The fiber show was okay. We ran into some friends and talked for a long time, so that was fun! Not much in the way of roving. I did get some really nice Ashland Bay Merino and Silk mixes, but the dealer was anything but nice. Met up with Pat Bullen, though, and Mom and I ended up driving to her place on Monday. I get most of my roving from her, so it was a good time to stock up. I always love going there! Big rolls of wool everywhere --- and in tons of colors. Well, better get to dinner. More later.
The weather here over the past two weeks has been great. Some rain and thunder storms, but the days in between have all been perfect. Dad and I have gotten a lot done in the garden and the yard. Today was overcast in the morning, so I took advantage of it to go out back and weed the Iris bed. We moved it down behind the shed last year, and I've been working at weeding it on and off. Well, with all of the rain that we've had in the last several days the weeds had really grown! So, I took my trusty hand tool, gloves and two bags of mulch down there . . . and here is the finished patch: When it comes to inside pursuits (of the fun kind!), I've been getting a chance to work on my Prince George scrapbook. Thanks to friends around the globe, I have quite a fun collection of magazines and clippings from the Royal Tour to put into the scrapbook. Not to mention that I was able to get a lot of clippings on eBay that includes the covers and articles for every "People" and "US Weekly" magazine that George has been on since his birth (missed one in the photo). There are magazines from England, Australia and the Spanish "Hola" from Miami! When Mom and I walked into the grocery store the other day there was a Collector's Edition US magazine for "Prince George's First Year". Had to get that, so you'll see it in the center. Photos of finished pages to come . . . but I think that I have a bunch of fun evenings ahead of me! Aside from scrapbooking (which has actually been on a back seat this week), Elizabeth and I have just been having a blast playing Carcassonne. I know that I mentioned that in a previous blog post, but I can't remember when. We had gotten the game in January from the little game store that comes into the mall at Christmas time. It was the last one left and on half price, so we figured that we'd try it. Well, we just got around to opening it a couple of weeks ago --- and we LOVE it! We've played it almost every evening. After looking it up online, we found that it has quite a number of expansion packs. That worked great, especially as I had Christmas money burning a whole in my pocket. So, we found a lot online of most of the expansions, and it arrived this week! The two of us finally got a chance to play some of them last night and had tons of fun. On Saturday, Mom and the two of us went out to the flea market at the fair grounds and the fiber show. Got some fun stuff at the flea market, particularly, a British Women's Land Army pin from WWII! Wow! I've been keen on the WLA for years, so it was really fun to find a pin. And it is in really nice condition.
The fiber show was okay. We ran into some friends and talked for a long time, so that was fun! Not much in the way of roving. I did get some really nice Ashland Bay Merino and Silk mixes, but the dealer was anything but nice. Met up with Pat Bullen, though, and Mom and I ended up driving to her place on Monday. I get most of my roving from her, so it was a good time to stock up. I always love going there! Big rolls of wool everywhere --- and in tons of colors. Well, better get to dinner. More later.
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Being that this last weekend was a long one (due to Memorial Day on Monday), and the beautiful weather last week . . . we have been able to really get out there and work on the yard. After such a hard Winter, it is amazing how many things appear to have died. Old plants with established root systems, too. Some things are just hanging on (or coming late), so we're not pulling anything this year. We're just planning on cutting a few things back. The plants that did make it, however, seem to be doing very well. The Locust trees bloomed this weekend, and things are just looking great! I took so many photos that I decided to just put up a slideshow instead of individual pictures. So, please have a look! I've had to start mowing the lawn twice a week. Just managed to squeeze it in on Tuesday evening before more rain. Dad was able to transplant my weeping crab apple tree, so I'm hoping that works out well. We've been busy and running all over the place, so I will have to post some more stuff later. Went to some flea markets and have been working on my Prince George scrapbook! Also had a fiber show the last weekend! More later.
Etsy is in the middle of some big changes these days. Another one of those "re-design" periods, probably because the web designers are making job security for themselves! ;) Aside from the big problem that shipping prices are now only shown once an item is placed in a buyer's cart (lousy method), this "new look" is actually pretty nice! I like a lot of things about it.
We are in the middle of fixing up our shop (will be linked here as soon as we're totally up and running). We've put the shop on "vacation" mode, since we are building up stock and . . . going on vacation! Can't afford to pile up custom orders right before we're leaving! So, Elizabeth and I are in the process of finishing the orders that we already have. Here are some screen shots of the shop with the "new look". :) Time flies by --- but we're not having any trouble filling the days. Things are busy around here. We're trying to stay home as much as possible, but we've still managed to squeeze in some visiting with a party at the Keultjeses and a day with Buddy and Kay. Elizabeth has had a cold, but she is finally on the mend. We have had several orders for wool dolls, so we've been working to finish those. We are also working on developing a new "line" of wool dolls. These are going to be 1:12 display dolls on a wire armature with hand-sewn wool clothes, but instead of being "faceless" (like Minikins) they will have simple felted heads. We are working on the third one at the moment. By the time we've ironed out the kinks, they are going to be so cute! Sort of remind me of the nice high-quality European toys that were around when we were little. This has led to some "practicing" of felting miniature heads and faces (I've got a surplus of Poirot faces in various sizes, at the moment!), and that has led to a plan of putting a face onto a smaller doll. That will all be coming very soon . . . hopefully! Last week, Mom and I were able to work in the yard for a whole day. Of course, we overdid it a little and got way too sunburnt --- oops! But we had fun. We are working on moving plants down to the area around our shed and kitty cemetery. Mostly because it is one of the only areas left in the yard that offers some shady spots, and the Locust trees at the back of the house (in the current perennial garden) seem to be dying. It looks like they are going to have to come down in a year or two, so we're starting to move plants now. Mom and I planted a row of Snapdragons and Dahlias right in front of the little cemetery. That turned out really cute (see photo below). In any spare moments that we've had, Elizabeth and I have been playing board games. It started because we went to a fabulous rummage sale at St. Pete's (the local Catholic Church) and bought a used Monopoly Junior. I LOVE that game. In fact, it's the only game that I ever seem to win. So, we spent last Saturday morning on the floor trying it out. Just to make sure that all of the pieces were there, you know. That led us into another board game: John Wayne Monopoly. Cool! You can't beat that one with a stick, and if you haven't seen it and played it . . . well, you should! That led us to going into the big closet and pulling out some other games throughout the week. We found one (which we had played when we were little) that turned out to be long, dull and depressing. Out it goes. But we found another game that more than makes up for that one! The new game is called "Carcassonne". We just got it at Christmas and hadn't tried it. Actually, we had forgotten all about it, as we also had John Wayne Monopoly --- and that kind of over-shadowed everything else. ;) Well, Carcassonne is now one of my all-time favorite games. Elizabeth and I have had so much fun that we keep trying to squeeze in a half hour to get a game in (although, it's had to compete for time with Ticket to Ride: Europe --- another of our favorites!). There are a couple of expansion packs that we'd like, too, so we've put them in our Amazon cart and hinted to Mom . . . just in case she needs an idea for our birthday or something, right?! The cats are being as cute as ever. Samwise had a couple of bad days about two weeks ago. He got some kind of awful intestinal/stomach bug that lasted two days. He didn't look like he was going to make it, but a lot of prayer got him through. Not mention a lot of clean up. Poor little fellow. All seven cats seem to be settling into a nice routine. The Spring shed has started. That is little Beatrice rubbing on my knee as I was furminating her. What a girly! She's the smallest one in the house, and just look at her shed! Boy, she's a cutie, though --- and much better now that she isn't fluffing hair around.
The big flea market at Tiffin is this weekend. Hoping the weather holds out. Means an early morning to get out of here and drive down there on time, but we can hardly wait! More later. |
SAMWISE: MY HONEY-POT
Colossians 2:8:
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. BEATRICE: MY HONEY-BEE
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Edward James Eliot
My "favorite" member of the Clapham Sect. Not very much is known about him, but what is preserved keeps a beautiful memory alive of an exemplary Christian man. William Wilberforce Quote:
May I look to Him for wisdom and strength and the power of persuasion, and may I surrender myself to Him as to the event with perfect submission, and ascribe to Him all the praise if I succeed, and if I fail say from the heart thy will be done. For you Jesus Christ came into the world. For you he lived and showed God’s love. For you he suffered the darkness of Calvary and cried at the last, ‘It is accomplished.’ For you he triumphed over death and rose to new life. For you he reigns at God’s right hand. All this he did for you, though you do not know it yet.
Where there is one, there is a majority of one; and when the rights of the majority take away from the rights of the one, then the many will themselves suffer.
~Henry David Thoreau~ I often think of Bag End. I miss my books, and my armchair, and my garden. You see, that's where I belong. That's home. That's why I came back, because you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can.
~ Bilbo Baggins ~ FAVORITE BOOKS & FILMS
Gone With the Wind (Mitchell) Genesis of a Legacy (K. Ham) Prisoner of Zenda (Hope) Scaramouche (Sabatini) Amazing Grace (2007) Bertie & Elizabeth (2002) Farmer's Daughter (1947) Ride Clear of Diablo (1954) Secondhand Lions (2003) Sweethearts (1938) SCARAMOUCHE QUOTES
He was born with a gift of laughter & a sense that the world was mad. The future is to be read with certainty only in the past. Man never changes. PRIDE & PREJUDICE:
A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment. PRIDE & PREJUDICE:
Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion. WINSTON CHURCHILL ON
KING GEORGE VI "His conduct on the Throne may well be a model & a guide to constitutional sovereigns throughout the world today & also in future generations." "For 15 years George VI was King. Never at any moment in all the perplexities at home & abroad, in public or in private, did he fail in his duties." |