Perfect Weekend

After what I can only call a perfect weekend, weather wise. It makes it easier to be excited about Monday. I think having time away helps too.
Ben and Meg went to get apples on Saturday. They brought back this lovely box of apples.

 

The red ones taste like an apple should. I made an apple pie yesterday. The men in the family thought it was the best pie yet. This is my fifth week with no sugar so I am not going to even sample it. It is such hard work getting sugar out of my system. I feel so much better when it is gone.

 

There are some golden delicious, in the bottom of the box. I want to make applesauce with those. 
One thing I am glad I have is that handy-dandy apple peeler. It sure makes quick work out of a box of apples. Though peeling them with a knife gives me a chance to be working on my skill of peeling an apple in one long peel.

 

I just love seeing hearts in nature. I thought this one was perfect. We are almost to October. I try very hard to not be complainy  about September, but I admit to being pretty excited to saying good bye to both August and September. There is just something about the golden and blue skies of October.

I hope you have a wonderful Monday filled with good things. Being away, is always nice because I get so excited about my housework again. I really am thankful for my washing machine and my dishwasher and of course, my favorite, my vacuum. it is a bit hard to get excited about the mop. :)
Happy Monday!
~Kim~

 

Oh, I opened my Etsy store again. My link is on my side bar at the top of the page.

" It is your mission, tested and tired one, to walk out on the stage of this world and reveal to all earth and heaven that the music is not in conditions, not in the things, not in externals, but the music of life is in our own soul."
---Mrs. Charles E. Cowman--- Streams in the Desert Volume 1, pg. 301

Then Fall Arrived

Today we have clouds! We have a bit of a breeze and it looks to be a glorious day. What a way to begin Friday. If we have some cooler weather finally, before you know it I will feel like a "human bean." ( Pod, of Borrowers called human beings.)

We could even get a light dusting of snow in the mountains. One of the things I have kept track of this summer has been any sign of an El Nino year. Here are a few I have noticed.
There seems to be a big population explosion of tarantulas, who are migrating.  
Then there are the fish that are being caught off the coast. They are called Opahs. The last time they were caught off the coast was in 1998 when we had our last El Nino.

A Whale Shark in Catalina was another sign. The oceans are warm. At this point I will take anything but I always think that signs appear in nature first and if we pay attention we can notice them too. I think because I grew up living next door to my grandparents and my great grandmother and they would watch the clouds and they were very good at forecasting the weather. It was what they paid attention to and I think sometimes it is good to watch nature. On to rugs. I changed that topic pretty fast didn't I ?

Yesterday, I got my rugs out of my hope chest where I have been storing them. I put them on my bed and I was surprised at how many I have made.

 

I couldn't seem to get them in a good picture. I found a couple that I haven't bound so I have to get that done.
Here is my rabbit rug.

 

I need to get over it and get this one bound. I am sure I will like it better once I get it done. I have to go buy yarn today so I can get the rest of them bound. It is wonderful how rejuvenating the cooler weather is and how nice it is to be cold. 

I think I will finish the rest of my flowerbeds this weekend. The high tomorrow will be in the 70s I am not going to know how to act.

Have a lovely Friday,
~Kim~

 

" Master said God had given men reason, by which they could find out things for themselves, but He had given animals knowledge which did not depend on reason, and which was much more prompt and perfect in its way, and by which they had often save the lives of men."

---Black Beauty, Anna Sewell, 1877

Home Again, and some pictures-Good Fences # 27

It is always nice to go visit some place, but I think it is always so nice to get back home. There is something about walking in the door and all that I love is all in one place. Sleeping in my own bed is nice too.

On our way home yesterday I did manage to get a few pictures. Not as many as I liked, because I was anxious to get home. We stayed in Folsom, California. It is just a beautiful place but kind of funny I thought.
We left the hotel, and went down this little two lane road out into the country side.

 

This is how it looked. just oak trees and rolling hills. Miles and miles of it. I expect that when it is green it is something to behold. There were cattle. Lots of cattle but that was it. As far as you could see in every direction. I know there were mountains to the east but the smoke from the fire kept the mountains hidden.

On our way to the freeway, we had to drive through this little town called Elk Grove. It was a nice place. I loved all of the fruit stands, and gardens and farms. There were lots of strawberry stands that were still selling strawberries and the apple orchards were starting to sell apples.

Then we saw this and we just had to stop.

 

This was a business in town and they had all of this really cool stuff around it. It was a real estate office. We walked around it and we never saw anyone. This Indian was huge and made of cement. Then there was this guy.

 

He was huge too. A giant buffalo.

I loved the old covered wagon. I had never seen one close up. I just can't imagine going all across the country in one for weeks and weeks. We were very close to Sutter's Mill. I wish we had time to go explore more.

Then out by the road was the sign for the business. An old boot. I thought it was great too. So many old antiques were around there. Most of it I didn't know what it was used for.

 

If this had had a for sale sign on it, it would have come home with me. I just loved it. I could see it in my house. Isn't is awesome?

Then on the way home I did manage to get a picture of a giant field of pumpkins.

 

Can you see how big it is? There were fields like this filled with them these they haven't started harvesting yet. I couldn't get the picture of the white pumpkin field but it was just as big. On the other side of the road was where they were putting them on trucks. What I thought was interesting is they harvest them just like I did, bent over one at a time. All by hand.

We finally have a cool down coming, it should be here tonight. We might even have snow in the mountains. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

I hope you have a lovely Thursday.

~Kim~

 

" A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it. "
---George Augustus Moore.---

Linking today with The Run *A* Round the Ranch, Good Fences # 27

Traveling Central California

I am sitting in a hotel room in the Central Valley of California. I hate to even tell you how long it has been since I made this trek and I have never been in the city of Folsom. It is a beautiful place. Filled with rolling hills and oak trees. Off in the distance, I can see the smoke from the fires. The sky is still blue over head. I can see every so often the airplanes refueling with fire retardant.

Driving up yesterday, along the freeway, there was fields of pumpkins. They were piled up at the end of rows and people were loading them onto trailers. On the other side of the freeway was a field of  nothing but white pumpkins.
When you hear that the central valley grows the food for the nation, I know I never noticed until our drive. We drove for 6 hours yesterday and we saw almonds, strawberries, pomegranate, walnut trees.
There were dairies with thousands of cows. Then there would be acres and acres of silage just starting to tassel.  We drove by fields of tomatoes, and peppers and lettuce. There were miles and miles of grapes. Table grapes and wine grapes.  Miles and miles of crops that grow food. Every where though, you could see the effects of the drought. I realize that I love living in Central valley. I get tired of the dirt, and the heat and all of that, but deep in my heart is the love for the ground and for farming and the work that has gone on in the great San Joaquin valley to feed the nation.

On this first day of fall. The weather is finally starting to change. I could feel it when I went out for a walk. It will come here first and then it will follow me home. I feel very thankful to be here.
It is nice to have a break from normal. It is nice to see and feel a different place. Of all of the places that I could have been born, I am so thankful that I live in the Central Valley of California. I know why when my family left the places they did to come here, I know why. It is because of the land.

Back at home, my sister in law said today that the school her kids go to in town had to be cancelled because of bears. It is so dry, the bears are leaving the mountains and coming to town to get water. Isn't that sad?

I hope you have a lovely day,

~Kim~

" Jenny looked at the little flint arrowhead lying in her palm. She had always longed for a elf bolt. Many hundreds of years ago had a fairy loosed this from his bow?  Elf bolts were the most precious of precious things."

---The White Witch, Elisabeth Goudge 1958

A Beautiful Day

 

To get to here sometimes, I am amazed at how many twists and turns the week made. No wonder sometimes I feel like I slide in sideways. All of the things I worry about just don't happen. The storm that was supposed to hit my daughter and her family, was a big non event, as she said. The truck was fixed and was no big deal. The air conditioner quietly hums away for the first time ever. Today we finally have cooler weather. It will only last for two days, but it is better than nothing.

 

I was listening to a man talk about choices and attitudes the other day. He said that things we say and do and even post on Face Book can affect the world around us. He was a man who does statistics and what he found was that we can affect up to four people or more with positive or negative comments. I think why it jumped out at me, was earlier that morning I had to take the truck into the shop, I also needed to go to the grocery store, I needed to be back home before the car shuffle began. I was in such a hurry. It was so early at the store there was only one checker. I noticed that everyone behind me had one item. I had a basket. I let three people go ahead of me. Not a single one made eye contact. Not a single person said thank you.

 

It was early. I know everyone was tired. I was in a hurry too, but I decided that I was going to pay close attention I was going to have a teaching moment. Standing behind me were two more people with one item.
There was a girl directly behind me and she was counting change, dimes and nickels. I asked her if she wanted to go ahead. She kept her eyes down on the palm of her hand, and said, No.
There was another lady and I asked her and she went ahead. Finally the girl with the change looked up. What I saw was the extreme exhaustion. She was so tired my heart jumped. I told her to go ahead.

 

 She handed the checker her change, and the checker began counting it. The checker said, " You are twenty cents short." The girl said, " Oh, no, I can't be, that is all I have, I need two dollars, so I can catch my bus." The terror on the girls face, just broke my heart, without thinking I said, " Oh, goodness, I will give her twenty cents, just a minute." so I grabbed my wallet. (I take my change out of my wallet normally and put it in a change can) but I had exactly twenty cents in pennies, nickels and dimes.

 

The girl took her two dollars. She never looked back, she just went on out the door, she still had that slump in her shoulders. I know how far she had to walk to the bus stop. If I could have found her, I would have taken her where ever she was going but she was gone by the time I was finished. There was such a look of brokenness on her face.

The checker who saw this, had been rather grumpy. But then she became all smiles. She told me thank you, because I had made her day.
It wasn't something I even thought about, but then I listened to that man talk about attitude and choice. I thought to myself, that no matter what I am going to continue to be nice, I will let people go ahead of me.   Because you know why? Because of that nice man who fixed my air conditioner. Doing the right thing really matters and in doing so, it restores my hope in life. So what goes around, does come around. I even tell you this because I felt I learned a powerful thing in my life that day.

I finally finished up a little counted cross stitch. I don't know if I am just getting slower but this thing took me so long, but it was very fun This one is called  Gardener Goode Witch by Country Stitches

 

It helps me get in the mood for fall which begins next Tuesday. So glad this hot dry summer will be put to bed, well here maybe by December.

Have a lovely day,
~Kim~

 

" Lord deliver me from the urge to open my mouth when I should shut it. Give me wisdom to keep silence where silence is wise.
Remind me that not everything needs to be said and that there are very few things that need to be said by me.
(Elisabeth Elliot---A Lamp for my feet, pg 42)
My constant prayer.

Weather and Stuff

When my oldest daughter and her family moved to Arizona, about all I knew about it was it was hot.
I had gone through there on my way to other places. I always feel really good in Arizona. I love the way the air feels. It smells really good too. The sky is so huge and blue.

I didn't know about the monsoons. I didn't know that they get so much rain. Today they will be getting hurricane Odile. They just had Norbert last week. They get thunder and lighting. This storm looks like it will be a big one and as the weatherman says, right where she lives to expect from 3 to 6 inches of rain. I can't even begin to tell you what it feels like to know my daughter and my grandchildren are in the path of a hurricane. When they moved there, it was a huge God thing. She moved to an apartment that her Mother-in-law picked out for them, in a town they didn't even know. It has turned out to be such a nice place, and yes, they get rain, but it isn't the flooding that some of the other areas get in Arizona.

 

 So I always do this ritual. I know that God has a plan for their lives. I know that He picked the place where they live and He will keep them as He has done, and will continue to do today and every day. I always go through and open my hands and give  them back to Him. I always want to hold them tight and shield them, but God always quietly asks my heart, " Will you trust me?"

 

I wanted to tell you about the air conditioner. Also a lesson I have learned. First the lesson. When things break, I am not going to complain. because it is a good thing. I know I didn't realize how bad things are until they are fixed.

That air conditioner has been so noisy. I constantly hear it all night long and all day. I had learned to live with it so I really had put it out of my mind. Then the guy fixed it. It doesn't make a sound now. I have to go right up to it to listen to see if it is even on.

This is the good thing/ bad thing that happened. The man that came to fix it I want to say, was professional, and went above any repairman I have seen in a long  time. He explained things to me and worked so hard. It was hot yesterday and I felt so sorry for him. He had taken the part of the air conditioner with the motor out to his truck to do something, when he got to the driveway for some reason the motor just fell out on to the cement and broke.

 

He came in to tell me, and as he had already been here a couple of hours, my heart fell into my shoes. I asked him how much would that cost, and he looked at me like I was nuts. He said, " I dropped it, it was my fault, there will be no charge I will replace it I just wanted you to know because I have to go buy a new part."  I kind of stared at him like he was crazy because the companies I have had out here before would have charged me for the part and then left and not came back for three days. Or if they did come back the part wouldn't fit and they would just make it fit. He left and was back in about 20 minutes.

 

He continued working and finally when he was finished he came to tell me and I couldn't believe the difference. He even said he cleaned our other units and didn't charge me for that. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and the unit upstairs didn't for the first time run 24 hours a day.

Maybe there will be wool in my future. I do wish I prayed more and worried less. Now off to the repair shop for the truck. I know that when it gets back it will be nice and fixed too. Or I hope. It really is true, that " the more things you own, the more they own you."

Have a lovely Wednesday,

~Kim~

" I guess that is what usually happens to parents,
When you're born they have to do your thinking for
you because you can't do too much of that yourself,
and then they get into the habit. They keep trying to
think for you practically all of your life."
---Banana Blitz, Florence Parry Heide, 1983

Just Chatter

 

I was hoping that we would make it through summer without having to call the air conditioning repairman. No such luck. He is here right now and he told me that it will take him about 4 hours. The air conditioner unit is in various pieces out on the lawn. Since it is the one that works the hardest because it is upstairs, it gets the most use. You know how when a repairman is about, there isn't really much I can do. But then it will be fixed and when I am in the kitchen it won't sound like a jack hammer is running on the ceiling.

 

I wonder why things like repairs come in waves. We just had the tractor fixed. Now the air conditioner and one of the trucks have to go in the shop tomorrow.  I had to buy a new vacuum. I must be the hardest person in the world on vacuums. I love this one though. I still never got my oven fixed. I use it a little and it works fine. I am just glad I have two.

I finally finished my wool penny rugs. I can't say they are perfect but they are done. I would like to do another one just because it took me awhile to finally get it.

 

It was fun to learn something new. 

I am going to post this picture of the rug I finally finished. I have never done a pattern like this so I was very happy with it. Emilie came over that night and took it home. That made me very happy that she was so excited about it.

 

I finally got out a new pattern and finally got the wool cut for it. Now I have to pick up the hook and hook the first loop. I always procrastinate before I start a new rug. I need to just get over it and do it. I have it on the frame and the wool is cut. I think with the guy coming in and out, I just don't have the concentration. 

 

You know what will happen right? Fall will finally get here and we won't have to use the air conditioner.

Well should end this post, as Sasha is wanting to eat the poor air conditioner guy.
Have a lovely day, all I can think about is all of the wool I won't be able to buy because of the bill. :) That is how I judge things now, by the price of a yard of wool.

~Kim~

" The Princess looked at her more closely,
"Tell me," she resumed, "are you of royal blood?"
"Better than that, ma'am," said Dorothy,
" I came from Kansas,"
---Ozma of Oz, L. Frank Baum, 1907

Dreaming of Fall

Do you remember when your Mom would say, " If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all." She didn't? Oh, well my Mom would say that all of the time along with the walking a mile in someones shoes. It was 106 here yesterday. 1-0-6. Abundant sunshine all day. It was so hot, that I was going out to water my chickens, my grandsons who were with me and love going to water chickens walked outside and put their hands over their faces and said, " Oh, we live in a desert, its too hot" and turned and ran back inside.

Here all this time I thought it was me being a wimp.

 

Its hard to write anything nice when it feels like the inside of a oven. I am feeling just a tad grumpy.
My flowerbeds are starting to resemble the Amazon rainforest but without the rain. We got our water bill yesterday. Lets just say that between the electric bill and the water bill, we are going to be wearing clothes made out of fig leaves, unless of course, I can manage to spin straw in to gold. Since the last time I tried to spin, I couldn't even make wool look like string, it will be fig leaves as soon as I find a tree.

 

My son asked the other day, had I seen any prophets walking around saying that there would be no rain for 3 1/2 years? I looked at him sideways, and said, " No, I don't think so why?" He said, " You know when Elijah said that there would be no rain and he went to live with the widow who was gathering sticks to use what oil she had left for her and her son and then they were going to die?" I said, Yeah, I know that one, well what happened." He said, well it didn't rain for 3 1/2 years, so what do you think? You think maybe we have that going on now?" I stood in the kitchen, staring out the window and pondering that. " I said, I don't know but it could be."  In fact, I hope it is only 3 1/2 years and not the 7 that Joesph had in Egypt.

 

 This was last year, and I thought last year was dry, I don't know if this tree will live long enough to have fall color. It really is so scary now. There is just no moisture and it is sad to see every thing dying. The smoke from the fires and the poor firemen and their families.

I hope you are enjoying your day, I know I will even if it is hot. I will find lots of things to be thankful for like
clouds. Clouds are very nice.

~Kim~

Teach us Delight in simple things,
And Mirth that has no bitter springs,
---"Children's Song," The Puck of Pook's Hill,
Rudyard Kipling, 1906

See what I mean, nothing nice.

Odds and Ends

 

Yesterday we had bits of Hurricane Norbert coming through. Pretty clouds and a bit of rain. Peter said three drops. I stood and snapped picture after picture until the sun made it up over the mountains. It was nice to have a break from sunshine. ( In September, I am so tired of sunshine.)

When I was in the buying book phase of my life, I used to go to lots of used book sales. Now, I am more of a library person and if a book really blows my mind, then I buy it. I have too many books and I don't want to keep stockpiling them.

 

One of my used- to- be- favorite- authors was Mary Stewart. She still is but I don't read her like I used to. Another favorite was Helen MacInnes. I always thought she was brave as she was in the Resistance during WW ll. I have always enjoyed her books. I had a book on my shelf  that kept calling out to me every time I passed by, so the other day, I gave in and started reading it. I don't know where I got it but the funnest thing happens when I am reading. Old pictures keep falling out. Someones senior pictures. By his hair I think early 60s I keep shaking the book to see if I missed one and next thing another one falls out.
I stare at the pictures and I imagine I will put them back and someday someone will find this book and wonder who that person was and why are all of the pictures in this book.

 

I have an old book called A House of a Thousand Candles that has four-leaf clovers stuck in the pages. They have been there a long time. When I read it I turn the pages very slowly as to not disturb the clovers. I think that is what I like about used books, treasures on every page.

 

Today I noticed Mr. Jim Hawkins is back in town. That crazy hawk was racing up to the porch and all around the yard like he was a race car driver.

I was out in the pasture walking this morning and he would fly to a tree and wait for me to pass then fly to a next tree. He really isn't happy with my new coop. He can't even get close because it is all covered on every side and even the roof. So he sits on the fence and yells. My hens though, just go inside the nice little house they have and he stomps his little feet and flies off. This afternoon my son Elliot was playing the piano and looking out the window as Mr. Jim Hawkins flew straight at the porch and flew off. Elliot  stopped playing and said, " Did you see that crazy hawk?" I said, I am so glad you saw that too, he has been doing that all
day."

I am so glad we don't have bears or wild cats.

Have a wonderful evening,
~Kim~

 

" Every time a child says, " I don't believe in fairies," There is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead."
---Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie, 1911

( We were watching Once Upon A Time, I clapped my hands three times and said, " I believe in fairies"
Ron looked at me like I had gone around the bend.) :)