Sad, Glad and Mad

First, the sad part.  

It is with much sadness that I share the news 

that one of my favorite bloggers, Vee,

of A Haven for Vee lost her beloved husband, John, 

who was called home to be with the Lord on May 28. 

Please join me in praying for Vee and her family.

We were happy that most of our Memorial Day weekend

was sunny and nice.  Hot and humid, but at least

 the rains previously called for held off most of the time.

We've had lots of rain since I last posted.  The soil at

the cemeteries was soft and made poking flowers in the 

ground much easier.  It is tradition in our area to decorate

the graves of our loved ones as well as those who died in the

service of our country. 

Our daughter, Kim, celebrated a birthday recently.  Among other

things, she received 2 beautiful bouquets of flowers.  I know 

that I took photos of them, but I couldn't find one while I

prepared this post.  We met her and our son for dinner one

evening near KC to celebrate the happy occasion.  We had lots 

of laughs remembering some of the funny moments we've shared.

Brett and I still laugh and laugh when we recall

the time we saw a carload of women driving down the

walkway one night at the Landing in Branson.  It was 

a hilarious sight.  We don't know how they got there, 

it is not meant for cars!  They must have mistaken the 

wide brick walkway for a street!

Remember seeing this cat's photo?  When it showed up at

 our house in February, I thought it was a male.  Well.....

Surprise!!

She went away for awhile, but came back bearing gifts.  

Er...kittens.  Five of them.

We're not real happy about this new development, but I

have to admit...they make you smile when you watch them

playing.  So cute!

It's the little things that so often make me smile.  See the

double yolked egg?  That is the third one out of the same 

carton of eggs.  I rarely ever see one!

This is an old photo from 2 weeks ago so it's hard to tell, but

my flowers are really taking off after the weather has

warmed up.  I'm happy that I found the colorful rooster 

this spring to add to that corner, he makes me smile, too.  

Now I'm sure y'all have been waiting impatiently to find

out what has ruffled my feathers.  Ha.   

Well, I'm mad at myself.  Me. Myself. And I.

Yes, I'm so aggravated that I've fallen into the ole

procrastination trap and I've been running here and there

ignoring all the little and not so little jobs that I had once

planned to have done by now.

Even though blogging has slowed down for me, it

 obviously wasn't to work on those jobs, so I'm going to

take an extended blog break.  I don't know how

long I'll be away and even though I won't take time to

comment much, I'll try to visit from time to time to catch

up on everyone.  

Wish me luck in getting some much needed work done.  

The spirit is willing, but the aging body

is wanting to do nothing more than sit in a comfy chair

with the laptop!  It's easy to do when you have an old 

ankle injury and a newly bum knee.  But, I need to read 

this article often and get moving as much as I can.

Take care and enjoy your day!

  

Love,

Cheryl

For The Birds...

"Do you like my feathers flat or..."

"do they look better spiked?"

~Cardinal

 

"I have a large repertoire of music, but I just don't feel

like singing right now."

~Mockingbird

"Put that camera down and get me a seed cake."

~Red-bellied Woodpecker

 

"Make sure you get my best side in the picture."

~Eastern bluebird

"I caught him!" 

It looks like the bluebird caught an insect just about the time

I accidentally caught him in flight.  He was sitting on the

pole and I was trying for a shot when he suddenly took off.

There are many beautiful bird photos around blogdom lately.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of the many birds that I

have in my backyard.  

Enjoy the rest of the week and don't forget to take time to 

smell the roses or watch a bird or two!

xo Cheryl

Thoughts on Thursday

I had a lovely Mother's Day with both my children at home.  My daughter gave me a pretty gift basket filled with goodies including 3 of my favorite magazines and the beautiful tulips which opened the next day were from my son.  The bottom of the bulbs are in water and I will plant them when they are finished blooming. 

Our son also brought KC Strip steaks and grilled them to perfection.  I nearly fainted when I saw the price tag, but they were sooo good!  Daughter fixed the potatoes and I put together a salad and popped some crescent rolls in the oven.  Yum, yum!  

Dessert was a devil's food cake I made in honor of my mother who often made it when I was a youngster at home.  The recipe which was typed over 40 years ago is worn and faded and well used.  As you probably know, the soda in the recipe is baking soda.  You'll also see that my mother used lard for shortening.  Back then we raised our own meat, beef and pork, and when a hog was butchered there would be a lot of lard.  If I remember correctly, my dad would bring a 5 gallon can of it home from the butcher.   

 

I used Cool Whip Lite for the topping.  My dad almost always had a milk cow and my mother would save the cream which rose to the top of the milk cans stored in the refrigerator.  Then she would make the yummiest whipped cream.  Oh my goodness, it was sooo good!  Especially on devil's food cake, which my mother made so often that she didn't need to use a recipe.  I always wondered how a cake that was so good could have such an ugly name!

   

We have had lots of rain lately.  At least every other day, it seems.  I have been enjoying sitting on the patio in the late afternoon and watching the birds coming to the feeders.  The one pictured above is a House Finch.  

There is much to do inside the house but I love patio sitting and bird watching.  When inside, I'm afraid I'm a bit of a news junkie and I spend a lot of time reading various news sites.  This election year has me fascinated.  Love him or hate him, it's obvious that the presumptive Republican nominee has certainly shaken things up in the political world.  The state of the world has me worried.  You can't read the news without knowing we are in a downward spiral with all that is happening.  What used to be right is now wrong and vice versa.   

I had to go to the Big Town yesterday and while there stopped by my favorite resale shop.  I found some great books for a dollar apiece.  The first book that I saw on the top shelf was A Fine Romance by Susan Branch.  I had already read the book which I had checked out from the library, but I was excited to find a copy for my very own for just a dollar bill.  Score!!  It is just like new, too.   It is one of those books that I will enjoy reading again.  It has lots of wonderful photos and information about England, which I'd love to visit.

I was quite pleased with my finds.  Max Lucado is one of my favorite Christian authors.  And while I don't entertain much these days, I couldn't resist Martha Stewart's book.  The BH&G book, Garden Style, has lots of decorating ideas for inside and outside the home.  Anyone remember Lynette Jennings?  I loved her show when she was on HGTV years ago, so her book should be interesting.  Some things never go out of style in decorating, in my opinion.

Have a wonderful week...what's left of it.  I can't believe how fast it has flown by!

xo Cheryl

Happy Mother's Day

Mother, the ribbons of your love 

are woven around my heart.

~Author Unknown

 To mother's everywhere, I wish you a happy day!

I am so very thankful for my sweet, beautiful children

who made me a mother. 

 And I'm truly thankful for my own sweet mother who was 

only with me for 31 years, but I will always remember her love 

and care for my brothers and me.

xo Cheryl

Comments closed, enjoy your day!