Comfy cozy

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A happy Christmas

Alcove village

The village pictured here are part of a Hallmark classic books "Sarah Plain and Tall" collection offered many Christmases ago. I got them at the urging of my oldest daughter who, at that time,  loved the all those stories.
I've used them on the dining room table over the years and on the mantle. I've used them in the living room and entry. This year though, I put them in an alcove between the kitchen and the sunroom where they are readily seen and enjoyed.
The Christmas tree we cut last year was much too tall for even the tall ceiling of our den and the Hub ended up cutting several pieces of the trunk that we ultimately used on the cocoa bar for our daughter's New Year's Day wedding.
As I was pulling out decorations for this holiday season, there they were. I used them to create the idea of the little Hallmark houses being part of a mountain village. I hung branches, just a bit of greenery and a handful of snowflakes.
When my daughter arrives for Christmas in a couple of days, I hope she will be happy to see these faithful pieces used in a new place and a new way.
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Big Tom

The Hub aka Big Tom, took some of his accumulated vacation days to help get ready for Christmas this week. What a guy!
This fall has been more than a little rough on him, health-wise. A health emergency has left him struggling some days (though the cardiac rehab and pt/ot has been very helpful.) His attitude is just remarkable.
We joked about white lights and near death experiences as my family seems to survive such times as these via humor. His bravery and determination are no laughing matter, though. He is seriously  thankful to have survived a life-threatening crisis and it shows.
Last night we watched "It's a A Wonderful Life" and organized gifts to wrap for our children. The preciousness of life that is the theme of this time honored movie was not lost on him this year. Nor I.
I would appreciate him running errands for the family any time. He's always been a champ at that. But this year, this Christmas season, I am extra, extra grateful for him and for his willingness to put up lights and stand in line at the post office, despite any difficulty or frustration he encounters.
You can tell him I said so!



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Static

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Rehearsal

The children's Christmas pageant at church is always fun. Rehearsal for the big performance is especially fun. At least in my opinion.
It's chaotic and unorganized. The adults working with the program always think it will never come together in time but somehow it always does.


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Hello Dolly

The is the scene on one of the sofas in my den. It appears my grandbaby, who spent the night, wanted company as she watched cartoons so she brought in the array of baby dolls she still plays with.
Some of hers and some belonged to her aunts.
They all have names and stories.
The day is coming,not so long from now, when these dolls will be packed away with other things she's outgrown. So I savor these moments and scenes.
Likely I'll leave the dolls just like they are until I can stand it no longer or company comes and needs a place to sit.
Silly, perhaps.
Sentimental, certainly.
But I am a grandmother so I'm pretty sure I'm allowed.

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Merry

My view just now. A couple of clementines. A rosemary topiary. A pretty mug to drink something warm from. Looks like a merry morning.


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Geared up

I have this sweet friend who started out as my daughter's friend but she is the kind of friend who is a friend to everyone. She is kind and generous and fun. The middle description is born out in the photo below.
Those leopard flats are her go to shoes. So much so, that she has picked up pairs of them for people as gifts or just to be (as in description one above) kind.
She kindly brought a pair of them to me while The Hub was in the hospital recently. These are now my go to shoes.
What you see in the photo below are the three things I've been keeping in my go bag. Those shoes, my calendar and a commentary on the book of John (just in case I need to ready more behind a four-fold Bible study I am taking.
I'm pretty much set wherever I go and whatever I do with those comfy shoes, my calendar and and a book to read. It's the small things, y'all.
Though the kindness of friends is no small thing!


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Blessed Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving eve

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A little birdie

I found this stuck to some papers at home. I know who drew it. I just don't know when and the little artist can't seem to remember.
It really doesn't matter.
My little birdie loves to draw.
She draws all of the time.
No matter how many sketch pads I get her, though, she much prefers the paper items she finds around the house to anything else.
When I find her works, mixed in with mail or between the pages of a book it stops me in my tracks and puts a smile on my face.
How could it not?



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Cool fan from a cool chick

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New pair of shoes

A friend of mine tells the story of her brother when they were children that I’ve always found hysterical. It seems the brother caught unmitigated grief from she and an additional brother for watching his feet when he got new shoes. He always insisted on wearing new shoes out of the store, she has told me more than once ay my urging, so he could watch himself walk. 

Why I’ve always found this so funny is as much a  mystery to me as why they gave him such a hard time. I will confess, I’ve given my own siblings grief about much smaller things that this. 

I bring this story up because I bought a new pair of shoes last week. I not only put them on immediately, but I caught myself looking down at my feet in my new shoes.

I started to call my friend and confess but decided I would send her the link to this blog post so she could read it (and see my shoes) for herself.  And maybe I was a little afraid of  the grief she might bring to bear.

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All Hallow's Eve

Downtown where I live, the merchants give out candy to Trick-or-Treaters on Halloween afternoon. My office is a block off main street, so I wasn’t sure how many little visitors I would have. Still, I moved a chair out onto the sidewalk and sat with a big bag of candy in one hand and a treatise in the other. The idea of participating in a community event while doing research for work appealed to me.

The Hub, who had walked around the stores and other businesses with our grandbaby, and I ran home to change for an event at church called “Trunk or Treat.”  An area of the church parking lot was roped off for vehicles decorated and stocked with candy.

We showed up to help dressed as Mary Poppins and Bert the Chimneysweep. Those particular costumes have been on my list for many moons.  They were not as well planned and executed as I may have liked but they sufficed.

That my eldest daughter was a penguin was icing on the cake, though we didn’t actually see her until the Saturday after Halloween. She attended a party with us at the farm of close friends of ours. Now these particular friends know how to throw a holiday party. We’ve spent the better part of the fourth of July with them for years. There is red, white and blue everywhere: from pool floats to streamers to paper napkins. We visit and dine under tents and awnings.

It should come as no surprise then that  the barn was draped in black with spooky lanterns and candles and jack o’ lanterns everywhere. The food was fantastic, as per usual.

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Pointing upward

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Lovely day

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Ode the Shaylea

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We heart autumn

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A bit of fall

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Heroic

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Heart Matters

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Bout that time

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if i loved her any more my heart would burst

that's the comment i left on this picture of my grandbaby when her mama posted it.

I mean it, too.
Since the first time I saw her, I've not gotten over the wonder of her.
She's getting so tall. She's such a little lady at certain times and such a tom boy at others.
She and her granddad went to town the other evening and came home with a new bicycle, which he lets her right down the next block and back.
At her age, I rode my own bike all over the little town where my grandparents lived but those were different times, weren't they?
Saturday night she attended her first ever school dance. She is in the fourth grade. I was unprepared for the idea of her going to a dance. She said someone told her she looked "stunning." I teased her about also being humble. Which she usually is, I have to admit.
I love that about her.
I love watching her grow up.
I just wish it weren't happening so fast.

Fall snack

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Be still

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Be still

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What a treasure

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What a treasure

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Boot weather (well, almost)

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Watermelon and other fleeting joys

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On holiday

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Shake, rattle and roll

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The last doll

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Justice girl

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How to Build a monster

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We made slime

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Black donuts

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Anne Shirley

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When you visit your aunt

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First day of school

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Last day of summer

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My Little Entrepreneur

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