A Splash of Color

My Christmas cactus is blooming. I don’t think it has ever bloomed at Christmas but it’s very pretty no matter when it blooms. I love the bright pink color. It always makes me feel happy when I look at it.

Temperatures here this morning were mid 20’s with a heavy frost. It has warmed up already to low 30’s and the sun is shining. I think it will be a nice day. We will be doing school as usual, then we have some wood to unload. We also need to go into town to get some chicken feed. Thank the Lord, we have once again sold enough eggs to pay for the feed.

Jess and Katie are doing well and big brothers are adjusting nicely to having a little one in the house. Katie seems to be (as of right now) a very content little girl. She sleeps very well at night, 3-4 hrs between bottles. Amazing! David will be going back to work on Thursday. He took a week vacation during Katie’s birth.

Well, it is almost time for school and I have clothes to hang out. Enjoy your day and God bless.

November 8, 2011 5

Flowers

Here are a few pictures of some flowers that are blooming around our house now. I am pretty sure these are called violas. I so enjoy their tiny bright blooms. So cheerful. Purple and yellow are my favorite color combinations for flowers.

Yesterday, we made strawberry rhubarb jam. I had enough rhubarb to make a rhubard pie as well. The recipe I use is :

1 cup rhubard- finely chopped, 1/4 cup melted butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp cornstarch and 2 eggs well beaten. Combine all ingredients and pour into 1 unbaked pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees until done. It takes about 45 min in my oven. I have made this pie for about 25 years. It is a family favorite.

Today was friends day at church. We had a great day. Probably about 70 people in total. Our numbers usually run in the 40’s. We had some really good music, a good sermon from our pastor and a great fellowship meal afterward because you all know how much we like to eat. I took pinto beans, green onions and a peach sauce pie. We won’t be having evening bible study tonight so we plan on just relaxing this evening. The girls and I will be traveling down to Jessica’s tomorrow to watch the boys. She will be having an ultra sound tomorrow to (maybe) discover if she will be having a boy or girl. This all depends upon the baby’s cooperation of course.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 12, 2011 5

Horseshoe fun

Just a few pictures of the fun we had at our horseshoe pitch. We think we might do it again before summer is over. It was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful place down by the river, a great place to camp.

This is a picture of our pastor and his wife. I believe the Lord truly led him to our church. I have never known a pastor to fit in with a church like him and his wife do. I think they are truly dedicated to the Lord and want to serve Him.

One of our catawba trees. We have several in our yard. Right now we are enjoying our “summer snow”. When these trees bloom out and the bloom starts falling, it looks like it has snowed in our yard. Very pretty.

A better view of the blooms. We spent some time yesterday with our friends, the Horns. The kids had fun playing together. Vicki and I walked around her yard and garden. She has a beautiful garden this year. She has already picked peas from her garden. Hopefully, ours will be ready soon. We had a pretty good rain yesterday. The garden was needing a drink. However, the rain came while we were gone, so the clothes hanging on the line were soaked. I had to bring them in, spin them out again in the machine and then dry them inside. Oh well, things like that happen. I think it will be a nice day here today. Kinda hot for us but it is getting that time of year. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 16, 2010 2

Apple Blossoms

Our apple tree is blooming. Isn’t it pretty! We are not sure what type of apples these are. The tree was here when we came. However they are very good apples. The tree blooms very early though and usually gets caught in the frost. I fear this will happen this year. Temperatures tonight will be in the upper 20’s. We have had a very hard wind for 2 days now so of course it feels much colder. Temperature now is about 50 with a wind chill of about 40. YUCK! I guess this is what we call “dogwood winter” as the dogwoods are blooming now. Warmer temps are on the way though. Yeah!

Dogwood in bloom outside our dining room window.

My bouquet of flowers for the ladies today. I love to have fresh flowers out when they come. Makes the room look so much more cheerful. We all enjoyed these today. Forsythia and spirea. Class went very well. Two ladies could not come. We missed you, Wanda and Vicki. I know I have said this many times, but this really is a good study. She takes it nice and slow so you get to just let it all sink in. I like that. I better get started on supper. Take care and God bless.

April 9, 2010 2

Spirea Bush

Another sign of spring. The spirea bush is in full bloom. It has beautiful, small white flowers on it. I think Friday when the ladies come I will make a bouquet of spirea and forsythia blooms. Very cheerful! School today as usual. It is getting so hard to do school as usual. We so want to be outside playing and doing outside chores. The girls playing-me doing outside chores. Well, we must persevere. I know it will be worth it. Temperature is very nice here today. About 80 degrees. I have clothes drying on the line, blowing in the breeze. I love hanging clothes outside. They smell so wonderful. Tonight’s menu will be homemade pizza. Last summer, we made several jars of pizza sauce from our tomatoes. We have almost used them all so I guess we will need to make more this summer than we did last summer. I think it is important for my girls to know how to raise a garden, to harvest the produce and then how to preserve it for later use. I think in todays fast paced America this is becoming a lost art. I was blessed to acquire this knowledge from my mother and I want to pass it down.

It tastes as good as it looks. Enjoy your day and God bless.

April 7, 2010 1