A cool morning

The day has begun in a cool way.  But the skies are trying to lighten up as the day goes along.  I am fine with that....actually looking forward to a few minutes of sun if that is possible. I am done weary of dark cloudy days.

I don't think Tootie will be here till tomorrow.  I know her mom was wanting a clear day to work in her yard before heading this way.  So thought I might as well post one more post.

I started ironing my fabric from my recycled shirts yesterday evening....that was fun.  And I did feel like I accomplished something...which that was not all.  That was what I let myself do as a reward for getting a little something done ;-)

So, I am off here to enjoy the day.  Will probably catch up with people in bits of time through the day....

Time for the Friday 5

I almost forgot that it is time for Willy-Nilly Friday 5....and really want to join this time as I may not get to for a couple weeks.

1.  Lorelei and her mom will be coming for a couple weeks...we will be keeping Lorelei while her mom goes to training.  While she is here, not sure how much blogging I will be doing. 

2.  I can just hear Lorelei's voice and my day improves.  Honestly. 

3.  I don't know why, but tugboats and barges fascinate me.  As well as the big rivers...we have the Wabash flowing close to us, but next to the Ohio and the Mississippi, it is so small.  This tugboat was on the Ohio River.

4.  I have started the book A Wilder Rose by Susan Wittig Albert.   I think I am going to enjoy it.  It seems as I get older, I have a harder time finding a book that really draws me in.

5.  I did absolutely nothing today.  Not one single thing did I accomplish.  I seldom have a day where I don't do something, and I suffer a lot of guilt when I don't do something.  I just always like to feel I accomplish something, even if it is doing laundry.  But when that is all I do, I still feel like I haven't done enough.  How are you with doing nothing?  

Linking to Willy Nilly Friday 5...so thankful to have it to link to.  I just love reading everyone's thoughts.

East of the Sun and West of the moon...

We ran around this morn in Terre Haute...at the time we came home, I just did not want to go in another store...much less a Super Walmart.  Yet, this evening, I got to thinking I would like to go and get it done and not have to go tomorrow or the next day...so Roger said he was willing...

The sky was wonderful....so we decided to do a little cloud/sunset chasing on the way.

You might have to enlarge this to see the moon peeping out.

so this was in the east....(and it is East of the sun)

And there was the wonderful sunset, that is West of the moon...

but not until I was going through the pictures and seen this particular shot of the awesome cloud did I think of that old fairytale, East of the Sun and West of the Moon.

That was my favorite fairytale of all time when I was a child.  I read it more than any other.  And a couple years ago, my sister-in-law/BFF got me a copy of it.  Now I read it to Lorelei sometimes when she is here.

Just wondering, what is the childhood story that sticks in your mind.  This is not the only one for me...I just happened to have an old schoolbook that had it in it.

I loved The Little Red Hen, The Little Engine that Could, plus one or two that I don't recall  their title.  And my favorite poem of all time when I was little was Little Boy Blue! 

From Patton's Corner for Rubbish Tuesday

I don't think I have posted this yet, though I have meant to for ages and ages.  I love to have it to hang on the garage here or on the house.  I consider it another treasure from Patton's corner.

An then I have still more from Patton's Corner.

How about these old seats?

I would like to go back and spend more time there.  There is just so much to see and look at.  The past does not seem so far behind us when we are there.  Wouldn't you just love to be able to step in to a way-back machine...just to be able to go and actually observe things.

Thanks to Betty for hosting Rubbish Tuesday...

Look at those faces!

Another snag from Facebook...doesn't Otto look like he is just so content?  An look at those missing teeth!  As my brother used to say...a picket fence with the gate open.

Had to turn the heat on this morn...and supposed to be down to 36º tonight.  It stayed chilly throughout the day today.  I am not quite ready to give up sitting on the porch.  I feel like I have not got my fill of that this year at all.  Still, I am enjoying the autumn colors.

Waiting.....

I snagged this from Facebook...I don't think Jeremy will mind.  This is Otto and Kitty Soft Paws...waiting for their little person.




It so reminded me of this one taken many moons ago of Sarah's dog waiting for her to come home.  What loyal and loving buddies. 

Time for Willy Nilly Friday 5

Its time for the Friday 5!

1.  For the first thing I wanted to share the above Simon's Cat video...it is the latest..make that pile of clothes into quilts, and it would be Bubbie.    I think my favorite Simon's Cat video of all is still the first one I ever saw, Cat Man Do.  It just so fit our Bubbie.  But the one above is not far off..

2.  Even though it rained off and on, we did get the windows washed in living room and dining room.  That had been weighing on my mind.  Since I have had so much trouble with my shoulders, I had to have Roger help me.  I lost strength in them.  I can get the one window flipped in to wash the outside but have to have him flip the other one in.

3.  How many of you have started your Christmas shopping?  I have, but just barely.  I would like to get a lot of it done before cold weather gets here.

4.  I made a pot of potato soup a week or two ago, and I am ready to make another.  I love soups...doesn't matter if it is summer or winter.  Roger doesn't care a lot for them in the summer.

5.  Hope you don't mind another video.  I think all of my regular visitors will laugh...hoping some of the rest of you enjoy it:


Linking to Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday 5.  I am so glad she started this...at least when I get to participate.  I love reading what everyone else has to say.

At loose ends

Do you ever have days where you know you need to be busy but you just can't decide what to do.  Or where to start?  What do you do when you are that way?  I have been that way all week.  Cannot decide what I want to start on...some things I need to do but just don't feel like starting for one reason or another.

I can't even decide what to sew.  I made a couple sawtooth star quilt blocks.  I thought I would make them into potholders, but they are so pretty, I am having trouble doing that even.  Yet they are not the size I would want if I were to make them for a quilt.

A poem by Papaw...

A no picture day...

As you know, the other day Lorelei lost one of her teeth.  It was the third one she has had come out, but the first one on top.  The first time you see one missing when she smiles.  Well, I got a text from Sarah just two or three days later.  On the bus ride home from school, Lorelei's chin bumped a little girl's head, and the other tooth came out....you know, the other one in the center in front.

Well, the tooth fairy had not sent anything from here yet, so was thinking about getting something, then just thought it would be simpler to send a card with stickers and a little money.  So we found a card that had a picture of a tabby cat with sunglasses on...the inside was blank.  Roger says, I will write a poem for it...so below is the poem he wrote.  He just came in and sat down and wrote it in a few seconds...

The tooth fairy said you lost a tooth 
While eating something cold
Then later on another one
Well, that was very bold!

So in honor of your double loss
That really made us snicker,
We're sending you this funny card
and these pretty stickers! 

I thought that was pretty darn good/cute to be able to come up with that in just a minute.

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow nook

And asters by the brook-side
Make astors in the brook
  (these lines are from September by Helen Hunt Jackson.)

I am not positive I have these correctly identified.  I was reading this poem and had to look sedges to see what they are.  I clicked on images and scrolled down and the top one was included.  I think it is so pretty.

The Myers Cabin

This cabin is located at the Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge.

We could open this door to stand within and view the inside through plexiglass.

These are not the greatest, but I did not want to use flash.  I figured it would just reflect from the plexiglass....but maybe I should have tried both.

See this stove...we had one similar to it when I was a child. That was what we heated our house with till I was probably 8 or 9.  I don't think this is exactly like ours, but cannot remember it clear enough to tell you the difference.

A little show and tell

The photos are not the greatest...debated on waiting and trying to get better photos but figured I couldn't do much better.

I am showing a few pics of the quilting....

 Two of the borders I quilted the same, and the two others are different.  Different to the two that are alike and different from each other.

oh, and the back is this red flannel...

Not the greatest, but even though the pics don't show it, it is better than I thought it would be.  But there is still a lot I am not really happy with.

The latest

Sarah sent me this last night...while we were gone, Lorelei lost another tooth.  She was eating Italian ice, and when she removed the spoon from her mouth, this tooth flipped out onto the counter.  Sarah said Tootie laughed so hard at the way it came out that she was crying.
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We took off for a couple days and went down to Madison, Indiana.  It is a historical rivertown that sits on the Ohio River.  We were through that part of Indiana 3 or 4 years ago and have always wanted to go back.  Not so much for anything other than to see that part of Indiana.  And we were not disappointed.

People are so friendly...the country is rolling hills...the roads are twisting and winding...some so narrow I don't know how far someone would have to back-up in order to pass!

We even saw several barns with tobacco hanging in them.

And we saw a few fields with the tobacco not yet hauled to the barns.

No, I don't smoke or anything like that, but we did raise the stuff when we were kids.  So, it brings back memories.  I look at them with fondness now, remembering working with my family.  But at the time, I was not so crazy about it.

A mural in the making...

There is a new mural going up in Brazil, Indiana.  I cannot imagine doing something this huge.  I think it is going to be a beauty once it is finished.

Did not have time to visit any yesterday, and am so weary tonight I am not sure I will get far.  But going to attempt a few.

I hope all is well in your world.

Another barn from 2008

This is another barn from our road trip in 2008.  I just cannot resist posting it though I thought about saving it for Theresa's Good Fences. Remember you can click on the photos to expand the view.

It is beautiful weather here in Indiana...lots of blue skies and sunshine.  And I for one am happy to have them.  Days and days of clouds really get to me.  I am a person that needs lots and lots of sunshine.

Drive-bys

A few years ago, we went north...to Mackinaw City, Michigan and when we came home we went up over and across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and down through Wisconsi.  These are some of the shots from that trip.

I thought I had died and gone to heave...the only thing, there was not enough time to stop and take all the pictures I wanted.  So I snapped what I could.

There were places that there were so many barns I could not snap pictures fast enough to get them all!

I think I counted and had taken almost 300 pictures of barns during that trip...I do not remember if that was 300 different barns or counting the ones where I managed to snap two or three.  Knowing me, it would have been almost 300 different ones.  Not saying they were all salvageable. 

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I finished the binding on my quilt but going to be a few days before pictures are taken.   I am so glad to have it finished.

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I am going to be busy the next few days.  So, I may or may not blog.  I am hoping to get some visiting done at night, though.

Kitty Soft Paws

Tried to get a few pics of her...she is just so cute.

I still did not get a picture that does her tail justice...

when she is standing up walking around with it in the air, it looks at least 2 inches too long for her.

There is a couple more pics of her over at Time Stand Still.

She likes to hide and jump out and bat your feet with her little paws.  Or likes to get Otto's tail if he is sitting down.   When Lorelei first brought her home, she was afraid of him, but now she knows no fear.  She will do the sideways walk up to him....he ignors her. 

Willy Nilly Friday 5

It is time for the Tanya's Friday 5....and I thought some of you might get a giggle out of the following two videos.


Yep that is our Lorelei when she was a little over a year old

And that is their dog Otto, who we call Otti a lot of the time.

They lead to one of my Friday 5...

1.  Last weekend, Sarah told me that she had been outside washing the car?  Washing something and can think of nothing but the car.  Anyway, Otto was standing there with her...the Fed Ex guy came and Otto ran and got in the truck before she could put her sponge down.  He was going for a ride...or so he thought. 

And another evening, he was standing with her waiting for Lorelei to get off the bus, and he tried to get on.  This time I am not sure if it was a ride he was wanting, or all the kids.  Anyway, they all make me laugh.

2.  We may get up and go see them sometime this weekend....

3.  I am in the process of hand sewing the binding down on my quilt.  I am just a tiny bit over half done.  I will be so glad when it is finished.

4.  Our tomatoes are done for...I am going to miss being able to go pick a fresh one when we have hamburgers or tacos.

5.  I am reading Journey Across the Four Seas: A Chinese Woman's Search for Home by Veronica Li, and have really enjoyed it.

More knives by Roger

This first one is made to be a working knife.  He bought one of those big rubber mats that are for horses to stand on a year or two ago.  I don't remember why.  Anyway, the handle is made from that material.

It went home with our nephew on Saturday.

The dollar is there to show the size of the knife/blade.  It is something most of us are familiar with.

This is his other finish...it reminds me of mine....in fact, I would not have minded keeping it either.  But I thought that might be a little selfish of me.

Those little groves in the tops of the blade is a place to place your thumb...kind of gives it a grip that won't slide off so easy.  And there is a term for the way the tip of the knife is done, and for the life of me I cannot remember what it is called.  And if you look at the first picture of this knife, there is a little place on the sharp side of the blade...a little grove if you will.  That is just for looks as far as a I know.  Some knives have it and others done.

The handle is from an antler...that slight curve feels very good in the hand.

Again, to give an idea of the size.  This one went home with my brother...the grandpa of Jackson.  Also he grew that 72 lb watermelon.

From March 2010

To me, fog or snow can make any picture a great picture.

Something that is otherwise mundane, becomes captivating or mysterious.

This morn the fog is so thick you could cut it with a knife.  A good morn for pictures, but also a good morning for a wreck so I stay put. 

I did not accomplish one single thing yesterday.  Other than cooking and doing dishes, and not much to either one of those.    I always feel like I need to accomplish something each day, even if it is just a load of laundry.  So maybe that is what I will go do now.  I think this fog will clear off and maybe I can hang a load or two outside.

A Hoosier Homestead

This is another Hoosier Homestead Farm, one that has been owned by the same family for a hundred years or more.  We noticed the sign for the first time when we were by it a couple weeks ago.  We have seen the place before, but I did not remember the sign.
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We had rain all yesterday afternoon and evening, and it is overcast again today.  No rain in the predictions, but it looks as if it could rain at any moment.

I finished the quilting on my quilt yesterday, but still have the binding to put on.  At least I have it made.  I really made a mess of the quilting.  It is just too much for the quilt.  I should have went with straight lines which was my first thoughts on it.  However, it served the purpose of letting me experiment with quilting so not a total loss.  Will keep someone warm when it is cold once it is finished.