A Look At 2014

This year has gone by so fast it almost makes my head

spin!  All in all, it was a very good year, but there were some

sad times as well.  

What I've learned is to enjoy the sweet,

simple things in life and if my family is healthy and I'm

healthy, then I have much for which to be thankful. 

It is impossible to put a year in a few photos, 

but I've put together a few collages of some of my

favorite photos taken during the year.  

First up...more Christmas! 

We had a very nice Christmas.  We missed my

aunt and uncle who usually spent Christmas Day with us.

They both passed away in September, as most of my 

readers know.  

Our son came home last Tuesday night and was here until

Friday afternoon when he had to return to KC to see his new lady. 

Daughter and I were the champions this time at card games

so that was fun!  We are usually on the losing end.  lol!

We had lots of food and laughs.  BG and I don't normally

exchange gifts, but my son talked us into a new TV for the living room so 

he took his dad to the city where they found just the right 

one for us.  Now I need a new table for it and will have to do

some rearranging in the living room...later.  I plan

to read a few books and just relax for a while. 

I picked out a few favorite photos of my furred and 

feathered friends that I see out my kitchen window.  The

exception being the white-tailed squirrel that I saw one

day while driving down the street and the Bald Eagle that

I spotted not far from our town.  The deer was captured using my

zoom while he was getting a drink at our pond.

A few of my favorite sunsets of 2014. 

January saw the work begin on the foundation of our house.  I'm happy to report that nearly a year later, our basement has stayed dry.  Yay!

We had some snow, but all in all it was a pretty good winter.

I did spend part of the winter dreaming of flower gardens!

We planted strawberries in our new raised bed that BG built and hope for a good crop next June.  When the weather was nice, a lot of time was spent outside working with my flowers or trying to get a shot of the birds and sometimes even the moon.  I enjoy our patio which is filled with flower pots.  We do lots of grilling in warmer weather, too.

We put a bid in on a house that came on the market and the next thing you know...we are the proud owners of another house with a red barn included!  I always wanted a red barn.  The house will be rented to our daughter as soon as we get the bathroom remodeled and a few other things that need to be done.

We didn't get to take our trip out west in September as we were in the middle of house negotiations and also because of my aunt and uncle.  We did squeeze in a few trips to Branson during the year.  Also we went to St. Louis one weekend and made other short jaunts.  One of my favorite day trips is to the Amish country where I bought most of our Christmas candy last week.  I ended up putting a lot of it in the freezer!

The last photo of the grandfather clock is a reminder to me of a new goal (I don't like to make resolutions) that I'm setting for myself in the new year.  And that is to get to bed earlier and wake up before 8 am.  For one reason, so I can see more sunrises and capture the beauty of the early morning hours.  We'll see how that goes.  You know what they say about old dogs and new tricks!

My trees will stay up a few more days.  I'm really enjoying the new slim tree in the dining area that is decorated with cookie cutters.  I can see both trees from where I'm sitting in the recliner and they look so pretty at night.  

I hope each of you had a wonderful holiday and my wish for you is that you have a happy, healthy New Year filled with many blessings!

Love,

Cheryl