Sunday, December 10, 2017

Oh, you better watch out!

I'm finally feeling like Christmas after the past few days of holiday doin's!  We drug the tree upstairs from the basement (wish I had a picture of that ... but probably wasn't a pretty sight) along with all the decorations and got the house & tree decorated.  It looks pretty good!  It's our second year for this tall pencil tree and it's taken some getting used to, but I like it better this year.  Had a mystery; I call it the strange disappearance of Santa Claus.  I have this little antique red and green wagon I put all the bottle trees in and a small jolly old stuffed St. Nick sits in the driver's seat.  Well, he's disappeared.  I'm sure he's around here somewhere but for now the driver's seat is empty.  I tell you, it's just not right without him there!!!

Friday a group of women met at our friend Jan's house.  We hook and sew together each month.  Had a wonderful day of visiting, eating, and making a feather tree together.  [I'll slip a picture of my tree in here when I have it completed.]  Our bud Margo prepared all of the kits for us!  All we had to provide was the wool, glue & scissors.  What a task for Margo ... but she did a great job of herding us through the process.  I think I was the only 'problem child' that day (and I'm usually no bother at all!)  Jan's house was beautifully decorated for Christmas and it was a treat to be there. 
P.S. -- Here's my feather tree, completed yesterday ... Yeah!
Then on Saturday our rug hooking guild had their holiday luncheon at the Gasthof in Montgomery.  It was really a fun day for me.  Everyone there was fun to be with and it was just relaxed and enjoyable.  And of course I ate WAY too much.  (I love, love, love their soft-serve ice cream.)  On the way home I checked out the thrift shop in Worthington and scored some really ugly pink and black fabric to weave with!  Yeah!  We had our first light snow that day and it just made me feel like "Christmas is coming!" inside.  Plus, our little church is so beautifully decorated for Christmas!  The theme this year is red and gold and it looks so good.  Next Sunday we'll get treats and I'm going to pass out the history I wrote and had printed.  Yeah ... another project out of my head!

Here's some of the hookers at the Gasthof, visiting after lunch.


This is the Christmas exchange gift I received.  Cute little snowmen coasters from Libby Calven.

This is the needlepunch gift I made for the exchange; Sue took this home. (I think I'm taking needlepunch projects with me to fill my spare time this winter ...)

Let's see ... what else?  Oh - here's my newly painted front door.  I'm wishing I had painted it some pretty color (other than the original white) YEARS ago!  I really like the way it makes the entrance to our home look.  



One day a couple weeks ago Wendell went up Griffith Road and got a big load of new rails for our old (20+ years) split-rail fence.  The posts were all sound except the end post.  In the a.m. we took the old rotting rails out and Wendell sawed them in thirds.  I hauled them to the burn pile and got it started.  Then in the afternoon he put in the new end post and completed the entire project!  Can't believe we got so much done in one day.  I just helped in the a.m., so it was all on him.  So proud.  He's like the energizer bunny, he just keeps on tickin'.



After we got the old rails out.  It goes back and over the hill ...

Starting to put the new rails in.
A portion of the completed fence!  I love that the rustic look is still there, even with "new" rails.

I did finally finish my "Two Roosters" antique reproduction rug.  It's in place in front of the kitchen sink.  So far so good (I do have this shuffler in the house, but I won't name names ...).  It's working out better than the woven rag rug I had there.  And I like the way it looks, too.



Well, I've blathered on long enough.  Just wanted you to know what I've been up to lately.  Especially I'm thinking of Christmas.  I'm hoping for temperate weather, good health for one and all, and safe travels to all the people who are going out on the highways this December.  

God bless us, every one.

Friday, November 3, 2017

Let's see ...

What have I been doing lately?  Well, I've had some busy days and some blessedly quiet days.  Just a good balance I think.  We've enjoyed some good weather but the fall leaves aren't quite as colorful as usual this year.  All in all, everything's pretty normal.  I have been doing lots of hooking and some weaving, too -- almost done with a rooster hooked rug and just completed a rug for a friend who gave up hooking.  And I've cranked off about half a dozen woven rugs.  Got all the flower beds tucked in and the yard decor back in the garden shed for the winter.  I think one more mowing will do it for the yard.  Also got a good amount of reading done -- for some reason I decided to read everything of Willa Cather that I hadn't read before.  And re-read everything I 'have' already read.  (sigh ...)  But it's been enjoyable.  She was a complicated person but a wonderful author.  My favorite book of hers is My Antonia.  Got the front door painted last week.  (Just 17 years late but who's counting.)  Also, found a place to spend the winter (yeah!).  So I guess I've been somewhat productive.

On the negative side, I've had a light case of the flu, our furnace went on the blink over a cold weekend (why didn't it do that on Monday morning instead of Saturday afternoon?), and a good friend found out she has cancer.  

Let me look at my pictures ... I know we went to Casey, IL one Saturday and spent an afternoon.  You know, everything's bigger in Casey ... I think in the past I've put pictures on of the huge golf tee, rocking chair and wind chimes there.  There's more -- we still haven't seen it all.  While in town I read that there's a giant pitch fork out at a local restaurant ... I think we need to go back.  Come to think of it, this was actually on my birthday and we spent a little time earlier in the day at the wine festival in Palestine, IL.  It was just a full full day.  Weather beautiful, company wonderful, drive relaxing.  Life's good.

Pencil.

Mailbox -- the flag goes up & down every now and then and you can climb up into it.

Bird cage.  Favorite spot for picture taking; there was a line.

Knitting needles & crochet hook.

Wooden shoes.

The wooden shoes are in the candy shop.  And the large knitting needles & crochet hook in a wonderful yarn shop, all downtown!  I spent some time in the yarn shop while W. waited on a bench outside.  The only thing missing from this downtown is a really good antique shop.  There was one open there, but not good.  I seek them out and really think someone in Casey needs to open a good antique shop there!!!  Someone's missing a good thing (there were lots of people out and about downtown).


Another day in October we went to French Lick!  Don't miss the French Lick Winery if you go there!  Had lunch in the Power Plant Bar and Grill and took a tour of the French Lick Springs Hotel.  We had toured the hotel at West Baden Hotel and stayed there in the past, but never done more than walk through a portion of the French Lick Springs Hotel.  So that was enjoyable for both of us.  It's a big place!  (We didn't go to the casino cause we're not gambling folks.)  The shops there, in the hotel, are very nice, too.  Above is a shot of the lobby where you check in.  While we were there they were busy decorating for Christmas.  Their lighting ceremony will be November 17 ...


I've been crocheting scarves and hats like mad with my leftover odds & ends of yarn.  Here's one I just finished.  Got until Sunday the 12th to get as many done as possible for our church winter warmth project!  I sort of like this one, myself.  But I can picture it on some little girl, can't you?  That is what I see in my mind's eye.

Well, enough already!  Hope you and yours are well and enjoying this beautiful time of year, as we prepare to give thanks for the bounty of our wonderful country later this month.  Remember -- God is good!


Wednesday, October 4, 2017

I love October ...

This is my favorite time of year!  Mostly because of the cooler weather and the beautiful fall color we enjoy here in Indiana.  I love fall also because of pumpkins, squash, corn stalks, mums and bales of straw; all of the things that make this fleeting time of year special.  Yes, I know, 'it just means that winter's coming' but I love it anyway!  So there!  

Maybe also because my birthday is this month.  I'm so looking forward to my birthday this weekend -- Wendell & I are going to the Wabash Coffee House in Hutsonville, IL for pecan pancakes, then on down to Palestine for the wine festival (over 15 wineries expected to have booths there!), then home on the back roads -- that's the plan anyway.  Then on Sunday after church, we're meeting Jeff & Jane in Indy for lunch.  What more could you want for a birthday weekend?!


I've been adding items to the garden shed wall; here's the latest I found at the Worthington yard sale for $2.

Wanted to tell you about a special weekend --
Couple weeks ago we went to the Lee Family Reunion, just south of Poneto, Indiana.  (I'll bet you have no idea where Poneto is ...)  This farm has been in the Lee family (my mother's maiden name) for more than 100 years; I'm thinking now maybe closer to 150 years.  Where the folks in the first picture are sitting used to be the orchard when my grandparents lived here.  It was a really nice weather day, in the low 80s with a breeze.  We enjoyed lots of good food, talk, laughs, croquet, corn hole and poking around the old barn.  Just a good day all around.  For me the best part was just catching up with family I haven't seen since last summer!  I think there were about 25 of us ... Wendell & I had a great time.


This is my Uncle Roger Lee (whose farm we visited) and Aunt Rosie Harrold.  Aunt Rosie is from Union, OH.  Uncle R was worried all day that someone would get beamed by a dropping walnut (under which they set up the food and party tents (?)...).  The 5-gallon bucket was for collecting the walnuts.  Mom and Uncle Keith are now both gone from the picture and were surely missed.  Uncle Keith's son Erin was there this year for the first time! Yeah!  [BTW, Uncle Roger was asking $20 for this photo op ...]
After we left the farm, we went over to Wabash and stayed overnight at the Charley Creek Inn.  It's an old downtown hotel that was renovated a few years ago and it's super nice.  I highly recommend it if you're thinking of going to Wabash to the Honeywell Center (we saw Ron White there last fall; they have pretty good entertainment at the Honeywell).  There are a couple really good restaurants downtown, also -- one right in the hotel, and we ate there.  Of course we weren't very hungry after all that reunion food!  But we managed to choke down a couple appetizers and a bottle of wine, and really enjoyed our stay.  Check out their website if you want to read the history of the place. 

The lobby of Charley Creek Inn ...

Exterior, taken from the northeast corner.  Sunday a.m. when there was no one stirring yet ...  It was so nice and quiet here.
On Sunday, after breakfast at Bob Evans, we drove just about straight west of Wabash for a couple hours to Fair Oaks Farm in NW Indiana.  It was SUPER!  I really recommend this farm experience, especially for anyone with children.  You can enjoy the dairy farm experience or the swine experience or both.  Or you can just go to their big family style restaurant (which we didn't do).  Or just go to their gift & snack shop and watch them make cheese.  I brought home several hunks of cheese .....  Since I'm still a kid inside, I naturally loved this place.  Also, I'm a farm girl so this was a perfect entertainment match for me.  It's very convenient to find, too, right along interstate 65.  Here's some pictures.  This may be overkill, but as I said -- I loved this place.  And I took lots more pictures than I'm putting up here ......

On the left is the restaurant; we didn't visit this building.  On the right is the building where you buy admission tickets.  This is where we began the day.

You begin the dairy experience in a big barn-looking building where you can watch a 3-D movie about what you'll be seeing. This movie comes with bubbles and mist; I felt very moisturized when we left.  Don't miss this movie!

FYI -- Jeff and Jane are not the only ones who get a private showing ...
After we left the theater we toured the exhibits in that barn that give you lots of 'cow facts' and explain what you'll be seeing, then you board the bus and travel about a mile north to one of 11 dairy barn complexes.  Here's some of the many calves living there.  The cow barns are in the background.

Everything there is HUGE.  Here's one of many silage piles!

We drove through the barns (3 huge barns at just this one 'farm') and saw lots of cows, then went on to the milking parlor where they milk 23 hours a day.  (They stop for an hour to clean then get right back to it.) If you'll look in the upper right corner, you'll see a herd of cows waiting to be milked back in the tramp shed!  Also, right after they enter their stanchion on the carousel to be milked, they pass that gray colored board you see at the upper right.  It records their number to keep a record of their milk output.  It was amazing to me that the cows actually nudged the board with their heads!  When they get around the carousel, they back out on their own.  By one trip around they've been milked.  Most of these cows do this three times a day.  This was all fascinating to me.

After we left the milking parlor, we got to see where the milk goes through a cooler and right into a tank truck which was parked outside.  Most of their milk goes to Kroger.  Of course, when you have milk you also can have cheese.  Did I tell you I brought some home with me?!  Yum!  And it was all about cows in the gift shop.

Here's the birthing barn.  We visited this area to see a calf being born.  Even though I was raised on a farm, and we had dairy cows, I never saw a calf being born before.  So this was a new experience for me.  The cow we saw calving was a first-time mother and the attendant said she had remained calm and did really good job!
Just beginning to show the front feet ...

The calf is out and she's cleaning her up.  This took about 15 minutes.  It's a girl!  Whew!  After seeing this I was exhausted so we headed for home.

It was a wonderful weekend.  I slept well that night in my own little beddie.

God is good.  ... More later!


Monday, August 28, 2017

Ups and downs and ups ...

Boy has this been a strange summer.  The weather was cool, then too wet, then too hot, and now too dry.  We did have a few sprinkles last night.  While the poor folks in TX are being inundated with more than they would want in a year!  Also, in our own life, we've had our ups and downs.  Started out great for Wendell with him feeling fine, then it started to go south, followed by a few weeks of feeling awful, then surgery, and now he's almost back to where we started from in the spring.  So, in other words, I don't want to wish my life away but I'll be glad when autumn gets here!  (It's my favorite season anyway!)


Met my friend Teresa Benassi recently for lunch at McCormick's Creek State Park. We had a great time catching up on what's been happening in each other's lives. She brought along this rug to show me; she completed it recently. Doesn't it have a wonderful old-fashioned look!?  I LOVE it!  The colors look so much better "in person" than in this picture. I love the border! Teresa is a very talented person who is also a human dynamo. (She told me she had canned 24 jars of raspberry preserves the evening before. She works full-time, too!)


This was taken outside the entrance to the Nature Center at McCormick's Creek.  The wild flowers growing there were outstanding.  I enjoyed watching a crow at their bird bath, too. I've gotta say that I've never seen a crow at a bird bath!  (and I hope they don't start frequenting mine, either ...)


I'm really enjoying being part of Jane Steward's "project kindness" in Worthington.  We meet once a month and sew various items for people and places that need them.  Below are pictured some surgery dolls we've been working on.  We also do fringed fleece blankets and we just started making bibs for patients at a local healthcare facility.  What can I say -- it keeps us off the streets ...



***************************************************
Okay, just quickly, here's some other stuff I've seen or done recently. I guess I've been more occupied than I thought.  And thrown in there was a GREAT visit from our family. They came down to visit Wendell on his birthday, July 31.  

I cut four more rugs off the loom couple weeks ago.  Left to right they're made from a white chenille bedspread, four pieces of recycled wool, striped & printed t-shirts, and cream colored loopers (sock tops).

At hooking Guild this month we had a guest who brought along this unusual Cathedral Windows quilt to show us.  We were all super thrilled that she shared it with us!  All I can say about the woman who made this is WOW!  Great Job!

We had a crop duster buzz the house again this year.  This happened year before last, too, when the farmer across the road has corn.  It was thrilling, watching him make the cut up to avoid the trees in front of our house!  Again -- Wow!

Well, Wendell is doing so much better following his surgery in July. Right now he's out supervising a crew trimming and cutting trees here. He's dragging brush. He had a very favorable report at the doctor a week ago and we couldn't be happier. God is truly good! And I hope you have just as good a day as I'm having today!


Sunday, July 16, 2017

Prayers for my sweetie ...

Tomorrow my sweetie will be having surgery, implanting an ICD.  Hopefully he'll come out of this feeling better.  So if you can, say a prayer or send a positive thought our way.  Thanks.  xoxo

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Taking a break ...

I think I'll take a summer break here.  Wendell is not feeling well and my every thought has been with him and his well-being.  I can't seem to concentrate on anything else right now.  Perhaps I'll be more collected later in the summer.

But here's what I've been doing since I last wrote ...

As you might remember, I'm really hung up on Steve Meadows' pot head art.  We went back to his gallery in Palestine, IL recently and I came close to buying another one but settled for a necklace instead!  And lots of pictures to dream on.  Yeah, I know.  Not even close.  But the necklace does contains a message I'm trying to make my summer mantra -- "Let It Go".  My current favorite piece of jewelry!  But anyway, here's some pictures I took in his gallery ... 






We attended the Memorial Day services on the courthouse square in Spencer for the first time.  It was probably a pretty typical small-community service with short speeches, volleys of gunfire, wreath laying, etc.  They have this wonderful doughboy statue on the northwest corner of the square under the flag pole.  A highlight was a 99-year-old vet of WWII who was recognized.  Following the service there, everyone traveled the three blocks south to the river bridge and two wreaths were put into the White River in memory of those who were lost at sea during our country's wars.  It was a really great service.  After that we went to the cemetery where the wonderful old shelter there, made from geodes, is the center of the military burial area.  Just a good way to celebrate the true meaning of this holiday!  And so glad we went!!!



I have been hooking 'some' ... here's (below) the beginning of a rug that I hope to finish before winter!  (LOL!)  It will look MUCH better when I start getting background around these two big birds.  What I'm really feeling the most contented about is giving some rugs away.  I've really enjoyed seeing them go to family and friends who expressed an interest in what I do and I hope they will enjoy them for many years.  The one thing I'm still consistently working on the most is weaving!  Got the loom going again and I'll put some pictures on this fall when I have a run of woven rugs finished and knotted.  Also, so enjoying Jane S.'s "project kindness" sewing days.  I've sewn several little hospital gowns for surgery dolls and put the fringe on a few fleece throws; looking forward to seeing them off to a good cause!


Enjoyed our Jane's 50th Happy Birthday party couple weeks ago.  She's a real sweetie and you could tell how much she's loved in her community (Winchester) by how many friends, and family, turned out for this special day.  Wendell says she should run for office -- she knows everyone!  It was just a great day.



But, the porch is where I've been spending lots of my time.  And plan on being here as much as I can in the next few weeks.  Wish you were here with me!  Say a prayer for my Wendell.  God bless you and God willing I'll be back with you later in the summer ......