Good Days .....

     The weeping cherry tree is ready to bloom.. Full of buds.

   We went to Emma's house to give her a birthday gift. You can see she is almost as tall as me.

    Here's an awesome little gift she received from her parents. It's a polaroid camera.

   I know those cameras are nothing new to us old timers....but look at the cute little wallet sized photos it takes.  Emma was in heaven. I bet she snapped every photo with her friend and cat.  She's having a trampoline party with her girlfriends. I guess there' are  places like that now where people can go pay to jump around.. Next thing you know we will be paying for a drink of water...LOL 
   We had a slice of birthday cake, that was reserved for anyone coming by to visit. It's not the official cake....what the?? who has more than one cake ? These kids are killing me.

   We had a lovely visit. Short but sweet. This was the sunset at the end of our Monday. Pretty.

  This is the way the sky looks this morning. Oh happy day, the sun is to shine the rest of this week.  We have plenty to do to keep busy here now.  So I better get going.  Wishing everyone a good day, try to be happy.  XO

Growing....

   Happy Birthday Emma Pooh... Look who's having her 12th birthday this week. We have done crafts since about the time she was 6 years old.

   Bringing the mail up to the house. She put everything into learning to ride her bike .

   Emma's a lover of pets. She has a dog, cats and chickens. But loves them on posters too.

  This is Sam the dog. He and Emma are pals.

  This girl loves her papaw....she is papaw's girl. They like to tell each other anytime they see a Palomino horse, "Any palomino is a pal -of-mine-o."

 This is Izzy the cat. Emma's all time favorite cat.

  She has already been a bride's maid.  This is at the her sister's wedding.  Emma's birthday is this week. Papaw and I will be visiting with the family tomorrow. So she will get her gifts from us then.. You all know I give people money...let them buy what they like...saves my feet and also saves money...if you grandparents know what I mean.  LOL  We are some times easy touches. :):)
   Cloudy today but warmer, I'll take it. The sun yesterday melted all our snow. Starting today it's suppose to be warmer and  30 something at night. Hooray. Maybe I'll get those pansies done.  Wishing all of you a sweet Sunday.  XO

A Gift & A Surprise.....

    My daughter Kathy, made this beautiful scarf for me.  A gift .  She and I saw this style at a fair once. They were selling for around 20 dollars.

   It's made with ribbons, lace , and fancy fuzzy yarns. There's  also  strips of  thin light weight  material,

   Gather your choices of things and tie with bits of ribbon.  You can make these any length or color. I think I will see if Kathy can make one in blues and grays. I am going to wear this tomorrow when I go to my classmate brunch. Our brunch meetings will be starting up again since winter is over. Or is it???

   Yesterday morning we had sleet mixed with little flurries. It was doing this on and off all day.

    Till late afternoon , early evening...the skies cleared for a bit and looked like this. So promising.

 Surprise !   Then last night we had thunder snow. Yes, lightening and thunder while it was snowing. Ted's attempt to sweep the porch. Ha !

 The backyard looks like this right now.  Snow covered.  See the blue tarp ? It's some doors Ted has brought home to help make a shed out of the little patio roofed area.  It will be a potting shed for me.
   Hope all of you are staying warm...you know where spring has yet to arrive , or has and disappeared . Later next week, we will be in the 60's again. Yes !! XO

Up North.....

   Honk ! Honk !  Out of the way Sunday driver !!   :):) I am half afraid to pass these Amish cars.

 Some back roads you meet them coming and going.  This is Amish farm lands.

   I just feel in love with the shed at the Essenhaus Hotel. The water wheel has a small pond under it and I think a pump will have water flowing over the wheel in warmer weather.

   My daughter Kathy on the foot bridge near the hotel.  This is a very well cared for frontage.

   Geese in this bigger pond. A wee covered bridge in the distance.

   Sorry this is as far as my lens will bring the bridge into view. It's that red splotch. LOL

    This barn is near my daughter's house. I love it.  It is pretty in every season.

   Yikes...it's Jack and Sam...the  barking beagles. Quiet boys !! I think they can hear a can opener  a  mile away.

   This is at the back of Kathy's house. It's one of her flower gardens. This one is a beach theme. The little house is for the cats.  Kathy has some very pretty places to plant and putter in here.

  This old bench is made from drift wood.  There's raised veggie beds around the corner.

  This is one of Kathy's views from her yard. It's a water channel off the St. Joe river. Lots of pretty birds around here. Kathy is absolutely wild for birds. She feeds them too. :):) OK , no more pictures of my little get away to my daughter's.  I just wanted to use up all my photos.
  Wishing everyone a great weekend.  Hope your weather is warm. XO

More Photos ......

  I will say I loved this shop.  More from the outside. :)  The bottom floor had lots of  silk flowers and small decorating plants.  Shelves of knick knacks. The upper floor had furniture.  I will tell of this one table. Made of recycled wood (rough finish, looked like an old garage door) painted white, big and heavy...it would take ten men and a mule to lift it, asking price $1900.00  I told Ted, "we are in the wrong area".  Ted has made some beautiful things of wood and all together never made this kind of money.

  This is the shop called , "The Clothesline". Very cute name.

  This is inside that shop. I was amazed it was selling clothing that I would associate with a beach resort.

  This is a basic t-shirt style. Pretty and artsy looking.

  I will apologized to anyone who owns a small shop....I think this is over priced. Now I may be saying this since I have sewn clothing and know how basic this style is to make. I don't think it was a one of a kind.

  This is in the aisles(lobby) of Das Dutchman Essenhaus.  Outside all the eating areas are displays of every kind.  I really like the big display cabinet.:)

  This is a cute and clever idea for a kid's room. It's made of wood but in the shape of school lockers.

  Another big display cabinet loaded with china and home decorating items.

  The colors were so pretty. I wish I had bought that lavender dish on top of the stack.

 This platter was so prefect. The little stand that is holding it is made of metal with a leaf and a bird in front. Sweet. I have a few more pictures of the grounds for tomorrow.  Speaking of the grounds....the grounds keepers we saw were Amish women in the dresses and wellies, digging the flowerbeds and removing sod. I am not used to seeing women gardening in dresses and bonnets. Nothing new to these ladies I am sure.
   Hope all of you are staying warm here in the Midwest. I some of you are well into your spring with warm days. We should be by this time next week.  Enjoy today. XO

Middlebury, In.........

     Ted and I went to Kathy's today to pick up my camera. I was afraid the battery would need charging on it once I got there...thankfully it didn't need it. We got up early, drove the by pass to get to hwy. 20 near South Bend.  We pick Kathy up at her house and took her to lunch here.  Das Dutchman Essenhaus.  It's a huge complex with many buildings. This one alone is full of shops and restaurants.

  We  sat in this section , to order off  the menu, instead of eating family style serving. This is a view of the counter. The place was full of tables for every number of groups. A family of ten sat next to us here.  We ate lunch, walk and shopped the other buildings and came  back here for pie. (snack)

 This is Ted, he looks kind of tired.LOL Too much shopping. But he was rewarded with praline pecan cream pie. Kathy ordered coconut cream. I ordered a glass of water and ate about 3 bites of Ted's  pie and Kathy's.  Trying to not eat so much sugar.

  This is one of the buildings we went into. It really is like an old cabin.  I had Kathy pose in front of the signs in this next picture. She looks like she's going to start laughing.

                          I liked these  dishes with birds on them. Blackbirds.  You can see a bit of the wall.

      Here's a couple fake bears...so cute. Looks like mom bear and little bear.

      Lots of things with birds on them, cutting boards, cups, coasters, towels and trivets.

    I really like the saying on this towel, find your happy place.   I took more pictures I'll post later.  I sure was glad to have my camera back with me.  I  missed my camera when I wanted to take photos of the snow on Saturday, the sunny skies on Sunday. Our weather has gone back to winter.
    Hope all of you are doing well. I'll be visiting soon.  XO

More Things Blooming....

   The neighbor's apricot tree in bloom. The wind has blown the blossoms all over, making it look like it's snowing out.  It's the first tree in bloom around here. Our redbud, weeping cherry and crabapple are getting ready to bloom out.

    In the parking lot where the framers' market will set up in a couple more months.

   A flowering tree at the Kemp Methodist Church.    This is the church that plays bells at noon and 5:00 in the afternoon.  I love hearing them.
   .  We are having rain, wind ,and chilly temps. Today I went to lunch with my daughter and her son. It was a nice time, even though Jake had to get back to his job. This was my daughter's spring break from teaching. We did get a few hours together on Monday and about an hour today. We used to go to the movies at least once when she had break.  School will be out in a couple months...so we will have many fun times together then.  Can't wait.
   Wishing all of you a wonderful weekend. Be safe. XO