Sister Update & Springtime!

I am determined to get a post done today.

Thanks to you ALL for hanging in there with me.  I'm back for a bit of update on what's going on at the farm and with my seester.  I've had the wonderful blessing of being able to spend some sister-time with her at her home (and her dear hubby hasn't minded at all me being in the way!)  She's moving forward with her chemo treatments - every third week she gets a double dose (two meds) and they REALLY kick butt.  This week (actually 2 weeks ago...) hasn't been too fun with nausea, tiredness, weight loss and inability to find anything that tastes good.  Her hair is gone, too.  That was not a fun thing.  But spirits are high, she's hanging on to the Lord for her strength and we're all doing our best to tempt her with food and drink.  Friends and loved ones come by to encourage and pray and love on her and it helps.

Must share - my son and daughter in law are members at a sweet little church in Colorado. The ladies of the church have a quilt ministry and they sent Sis a beautiful quilt to wrap herself up in.  I can just imagine all the love and prayers that L is covered up with.  She broke into a huge smile and we both even shed a few tears upon opening her package in the mail and seeing that sweet and heartfelt gift!

 

Not only did they send my sister one but they sent ME a quilt, too!  Boy, do we feel loved with the love of the Lord! And cared for and prayed over when we wrap those beautiful handmade quilts around us!  Their quilting ministry is such a great outreach!  Every time I run my hand over the quilt, it's as if I can touch the precious hands that created it! I know my sister has felt the same.  If you're interested,  the church is the Castle Rock Church of Christ just south of Denver.

Back to the future, my Navy nephew has come home from his last tour in the Persian Gulf.  He was busting a gusset to be home with his mom while she was going thru surgery and chemo. Such a comfort to them both!  He brought his beautiful fiance home with him and they are spending time with my sister and her family this week.  I've gotten to spend time with them this week, too!

My sister, L, has been strengthened so much by the Lord and she was able to come this way Monday for a fishing trip to our favorite private lake.  Her son, husband and future DIL came and we spent the day at the lake.  Lisa fished a little but mostly relaxed and visited and watched her kids. 

 

 

 Then, yesterday, we all met up in Ennis, TX, to visit some of the bluebonnet trails.  It was so fun and again it was a good day for my sister.

 

Garden is going well, I guess.  We've had several cold snaps this spring that has caused me to replant my peas twice already. Another cold blast tonight, and I might be doing it again.  "They" say that produce is going to be about a month behind this year.  Well, at least we didn't hit the 90's in the April this year! My spinach hasn't bolted yet!

 Well there you have it, friends.  We're keeping our heads above water here, some days - just barely.  But the Lord is always good, and He provides us with all we need, He daily bears our burdens and His mercies are new every morning!  Praying for blessings upon you all, my friends!  I'll try not to be so long in posting again.  Family comes first - Love you all!

Vee's Note Card Party

Hey there!  I'm hooking up with Vee's note card party this month, and since it's soon to be officially autumn, think I'll do some fall decor cards with images from last year.  So hang on to your butts seats and let me search back through my blog....

My front porch October 2009

Below are some photos I took at a farmer's market in Franklin TN when we went up to Nashville to see my oldest son Adam.  This was such a neat place and really screamed  AUTUMN!!!  Tony had to drag me away. I could have stood there and looked at all day long!

Franklin, TN October 2009

October 2009

October 2009

Hope you enjoyed my cards!  Now I'm off to see the rest of yours!

If you'd care to join in the fun, here's your link ----

Autumn, Aprons, A Rose is a Rose...

What a glorious morning!  The last couple of days the temps have been in the upper 60's first thing in the morning when I go out to feed and water my chickies.  I feel a little "fallish" coming on!  I don't wanna rush but it makes me long for cool days, sweaters, soup on the stove, and one of Becky's soy candles in Pumpkin Spice burning on the table.  You know that delightful shivery feeling of autumn?

Well, we've got upper 90's again coming back, but it sure is nice! What's going on in your neck of the woods?  I'm trying to get a little painting done today.   Something new for me - I'll be sure and post pictures over at South Light art blog later - link on my sidebar if you're interested...

Here, at the farm, let's see who's minding the henhouse....

Well, for starters, Mr. Black/Yellow Garden Spider is keeping watch on the back side of it, and...

Miss Gypsy is guarding the front.  Actually, I had thrown some rolls to the chickens and she tried to do some digging to get one of them and I had to shut that down.  I even gave her one of her own and she buried it behind the AC unit outside.  Silly dog.  She comes to the back door every morning and asks for her dog biscuit.  Sometimes, she eats it, sometimes, she buries it.

Did I ever show you  my vintage apron collection?  Well, if I did, you're gonna see it again.

I didn't mean to have a collection, but it just happened.  I had a couple of aprons that were my grandmothers' that I'd saved through the years.  As I visited garage/junk sales, vintage aprons kept drawing my attention and were so cheap (most of the time).  When I looked at them, I immediately thought about the women who wore them, the work that they did to feed their families, the hands that dried themselves on them, the eggs and garden goodies that were collected in them, the children who grabbed onto them pulling at their mom for some attention, and perhaps even the tears that were shed on them.  

One by one, another worn and faded apron came home with me on my forays.  I now have 18 - EIGHTEEN - yes, you heard me right, 18.  It just happened.  But you know what's fun now?  When we have friends over to the farm for supper, I shall have all the ladies put on one of my vintage aprons while we're getting everything ready.  It'll be fun for all of us!  The aprons all hang on the door in my kitchen so they're easy to grab one up and go.

See what my sweet husband brought home last night?  He stopped and bought me 3 bouquets of Tyler roses!  They are so beautiful.  "Just because..."  And they smell heavenly...  I had enough to make two pitchers full.  I love roses - I don't care if they're not the swanky long-stemmed ones.  I think I actually prefer the little Rose-stand roses - they're lovely, really smelly (  :)))) and easy to put in my vintage pitchers and vases.  He was so thoughtful!  And I'm so lucky!

Take care, friends - you coastal folks look out for that hurricane a-comin'.  And by all means, no matter what you do, Keep Your Dress Down!

GIVEAWAY at River Bend Farm!

It's GIVEAWAY TIME!  Oh, not for me just yet, but for Berte at River Bend Farm!  She has reached a goal of 100 followers and she's having a contest about Blessings in your life.  She wants to bless the winner of her giveaway with one of her yellow spatterware bread pans, a cute napkin and a recipe keeper!  Jump over there and visit this wonderful Texas gal (a kindred sister :) and see for yourself what makes her so special!

I LOVE Spatterware!  So, run on over to Berte's place and sign up!

We've been so blessed these past couple of weeks with scattered showers - usually, we are not in the "scattered" areas, but recently the showers have scattered all over us!   This is my perennial garden - I know you can't really tell what's in there.  Some of it's been cut back and dead-headed - it was getting out of control.  I have some herbs like basil and rosemary and lavender, some purple coneflowers, lantana, clematis (it's little - just starting to climb that little thingie there, and some other flowers.  The lantana is still in need of a haircut so I may move it somewhere else come fall.  I don't know why the grasshoppers are eating the clematis leaves and they won't eat the lantana leaves.  That would solve a big problem!

Sunflowers are going great! They're so cheery and they make me happy!

My daughter's birthday is coming up next week, and we are planning on going out to visit her and probably take her and her boyfriend out to eat or something.  Along with her job, she is a "junkin" gal.  She likes to buy cheap, paint and fix up and sell on craigslist, ebay or her area "buy, sell & trade" facebook page.  She loves a rustic or western theme.  Doing pretty good, too!  She's very artistic and knows how to make things look good.  If she lived closer, she and I would have our own little business together - we've talked about it...it would be so fun!

Josh and Lindsey are settling in at her folks' B and B - they are staying in one of the cottages right now until they decide what they are going to do.  Job hunting starts tomorrow for Josh!  Hope he can find something pretty soon!  Lindsey's parents are re-vamping an old country house right now and I imagine Josh is going to be working on that project as well to supplement his income...I'm SO jealous of that house - it has a screened-in sleeping porch - HOW WONDERFUL!  Pictures will be forthcoming as they complete

the re-do.

We're going to Nashville in a couple of weeks to visit my oldest son, Adam. It's been awhile since we've been up there and it's time for a visit.  Sure miss that boy!

Dolores at Moving Forward With Alzheimers shared this video on her blog...

Well, back to work for me tomorrow.  Thank goodness I'm down to two days a week - which is not bad at all - but I'd like it to be a BIG FAT ZERO days a week!  One of these days...

Keep yer dress down, friends.

I'm A WINNER!

Lucky, lucky ME!  I entered a give-a-way over at Dawn's Comfy Corner (she's a fairly new blogger and buddy) and she sent me the news that I won!  And what a nice gift - it came in the mail yesterday and I'm so anxious to give them a try...  Seeeee?????

They are thick and absorbent and she made them very generous to scrub and wash all my dishes and pans!  Can't wait to use them.  I imagine I'll be gettin' to that shortly cuz I've got NO dishwasher other than myself and a sinkful of dirty dishes from breakfast!  Thanks so much, Dawn!  (Just noticed my "Butt Rub" seasoning for BBQ back there behind...  oops! - Promise that wasn't staged.)

In other news, my oldest son, Adam, is home for a few days to enjoy the farm, the tractor, AND most importantly - Fishing with his Pop (my daddy).  He said the rest of the spring is going to be very busy in the music industry and he probably won't be able to come home anytime soon after this.  EVEN THO it's supposed to rain torrents later this week/weekend.  He and Pop may have to find other things to do besides fish!  My middle son, the Kiwi son Josh, is a photographer, and he did some publicity shots of Adam last time they were home together...

 Josh is doing a great job, I think!  They took these photos down at the old train depot here in our town...

New topic...  about 3 years ago, a friend of mine gave me several starts of her white iris.  I spread them out in one of my flower beds behind the deck, and planted them and they've done really well at spreading and filling in and making new leaves.  They lived through our drought last summer, too.  I was about ready to pull them up and move them because in 3 years, they hadn't bloomed.  I thought maybe they weren't getting enough sun in their locale.  I even threatened them out loud that they were about to get yanked out of the ground if they didn't bloom this year.  Well, lo and behold...

THEY BLOOMED!!!

Think it was just time?  or think it was the threat???  Who knows, but I'm glad they decided to show their pretty faces!  Yes, they're all white, but I think I'll add some more colors to them.  I had intermixed them with some blue hydrangeas, but they died during the drought even tho I really babied them to no end.  So, iris it shall be!

Fruit trees are blooming their little hearts out...

My lovely onions.... Do you see some bare spots?  Well, my sweet little Gypsy decided to do some digging in the boxes.  I repaired as best as I could, but will have to get another bunch or so and fill in.  I can see some fencing in the near future around the garden, but that's okay.  The last 3 years, the coyotes ate most of my watermelons. Drat.  I've been asking for fencing since the first year, but THIS is the year for a garden fence!!!  Gypsy is one of those puppy dogs that buries her treats, her bones, her chewies, and goes back later when no one's looking to dig 'em up and eat 'em.  Another lesson from being a stray I suppose.

Kathy, you know what this means, doncha?  WAR ON GOPHERS!!!

Gypsy tries to dig them up, and if she finds one on a trap, she pulls the trap out of the ground and carries it off to eat the gopher.  Yuck.  (note to self - get worm medicine from vet...)  So... I've lost several gopher traps and at $6-$7 apiece can't afford that.  We've taken to driving a piece of rebar into the ground and wrapping a wire connected to the trap around the rebar to save our traps!  Works pretty good...

I've already caught two, and possibly 3 more that were eaten off the traps.

Ok, my peeps - love you all and I wish you the very best of weeks!  We have beauty outside right now, but rain is promised.  Only thing to deal with today is 30 mph winds!

Keep yer dress down!