The Absolute Best Gift !

It is Christmas Eve.  May you all be Blessed as you gather or as you don't to contemplate the greatest Gift ever given to mankind...  the gift of our loving God of his only Son, Jesus.

Reading the local paper today, I make a point to read the column written by Cal Thomas of the Tribune Media Services which our paper includes in it's publication.  Today Cal writes about the Christmas story and the ultimate gift of Jesus to the world.  He suggests reading this story again, Luke chapter 2 in God's Holy Word.  I will quote some of Cal's column.

"This is truly the ultimate gift and it has your (and my) name on it!  It fits all who try it on and has the additional benefit of having been paid for by someone else.  This gift never wears out.  Once accepted, it so satisfies that people rarely return it.  For WHAT could it be exchanged ??
Can anyone name a better gift that has produced more positive and welcome results around the world for more than 2,000 years ?"

So today won't you accept this gift?  Unwrap it... make it a treasure... and let this Gift of God fill your lives and make you whole.  Then you will find this a Gift you will want to share !

I wish you all a Blessed and Merry Christmas!   May your New Year be Happy and Healthy.

Love,  Dottie and Dennis

Thanksgiving Reflections

It is Thanksgiving once again!  Shouldn't every day be a day of Thanksgiving?  The bonus is that when  our minds are busy being thankful, we have not as much time for worrying or complaining! And most people I know can think of lots to be thankful for.  Being able to be thankful even in hard times is such a lifter-upper to others!!

We are enjoying a cooler day today here in central Florida after several days of humidity accompanied by LOTS of rain and all day thunder storms.

After "Coffee Hour" today, I helped others set up Sunrise Hall for our community/family dinner which will be at 1 PM tomorrow.  A new seating plan will help move things along a bit faster.   The tables are set up in a circular fashion around the hall.  The table at the front will be where the Turkey, Ham, Mashed potatoes, Gravy, and Stuffing will be served and this table is in the circle.  Folks also bring their favorite Thanksgiving dish to share.  This dish will be set in front of their place at the table they choose to sit at.  Time to eat, all will rise and those sitting on the inside of the circle of tables will take their plate and go around the INSIDE of the circled tables, reaching past the empty chair to serve themselves from the favorite selections down the center of each table. Those sitting on the outside will move around the circle of tables on the OUTSIDE. Moving around they will be served from the meat table and continue around, back to their places.  Also on the tables will be baskets of various breads.  Desserts will be on another long table and when ready, one goes to the dessert table and helps themselves, IF you have any room for dessert at this point!  We have some awesome cooks around here.  We have 60 folks signed up to be at our dinner.

I am thinking of Thanksgivings Past these days.  The first couple of years we were married, we went to either my family gathering or Dennis'.  I remember the wonderful HUGE hams Den's mom would prepare.  The best ham I have ever had!  Sometimes it was turkey at Thanksgiving and the ham for Christmas dinner.  I still make Mom's Raisin Sauce when we have ham, as my daughter, Angel does now too!  The family raised their own pigs as well as having a huge garden every year.  If we were at my family's Thanksgiving dinner it was usually Turkey.  Or maybe Turkey and Chicken and Dumplings, Aunt Ethel's specialty.  Uncle Herb was especially fond of the Chicken and Dumplings. She always made a big batch of biscuits too just in case you would rather have your chicken and gravy over biscuits.  And those wonderful creamed onions!  Yum!

I think it was five or six years after we were married that I first attempted to roast a turkey.  I remember pouring over recipes and pushing for the perfect menu.  We ate in the early evening that year  as opposed to the usual noontime repast. Going through some old slides awhile back I found a photo of that first Turkey dinner. I have a scanner, given to me by my sister in-law, Lea that has a special gadget that a slide fits into and makes it able to scan the slide to the computer.  This is one of the slides I scanned.   Our guests were my Grammie Della and my Daddy.  Dennis was the photographer.

That's little Matt peeking into the picture on the right!

Chip is on my left, Grammie, Daddy, Matt and 

Angel-baby in the high chair.

I used our very best dishes which were my Grandmother Amsden's best china. (These are Angel's now) The ruby- red tumblers were so pretty and were collected when I was a little girl, by Grammie Della.  They came with oleo in them!  That is back when oleo started being sold already yellow like butter!  Before that, it was sold in a plastic bag, white like lard, with a color/dye button in the bag that once you began kneading the bag, broke and the more you kneaded the more the nice yellow color distributed through the oleo.  The center piece here was real fruit.  A memorable time!

So I hope you have time to think back and remember good times with family and friends on Thanksgiving days long ago.  Remember the special people who have walked through our lives and made special memories for us to hold onto.  Another thing to be thankful for at this season!

HAPPPY THANKSGIVING!

I leave you with this from Psalm 100: 4-5 from God's Holy Word.

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations"

Wow!  I hope not everyone gave up on me!  This summer was a busy one and I am ashamed to admit that I just didn't carve out some time to keep up my blog.  I also had about with sciatica and thanks to a wonderful therapist, Cindy, and many visits to her healing hands, I am finally back to pretty much normal. ( OK, I looked that one up in my dictionary and it defines 'Normal' as...average, regular, orderly and SANE)!  Don't know if I ever met all of these definitions of normal anyway!  But is sure good to feel better.)

What a beautiful fall we had in Vermont this year.  When I saw the leaves start turning in Sept. I thought it would be all over way before Columbus Day, but not so. After the rain took down some of the early turned leaves, another batch, even more brilliant presented themselves and were the most lovely I ever remember seeing. We left for FL on the 18th of Oct. and it was still very colorful and all this time with no hard frost in our area!

I am on a committee that is raising money to restore to use the old 1879 brick schoolhouse in the Village. At town meeting last March the voters chose to save it from the wrecking ball, for which I am really thankful.  Folks are coming forward with their skills and donations of time, talents and money to make this possible.  Groups and organizations are offering their help and we held a very successful yard sale in early Oct. raising $1116.00 !  An Historic Grant has been applied for, money for a new bathroom donated, a work crew has volunteered to fix a floor etc. etc.  Soon, we hope, the local Food Shelf will be able to move in.

This is a cake!  Made for the 100th year celebration of the 1879 brick schoolhouse

by my friend Dotty Rhodes in 1979.  (only picture of the schoolhouse

I have with me here.)

We also managed to go on a couple of relatively easy hikes in Oct.  The first one was on a just perfect day for a hike. We went to view the caves where the Weathersfield Panther was caught in the 1800's.
This beast had been feasting on local livestock and was tracked to a cave up on Pine Hill.  With the help of a dog who entered the cave and was chased out by the Panther, the local men shot it .  Someone had it stuffed and it remains to this day in Weathersfield at the local Historical Society.

Later in Oct., just before leaving for our winter quarters, we went on another hike, this one longer and on a pretty chilly morning.  The mountain west of our village was named after a man named Hawks.  He made several trips from MA through VT and on to NY and Canada. Once as a captive of the French and Indians and a couple of times to ransom relatives taken to Canada.  We hiked to the Great Spring and a clearing on the side of the mountain where he camped on his way through.  The brook that comes down into the village is thus called Encampment Brook and flows through a little valley across the meadow from our house and on into the Black River. We ate our lunch in the clearing where Mr. Hawks and his men camped. Twenty people enjoyed this outing and the talk given by a man from the Crown Point Road Assn.

Our trip to FL was good with our second day stopover in NC a pleasant time with cousin Janice and Phil. Our little Miss Lizzie was a good girl and a model traveler this year!  Guess she knows by now that when the few days of strange places is over, she will be at a place to call home for a few months.
She loves the FL room and her scratching log, the other half of the one she loves so much on her VT porch.  Den got her a live oak log here but she would have nothing to do with that so last year we brought along the ash log and it is the first thing she heads for when we arrive.

We are pretty well settled in and I am enjoying the warm days and the pool.  Nights are cooler and good for sleeping. Snowbirds are arriving daily and it is good to see winter friends again. So thankful that we are blessed with friends and family, our health and all the good things God gives us each day.

Quote:
Ten thousand, thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ;
Nor is the least a cheerful heart
That tastes those gifts with joy.
                                                       Addison

A Lovely Country Wedding

It was a great day, last Sunday.  It started out with a shower and some cooler air which was very welcome.  Soon it cleared and the sun came out, insuring a great afternoon for an outdoor wedding!
All the preparations complete, or nearly so by noontime.  Grandson Patrick and his lovely bride, Lindsay, so happy and excited and guests arriving.  I will tell the story with some pictures.  It was a very nice time and everything went well.

Introducing Mr and Mrs Patrick Richardson

Lindsay, Patrick and Selena

The Cake  by Auntie Angel

A reading by Auntie Angel

Good Job,  by friends of the bride and groom !

Such a sweet couple and Selena thoroughly enjoyed the day!   The 'kids' are back now from a honeymoon trip to the beach.  They have many good memories to cherish of their special day with friends and family.

Still the summer stays busy!  Today was Family Reunion day... Den's family and it is always a special time as we gather in the hills at cousin Tim's for fun and food and catching up with each other as another year has passed.  How the time has flown!  Keeping the generations in order takes effort!  There are so many now.  I think the oldest attending the party was 95 years young!  The youngest this year was probably around 3.  We were blessed with a lovely day, nice, warm and sunny but not hot nor humid.

So it's been a busy day and now it's time to rest.  I hope you are all having a good summer with some fulfilling  good times and that you are making lots of good memories.  

This quote is from Frank Kafka

"Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty in every age of life really never grows old."

 Here we are in mid July already!  Where is the summer going?  Such a busy one too!  Took our annual trip to the Northesat Kingdom the weekend of the 4th.  Had a wonderful time with our grandson and family and especially with the two little gr. granddaughters. They are growing so fast and amaze us with all they learn.

Then we spent a morning with my friend Jane and met her daughter whom I had not seen since she was a toddler. That was a super good time and they made us a lovely lunch.  Thanks, Jane and Sharon!
Then off to the top of the mountain to visit cousins, Mick and DonnaMae for the their birthday celebrations and some awesome fireworks displays, eight towns within a 180 degree range of view from their patio !,  Plus the great display put on there atop the mountain by the M. brothers! Thanks guys and also a big thank you to our hosts who put on a fabulous and yummy BBQ.
Then, next day we are off in the Gypsy Wagon for home.  Of course there is always time for lunch at Exit 17 at the Truck Stop!

The gardens are thriving really well, veggie and flowers alike.  We are preparing for a wedding on Sunday... Our grandson Patrick and his bride to be, Lindsay are planning an outdoor wedding.   The bridal shower was a couple of Sundays ago.  Everyone is all excited and we are hoping for the picture perfect day. Last session of therapy this morning for my ailing back.  Sure hope these have cured the sciatica problems!  Now for the final little wait for Pat and Lindsay's big day!  will write of the event and post some pictures later.   Enjoy the lovely sweet summer days The Lord has blessed us with.

Busy, Busy Days of Summer

What a busy summer so far and Summer has just begun!  It's been a lovely, lush and green time with glorious blue-sky days this week with temps in the 70's and a wonderful breeze every day.  The nights are a bit cooler and so refreshing with the open window and so conducive to a good night's sleep. Vermont at her absolute finest!

Getting older does have it's perks!  Not having to rush off to work and be inside most of the day is certainly a big plus!

The gardens are growing happily with the abundant rain, just as needed and sunshine in the right amounts too.

Angel belongs to a group that offers weekly home grown produce to its members with a pick up each Thursday.  She shares these goodies with us.  We've had the nicest, freshest and most amazing variety of greens imaginable this spring.  Lettuce of all kinds, a variety of Swiss Chard, Bok Choy, Tatsoi (an Asian green I had never heard of), and  kale, plus garlic scapes (another new one to me), plus radishes and fresh eggs.  Our own garden is doing well except for the yellow bush beans which only a few plants came up from the seeds.  We replanted these again and are waiting to see how this batch does.  The pole beans are reaching for the sky already and the cukes, summer squash varieties and tomatoes look fine.

Last weekend was Alumni doings in town and as it was Dennis' 55th class reunion, the class decided to have a small float.  The theme of the parade was "Landmarks" and they chose to portray Plymouth Rock.  They had a great time and were amazed to win the Most Humorous Award for their float!  This was probably due to the 'characters' that rode on the float!

Pilgrims, Marcia, Judy and Joe                                   Indians, Patty, Dennis and Donna

We all enjoyed a delicious dinner at the well attended banquet Sat. night.

On Wednesday evening we went to our gr. granddaughter, Julie's graduation from elementary school.  It was a lovely warm evening and the festivities were held outdoors under a big tent.  A great celebration of a great class.  Very exciting time!  Congratulations, Julie !!

This morning we went to my class breakfast, a monthly event at the local restaurant.  This time there were over 25 folks enjoying a fine breakfast and lots of friendly conversation.  Also a little celebration of my cousin Natalie's upcoming birthday.   Joannie outdid herself again with the decorations and favors as well as a little something to take home for lunch... her best-ever whoopee pies!

I am sitting on the front porch as I write this, loving the heady scent of the multi-flora rose hedge which is in full bloom with white blossoms and the tantalizing fragrance only the old fashioned roses have to offer.

Looking forward to tomorrow which is Vermont History Expo day, held every other year at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds. Our Weathersfield Historical Society has a nice display at their booth thanks to Ellen Clattenburg the curator of our local museum.  This year's theme is "Vt. Art and Artisans". Dennis and I will watch over our booth for the morning and then enjoy the rest of the day looking at other town's booths.  Always a nice time and the weather promises to be picture perfect just like today.  And in the 70's with friendly warm sunshine.  After the Expo, we will head a bit north to Vershire, away up on Darling Hill to spend the rest of the afternoon and enjoy supper with our friends there.

Later on, in July, we hope to travel to the Northeast Kingdom to see our grandson Thad and family and get some cuddles from the little girls. Then spend some wonderful time visiting with my dear friend Janie.  Next on up to the top of Barton Mt. to see cousin Mick and Donna Mae and enjoy the the view from the top of the world and maybe see some fireworks from area towns visible in the distance.

All this before the big event of the summer ... Grandson Patrick and Lindsay's wedding !  This will be here in our backyard or in the meadow across the lane from us.  Just hoping for a carbon copy of today for this happy occasion.


In the spare time around all this fun stuff, I have made a few jars of strawberry/rhubarb jam and picked some comfrey and plantain which I have drying and will be making my salve soon.

SO goes Spring and the beginning of Summer.  Favorite times of the year.  Still have to find some time to get on the water in our kayaks!!  Have to make time for that SOON !

Enjoy this wonderful weather, all the scents and sounds of summer and most of all, enjoy  each other.

A couple lines from Pete Seeger's "Rainbow Race"

One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shores,
One Earth so green and round...
Who could ask for more !

Real Spring Has Arrived

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day and spent some time with family.  It is amazing how just a couple of weeks can make such a difference weather wise!  We have had such nice days and occasional rain showers and warm days have made our Spring a reality.  All the grass is green, green, green and the leaves are fully out on the big maples.  Flowering shrubs and bushes are lovely and the tulips and daffodils are beginning to finish their blooming time.  Lilacs are just popping out too.  Some have already planted their gardens.  We wait until just before Memorial Day and hope for no more frosts.  The soil is warmer now and the seeds will germinate pretty quickly.  Den has the garden all tilled and ready.

                                                        From the patio as the sun is setting.

Angel and I had a great time picking out plants at the greenhouse last week.  As the new potting shed is finished now, I was happy to do my potting there and all the pots, trowels and shovels were in one place with the new bag of potting soil.  I mix that in with my good dirt and some compost I have made. The plants seem to like it and thrive.   I got some nice hanging flower plants from my hubby, daughter and daughter-in-law for Mother's Day, they are all so thoughtful!

I am ready now to share a picture of that great new potting shed as it is all painted and ready to show off!  And here it is......

It is very airy and light inside too.  The back window overlooks the river, and was

a freebee that someone had discarded, can't imagine why as it is brand new and even has

the mullions in between the glass!  Pretty fancy for a potting shed I'd say, and looks like 

a picture window in this little building.

 The picture at the top of my blog was taken from that window. 

Den made me shelves and a workbench inside and places to hang things.

I have been out foraging for edible greens etc.  Had a meal of fiddle head ferns, which are not my favorite but plentiful so I have a meal of those once each spring.  Some people just love them.  Then I picked dandelion greens several times as they are really good.  But the newest I have tried is the garlic mustard that is actually a non native plant that is becoming very invasive here.  The leaves are lush and tender and the top most stalks are good too.  Gathering some for dinner before they get their little white blossoms insures a very mild and not bitter at all green to cook. If they have small beginning blooms it is still fine. I just pick them off the top and discard them.  Then they are cooked like any green and are as mild as spinach!  Can do anything with them that you would with spinach. Some make pesto with the leaves.  Along about August,  it is good to get a bucket and go in search of the seed pods that have formed and pick the pods containing these little black seeds.  It is these tiny seeds, so numerous, that keep this invasive plant producing and taking over.  By being so prolific they don't allow the native ground cover and other ground plants to grow and thrive.  Folks around here get together and have garlic mustard  pulling outings.  The plant pulls up pretty easily and huge plastic bags are used to gather them into.  Then they are tied up so no light nor air can get to them.  I guess some burn them.  Getting them before they go to seed is the way to eliminate them.

When they do go to seed, the pods can be picked and the seeds winnowed out, ground, and used to make a delicious spicy mustard!  I have a recipe and I want to try it this August.   Also can make a Garlic Mustard Seed Salad Dressing which I also want to try.

Also last week, we visited the greenhouse where our grandson is the production manager, Gourmet Greens.  We got a tour of how they raise pea greens, radish and sunflower greens and wheat grass.  These are then harvested and sold to the local co-op, a local distributer of organic veggies and some restaurants.  A very interesting organic operation!  I liked my samples and I think I liked the radish greens the best and they were great in a chicken sandwich!  Thanks Pat for the tour.

Last night was the last in a series of monthly Baked Ham Suppers that we serve at church.  It is always a fun time to work with friends on the suppers.  We serve a family style dinner to  anywhere from 65 to 105 people and a lot of them are regulars.  It is always nice to see them as sometimes it is the only place we do get to see them.  

On Friday morning we attended the monthly breakfast for the class of '58.  A great turnout of about 24 classmates and some spouses as well.  We all look forward to these great times to visit and catch up with each others happenings.

Soon it will be time to get the Kayaks out and go for a paddle!  Looking forward to that for sure.  So much to do ...  so little time!!  Farmer's markets will be starting soon too.  A great way to get home grown veggies, eggs, home baked and canned goodies and crafts.  AND great news for those who haven't heard ... Vermont is the very first state to now require labeling of food as to whether it has  ingredients that have been Genetically Modified!  Everyone has a right to know how the food they are purchasing has been grown.  Big chemical companies aren't happy with us for sure.

Enjoy your Spring ....  Take time to enjoy the friendly sun.

"Beautiful faces are they that wear

The light of a pleasant spirit there.

Beautiful hands are they that do

Deeds that are noble, good and true.

Beautiful feet are they that go

Swiftly to lighten another's woe."

                  From McGuffy's Second Reader

  

I Think it is Spring !

Spring is truly here!  I wake to hear the robins singing and after supper, the peepers can be heard down by the brook.  But still that nippy wind persists! And it has been really blowing lately!  The sheets on the line nearly blew away today!

 We have raked out all the flower beds and the daffodils are blooming.  The forsythia on the north side still isn't blooming.  Guess it is still recovering from the severe cold of winter.  The 'Project', the recycled Potting/Garden shed is coming along nicely. It now has shutters at the windows!  Today I picked out some paint for them to brighten up the little house.  Soon as we get the outside looking nice I will get inside and see about how to set up a place to pot my plants etc.
Yesterday Angel and I went to meet the newest little bundle of joy, our very first gr. gr. grandson, Jordan.  What a little cuddle baby he is!

I have been experimenting as I learn to make a more gluten free bread that really looks like a nice loaf of bread and tastes as good as the bread I am used to making and eating.  We are told these days that so much wheat with all its gluten isn't that good for us.  So, today's experiment was a success!  A seven grain bread with much less wheat and many other grains etc.  Buckwheat, corn, brown rice, sorghum flour, almond flour and oat bran.  It was delicious!  So guess I am glad I jotted down what I added to that dough so I can do it again next time. 

"If thou taste a crust of bread, thou taste all the stars 

                                       and all the heavens."             Robert Browning

And now this spring day has come to an end and it is time to toddle off to bed.  Sleep well all!

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Ahhhh....HOME!   Although I've been here since the last of March, at last I feel caught up enough to get back to writing my blog.  We arrived safely after a very nice trip on dry roads and 'calm seas' on the inside.  Miss Lizzie was a very good rider this time and only complained a couple of times in the afternoon when she had endured just about ENOUGH of the whole traveling thing.  Then she did speak up and strongly suggest that just maybe we ought to call it a day!  She seemed to take the strange overnight rooms in stride this time and didn't give us any grief in that department.  Of course she was feeling considerably better than on the trip south in Oct. while still recuperating  after having 4 teeth removed. She seems to know when we are nearing home.  She comes up front and tries to see just where we are.  We can see her anticipation!

It was wonderful to arrive and find the driveway all shoveled and even a path up the walk from the drive all nice and wide.  And to come inside and find Angel warming her feet almost in the oven of the old wood stove she had built a nice fire in!  It had warmed things up quite a bit and was such a nice 'welcome home' !   First thing to unload is always the cooler and acting as part of the ice for the cooler, is always a nice container of homemade soup of some kind.  That always goes into a pot and finishes thawing atop the wood stove in time for our supper.  SO  all that is finished and all 'stuff' is put away.  Cleaning isn't much of a problem as I leave things really tidy and the fall cleaning done.   We've spent time with friends and catching up on things. Been to a class luncheon and reconnected with my knitting group and attended the Daniel Plan classes. So it has been a busy month getting back into the groove.  Missed the sugaring time this year as it was a pretty iffy one anyway.  There was plenty of snow so no problem if anyone wanted to have some sugar on snow!  Passed that by this time.

Now I have a nice project started!  A sweet little Potting Shed for the back yard!  With a little, very clever engineering, my gifted-in-these-matters  hubby returned the little building that once he built for Angel for a playhouse and which later became a 'waiting room', to our back yard....and all by himself I might add! I heard him felling a small tree along our bank with which he made a couple of skids to get the little shed up onto for the haul across the way and around back. The awesome part was how he got the shed turned around and backed in where we had decided to 'plant' it !!  Using his garden tractor with a plow on the front to do the pulling and pushing and with a tiny bit of help placing some bricks under his levers from a screeching wife who was afraid that we would dump the whole thing over the bank!!  But now it is all set in place on it's rock foundation and has a new picture window installed in the back with a fabulous view up the Black River where the water falls over the Tolls Dam with Mt. Ascutney and Pine Hill as a back drop. AMAZING!!  Now I need warm weather for painting and making some window boxes for flowers and some little shutters for a little color.  When it is presentable, I will post a before and after picture and just may hold open house !!

We have also had a chance, at Family Sunday, which Angel and Paul host the first Sunday of each month, to get acquainted and collect hugs and cuddles with our little gr. granddaughter, Selena!  We only got to meet her once before leaving in the fall.  What a cutie!!

           Selena in her Easter Dress.

I wish you all a very Happy and Blessed Easter.  

"He knew me ... and yet, He loved me!

He, who's glory made all Heaven shine!
I was so unworthy of such mercy,
Oh, but when He was on the cross
I was on His mind!"

from a favorite Easter song of mine.

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!

Well, the season is over lll both our season here in the sunshine and supposedly... winter!  For all at home in Vermont I guess that's questionable!  Especially, we here, with the new snowfall of today!  CHEER UP  y'all ... I have just packed Spring into the car in all the nooks and crannies, in the trunk, and just everywhere there was s bit of space and I will be bringing it home with us.  It will arrive with us on Monday sometime in the afternoon, so be watching.

It was a good season here in Sunshine village with our snowbird friends.  Dennis and all the WorkKampers accomplished miracles  remodeling 4 of the 5 units they had to work on this season and they look great.

I had a nice time too with all my snowbird friends.  Many are also getting ready to pack up and head north again.  It is always good to ger home.  Regardless of the snow still to melt.

We have new gr. grandbabies to cuddle and even a gr. gr. grandson to meet ... born on Christmas Eve, little Jordan, who is as cute as a button.

Jordan

And we need to get to know gr. granddaughter Selena whom we have only seen one.  All the photos attest to her happy nature and cuddliness. 

Happy Selena 

We are all packed and spent the afternoon visiting with friends who came over to say their 'so-longs'. Frank and Cy, and Charlie and Carol and Deb.  Tonight we will have our last little card games with Jack and Wanda.  Hope the girls win tonight... we need it !  Those fellows have won way too many nights this year !

So, Say a prayer for our journey.  Hope we have dry roads and safe travel.  We will see some of you SOON !!   

A quote from some unknown to me.

"When thou hast thanked thy God for every blessing sent, what time will there remain for murmur or complaint !"

Tea Party Time

They tell me it is still real winter back home in Vermont.  Someone sent a picture of the frozen over Niagara Falls.  Am I nuts or do I remember March being sort of warm with snow melting from around the base of the Maple trees and the sound of sap dripping into a sap bucket, and the steam rising from the vented roof of the sugarhouses?  I guess this has been (IS) a really nasty long winter.  We have a couple more weeks here in sunny Florida (although it is rainy today yet still fairly warm). I am sure we will find high snowbanks everywhere when we arrive.  A few days of slogging around in the leftovers of winter will be enough for me I guess.  I do love to get a breath of that clear, cold, pure air though!

It has been an unusually busy winter here in Sunshine Village.  We have great activities directors and planners and there seems to be always something fun going on.  Also, the variety of friends I have here keep me going with various outings and excursions.

We just had our very first Sunshine Village Ladies' Tea Party.  A swanky event with a 'high' tea served by three male waiters, who were the very best at this!  They did a fabulous job of serving the tea, tiny sandwiches and dainty desserts.

Ron, Bob and Jim.  Our own Betty W. made their bow ties.

Thought this one was funny!

The ladies all wore hats they had decorated so lavishly.  These waiters did double duty as they acted as the Judges of the hats.  Some were lovely, some funny and all were 'far out' !  

Me, Cousin Natalie and our friend Deb.

Carolyn and Cheryl

And The Winners!! Barb, Carol and Doris. 

As you can see, it was a really fun time. When asked to coordinate this affair, I was a bit hesitant but so glad we did it and now it may just become an annual event.  

Hubby continues to work here restoring the park models they bring in with a need for extensive repairs after being set up on the lots and when finished, becoming rentals or being sold. He and Charly and Stan are the carpenters in the outfit and they are real miracle workers!  These places turn out looking like nearly new little vacation homes.  Cy and Angie are the gals that do the painting and cleaning up after the carpenters.  They too are miracle workers!  This Friday evening, the owner is taking all the workers and their spouses out to dinner, which promises to be a nice time.  There are about 22 workers and all but a couple have spouses.

I am doing my spring cleaning and getting ready to leave for the good old north pretty soon.  Go through all the rooms and the cupboards and closets sorting things out and making piles to 1) go home

2) get tossed out and 3) give to Good Will Thrift Store or put it back to keep.

Didn't get around to all the visiting we were planning on this year as it got too busy. Maybe next time. As I write this  I get a text on the phone from Cousin Natalie to tell us that they are entering Vermont!  They left here on Tuesday and it is now Thursday afternoon.  Guess they will soon be home and unpacking.  

We have lots of birds here that sing and splash in the birdbath, even come close to the porch/Fla. room to squawk at us when the feeder gets empty.  A pretty little bluebird is building her nest in the bluebird house and those cardinal pairs are fun to watch and listen to.  Sounds like spring.. I guess it is here.  The azaleas are blooming which is a sure sign.  

And now for a quote from Bern Williams: "The day the Lord created Hope was probably 

                                                                     the same day He created Spring!"

I hope it comes soon to the frozen north!   Keep well and warm and keep on hoping!

The Little Red Purse

The Little Red Purse

I'd like to share with you today a little story.  Last Saturday we had a Park wide yard sale starting early in the morning here in Sunshine Village.  It was a nice day after a week of rainy days.  So we were up and about early, looking at what folks had to offer throughout the park.  I always put some change and a few bills in my little red Japanese change purse for these occasions and toss it into my shopping/flea market bag.  Well, this time I just slipped it into my light windbreaker pocket and away we went.

The Park next door was also having a sale so we took the golf cart/truck and went over there to look around.  I found a few things and we left.  Just down the road we stopped at another sale, along the short stretch of town road between the two parks.  I met a nice lady and chatted awhile then went along home where I discovered that the little red purse was no longer in my pocket!   Oh no!

 So away we go, retracing our route.  No one since the last purchase in the other park had seen the purse. I had no ID in it except for one of those little plastic grocery store card/tags that we are given to carry on our key chains to use for discounts on purchases at these stores.

Dennis remembered, after our discovery of the lost purse, seeing a fellow in an old and shabby blue truck leaving the park next door, only to backup and back into the same spot and get out of his truck again.  At the time, he thought nothing of it but upon reflection, thought 'why would he do that?'   After giving up in utter defeat and I am feeling so DUMB for not taking better care of my purse, we were setting on the porch and down our street comes the old blue truck checking out our yard sales!  Dennis sees the truck stop at the neighbors and walks over, peeks in the front seat, sees nothing and saunters up to the fellow and asks if he happened to see a little red purse on the ground where we all parked.  He said he wasn't looking down and therefore didn't see a thing.  Well, when Dennis tells me all this I still have it in my mind that he MUST have found it and was enjoying more shopping with my money!

After fuming and fussing at myself the rest of the morning about all this I finally decided that I am a very fortunate person and just maybe this man needed and could use the money much more than I .  Oh, yes, AND my sweet hubby gives me a $20 bill hoping to make me feel better and stop beating up on myself for the carelessness!  So I trashed all my bad thoughts and anger at the man in the blue truck.

On Monday I went to the Flea Market with cousin Natalie and as we wandered around looking at all the neat stuff available, this time with my money safely in a little pocketbook worn over my head and around my neck, we came upon the same lady who chatted with me so friendly- like at our last stop on our fateful Saturday yard sale hop!  She told us she was selling the Be Strong bracelets for Leukemia victims and survivors because she had lost her 24 year old son to the disease.  She was visibly distraught and still mourning.  We spent some time with her and I told her I understood her sadness as I have been through this, having lost two of my precious boys.  In all of our conversation I told her I lived nearby and that I was the lady who came back to her house on Sat. looking for the little red purse.  She lit up like a Christmas tree and took both my hands in hers exclaiming "I found it!!  It was in the bottom of a box of Beanie Babies and when I dumped them out to pack them away, out it fell!"  She remembered me coming by checking for it but didn't know how to contact me.  She called the Winn Dixie supermarket to see if they would tell her who the little tag belonged to but of course, they said that couldn't be done but to bring it in and they would send it to headquarters and they would notify me.
So later in the day I rode my bike over to her house and she presented me with the lost purse, money and tag intact!  And I now have Judy to call a new friend!

God is so good to us!  He led me to have a forgiving spirit toward the supposed holder of the little red purse, NOT to be so ready to accuse.   He led me to the lady who found it!  He gave me a new friend!  I hope I learned a few things!     Blessings to you all.

Winter Weather Everywhere

Wow! Nearly a whole month of the new year is passed!  Time never used to fly like this!
We sure enjoyed welcoming in the new year with Angel and Paul!  they arrived at about 11:15 and in time to see the old year out and welcome in the new year with us. They seemed quite happy to be away from all the cold, ice and snow Vermont can provide.  We weren't exactly sporting great FL warmth and sunshine and suntan lotion days but it was fairly warm and we enjoyed a few little trips around the area.

Dennis and Paul outside a manly looking place in Mt Dora

that offers 'Husband Sitting' for the guys while the ladies do 

their browsing of all the little shops. 

They chose to tag along with us for lunch at the really girlie place which I have raved about before called The Garden Gate Tea Room.  The food is excellent, even the guys had to admit that.  

 The entrance to the tea room

Lovely table of hats to choose from to add to the ambiance of this lovely place.

Angel and Paul also spent the day at Homosassa Springs  and here is Angel checking out the flamingos.

We also had a great time with our grandkids, Mikayla 18 and her boyfriend, Russell, and Nick, who came up from St. Cloud to spend time, have lunch and celebrate his 16th birthday with us.  This surely shows just how fast time is speeding by!  

Just can't believe how tall Nick has gotten.  

This has been a cool January here. Temperatures in the 30's some nights and getting up to the 60's at least during the daytime.  Tonight there is a frost warning for even way south in Fl.  Hope it doesn't hurt any of those wonderful tomatoes they grow there!  I so love going to the local flea and farmer's market on Monday here and getting the week's supply of fresh veggies and fruits.  The strawberries from Plant City are super good and those Beefsteak tomatoes, so red and ripe and juicy... yummy!  

My 'haul' last week.

Cousin Natalie and her hubby Jerry are here now from snowy Mt. Holly for a month and a half at their place here in Sunshine.  Nice to have Natalie to pal around with.  We are planning a trip this Sat. with my friends, the Kayak Girls heading to Dade City for the annual Kumquat Festival.  It is always a nice trip with many artisans displaying their wares and of course kumquats everywhere.

But tonight it is chilly and a good soup night so I have to go finish the soup I started this morning.  Made some nice carrot muffins to go with  it too.  The lemon pie is all gone :(  so we will just skip dessert.  Then it is off to friends, Wanda and Jack's to play a couple card games.  We have taught them to play Double King Pead, the old Vermont stand-by game.  Sometimes we get in a boondoggle and have to phone home to cousin Mick, the master of this game,  for  clarification of the rule for a seldom happening situation!  

SO it's off to finish the soup!  Take care, keep warm and well and someone said just today " Only 64 more days till Spring !  (although I don't Spring as we like it happens in VT in just 64 days from now!)