around!  The water was SO warm... 85 degrees.  Warmer than the late afternoon air which was 80 degrees.  Then home to have some homemade soup brought along frozen in our cooler and nearly all thawed out.  Finally, early to bed for a good nights sleep and in the morning, a new day.

The warm sun and gentle breeze reminds us today that the trip wasn't so bad after all.  Friends from home email to say the first hard frost this fall came on the night of our departure.  Snowbird friends stop by to welcome us back and more are expected to arrive today.

Today is Sunday, just a week from the day we left VT.  After church today the Sunshine Village Fishermen put on a great Fish Fry for all to enjoy. It was really good!  So it seems we are off to a good start of another season with our Sunshine family.

Dennis has been busy getting the bushes and fruit trees trimmed and it looks really nice around here.  The grass has grown thicker and looks great.  He is doing the trimming now.  Our nice neighbor keeps the lawn mowed all summer for us in exchange for the use of our carport for his golf cart!    Den had trouble getting our golf cart/work cart going and had to take a trip to Leesburg yesterday to buy a new part for it.  Goes good now!

A few days before we left home, we were blessed with a beautiful addition to our family,  Great granddaughter, Selena Renae Richardson, born on Oct. 17th and weighing 8 lbs. 9 oz..  She came into the world, lustily voicing her thoughts about her new environment.  She arrived the day after my birthday. We are SO glad she made it before we left!  It was great to welcome her and see the happy faces of her Mom and Daddy and to snuggle her for a bit.  After her first loud comments on things, she was very serene and calm as she seemed to be looking around and sizing up all these new wonders.

'GG' and Selena Renae

Patrick, Lindsay and Selena

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, the bankroll smaller, a home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth looking forward to."

  Author unknown

Glad you came by to see what's up with us and hope you are all having a wonderful late fall.  Blessings to each or you.

Happy Happenings.

We sure have enjoyed wonderfully warm days, cool mornings and pretty foliage this autumn.  We seem to be a week or two ahead of other years as it is about peak color now.  Usually it is closer to Columbus Day.  After having plentiful rainfall this summer, we are now in need of rain.

From the back patio

As we count down the days until our annual migration to the warmer south, we delight in spending  a busy time with friends and family.  Met with class mates, mine for breakfast as we gather once a month and Den's for luncheon once a month.  Both well attended events and always a fun time.

Our 12th great grand baby, a girl is expected to arrive before we leave.  Sure hope we get to meet her before we have to go!

Last weekend I attended a church retreat with others from church at a lovely, quiet place in the hills of northern VT.  It was a peaceful and inspiring time at a beautiful spot.  I've had some really good times too with our daughter, Angel and her hubby, Paul now that they are once again living here in VT just across the meadow.  Angel and I have had some nice outings together.  On Wednesday she picked the apples at her place and we made 3 kettles full of applesauce and 4 pies.  A nice fun and productive day.

Angel and one of her apple pies.

Had a nice luncheon at church on Friday, the monthly Senior Luncheon with home made Chicken Pie and the fixings, made by Pastor George and Avis' apple pie for dessert. Yum!  We took a ride up to Darling Hill for our final trip there this fall.  Beautiful ride and a sweet time with friends for supper.  

Enjoyed a surprise visit from our Grandson and his family from the Northeast Kingdom this week too,  So glad to see them and stock up on hugs to last until Spring.

Our little Miss Lizzie kitty has to have a tooth extraction.  OUCH!  No insurance for that! OUCH again!  Thought maybe that new Obamacare might just cover that .. she IS our 'baby' and is under 26 and living at home, (she's only 9 ) But guess I'm dreaming, huh?  Oh well.

Saw lots of neat things at the Chester Fall Festival this year.  Someone is making these great warm mittens out of old woolen sweaters that have been felted (some by accident) or by intentionally putting them into the washer with very HOT water and agitating them for awhile.  Then these fibers shrink and make  nice tightly woven and really warm woolen mittens when you trace a pattern of your hand on the sweater, cut them out and sew them together.  The ones we saw were also lined with a thin fleece and the cuffs were from the sweater's wrist and bottom ribbing.  Now you know just what to do with your nice wool sweater that got tossed into the washer with all the other clothes and shrunk to child size!  I actually did make mittens without the linings, for my kids from a sweater I shrunk once years ago.  Now they are selling them for $27.00 a pair !  So it isn't a brand new idea, just a revived one made 'trendy'.  AND by people smarter than I was!  

I'm a bit weary this Saturday night.  After a whirlwind week, we went to the Weathersfield School today to attend the annual Antique and Unique Car Show.  It is a huge fund raiser for the 8th grade class' trip this coming June.  A roaring success and a good time to meet old friends and look over all the nice old and odd cars on display. Around 100 of them today.  So I think I'll just crash and turn my brain to 'off' for the evening.  Too tired to knit so the poncho I am working on will have to wait for another evening.   "Night all"!

"Commit whatever grieves thee
Into the gracious hands
Of Him who never leaves thee,
Who heaven and earth commands...     Paul Gerhardt

The Autumn Roundup

This weekend I accompained my husband on his annual trip to the hills above and beyond Proctorsville, a few miles north of home, where the Autumn Roundup is held every fall.  It is a rather unique event which focuses on antique tractors along with other old machinery.  It is pretty much a 'guy' thing but where there are guys there are usually their gals too!  We go along for the ride and enjoy each other's company, looking around and marveling at these old things.  Some participants set up shop and sell 'stuff' pertaining to motors, parts and a great variety of merchandise.

Trying to explain some of this old machinery is baffling to my female brain as I try to describe the sights there!  In 'guy talk' which I don't know if you gals will 'get', and without researching these things to get the proper terms etc, I'll just say that what I hear called "one lungers" are the old gasoline/kerosene powered motors that power up some really unusual equipment.

Handy Dandy Can Crusher

This was my favorite oddity.  The fellow has a kick start on this 'one lung' thingy that starts it running.  As it runs, its power turns this wheel.  It goes putt-putt-putt-putt-POW ( the POW being the firing that gives the push that makes the wheel keep up to speed).  Now, as this wheel goes around, the Boot lifts to the top of the shaft and comes down forcefully upon a soda can you want to crush and as you see, it flattens it real good.  Then the lady's shoe (on the right) comes zipping across and kicks the can off the block it rested on while getting squished, right off into a container !  All you do to operate this marvel is to give it a kick start and get 'er going.... quickly slip a can under the boot and keep those cans coming!! The original use for this power was to run an early 'automatic' washing machine they tell me.  (And I thought that the old wringer washer I started out with was old!)

I wandered around the field where all the things like this were displayed and being operated, marveling at man's early ingenuity.  The wood splitter run by this kind of power was really something to watch.  It split really big rounds, like tree trunk size as well as the smaller version which did a great job of further splitting the pieces to kitchen stove size.  The youngsters enjoyed splitting wood under close supervision.

The Woodsplitter

BUT the best was the ice cream churn, or should I say the wonderful tasting ice cream it produced!  Putt-putt-putt-putt-POW and while we waited it churned out some wonderful real maple flavored ice cream!! You could buy a cup for $2.00.  Also for sale were big pieces of homemade apple pie.

The Ice Cream Maker

Since my hubby had set up a table and had some other stuff there to sell, we took turns wandering around and minding the store. I sold a few jars of homemade relish.   He sold lots of old things he now has no use for and has unearthed as part of his 'cleaning out the barn' days.  Got the most comments on an old round flare that was used to warn folks away from a hole in the road back in the day.  Now we have those lovely bright red or green cones for the purpose and they never need filling with kerosene!  We had it lit and if there had been any mosquitoes in the area they would have gone to bother the next vendor.

A road sander/sawdust spreader on a trailer of its own that Dennis built 

We took this contraption to the Roundup behind the Gypsy Wagon in hopes of selling it to someone with a long driveway not maintained as a Town road.  Being on it's own wheels it doesn't occupy the back of the truck all winter or have to be taken out when you need to get another load of wood etc. The box on the front houses the battery that makes it run.  He didn't sell this but went back today (the Roundup goes for two days) with his dump trailer and did sell that.

It was a fun time and definitely different!  A cool and foggy morning there on the hill and it was pretty seeing the fog lift and the sun come out to warm the day.  Sort of a step back in time seeing how things used to be.  

Today after church, Angel and I went to Chester to check out the Festival there.  So many venders with lovely hand crafted things to sell.  The newest item was by the clever lady who made the warmest ever mittens using recycled sweaters lined with soft fleece!  LOVELY!   Also leg warmers.  Don't toss out those so called outdated sweaters !  After the Craft Festival we attended a barn warming.  Our friend Barb had the old ancestral barn which was in need of a make over all shored up and made to look so nice and now sturdy.  Wonderful party with lots of folks there to celebrate with her.  

A nice country weekend.  Hope your's was nice too.  

"The nicest place to be is in someone's thoughts

The safest place to be is in someone's prayers

And the very best place to be is in the hands of God"

Summer Is Packing Her Bags....Soon To Be Gone

It is blessedly cooler today!  The Cricket chorus is really loud this morning and I haven't heard the harvest fly's buzzzzzzzzzzz lately.  The little humming birds are still here for a bit yet ... usually they leave us around the 15th of Sept. for their winter in Central or South America.  I guess summer is ready to leave us.

I awoke this morning to the crowing of our local rooster ... he must have a name but we've yet to be intorduced.  He resides at the Pink House with the hens, a couple of goats, (BarBQ and Curry) and a few sheep.  Kathleen bought what we here in the VIllage have always known as "The Pink House".  It is a well known landmark and is used by all as a point of location, by everyone except the lady in your GPS!

Mr Rooster was a bit late with his wake up call today so I was a bit late hopping out of bed.  I knew it was to be a busy day too!  Last night, my good hubby, in charge of grinding and measuring, got me ready for zucchini relish making by filling my old crock with the fruits of his labors,  zucchini, onions, and red and green peppers.  These sit and brine overnight in a bit of salt and are waiting for me to drain, rinse and cook  into a really tasty relish in the morning.  This is our 2nd. batch.  The Zucchini are really popping out now!  Today's yield was 16 jars.  I sold a few jars on Sat. and some loaves of homemade bread at our little Farmer's/Artisans market on the Green. It was a slow selling day, probably because it was Labor Day weekend with so many fun things going on for folks to do.  The local apple orchard and petting zoo was having an open house party day with free hot dogs, a clown etc.  Pumpkins were ready and waiting for kids to select their favorite for soon to be Halloween Jack-O-Lanturn carving.

I finished my relish making and got a batch of spaghetti sauce simmering, then make a kettle of Sausage- Kale Soup.  This sure seems like Monday!  Oh, well, I didn't labor yesterday so the chores are waiting for me on Tuesday.  Laundry needs folding now.  Have a lovely week and don't forget to bid Summer a fond farewell.

A couple quotes:

'There is nothing better than a friend ..... unless it is a friend with Chocolate!' Charles Dickens

As a blossom can't tell what becomes of it's fragrance, we can't tell what becomes of our influence.
                                                                                                                         Unknown

A Whirlwind Week!

It's so great to have company!  Friends we met and spend the winter with in Florida made their first trip to New England in their motorhome with car in tow last week.  Jim and Gail are full time nomads, on the road in their lovely 'home on wheels'.  They parked in our special place for friends in RV's who wish to visit us.  What a good few days we had showing them around and doing some things new to them.

One day we went on a mystery ride, enjoying finding some of our covered bridges, stopping to look at the Queeche Gorge and watch the amazing glass blowers at the Simon Pierce store there in Queeche..  Lunch was fun at a quaint little diner and then some shopping at Gillingham's, an old fashioned country store in Woodstock that offers all the hard to find things of yesteryear.  Then on home for a quiet dinner at home and a nice little bonfire on the back patio listening to the crickets and other night noises along with the crackle of the fire and its welcome warmth on a beautiful cool night.

The Windsor/Cornish Bridge

This is the longest wooden bridge in the US and the longest 2 span covered bridge in the world.

One morning we took them kayaking, another first for them, at a very peaceful, remote pond and had a picnic on the small island there watching the geese and scaring up a few ducks as we left.  Back home again and after a bit of a rest, we took a walk in the woods along the river to the falls about a mile from our house.  Here we were met by our son in-law Paul who drove us on to check out the bald eagle's nest. No eagle siting today... he often soars high above the meadow across from our house hunting for small prey that might be scurrying through the grass there.  We have never seen him swoop down to catch anything but sure is nice to see him ride the wind currents.  He is a lot quieter than the airplanes that pull the gliders up and let them go to soar like the eagle!  All this exercise makes us really hungry so we go to the Black Rock Restaurant to savor great steaks served on a VERY hot rock ... 700 degrees hot they say, upon which we each can cook our meat to our favorite doneness.  Sooo yummy! This too was something not experienced before by our guests.

Looking for the eagles

Another day was spent just relaxing and enjoying this near perfect weather we have been so blessed with.  In the evening, the guys went off to an antique show in NH and we girls had a little night out going to the little Scottish Pub nearby for a unique supper of Cock a Leeky Pie and a fabulous dessert resembling peanut butter pie with whipped cream topping.

It was a wonderful time we shared and we are so glad they decided to check out our part of Vt.  It was a real bonus to have such warm, sunny,
 blue-sky days and such cool nights so good for sound sleeping.
We hope they find many more fun things to do as they travel through parts of NH and Maine and that they stop back by around Labor Day as they wend their way back to Indiana and Kentucky to visit with relatives before heading to Florida for the winter months.

Now it is all quiet around here and time to pick the garden and make some jam and get back to finishing up some of my UFO's  (un-finished- projects) .

Hope you all enjoy these wonderful end of summer days.  Remember that " Today is a gift, that is why it is called 'The Present' "

Perfect Summer Days

This has been a perfect summer day here in VT.  The sky is bluer than blue... the eagle is soaring over the field that son in-law, Paul keep mowed.  She can see the little critters better that way if any should be scurrying through the grass.  I would love to see her swoop way down for a better look !  We can see her white head at times and then she climbs higher and just rides the breeze that is so delightful today.  I saw her fly over our backyard where I hang out the sheets to dry.  I guess she follows the river as she scopes out the fields and meadows.  Her nest is high in the big pine tree about 2 miles from our house, just off the river bank.  Some say she had two little eaglets there this year.  A couple years ago we were kayaking in that area and as we rounded a bend in the river, there she sat on the shore watching for fish.  A beautiful sight to see as she took to the sky as soon as she saw us.

We had a lovely weekend with the weather cooperating as we attended a graduation party for our step granddaughter, Lindsey.  The 'Vermont version' as we already enjoyed the CT party at the end of June. Angel and Paul did a great job with the food and we all had a good time playing the Bean Bag Toss game on the back lawn.  Great granddaughter, Brie gathered enough Maple leaves to weave into a necklace, (remember how we used to do that on a lazy summer day?)  We called her our Maple Leaf Princess and she posed and pirouetted for us in her green finery.

Our little Maple Leaf Princess

I was excited to have a visit last week from my friend Madelyn.  We were the best of friends way back in the Little Room at the old Perkinsville School years ago.  ( We only had the two rooms there at the old schoolhouse, with the little room for the first 3 grades and the big room for the upper 3 grades. Then it was off to Springfield for 7th and 8th grade and High School.)  Madelyn brought a lovely old heirloom quilt to show me.  It was so well made many years ago by her mother's relative.  It was a version of the Sun Bonnet Sue pattern only these were pretty ladies.  The very tiny, tiny stitches in the applique work were amazing and all hand done.  She also brought me a couple really nice rainbow trout that her husband had caught at the lake and one that he had smoked.  They were delicious !  I baked the biggest one and froze the other one for a treat later. Thanks Bill !

I never got to finish this post the other day!  Now, three days later I have time to sit and write a bit and check out other blogs etc.  Summertime can get pretty busy!   I am finishing up lots of small projects this summer and as I read my friend Cyndy's blog today I had to chuckle as it seems she is doing the very same thing!  We both had a batch of Comfrey/Plantain Salve in the works and I have finished mine up, with a yield of 10 jars of wonderful, healing salve.  The infusion with oil takes 4-6 weeks and mine was ready the other day to strain and add some beeswax and essential oil and pour into the little jars and tins I save up for the project.  I am looking for a source of the little tins and jars and the lip balm cases but everywhere I look on line, the price of the shipping is more than the goods !   This is SO ridiculous!  Especially since the weight of a couple dozen little tins is really minimal.  I'll keep looking and maybe I will find them at a Co-Op somewhere and save my shipping money!

Another project finished, or nearly so, I still have to put the binding on, is a quilt I started a long time ago and just now got back from the lady who has a long arm quilting machine and did the quilting for me.  I have another smaller one to finish up and that I will put on the quilt frame and tie instead of quilting the layers together.  I want it to be softer and a bit fluffier which the ties will accomplish.

SO, today I have to make pies for the big sale the Historical Society calls the Frippery, a great time of browsing around looking at all kinds of really nice things folks donate to be sold with the proceeds going to the Society.  The pie sale is a favorite and there are lots of yummy pies to choose from.

Have a great day, it is a nice rainy day here.  A soft rain falling is just what we need and it is supposed to be a nice weekend.   Blessings to you all and thanks for coming over !

Are We In The Tropics ?

Wow!  Has it been HOT and steamy this July!  We can almost see the grass growing. I am trying not to complain as the perspiration drips into my eyes and my hair is pasted to my scalp. Just looking at the very green world here and all the flowers blooming and happy makes me bite my tongue!  BUT I am really not a fan of hot weather.  We manage to stay pretty comfortable here in our house if I remember to close up the windows and doors when the thermometer on the patio reaches 72.  Fans help too.

Getting a lot of drawer cleaning and paper sorting/ rearranging  done on the hottest afternoons. A nice swim in a friend's pool was really refreshing on Wednesday. Dennis has been REAL busy this first month of his retirement, sorting and cleaning and tossing 'stuff'.  He says he has worked harder than when he was working!  We have become addicted to Root Beer Floats too!  Not so good for us but sure yummy!

Last night I worked on the Ham Supper at church.  It was a 'flaming success' and by that I mean it was VERY hot for those in the kitchen and for those of us serving too.  But many came out to eat even though it was a hot night.  Sometime during the evening, it rained and a breeze came along and took away a lot of the humidity.  Today is just a really nice, sunny summer day with the fresher air and the scent of fresh cut hay wafting down our road.  The butterflies are flitting about and there seem to be lots of Swallow Tails around this year.  Someone posted a picture on FB earlier this week which I thought very fascinating.  I saved the picture but didn't manage to save the writeup so I will just post the picture for you to see.

"All the 26 letters of the English alphabet and the numbers, 0-9 are found in the wings of butterflies.  It took Kjell Sandved 24 years to take pictures of the letters and numbers on live butterflies.  He visited over 30 countries in the process. "

If this tweaks your curiosity, you can Google Kjell Sandved to see and read more about his work.  He has a book that has great reviews called The Butterfly Alphabet.

It has been a very busy July so far.  We managed to take another trip to the Northeast Kingdom a few weeks ago to attend the birthday party of my cousin, Mick.  It was a much better trip, weather wise, than the last time, Memorial Day weekend, the weekend with the SNOW away up there.  This time the day was bright and sunny and HOT but not so hot atop Barton Mt. where there was a lovely breeze. Their garden looks great and the potatoes are doing well. It was a great party with lots of relatives, great food (Thanks, Donna Mae) and lots of good visiting and reminiscences.  We also stopped to visit the Gr. Grand Babies in Lyndonville. Two delightful little girls. And while in the Kingdom, I got to have another lovely couple hours with my friend Janie.  It was a really full day and not an overnighter this time.  We made it home by dark and noticed that it was much more humid here in the valley.

The View from the deck, on Barton Mt.

We didn't do fireworks this year, had a bonfire and listened to the boomers from Angel and Paul's back yard.  A friend tells us how lovely they were from away up at the lookout near the top of Hawks Mountain.  That would have been a sight to see.

Kayaking seem to be on hold this summer.  But SOON I hope to get in a trip to Grafton Pond some early morning, to paddle on the still water and listen to the loons, have a picnic on the big rock and have a swim.  I hope you are all enjoying your summer.

A couple quotes:

May I today live more simply
          .....  like the bread
May I today see more clearly
          ...... like the water
May I today be more selfless
         ......like the Christ

An Old Russian Prayer

                                                                "Be true to yourself ,
                                                                 For he who Trims himself
                                                                 To suit everyone else
                                                                 Will soon whittle himself away!"
                                                                                            Raymond Hull

A Special Day

Yesterday was a special day.  A day long awaited.  My hubby actually hung a sign on the shop saying in bold red letters...  RETIRED !  I thought I would never see it !  Oh, He will not be sitting on the porch in a rocking chair!  For one reason, the porch has a stone floor and doesn't do much for a rocking chair!  HAHA.  He will always be busy doing or fixing something as long as he is able to get up in the morning.  BUT, also hope we will have some time now to do some of the little things we have talked about but just never seemed to find the time to do.

It was a double good day yesterday as our wonderful son in-law also retired and today is an even better day as Paul and Angel are packing up the U Haul as I write this and by supper time they should be back HOME in VT for good!!   No rocking chair for Paul either as he is planning to have a small Tax Preparation business and work out of their home.

I am spending today cleaning out some cupboards and am about to tackle the desk!  Now that could take awhile so will have to get to that after lunch.  Cousin Judy posted a wonderful recipe on Face Book the other day and I think I'll share it with you.  I just took this nice crispy, easiest ever loaf of bread out of the oven and after it cooled a bit, had a slice.  It really is good and SO simple.  Probably best served warm and same day but won't know that till tomorrow.

Crusty Bread

3 C. unbleached all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 1/2 C. water

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast.  Add Water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12-18 hours, overnight is great.  Heat oven to 450 degrees and put a cast iron pot with a cover in the oven. While the oven heats,  pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and let set for about 30 minutes..  Remove the hot pot from the oven and drop the rounded dough in.  Cover with hot lid and return to the oven for 30 minutes.  After the 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes.  Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.  Makes a lovely crispy crusted, tender inside loaf !

While cleaning out the desk, down the road comes the returning Vermonters!  Horns tooting and just SO happy to be home again.  Four cars in all,  Colleen driving a pickup, Angel in her car, Gary driving the U Haul and Paul in his car.  Then the work begins as we all pitched in and had them unloaded in no time.  A lot of things had been brought up ahead of time and taken care of.  Now Dad and I are home and they are still busy sorting and settling.  Moving is never an easy thing.  We did stop to sit in the breeze way and have some appetizers and a good visit.  God is GOOD!

Maybe the rainy days are over, as it hasn't rained at all today.  The air is cooler now and a great time to take a walk around the back yard, check out the flowers and the garden. Very wet gardens for a lot of folks.  Our soil is well drained so my garden is pretty happy with all the watering.  Pole beans are beginning to climb but the tomatoes are really slow taking off this year.

I'll leave you with a little snippet from Henry VanDyke's

A Home Song

'Every house where love abides,

And friendship is a guest,

Is surely home, and home- sweet -home,

For there the heart can rest.'

I hope you have peaceful thoughts, a restful night and sweet dreams.  Come by again soon!

June Equals Parades and Parties!

What a nice time we had at my 55th Class reunion weekend!  Our float was finished on time, thanks to all the people who came and helped to make it so good.  It won a banner for First Place, Humorous!!
The parade was a 2 1/2 to 3 mile trek from the south side of town to the Jr. high school on the north side.  About 22 of the 'Young at Heart' class of '58 walked along with the float and the bandwagon on which a classmate played his trombone ( a GREEN one, just special for the occasion, as we are so proudly the Green and White).  Having such nice music to dance along with was a real blast.  And we did dance part of the way!  We were all dressed in our cardboard boxes, depicting building blocks.  The theme of the parade was TOYS and we dubbed our float "The Block Party".  I guess the judges found us humorous in our 'blocks' just a-jumping and dancing around like youngsters!  Some classmates rode on the float and in the truck that pulled it.  Raggedy Ann was there, on the float.   What a nice day it was too for a parade, after a whole week of rainy days.  It was a really good parade too with many fine floats involving much creativity and a lot of work!

The three posters on the back show three of our best floats from other years

A bunch of Blocks

Fifty Five Years Later

by Dottie Ann Richardson

Guys in white sport coats and pink carnations,

(Remember the song?)

Or in white bucks and a pink shirt,

A comb in his pocket ... that wave to tame.

Ah ... remember Vitalis?

Starched crinoline petticoats, the girls wore,

With bouncy ponytails swishing,

Its the way we were;

Things of the 50's, in times of yore.

Fond memories remain

Of the magical times of our youth and prime.

For some, the years have been kind,

For some, life's highways rough,

Dreams illusive and peace hard to find.

We think often of the dear ones

Who have gone on before us;

You are never forgotten,

We'll pause to mention your names

And speak of you with kindness.

Through it all, special bonds we've forged,

This awesome class of '58.

We've grown close with the passing years,

We've shared our joys, our sorrows and tears.

Has it really been 55 years in all,

Since leaving those sheltered halls

Of our beloved SHS ?

Time sure flies, I guess!

Yet, here we are ... Still young at heart:

Together again, gathered from near and far,

To celebrate, to remember, to laugh and to love!

Bless us, this class of '58, Oh Lord above.

After the parade and a bit of a rest at home, we were off to the Class Banquet.  It was a great meal in a great place, decorated so beautifully by more hard working classmates.  We enjoyed our time to visit and catch up with those coming from afar.  We had as our guest  music teacher, Jon Nicholson who had so many of us in his class and in the band etc.  He came with his instrument and played for us the school song which he had written the words to more than 55 years ago!  This is still the school song today.

What pretty decorations!!

Mr. Nicholson

The Morning After Breakfast was equally fine, held at the Fullerton Inn and hosted by our classmate, Diana who couldn't be with us as she was called away to a medical emergency involving her son.  We were all so saddened by this and we're praying for a speedy and complete recovery for him.  We  all thank you Diana for your generosity.

SO having survived the alumni weekend, we move on to the rest of the busy month of June!  Sunday, being Father's day, our daughter and son in-law took Dad out for dinner  (and Mom too)!  That was a lovely treat.   Monday was appointment day and today some housework must be done!  Getting ready for a trip to CT this Friday to attend the graduation of granddaughter, Lindsey.  Such happy happenings!

Today the thermometer on the patio reads 80 degrees and I can hear some swimmers above the dam in the river below the backyard.  By the sounds, that water is mighty cool still!  I need to get into my garden before the weeds take over completely so maybe I will do just that now.  

Thanks for stopping by and checking out All Things Homespun!  Comments always welcome !

Keeping Busy

Oh my,  "the hurrier I go the behinder I get!!"  Somewhere I've heard this very true saying.  It seems like I am just hurrying along so fast this Spring!  Lots of stuff going on in May and now June events have my calendar days filling up fast!
This week is alumni weekend and for a couple months, plans have been forming for a great celebration for our class of '58.  The float is now the most pressing project.  We work on it once a week and this week, two work sessions are scheduled. The parade theme this year is TOYS and we are doing a "Block Party" using building blocks, big ones, and toys from our era, to decorate our float.  We've also built individual blocks big enough to wear (held up by suspenders) as we march along in front of the float.  It is coming along nicely and will be ready for the Saturday morning parade.  Can it really be our 55th class reunion??  Many classmates are planning to attend the Parade, the Banquet and a Breakfast which is being hosted by a very wonderful lady classmate, Diane, at the Fullerton Inn in Chester on Sunday morning.

Spring has truly come here in our valley.  With the nice rains we've had, everything is a lovely lush green and the flowers are all blooming. The veggie garden has been planted and things are up reaching for the sun. It sure is a wonderful place to be.

A Bouquet from my gardens

We made plans for a trip to the Northeast Kingdom for the Memorial Day weekend.  The weatherman was promising nice weather while we were in the planning stage.  We had three stops to make and needed to be sure we could coordinate our visits to convenient times for the folks we wanted to see.  The weatherman was way off in his predictions!!  It was rainy and cold but since plans were in place, we went anyway.  We took the Gypsy Wagon and planned it to be our first camping trip of the season. Things weren't too bad as we reached Lyndonville and enjoyed a morning and lunch with our grandson and wife and the adorable little gr. granddaughters.  We left in the late afternoon to go on north to Barton where we were to stay with cousin Mick and DonnaMae for the night.  No let up in the rain and  the further north we went the thicker that rain became!  We decided to take Rt. 5 instead of staying on the Interstate which gets really high up.  Good thing.... it was soon no longer thick rain but SNOW!!  Now who wants snow the last few days of MAY?   Mick's driveway was pretty muddy with all the rain and nice and greasy with the new snow on top of the mud.  (He lives on TOP of Barton Mt.)  But the little Gypsy Wagon did a good job and got us up there just fine.  By now the wind was howling as well and about and inch of wet snow had fallen.  We got all set up anyway and went inside for a nice visit and yummy supper and a good game of Double King Pead...an old Vermont card game.  Finally at bed time we trudged out to turn on the heater which warms the place up in a jiffy and get ready for a good night's sleep.  Something about listening to the wind on top of a mountain and the splatter of the thick rain lulls you right to sleep as you cuddle beneath the comforter and a warm quilt.

Sunday morning dawned with a heavy gray sky but no more snow.  Still a drizzle of rain.  I like mornings in the Gypsy Wagon as I get first my coffee and a bit later my breakfast served to me in bed. It is sort of a necessity as only one person can do good things in the tiny kitchen at once!

Enjoying breakfast in bed!

                Yes, that is a winter toque atop my head!  But I did get a good sleep and nice breakfast

I had made arrangements to meet my friend from many years ago on Sunday.  For many years I didn't know where she lived and last winter, heard she was back in Vt somewhere in the north.  As it turned out, she lives just a couple miles from where we spent the night on the mountain!  Isn't that amazing??
We found her house and we spent several hours catching up and reminiscing and having a great time. Dennis left us to our chatter and made coffee, read his book and took a nap in the Gypsy Wagon.  We were pretty well visited out and decided to come on home to our valley instead of making our other call which wasn't an appointed one anyway.  By now the rain had ceased and as we came south, stopped for a light supper at the exit 17 P & H truck stop, a really great place to get homemade soup and mile high lemon pie!  So our weekend ended and Miss Lizzie was pretty glad to see us home again.

Catching up and reminiscing 

I've been making a few jars of rhubarb/apricot/pineapple jam since we have lots of rhubarb.  This and the tomato spice jam are my favorites.   Rhubarb crunch is a great dessert too.  Quite like apple crisp.  The comfrey is abundant as were the dandelions this year so I have made dandelion salve and am drying the comfrey and plantain for salve making later.  

At the end of June, Dennis will be retiring and the Fix-It Shop will close.  It seems to be time.  He won't be just lazing around, can you imagine that!!  He will keep busy as it is his nature to do that.  Hopefully we will get in some good kayaking too.  And we have a few little trips and places to see that we haven't made it to yet.  Son in-law, Paul will retire the same day and it will be so nice to have them back home in their house here in VT.  He too will be busy and have a new business, tax preparation, with an office at home.  So many changes.  Someone once said, " The only permanence we know is change."   How true.  Change can be good and we hope it will be good for all of us.

Quote for the day:      

The grand essentials of happiness are:  Something to do, Something to love, and Something to hope for.