Magic on the Porch

Charming and I were doing devotions on the front porch this morning. It was fairly quiet--not a lot of traffic, but we could hear several kinds of birds about their morning duties. We were fascinated by the shadows cast by our spirea bush, which is sporting tiny new leaves (finally!)

Notice that some of the shadows are smudgy, and seem in the background behind the more clearly "drawn," darker ones. And here I always thought that shadows were two-dimensional. God is more creative than that, fer sure!

We went on to discuss the different shadows cast at different times of day, and different times of the year. And the fact that God chose to create shadows at all. It was really neat to find this little picture painted by the Lord, while we were discussing His word.

Our verse this morning was so wonderful--Hebrews 13:20-21:

"May the God of peace...equip you wih everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ."

This is a prayer I can pray for all of my children, and for myself as well. It was truly "magic" on the porch this Saturday morning.

First Mowing

"The first cut of the year is always the best."--Alvin Fernald:
We had a nice day earlier in the week, and Charming had Alvin *tied to his leg* for the day. They went to the old-fashioned plumbing store, where if they don't have the piece you need, they can make it--good for when you live in an older home. But they bought pieces "off the rack" to fix the leaking bathtub faucet. They also replaced light phosphorescent light bulbs, and then tag-teamed the mowing and weed-eating in the back yard. Alvin got to do both in our (smaller) front yard.

After he finished, we noticed the teeny-tiny doggie across the street, yipping at his front door:

He is about eight or ten weeks old, and should not have been without a collar and leash. So Alvin went across, looking for same, or for open doors or windows from which "Scrappy" could have escaped. No such luck, so he played with him for awhile. Then we remembered another neighbor might have an extra leash, so we used that and secured Scrappy to the porch. When his Mom and Dad got home, they found he had escaped his leash in the backyard. Alvin could not see it for the long grass.

Later, Charming grilled burgers and we had the grandkids and their parents over. Alvin was so, So, SO filthy! After a shower, I sent him to bed. He said, "After this day, I don't think I'll have any trouble falling asleep, Mom."

Truer words were never spoken.

Buried for 25 years...

My brother and his wife will be married 25 years next week. About the same time, my grandmother broke up housekeeping to move to a senior apartment. We were living 300 miles away at the time, so Robin got the bulk of Grandma's sewing treasures. She has shared with me through the years, for which I am grateful. She has always told me about a group of quilt squares Grandma gave her, "and as soon as I find them, half of them are yours." I never got too excited, as Grandma thought that double-knit polyester was God's Greatest Gift to Man, and she made a number of quilts out of that *fabulous* fabric. (By the way, those quilts are still goin' strong. I am always reminded of them when I go to a church camp...but I digress.) In the last month, she has re-done her sewing room, and they finally came to light. What she didn't tell me was that the squares were made by my grandmother's grandmother:
There were thirty of them, and Robin gave me sixteen, and she kept fourteen.

Somehow we always think of these ancient women making perfect, tiny stitches, but the quality of these is not quite "up to par" with that assumption. I don't know if maybe they were made by her in her old age, with arthritic hands. But let me tell you, they make me feel good about my *talent* or lack thereof. My Quilting Motto stands: Finished is Better than Perfect.

This week I made a "gig bag" for my autoharp. Charming bought me this instrument 15+ years ago. It came in a chipboard (read: cheap) case, and within the first year the handle came loose. Over the next years the case has ripped and been taped and re-taped. Not that I even play it very often; it usually comes out only at Christmas.
I was going to throw away the old case at first, but the bag is not the most adequate protection for the instrument, which is pretty heavy, so I kept the case as added security. Here you see the lining, a pretty, vintage-looking blue:

On to another front:

Well, it has been almost a month since we got our new car, and I braved the license bureau to title it and get plates. Indiana is offering an alternate plate bearing the words In God We Trust:

Words to live by, as the trip to the Bureau set me back $387.00 and change. But kudos to Indiana for offering the plate. Might not see this in California or New York...gotta love us *provincial* Midwesterners.

Well, the sun is out again, after a week of 1) four days of snow and 2) three days of rain. Should hit 50 degrees, too. Our poor daffodils--all over town they were laying on the ground. Hope my lilacs survive....more on that later!

Happy Blackeyed Susan Day!

Blackeyed Susan turned fourteen today. This has been a year of great physical and emotional growth for her. More importantly, Susan knows the Lord, which will be the key to navigating her way through the sometimes stormy waters of teenage-hood.

Absent-mindedly, I didn't remember until the night before that I had the responsibility of a birthday cake. Hello. We have celebrated One Hundred Eighty-Seven birthdays in this family already, [not counting Charming's and mine] yet somehow I forgot. How timely that just this morning I read of a very cute, cute cake idea here:

I used fourteen lollipops instead of candles.

Now to the presents! In our family, the privilege of drinking coffee is reserved for those over the magic age of 14, so this was the "morning" gift: Then Daddy and Alvin Fernald went shopping for this baby: Don't fail to note the Cubs-logo baseball.

This gift would have gotten more use if the weather had reached thirty degrees here. Hello--April?

Susan assured herself of full family attendance at dinner by choosing Steak and Mushrooms for her meal. Her older brothers marveled that they had chosen things like hot-ham-and-cheese sandwiches and pizza when they were coming along the pike. Can Susan help it if she's a little more savvy than they? I think not.

Susan finished her wonderful day by having brother/sister friends overnight. She and Alvin and they played cards and Apples to Apples till about 11:30 pm. It is now 1:30 am and they are still talking in their sleeping bags.

Good. Maybe I'll have a little time for myself in the morning.

Yo-yos are taking over!

I've spent a couple of nights making yo-yos out of 30's reproduction fabrics:
Here are a few more of the fabrics. I need several more, but not to worry; I have a rubbermaid tub-ful:

These little wheels are addictive--just a few minutes to make, and they all look so-o-o cute. I'm using them for a future project.

Spring break here--where the deer and the antelope play children are not heard from, from morning till dark, and the skies are not cloudy all day the weather has been lovely yesterday and today, but will drop forty degrees by tomorrow, and maybe snow on Friday...