Busy Week

I always have this idea that one of these days, it will not be a busy week. I think I need to give up that thought all together. In History this week we started WW ll. I can't even talk about Pearl Harbor without crying. Or the Nazis or Stalin. My son just stares at me with this look of unbelief as I muddle my way through the book. My SIL to be, told me yesterday that his Dad used to have a small business in Hawaii where he would take people up in his restored WW ll airplanes and give people rides around Pearl Harbor and show them the path the Japanese took on that day December 7th, 1941.

I wish I wasn't racing the clock and trying to get as much school done as I can before full blown wedding stuff hits. We would  do a whole week and watch nothing but war movies. I have a ton of books I would love him to read. I asked him yesterday if he wouldn't like to put college off another year because I still have so much I want to teach him. Of course, you know he said, " No, Mom."

Well, I have been sewing this week. I thought I would show you some things. It has been dark this week so these pictures are dark too. I walked around the house trying to find light but it was tough.
So here are some things I have been working on this week:

 I know it it is dark but there really is a heart in the middle of that dark square. Not a good angle now that I am looking at it here.

I have been making hearts. Lots of hearts. I just can't seem to get enough of red and white.

I have been making more old signs. Which is always fun. My husband is going to hook up my saw this weekend. I can't wait. Though I always feel so bad as I am such a slob. I leave saw dust around and wood and I get so scatterbrained when I am doing wood. I apologized last night about the mess I know I will make and he always says, " Oh it's no big deal don't worry about it."

Of all of the things I have made this week, this is my hands down favorite. I just love the way this looks.
I even ran down and bought more fabric yesterday so I can make some more. I started a new rug last night.
It is a pattern by Polly Minick. For Christmas my family tracked down lots and lots of books with hooking patterns for me. Some of them were out of print.

I liked how this looked. It won't stay that way but it looked nice to me. My son as he was leaving for work this morning looked at the things I was taking pictures of and said, " It looks like you have been digging in a old wood pile." I told him thank you that was such a nice compliment because that was what I was going for as I sanded and all of the things I do to make it look that way.

It has been a busy week, but nice.

I hope your week has been as nice too.

~Kim~

Chats on the Farmhouse Porch

It is time to visit with Patrice today. I am so glad she asks questions. It helps me to focus. I was a day behind watching Downton Abbey. We watched it last night. I woke up all night, sad. I would have to tell myself over and over, it is just a stupid T.V. show. It didn't happen. My husband and I were discussing it this morning over breakfast. He said, " I used to hear women in the lunch room discussing soap operas like we are doing, I can't believe I am." Well, lets say Downton Abbey must be the best show ever that I can't shake it today. Okay onto the questions:

1.    Have you ever been on a boat? (Motor boat, sail boat, cruise ship, ark, or Good Ship Lollipop)

Yes, We always had a boat when I was growing up. We fished and went water skiing. I have been deep sea fishing, I love being on the water. My favorite of all time though is a house boat. Nothing more fun than being on a houseboat.

 2.   Do you need an alarm to wake up in the morning, or do you wake up naturally? If you have an alarm, tell us what type.

No, I always wake up naturally. If I have to be somewhere, I will always wake up before it goes off. My husband will set his I pod with an alarm but we both wake up before it goes off. My sons had a Wallace and Gromit clock when they were small. When it would go off it would say, " Gromit ready for walkies?" They hated it.

3.    Have you ever had a yard sale?

Only one time, it was early marriage and our car was broke and we needed some money to get it fixed. We went through the house and collected things and put a sign out front. We needed a certain amount of money and as soon as we reached it we put everything away in the house. We didn't have much at that time of life so most of it we were still using. We got the car fixed though. I have never had another desire to have one again. I still don't.

4.    Do you like kitchen gadgets? What are some of your favorite?

I am not a gadget person. I don't even use a potato peeler. My husband and boys think they are great. I just like good sharp knives.

5.    Do you read labels at the grocery store?

Only if it is something that I have not bought before.  I might look at something that I like to see if I can make it at home. My girls have taught me so much about copy cat cooking. They are the masters. One thing that really bugs me is how the more expensive food has got the more additives they have added. If you want good food, it is just better to do scratch.  I think that is why we have just stopped going out to dinner. When my husband worked for a carrot company and they started doing short cut carrots, to peel them so you could buy them in the store, it would leave lots of the skin. They got the idea that they could take those peelings, dry them and powder them and sell it as a additive for bread. Which it is a cheap filler. They had a ready market and the big name bread companies bought it. There was nothing that went to waste. All of it was sold to the consumer. In one way or another.

Thanks once again to Patrice for her questions. Repair men are here today working on our computer issues.
I just learned some thing new. We pay for 6 megabites something for speed and usage from AT& T what we really get though is 1 1/2 on a good day. If we lived a street over, we would get 55 isn't that crazy? He found that someone is getting most of our usage. When he was telling me it sounded like a party line on the telephone in the old days. I hope that all makes sense. We have changed every single bit of hardware in the house and I was a bit relieved that it was them. Now there will be repair men working on the line today and maybe tomorrow.
Then maybe, just maybe we will have internet that works. I am not holding my breath though. One thing I thought was funny, when they replaced the telephone line to my brothers house the line was cloth. The guy was holding in his hand and said," this is antique. They quit making this in the 30s." No wonder the phone doesn't work when it rains. Such funny things are in the world.
Have a great day,
~Kim~

Just a Chicken Post

I haven't wrote or even taken pictures of my chickens in a while. In fact, I am having to go back to my photos taken this summer for these of the little roosters and hens. I have a story today.

Earlier in the week, we had a bit of sunshine, and my chickens have not been out in the yard for a long time. I have to let them out when I clean the chicken pens so they were very happy to run and flap their wings. I love cleaning their coop because they enjoy a clean coop so much. They watch me and meander around and as soon as my back is turned the bravest ones will venture in to see how things are going.

One of my new little silkie hens has decided she is going to sit on eggs. She found what she thought was a good hiding place and began to lay eggs and in her little chicken brain thought I would not find her eggs. I plan on letting her hatch chicks a little later in the spring but for now, it is just too cold and I don't feel like fooling with her and bringing her inside. Not January.

The little hen had about 10 or 12 eggs in her nest when I ran her off and she ran out in the yard. I just grabbed the eggs and threw them away. I continued to clean and though she had been fine for awhile, I noticed she was starting to pace up and down the coop wanting to get back to her eggs.

 I was finally finished and the bigger hens were all waiting to get back in to see how it looked so I was picking up the last of my tools when the little white Silkie ran in to her place where her eggs had been and she started this screaming. I have never heard a chicken do this before, so I made me jump. She lifted her head up to the sky and it was the saddest lament I have ever heard in my life. The roosters came running like maybe I was killing that little hen or something. Then she ran to the other side to see if maybe the eggs had been moved there. Then the whole thing again just that scream and it sounded all the world like weeping.

As I watched her and listened to her I almost relented about letting her sit on eggs. I wanted to cry. Just watching her was heartbreaking and I felt like such a evil person. Then I had the thought, how often I am just like that little hen. I have something removed or God closes a door to something  that was really good, because maybe it just wasn't time or I couldn't see what was on the horizon. I scream and cry and beg. To often I think it is because God doesn't hear me but He does and His heart is filled with more compassion and love than I have for that hen. He knows what is best, and I just need to wait.

I will let her sit on eggs and hatch chicks when it gets a bit warmer. Just now isn't the time. I wish that I would remember this lesson so the next time I am throwing a fit about something to God, I hope I will remember this lesson.

I learn so much about life watching chickens. Standing there watching them I am always amazed at what I notice. The hens when their house is clean, they become quiet and preen and are at peace. When the nest boxes are filled with new bedding, they want to settle down and lay eggs. They like their house when it is clean and in order. I know I am the same way. I guess me and chickens are just a lot alike.

Have a great Saturday,
~Kim~

Giveaway Winner

First off the hardest thing about a giveaway is not being able to send everyone something. I think that is the hardest thing about it. If I could I would just make all of you something. I had to choose one though. I was going to use a one of those computer things that picks for you but in the end because I didn't want one more thing running on my computer so I settled for the old fashioned way of writing out names on slips of paper and drawing them out of the basket. So without further ado,
The winner is From Beyond My Kitchen Window.

I want to thank you all for joining in on my first giveaway of the year. I wish I was better organized to do something once a month, but with so much already going on this year, it might just be hit and miss. I do have a hankering to get my saw out and make some wooden things. Then I have all of these great sunflower seeds that I would love to share. So who knows. :)

Thank you so much, you all are such a wonderful gifts to me.
Have a lovely Friday,
~Kim~

Some Engagement Photos

When I was a little girl, I heard my Grandmother say, " Every ole crow thinks her crow is the blackest."
I didn't know what that meant and had to have my Dad explain it to me. I love those old sayings because they are filled with such truth. So I am sharing that today. My daughter and Nik, had some engagement photos taken on Friday. I love them. I thought I would share a few. The first ones I will share were taken at our train station.

Then they went to a place in the middle of town called River Walk Park. It has bike paths and some small lakes. It is a very pretty place.

We have been lucky this time around doing a wedding. My DIL's sister is doing the photography. My SIL is doing the catering. My son who is the graphic artist is doing the save the date cards and the invitations. I feel very blessed to have so many talented people in our family and our extended family. I keep thinking as I come up with more ideas of decorating my front yard. If we can pull this off, it will be very pretty. Emilie has already learned so much about flowers.

Can you see the hat? A long time ago, I was going to start collecting hats. I wanted a collection of antique hats so I started combing antique stores. This was when you could get them for a dollar or two. Well then someone got the idea that vintage clothes were in and those hats became out of my price range. That is the only one I have. I love it because it still has the original hand sewn tag in it I was so thrilled that she wanted to wear it for her photos. You can't see it in the photo but around the hat brim is a row of rhinestones.

This is just because they are always goofing off and having fun. They have a good time most of the time and you can always hear one of them laughing about something.

They are fun and they do make me laugh as well. I was thinking yesterday how blessed we are because of the people God brought into our lives through marriage.
When I would bring a new baby home from the hospital, I would always wonder at how the new little person would just fit and we would wonder how it was we ever lived without that little person in our life. Now I have the joyful experience of sharing it again. God has brought such magic and blessing with each person one of our kids has married. I can't imagine life without them. I am thankful that God continues to expand our family.
The Poem by Robert Browning called Rabbi Ben Ezra

Grow old along with me!

The best is yet to be,

The last of life, for which the first was made:

Our times are in His hand

Who saith "A whole I planned,

Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!'' 

 

I think it says it best. God has done such great things for me in spite of the many ways I have muddled it up. 

I am thankful.

Thank you for coming along on my bragging post today. 

 

~Kim~

Things I Learned From Counted Cross Stitch

I was working on a pattern yesterday. I started it last year before glasses. Now with glasses I see my mistakes, as I was ripping out the old mistakes that I could see now that I couldn't see before. I thought there are things that apply to every day life.

In life there are always mistakes. But like in my counted cross stitch, stopping right then and fixing the mistake is better than waiting for it to go away and ignoring the problem. Fix any mistake if I can right then.

Follow the pattern. I need to repeat this over and over to myself. Quit trying to fix the problem by thinking I can figure something out on my own. Follow the rules. God gave us a book, it really is quite simple, so in life I just need to do what it says and quit trying to think I am smarter. I am not.

Don't give up. I have had this thought lately, I will never be a really good sewer, or hooker or crafter or gardener or even blogger or writer or wife or mother or teacher. On any day one of these pass through my brain. I keep sewing because I think if I keep ripping it out and if I keep sewing I will get better. If I am not happy with where I am then it is up to me to keep working only I can change the outcome and be where I want to be.

Pay attention. How often I will be doing a counted cross stitch and I just sort of enter in to this place where I don't know where I go but when I wake up, I have added too many stitches and I have to spend 20 minutes ripping out. I have to always be paying attention in life, to notice things that really important to pay attention to those nagging little voices that creep in that I need to listen to instead of turning up the music a little louder.

Be myself. Enjoy the journey. When I am sewing or reading or even walking, I am in hurry up mode so I can say I walked 5 miles or I finished another project or I can add another book to my reading list. I need to slow down and enjoy what I am doing so what if my finished projects look homemade well heck they are and I am getting there, so why not enjoy the work of my hands instead of comparing myself to others.

Be real. Yep, I make mistakes in my counted cross stitch that I just leave there because I am tired of the pattern and want to do something else. Stop being ashamed of what I do. Thank God that I have this time in life to sew. I have a feeling it is only for a brief moment in time so I might as well just be real and say, like Popeye, " I yam what I yam." I will never, ever, in a million years do perfect needle work.

 I just thought about his yesterday as I was sitting in front of the fire with my seam ripper in one hand and the scissors in the other hand. I just thought I would share it with you.
I hope you are having a nice Monday. I admit to being a little scared about this one. The first thing I did this morning was pour a cup of hot coffee down my pajama top and burned up  myself real good. I missed my mouth. It was early. Not to mention dark. I was sleepy. I woke up...fast.

So far though every thing is good.
Have a wonderful day.
~Kim~

Just Things I Notice

One of the things you should know about me was I always had a secret desire to live in the woods and be a tracker. My Grandpa taught me that if I would sit somewhere and be very quiet, I could see all sorts of things most people never noticed. Like watching a frog catch flies and bugs, or watching a Mama bird line up her babies to teach them to fly. I still like to sit and watch but living in an urban area what I see most is people.

I thought I would share my experience that I had on Friday in the grocery store parking lot. I had a lot to do on Friday so I was up very early and out the door. By the time I was finished grocery shopping it was pretty early. As I walked out with my overloaded basket to the car, walking toward me was a young man with his car keys in his hand. As he got to my basket under his breath he asked me" if I had any change he could have to buy some gas." I was taken so off guard, I just shook my head and held on to my purse and walked faster to my car.

I was loading my car while watching what the guy was doing. He just kind of meandered around the parking lot. While I was loading the car with my groceries. A man about two cars away from me came out to his truck, I heard the young man ask the man in the truck the question he had asked me. The man in the truck responded differently than I had, he said, " Hey dude!! What don't you just tell the truth, you want a brewsky. " That man got in his truck and handed the man some change. I walked to put up my basket when  woman came out of the store walking toward her car when the young man asked her. She did pretty much what I did and got in her car and I could hear the door locks as they went down.

Now for some odd reason all of the reactions, just intrigued me. I was early for my next appointment so I decided to sit and watch. Now my hypothesis going into this was that women would feel more compassionate and kind. The men would be more aggressive and would be more vocal. I continued to watch as this man worked the parking lot. What I noticed about him was he kept his body language open and was very respectful in his demeanor. He kept his palms up with his hands open and with the car key visible in his hand that was what kept me from seeing I was going to get panhandled.

As I watched I notice a pattern. He only asked people coming out of the store. The men he asked, might tell him no at first but would reconsider, every time. One man after telling the guy no, reached in his pocket called him back and handed him change. Only to walk to the other side of his truck get some more change and handed that to him. I never saw a single woman give any change and they all did what I did. I did not make eye contact, I held tighter to my purse, I jumped in the car and locked the doors. The men on the other hand, made eye contact, exchanged words and always gave the guy change. It was not what I expected at all in fact I was shocked.

When he first asked me for change, I couldn't have told you a single thing about him other than he was a bit older than my sons. While sitting in the car watching him walk back and forth, I noticed that his clothes while not dirty were worn, he was wearing a jacket too small for him because he couldn't button the sleeves nor the front of it. On one of his trips from side of the parking lot I noticed that he picked up a cigarette butt off the ground and started smoking it.
I pondered my own actions why I had acted like I had and all I could come up with was he scared me. When I get scared, I get angry and I was angry. I think because I felt duped and normally I pay better attention than that.

I have thought about this for a few days now. I just thought I would share it because I enjoy watching people, I like to think about why people do what they do and I also was so surprised my my own reaction.
I thought you might like to know how I spend my days. I think I should add, I never felt prompted to give him change or speak. I always try to be obedient to God, He does prompt me to give sometimes, sometimes He tells me to run and other times like this it was to be quiet. Believe me I have done some really stupid things in my life just because I was prompted to do it. That to me was also interesting because I was not.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend,
Thanks for stopping by today,
~Kim~

Don't forget to enter into my giveaway if you haven't done so yet, here is my link to that post.

A January Giveaway

It has been too long since I had a giveaway. I have been working on something this week and I thought that it would be nice to have a giveaway for all of you out there who stop by and read my scribblings that most the time are full of nothing but twaddle.

I am going to open the giveway until next Friday the 25th of January. Just leave me a comment with this post and I will enter you in.

Here is what I have been working on for this giveaway this week  In honer of Valentines Day I thought it would be nice. They are just little sewing boxes.

I also made the little pin cushion inside that goes with it.

It has been fun thinking of goodies to go inside. I have also have this little hanging thing I made to give a way too.

I am so crazy about wool and I just had so much fun working on this, I have another group of things to add but I had to clean house today so I didn't get them made. I love working on red and heart shaped things for Valentines Day. I always have loved giving valentines.

Who knew that when I started blogging that you all would steal my heart. All of you have given me so much and I am so thankful for all of you. I just wish that I could give something to every single one of you.

So just leave a comment and you are entered. Oh and I will enter you twice if you are a follower.

Thank you for stopping by and entering. Since it has been so long since I had a giveaway even if you have entered before you are eligible for this one too.

~Kim~

Life Experiences

I have been reading a book called Reflections on the Magic of Writing, by Diana Wynne Jones. It is a fantastic book, I mean for someone like me who loves reading about why and how people write. It is a book of essays that challenge and motivate me to be a better writer. Yesterday as I was reading through it and she was recounting the odd people she encountered in her life. As I read what she wrote, I thought about the many people I have come in contact with and how each one has changed my life.

As  I have shared when I was seventeen, I started working in my Dad's grocery store. I was shy, a little backward and had no people skills. Being in a grocery store, you learn quickly that you are for all intents and purposes, invisible. In that situation, you learn to observe. You learn that some people are just mean, but most are kind. For the most part, so wrapped up in themselves they just never notice.

One woman that used to come in was like a wounded animal. She would never look at me but she watched what I did like hawk and made me reweigh her produce sometimes 3 or 4 times. I liked to play this game. If I could get a person to smile at me they would see me and become my friend for life. I decided I was going to be as nice as I could, I would weigh her produce as much as she wanted and I would be bend over backward to make her smile.

Just so you don't get the wrong idea, she never did smile. She never got nice. She never got over being scared. One day though, as she reached for the change I was handing to her, her sleeve rode up a little higher on her forearm. There on her arm was the tattoo of the numbers from a concentration camp. In that second, I stared, I looked up into her face, she immediately pulled the sleeve down to cover up what I had saw. She ducked her head and turned to go out of the store. I stood and watched as she left. As a young girl, I had never known pain like that poor woman had experienced. It became one of those life changing experiences for me.

As a young kid, I would make snap judgements. My grandpa, would say to me over and over, " Kim,
never judge anyone until you have walked a mile in their shoes." I learned that when I was working in that grocery store that people I thought were mean, really weren't they just were trying to live life the best way they could. I decided after that when I would see her, I would go in the back room to the walk in case and I would get her special produce or if I could I would save things I thought she might like. Most of the time she wouldn't take it, she was afraid. But I began to notice she came through my line more and more.

Now at the age I am now and I hear my kids talk about the different people they come in contact with each day at their jobs. I have tried to tell them about making each person a divine appointment. They just "Oh, Mom" me. So I guess that it has to be something that you learn on your own.

Even though I was doing that job for the money, I am so thankful that working in that store was really about education. God was teaching me that no matter what, each person is special and each one is for that tiny moment in time, a gift to hold in my hands.

Reading this book has made me think about how without the people brought in my life, my life would have no color. I am thankful for the color.

~Kim~

Chats on The Farmhouse Porch

It is time again to visit with Patrice at Everyday Rurality. Just in time for her farmhouse chat. It is much too cold to be outside today, so we can sit inside in front of the fire. Let's get to this week's questions:


1.    What was your favorite game as a child?

This is going to sound so funny but my favorite game was playing house. I loved playing house more than anything, next was playing school. I also had a stick horse that I rode every where. I spent hours and hours outside on that stick horse. If you can believe it I wore it out. It just fell apart. I loved any kind of sport too.

2.    Have you ever had your own business? (home business, a shop, Etsy, lemon-aid stand, etc)

You know this is one thing I have never done. I have thought about it and I am still thinking about it. :)

3.    How's your spelling?

Most of the time it is pretty good, but I am very thankful for spell checkers.

4.    How are you about going to the dentist?

Not good, it sounds like Patrice and I had the same dentist growing up. The one we went to we had to make sure we had an appointment before lunch because after lunch he was so looped he missed the tooth half the time and hit the gum. It took me years to finally go back to the dentist and I still break out in a cold sweat when I am waiting.

5.    Do you enjoy board games?

No, I can't say I am but every one else in this house is. Board games are big business right now. We have young adults over here two or three times a week playing board games. Here is a picture of part of them, There are more of them upstairs

I keep having to unload my book shelves so they can have more room for games. It just makes me laugh at how these kids have grown up with video games and the internet games are just having a blast with board games now. They are quite different from the kinds I played as a child.


Thanks for stopping by today. Thank you to Patrice for the questions.
~Kim~

Cold Weather

I am in California. We get on a wet year about 10 inches of rain...in a year. We don't get that much cold weather. I have to tell you some funny things about people who are not used to cold. This morning it was 23 so you know it is very cold for us. At 23 things start to break. This morning, the garage door wouldn't open or close. We had to lift it like a normal garage door. Gosh, I feel like such a looser even writing this. I went out to water my chickens, and the brass thing that the hose hooks to had broken and the brass snapped clean off. The automatic sprinklers came on sometime during the night so the sidewalk was one giant sheet of ice. I was pouring hot water on the kids windshields so they could go on their journeys and it froze as fast as I poured. It makes me laugh at myself because I am so ill equipped for cold weather. I have to really think to problem solve. I go out and water my chickens last thing at night and give them cracked corn. The hose will be frozen until at least noon.

I just can't stay in the house. I have to walk around and look at the patterns the frost makes on the ground, and on the leaves that are on the ground and the frozen weeds wearing the light coating of ice. Even the trash cans will have frozen ice on top of them. I find myself laughing at how frozen the ground is and how different it is to me. I am enjoying it so much. I like how when I go outside the air is so fresh and cold. I was sitting in the sun the other day, and I watched as a whirl-wind came racing toward me with it's leaves and grass twisting into a small tornado. I had been sewing so I reached over to hold onto my pattern as the whirl wind reached me all of the leaves and grass just stopped and fell at my feet. My husband was on the tractor watching it as it was going across the pasture toward me and he thought it looked so cool to see the thing just stop right at my feet. I was glad he saw it because I don't think anyone would have believed it.

I am very happy to be having winter. Each day has within it a new experience. I am also very happy to be living in this house and not the one before this one. In our bedroom in the other house there was no heat. So every winter we froze to death. The house was built funny so that the heating never made it to our bedroom.
In the summer it was the opposite there was never any cold air from the air conditioner. I was thinking as I was listening to our heat come on and I thought,"Oh those poor people, I bet they are freezing to death with this cold." Unless they were smarter than us and bought a heating system that worked better than the one we had. Which might be the case.

It is bright and full of sun today. The sky is blue and I am so happy to be here right now.
Have a great week,
~Kim~

Today on Saturday

Isn't this a gorgeous sunset? We have had some really pretty ones and this one just kept getting prettier and redder and I was cooking dinner watching it, I grabbed my camera and ran outside and got a few shots.
When I grew up, I had always lived out in the country. When I got married we moved into town. I was surrounded on every side by people. I would go out to my parents to breathe and be able to see the sky.

When we bought our first house, I could only see the sunrise at certain times of the year when it rose between the houses across the street. We bought our next house and the kids had a fort in the back yard. I would climb to the top of it to see the sunrise. Our house sat at the end of another street so sometimes in the winter I could see the sun set. If I stood on the side of our house and looked down the yard to the sky.

I asked God for 20 years if someday, I could live in a place where I could see the sun rise and the sun set Every single day. He did it. Now every single day I see the sun rise and the sun set and every day, I feel like I am the most blessed woman in the world.

I only got one sewing finish done this week. I didn't get as much sewing done as I hoped. This pattern is from Nan Lewis from Threadwork Primitives. This pattern is called Falling Snow Sampler.

I really enjoy working Nan's patterns. I know this is going to sound silly and maybe it is in my head, but just as when you read books you are listening to some Else's thoughts and sometimes it seems you can hear the authors voice. I think the same thing happens when I am stitching different patterns from different designers it is like that. Some designers are peaceful and calm. Some make me very happy. I have stitched some that make me agitated and when that happens I have to force myself to finish them. I have wondered why it feels that way, but the more I stitch the more I notice it. Nan always makes me feel happy and calm.

We are having the most wonderful January in terms of cold weather. Cold and frosty and getting to burn a fire every day and I keep a tea pot full of hot water on the stove. I love how everyone will come in from outside and make tea and sit down and visit for awhile. The oranges seem to be doing just fine with this cold.

When the blood oranges start to get ripe they get this lovely dark color. I picked this one after I took the picture. It is now sitting on the counter.

I love how they just hang in clusters and we will be picking them soon to bring in the house to eat. Until I started blogging I never thought about how blessed we were to be able to pick citrus and then I realized how hard it would be to only be able to buy it in the store.

 This is the pink grapefruit tree. I was picking some to give to my daughter yesterday and she had to say that she couldn't have them because she was allergic to them. I didn't know that. She told me that it is really a very common allergy to have. Which is fine we will just hog them all up ourselves. :)

This is the ripe lemons. I admit that as I was taking pictures this morning all I wanted to do was pick fruit and eat it. I think I might need some vitamin C. My son starts making pitchers of fresh lemon-aid this time of year.
I used to make gallons and gallons of it and freeze it in jars and then in the summer, I would take it out and let it thaw a bit and  would be kind of slushy and it was such a treat. This is really the first year we have had a good crop from this lemon tree.

The frost and and the cold has played havoc with my Camellias this year. I thought it looked pretty this morning.

I hope you have a very nice Saturday today. It is a beautiful morning here today.

~Kim~