Not a Creature Was Stirring....(apologies to Sweet Sharon)

Cats and their perches.
Around our home and especially our neighborhood, their perches can be just about anywhere. Neighbor Cats insist that I have need for a new cat since the demise of  Miss Kitty last spring.  Do cats, like hobos of old, mark the house as 'Suckahs'?  Do they know that they only cats I've owned have been those that adopted me? I keep looking for a banner, a 'serving number 53' device by the back door, or some cryptic carving informing all of Catdom that I could be swayed. Nevertheless, my garden, my outdoor wicker, patio furniture will, on a good weather day, be upholstered with the finest of Cat personages.  Mostly unknown to me.  They will even look at me, annoyed, that I would even question why I should disturb them.  I started leaving them alone long ago.  I have accepted that foreign cats will decorate my yard, porch and patio.  The hanger ons will go pretty predictable for awhile, then out of the blue, I find a ball of fluff in the least likely place.  Ditzy Stella has a record for the Craziest Cat Perches Ever.  Indoor and out.  This week Stella has approved of the newly installed Christmas Tree and it's silky skirt.  She has spent a good deal of each day this week in this exact position.  Last night, whilst Blogging, she was actually snoring.  Good ol' Stella.

However, unlike my feline buds, roosting in one place very long is not on my agenda this week.  Tomorrow, Miss Vivie calls me for a week of hijinks and conversation in her nearly two year old communicative way.  Mimi is abandoning the calls of the Pre Christmas Sewing Room to a higher call- helping Eldest/Admin for the week.  Packing for the week long trip includes extree things IN CASE a certain other Granddaughter decides to make her appearance and Mimi needs to greet her.  Ah, the blessedness of being needed by BOTH daughters and granddaughters at the same time!!  Tough, huh??!

So this blog shall take another rest while caregiving and fun and frivolity take place, followed by prep for Vivien's First Christmas at Mimi and Papa's.

Welcome December!
We have been waiting a l-o-n-g time....!!

Possibilities

Every now and then, an opportunity presents itself to open your heart and your life.
Often, there is great risk in that and in my years, sometimes it can end disastrously.  But I am usually never disappointed in the process.  It is a learning curve, a self revelation and when it goes well, an opportunity to expand your borders.

Such is the joy of finding a New Daughter.
Pretend Daughter Kris and Her Hubby and the Two Pretend Grandboys came to visit this past weekend. PDK is a friend of Eldest/Admin via a Bradley Class almost two years ago.  E/A was new in town and opened herself to the new opportunities of friendship to this quiet, funny, wise, mama-to-be. Their personalities were completely complementary yet what started conversation, were the bags that E/A was carrying.  Bags that I made for E/A and bags that PDK would know, that if her mama was still on this earth, she would be receiving from her.  The more they chatted, they could see that their lives ran a bit parallel and their interests perpendicular.  The more E/A talked about her mama and PDK hers, it seemed perhaps slightly, wildly impossible that they were twins, separated at birth.  Tiny little details were eerily similar and we knew that we had to meet.

It's been close to a  year since we met and our relationship has taken on a life of it's own.  E/A smiles knowingly, that it would happen.  She knew that we would 'get' each other, and in her daughterly graciousness, has 'permitted' to share her mama with PDK.

This past weekend, PDK and most of her little family came to visit.  Without E/A.  Just two new friends, separated by a generation and joined by interests and fate.  Two people geographically separated by miles but connected closely by God's Sovereign Hand.  When I am with her, I feel closely related to her mom and feel privileged to bring her love, by God's grace, into her present.

Our relationship is special, warm and connected and there is no reason that we should even know each other except for the love that God has for us.

This weekend was golden.  We enjoyed getting to know each other better.  We loved enjoying our similarities and our wonky sense of humor.  And sharing our families with each other.

It is a rare, crazy kind of thing, but it works.
Expanding your borders.....Give it a try...

Artful Fun

Am I rare or do I have an unusual collection of artistic friends?
As I started to document the original art in my home, I was pretty surprised at the amount. And I see it every day!
Maybe it's because once they start to create, I set out to beg and borrow (have not stole...yet) pieces of their unique work.
I just love it.
Go ahead. Ask your people for pieces of their art. Offer to buy it. It is an encouragement to their craft and your home will be more friendly and warm because of it.
Peruse My Gallery of Talented People That I Happen to Know.

Below is two pieces of art that my incredibly prolific and talented friend who just happens to be 90 years old, created. She painted these for me years ago and she was a mere 81. And they have stories to make the gift more precious. Christmases ago, I coveted a grand amarylis at the grocery store. Candy cane; vibrant red and smelling like earth in the midst of a cold grey December. Sadly, the budget that year did not allow such frou-frou, especially for oneself at Christmas time.
The very next day that I saw the beauteous bloom, what should arrive in the mail but the top painting in the photo below! A candy cane amarylis that would not fade or cost me my budget. It was an amazing gift from my dear, dear friend who could not of possibly known, or had the time to create it, in time to answer my heart's desire. A God-thing.
The second art gift from her, the painting on the bottom, is one she sent us the year that we had moved away from her. How could she possibly know that the centerpiece of our community is our lovely state park, Spring Mill, home of a still functioning mill. I gasped when I unwrapped it. It was like she had seen it for herself...
Precious things...

The pencil sketch of Baby Girl as a Baby Girl was done by my incredibly talented and wonderfully diverse son-in-law known as Baby Girl's Hubby.
He labored over this likeness for quite awhile and I believe he won an award for it at an art show at the high school.
This one I did beg him for.
And he graciously gave in.
Thank you my dear renaissance, intelligent, loving and talented Son In Law!

Years ago, before budget cuts, our lovely library had many extracurricular activities for dabblers like me to take part in. I took a concrete garden ornament class, poetry, financial planning and my favorite, Oil Painting.
It was incredibly fun and full of drawing, sketching, painting information taught by a local artist, David Fields.
Every time I look at the two paintings below, I smile remembering that fun 8 weeks of discovering a new artistic outlet.


The next three pieces came from a young friend that I have known since she was 6 months old. You can visit her new artistic endeavors when you click on her blog, KroStudio. She partakes in about every crafting/art venue that there is including writing her own knitting and crocheting patterns. A genius. I did indeed beg the original print of her fruit study and she added a print of the companion just to make me happy. At the time, her mama didn't even possess one of her originals. :D
She also does these amazing pencil studies. She sent me this budded hyacinth in rememberence of her mother's vast collection of hyacinths, tulips and daffodils in their front yard, two doors from us for many years.
The landscape was a Christmas present several years ago. She knew from being a little girl down the street from me, that I love to collect art. She was one of the little artist that frequently had artwork taped to my kitchen walls...



I do not care how rare art is nor do famous names impress me; things like this little piece just warms my heart in it's careful elocution of the tiny, tiny pieces of paper. Baby Girl did this little ditty in junior high and it's one of my favs.
I can just picture her clipping the tiny pieces and carefully placing in the right place. It's that kind of detail that makes her so good with graphics/photos today.

And Eldest/Admin has an artistic side to her that runs through her, deep and detailed. She made this oil painting in a crafting project with some friends years ago. I love the color and size and textures. Eldest/Admin keeps her color palette pretty subdued and classic, but inside she is so these colors! Eldest/admin is effusive and detailed; great combination!

Tomorrow: Crafting in Your Home!!

Report from the Sewing Room

Baby Girl saw my vintage towels/placemats and "ordered" (demanded? requested strongly?) a set of placemats for her newlywedded apartment. I found a favorite flannel blankie that BG and I had used for nappy time during our homeschooling time whilst going through garage sale things a few weeks ago. Knew it was destined to become something memorable. Ta Da! Baby Girl's Memorable Nappy Placemats!!
An order for five bags has me day dreaming of varied designs. Pictured is a more traditional bag. You like?
And what is this mess? This, my friend, is what happens when the Eldest/admin/organizer Daughter is absent for too long!!! It is the hub of my creativity but sadly out of control. Organizational day is needed...But four more bags are calling.....
Nothing worse than getting 'a look' from my 'loyal' sewing companion. Even she seems put out that 'her' domain is slightly off kilter....Okay, okay; I'm working on it....!
And off I go....

Recipe for a Perfect Weekend....

1. Take one wonderful hospitable home that belongs to Eldest Son and Lovely Wife. Enjoy the peace and beauty of their brick bungalow nestled in a quiet area of Indianapolis...
2. Find a new pizza place nearby with New York Style Pizza. Order the 20" large, everything pizza. Make sure you order bread sticks and cheese bread because Eldest Son is a hard working man and Lovely Wife has had a long week with third graders. And Hubby and I haven't had a good dose of carbs in quite awhile.....

3. Get ready for two other sibs and their hubbies to come. Sleep well, eat a good breakfast, clean off the patio and get the badminton set out (you know the one; Jeansteffe gave it to us 20 years ago and it was OLD then! Make sure you get to several garage sales before Vivien and her parental units show up. Grab amazing deals at the sales and try not to fight over vintage towels....

4. Play hard. Relax and replenish at will. Make sure the young bucks are not picking on hubby and cheating at croquet. Make sure the games that Eldest Son and Vivien's daddy and Baby Girl's hubby makes up does not involve hitting croquet balls with badminton racquet's.

5. Catch up on some knitting and interacting on our wonderful Vivers. So, so good to have our Long Lost Landon from Lafayette visiting....New York was far away and the summer was different without him...Welcome back, Landon....

Take hubby to the fabric store quickly for some patterns, one that involves a new winter coat for Miss Vivie...

6. Eat well. Ciabetta prosciutto sandwiches on the grill made by Eldest Son. Tomato Salad by Hubby. Sweet potato fries by Landon. All on the patio. Beautiful day, wonderful evening. Ice cream and brownies made from recipe from a fellow blogger. Sit around. Chat. Catch up. Bathe Vivien. Make her giggle like crazy. Laugh, laugh, laugh.

7. Go separate ways, to all our respective homes. Some of us with agendas. Some of us meandering through the Indiana countryside on an unbelievable September Sunday. Maybe an apple orchard. Or two. Whose counting?

8. Wrap up with a one of a kind cherry apple cider shake with free popcorn.

Serve warm, serves many, lasts forever........

Weekend Moments

They come sparsely, family moments, these days...

But when they come, we grab them and cherish them for all they're worth.

Thus was this weekend with all four kids and one spouse (and, of course, Vivien) came to visit.

The hour and a half that we had together went quickly and planning had to be done so that it was good.

My husband pulled out all the stops and made his famous Italian Beefs for us. Our garden complied so we had tomatoes for his equally famous Tomato/Onion/Cucumber salad. The planets lined up and we all were able to sit down and enjoy a wonderful lunch provided by Dad.

Too quickly, we were all full and things called us to other responsibilities, but the Golden Hour when we can all feast together was a remarkable time.

Family Feasting.....Lovely...

Baby Girl's Home!

Two years ago, Baby Girl, my youngest, was home from college and contemplating her future. Last year, she took us all on a whirlwind of two visits to Africa. This past winter, she married her best friend of six years. This summer, the two of them have spent in Brooklyn, NYC, whilst her hubby pursued his internship for his major.

And today she is home for a nearly weeklong visit before settling back in her college town with hubby.

And I am in mommy heaven.

Having my two girls home, with grandbaby, and second son and awaiting first son's visit this weekend with his lovely wife, fills me with such a mommy joy, that it's hard to express without lots of sighing.......

Lots of cooking, special request menus, lots of porch and garden time and LOTS of talking!!! It's what we do, what we love and how we are wired.

And it is good.