Goodbye January.

 

Do you ever think of months as colors? I always think of January as blue. I suppose it could be for the cold and the depths of winter but I think blue. February is always red and white. I could go on and on, but in my mind each month has a color.  I have enjoyed my week with no outside appointments. Different people around here are coming down with colds and flu. So far not me.

 

February makes me think of primroses and of hyacinths. Purple I think smells the sweetest. Walking through the flower section at the grocery store smells so nice and like spring. Our tiny bit of rain made it smell good and clean again.

My camellia bushes all look like this. All covered in buds. The really are very pretty like this.

This is what is going on in front of my house.

 

 Sorry it isn't better, but all day yesterday and starting at 5:30 this morning, truck after truck with asphalt 

driving down the street. The line of  trucks were so long that they stopped in front of the house to wait. The sound of rumbling all day long and the sound of air brakes when they go to the stop sign. Soon I think in front of my house will be the busiest intersection in our whole town. I have tried to find a place to get away from it but there is none. 

Then I must find it within myself to find that peace I so desire. Only I can change my attitude towards those things I find disagreeable. To be thankful for the place that I am right now. To be thankful for the roof over my head and to be thankful that no matter what there is always something to be happy about. Like today being Friday. 

" Stilled now be every anxious care,

See God's great goodness everywhere;

Leave all to Him in perfect rest;

He will do all things for the best."

(From the German)

 

To be thankful for all things that I find myself. One thing I find myself being thankful for as I watch the trucks, like large bumbling beetles lumbering down the street, and listen to the grumbling of the engines. I found myself being thankful that those men have jobs and they can take care of their families. So I thanked God for that. I really don't like when outside circumstances make me grumpy on Fridays. 

I hope your February will be  a warmer month than January. I wish you a wonderful weekend.

Thank you for all of your lovely comments and how you brighten my day. You truly are special gifts to me.

~Kim~

 

" To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another." 

---Jacob Have I loved, Katherine Paterson---

Blooming Trees and Finished Rugs

 

I love Wednesdays. I always feel like I can take a deep breathe and see to the end of the tunnel. All of you who are having snow, well, I bet you are looking forward to spring.  Here is a picture of spring. I went out in the back, and here was our Acacia tree, it even had bees. I talked harshly to it too. I told it about how it wasn't spring and it had fallen for a trap.

 

I had to go buy feed this week. Do you know what I learned? After loading my feed in the store, dragging this loaded cart out to the parking lot, and then lifting all of the bags into the back of my car. I have rethought this Women's Lib thing and I think we are the looses because of it.  I might have when I was young, wanted all that that freedom offered, but I can tell you from this vantage point, I miss days when men were men and women were ladies. I can't even believe I wrote that. But lifting all of those feed sacks three times knocked some sense into me.

 

Someone asked me the other day if I was watching Downton Abbey.  I said yes, I was but was not really enjoying it as in years past. This is why.
Pretend you have a friend, whom you liked and shared so many things with. You trusted them and it was a wonderful friendship. Then one day, the friend just betrays and stabs you in the back. You work really hard at forgiving. At a later date the friend wants to be good friends again and let bygones be bygones. You keep trying but just can't get past the betrayal. Well that is how I feel about Downton Abbey this year. I watch it but I am having a hard time really enjoying it like seasons one and two. Season three, just ruined me on it.

 

Silly blueberries. Can you believe that? I have spoke harshly to them as well. I walked out to the apricot trees and examined buds, and really spoke bad to them. If and I hope it is a big if, we get cold every thing will turn brown and dry up and no crop for this year.

I finished my chicken rug yesterday. I can hook chickens faster than just about any pattern I ever do. I think maybe I just really like chickens. ::)

It was fun to work on this rug. It does make spring seem closer than it is.

I hope you have a lovely Wednesday,
~Kim~

 

" You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose."

From the wisdom of Dr. Seuss, (" Oh, The Places You will Go.)

Winter Slump

 

In January, especially at the end of the month, I get into a winter slump. Do you? Do you get tired of the sameness of the days, and start feeling like you are on the hamster wheel, working and working but never getting anywhere? Sometimes it sneaks up on me. Like today. I  had to sit down and watch the sunrise, and pray and make myself look at all of the good things instead of the never ending drudgery. Here are the 10 things that I thought of that chase the winter blues away.

 

1. A empty calendar this week. It feels a bit like waking up early on a summer morning, with the breeze blowing in softly across my face, with the smell of fresh sheets, and the sound of meadowlarks in the distance.

2. Laughter. I woke up yesterday morning, and asked Ron if he thought that skunk scent was flammable. I was thinking about something that has moved in under my shed and I was thinking of pushing leaves in and starting a fire and seeing if I could smoke it out. You know of course, how many things are wrong with this idea, like burning down my shed and my chicken coop and the fence. He was silent for a moment, and then said, " No, I don't think it is flammable, I don't think when fireman are fighting forest fires, say, " run for it, there is a skunk fireball." I thought I was going to fall down laughing so hard because I could see skunk fireballs.

 

3. Having kids. That make me see life in a different light and they share music with me and then they even play music that makes me laugh and write funny songs.  Our youngest son, at night after dinner, plays his guitar and sometimes I think Johnny Cash is upstairs.

4. Having grand children. I just love how they think. I love how sweet they are and fill my life with joy. Yesterday talking to the ones that live in Arizona was so nice. To see how the baby has grown. They were telling me about seeing Frozen and Brave. I told them that I hadn't even seen Tangled. My daughter asked them if there was anything scary in Tangled and their little voices all chiming in, " No, there is nothing scary in Tangled, Grandma can watch it." 

 

5. Chickens. No matter how I feel watching chickens always makes me happy. I was counting chickens yesterday, I have 20 my new coup is for 30, so I am going to get 10 new chicks in the spring. That makes me very, very happy. New chicks are such a wonderful gift to look forward to, I love taking care of baby chicks.

6. Having the best Son-in-laws and the best daughter-in-law in the whole wide world. They bless my life so much. I was thinking about them yesterday, and thinking, how it it that my kids chose almost perfect people to marry? I love each one as much as the kids they married.

 

7. Bugs. I miss bugs. I know how weird right. See this picture of this bug? They hiss when you poke them. How do I know this? Because I poked him. I thought he was dead and he wasn't I jumped about five feet.
I miss seeing bees and these other bugs that creep me out but they do add a thrill when you are looking for something and there they are.

8.  One thing I do love about January are the naked trees. I went to take Sasha out last night and there was a huge barn owl out where my old coop was, and he flew up into the tree and watched me. In the summer, they screech at me but I can never see them. Last night I could see him and he watched me. I found that to be thrilling. I love owls.

9. Rejoice, Renew, Inspire. My words for 2014, When I start to slide down into a slump, I remember my words, I rejoice because of the gifts I have been given. God is renewing me every single day, if I take the time to look, and inspire, well still trying to figure that one out.

10. I am thankful to be able to blog. To be able to meet people all over the world, to be able to share in lives of people I might not have met on this side of heaven. To be able to be given that gift is very precious to me.
It has I think changed my life profoundly.

I hope your Monday is a nice one. I know it will be cold for some of you. I hope you can stay warm.
The weather man says we might, maybe, the almost chance, of rain by Thursday or Friday. That gives me hope. Thank you for stopping by, I wish I could send you some of our warm weather so I will send you a warm hug. O
~Kim~

" It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."
---Charlotte's Web, E.B.White, 1954

Wait Flowers for Spring.

 

Yesterday I was sitting and hooking a rug. I kept seeing these white flowers across the road, but you know right now lots of times I either see things that aren't  there or can tell what I am looking at. I finally jumped up and grabbed the binoculars and sure enough, across the road there is a whole row of Bradford pear trees and they are blooming.  I walked around and to my utter dismay our blueberry bushes are blooming. It isn't warm enough for the bees to be out yet. I have never seen anything bloom in January before. We broke a record last night for having the warmest night time temperature of 68 degrees.

 

 We do have these tiny little blue flowers that have managed to stay alive through the winter. They are always a nice surprise. I just had to work on a chicken rug yesterday. I thought I would show you the bit I have done.

When I was drawing this out for the life of me I couldn't remember how to draw a flower pot. My son was walking through and I said, " Hey real fast can you draw a flowerpot with some flowers for me?" He stopped and drew it out, so yesterday I showed him his flowerpot and flowers. He was so happy to see it. I thought that was fun.

I wanted to take something with me to sew on when I am waiting in medical offices so I have a book called Stitches from the School House by Renee Plains. She has some cute little schoolgirl projects in this book so I took one and put it on muslin. I have worked on that and it has been so nice to work on when I want something to do with my hands.

I know it is dark, this was when the doctor thought I couldn't see at all and I  took this out of my purse and showed him I could still sew. He just looked at me and shook his head.

 

When I was young, the first thing I learned to do was embroidery. When I was old enough to hold a needle and a thread, my Mom made me a little work basket and I would sit next to her on the couch. She would draw out simple designs and I would trace them with my needle. Maybe that is why I love working with a needle and a thread so much is for me it was a wonderful time to sit and learn from my mother. She could do all kinds of handy work that I never learned. I always wanted to make lace. I have drawers still full of her handwork. It is something that I treasure.

We have cloudy weather today. It is so nice to have clouds. I hope you have a lovely Sunday,
~Kim~

" The  time has come, " the Walrus said,
"to talk of many things.
Of shoes---and ships---and sealing wax---of cabbages---and kings."
---through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll, 1872

...Then After The Storm.

 

One thing that I like after a storm, is the beauty that comes in the afterward. The wind blew and blew and then the storm was past and all was quiet and the sky was so filled with color. I love sunsets and sunrises in January.

We spent the morning cleaning up from the wind. After the lawn gets mowed and all of the broken tumbleweeds picked up it will look back to normal.

Here are some before and after photos.

Our poor little avocado tree has had a horrible winter. He always manages to come out of it, but I don't think we will ever get a crop from it.

 

 All nice and clean. You can really see the damage that the cold weather has done this year.

 

All clean again. Ron always has projects going on, he has decided his next one is to finish getting the bug restored. He was driving it around so it is out now in the driveway. I think once he gets it all fixed up it will be fun to go do errands in like go to the library. I have always enjoyed manual transmissions.

 

I wanted you to see how big the tumbleweeds are and how you have to grab them by the stem to haul them away. Ron was taking my picture and there were all of these cars almost stopped on the road with people staring. I was laughing saying,"  hurry up we are causing a traffic jam."

 

Here is one of our first world problems. See the mud in the swimming pool. The pool  is clean now but this was how the bottom looked. Not to mention the leaves. It is like a pool of ice water.

 

This was how pretty the sky looked this morning. The haze is gone and the sky is blue and so pretty again.
There are so many, many things in the world to be thankful for, like the change in a weather pattern.

Have a lovely Saturday, thank you for stopping by today.

~Kim~

 " I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 3:14)

Finally, Weather!

 

We finally have some weather. Wind, blowing dust, tumbleweeds. At least during the night, the wind must have shifted and blew the some of the tumbleweeds away from the house. The wind is blowing from the east and from the four corners area. Which means it is from the desert. This morning at 6:30 it was already 70 degrees. It always feels so unnatural. The sound of the wind blowing around the house sounds like a radio just off the station.

 

The old palm trees at my sister-in-laws are roaring and sound like the ocean in a storm. The sky is such a strange color and when I took this the dust hadn't started blowing yet but now like a cloud of brown it is coming toward us. We have another day and night of this but no rain yet in the forecast.

Do you know what I am happy about? No Wedding!! I can sit and watch the wind and not panic.

 

The mountains in the background cannot be seen now, as the dust is blowing so hard now. The taste and smell of the dust and the burning in my throat is always my least favorite thing about east winds.

Earlier this week when I was wishing for color and flowers, I dug out my favorite silk flowers and put them in my workman's tool box. It makes me happy to see some kind of color.

 

Now that Emilie works in a flower shop, I always cringe at my ability to arrange flowers. I need to have her teach me how to make it look very nice. She has learned so much about flower arranging now.

Here is a picture of my finally finished whale rug. Three years later. I am so glad it is finished. I got it steamed but don't have the right color to bind the edges. I need to go buy some soon.

 

I think I am finished now with all of my old projects. That is a nice feeling. My son Elliot, asked if he could have this rug for his room. I was so happy to oblige. He told me he had his eye on this for a long time. He never said a word to me or I might have finished it faster.

I hope you have a lovely day. I have to get off now, Ron is working from home as there is no power at his office and we have power here. My computer for some reason takes his bandwidth.
~Kim~

 

  "There's a lot of hope and a lot of faith and love mixed up in a miracle."
---Journey from Peppermint Street,---Meindert DeJong.                                  

Yet Another Eye Exam

 

Are you getting sick of my stories of my eyes? This one, I thought was funny. I don't know why it tickles me but it does. It is just better to laugh right?  I am so blessed really, to live in 2014. Today was more testing.
I have had my eyes looked at, and bright lights shined into them and today had them poked with a sharp stick with a red light. 

 

Today the doctor that did the testing was a very nice man. When he came in, the first thing he said, was,
" What are you doing in here for cataracts, you are too young." Right off the bat I liked him.
 I put my eye up to the screen then he leaned around the machine, and looked at me with a shocked look on his face. He said, " Oh, My Gosh! Did you drive here yourself? How in the world do you do anything, you are blind, you are too young to have cataracts this bad."  After asking me tons of questions what he finally thought it was was radiation from being out in the garden without sunglasses or a hat and the glare out there has hurt my eyes really bad.

 

My eyes were so bad that he couldn't use that machine so he had to use a different one. He had to get more readings. The nurses were so kind and every time I had a question they would explain to me what things meant and they showed me the lens that they will  put in my eye. They showed me how the surgery works,  as I was a bit rattled. You know like, I know my eyes were bad but I manage to get every thing done. I was kind of jumpy driving home.

 

  I got home I had so many things I was thankful for, like living now when they can fix my eyes.
Having doctors who have machines that can give exact readings.
Being able to function in spite of being blind.
Having people who pray for me and give me verses just when I need them and I can feel the prayers.
Being happy that very, very soon I will be able to see again. I know this will sound odd, but I am so very, very thankful I am not crazy. You see, for so long I have thought I was crazy. I thought I whined too much and complained to myself when I couldn't do simple things anymore.
I am so thankful it isn't my imagination.

The biggest thing of all is, feeling so dumb because I would make so many mistakes doing counted cross stitch. Do you know how dumb I felt because I would spend more time ripping out? I did find today, I took a embroidery thing to work on in the doctors office. I can embroider so that helps with the needle withdrawal.
Apparently I shouldn't be able to do that either. That is what makes me tickled, even with the machines saying one thing, God has been so gracious to me not to take away these things I love. I think it is just one of those little things that maybe wouldn't mean much to most people but to me, I feel really special. I am very thankful for it all.

Thank you for listening to me and reading these silly posts. I really feel I have been given a gift. It makes me stop and count  my blessings one by one. . My eyes will be going from a old black and white T.V. set with rabbit ears to pick up stations to a flat screen 52 inch HDTV. That was how they explained it to me.

Have a lovely Wednesday,

~Kim~

 Rejoice always,  pray continually,  give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) 
(My Life verse)

Monday again.

 

I am feeling decidedly very boring. Everything around here is in black and white. I am having a flower famine.  I walked around with my camera. Nothing. Just some black birds. I could hear the meadowlarks.
So today, I have to go into my computer to find flowers.

Poor rose bush is now just sticks. I hacked it back to nothing. I love this little rose bush. I think it looks so pretty when it is covered in blooms.

Soon very soon I will have these. I can't wait. No wonder I stare at them by the time they start blooming.

 

I miss sunflowers. So do the finches. If I could understand bird speak, I would think as they follow me around the place from tree to tree, they are asking me where the sunflowers are. Sometimes I think I even hear a question mark at the end of the chatter.  They are very chatty birds. Now the Bluejays are a different story, they demand. They also complain when I am out walking around. I saw a flicker and a blue jay get into it the other day. The flicker was minding it's own business drilling holes in the ground getting some ants, and the blue jay very quietly flew from tree to tree until it hit the flicker. Then the fight was on, I think the flicker won, because I didn't see that blue jay the rest of the day and the flicker continued to drill holes.

 

I have a few lists of all of the things I will be doing in March. It is kind of like a bucket list of sorts.  To plant lots of flowers. I miss all of their smiling faces and seeing the sun as it first hits them in the morning.

I finished that snowman rug this weekend. What a fun project. It made me smile as I worked on it. This one is the biggest I have done so far. I got out my other big projects that I will start soon, and they don't feel as big as I first thought because of this snowman rug.

All I will have to do is bind the edges and it will be ready for the closet. :)


Have a great Monday,
~Kim~

 "I've many a cross to take up now,
And many left behind;
But present troubles move me not;
Nor shake my quiet mind.
And what may be to-morrow's cross
I never seek to find;
My Father says, "Leave that to me;"
And keep a quiet mind."
(Anonymous)