I meant to do my work today...

Fresh, bright yellow daffodils along the briar hedge, where none used to be !  Must be the "Flower Garden Fairy" has visited my yard again!   Also, here and there, some new pink tulips and some yellow ones bloom.  Each year when spring is truly here, I find new flowers popping up.  I question my friend and neighbor, Alison and she says, "Who? Moi?" and then I know for sure.  These last few days have really heralded the Spring in all her glory.  The forsythia is especially beautiful this year, loving the mildness of the winter.  The quince is blooming profusely, the flowering crabapple is ready to pop, and all the trees are leafing out.

It was a time to stop all work and just enjoy the day.  So, after attending a wonderful breakfast and a lively conversation time with twenty members of our high school class plus five spouses at the local 'good breakfast' place, Riverside Restaurant, I came home determined to do no more work today. I was strongly reminded of a poem by Richard LeGallienne the title of which I do not recall.

I meant to do my work today

But a brown bird sang in the apple tree

And a butterfly flitted across the field

And all the leaves were calling me.

And the wind went singing over the land

Tossing the grasses to and fro

And a rainbow held out it's shining hand

So what could I do ....but go? 

A warm, sweet breeze came up as I wandered about surveying the flower beds and as Dennis tilled the garden spot.  All looks so green and good!  BUT we do need some rain...though after last Aug. I thought I would never ask for rain again!  It is looking pretty dry in places.  After a good time wandering about, I settled into a favorite corner of the front porch to pet the kitty and read from my current book.  

So now at close of day, I feel that I paused amid the hustle and bustle of life to just be still and take some time to thank my God for all his goodness and the beauty of Spring.

  

All Work & No Play... can't have that!

Busy, busy days this past week make me weary and tired !  Now why should that be ?  In my mind I am still agile, strong and tireless.  Somehow the message from my mind isn't reaching my body.  My bones and muscles rebel at all the strain.  We decided that finally it was time.  Time to replace the carpet in our living room after a good many years.  We have always been do-it-yourselfers so it is just second nature to prepare and do these jobs ourselves.  So that is the cause of the achy muscles and whiny joints.  We decided on replacing that carpet with some good grade laminate flooring.  My job was being an assistant to the master carpenter.  We hauled the heavy boxes of flooring into the house after picking it up at the lumber place, stacked it inside to acclimate to a nice warm house for a day and then the fun began.  Our living room is 16x21 feet and has lots of furniture and 'stuff' in it, so next we were furniture movers.  Then carpet removers and finally able to begin the flooring job.  Thursday afternoon and evening we were at it and again all day Friday.  Needless to say the carpenter's assistant wanted nothing to do with fixing dinner Friday night !  So we cleaned up a bit and went out for fish fry night, even enjoying the bit of a wait for dinner as the place was so busy. Just to sit down and rest was so welcome a change. The meal was really great, the fish so tasty and everything in general, pleasant.  Then, back to work...as we only had about 3 feet of width and 21 feet of length left to do and we were DONE !  Well, almost, we just had to move some of that furniture back in !  Finally we crawled off to bed pretty exhausted and trying not to admit that weren't quite as young as we used to be!  But the results of our labors look so great !  I'll get a picture when we get it all back in order.

We're still working on the 'order' phase!  But this side of the room is presentable.

Back in Feb. I wrote about making snow angels and life in a 2 room schoolhouse in the 1940's.  I mentioned our teacher and how we loved to listen to her play the piano.  I got to thinking about the zippy song we all loved so much, The Black Hawk Waltz.  Today you can find just about anything you hanker for on the Internet.  I found the sheet music for the song on eBay and ordered it.  What a bargain at $.99 !  Now that doesn't include $2.30 for postage !  But, great to locate something that old. Anyway, I ordered it and it came....in fine shape.  Now I have my work cut out for me as I intend to keep at it until I can  play it!  I have a keyboard and a great friend and neighbor who lets me practice on her piano.  It will probably take me a great long time to do it but it is the same song that was floating in my mind and I can be determined.

Today was a great day, more restful and such fun.  We traveled north to Vershire,  Angel too, to a big birthday party for our friend Cyndy.   Many friends whom we hadn't seen in ages were there, we made some very nice new acquaintances and the food was super.  The efforts of her husband and family were rewarded when they saw how surprised and delighted she was.

Her sweet hubby managed to make the two yummy cakes while she was at work this morning.  Boy were they good!  I've been real good about eating sweets lately but came completely undone today and enjoyed every bite of the first and second piece of cake....well, one was chocolate with raspberry filling and chocolate frosting with raspberries on top and the other was quite the opposite, kind of like a boston cream pie...so what could I do but  have a piece of each.

                                             The birthday girl and one of her delicious cakes.


I leave you with a quote from someone unknown to me but with whom I share the thoughts.
 "This is my wish for you,  Comfort on difficult days...Smiles when sadness intrudes...Rainbows to follow the clouds...laughter to kiss your lips.  Sunsets to warm your heart and hugs when spirits sag. Beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being and faith so that you may believe."

Just Rambling!

Hoping you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to be with family at some point in the weekend.

It was so good to be back in good old Vt. even though it was chilly with the mean north wind swirling around kicking up the dead, crunchy leaves that hadn't been raked up yet and keeping us in our winter duds.

The Church Easter service was a blessing as always.  Our little choir sang two songs in praise of our risen Lord and one could feel the love all around.  Our organist/pianist, Karen played lovely music on the big old pipe organ, known by those brave enough to play it as "The Beast" !  Not an easy to play organ but Karen has tamed the beast and rendered some really lovely sounds from those old pipes!

We then went to grandson Nate's where he and Rachel and Brielle treated us to a non-traditional feast.  A Bar B Q !  Quite a gathering of relatives representing four generations.  Little Brie, who is now not quite 2 1/2, was a great little hostess, greeting each arrival with squeals of  delight and amazement that everyone she loved kept appearing all in the same place at the same time !  We are so blessed to have our family so close by.

                                                    Someone said its time for the cake!

Dennis has been busy raking up our lawns.  SO many leaves from the maples in the back !  Leaving for FL before they all fall in Oct., makes for a harder clean up in the spring.

I am having a great time catching up with friends and doing just a bit of spring cleaning... wouldn't want to miss any fun doing too  much of that!  Yesterday cousin Natalie came down from Mt. Holly to have a nice morning and lunch with me.  We always have a good time what ever we do together.  We looked through a box of old photos she brought down and that is always good for a few laughs and comments like " is that really how we looked....look at that hair do.....wow, was he handsome"" etc.  We were searching for pictures to use at Natalie & Jerry's 50th wedding anniversary party that is in the planning stage and will be in June.  Natalie and I took time out to practice our singing, we were learning American Sign Language in FL. this winter from our friends, Cy and Frank.

You can see we are "HAPPY"!

Today my sweet neighbor, Alison is coming for lunch and bringing most of it too!  She is sharing some really good gluten free bread.   Looking forward to that.  She has offered to let me use her piano to practice a piece of music that I found on the internet.  I wrote awhile back of our 4th grade teacher playing "The Black Hawk Waltz" for us and how I remembered the tune and hadn't heard it since.  When the music arrived, and it truly was the song I remembered, I played it on my keyboard, I should say I bumbled through it as I am not a 'real' piano player!  But I was delighted to find that it isn't so difficult that, with MUCH practice, I might be able to play it through... someday...if I really work hard!  So after lunch I'll go and practice a bit.

My friend Linda who also has a blog found this quote and I thought I'd share it too.

                      "What is this life if, full of care,
                    We have no time to stand and stare?  W.H. Davies
So let's slow down and take time to meditate, take a nap, or just stand and stare.  Don't work too hard.

Blessings Abound

What wonderful times I had Friday, Saturday and Sunday !  It truly is great to be back home!  On Friday I had an early morning visit from my great friend and neighbor who came for breakfast offering some really good tasting gluten- free muffins.  She is finding that refraining from eating food containing gluten keeps the arthritis at bay and makes her feel better in general.  Makes me wonder just what they have done to our wheat !  The seed is probably genetically altered to make it grow faster, bigger and make more money at market.  It seems that everything these days is all about $$$ !  I have been buying wheat berries and grinding my own flour with a borrowed electric grinder that really makes quick work of producing flour.  BUT if the berries themselves are not 'natural' then am I any further ahead, health wise than buying my flour already ground?  At least I know there are no added preservatives in the flour!

Later in the morning my sweet friend Deb came by and we spent the rest of the morning catching up and having such a great time sharing our thoughts and ideas.  We always have a million things to talk about !  She was so thoughtful and remembered how I searched around, unsuccessfully, early last spring for some narcissus bulbs to force along in a dish of stones and water....they have such a heady scent when they bloom!  You guessed, she came with a pretty blue dish of bulbs already sprouting!

On Saturday morning, my wonderful daughter Angel and I went to a big rummage sale at our church and had a great time visiting and finding a few treasures.  We got home in time to welcome Brie, Angel's granddaughter and my great granddaughter at Angel's for the rest of the day.  Come noontime, Angel and Paul and Brie came across the field to our house to join us and our daughter in-law, Colleen and Gary, grandson Thad and wife, Alissa and baby Lauren for a pizza party! The little girls were so entertaining!  We all had such a great time.

Gr. Grampie & "GG" with Lauren

Brie and Lauren  

Then came Sunday, the Lord's day, and it was good to be back in church with my church family here.  In the afternoon I just rested.  It was the first time we had heard the Canada geese go honking over the house.  They seemed to be saying, " We're back, we're back ! "  Now I will listen for them morning and night as they fly over on their way up and down the river.  I often wonder where they go each morning and just where they return to each evening.

Today was such a lovely, blue-sky day even with the north wind bringing a chill with it.  The sun was warm and friendly and made for a just right day. Some of the trees are just budding out.  We took a walk down the path to the old footbridge across Encampment Brook in Dog Hollow.  Dennis keeps the bridge in passable repair and it needed some work.  Last Aug. hurricane Irene caused the little brook to come flowing over the bridge and it needed some repair.  No ice jam this year to raise havoc with it though!

Dallas and Dennis doing bridge repair (Look closely and see Henry, black standard poodle on right.)

Leaving you with wishes for special things
That will give you
Happy moments today
And happy memories for tomorrow.

Back to the Hills

It is nice to be back among the hills and valleys.  We are thankful for the peaceful journey home.  The weather was warm and sunny.The flowering trees were bursting with blooms alongside the Interstates we traveled.  Wisteria in South Carolina and crape myrtle, ornamental pear and forsythia in South and North Carolina and even up into PA.  We made a stop at cousin Janice and Phil's where even daffodils bloomed in their yard.  Never have we traveled home in March and seen anything so springlike in all the years we have made this migration. 

We arrived home on Saturday, a warm but cloudy day and had plenty of time to get unloaded before the rain came,...a gentle rain that helped to make things a bit more green.  The yellow and purple crocus and a few mini tulips planted by Alison, our neighbor, in our yard as a surprise a couple years ago, were all a bloom to welcome us. 

Angel had the wood stove going to take the chill and dampness out of the house after the winter.  Then the fun began !  As we were transferring the food from the cooler into the refrigerator and Dennis was in the basement turning on the water, a great tsunami came pouring forth from beneath the kitchen sink! We shouted and stomped our feet, yelling to shut off the water!  It seems there was a pipe under the sink that hadn't been closed before the water was turned on.  So after much sopping and mopping we were ready to try again. This time with no leaks or gushers. 

Our next surprise was finding sunflower seed casings all over the place!  A little mouse, and maybe his whole family had found a way into the place and gotten into the crock of sunflower seeds . How he managed to get into the crock, covered with a plastic cover, although not really tight, and with a basket of mittens, hats and scarves atop that cover...we'll never know.  But somehow he got in and out again after eating a LOT of seeds and leaving a lot of shells inside the crock and all around.  Must have been a real chore for such a little creature.  We thought it might have been a squirrel but came to the conclusion it was a mouse or two, or more!  We have never had this happen before and never had any sign of a mouse in the house. So next came the search for his place of entry. Dennis found a place where the little critter got in the cellar and another where he may have squeezed into an opening beneath the tub.  So he set about to secure the places of the breach and used some foamy stuff in a few suspicious places.  Hope this cures that problem.  

On Mon. night Colleen brought little Lizzie back to us!  How we missed that sweet little kitty. We were assured that she missed us just as much.  She was so happy to be back!  She took off after greeting us to see if there was any food in her dish....which I had made sure was ready for her. After having a little snack she waddled back to the kitchen and hopped up in my lap.  Later when all was quiet she did get a bit vocal, we imagine she was scolding us for leaving her for so long. Maybe next year she can migrate with us ??  I might have to ride on the roof, the only place not taken by some of our 'stuff', to make room for her and her cage.

I leave you with a thought for today.  "A smile is a light in the window of the soul, indicating that the heart is at home"  Brighten someone's day with YOUR wonderful smile!

Countdown!

Another really warm day here at Sunshine Village.  The pool is a busy place!  Such fun to splash and play like a bunch of kids!  All floating around on our noodles... water aerobics was a big hit this year.

Our St. Patrick's day dinner was a great time...potluck this time.  Lots of good old fashioned Irish food.  Great Corned beef and cabbage, potatoes col-something, tasty anyway!


Our clever decorating committee gals got right busy Sunday afternoon and now our 'Seasonal Tree'  is all decked out and ready for Easter.

I've been busy doing my spring sorting and cleaning, not to mention packing us up for the migration back north and home.  It keeps me inside and out of the pollen for awhile anyway!

Tomorrow we look forward to a visit from our daughter in-law and the grand kids from St. Cloud.  Our last visit for this season...face to face visit anyway.  Have to store up all the hugs which I can't get enough of! I have the fridge pretty well emptied out so we will go out to eat tomorrow at the local restaurant, the Hayseed Cafe, a great place just a mile away.  Best cornbread ever !   Not the usual southern kind with no sweetness, but really good, moist with a bit of sweet.  (I won't be getting the black eyed peas though! I haven't cultivated a taste for them yet!  I do like collards though.  These folks make a mean Ruben.
My collards, that I planted in Oct, did quite well.  My neighbor will get my pot of herbs.  She also looks after our two little flower beds.

I begin to get excited and impatient to be off about now.  But Thursday morning will come soon.  I'm eager to be back in the hills where that wonderful smell of woodsmoke drifts through my valley on a chilly spring morning or evening and the old wood stove is giving off silent warmth as the teakettle sings merrily. Maybe the robins will be hopping across the lawn.

My neighbor emails saying that we have a pretty yellow crocus up and blooming already!  Sure  hope we get there to see the bare ground and not have to unload on a cold blustery spring day.  It's been years since we have seen NO snow upon the ground as we arrive in late March.

If you are so inclined, say a prayer for our safe journey home.  Blessings.

The Seasonal Tree decked out for Easter

Adding this to yesterdays post.  Our youngest grandchildren, Nick and Mikayla
Here for a short visit and little pizza party.  We'll miss them this summer.

Let The Party Begin !

My soul longs, yes even faints for the courts of the Lord.  Ps. 84:2

I'd like to share with you  a short, yet exemplary little story from a book of Our Daily Bread stories I have been reading.  It is about a three year old boy who loved to go to Church and who became very upset, even to crying, when unable to attend.  He loved the Bible stories, games, songs and dinner every Sunday.  He would rush into his Sunday school class with much enthusiasm and loudly announce, "Let's get the party started!"  How the Lord must smile at this little boy's excitement about being in "God's House" and so eager to hear of Him !

This winter I have been attending a really big church, not like my small wonderfully close-knit, small village church back home in VT.  Many things are different in a big church.  So many people, a really big choir, a minister of music, a minister of evangelism, the senior pastor and a youth pastor. But the one thing we have in common, large or small is our love of our Lord, rejoicing and worshipping with fellow believers who gather eagerly, like the little boy, every Sunday to listen to God's work, sing praises to Him and to pray for each other.  So it's really just like home, just more people in a bigger town, in a bigger 'room' all joined together as God's children everywhere are.

So as I pack and plan for our return home next week, I am eager to see and be with all those I worship with on Sunday morning there.  I hope we can all be as eager as this little fellow to head for "God's House" on Sunday mornings and as eager to exclaim,  "let's get this party started !"

Ps. 84: 2    "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord."