Archive | April 2018

“We live in Heaven…”

I copied this post from someone else who copied it from someone.. & etc. But it seemed to me to be something we should all think about. We sometimes have a tendency to get stuck looking at what’s wrong in our lives, in the people around us, in the country, finding ourselves complaining constantly. It might be time to just stop and look around us at what’s going right. I thought this story thought provoking.

Lisa Beamer on Good Morning America –  If you remember, she’s the wife of Todd Beamer who said ‘Let’s Roll!’ and helped take down the plane over Pennsylvania that was heading for Washington, DC back on 9/11.
She said it’s the little things that she misses most about Todd, such as hearing the garage door open as he came home, and her children running to meet him.
Lisa recalled this story:
“I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago whose husband died suddenly of a heart attack. About a week after his death, she shared some of her insight with a classroom of students.
As the late afternoon sunlight came streaming in through the classroom windows and the class was nearly over, she moved a few things aside on the edge of her desk and sat down there. With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused and said, ‘Class is over. I would like to share with all of you, a thought that is unrelated to class, but which I feel is very important. Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end. It can be taken away at any moment.
Perhaps this is God’s way of telling us that we must make the most out of every single day. Her eyes, beginning to water, she went on, ‘So I would like you all to make me a promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice.
It doesn’t have to be something you see; it could be a scent, perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone’s house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches one autumn leaf as it falls gently to the ground. Please look for these things, and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the “stuff” of life. The little things we are put here on earth to enjoy. The things we often take for granted.
The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently. That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school than I had that whole semester. Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook.
Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today. Go barefoot. Or walk on the beach at sunset. Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double dip ice cream cone. For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn’t do or see.
Weather. One of the things we tend to complain about. But look again… Even a damp cold morning can be beautiful if we look with  beautiful eyes.

Dear Diary… the longest post you’ll ever see here!

Every day when Himself comes home the first thing he asks is, “What did you do today?” I don’t think he really wants to know, it’s just a conversational gambit thingy but I usually am unable to answer. I know I’ve been busy all day but most of it was apparently not notable. So I thought I would let you suffer through a day with me and lets see what it is I do all day!

April 23, 2018

  • 5:32 am: Woke, glanced at the clock, sighed and got up.
  • Bathroon first, as usual
  • Started the coffee, Himself gets it ready before he goes to bed so I just have to push the button.
  • Checked the temperature. It was 63 in here, not really cold but chilly enough to warrant a fire in my opinion so I built one.
  • Poured coffee and turned on the tablet, checked my usual morning sites and email, by that time Himself was up.
  • So I got dressed and started breakfast. Eggs and sausage this morning, toast & applesauce.
  • Then, lets see… Printed out paperwork for loom orders, boxed up same, let the cat out, printed postage and hauled them out the the truck so he could drop them off in the mail box (it’s a big one!) on his way to town.
  • Answered some more email, put my shoes on and managed to get out of the house in time to meet Tsuneko for our morning walk. Lovely warm morning, I left the window open we I left, the fire having been long out. Visited with a couple neighbors and our old mailman on the way. Jack has been delivering mail up here for many many years and loves to talk. It was his idea for us to put up the big box so i don’t have to drive to Trinity Center to the post office to mail the packages. He’s got his grandson taking over the route, (nice boy) but he still does Monday and whenever Peter needs a day off. I wore just a light sweater this morning and it was getting to be too warm by the time I got home. Cat weather~ see below!
  • 12:00 Opened up the house, turned on the drier to freshen up the load I didn’t get folded yesterday, made my lunch salad and am now typing this. Next I’ll eat my lunch while defeating Evil with my Viking hero- that’s my noontime treat. Rest of the day coming later….
  • You know it’s a warm day when the cat naps on the deck. she’s loving the sunshine!
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  • After lunch cleaned up in the kitchen, loaded the dishwasher and washed the bread machine pan, ready for the next batch.
  • Got sausage out of the freezer to thaw for tonight’s meatloaf. Brought in and folded rest of laundry while I was there also put away the soup I canned yesterday and straightened stuff out for the new shelves he built this morning.
  • Planted kale seed and some marigolds. Also some garlic bulbs that sprouted in the kitchen. Dunno if they’ll make new roots or not, but decided to chance it as they looked  fat and healthy. The peas are showing leaves now, too. And I have some tulips blooming just across the path.
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  • Gathered pine cones for a basket, found a checkered cloth, and “decorated” the corner table in the rental cabin. Mom-in-law says I am not to clean it before she comes in mid May as she’ll need a project while she’s here. All it needs is dusting and airing out, tho I intend to paint the back bathroom, it’s a gloomy place as is.
  • So now I’m ignoring the fact that the dining table is full of clutter again. I guess that’s next, tho, as it has reached the point where we have to push stuff aside in order to eat dinner each evening. Shameful, I know, but it’s such a handy spot to dump whatever you have in your hands at the time. I took off my pretty cut work white cloth, I had spilled gravy on it and he has what looks like coffee stains at his place! Yikes, I knew better than to put that on in the colder season. In summer we eat on the deck so the cloth would stay pretty. Table may still look cluttered to some of you, but the stuff in the top right corner is His. It’s a box that he sometimes hits with his mail and paper work. The turn-table in center top has stuff like salt & pepper, napkin holder, the electronic candle from my MIL and the SFGiants gnome from the same lady! On my place mat, there on the left, are a couple packets of arugala seed, last years, but I’ll offer it to Tsuneko, if she wants it. I found that I detest the stuff! Yuck, in fact. Right along with cilantro, and that stuff they make with basil- pesto! I don’t object to basil in reasonable quantities but pesto made of it… no thanks. I made some once when I first heard of it and had lots of garden basil. My buddy loved it so she got it all! lol
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  • Tossed the kitchen rugs into the washer. I’ll mop tomorrow.
  • 3:30 pm Himself has come in now and he & the dog are sharing a bag of salami. So I guess it’s time for me to head into the kitchen and assemble the meat loaf. I baked hamburger type buns and am planning meatloaf sandwiches and slaw for dinner. I might bake a batch of brownies for the game later.
  • Meatloaf in the oven. Decided against the brownies, too much oven. Had a graham cracker crust in the pantry (love $General!) and a packet of vanilla pudding plus a can of cherry pie filling. Not fresh strawberries but it’ll do until they come along in another month or so! And it’s pretty!
  • 4:30 Dog has quit following me around, she was smelling hamburger and thought I was making her dinner. She’s ever hopeful! Disappointment! I don’t have to make hers for a couple more weeks, just made a new batch. Her dinner is thawing on the counter so she’ll get it at the proper time.  The vet put her on grain free because of a chronic ear infection, says grain feeds the yeast. So I make her meat and veggies & freeze them in baggies, she loves it but I can’t see that it has helped her ear problem much.
  • But now I’m going to sit and read a new knitting pattern to see if I really want to do it. My loom and yarn is ready for when the game comes on this evening. The Giants are playing the Nationals, coming off a win and a fun game with the Angels!
  • 5.35 pm: Meatloaf is done, slaw’s made, as is dressing. Do we need beans? Nay. Himself is reading the news, I’ve been doing x-words here, Jays are fussing at something. Who knows? Jays are always bitching about something. They are just a mouthy group. I guess that’s why I like them- We have much in common!  The temperature is starting to fall, too, so I think I’ll close up now. Seems a shame but I don’t want it to get too chilly in here for old people!
  • Where’s dinner, Ma?!
  • Dinner’s over, time for the kitty to go home. She lives in the studio since there’s no room here for that necessary box that house cats need. Dishwasher is loaded and going. Game not on for another 10 minutes so here’s the end of my day. Game and weaving a square. Last email to my sis or both, take my melanin pill (it’s supposed to cure my tinnitus), brush teeth – all the usual bedtime stuff and off to dreamland.
  • Well, if he had asked what I did today, I could have told him.
  • He didn’t, of course.

I am finally going to learn how to use this blog thing… I hope.

The tutorial says I should: Tell us about you and what we’ll find on your blog.

Well, I am Hazel. I haven’t always been this old but have always been more or less  arty. I guess my main ‘art form’ would be drawing, extended to painting, but I have always been interested in any art form that crosses my path. I’ve dabbled in many, no point in listing them here, it would take all day, but they range from fiber crafts to metal & wood work. My Pop was a rock hound and lapidarist (is that a word?) and I tried my hand at those forms, too.  Momma taught me to crochet way back and my 4th grade teacher taught me to knit so yarn arts have always been in there, too. Is gardening an art? I don’t know that I have a green thumb but I enjoy my garden, too, both flowers and food. I’ve written some poetry and short stories, designed birthday and get well cards, written children’s picture books, directed siblings & off spring in musical plays, just for our own entertainment. i can  pick out a ragged tun on piano, cord a guitar, and used to be able to tootle a tune on a clarinet or flute. Badly in all cases and sing along as well, probably badly at that, too, but with Gusto! Well, I still sing along in the car! Randy and I celebrated our 34th year yesterday and he is having a birthday poker party with the boys for his day today.  I had mine a couple weeks ago, but we won’t talk about that. What else? Well, it’s already more than you wanted to know!

So what’ll you find on the blog? Pretty much what you have already found I’m sure. Stuff about the looms and my weaving projects. Stuff about my dolls and what I am making for them. Pictures of my garden and our trips hither and yon. Things I bake and can and a few pictures of the dogs and cats and the deer & other wild critters who wander though the place. We have two Stellar Jay nests this spring, there’ll be baby birds all over soon!Checkered lilies close

My checkered lilies are blooming again. and my peas are up. I’ll plant kale tomorrow. So there you have it for my first lesson in how to make a proper blog. I think it’ll get better. Well, to be honest, I hope it’ll get better!

But thank you for reading this, both of you, even if you are my sisters.

 

trying again.

I’ve been trying to load videos on this blog. I am supposed to be able to load them from my computer but so far have not been able to do that. I reloaded this one from my YouTube page, where I can no longer post since I can seem to come up with whatever password I used way back when! lol The internet can be sooo frustrating! But I’m still working on learning how to use this blog. “Old dogs” do have trouble learning new tricks!

Now I have to earn about pages, I suppose…..

Progress! No- really!

I am just one shy of halfway done weaving my blocks. Counted 11 today. Yeah, not nearly one a day, but I think I denied that possibility right from the start. But now that Baseball season has started I will probably get more done as I can do that and listen to the game at the same time!  I think they are looking good (the squares, if not the team) but also they seem to have a little more draw-up than I figured on so I’ll likely end up needing more squares. Which may mean some creative coloring in order to do it since I have a limited amount of this yarn. Well, I have never objected to colorful so we’ll see.

I’ve up dated this blog so that I can post videos on it but so far have not been able to make that work. In part, I’m sure because of my very slow connection here in the backwoods. I’m going to try again today or tomorrow. A nice summer day, I think people are going to want to be outdoors instead of sitting by the fire with the internet so maybe there’ll be a little extra bandwidth for me!

If I can get this working I’ll have all sorts of things to share with you, we can weave together at last… so keep your fingers x-ed for me!!