Happy New Year

Although January is two-thirds gone I decided it is not to late to say Happy New Year!  I was looking at some blogs and saw several that highlighted a picture/project for each month of 2011.  If I can figure out how to do that with pictures on my blog you might see that on mine:)  2011 was a very busy and special year for me and I am very grateful for its many blessings.

The picture above was taken (by me!) over Lake Michigan as we approached Chicago.   I had not flown for many years and sometimes still can't believe I was up in the sky.  I'm very thankful for answered prayer!

I'm hoping to get back to working on some knitting projects, painting some furniture, and other interesting things.  (Pictures too!)

Have a happy day!

It's Raining and Christmas is Coming

Living in a place where we usually have snow it seemed very strange to have rain and warmer temps today.   I am hoping that we will have snow by Christmas!  Since my last post I have learned my lesson about not having everything on my hard drive backed up somewhere.  Losing pictures and Quicken data is probably the worst but we have a back up system now.

As usual the days go so quickly!  My latest knitting project (a scarf) has a cable down the center.  It is something I had never tried before but had wanted to do.  Fun!  A friend and I have started a knitting group.  I'm trying to get a few Christmas cards out and need to finish some photo gifts which are harder to do since I have to get pictures from other people (my kids!).

(This project, Cable-Knit Scarf, is from Country Woman magazine.  Go to: countrywomanmagazine.com)

Have a wonderful day and always have important stuff on your hard drive saved somewhere!

A Beautiful Fall

Although it is quite cold and rainy today it has been a beautiful fall.  Here are some pictures I downloaded (finally) from my camera. These pictures were all taken around the farm.  (I am very excited to have a new phone that has a camera on it so I am hoping it is going to be easier/faster to download pictures!) 

 

I hope you all are having a wonderful fall and enjoying all the special things it brings!

September

I hope I am not the only one who is surprised when a new month begins so quietly but takes off and is almost over before you turn around.   Here are a few thoughts that relate to that last sentence:

           --Kids grow up too fast
           --Great friends are invaluable
           --Our country is really big
           --Family should live within driving distance
           --Skype is good
           --Fresh fruits and vegetables are so good
           --Things change everyday
           --God is always there
          

Enjoy your day!                                                                                         (I like this picture:)

Summer Continued

Harvest is over for another year!  We are thankful for a good and safe one.  Now we are pushing out some of the old blocks of trees and getting ready for new ones next spring.  They will probably be Montmorency or Balaton trees (tart cherries).

I have been busy in the kitchen trying to turn the apricots and cherries into jam and juice.  A3 is a very fast cherry pitter or we would not have frozen cherries and cherry jam!   She also helped with canning apricots.   I was very happy when it was all done!


Enjoy your summer!

Summer

It definitely feels like summer!  We are having a few very warm (for us) days here.  Harvesting of the cherries should start Wednesday.  It is later this year due to the cool spring.  Today I continued working on the "cabins" by beginning the painting.  They will definitely look better although we probably won't use them for anything.  L and A worked on repairing/painting cherry tanks.

Here are some pics of the cabins:

This is how they looked after power washing the outside.

This is how they look now!

I suppose I should have entitled this "Catch Up Again"  as lots of things happen when a person does not write for almost two months!  It was a beautiful day for the wedding and although we were working right up to the minute everything went OK.  A was a beautiful bride and we are so thankful and blessed by all who helped make it all come together!   I don't have many pics yet but here are a few:

                    (I still don't have any pics for here!  Will have to put some in another time.)



A friend has been teaching me how to crochet as I saw a project on the Mollie Makes site for a cute apple cosy that is crocheted.  I'm afraid I am slow to learn and may have to just figure out how to knit one but it has been fun to get together a few times.  I have knitted a dishrag:)

We have a very small garden but have enjoyed some strawberries! and arugula, basil, and a couple of cherry tomatoes.  The flower are very pretty and as I was painting on the cabins I was thinking here is another spot for flower:) so I'll be looking for some perennials to plant next spring:)

Cherry Festival and July 4 fireworks were both very good this year and we also got to see the balloon glow one evening.

Another project was making some cards for weddings, graduation, and thanks.  I used stuff I had around such as parts of old tear off calendar sheets.  It was fun!   Here is one:

A and I went biking on some trails and had a great workout (for me at least!)  This butterfly was beautiful:

I am going to go ahead and post this and will add more pictures tomorrow.  Have a great day!

Catch Up Time

I often think of the saying "How time flies whether you are having fun or not" because time does seem to fly faster every day!   I also think about why it seems difficult to write down even just a bit about something that is interesting to me or something I have seen that might be interesting to someone else or just something I want to remember.  Simplifying everything is hard to accomplish (at least for me although I keep trying!).  Maybe I will focus more on project accomplishment instead of cleaning out stuff accomplishments.  Or don't bring anything in without taking some things out.

So a quick spring summary:

First child married this last March.  I don't many pics yet but here is one from the reception:

Second child graduated from college in May.  She will also get married in June!

Third child will soon graduate from high school.  Here is one of her senior pictures:
(picture coming soon:)

Weddings, even simple ones, involve lots of time and planning.  If it wasn't for some great friends and family I don't think we would be ready!  Here are a few pictures of a shower her sister hosted:

And also some pictures from Toronto when we were there for a shower the grooms family hosted.

                            

Lew has been very busy on the farm!  Trees are slower to bloom this spring due to the cool weather.
Picture coming soon:)


Here are a few nature pics from a field trip to a nature center:

Happy Sabbath!