A Quick Check In

Our lifestyle has changed since my husband of nearly 50 years had a serious stroke in May 20019. No more running out for groceries when I want to. He can't be left alone and we have to rely on our two adult daughters to help out when we need them. We really do appreciate their efforts.

I've been busy taking care of the hubby who can't care for himself and preparing for Yom Kippur. I thought I would drop in just to let you know I am planning on continuing to post on this blog.

I've been taking an occasional online art course now and then from various teachers. The following photo is of a handmade art journal I recently made from a course I was taking called Playing With Fire on JeanneOliver.com.

And I finally took some time to paint the view of the house next door.

This the first I've painted since my husband came home from the rehabilitation center in August. Maybe some things are back to being normal again.

I'll be back to post soon about what else I'm up to. Life is a challenge!

Another Season In Life

The last time I posted was over two years ago. Since then my husband suffered two more strokes. The last was the worst and affected his mobility and speech.

This is a whole different ballgame. We never thought when we were in our twenties we would ever find ourselves in this situation. Life is full of surprises. Whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger, but enough of that. It's time to resurrect my blog.

Because I'm my husband primary caretaker and I have little chance to interact with others, this is my way to have contact with other people. Thank the Lord for the internet. Now on to my post.

The outside temperatures have gotten cooler. The goldenrod and and wild asters are starting to bloom. And I find myself starting to "nest".

That is I feel like nesting. But...there are too many chores to do outside and wrap up those before it really gets cold outside.

I had such big plans for my garden this year that never materialized. Maybe next year. I do have time to place the blocks around my new raised garden bed and get it ready for next season. and then there is the necessary weeding to clean the veggie garden for next year, etc..

I'm in the middle of stripping a small side table. My plan is to paint it and tile the top. I have another table waiting in the wings to refinish along with two dining room chairs. There are always more projects waiting to be planned.

It took me over a week to complete writing this little bit. Next time I'll have more to share and I hope it won't take so long to blog.

What A Month

I was going to title this post 'what a week' but I haven't posted in over a month, er the title stands.

So, you ask, what have I been doing? Let's see:
   1) Studied for my finals for my Bible college class. Took the final...made a stupid mistake and only got 99.68%. God is keeping me humble, I guess.
   2) Went sketching with a friend on Wednesdays. Last week we sketched at a local public fishing hole.

   3) Tried to help hubby get his garden tractor unstuck from the mud more than once. Went down in the mud on my knees 2 or 3 times this last time...Very undignified! Gave up and he got it unstuck himself.
   4) Finished piecing another quilt top. I must have been mad to try this one. It required 3 L-shaped set in seams. Auugh! But the good thing is that I got those seams right the first time and didn't have to tear them out and do them again. Victory! Will put it on the quilting frame to work on this winter.

   5) Also started to do some art with pastels. Lots of fun. I'll share some in the future. Haven't taken photos of  them yet.
   6) And of course, blocks for another quilt top are on my desk.

Bye for now.

Budgets, Quinoa, Pinterest And Maybe A Lawn Sale

On budgets, first the background:

   When my husband suffered a stroke in April of 2015, six months before his planned retirement, - Don't fret, he's recovered near perfect again and we're very grateful - we were very close to paying off the last credit card and putting savings in the bank. Plans change. He was forced into retirement early and a new budget came into play. Needless to say, it has been more of a learning experience than  I wanted but learn I have.
   We both qualified for Social Security so we at least had income, although short of which we were used to. However, we have managed in spite of household repairs this year that had to go on credit. Furnaces and refrigerators don't break down in the best of financial situations. 

Now, the present:
 
   With making standard bill payments, the only area of the budget that can be juggled is the food budget. One can get quite inventive. This morning I put some hot water in a jar of molasses to dissolve the contents in the bottom and used the resulting liquid along with more water to cook a batch of quinoa. Some raisins and a pat of butter was added to the quinoa. Yum! Why didn't I think of this before? Reminded me of Maypo cereal I ate as a kid. Now if I can just figure out what to do with that package of chia seeds I bought a while back.

    Mind you, there is plenty to eat in the house so we aren't going hungry. We just have to think outside the box. It's like playing a game.
    Pinterest has a boat load of recipes that boggles the mind so I've been adding lots of recipes to my boards to try out.

And lastly,the future:

   Finally there is better weather forecast for this week so we can finally have our lawn sale. Unless,of course, if the weather doesn't co-operate!
 
   Thanks for visiting. Hugs!

  




    
  

Another Restart

I've been so neglectful at tending to this blog. Perhaps it's time to post again. I realize that I really miss blogging so I'm giving it another try.

 It may be that I've lost followers because of my inattentiveness. I may have also lost contact with those followers because Blogger no longer issues their blogroll to follow. Bloglovin was clogging up my email with things I didn't want to read so I stopped accepting emails from them.

And I'm not the only one slacking off. I've noticed that most of the blogs I follow haven't posted very often either.  In fact, I decided to cease following some.

On a brighter note, I noticed on my stats on this blog that I had almost 400 hits from Pinterest viewers last month. Cool, huh? So, I'm trying again to make a go of my blog.

So you ask what have I been doing since I last posted in October? My answer... quilting, sketching and not much else. Oh, this is bad. Maybe I'd better think of some new projects.

I can't post this without some pictures to share. First a local spot that an artist friend and I went to sketch.

Fort Brewerton, Brewerton, NY

Plus last fall we had a flock of turkeys visit our yard and I got a few photos.

Hopefully, we're having a lawn sale next week (if it stops raining long enough) but I hope to post every week after that for the foreseeable future. Thanks for visiting and come back to see what I've been up to.

Back For Another Round

It seems that we've just blinked and August is over. Did I sleep through the last three months? And what did I do with my time?
   1. Planted my vegetable garden. Harvested my garlic and continuing reaping sauce tomatoes and            beans. A few summer squash, zucchinis and tasty asparagus Beets and carrots are coming along.
   2. Had a lawn sale...starting to downsize in anticipation of a future move. What did I need all that
       all that stuff for anyways? You know what they say..."Use it or loose it."
      what they say..."Use it or loose it" And I found more to sell  afterwards and planning another sale
      for next summer. More to downsize.
   3. Continuing my Bible College courses. Sent for what I thought was a Hebrew language course.
       Surprise! It turned out to be a Biblical Hebrew course. Not disappointed. I love the challenge!
   4. My art buddy and I are continuing to sketch on location when the weather isn't too hot. And
       and hasn't it been this summer?

Across the River

Gazebo at Central Square

Last week we took a day trip to visit the Golden Paints art gallery and store in New Berlin,NY. On the way back home we stopped in Sherburne, NY at the Rogers Enviromental Education Center. http://www.dec.ny.gov/education/1831.html
We didn't have time to go through the whole park but we did take time to get some interesting pictures. Here are some of mine.:

That's a whole lot of lily pads!

Maybe these fish thought we were going to give them lunch.

The water was so clear we could see lots of fish in both ponds.

I'd love to go back and spend a day just exploring that place and sketching, of course.

The weather is cooler than it has been so I'm spending the afternoon outside playing with my pastels...while my unfinished quilt continues to glare at me as I walk past the doorway.

Happy Rosh Chodesh!

     

And Here I Am Again!

My last post was only 9 days ago. If I can manage to keep posting this often I will consider my return to blogging a triumph. I'm still trying to get more into a routine but, alas, the veggie garden calls and I have to dodge rain, heat and weeds. (Didn't I weed that area just this morning? Well, they're b-a-a-c-k  before 6PM) The tomatoes are looking happier and the beans are up. However, my pepper plants were not thriving (the wind last week left them looking like they had been weed-wacked) so today they were plucked out and replaced with much happier plants.

I've been out and about this past week looking for things to photograph. A friend and I went to a local village to sketch. The object of our sketching was the lighthouse in the following photos. This is located near the mouth of Oneida Lake in NY State.

You can see a little bit of the river on the right side of the picture.

I won't show you my sketch but I plan on doing a watercolor painting of the lighthouse soon.

I also spotted a stand of pretty flowers at the edge of the wooded area.

Have a great week and, God willing, I'll be back sooner than later.

LET'S GET THIS BLOG BACK UP AND ROLLING

It's not that I wanted to neglect blogland but distractions come and distractions go. And since life's distractions are in a lull, blogging has come closer to the forefront . At least, I'm going to give it a try again. So what have I been doing since my last post in October?

I've just finished up my Bible college class for this semester. Got 100% on my final and doing my victory dance! With that major item out of the way, my next class doesn't start until July 10th. So I have 5 weeks of playtime. Of course, there is always housework, cooking and working in the veggie garden but I think I can find time to play in blogland.

I'm still working on the quilt I shared in a couple of posts again. All winter I kept putting it off but have started quilting it again. (Yes, I am further along on this but I haven't a new picture of it.)  I figure that if I spend at least a half-hour a day on it, I'll be able to get it off the frame and on to the next quilt top in short order. I have two more tops to quilt and then I'll be putting the quilting frame up for sale. Hand quilting anything bigger than a wall hanging takes too long for me. I'll be quilting-as -you-go on the sewing machine for quilts in the future.

I've gotten my camera back out to use. Would you believe I forgot how to use some aspects of it? Duh? Had to get the manual out to get the instructions.

While I hunt out some new subjects, I leave you with a couple of pictures taken last year of the wildlife in my yard.

Twins!

Have a happy day and thank you for visiting.

Some Different Art

I think I might be able to get back into regular blogging again, now that cool weather is settling in and the thought of that white stuff covering every inch of ground is something I'm trying to avoid. The garden bed is ready to plant garlic tomorrow. And with the last clean up of the patio clutter, I'm beginning to get that 'nesting feeling' again! That means more cooking, baking and creating.

If you've been following this blog for anytime, you would know that I love to create, be it quilting, making art, crafting, etc.

Last summer an artist friend and I played with wax painting. This is a new medium to us and we started out with inexpensive supplies such as leftover mat board, beeswax, crayons, etc. These are what I did in the summer of 2014.  Remember, this was just play. I wasn't trying to create anything recognizable, just trying to wok with something new.

Embellished with ribbons and findings.

What to do with that odd earring.

Shells and cheesecloth.

And this was this summer's endeavor:

Alcohol ink and glitter embellished.

Alcohol ink and gold leaf. I placed a ribbon hanger on this one and it hangs on a hallway wall.

Quilter Activated Again

Hi Everyone! Did ya miss me? It's been a busy year.  My dear husband is still on the mend from his stroke last April and is permanently retired now. It's been an adjustment not being on a upside down work schedule for both of us, a new chapter in our lives. And next summer, oh do we have a honey-do list for him to work on around the house and yard.

And as for me, after more than a year of not quilting, the quilts have been calling my name. We disposed of our spare bedroom set and that gave me the space to set up my quilting frame again. The following pictures show my latest quilt project, a quilt top that had be languishing in a drawer for untold years. There is another, larger one awaiting it's turn on the quilting frame too. And then there are the unfinished UFOs. shall I go on? LOL

This is just a teaser post. I have more to share...flora, fauna, art projects and whatever else I can cook up. I love all of you who follow my blog. It's good to be back in blogland. Hugs!

It All Started When...

You probably wondered why I hadn't posted since March. I have no excuse for the time period between March 17 and April 15 of this year. Perhaps it was lack of motivation or creativity taking a vacation. Or I was still suffering from the doldrums and hadn't found my 'Spring' wings yet.

Now back to 'it all started when'...  First my husband's car developed a steering fluid leak. To the repair shop and a $2000 bill later.

Second, a bird flew into the roof vent for our stove hood and apparently got stuck. It could be heard off and on for 2 or 3 days making a racket, then silence. It must have escaped because there has not been any bad smell coming from the stove hood. 

Third, the worst thing happened. My husband Jerry suffered a stroke. He spent about 3 weeks in the hospital but he's been home now for a week and is well on the mend. The doctor was surprised and pleased at yesterday's office visit because my husband walked into the office...no wheel chair or walker to assist! We are praising the faithfulness of YHVH for carrying us through this!

I came home from the hospital at 1 AM the first night Jerry was there and drove through deep puddles in our driveway. Yep, you guessed it. Something happened to the wiring in my car and the dome light wouldn't go out. If something wasn't done, it would cause the car's battery to drain. And I needed the car to get back to the hospital in the morning. Panic! Who could I call at 1 in the morning to fix it? Again, asking Heavenward, the idea came to take the light bulb out of the socket. Whew! I'm not the mechanical type so this was a major breakthrough for me. LOL

And lastly, while hubby was in the hospital, the thermostat for the furnace stopped working. 

You know that saying 'stop and smell the roses'? Well, it's too early for roses in our area so I'll just show you some spring flowers from my garden.

I forgot I planted these. These minis are about the size of a quarter.

One of my favorite sights in the spring.

 Hugs to all my followers. I won't be so long in posting next time. Have a great week!

Who Doesn't Need A Touch Of Spring?

Well, it's raining right now and the snow is slowly melting. The driveway has turned into mud and even though that's very annoying (muddy boots and all) at least we can see some bare ground again. The squirrels have chased the birds away from the bird feeder so it has been removed until next fall. This winter we were entertained by the antics of the different birds. The sparrows and wren can get pretty feisty with each other just like human siblings. They all claim the birdseed as their own. We were delighted with the cardinal population this year. At on point we had 2 females and 4 males out there at the same time. And quite often there would be at least 3 males showing up all at once. I'm sorry I didn't take pictures but every time I got near the window the birds would spook.

However, the geranium cuttings I took last fall and brought into the house have started to bloom. I guess that will have to hold me until the spring bulbs make their entrance.

I just heard a roar and looked up at the window. The rain has stopped and the snow is at it again. Sigh....

Hugs everyone! Have a great week.

Good News And Something Green

I told you in my last post that my desktop PC had serious problems and crashed and burned. Upon further inspection my husband-computer-greek-fix-it-man found that a connection had been dislodged and tangled up in the cooling fan. Ahhhh! An easy fix! Fortunately no files were lost. Whew!

Since I can't find my garden under all that snow to work on, I decided to work on my houseplants. The shelves were cleaned and the plants revitalized. I have a small tabletop fountain that we found was leaking and needed repair so it didn't make it into the following photos.

This is a nice spot in my kitchen to drink coffee and admire the greenery in the morning.

I closed the curtains so you wouldn't see the snow!

A shelf of succulant plants.

And finally, I', thinking about seed starting for the coming gardening season. I'm giving my veggie garden a rest this year but plan on growing a few tasty things in pots. And since I won't be fussing with the veggies this year I can catch up with the weeds and revitalize my perennial beds.

 

  

What Are The Chances?

What are the chances that my laptop battery was on it's deathbed, and one day after ordering a replacement battery, my desktop PC's hard drive crashed and burned? Yep.... 100%!!!!! My laptop is enjoying it's new battery so I'm catching up on internet stuff. Unfortunately, I have no idea how many files I've lost on the PC. :-((  I still have most of my pictures but all those bookmarks I'd accumulated are probably toast. Sigh.

Okay, now for the project I didn't post last week. I promise this is the last snowman project I'm doing until next winter. This project came from a Create and Decorate magazine from 2004. At the time this was published, I was into primitive style decorating. I figured this was an appropriate project to end my snowman posts with.

It appears we've had 4 to 5 feet total snow in the last few weeks. And the wind has been brutal. Winter is really getting old in a hurry so next week I'll be posting something spring-like. As you can see, my snowman is eager to get out of this weather too. And I have it on good authority that this snowman won't melt.

Until next time...Tootles my friends!