May 27, 1974

Happy Birthday to my niece Charlene (Charlie).Char was born on my parents anniversary, after Mom and Dad moved to California they would make the trip back home to celebrate Memorial day and their anniversary but Charlie always thought they came home just for her birthday! Any way you look at it it was great time to have them back home to be with family.
Happy Birthday Char and thank you for all you do and have done on behalf of Mom and Dad.

MAY 27, 1947

In honor of my Mom and in memory of my Dad.

An anniversary is a time to celebrate the joys of today, the memories of yesterday, and the hopes of tomorrow. ~Author Unknown

True love stories never have endings. ~Richard Bach


A great marriage is not when the 'perfect couple' comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences.
Dave Meurer.

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. ~Simone Signoret

Garden 2009

This is the start of the growing season the volunteer sunflowers are already green along the fence line .


















This fence was rescued from going to the dump, my good friend Kathy made this cute fence for her garden when she decided she needed a new one I said I would take it, so over to the property it came and what a wonderful addition it has made! With a little re-bar arch in between that my son Jared made for me. I and Haddie planted morning glory along the fence and arch to add some early morning color.










I got the log family out of hibernation to come join the garden.




























The second couple was made for Kacy's wedding. The groom comes with a flattop made from horse shoe nails and a copper bow tie, the bride has a bird nest/chicken wire wedding veil. In the background is Dad's sign that I planted a clematis under, hoping it will grow.
























Mom loves to keep the birds fed these are some coffee mugs on a pole that I had made originally for Kyle and Kari's wedding, they lined the wedding path with tulle strung between them and floating candles and now they hold bird seed.




























This little spot was filled up with river rock that I moved one bucket by bucket by bucket at a time I suppose it was easier on my back that way. I moved them over to the STUMP .

This is what we call the stump it is what remains of one of the old trees that was on the property it was the one that we sister played in. Dad thought it should stay so he had Dennis plant it trunk down leaving the root system exposed. We have tried to get things to grow on it but they die quickly so I took some of the river rock and built up little damns of dirt with a weed block material underneath to see if that might help out, still need to get some more plants picked out to go in those spots. Mom has picked out new plants for the spot underneath the bay window that still need to go in then it will be time to plant the pumpkins! One of my favorite garden books is a Country Living book called SEASONS AT SEVEN GATES FARM I never get tired of looking at it it is also were I first seen the log people.

Memorial Day

In Our Hearts

We thought of you with love today

but that is nothing new.

We thought about you yesterday

and the days before that , too.

We think of you in silence.

We often speak your name.

Now all we have are memories,

and your picture in a frame.

Your memory is our keepsake

With which we'll never part.

God has you in His keeping.

We have you in our hearts.

Author unknown

Planting day

My little gardening partner spent the day with me at the property to get things planted but once again the dandelions were more appealing to her than the marigolds.

A weed is no more than a flower in disguise.

Garden Angel

Gardening Angel

up above

watch over

my flowers

with tender

love

What not to do in a bedroom!

No it is not what you think! This is a decorating mistake that needs to be demolished it started out as a cute idea but now it is time to get rid of it. I knew it was all wrong the first time my niece came to look at it, I had been so proud of my little idea and she squashed it in an instant. Her remarks were ( I am sure she was thinking of her ruggedly handsome Uncle Dennis at the time) "My Uncle Dennis sleeps in this room?"
Dennis had left on a fishing trip when I decided to demo our bedroom I drew this idea on the wall and when he got home I asked him if he could build it. I do not think he was real happy with me but he did it anyway. And for a while it was a fun idea it was made to look like a front porch. All the trim on the gable we made our selves after looking at old porch ideas the spindle trim was bought on a clearance sale so we saved a few bucks on that. The shingles were left over scraps from something else, we added bead board and made our own moldings. My dream was to design a headboard that would look like a vintage screen door with all the ginger bread detail but it has not happened and it is time to move on. The little window in the gable has some antique napkins that were given to me I thought made cute curtains for the little window. With the different seasons I would change all the greenery to fit the occasion. What a pain , plus they are real good dust collectors. Then the final mistake was when we purchased a new bed that sat a little higher than the old one so now the shelf has become a head-cracker , you can not imagine how many times Dennis has cracked his noggin and cussed me under his breath,,,, so to keep from having anymore brain damage done to his head after I get the office finished then the living room this bedroom is going out the window. I think he needs to go on another fishing trip soon!

Dream Home Challenge -Living room

This is one of the pictures I have saved for my *Dream* living room wish I remembered where I got this picture from, I want to see what the rest of this place looks like . The fire place is a double sided and would look like an extension of the living room. With a view of the mountains would be great also.
.

To The Women In My Life

Happy Mother's Day!

To my Mom who has put up with me for 54 years

To my older sisters who have put up with me for just as long

To my Aunt's who have helped me along the way

Great Aunt's who have shared their wisdom

To my cousins who have tolerated me

My Mother-in-law who has been dealing with me for 36 years

My sister-in-laws who accepted me

To my daughter who loves me no matter what

To my daughter-in-laws who I cherish

And my nieces that are great Mom's

and to those that are soon to be Mom's

To all my girlfriends who would listen

And to all my Grandmothers , I think about you often.

Going, going................ gone

Haddie Loves ice cream! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQG-2HBf9dQ



























More?

*Dandelion Queen*

Dream Home Challenge

Window To My Soul is having a fun challenge that anybody can hook up to is should be interesting to see what we all think might be a dream home and if we are dreaming-it money has no limits! She has started with the front porch, would you believe I don't have one tucked away in a file somewhere so I will post a picture of one that has special meaning to me. This is the front porch that Dennis and I built it is on the house that we built for my parents, the original plan looked nothing like this. The ceiling is bead board which I thinks adds to its charm. But more important are the memories we have sitting out on this porch watching the sun go down and the little ones run about and watching life go by.

Ruby's Quilt

When Kacy and I went shopping for material the other day to get fabrics to go with some of the quilts I had started the store we were at had the cutest display of these strip pieced quilts and my thoughts turned to the family shower we were having, on Saturday for Jenica and Wills' baby Ruby so I came home pushed everything off to the side so I could try one of these little quilts.
Will is my nephew on the Forbush side and while we were building my parents house he was one of the carpenters that volunteered and spent some time with us helping out and getting to know my Dad. Dad got a kick out of Will and enjoyed the time with him. It was not until my Dad's funeral that I heard a story about him and Kyle (my son), Will had come over with Kyle to see how he was doing training a new horse that he had recently gotten, as Dad sat out on the back porch with front row seat to his own personal rodeo Dad had finally had enough and told Kyle " He wanted to get up on the horse so he could show the two young buckaroos how it was done". How do you get on old arthritic man who's legs have a hard time even bending any more let alone get him up on a hard headed horse that could possibly toss him up in the air. I guess the getting up was not to bad it was the getting down that the two had to help Dad with, Mom said she could her Kyle telling my Dad "If anything happens to you my name is going to be mud!" If I would have been there I would have had them arrested for endangering the life of Senior citizen! Now I wish I had been there to see his face has he sat upon that horse for the last time then I would have knocked Kyle up the side of the head and say What in the heck were you thinking?


Thanks Will and Kyle bringing a smile to an old mans heart.
And to Ruby, can not wait to meet you for the first time!