From a small city street...

I think this is from Marshall, Illinois but not positive.  It was in some small town over in Illinois.  Have you ever noticed how some of the small towns have the prettiest streets.
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I finally got started with de-cluttering again.  I don't even know if de-cluttering is a word or not, but that is what I call it.  I could call it freeing up my life a little bit.  It was just a few things...maybe a dozen or so.  One of them was a big item, so really glad it is gone.  Hoping I can get back to working stead on things again.
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Snow is still predicted...but only 2-5 inches...then farther north 5-9....it is misting rain now.  The snow is supposed to start at midnight.  So we shall see.  I hope we can get out just once if it comes and if it sticks...love seeing snow covered scenes.  

Time for Willy Nilly Friday 5...

Any time I see this, my heart melts.  It won't be long until our baby celebrates her 6th birthday.  (this is just a little added bonus)


1.  What word would you use to describe the sound of the lids sealing on jars that you have just canned.  I call it a ping...and it is a sound that I love.  It holds a lot of memories for me.  It  produces a feeling of satisfaction.  I often think how much less garbage there would be if everyone canned their own food.  But then, I wonder if we canned all our  own food, would we be consuming more energy than going to the grocery and buying our own food.

2.  We are supposed to get measurable snow starting sometime Saturday night.  I will believe it when I see it.

3.  If I had a tomato fresh from the garden, I could eat every bite of it, even if it was as big as a basketball.  No joke.  I crave fresh tomatoes all winter long.

4.  I have come to a standstill with de-cluttering.  We had a couple different appts this week...and it just got me out of sync somehow or other.  I need to get started again.

5.  I am reading Winds of Skilak...

And for an added bit of randomness, does everyone else have all kinds of things they think will be good to go in the 5 random thoughts...only by the time you sit down to do them, you do well to remember even one of them?

I am linking to Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday 5

Happy hours

This is not what is normally pictured when hearing the term 'happy hour.' Yet we have spent so many happy hours there.  We always took the girls with us when we went fishing.  Sometimes they fished a little bit, but was more than apt to be wading, swimming, catching crawdads, etc. 

All in front of the dam is shallow till it goes over the little rock ledge with one exception....Roger sometimes wades up and fishes at the base of the damn.  Over near the ride side, directly on past that log, there is a hole of water that is over his head.  He found that out accidentally when fishing. 

Most of the time I fish from the sandbar...throwing my lure up at the base of the rock ledge.   But if fish are not hitting my lure, I sometimes take out my camera and take a few photos.  Or, other times we have fold up chairs and I will have brought something to read.

I am hoping to get to take Lorelei back there a few times this summer...hoping that she finally catches a fish on her own.  And maybe we can teach her to skip rocks...just can't wait till it is warm enough to take her.

Look at me--a repost

Look at me. I mean really look at me. I know I am not much too look at now but at one time I was the answer to prayers. I was loved. Someone once saved and scrimped to have me, and was so happy when they could finally claim me as their own. I was one of the high points of their life. They worked and did all kinds of stuff just to have me. They planted flowers and bushes for beauty to surround me.
I had a family….I heard the laughter of the children along with their quiet talks with mom and dad. I heard the children playing on my porch and in the yard. They had a swing in the old oak tree that used to stand out to the side here. They caught lightening bugs in the dusk of summer evenings…finally, after growing tired they would settle on my front porch to plan for another day.

I was home to them...I kept them warm in the winter and sheltered them from the storms of summer. I was the place they took refuge in when life got hard. I saw them through the Great Depression, I was here when the son came home from WWII. I saw one daughter sneak her first kiss in the swing on my front porch. Another left here to be the first to go to college.
Meals were cooked in my kitchen, Thanksgiving and Christmases were celebrated, friends came and went. I was at the center of their life. My living room was a welcoming friend at the end of a long day's work. I was the holder of their dreams.

What led from then to now, happened so gradually I was hardly aware of it happening…the children grew up and married and had homes of their own…after several years the dad died, and not too long after that the mom passed….you can sort of imagine the rest. I was going through my own grieving and was hardly aware of time passing.

Now I am in this state and an eyesore to some, while a few others look at me and wonder what tales I could tell if I could talk.
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Some of you have read this--I hope you don't mind the repeat.  I am bringing it back to share with Linda's Wednesday Wit and Wisdom at Senior Adventures.  At least if I can remember.

From 2008

I remember taking the photos in the fog...almost as if it were yesterday.  This is only a couple or three miles from here on a country road.  I was pulled to the side as far as I could, but still felt I had to rush.

I have probably posted one or both of these before, but still I like them.

We ran to Walmart right before dark.  Of course it was dark by the time we came home...and the road was so slick we drove along about 25 or 30 miles per hour for most of the way.  Thankfully, there were few cars on that road, and the few we saw were creeping along, too.

We saw where one had went down over the bank...we probably just missed seeing it happen.  And after we got home, we heard all kinds of ambulances.

Anyway, it was trying to get foggy, and it reminded me of these.

Remembering summer

After a rainy and dreary day, this old photo caught my eye...we have not even had a hard winter and I am ready for summer.

Does anyone ever just relax on Sundays?  I always feel like I need to accomplish a little something each day.  I tried to just sit and work my puzzle and do nothing but kept feeling as if I should be up and doing something.  So, ended up down in the basement and did a couple small loads of laundry. 

While clothes were washing, I decided to try to find something to toss in the garbage or a donate bag.  I found old VCR tapes where I had recorded quilt shows.  I thought I had gotten rid of all of them, but got in a drawer and found some that I had had there handy to watch while I was down there.  So into the garbage they went. 

Even though I had disposed of a lot more than those, it still felt strange to throw them away.  Sort of like getting rid of an old acquaintance.  They had all been watched numerous times.  I watched them when I recorded them, then later there were favorites that I watched several times more.  Anyway, they are gone.

And I found 3 or 4 more boxes to collapse and throw in the garbage.  Does anyone else save boxes because they think they might need them to mail something in?  I don't save all boxes or anything...but I always save one here and there.  

A little here.  A little there.  It is all better than nothing.  One of these days, maybe I will feel like I am done decluttering...do I hear laugher out there?  You know, it could happen. 

Our ray of sunshine

She doesn't look at all happy, but all you have to do is look at the photo below and you can tell she is fine...they were taken within seconds of each other.  

As you can probably guess, we ran over yesterday to see them...just needed to see them.

Still making me happy

This machine is still making me really happy.  This mess is in my dining room, and I don't much care.  I like having it there to sew with those few minutes here and there...and sometimes it might be an hour here and there.  But it is the odd moments, when I am cooking or just want to sit down a few minutes that makes me so happy with it.

It would take me a lifetime to do all the sewing I want to do, or to use up all the fabric I have.  And yet I always see something more I want to make or try, and more fabric that I want.   I think bother are common to quilters.

This & that....

1.   This came in the mail just a couple days ago!  Remember I did that post a few days ago about the calendars with the sunrise, sunset times, moonrise, and the signs of the moon.  I had no more than posted it till I got a note from Theresa at the Run Around Ranch..she said she would send me one, but that she would wait till she was back in town to mail it.  Well, it came a couple days ago.  I cannot tell you how much I love having all that data available to me without getting on line...all I have to do is to glance at this calendar.  Just had to thank Thersa one more itme.

2.  I could not resist starting another puzzle...it is all kinds of 'ladybugs.'  I don't see one really ladybug pictured.  I love the bright, cheerful colors.

3.  Being that I pin basted Lorelei's quilt yesterday, the design wall was bare.  This little item is only approximate 22 inches square...that is a guess.  But I put it up cause I could not stand to look in there and see nothing on the wall.

4.  This is a Christmas ornament my older daughter got me...this does not show it good.  There is a hole in the bottom to put a little light up through and it is just so cute.

5.  I think you could certify that I am nuts...I am so tired of working with the same old scraps that I wish I had some new ones!  Just to have something new to add into the mix.

I am linking to Willy Nilly Friday 5....I hope you will join with your own willy-nilly thoughts and pictures.

I forgot these

When they come in for a landing, we always say 'Parachute!  Check!"  To see better photos of them coming in for a landing, check out this post.

Heading out....

Again, it happened...just all of a sudden they decided to leave.  It was if they were waiting at a stop light the the bell rang to let them go.  They ALL took off.
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A bit more decluttering today.  And I got Lorelei's quilt top layered with the backing and pin basted.  I ordered two or three different threads to see which one I like best.  I ordered it over a week ago.  They did not have one so they had to wait to send the order.  (They did call to see what I wanted to do...ship what they have, and do a second shipment, or wait and ship all together.)

Only a couple more from Goose Pond

This is fairly big hawk.  Not a great shot.

Then there was this little guy...he flew along down in this drainage ditch...almost as if he did not want to be seen.  We wondered did it fear the bigger hawks.  It was maybe half the size of the first hawk.

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I have been trying to stay busy and have started the process of trying to declutter once again.  I cannot believe how much stuff I have gotten rid of and we don't even miss it.

We did something today that I wonder if we will regret.  We actually got rid of our encyclopedias.  I first was going to store them in a tote in our basement.  But the more I thought about it, the more I thought how outdated they were.  And I knew that someday it would fall to our daughter's shoulders to carry them back up those stairs and get rid of them.  So out they went.

When I saw how heavy they were, I was glad I had not taken them down those basement steps.  It was bad enough going down the two steps from our back porch.  Anyway, I just wondered how many of you still have encyclopedias in your home still?  Do you think I was crazy for getting rid of them.

Other than that, it is odds and ends.  I keep giving up a few physical books along...a lot of them I had read and probably would never read again.  I decided to set more puzzles free and let them go find other homes...and some purses are free to go hang from some other woman's shoulders. 

And besides all that is finding other homes, there are the electronic boxes that are finding their way to the garbage.  I figure after a year or two, depending on what it is, I won't be needing them.

Expand to see better!

We made a trip down to Goose Pond yesterday.  Hoping to see pelicans, we were disappointed in that we didn't.  However, if you expand the photos, you can see we saw plenty of snow geese. and white fronted geese, along with Canadian Geese.  All too far away to get good photos.  But I have to show some of the pics.

Before we left we had a few  fly over us, but none of the snow geese.

And look below!

There were a few hundred sandhill cranes.

This is all I am going to share right now...it is already photo overload at both my blogs.

It was the first time we have been out in quite a while and sure enjoyed seeing all the birds.

The bobber tree

I forget how many bobbers this tree has in it, but it has a few more.  I felt like some had disappeared since the last time we were there.  Can't you just imagine how frustrated the fisherman must have felt.  I seldom fish with live bait and bobbers....but I keep promising myself that I am going to do more of it.  It is nice to just sit and watch the water, and watch for the bobber to go under.

I have loved fishing ever since I was a young girl...I really don't remember a time I didn't like to fish.  And though I am thrilled to catch a bigger fish, I have fun catching any at all.

Fishing is like good therapy...I can have a horrible throbbing headache but if I can go fishing for just a couple of hours it just melts away.

Just thinking--and Thankful

I 

I cannot stand to post without including a picture...I have had this photo in the draft forever.  Well at least since last fall.

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First of all, Roger got up feeling some better yesterday.  We did go ahead and go to the doctor.  Actually a nurse practitioner.  She could not put her finger on what is wrong, but is going to have his gall bladder checked and one or two other things done just to make sure nothing else is wrong.  And she had blood taken to check his liver functions plus more.

Today he has felt even better...he went to Walmart with me for a few minutes.  Has only lain down for just a few  minutes.  So, I am feeling thankful right now.

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Has anyone tried hitting 'Next Blog" lately.  I did today just for fun in odd moments and at least 90% of the time it pulled up  old blogs that had not had new posts in over a year or more.  I wonder if this is happening all the time or was it just today.

It also makes me wonder will blogging finally be a thing of the past?  I don't think I will ever prefer Facebook over blogging, but I am thinking that is what is happening.

Little house on the back road to Mansfield...

We pass this house almost any time we go to Mansfield, Indiana.  I so love it...I would love to see inside.  It did have a Hoosier Homestead sign at one time but it is gone now.  I would like to know the story of why it is gone also.  This old truck is almost always parked just as it is in the photo.  I have never seen a soul out in the yard or anywhere about.

This is being scheduled ahead of time....hopefully will have time to add a little bit to it before it posts.

A little willy-nilly!

It is that time of the week...Willy Nilly Friday 5 over at Tanya's Around Roanoke starts tomorrow.  It is one of my favorite memes.  Love reading what others have to tell...and it gives me an excuse to post random thoughts.  So here goes...

1.  During the three months I was away from blogging, I did manage to make this quilt top.  I also have the backing made, and I have batting...and I have thread for the quilting ordered.  Other than this, I did very little sewing.  There were weeks I did not even touch my sewing machine.  That is very unusual for me.

2.  My kitties did not like the cold.  They stayed inside and hardly even asked to go out.   And Bubbie has spent a lot of time snoozing his life away!

3.  I have been in a puzzle working mood...jigsaw puzzles.  I have worked 4 or 5 during the past 4 weeks or so, with the one below being the hardest.

Have any of you ever worked a photo mosaic puzzle?  This one is my third and I have a couple more waiting.

4.  We are planning on seeing Lorelei this weekend if nothing happens.  I cannot wait...was at Wally World today and picked up a little dress for her.  She prefers dresses...she does not like jeans at all.  Nor anything that fits at all snug.

5.  How many books do you have on your kindle/eReader?    Or do you just get them as you read them?  I have probably at least a thousand...most I got free.  And I still check out ebooks from the library.  And I bet I have read at least 200 since I got it a couple years ago, and they have been removed from the device.  Plus the ones I have read from the library.

Well that is my five...I am going to try to get linked to the meme.  I will eventually get everyone visited, but will tell right now that Roger is not feeling good at all.  Started Monday.  He had felt a bit better yesterday evening, but has never perked up today.  Thought at first it was just the flu making a reappearance, but not so sure right now.  I am hoping to get him in to the doctor tomorrow or if not, will probably go to the ER.

A little randomness...

First of all, what is with the 'I am not a robot' thing at the bottom of our comments...even though I have my comments set to no word verification, and moderation only after the post is a few days old, I still have the 'I am not a robot.'  Some blogs don't even have this, and others have it PLUS word verification.

I did make a 'testing' comment on my own blog, and did not check the 'I am not a robot'  and it appeared immediately in my comments.
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Just talked to Sarah...Lorelei's school was cancelled two days last week because of the bitter cold weather we had.  One of the days was Sarah's day off, and the other day she went to this program at the YWCA...or maybe it was the YMCA....and they kept them busy.  Lorelei had a ball.  Now she wants to follow a pattern....she wants to go to the 'Y' one day and school two days...or else the 'Y' two days and the school one day.   In case you don't know, she is all about patterns.

When she colors, sometimes she follows a pattern...and other things she wants to follow a pattern but for the life of me I cannot think of examples.  Just know she does like patterns.
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I did a post of an eagle we saw Sunday up in Parke County at the tail waters of the Cecil M. Harden Lake.  Well, I was sitting at the computer this afternoon, and I am always glancing to see what birds are at the feeders, and also glance around to see what else is going on.  I glanced out, and guess what I saw...an eagle.  They have this lazy way of circling around, and if you get the right angle to see their body profile, they remind me of a big old B-52. Nothing around here has that profile.  

I quick ran outside, and first saw there was two...then saw what I thought was a third...ran in to get my camera and could at first only see two...and both were juveniles.  I ran back in to get something on my arms and ran back out and there was the third...and it has the white head and tail!  Not that I really needed to see it to know for sure the others were eagles...

Anyway, click on this one for sure to expand the view...and yes, this was taken from my front porch.  And it is cropped.

Neither are very sharp, but I was clicking just to make sure I got some sort of shot.  I still cannot believe we saw three and two were juveniles.  So far, I have only ever seen one juvenile at a time.

Speeding along

There are several Amish families that live in Parke County...this one was traveling along pretty fast.  It was one of our 'warmer' days, but I bet it was still cool to be traveling in this fashion.  I had not even set anything on my camera...this is definitely not sharp.  But I still like it.

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It is 10ºF here this morn.  Probably colder earlier.  There was quite a big frost when I got up an hour or so ago.  I am sitting looking at empty bird feeders.  So that is one job that needs to be done.  And I am sure I can come up with a load of laundry...and I need to get a quilt top sandwiched and ready to quilt, but not sure I will.  I don't have the right color thread to quilt it with, so will either have to order on line or make a trip to the quilt show over in Paris.

Anyway, hopefully I will get some visiting in during this day.

Three months and a day since I last posted

I cannot believe how long it has been since I blogged...I first stopped because we were having Lorelei for two weeks.  And though I could probably have found time to post a few pics, I would not have had time to return visits.

The rest of the time you don't want to hear about--colds, flu, and maybe just pure old laziness part of the time.

We did not have Christmas till the day before New Years...
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Do any of you remember getting calendars like the one above?  I don't remember where I got the image from.  It is not mine.  I would not mind having this kind of calendar again.  I love all the big, bold numbers.  I love all the information give such as sunrise and sunset times, phases of the moon...and I don't even remember all that was given on them. 

I know the ones we used to get had what sign of the moon was in...don't asked me to explain that.  I just know that mom always wanted to wean calves during a certain sign...either when it was going to legs or to ankles(?) or to feet...whether you believe it or not, it really worked.  I can remember mom noticing when a neighbor had weaned their calves in the wrong sign, and them bawling and bawling

The calendar used to predict the weather.  I can so remember looking ahead and seeing when snow was predicted and hoping they were right.  Oh, how we wanted it to snow....anything to get out of school.  Besides the fact we liked to be out in it.