Theme Thursday - Impression

Hubbie and I married the same time that his grandparents moved from their family home in Pennsylvania. Their home was beautiful and filled with wonderful antiques and memories. We had NO FURNITURE and Grandad and Nana were moving from a large home into a retirement community. It was such a blessing to be given the most beautiful pieces of furniture. My favorite is our five piece bedroom set. It was made by Marvel Furniture Company of Jamestown, N.Y. and was one of many great American furniture companies that was a casualty of the Depression. We thought that eventually we would want to have the pieces refinished but then I discovered the impressions left on the head board.



When the sun shines brightly there are perfectly formed toddler foot prints imprinted in the varnish of the head board. (I haven't a camera with the sophistication to get a telling photograph.) I imagine Hubbie, his sisters, his cousins...even his mother as little ones putting their feet on the headboard as they impatiently waited for nap time to end.

The pieces will not be refinished as long as they reside at Killeny Glen. The footprints are a lasting impression of beautiful things of the past...best left untouched.

Beautiful sleep...

Oil painting by Bernardo Strozzi entitled: Sleeping Child

Over the last sixteen years I know I have spoken some type of nap related comment/request/suggestion EVERY day at least once a day. If I go with the low end that would be at least 5,800 convincing arguments that NAPS ARE AMAZING and highly beneficial. When I have that early morning alarm, laundry, work, errands, dentist appointments, music lessons, sports practices, dinner prep and youth activities...I find myself longing for my cozy jammies and pillow! I spend all that time trying to convince my short people of the complete BEAUTY of taking a nap and they just do NOT get it! How about you? Ever sneak in a snooze in the middle of the day?

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Bed and Breakfast Charm

Hubbie and I were invited to a Destination Birthday party last weekend. Great idea...great friends. We headed to South West Ohio with a little bit of reservation. There is nothing there! We looked at the map! But what we found when we arrived was nothing short of first class charm. A sprawling ridge of beautiful forest and a wonderful view of the Appalachian foothills. The buildings were built by Amish families that still live on or near the ridge. The ten of us made for LOUD and boisterous guests. The owners (who retired from work in corporate sales to try something new)welcomed us with great enthusiasm. They saw to it that our every need was met.

Our cozy little cabin looked like THIS from the outside:

And looked like THIS on the inside! OH! Loved that fire place...a perfect time of year to have it BLAZING!

The food is prepared by a wonderful chef who uses as many of the local ingredients as possible. EVERYTHING is made from scratch and is delectable!!! The four dining rooms are in the original 1828 farm house which still has many historical attributes.


Their Maple Vinaigrette salad still has me dreaming for more. My entree consisted of crepes filled with toasted sage risotto with Shitake mushrooms, house made ricotta, slow roasted local butternut squash, braised leeks, wilted greens, balsamic-brown butter. DELICIOUS! My photograph was taken in a hurry as I was anticipating my first bite AND my last!!

The weekend is HERE!!

Hubbie and I are off to meet some friends for a birthday party/weekend --ADULTS ONLY! So excited to sit around and do that adult-chat thing and eat good food with good friends! We laugh a lot and tune out the crazies for just a little while! It is a blessing! We have these amazing grandparents who are going to tote the kiddos to all their various activities and social commitments. They are SUPER cool!! Thanks Gramps and Lil Gram! YOU ROCK!

Have a wonderful weekend! See ya next week!


Sign by Tamara Nicole at Memory Beans Designs.

Theme Thursday ~ Bread

Bread, a simple thing...eaten by all cultures in so many forms. Right now, bread is not readily available in ANY form in Haiti. People go hungry every day around the world yet right now, in Haiti, the need is GREAT and there are countless many without the vital sustenance of bread and water. After the devastating earthquake and yesterday's aftershock the looting and crime have begun in a land already in crisis.

photo by Wolfgang Rattay

As I comfortably sit in my warm house, eating my fresh bagel and fruit...sipping my steaming hot coffee I know I need to act and to DO something to help. Any amount of money I send is helpful. As children are evacuated to the United States there are countless ways that we can volunteer and help with these children.

Photo by Hendrick L. Dickson

HIS Home for Kids needs water, baby formula and basic supplies. You can donate via Pay Pal or send cash or check directly to their home base.

World Vision

English Mum and Baino have promoted Bloggers For Haiti. HERE is the US link to help.

Send along your help and lift them all up in prayer.
Thank you.

What?

This is barn cat, Izzy Lizzie...she is a lover NOT a fighter and despite country upbringing and NO pedigree she would have been better suited for poshy indoor living. She is very sweet. She has an attitude like Eva Gabor as Lisa in Green Acres...

"New York is where I'd rather stay.

I get allergic smelling hay.

I just adore a penthouse view.

Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue."

Sharper than he lets on...

Sam is a singer...he constantly hums or sings a song. MOST of which do not make sense...but then now and again I catch a phrase or the tune and recognize it...today he was very clearly singing the words...I understood the words...
"Cause we are SYMBIOTIC
SYMBIOTIC FRIENDS
Cause we are SYMBIOTIC..."
Wot?!?! Well upon asking him WHERE he heard this song he announced he had learned it on Go Diego Go!...and proceeded to tell me that the hippopotamus and the Oxpecker have a symbiotic friendship. He was very excited about the Oxpecker eating the bugs off the Hippos back!
Can I just say that Sam is NOT interested in things academic but you will not hear me complaining about preschool television anytime soon!!!

The ugly law.

We watched Music Within and I found it both amazing and disturbing. Richard Pimentel, a wounded war veteran, plays a pivotal role in creating the Americans With Disabilities Act. You see, I could not, would not believe that at one time there was such a thing as "The Ugly Law." But it is, indeed, a fact. From the late 1860s until the 1970s, several American cities had ugly laws making it illegal for persons with "unsightly or disgusting" disabilities to appear in public. "No person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object or improper person to be allowed in public places in this city, or shall therein or thereon expose himself to public view."

I ask you...WHO would be exempt from this law? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...so what judge would determine who is violating this law and who is not?!

Art Honeyman, a foul mouthed genius with Cerebral Palsey, played by Michael Sheen says, "people pretend NOT to see me." Who is it that I pretend NOT to see? Who is it that makes me SO uncomfortable that I would not respect them with eye contact and a smile?

photo credit: jorge silva

Want to help? Go to HIS Home for Children and click on the donation link to make a PAY PAL donation. The home's biggest need right now is protein sources (like peanut butter) and infant formula.

Winter Beauty

Over the last week we experienced our first REAL snow of the year and also had very low temperatures. We were graced with the most spectacular hoarfrost on a couple of mornings. After some very dark overcast days...this day dawned FRIGID and SUNNY which made the frost even more magnificent.




Even a common live-stock fence becomes beautiful when coated with these ice crystals.

Hoarfrost = a covering of minute ice needles, formed from the atmosphere at night upon the ground and exposed objects when they have cooled by radiation below the dew point, and when the dew point is below the freezing point.

Today we are expecting a touch of a heat wave...highs in the 40's!
Happy weekend to all dear friends.

Theme Thursday - Surface

We use the word friend LOOSELY. I have a FEW very close friends I cherish like family. To be with them is therapeutic, enjoyable and a blessing. I have MANY people I call friend who are really just acquaintances...people I see often but only REALLY know them at the surface level. In reality and with great honesty I do not want to know them beyond that surface. To delve down deeper than the hollow "How are you?" or "Isn't this weather freezing?!" would mean the responsibility of caring for them and developing a closer relationship over time. That is a sad and selfish state is it not? For if I looked just below the surface I may find that I am missing something quite beautiful. I should most certainly embrace that.

More about surfaces at Theme Thursday.

Photo by Lindes' Photostream.

NEARLY Wordless Wednesday

Santa Claus put a large bag of Hershey Kisses in my stocking almost three weeks ago. (He knows I love Hershey chocolate! Sweet huh?) At that time we had many Christmas goodies in the house so I tucked them away in the baking cupboard thinking I would make Peanut Blossom cookies with them.


I found that bag of Kisses today...tucked away in the corner of that cupboard...

There are NOT enough left to make cookies.

Oh dear.

Wordless Wednesday

Sadness...

Our tiny community has been rocked by the unexpected death of a 15 year old boy. A boy who is known by many and his large family known by most. A boy who was known for a ready smile and High Definition energy. How do you make sense of the death of someone so young? It brings out every emotion one can possibly feel. It touches the young and the old. The gathering places of our village are somber and filled with sadness. The people of our town have moved to see to it that the family has everything they need as they learn to live without their boy. What they need...not what they want...what they want is a rewind button but that was not part of God's perfect plan. This boy's family made the decision to donate his organs to those who would not live with out them. In the midst of their grief they have helped others have life.

His sweet aunt said:
Thank you once again for reminding us of the fragility of life and to hug and to love. Oh God, I want you to get the Glory and the thanks for letting us have him. We NEVER realize how much we love someone until they are gone and that is a sad truth.

Today we gather to say goodbye. I pray that many will be touched by the life of this boy, his family and his friends.

AAAahhhhhh, snow...

We finally got some decent snow...it is so beautiful and SO COLD! Time to burrow in for the weekend and enjoy some snow induced DOWN TIME!
No alarm clocks.

Leisurely breakfasts...nothin' says lovin' like somethin' from the oven! In this case waffle sticks. The kiddos love to dip them. They are warm, cinnamon goodness!

Board games and cards

A mug of Snowman soup. (For the UN-initiated this is hot cocoa with marshmallows and a peppermint cane for a stir stick.)

Theme Thursday - Polka Dots

Sweet Spotted Elephant...his polka dots endear him to me. He is a resident on the Island of Misfit Toys in the classic version of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. Elephant also was the distinguished Bell Hop on the island. His important line in the holiday special is: "Looks like we are forgotten...AGAIN." After Rudolph, Hermey, and Yukon Cornelius spend the night there, Rudolph tells Santa Claus about the island. Later, Santa comes to the island and delivers every toy there to a child.

We are all "mis-fits" in one way or another. Thank God for our flaws and inadequacies. What a dull world we would live in if we were carbon copies of one another. We've SO much to learn from each other. I truly believe that there is a PLACE a perfect FIT for each and every one of us. The challenge is... the RISK of actually finding it.

Visit THEME THURSDAY.

WINTER

The least of these...

It is poverty to decide
that a child must die
so that you may live
as you wish.
~Mother Theresa



I am convicted today that I spend money on things I do not need...a mocha latte, the fancy gadget for my kitchen, a second red sweater, more shoes than I could EVER need...


Proverbs 24:12
...once our eyes are opened we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act.

Here SHE comes to save the day!

You KNOW I am a list maker. Watch out!! Step back! Today I have the MOTHER of ALL lists in hand and have determined to check it off in a methodical, obsessive manner that only those who know the joy, the beauty the accomplishment of "the check mark" can appreciate!! The two week Christmas vacation flew by (it always does) and the kids are out the door to their first day back to school in 2010. Were they happy? No. Did they sing and dance their way out the door? No. But did they go? Yes!

Photo from iclipart.com

It is time to re-claim the routine and have some order!
Now, quit reading blogs and get busy!!!

Ring out, O bells! Ring silver sweet o'er hill and moor and fell!
In mellow echoes let your chimes their hopeful story tell.
Ring out, ring out, all-jubilant, the joyous, glad refrain;
"A bright new year, a glad new year, hath come to us again!"

A.H. Baldwin, "On the Threshold," 1889