A Wonderful Wednesday

I've been awarded this wonderful award this week by 

Marie at www.womentalkaboutlife.blogspot.com

Thank you, Marie, I'm honored!

If you haven't met Marie yet, please pay her 

sweet blog a visit and say hello!  

The rules for accepting this award are:

1.  Be a follower of this blog.

2.  Pass the award on to 3 other blogs.

3.  Lastly, link the award back to this blog.

It's always tough to narrow awards down to just a few blogs out of many deserving and wonderful ones and many do not participate in awards.  Here are my 3 in no particular order:

Susan at The Adventure of Old Alice has a little of this and a little of that on her blog along with fantastic photos.

Dianna at These Days of Mine lives by the water with Motor Man and her kitty, Sundae.  She writes great posts embellished with amazing photos.
 

Ginny at Let Your Light Shine has a very friendly and uplifting blog.  Her love for God and her family definitely shines through.

All of the blogs I follow are wonderful and these are just 3 of them.  Please go visit Susan, Dianna, Ginny and of course, Marie, if you haven't already met them.  You'll be glad you did!  

Until next time...

Amish barn charm

Yesterday, I posted about a recent and quick visit to an Amish community.   Red barns are a common sight and they are very large. 

While the Amish don't use electricity,  there was an electric line running along the highway to service those who live nearby that aren't of the Amish community.  You can see the lines in the top of this photo. 

 Large silos are seen along side most of the barns.

A large shock stands front and center in the field on this farm which houses several nice barns. 

Linking to Tricia's Barn Charm

Until next time...

An interesting community

Not long ago, I was in an Amish community and took a few drive-by photos.  This was on a Monday, and a nice day, so I saw a lot of laundry hung out to dry.  As you probably know, most Amish don't use electricity.  You will not see many or any electric lines in this area.  Some day I want to go back and get off the blacktop highway and explore further down the many gravel roads.  There are many signs you'll see along the way that advertise what goods the families have for sale at their home.  There are quilts, rugs, baskets, baked goods, sorghum, furniture, feed and farm supplies to name a few.  There is a general store that I want to visit some day.  It's a most interesting community and a very different way of life from what we know.  I didn't stop by any homes this trip although those baked goods really tempted me! 

A wagon in the barn yard.   Most Amish in this community don't have gas driven vehicles or farm equipment.

You will see quite a few horses since they are used to pull the buggies and wagons.  This horse, which is almost the same color as the hay, has just eaten his fill from the hay stack.

A field of corn shocks that will feed their livestock through the winter.
  

 

A corn crib that holds the shucked corn.  You don't see many of these kinds of corn cribs on most farms now.

This Amish farm had the neatest row of corn shocks.  The row seemed to go on forever.  It would be interesting to know how fast they are able to harvest their crops and stack the corn when they don't use modern equipment.  

I want to go back to this community and get more photos and look up that general store I heard about.  And stop in at one of the homes that sell homemade bread.  The homes are big and well-built as are their barns.  I will show a couple of the barns tomorrow.

Until next time...

On a train bound to nowhere...remember that line in the old Kenny Roger's song?  This photo taken a couple of weeks ago made me think of the song and got me to wondering if there is a town actually called Nowhere somewhere.  Now maybe everyone already knew this but me, but I had to google and found that there actually is a Nowhere in Oklahoma.   It is in the unincorporated county of Caddo in OK.  It even has a zip code.  Also, there is a place called Nowhere in Arizona with a whopping big population of 5.   I don't believe I saw a zip code for that one.  I love to find little tidbits like these.  Somewhere out there....I love that song, too....is a Nowhere!  Which now leads me to think of the Beatles song.  Name that song!  Okay, I'll quit now. 

Where is your train headed this weekend?  Are you staying at home and resting up from the previous holidays or do you have projects in mind to tackle or will you be on the road to somewhere? Wherever your train stops or even if it doesn't leave the station, I hope your weekend is a good one!

Until next time...

Communication

 

It seems that letter writing is becoming a lost art.  How many of us take the time to write a letter on beautiful stationery and then mail it to its destination? 

We now just pick up the telephone or cell phone or send off a quick text message using in most cases abbreviations.  Can you imagine a lovely handwritten letter with LOL or <grin> or HAGD in it?

Another form of communication is emailing.  I'm not very good at emailing.  I sometimes forget to check my emails for days on end.  Now if I would get a nice handwritten letter, I would open it up immediately and sit down to read every word.  I love to get cards and enjoy the handwritten messages that are usually included.  

A favorite form of communication for me is talking on the phone.  I like to hear the caller's voice, much can be understood by hearing their tone of voice.  And there's nothing sweeter than hearing a loved one's voice saying "I love you" at the end of the conversation!

What is your favorite form of communication?  Do you write letters to your friends and family?  Or do you just pick up the phone to hear their voice?  Do you enjoy emailing or texting?

Here's to a good year filled with lovely words and thoughts sent your way no matter what the method of sending is!

Until next time...

Focusing

On my list of goals this year is to read the 

online manual that came with my camera and

learn how to take better photos.  See the

squirrel above?  I took several shots and none

of them were very clear.  It was an extremely

windy day (see the tail, it was the wind that

kept it up over the squirrels back) and the limbs were

swaying so I'm thinking the movement was

a factor.  I do know that this camera of mine often

seems to have some problems with focusing.  Or

is it the photographer?  So, it's time to get the

manual online and read, read, read.  Then, 

practice, practice, practice! 

The main goal I've mentioned in another post is adopting a

healthier lifestyle.  It's something my whole family is

wanting to do.  My husband's heart attack last

July was a wake up call.  I'm considered to be 

diabetic even though my numbers aren't extremely high,

they are above the level they are supposed to be.

The doctor tells me I need to give up the sugar.

I suppose that means I won't be baking too many

cakes (see photo above...it's my favorite! If you want

my recipe, I'll be happy to pass it along.) or cookies.

Well, I really don't bake too many cookies because,

frankly, I don't like to.  I'd rather make brownies.

My husband has a sweet tooth and loves salty foods,
according to his heart doctor, he needs to watch his diet, too.  
I can't help him quit smoking, which he also needs to do, 

but I can control what is put on the dinner table.  

Heart disease runs in his family so I'm hoping my

adult children will adopt a healthier lifestyle, too.  It 

requires discipline and focus.  I am determined that

we will be healthier by the year's end!
  

Until next time...

A white barn charm

The photo of this large white barn was taken several days ago.  It was seen on a drive through rural mid-Missouri. 

Linking to Tricia's Barn Charm   

Until next time...

It's 2012!!

How did 2011 go by so fast?  Are you glad

it's over and a new year is beginning? 

We had a quiet night here at home for New Year's Eve.

We watched a movie that I'd heard a lot about

and it was very good.   We listened to the wind 

howling fiercely outside and was glad we were 

inside all cozy and warm.

I don't make resolutions because I rarely ever

keep them.  I do make a list of goals I'd 

like to attain.  Last year, some goals were met

and others were not even close to being reached.

Thinking of the goals still needing to be met,

I'll just dust off my old list this new year 

and hope to attain them by the end of the year.

 

What about you...do you have a list of resolutions

or have goals you hope to reach this year?

My number one goal is to adopt a healthier lifestyle

and that for me means using the treadmill regularly,

eating less sugar and fatty foods, and drinking 

more water.  You'd think that would be easy, right?

Well, for a Pepsi-holic and a lover of all things

chocolate, it's really not as easy as it sounds!

I'm determined to try the best I can to be in better

shape by the year's end.  I can do it!!  I hope.

I wish each of you the very best year ahead.

My thanks to each of you for your 

comments and friendship during the past year.

I look forward to visiting and blogging 

with you this New Year!

Until next time...

Making Friends

Stormy being brave and trying to get her bluff in on Marley.

Our son and his puppy, Marley, were here several days during Christmas.  

Our family had a great time.  We played a lot of games, ate, visited, and watched Marley and our kitty, Stormy, 

whenever they got close to each other. 

We were hoping they would get along and become friends. 

Stormy had to stay downstairs the first 

two days, mostly because she would hiss and want 

to strike at Marley with her claws showing.

Finally, she decided she had enough of being alone

most of the time and ventured upstairs. 

  Help Mom, lock that dog up!!

The minute Marley made a move to walk closer to Stormy,

she hightailed it down the hall with Marley in hot pursuit.

  We then decided it might be wise to put

Marley in the kennel for a while.

That's much better, thanks!

Stormy thought that was an excellent idea, too.  She

was very relaxed by now and started pulling herself along

inch by inch toward the kennel.  They stared at each other 

for quite some time and almost touched noses.

After a while, we decided to try again 

with Marley out of the kennel.

Let's try getting along again outside the kennel, okay?

Well, peace reigned for all of 5 minutes, then it was a game of

cat and mouse puppy again.  They were back to chasing and

stalking each other. 

Don't get too close, Marley!

 

Watch out!

Friends from a distance is good.

Until next time...

The last Barn Charm for this year!

 

I'm a little late to the party today, but here 

is my offering for this week's barn charm.

The front of the same barn, all decked out with

a wreath for Christmas.  I did a Christmas barn for

last week's Barn Charm, but I didn't realize

the link didn't work until too late.  It can be found

a couple of posts below. 

Linking to Tricia's Barn Charm 

Until next time...