Wild Child

 
  See this little girl?  Doesn't she look demure, ladylike and sweet?  Crooked bangs that her mother  cut.  Curls done with hard rollers she had to wear to bed.  A red taffeta dress with lace at the neck with a black ribbon round her neck.  Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.  Never in trouble, straight A student.  Okay, some of the things I wrote are true.  I'll let you decide which ones.

  Suffice it to say, growing up with brothers and an older sister who acted like your second mother  and living on a farm and being the second to the last of six children makes one creative, resourceful and shall I say sneaky at times?    I roamed our small farm without anyone telling me where I could or couldn't go.  I think my mother was getting tired of raising kids and was glad to get me out of the house at times.  That was alright with me.  I loved playing in our big red barn that use to be a tomato factory.  There were always baby animals, calves, pigs and kittens to play with.  I collected eggs, fed the calves with the milk bucket with a nipple on it, layed in the swing on the front porch rocking back and forth while I read all afternoon. 

  Sometimes Mom would ask me to help her set the table or do the dishes or iron some clothes or bake a cake, but most of the time I got to stay outside and play.  We had a rabbit house where my brother raised hundreds of rabbits so there were always baby bunnies.  I loved going in there and looking for the tiny rabbits nestled in the fur bed the mother rabbit had made in the hutch.  My brother raised them for meat so we didn't make pets of them. 

  There was always something happening on the farm whether it was planting, harvesting, milking the cows, feeding the hundred chickens Daddy kept for eggs and meat, watching Daddy chop off the heads of the chickens we ate. I'm sorry I threw that in, just wanted to know if you were paying attention.   I knew how to defeather a chicken with the best of them and when I got older I learned how to dress a chicken and no, they don't look good in pink. 

   Because I grew up with brothers, I was quite the tomboy.  I wanted to do everything they did.  When they played basketball in the haymow, I wanted to join in.  When they went on hikes, I wanted to go with them.   I will have to tell you about one of our hikes one day that ended up with a walnut fight in an old log cabin.  Two of my brothers played basketball so I wanted to play basketball too.  I practiced free throws in the haymow until I could hit one hundred of them without missing.

   Growing up on an Indiana farm in the 50's and 60's was an ideal way to grow up to my mind.  That little girl in the picture above has lots of memories to tell.   Bye.

 

I'm sick and I'm sending myself flowers

  I spent the last three days with three of my very favorite people, my grandkids.  We had a great time together talking, playing Monopoly and spending time together.  Last night while we were driving home I began to feel like I had a temperature and by the time we got home, I was really feeling poorly.  So I went to bed with kleenex and aspirin.  This morning I still didn't feel so hot so I stayed in bed until ten o'clock.  I hate to sleep in even when I am sick because I feel like I am wasting a whole day.  Finally got outdoors and  took some pictures of the flowers that started blooming while I was gone.

  I am sending myself flowers.  Roses.........

    Hydrangeas...............

   Irises.................................

  Peonies.........................



 

  Asiatic lilies................................................................

  Salvia...........................................

   I started feeling a little better this afternoon so I started planning my garden.  I got out my seeds.

  These herbs will go in my kitchen garden.  I have never used fresh herbs in my cooking.  Wonder if I will start if I plant these?  Hmmmm.

  More flowers.  More, more, more.  I am going to plant vegetables, but flowers come first.

  How did these renegade peeps get here?  Leftovers from Easter I found today in the cupboard.

  Treated myself to some carrot cupcakes.  These are so good.  Wish I could share them with you. 

      Boring!!!  Yet again you did not write about me.  Maybe next time, Belle.  Bye.





A Sad Story

  Bonnie looks a little guilty in this picture as she should, but what happened today wasn't really her fault.  I am to blame for what took place today and I am still sad about it.

  Remember these little robins I showed you a few days ago?  They grew quickly and had feathers on them in such a short time.  Today I was working in the yard and went to look at the nest.  It didn't look like there were any birds in it any longer so I climbed up to look inside.  There was one little bird left and I startled it and it flew out and landed on the ground and, unfortunately, my two dogs were sitting there.  Bonnie grabbed it and I screamed and got it away from her, but it was too late.  I had on gloves so I cupped the little bird in my hands.  I felt its little heart beating.  It was so warm in my hands.  Then it closed its eyes and died.  I began to cry uncontrollably.  I still am tearing up telling this, but I have never seen anything die before.  Never.  I have seen animals and people after they have died, but never witnessed the actual death.  It was almost a spirtual thing.  I cannot explain it.  I knew God knew this little bird had died.

    David came up and saw me crying and said he would throw it away.  I said, "No, don't do that.  Lay it softly somewhere.  Don't just throw it away."  He took the little robin and did what I asked him.   Then he came back and sat with me.  Really, I am crying right now telling this.  If I had just not peeked in the nest.  What made it even worse was that mama bird sat in the redbud tree chirping for her little robin.  I could hardly bear it. 

    "I'm so sorry, Mom."   "It's not your fault, Bonnie.  You were just doing what dogs do and you are a retriever."  

       His eye is on the sparrow.  Bye.

Rhubarb pie, pretty flowers and a tattletale dog

 
                         I grow this................................................................................................................

                 So that I can mix up this...............................................................................................

         And make this...............................................................................................................................

           So that in less than 24 hours it becomes this.  Rhubarb pie is now my favorite pie above raspberry pie which I love also.  Guess I will have to plant some more rhubarb so that we can have more than one pie a season.   We almost have all the rhubarb preserves eaten that we made Easter morning.  Not saying we have sweet teeth or anything, but I know I do.  I'd eat sweets for every meal if I could get away with it which I can't.



    I seem to not be able to write a post without showing the flowers that are blooming now.  The oriental poppies are starting to pop out.  We got these from David's grandmother years ago and I have transplanted them to different parts of the garden.  They are beautiful, but last only one day.  Good thing there are alot of them.

  The pink clematis is blooming now.  I use to have two of these plants, but I think I pulled the one up last year when I was pulling an invasive vine from that area.  I can be brutal sometimes.  Poor thing. 

  "I'm telling Bonnie on you, Mom.  You told her she would be in all your posts from now on." 

    "Shhhh, Belle, pretend I'm not here. By the way, what's all that white stuff on your back?"  Bye.

Wonderful friends and other wonderful things

  This is my good friend, Mary.  I just love this lady and we have been friends for a long time.  You know that one person you meet and you both click and you just know you will be friends?  Mary is one of those people to me.  We met in our first year of college.  We commuted to Ball State with two other  people.  We went to orientation together and had the most fun.  We laughed so much that first night, disturbing some of the other girls, but we had a good time.  We loved singing in the car while going to school.  Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet" was popular then and we drove our driving mates crazy singing it.  Mary endured my lovesickness for David the year before we got married.  We have had so much fun together and have bonded for life. 

  Mary and her very nice husband were passing through Columbus on the way to Richmond to see her sister.  She lives in California and I haven't seen her in I don't know how many years, but it was just like we had just left each other yesterday when she walked in the door.  Mary has the most infectious giggle and when we went out to dinner with our husbands we giggled all through the meal.  It was so wonderful to be with her and I hope we don't let so much time go by before we get together again.  David and I might just have to plan a trip to California to visit.

  This has nothing to do with Mary although I read somewhere that there are people who see miracles every day and those who don't.  I am one who sees many miracles each day.  Good friendships are a miracle because of all the billions of people in the world to meet someone who becomes a good friend is a miracle in itself.  These little robins are such a miracle.  Mama robin built her nest in our little cabin rafters right above our swing.  David tried tearing out her nest when she started building it, but she came back again and again and tried building there so I finally said we will just have to stay away from the swing while she raises her family.  Anything with that much determination deserves some respect.  We saw these little heads peeking out of the nest yesterday.  "Mama, feed us!' they seem to be saying.

  Beautiful sunsets are a miracle.  Every time I see a sunset like this I think of Scarlette O'Hara standing in silhouette looking at Tara.  Gone With the Wind being the best movie ever made, of course.   This is the sunset we saw a couple of nights ago.

 " Mom, why don't you ever write about me?"   " I do, Bonnie, but you really don't have to be in every one of my posts. Oh, you do?  Okay, I will try to do that you precious girl." 

   Here's to wonderful friends, nature, beautiful sunsets and faithful canines.  Bye.

Pretty in purple and other fabulously interesting tidbits

  My garden goes through different phases throughout the year and this is its purple phase.

  The lilacs were beautiful, but are almost gone and now the irises are blooming everywhere.  Irises are one of my favorite flowers because they will grow about anywhere, are always pretty and, except for having to divide them every few years, are completely carefree. 

  Love these with the white.  I don't know where or when I got them, but they are putting on quite a show this Spring. 

   Along the driveway are more irises and an honesty or what I call money plant.  Money plant is self-seeding and grows about anywhere.  Some may call it a weed, but I think it is really pretty and has very interesting seedpods that look like gold when the sun shines through them. 

  One of our clematis has burst into mulitple blooms in the last couple of days.  A little early, but then everything has been about one month early this year.  I have a clematis that was David's grandmother's which I dug up when her house sold and brought it here where it is thriving.  It is at least 60 years old and I am amazed that every year it blooms just as prettily as the first time I ever saw it in Grandma Henley's back yard.    It isn't blooming yet, but is getting ready to.

  We have spirea bushes all around our house.  They have been here ever since we moved here 35 years ago.  Every few years we cut them back and they always come back bigger and more beautiful.  They are a nice compliment to all the purple flowers.

  Then there's the snowball bush.  We got a start from David's grandma many years ago.  We have babied two plants for many years.  A couple of years ago I thought we had lost them both, but this year they are both blooming and lush.  This plant is right outside our back door by the deck and is just beautiful.  I was going to write about out kitchen garden, but I think this is enough for today.  I spend most of my time outside this time of year working in the yard and garden.  Sometimes I wish for a rainy day so that I can get things done inside.  I read a book recently called "The Solitary Summer," by Elizabeth von Amim that had a quote in it that expresses my sentiments exactly:

  "  I never pay bills or write letters on fine summer days.  Not for any will I forego all that such a day rightly spent out of doors might give me, so that a wet day at intervals is almost as necessary for me as for my garden."  Bye.

International Quilt Festival

  David and I went to Cincinnati to the International Quilt Festival Friday.  We spent Thursday night at our oldest son's house, but didn't see him much as he was working alot of hours. 

   Friday morning we got up and found a Dunkin' Donuts where I got a muffin and David got some blueberry donut holes.  Then we headed to the big city. 

   The Festival was held in the Duke Energy convention center and David, as usual, drove right to it despite the fact he has never been there before.  I don't know where he gets his sense of direction and being able to find places, but I am never afraid of being lost when I am with him.  Me, another story.  My father, who also suffered from severe directional disfunction like myself, and I got lost once in a campground two rows over from where we were camped.  True story.  David still laughs about it.  I always say I could not find my way out of a paper bag my sense of direction is that bad.  If I don't have someone to tell me where to go, I can easily get lost.
 
   I didn't mean to ramble, but I get easily distracted too.

   Once at the convention center, we got in line with a whole lot of women.  I tried pointing out all the men to David, but there were very few.  He doesn't mind going to these things with me.  In fact, I sometimes think he enjoys them even more than I do as he likes to talk to the vendors. 

   It was a quilters paradise.  I had died and gone to heaven.  Everywhere I looked I saw fabric and quilts.  So for the next three hours we walked around and looked at all the booths.  There were 350 vendors there selling all kinds of things to tempt us quilters, plus there were embroidery vendors, shoe vendors(I will tell you about one of them later)  quilt machine vendors, and there was even one booth with vintage tablecloths where I made my first purchase of the day.

   I was shown cutting boards, cutting tables, rotary cutters, and every gadget a quilter might need.  Some we really don't need, but were offered anyway.

   After walking for hours we went upstairs where the food court was and got in lines for our lunch.  I got a chicken penne pasta.  There was a girl with two pans on a stove and as quick as you made your order she would whip up the pasta dish you wanted right in front of you.  Mine was so good.  I imagine she make hundreds of pasta dishes the one day we were there.  David got a small Larosa pizza. 

   After lunch it was back to more walking and looking, but I was getting really tired and my leg hurt.  We passed a booth where they were selling shoes for people with joint, hip, foot and every other kind of pain.  I decided to try a pair of shoes on.  The man spent alot of time trying to get a pair that would feel comfortable on me and I finally ended up with a pair of sandals that look like Birkenstocks.  After walking around in them for a while I really began to feel better and I have been wearing them today and my pain is very minimal so maybe they are working.

   We had not even gotten to the show quilts and it was getting late in the day and we were both tired so we did a really quick buzz through them.  There are some really talented people and also some really weird people who make quilts.  My favorite was one that had Volkswagen beetles in 70's colors all over it.  It brought back happy memories when we had our little blue beetle.  Wish we still had it.

   With all the hundreds of people there I saw a lady I knew who use to come into our shop. I never thought I would see anyone I knew in that crowd of people.  Then we were walking down one aisle and David said, "Is that Carol?"  Carol being my very best friend in school when we were growing up and we are still friends to this day.  It was!!  I never thought I would see one of my best friends in the world in Cincinnati at the quilt festival.  We talked for a while about old times.  We hope to get together later in the summer to have dinner and talk.

   Now you may wonder what I bought at the quilt festival.   Or maybe you don't but I am going to tell you anyway and you will be surprised.  I bought one vintage tablecloth, a pair of sandals and three packages of the cutest pins I've ever seen.  What?  No fabric?   Nope not one piece.  But guess what?  On our way to Cincinnati on Thursday we stopped at some antique stores and I got several yards of fabric.  We spent some time in Madison and I found a store that sold bath salts and homemade soaps.  It smelled soooo good in there.  I could smell the store from a block away.  The lady who owns it makes all the salts and soaps herself.  If you are ever in Madison, stop in and check it out.

   It was a fun two days.  Since we won't be taking a vacation until fall, we plan to do a couple or three of these little getaways this summer.  Sometimes I think they are more fun than a full blown vacation.

  Hope you have a great weekend.  I will be teaching the two and three year olds at Sunday school tomorrow.  Pray for me!  Bye.