Mimi and Papa Go Spoofin' and Nestin'....

 [Down here in Southern Indiana, we don't find much need for the 'ing' ending in most words.  When we first moved here, we thought that perhaps a moratorium had taken place on the ending without us knowing about it.  Now, twelve years later, we have packed away the 'g' and are happy just spoofin', nestin', drivin', visitin' and lovin' the adorable Miss Viv.]


This past weekend, we did just that.  We headed east to the Big City and toward our Very Near Due Darling Firstborn and her Fun Family.  We knew that we had some final touches on the As To Be Yet Named newborn's room and some extra Mimi and Papa time with the  the Soon To Be Older Sister.

 Few things Hubby and I enjoy more than dawdling in the countryside en route to our Grand baby of the Weekend's house.  We keep our eyes peeled for garage and estate sales and always are interested in old signs that may or may not lead us into an adventure.  This weekend, we came across a most interesting church/cemetery.   A beautiful church deep in the country with a graveyard that was positively ancient.  Burials from pre Civil War times.  Headstones ornately carved.  Stories reeling in my brain as I read the inscriptions, Hubby and I promised to return there some other time when Miss Viv was not waiting.... 
 
 We have a favorite near half way stop to Cincinnati called White Front Cafe in North Vernon Indiana.http://www.whitefrontcafe.com/.  Tasty and cozy with a great bathroom (important for highway travel, right?), we usually stop there either going or coming home.  This time, Hubby suggested that we take in some of the interesting little shops around the cafe that we didn't take the time for before.  (Perhaps the accident spurred him into some indulging? :D)  Anyhoo, we sauntered and puttered in and out of the shops including the incredibly cool  Redneck Hunting Store where Hubby purchased ammo for my new gun.  Seriously.  The shop is a compendium of every thing useful, funky, vintage and weird.  The proprietor, a friendly chap, welcomed us in and invited us to look at his 'specials'.  Truly a  must revisit.

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Onward  we go. 

 Eldest/Admin is a rosy 37 weeks preggers.  She is glowing and smiley and absolutely prepared.  Even though she really did not need us to come, we really just had to.  I had to see that burgeoning body one more time before we get to greet the newborn.  I had to see that smile and that round belly one more time.  So while we were there, it seemed like we should do something useful so we set out to pillow sewing, sand box playing, dinner making and ice cream buying.  You know, the important things.  Miss Viv's tiny hands were very adept at stuffing the pillows for Baby Sister's Room.  Her mama is very adept at nearly everything else.  Wonderful Man, E/A's Hubby, cleaned and cleaned his garage, cleaned a ceiling fan and prepared New Baby's car seat for installation.  E/A worked on a nursing cover as we all formed our own form of Nesting.  You could almost see the twigs fly and the the crack of the little eggs in a nest, it was so tangible.

After a hard day at work/play, we said nitey nite with our little buddy snuggling up between Hubby and I.  Miss Viv fell asleep while Papa read to her while Mimi bathed.  I woke up in the night to find her Jessie perched on my head.  Chuckling to myself, I placed Jessie back where she belonged, right in Miss Viv's arms.

The next day flew by as all the tasks wrapped up and the beautiful Sunday was used up.  Mimi and Papa took a deep breath as we departed, knowing that the next time we arrive, our numbers will be added to and Miss Viv's world will be altered.  That wonderful bittersweet time, that last month with the Only before she becomes the Eldest. I can still remember that month for me with E/A.  I remember a day in the park, lying on the grass, wondering how in the world I was going to get up, while I listened to Hubby chase teeny E/A around, flying a kite and causing a great amount of giggling. I remember tears running down my face as I thought about the changes coming; ours prepared, but little E/A -not so much.  Much like this past weekend - so familiar and so dear....


We meandered home, quiet and wistful, enjoying the sunset, metaphorically and realistically.
We stopped for tea and ice cream and sighed some more....


The journey of parents,young and old, blessings from Above......

Eternity Considered

It started out in it's usual lovely way.....

Faithful Friend and I have a standing once a month 'date' that has been going on for nearly five years.  Both of us are busy sorts and family focused so once a month is about all our schedules can handle.  You can bet that we both look forward to it when the day has arrived.  We are prone to send each other humorous text throughout the day, letting both of us know how eager we are to see each other.

We go to a lovely restaurant that requires us to journey a bit.  As you can expect, the time flies as our mouths ramble on and on about how our lives have been doing since our last meeting.  In a blink, we have arrived and we are seated by our servers that know us by sight now.  They also know that we will stay there for nearly three hours, (we have offered to pay rent) and that we like dessert later than right after the meal and that it is important to keep our beverages filled.  (To servers: we wouldn't stay there if there were people waiting, We make sure that they get to close out our bill.  We tip very well.....)  We love it there.  We bring our(my) journal, daily and prayer, and go day by day, remembering little updates as we tick off the calendar. Our families know that short of an emergency, these nights are sacred and we need to be left alone.  Period the End.

We are tough on each other.  We can get away with nothing.  If we sense maudlin fussing, it is put to rest.  If we sense whiny reflections taking up too much time in our lives, we nip it in the bud.  We applaud each others victories and joys and weep with our sorrows and disappointments.  Come to think of it, our restaurant server friends probably enjoys us being there just for the entertainment we must provide.  FF knows my weaknesses and assists me in them.  We both know our histories and take each others daily life in light of it.  

You can imagine the overwhelming jarring that occurred to our bodies, emotions and spirits when we found ourselves fishtailing on a state route on our way to my front porch.  Our conversation was stunted and our voices found screams as our vehicle was slammed at a 50 mph force from a very large truck, unwilling to slow down for the approaching railroad tracks.  We grabbed each other assuring each other that we thought we were okay.  We are so complementarly different, that, of course, we responded completely opposite.  I jumped out of the car with the best fight or flight I have ever managed.  FF, on the other hand, froze.  She could not, would not move, which is of course the right way to handle a rear ended accident.  As I sat in the ditch that we were perched on, hopelessly looking for my cell phone, the driver of the Big Truck approached me, asking me if we were okay and why we 'stopped' on the tracks.  I know that this will come as a big surprise to most of you, but I stared at the man and I asked him (loudly), 'Why didn't YOU?'  He could tell it could get ugly and retreated to his truck, reparking it and resuming his cell phone textingathon. (This is an assumption on my part)  Once I found my phone on the floor of the car, and found my ever present notebook and pen, I started out to his now parked truck, seeking accident information.  I was once told that when I get mad, my eyes turn red.  I believe they may have been flaming when I saw the look in his face.  This very tall man, in a very big truck, looked at me when I requested his name and insurance company name and seemed a bit frightened.  When he said he would tell the officer, I stared him down with my flaming eyes and I said (loudly) 'I want your name and insurance company and I want it NOW'.  He quietly acquiesed and mumbled his information.  I thanked him. I can be pushy but I am always polite.  He did not understand that you do not damage my most faithful loving friend and her vehicle without having to pass by me first.

By this time, the paramedics had arrived and encouraged me to take a seat and let them do their thing.  By that time, the adrenalin, of which I own plenty, began to cause my body to tremble beyond  description.  Poor FF had a devil of time trying to hold my hand with all the shakin goin on.  But she persisted.  Only when we where separately taken on crash boards and put in cervical collars, did we part hands.  The paramedic kept telling me, 'You have to trust us while we get you on this board.  Trust Us.'  You have to understand: I trust very few people.  You have to go through a significant process to earn that trust.  However, it was in the way she said it that made me completely succumb to her care.

  It was once I was firmly installed on the board on the stretcher, taped and strapped in the middle of State Route 60, that it hit me.  The only thing I could see was the vastness of the early spring sky in the country.  The stars were amazing and clear and plentiful.  I heard nothing spoken nor siren or discussion, I merely stared in awe at the  overwhelming beauty of the heavens and the order of it all and the Creator that has each star counted and name.  With that power, I knew that I was in good Hands.

X-rays have been taken and read and proclaimed nothing broken. Obvious aches and pains remind me that yes, indeed, I had been hit by a truck.  Faithful Friend took more of the impact as you can see in the photo, the left side having been hit harder, and she is struggling with her discomfort.  We both realize, that in the light of how terrible it could have been, landing only several feet from a used car lot with many cars lined up and a precarious ditch that could have caused us to roll or even the fishtailing that we did, could have landed us in  oncoming traffic.  Oh, so many scenarios, that it makes our discomfort seem silly.  We are very thankful people.

Which brings us to Good Friday.

What if.  What if it was different?  What if we were devastatingly damaged?  What if we died?

Say I died.  What would have happened to this shell of a body and my spirit?  Does it just evaporate into the cosmos or reconfigure into a frog?  Does it enter the geology of the earth become more carbon?

I'll tell you where this particular body/spirit will go...

Because of the events that happened on this day, Good Friday, over 2000 years ago, my appointment with eternity was sealed by a humble Man who took on it all; all the punishment that I truly deserve for my immoral, hateful, murderous life, so that I can dwell in a heavenly, holy place for the rest of eternity.  My soul, of which I am, my body just decorating it for my stint on earth, shall dwell in the presence of my Creator, Redeemer Lord.  I am told this in His Holy Word, words that have survived milennia and are as meaningful to me as they were to the people mentioned in it.  Truth.  By which our morals, our laws are all based on.  Absolutes to guide us all so that society does not run willy nilly.  This is the God that I trust on for my eternity.  And I have searched for others.  In my early twenties, I studied the Tao de ching under a Kung fu master.  I read Lao Tzu.  I studied Tai chi ch'uan, enriching my qi, for power.  I danced with hedonism that nearly killed me.  I know from which I speak.  I did not inherit my spirituality.  My parents were absent from spiritual things for a long time and certainly didn't nurture it in me.  This was my own educated journey.

How thankful I was for that journey when the 'peace that surpasses all understanding' guarded my heart and mind on that crazy night three days ago.  I cannot tell you the overwhelming peace that I carried in my heart that night staring at the heavens, knowing without a doubt, that if things had not been so benevolent in the accident, that I would be completely ready to meet my eternity.  Knowing that I would stand in the presence of My Creator without carrying the stain of ALL my sins upon my soul, because, my Redeemer, Jesus, on that horrid cross, nailed it all on Himself.  I stand before my God, spotless and pure because it has all be paid for.  What Love.  

What if your wrong about your eternal appointment?  What if the anger that you have toward men has leaked into a relationship with this same Redeemer that I speak of?  It is never too late.  Do not wait till you are strapped onto a board, a gurney, a stretcher, a highway till you rethink your eternity.

'Trust Me' 

Difficult words for our mortal souls...

Trust Him.

What do you have to lose...?

Garden Exchange Extravaganza

Well. 

 This wonderful fifth season, Sprummer I call it, has produced one merry March.  Watching lilacs, iris and peonies bloom and blossom this early in the year has truly been a phenomenon that leaves us shaking our heads and tsk tsking over what April and May perhaps will look like.

The excitement of the early blooms that bring peonies and red buds budding at the same time, reached the interest of our Gardening Exchange.  A garden tour in March has formerly been unheard of but we gardeners pay no mind to the calendar when it comes  to admiring the bounty that this March has brought forth.

 Gardening Gail jumped on the Garden Tour bandwagon for the season by hosting at her home last night. GG is located on a well traveled corner of our little community and she is known for the floral displays that she affords us all in most seasons.  I could not wait to see in detail all the floribunda that I had been admiring in my car as I passed her home.  I was not disappointed.  The colors, the textures and the aromas of the first blossoms of spring filled my senses and creative tank.  I asked GG if she if ever could remember lilacs in March and she stated that she thought it was a first.  Gardening Gail is a timeless, I presume octogenarian, and I trust her memory to affirm what I already suspected: This Has Been One Crazy Season.  First, no winter to speak of and then, the earliest of bloomery in recent memory.

 Gardening Gail will tell us the real name for the flowers that she produces and the history behind them.  I know I should write this information down, but in the midst of the tour and the oohing and ahhing over each distinct, beautifully designed flower (thank you God!), I just never get around to that helpful detail.

 I did, however, photo document most of the varieties that were on parade last night in their Sprummer finery.  To be around a group of women obviously so enthralled with this year's display of God's artistry, well, it certainly was a lovely diversion from the cares of the world.....


GG certainly knows how to keep us coming back, providing a feast for the eyes then a yummy sandwich supper complete with homemade bread and two desserts!
See what I mean?

 Feast your eyes of Gardening Gail's lovely garden.  If you need to know a name of any of these, I can find out for you.  Go ahead; give me another excuse to visit GG's expansive yard again!

 

 Lenten Rose, Hellebore

 Lenten Rose in it's early color.

 The richest, most fragrant lilac I have ever encountered.  We all just pulled down branches and breathed deeply.  Heaven must smell like this...

 A small fragrant white lilac...

 This beautiful pine stands guard over the the yard.  It's strong lines called for sepia.

And I finished with the beloved dogwood.  I just read the legend of the dogwood this week.  The legend says the the wood used for the cross of Jesus was a strong tall dogwood.  After using this wood for the deadly deed, the tree was cursed for ever growing large and tall again. And to remind us every Lenten season, it's flower would be in the form of a cross; four petals with the tinge of 'blood' on each side.
That is the legend.  A good reminder of the season as we look on in awe the beauty of the season.  Thank you Father....






                                                 .........................................................






(P.S. I brought along a photo of my Crazy Wild Wisteria to Garden Exchange.  After giving it it's proper due, GG proclaimed that we should all go over to my house to see this beauty.  The evening wore on and as we prepared to leave, GG shot up and said, 'We need to leave now to see the wisteria!'  We gathered our things and shot out of the door, eager to beat the sunset....In the blue gray light of an early spring sunset, we gathered by my pergola to stand in awe of the amazingness of it all.  A wonderful finale to a wonderful evening.  Twelve years ago when I planted the wisteria, and a few years later when Hubby built my pergola just for it, I could never have envisioned the lovely annual treat that God had in store for me.  Surpassed my wildest imaginations....Thank you Lord.....)

Bippity Boppity Boo!

There is a wizardy vibe to sewing.  There is something magical about putting fabric, patterns, notions all mixed together and coming up with a useful/decorative 'thing'.  
There is something positively, benevolently, magical about Upcycling.  


I have dabbled in this mystical craft for some time now.  I have loved cutting the heck out of a holey orange sweater just to make a play carrot for Miss Viv.  I have hacked into a wool blazer to get the purse that waited within.


But this time, I outdid my crafty little self.  Humility (ahem) aside, I had some help.  I had the invitation from Crispina ffrench crispina.com at Alchemy Initiative alchemyinitiative.org, and fellow contributor to the book Mend it Better menditbetter.com, to create a wearable fashion item for her event at Alchemy this coming Earth Day.  I had Younger Son's favorite shirt that he had just donated to my 'I Wanna Be Something Else' stack of old, used up, no longer wanted pieces of clothing that had too good of bones to totally discard.  I had the design influence of Baby Girl.  I had the referral to a Pinterest pinterest.com pin from Eldest/Admin for this crazy good blog, http://dee-construction.blogspot.com/ to help me wrap my mind around this plunge into designing a woman's light weight sweater from a man's V neck pullover.


I told you it was magical.

Here is YS's fav shirt.  Or it was.  He just laughs when he sees it in it's reconstruction.  I cut out the little piece that laid between the v neck.  Didn't need it.  I found a pattern for a knit top that I have made three times; I know it fits and it has simple lines.  I cut the sleeves to a tidy three quarter length. I started cutting strips from the length, YS, after all, is a 2XL.  These strips, I knew had to be ruffles.  I knew this from another blog that Pretend Daughter Kris shared with me. http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/2010/01/tutorialruffle-shirt.html#?m=1.  You can see what a group effort this has been.  That's been part of the Magic....

Believe when I say that I had no completed vision when this started.  It seemed that every time I cut into the shirt, a new aspect of it's transformation revealed itself to me.  Truly.


Part of the reason that YS had to ditch his favorite shirt, was a small hole that had formed right smack in the front and center of the shirt.  Simple for me!  I just cut the shirt up the front, cardigan style and did away with the scourge.  Wanting to make the style a bit softer, I rounded the corners so the line of the ruffles, (now around the neck) could be accentuated.  Having ribbing around the v, made a perfect backing for the ruffle. And because it was a knit shirt, edges do not have to be finished.  Lovely.


Using the pattern pieces from the top pattern, the sleeves and the front, I was able to cut out, from this ample top, the right amount for the new sleeves and to carve out just the right shape for the armholes.


I was concerned about the color.  Good, manly color, but a trifle too....boring...to make it as a girly ruffly re do.  It was then that BG injected her opinion of putting in some color in the seam in the sleeve.  The next morning, I was looking for a light weight 3/4 length (I try to avoid revealing the 'flap' that comes with regular T shirt wearing.  You know what I mean.) T shirt in my drawer and since Summer clothes have not yet been unpacked, I had to settle on my beat up ol green shirt that had definitely seen better days.  The few hours I wore the shirt, I kept thinking, 'this color green will go wonderfully with the brown!'  Bingo!  Double Upcycle!!  Score one for the old lady!!

As I was cutting up the old T shirt into long strips, I realized that trimming the New Girly Sweater with the Green T shirt would be absolutely great!  So I did it!  And it was!  And once again, I did the happy designing dance!


The trim down the front did away with the question as to how to hold the cardigan together; I simply elongated the trim pieces into long ties.  Simple bow - little ruffles - curved bottom: = feminine fun.

As you can see, I got a bit carried away with the green trim.  But I like it; a little funk with the feminine ain't bad.


Thought you'd like to see YS wearing his fav shirt before mama got to it with her scissors and green accent t shirt material....Baby Girl's smiling because she probably knows that someday she'll own YS clothes- transmogrified by mama and her posse.....!





So it's off to the Earth Day Fashion Show Dance Party and Clothes Swap in Pittsfield Massachusetts for you, my fun, feminine, funky upcycled friend!!  


Enjoy your new life!!!