Just About Books

I have spent a lot of time with my books shelves this week. I have to admit the first love in my life has always been books. My first memories are of sitting with my mother as she read Little Women at night waiting for my Dad to get home from work. My Great-Grandmother's favorite book was Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter. She told me she read it once a year.

My grand mother's favorite book was Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter. I searched for it for years when I was young and then when I was about 13 or so I found it and I read it with such interest and it too became one of my favorites.

My Mom's favorite books were things like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and of course Little Women and any thing written by Mary Stewart. 

I was going through my bookshelves and I have lots of old friends that have been on my book shelves that I have not visited in awhile. Always being lured by new authors and new books. I decided that since this year, I won't have time to visit the library as in the past this might be a good year to just visit my own book shelves. To once again take the time to visit the books that have shaped my life.

My first book that I read for January was North and South by Elisabeth Gaskill. It is nothing like the movie and I love the movie. They did some updating for the movie. The story in the book is very sweet and though very sad, it is a interesting way to look at how authors in the 19th Century viewed life. Since Elisabeth Gaskill wrote for Charles Dickens I thought she was a good one to read as I am still reading Bleak House. I never can just read one book at a time. I work the best with three going on in my head.

I picked up Christy yesterday off my shelf by Catherine Marshall. As I started reading it I was drawn in and I think what I love about Christy is the first time I read it I was about 12 years old. My Mom had died, my Dad had remarried. I had went from being the oldest of three to the second of six. My Dad got the bright idea that to make this disjointed, miserable bunch of people into a family would be to take a cross county road trip. He borrowed his sisters station wagon and away we went. We took the famous Route 66 and we stopped at every gift shop, every rattlesnake pit you name it. We even made it into some backwoods place where Dad tried to find a place to buy Moonshine. We had lots of adventures on that trip. Lots of adventures.

Our car was loaded down with bows and arrows, tomahawks, Indian headdresses. Even a set of longhorn horns. In one of those gift shops I was walking around looking and there on a revolving, metal book rack was the book Christy in paperback. I picked it up and read the back. I went to the counter and bought it and walked out to the car and got in and began reading a book that would change my life.

It put so many things into perspective, while my life was different from most people's at that time, in Christy that book gave me hope, it showed me how that no matter what circumstances you might find yourself, you can always change it. To always be looking around you at beauty that is all around if you just train yourself to see it. So many of the phrases and words in that book were words I heard all of my life. Catherine Marshall wrote a book that fed my soul.

When I read it for the first time, Christy was 19 and she seemed so old, then the next time I read it, I was closer but she was still older. This time when I started reading it I am older now than my favorite character Alice Henderson. When I was having babies I loved Fairlight Spencer. I love books that  each time I read it I am in a different place and the different people can speak to a different me.

So hopefully this year, I can introduce you to some of my old friends. When my daughter Em's was about 15 I decided that that year we were going to visit all of my friends together. So I made a list and for one year, I would read out loud to her in the afternoon we would share books together. She still says the worst trick I played on her was the chapter in Anne of Green Gables called,
"The Reaper Whose Name is Death."  I didn't tell her maybe I should have warned her, but I think a really good writer is someone who can write and you can still feel and remember that place you read a certain passage in a book.

I love reading and I just don't want to get so busy that I forget to take  time to enjoy the beauty of the written word.

Have a wonderful weekend, thanks for stopping by today, for sharing in my love of books.

~Kim~

Work This Week

It has been cold and frosty this week. This is about as snowy/frosty as it will ever get. It has now been 15 years since it snowed. I took the dog out early this morning as as I was standing on the frozen sidewalk, I thought of that saying I read in the Little House Books, " When the days begin to lengthen, the cold begins to strengthen." After hardly any cold weather last year, I am enjoying every single bit this year.

We have been busy working this week. I think the first week of January is off to a good start. I doubt if we can keep up the pace but it feels nice anyway. I was thinking as I was cleaning out my make-up drawer in my bathroom, " Now who in the world will ever look in here when the wedding comes?" I still makes me feel better.

I wish that my husband didn't have to go work at a real job next week. We would be done by the end of February if he didn't. I made him rest yesterday.
Here are some of the things he has done this week.

Some day I will remember to take before pictures. He raked all of the leaves and chopped weeds down this length of the driveway.

 He did this little flowerbed next to the garage, where his maple corner is right now. He will start grafting in February, we are pretty excited about that.  I have a barrel with my Peony's in it that he cleaned out and made all nice. I love Peony's but it is too hot for them to grow here. So we put them in a barrel so that we can move them around and out of the heat.

This is his little nursery area with all of his trees he will be grafting and trees he is growing to plant out in the pasture. He got it all pretty nice and clean. I didn't take picture of the other side but he even cleaned up and stacked my woodpile for my old barn wood.

I just love walking out there and seeing all of his trees on his benches. These are some that he has grown from seed, and some of them that will be future Bonsai.  The little cups are different kinds of little trees he has grown from seeds and are now seedlings.

I know you can't tell very well from this photo but these are his Bonsai trees that are in the ground to grow bigger bases. He has trimmed them and wired some of them and has expanded it to be six rows now.
If you look out he has even kept our pasture plowed so it looks all clean now too.

This is the pasture next door. He has been taking care of it now. My brother lives next door and  due to an injury is unable to care for it so my husband has taken over the job.

Here is the other direction of how big this pasture is and the land on the other side of this is my sister's property. Since she lives in Oklahoma, I think he has plans to start taking care of hers too.

Here is the mudball. Sasha wouldn't sit next to it so I could show you how big it is now. It is almost taller than she is when she is sitting. The experiment the boys told me was to see how water erosion from the rain would affect it this winter and what would happen to it by next spring. 

Here is the back flowerbed. All clean. He has three flats of spring flowers now growing in his shed under lights and on heat mats.

By the time the wedding comes, this patio will not look like this. But since he has cleaned it too I thought I would show you this, It looks so nice I think.

I tried to get all of my sewing supplies organized this week. I put all of my sewing and rug hooking things here. It felt nice to get rid of the piles that I had all over it.
I also went through my bookcases and gave them a good dusting  and even though I boxed up two boxes to take to Goodwill of books I still have too many books.

 Then while I was cleaning out closets I found my tulips. I felt like I was finally back home. I just got my bedroom and the office straightened and cleaned and I filled a whole trash can with things just from those two rooms. I organized and that part is clean. I have so much left to do but I think it is a good start. So then if anyone does look anywhere when they are here for the wedding, it will be clean.

When my last two got married, I cleaned like this and I was so glad too. I had so many people here decorating and the ladies that were doing the flowers had come in to eat lunch and I had forgot to get a piano or something for the music for the wedding, so I just had the boys come in and take our piano outside and put it on the porch for the pianist. The women were all at the table behind me eating, the boys picked up the piano and began to carry it outside, I turned around to see what the ladies were doing and they were all leaning over to see if it was clean under the piano.  Thankfully I had cleaned under it. Then the photographer wanted to set up an area in the living room which meant moving all of my furniture. Again, people watched to see if I cleaned under my couches. I had, so I squeaked through.
Last time I had the best decorator/ florist in the whole world. She even had the head designer from Disneyland who had retired after 30 years, who had just decided to move up here. They were the best people and the weddings were beautiful. Emilie starts working at a florist on Monday. I have a little more experience this time around, but I know if I get in a bind, who I can call. I think the secret to planning and doing a wedding is getting lots, and lots of help. I do my own flowerbeds though, I spend a lot of time crying in them and letting go. Just a silly ritual I have but by the time the wedding gets here I can do it without tears.

So when you are expecting people for a wedding it all has to be clean. People do look in drawers and in cupboards and in closets. It is just human nature. Well it is in this part of the world. :)

This is our first week of January. I just hope our strength holds out.  Sorry this is so picture heavy. I want to keep records of this journey.

I hope you are having a nice week too.

~Kim~



 

Chats on the Farmhouse Porch

I almost forget about the Chat on The Farmhouse Porch. My husband is still on vacation and I really have forgot what day it is, which is so nice. I am afraid I am going to turn into a slacker. I even slept until 6:30 this morning. I never sleep that late.

I hope you are having a nice start to the New Year. On to this week's questions:

1. Do you make New Years resolutions?

Not this year, just lots of lists.

 2.   What do you hope to accomplish this year?

My main ones are getting Emilie married and my son's graduation from high school. Then hanging up my teacher hat of 25 years.  That one is very scary for me.

3.    Tell me about your favorite place to think, create, or just relax.

I have this old blue rocking chair that is by a window. I sit in the early morning light and drink my coffee. I sit and think and I have my Bible close and I sit and have my quiet time there. I also have chairs every where around here to sit and reflect and think.

4.    Are you a fan of old movies? (Like the ones that were originally black and white.)

I love old movies!!!

5.    Tell me something that made you happy since our last porch visit. If you're new to the chats, tell me something good that has happened to you lately.

I have had lots of things that have made me happy this holiday season. I think one of the best was, I had been cooking for all of the people that were here for dinner. I hadn't had much time to just hang out with all of my grand children.  I have a picnic table that my kids used when they were small and when ever they come for dinner we bring it in the house so they can have their own little table.

I had a break and I walked in to see if they needed anything and all six of them turned at once and they all shouted, " Hi Grandma!"
I loved seeing their happy faces and how every single one of them were so happy to see me. At that moment I felt like I had the best life in the whole world and it made every thing I did that day worth it.

I am so thankful this year and this has been such a nice week to get caught up on my house work.

Thank you for stopping by today,
~Kim~

Welcome 2013

I am always a bit apprehensive on New Year's Day. What will this new year bring? What challenges? What new gifts? What new directions? I give you that as in years past most of them will be a surprise. Do I make resolutions? Not really, but I do have a to do list a mile long and it all has to be accomplished by May 18th.

1. All of the white railings around the house will have to be painted white.

2. The trim on the whole house will have to be painted.

3. The flowerbeds all have to be completely redone.

4. The swimming pool fence will have to be sanded and repainted.

5. My house inside will have to be gone over with a fine tooth comb.

6. All of the pasture cleaned and the trees free of all weeds.

Hopefully, the weight will just fall off in the process. There will be lots of growing flowers and planting flowers and since Em's wants to use lots and lots of lights all of the trees in the front yard will be getting lots of trimming for the days they get decorated with lights. I even told her since my Black Eyed Susan's have never been her favorite I would even sacrifice them for the flowers she wants. That was hard but I can plant more.

Throw in there, this is my son's senior year in high school. I have to start getting him ready to graduate and take placement tests and all of that. It will be a very busy 5 months now. This is just what I see from my view point today.

But How I want to start my 2013 is very different. I read this yesterday and I thought it was something I would really like to incorporate this year into my life.

This is from a man named F.W. Robertson (1816-1863)

It is not by regretting what is irreparable that true work is to be done, but by making the best of what we are. It is not by complaining that we have not the right tools, but by using well the tools we have. What we are, and where we are, is God's providential arrangement,---God's doing, though it may be man's midsdoing;
and the manly and the wise way is to look your disadvantages in the face, and see what can be made out of them, Life, like war, is a series of mistakes, and he is not the best Christian nor the best general who makes the fewest false steps. He is the best who wins the most splended victories by the retrieval of mistakes.
Forget mistakes; organize victory out of mistakes.

Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark. (Philippians 3:13, 14)

" Lord, give to me a quiet heart.
That does not ask to understand,
But confident steps forward in
The darkness guided by Thy hand."
(Keep a Quiet Heart, p. 12)

" Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
(Proverbs 3:5-6)

Happy New Year

I will turn the page and go into this new year going forward and not looking back. Thank you to all who come to visit here, thank you for being here on this journey of life.

~Kim~