Easy like Sunday - -

 Just a few things I've been meaning to show you -
The bounty from the garden went to our choir potluck - I like to steam my corn - it doesn't end up so watery that way - and you can get a few more ears in the pan if you are just steaming them.

It was the best corn ever this year - especially after The Shepherd built a fence around the corn patch to keep the raccoons out!

This is our weeping giganticum -  It is now missing it's whole left arm and streamers hanging down.  That part of the tree split and landed on the house (luckily no damage to the house) during the windstorm two weeks ago.

I'm missing summer - so are the kittehs - one of George's favorite spots to sleep was on the hood of the car after it was all nice and heated up.  Funny cat, that George. 

I had a small patch of sunflowers growing in the back yard - I always meant to cut some and take them into work - but, #1 - I am always running late in the a.m. & #2 - sadly, there really is no room on my desk for a vase - I miss that. 

It was very exciting to be featured on MOUSEBREATH last week - That Jan and her Feline Funny Farmers - what a busy lady - she does a lot to get cat bloggers to get to know each other - 

The aforementioned corn patch - with the annual pumpkin patch in front   We still have much of the pumpkin that i froze last fall left in the freezer - it was just too hot to bake from May - October this year. 










My little sphinx girl - Gracie and George will be three years old next week (Tues. 10th) - it is incredible the amount of joy they bring us.

We've been blessed here in the Pacific NW this summer - idyllic sunny days and nights where the warm breezes wash over you like a tropical ocean wave.

The cats have begun to demand extra food - are they storing up for a long cold winter?  I hope not.  



Have a good week. 

.

Thought for the day -

01-13-2007

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” William James 

No snow here today - just kind of gray out, but I was going through some old pictures and thought this was pretty .  

I have, literally, thousands of pictures in "My Pictures" file - and have resolved to share more of them with you all this year. 

I think it sounds like it could be kind of fun -  I hope you'll enjoy them! 

The Dark Time of the Year

The next few weeks are my least favorite time of the year - it is cold - not so cold as in the "Frozen North" - but so cold that I got up and put on another night gown and a pair of socks last night.  I was still cold - an hour later, I got up and put another blanket on my side of the bed - The Shepherd kicks off most of his covers at one time or another during the night.  Go figure.

The song "Turning Toward the Morning" is a favorite of mine - I learned it many years ago from my friend & banjo teacher Mike Marker - The songwriter, Gordon Bok wrote it in response to a letter he received from a friend who was having a bad year - his words to her were full of encouragement that the morning always comes and spring will be here before you know it. 

Bok, who lives in Maine, rarely leaves the northeast, but if you get a chance to see him, don't miss it.  I found several renditions of the song by others on You-Tube but none that I would endorse by putting them here.  So you'll just have to believe me that this song will get you through the tough times.  


TURNING TOWARD THE MORNING
(Gordon Bok)

When the deer has bedded down
And the bear has gone to ground,
And the northern goose has wandered off
To warmer bay and sound,
It's so easy in the cold to feel
The darkness of the year
And the heart is growing lonely
For the morning

Chorus: 
Oh, my Joanie, don't you know
That the stars are swinging slow,
And the seas are rolling easy
As they did so long ago?
If I had a thing to give you,
I would tell you one more time
That the world is always turning
Toward the morning.

Now October's growing thin
And November's coming home;
You'll be thinking of the season
And the sad things that you've seen,
And you hear that old wind walking,
Hear him singing high and thin,
You could swear he's out there singing
Of your sorrow.

When the darkness falls around you
And the Northwind come to blow,
And you hear him call you name out
As he walks the brittle snow:
That old wind don't mean you trouble,
He don't care or even know,
He's just walking down the darkness
Toward the morning.

It's a pity we don't know
What the little flowers know.
They can't face the cold November
They can't take the wind and snow:
They put their glories all behind them,
Bow their heads and let it go,
But you know they'll be there shining
In the morning.

Now, my Joanie, don't you know
That the days are rolling slow,
And the winter's walking easy,
As he did so long ago?
And, if that wind would come and ask you,
"Why's my Joanie weeping so?"
Wont you tell him that you're weeping
For the morning?

Still in "NO ROOM FOR PICTURES" mode...

Well, as I said on T'giving, the evil Blogger/Picasa has cut me off for free pictures - Apparently I have been posting pictures that were too big in MB, so now I must either go through and re-size a whole heck of a lot of pictures (Over the past 5 years, I've posted almost 3000 pictures to my blog!!) Or, pay $2.49 per month storage and get billions & billions of MB available -

After resizing a dozen pictures or so (it's not difficult, just time consuming) and gaining back about 1/2 of a percent of storage, that $2.49 per month is lookin' pretty good right about now...and after just the few pictures that I did re-size - my hands and fingers were starting to tingle (I just did a big data-base project at work and gave myself some carpal tunnel issues) 

The weird thing is I don't remember getting any kind of warnings that this was going to happen -and for some reason Google Wallet wants to see a copy of my driver's license before it will take my money - So, what's with that???

The cool thing is while I was "re-sizing" all those pictures, I discovered the "Decorate" button on Picassa - so now my cats can wear Hats - or tiara's or mustaches - Bwahaha -

Anyhow, I'd like to thank Jan from Jan's Funny Farm (after you watch the video of the funny vibrating dog, scroll down to the Picasa instructions. It will be worth your time to check it out, and not get caught in a bind by "the ebil Blogger" -

This is my church newsletter week, so unless I get it done pretty quickly, I probably won't post again until next weekend.  Can you believe that it is almost December? 

What the heck? And Random thoughts....

It may look like an empty box to you, but it was a whole afternoon of sorting, filing and shredding. 

It may look like an empty box to you, but to me it's a sense of accomplishment.

It may look like an empty box to you, but to me it looks just like the other six boxes (that are still full of stuff that needs sorted, shredded or filed)  Oh, well.

One of the things I found in the box was a little grocery list - it read:

Velveeta,
Champagne,
1/2 & 1/2,
3 salad kits and
turkey. 

What do you suppose I was going to make with those ingredients? ? ? ? ?

 

My dad used to sing this old song to us when we were kids:  

On Monday was bread and gravy,
on Tuesday was gravy and bread.
On Wed. and Thur. was gravy and toast,
which is nothing but gravy and bread.
So on Friday I went to the landlord
and asked for a bit of a change
so on Saturday morning by way of a change
we had gravy w/o any bread.

That's kind of how I feel about green beans right now.  Don't get me wrong, I really love green beans, but I've had them for every dinner and several lunches for about two weeks - I'm ready for gravy without any bread. 

Have a great day! 

Thingish Things...

"It's just, Eeyore," said Piglet. "I thought your Idea was a very good Idea." "Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a thing which seemed thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it." From the House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne










My sister sent me that quote last Saturday night to wish me luck - I was giving a church service on "Choices" on Sunday morning at the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship with my friend Tracy Spring We had done the service originally in May at our church in Blaine, but I had to re-write it a little bit.

I talked - Tracy sang her wonderful songs.  How could we go wrong?  And, the service went well - and The Shepherd & I got to see a lot of old friends.

I thought the pattern of the "throat" of that petunia looked like the pattern of George's fur. What do you think?















I've been spinning like crazy getting ready for the Squalicum Valley Artisans Faire in September.


This is some Blue Faced Leicester that I got at Black Sheep.  I plied with silk. It gives the yarn a very pretty luster.










I still have 6 ounces of the wool left and some of the silk - I'm not sure how I will combine the balance.  It will be good for a scarf or a hat - it's very soft.

A few pretty things

Our rosebud azalea is so bright you can see it from the street - but the bush is less than knee high and about 2 1/2 feet across. 













The pretty blue sky last weekend as seen thorough the leaves of the coral bark maple and hemlock boughs

These are for Michelle - because I know she loves Japanese Maples

Each little maple is different as people are different. 

 I had to drive to Seattle today for a class - right down town - 90 miles - took three hours to get there!  I'm so grateful for my 12 minute commute. 

One of The Shepherd's bonsai azaleas.















Looking at these little trees reminds me of the epiphinal moment I had last week when I opened up a piece of Dove dark chocolate.  The message on the foil wrapper said "Take care of yourself"  - how can you argue with that. 

Contemplations on Working Cats

Sometimes I feel like that old commercial - "Parents - it's now 9:00 - do you know where your children are?"  

Our kitties are farm cats - they have a job, and that is to keep the rodents and bunny units out of the garden and the barn area.  So far, they seem to be  doing a pretty darn good job of it by the carcasses that they leave laying around (although I do wish they wouldn't bring froggies into the house!!!)

I really try to make sure they are inside at night – that’s when a lot of “bad things” happen to good cats – run-ins with hungry coyotes or raccoons, fights with neighbor cats looking to enlarge their territory -   When it is rainy or cold, not so much of a problem – but these spring nights are getting to be warmer and they stay out later and later – not coming when I call.  

Often, it feels like the blood rushes from my head – my ears hiss with my distress – How I managed to keep Sinda for 21 years is a mystery to me sometimes – she spent most of one summer across the street at a neighbor’s and after I would call and call,  she would come back home, but she used to actually lie down in the middle of the road – like she was daring the cars to run over her – I’m lucky I didn’t get hit by a car that summer in my efforts to “rescue” her!  

So, I give them over to their guardian angels –(and our fenced yard to keep the dogs and coyotes out) -  and breathe a sigh of relief when I feel Gracie jump on the bed to sleep with us or hear George jump up on the TV table,  With their feral beginnings It would be cruel (and impossible) to keep them inside  - George most certainly would tear the house apart trying to get out – we learned that last summer.  Inside/outside suits them fine – me, I still worry  

It's Frosty out there -

A drawback of the beautiful blue sky days that we've been having is the cold frosty mornings -













But they present their own beauty -











with leaves perfectly edged in frost -














And as the air slowly warms, the frost melts

Hey Everyone it's Caturday!

Hey everybody and everykitty - it's me Gracie, your roving reporter here, trying to get the camera out of the hands of the pawparatzi - always with the flashy box in my eyes, drives me nutty.


The biggest news of the week is that the Black Kitty (aka Bella) is being allowed to stay in the house at night.







See, here's Bella - curled up at Mummy's feet, under her chair, practically snuggling -










Hey, Bella, that's MY mummy - no snuggling allowed!












The second biggest news was that Mummy turned 60millioneleventy on Thursday. The Shepherd sent her these pretty flowers at her grindstone. She brought them home from work on Friday so she could enjoy them even more.

She's had a good week - out to dinner (Olive Garden, yummm) Wednesday with two BFFs, lunch Thursday with some old work friends, dinner Friday with some "sheepy" friends and Chinese food tonight with some friends from church and all around - Party Hearty Mummy - next week it's back to business.






The third biggest news was that Party Mix was on sale at the PetsMart store. So when Mummy went to spend some big bucks on our kitty food, she got a couple of big bags of it for us. We all LOVE Party Mix around here - it's Yummy!

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Love, your roving reporter, Gracie

Random Thoughts -

Hope you all had a Happy New Year.

We went to our friend Nancy's for New Year's brunch and music - delightful as always. I wish I'd taken a picture of the potato casserole that I took. My friend at church calls it "Mugga's potatoes" after her sister. Involves frozen cubed potatoes, cream of chicken & mushroom soup, grated cheese and sour cream. How could you go wrong with that? It was yummy.

Had a minor setback today with a "knee thing" - couldn't put any weight on my "real" knee - I don't have the slightest idea what caused the problem, but this knee has been going down hill for (more than) a couple of years now - the ortho doc says he'll replace it when ever I want - Heck - I haven't finished paying for the other one that I got done 6 years ago yet! But I actually stayed home from work today - first "sick" day I've taken in about three years - I hate to miss work though - it always puts you more days behind than what you missed, if you know what I mean...

I hope to have a Caturday Report this week. The kids spent the whole day sleeping on the bed with me - except for the poor birdie that Gracie "defeathered" in the bathroom this afternoon - I decided to spare you the pictures of that! - so tonight they are in and out, in and out, in and out - luckily we have a cat door so we don't have to tend to the comings and goings.

My motto for the new year is change - (or try to change, at least) Like W.L. Bateman said - "If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got."

Just thinking...

see more Funny Captions

Monday Musings

Last month The Shepherd & I went to a special concert given by our friend Lydia McCauley and her current music partner Nancy Rumbel. It was an open air concert at a charming little Italian restaurant out on the Mt. Baker Highway. Truth be told, I didn't really enjoy the food all that much - but the music was fantastic, the evening was lovely and the bread was good -

It was kind of an anniversary celebration for us, as on our anniversary in April The Shepherd was sick in bed. All in all, it was a fun evening.


This little lady has fleece as white as snow - just like "Mary's little lamb" - her name is (Little) Eva - and she's going to be a contender for the BEST fleece next summer at Black Sheep. Her fleece is very much like her Uncle Galloway's fleece - a fine crimpy fleece - BSG, here we come!








I led the service yesterday at church. It was our end of the summer service (we only have two services during the summer) - and everyone who was there contributed - it was fun to hear how Laura, a 70 plus year old great grandma went on a zip line ride in Costa Rica - I mean really - you couldn't get ME to do that - You absolutely rock, Laura! - and another friend, whose daughter & granddaughter visited from England, fell in love with that little girl all over again. Oh, you grandparents - sheesh...



Well, speaking of children - aren't these two just so sweet - George has now decided if Gracie gets to sleep with Mummy at night, George gets to sleep with Mummy at night too - sometimes I wake up and cannot move my legs - It takes me a minute to figure out that I'm not paralyzed, I just have a 10# weight on each side holding me down.

They are pretty good about coming in at night - sometimes teasing me - one will come in and the other one disappears and no amount of calling will get him or her in until they are good and ready.

Here are some more of this year's lambs, with Vanessa from last year in the back.

Wendy, they black one in the front has changed colors again - according to The Shepherd, she has three colors in her fleece now - I'll have to go out with him one of these afternoons - I'm sure she wouldn't let me touch her by myself.

Her half brother Blanco went to the big BBQ in the sky last week. I just try to think about it that we gave him a very good life for the first 5 months of his life, and hope that the fellows that bought him will humanely end his life.

My friend Diane (who happens to work in the tech services department of our local Voc-Tech college) came over to visit on Saturday, and helped me put my new W I D E screen FLAT monitor together with my new/refurb computer. I had to get the new monitor because the new-to-me computer was not a tower style, and would not have worked with the old Gateway monitor that I had, which was AS BIG AS A HOUSE! It always seems like every time you upgrade one thing, another has to go...

I am grateful l that she was here, I'd never have been able to figure it out myself. Thank you Diane - I owe you a lunch! (at least...)

Well, that about catches you up on all the "noos" that Gracie hasn't imparted - I'm busily spinning and crocheting and now on top of the things that I'm making for the Artisan's Faire I have special orders for six pairs of fingerless gloves. Yikes!

Oh, and five more posts and I'll have 700 posts! Double Yikes!

Looking Back Sunday

This was taken last year at the end of April. This year, the lilacs have just started to bloom- they are almost a month late.

We still haven't hit 70 degrees yet. People in other parts of the world are having such horrible weather, I hate to complain, bur really - this is getting to be too much!

Luckily I have lots of indoor projects - I have finished two baby blankets - finally using up some acrylic baby yarn I purchased for unknown reasons at Joanne Fabrics a couple of years ago. They are really pretty - I'll take pictures of them tomorrow




Recent rain storms (although nothing like other parts of the country) have stripped our trees of blossoms -

I've also been busy spinning - we have been asked to take part in an arts & crafts fair in September - I suddenly realized that if it happened today, I'd have very little to offer - So I'm busy making yarn and will be using some of it to crochet fingerless gloves to offer at that same fair.











Mother Nature seems to have gone all "girly" this year - it seems like there is pink everywhere - especially our dogwood, which stands out in the garden like a beacon -

I have been rendered speechless again and again when looking at the pictures coming out of Joplin MO. The town is very much the same size as Bellingham - and the devastation there is unfathomable.




Looking back to May of 2006 - I was home from surgery at Seattle's Cancer Care Alliance. Our friend Diane brought me this bloom of a beautiful peony from her garden, We loved it so much, she was kind enough to give us a start from it. This year it has four stalks and lots of blossoms - again, it is also about a month late in blooming.

It's been a busy couple of weeks - church newsletter time and all - plus I'm working on a top secret project for our minister, who is retiring after serving our church for the past 20 years. You'll probably get to see a picture of it, but not until after next Sunday.

Hopefully I'll be able to get back to you before then - but if not, have a great week! Can you believe it is almost JUNE??? - the next thing we know, it will be the 4th of July!

Sharing -

As many of you know, I am the editor of my church's monthly newsletter "Just for UU" - a little play on words there - as we are Unitarian Universalists -

I thought I'd share part of my "From the Editor" article for this month with you -

"As I sat in our chilly house this morning waiting for the furnace repair man to come, I surveyed the postcard we received a couple of weeks ago from that local heating company suggesting that we call them for a “Fall Furnace Tune-up”. I wished that I had called them last week - BEFORE our furnace quit in the middle of the night.

I got to thinking about how nice it would be if we each got a “postcard” reminding us that we needed a Spiritual Tune-up - but maybe that is what Christmas is all about - reminding ourselves (and one another) to be kind and generous of spirit and deed, to think of others before ourselves -


I hope you’ll take the time this season to visit with an old friend, or drop in on someone who has not been able to get out of the house due to illness or the weather."


I just couldn't believe that it was time to work on the DECEMBER! newsletter - it seems like it was just summer a few weeks ago - but the recent Thanksgiving snow was a cruel reminder that winter is upon us - the days are shorter and darker, and we are on a slippery slope to that "holiday" called Christmas.

So, whether you celebrate it as a "holyday" or if you look upon it as a pagan festival made into something bigger by the Romans and the retailers, I hope that you look into getting yourself a "Spiritual Tune-up" and that it helps get you through this darkest part of the year and into the hopeful light of the winter Solstice.

Belated Blogoversary...May 7

Happy belated blogoversary to me,
Happy belated blogoversary to me,
Happy belated - oh, sorry, I didn't know you were here.

Yup, 4 years, 587 posts and over 29,334 visitors later (I didn't put my counter on until a year or so into blogging) I'm still here - thanks mostly to the encouragement from you all - and surprisingly (to me, anyhow) I have about 30 visitors on any given day.

Yellow Bell photo by Sandra in Kamloops BC - a talented artist and weaver. Her water color that she has on her blog header alone is worth the visit to her blog. Photo used with permission.


I started my blog, as many of you may know, because I was diagnosed with uterine cancer. I decided to do a blog so people could read the info if they wanted to know what was happening - rather than having to tell everyone what was happening "over and over again" - it worked well for me and I found that I had somewhat of a knack for writing - and I've enjoyed sharing my photography as well.

After the cancer thing was settled (stage 1, surgery, no other treatment necessary) the blog became a fun way to tell others about our little farm, and show off all the hard work the The Shepherd (aka The Gardener) does in our yard. I was "off and running" so to speak.

And I have met some very nice people from all over the world! Here's what I know about bloggers:

*They are friendly & encouraging

*They are generous - (helping pay for someones pet's vet bill is commonplace in the cat blogosphere)

*They are funny and entertaining (after reading about all the "virtual" parties that the cat bloggers give each other, I was emboldened to have my own virtual Birthday Party for Sinda when she turned 20 last month. I had a blast putting together the "party blogs" and had many visitors who have returned to read stories about the farm, etc.)

These three pictures are from the blogs of two very talented fiber artist ladies from BC Canada. I "met" them through doing the "Colors of ---(name your month here)" that was started by Sue at Life Looms Large. who I met through Leigh and Sharon. See - the web just spins out and around - six degrees of separation -

Baby Face & Bird Bill photos by Evelyn Oldroyd Used with permission.

Anyhow, from the top - Yellow Bells, then delicate white Baby Faces & the purple flowers are called (in our neck of the woods anyhow) Bird Bills. Three of my favorite spring flowers from the "scab lands" of Eastern Washington where I grew up. I was thrilled to see them on these blogs and to be able to share them with you. Think of them as my blogoversary gift to you, dear readers. Have a good weekend.