HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY !

Love is patient and kind;

love does not envy or boast;

it is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way;

it is not irritable or resentful;

it does not rejoice in wrongdoing.

Love bears all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things...

so now faith, hope and love

abide, these three; but the

greatest of these is Love.

--- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Another postcard from my Grandmother Rachel's stack.

She would have been almost 10 years old when

she received this in 1910....good grief 100 years ago!

I finally got some items listed in my Etsy store and have sold several this past week ! Please take a peek. I should have started a year ago, but as many of you know my health has been up and down. Now that I am on the mend and feeling better I want to do everything that I have postponed, but I still need to go easy and take each day as it comes....

HAVE A LOVING WEEK AND PASS ALONG
A BIT OF IT TO ALL YOU MEET!
XOXOXOX

Thanks Mary Rose !

Happy 101 Blog Award

I received this nice award from my friend Mary at:

http://www.isabellascloset.blogspot.com

Now I am suppose to list 10 things that make me happy:

1. My husband Mike
2. My cat Pansy
3. My family, especially my In-laws
4. THE BEACH!
5. Disneyland
6. My dear friends who put up with me
7. Flowers
8. Christmas and Halloween
9. Crafting
10. Coffee drinks and a Lemon Drop Cocktail :o)
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Ask thyself, daily, to

how many ill-minded

persons thou has shown

a kind disposition.

--- Marcus Antoninus

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Another of my Grandmother's postcards

HAITI BY HAND

Hope for Haiti. I woke up yesterday morning to this lovely rainbow outside my bedroom window. Hope, such a word. I finally finished a project and have donated it to an Etsy site dedicated to raising money for the people of Haiti. www.haitibyhand.etsy.com run by Rebecca Sower. Such a touching story and inspiring woman. Rebecca had returned from Haiti just the week before the earthquake! I can't imagine how she feels. Please go to her blog and read her story www.rebeccasower.typepad.com I didn't know Rebecca before this happened. I found her blog by clicking around other art blogs. I am glad I did. There are many wonderful items for sale and 100% of the sales will be donated to the relief and rebuilding efforts of Haiti by Hand in Despinos, Haiti.

This is what I made and it has given me the push to finish my other projects too.

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Good Blessings to you all!

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE !

We can know that the goal

of life is to open out a way

whence the imprisoned

splendor may escape.

--- Eric Butterworth ("Celebrate Yourself!")

(I posted this sometime in 2009, but I think

it bears repeating, at least for me.)

This postcard is addressed to my Grandmother Rachel back in Dec. 1910, 99 years ago! Her full name was Rachel Arizona Albertina Bryant! Hence "Zona" for short. She would have been 9 years and 9 months old. It comes from a stack of my Grandparent's postcards that I am lucky to have. It is addressed to "Dear cousin", which would make the sender my cousin as well, but unfortunately I do not recognize the name or even what the name is!


Well here we are on the eve of a new decade! How exciting is that? (VERY!) I am thinking back to 1999 and how the future century seemed kinda scary. Yet here we are 10 years later! Although I know how much tragedy has taken place, and of all the challenges we think we are facing now, we really only need to trust ourselves and God's Grace. Each one of us really knows what is best for ourselves (and ultimately our world) if we are honest and look within. Listen to your intuition! It is there for a reason. We each have everything we need to know right within ourselves. God.

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HAVE A SAFE AND WONDERFUL EVENING

WHATEVER YOUR PLANS ARE!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

Beware of things that

go bump in the night!

Are these just the cutest kids you have ever seen? Yesterday was Lakeport's Halloween parade which features school kids 5th grade and younger and the high school band. (part shown below)

I will be spending Halloween evening with my sister and nieces and nephew gathering lots of candy!

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

ORGANIC PRODUCE TO BUY

If the country life be

healthful to the body,

it is no less so to the mind.

--- Giovanni Ruffini

1807-81

Do you buy organic produce? I hope the answer is a big YES! The above chart will show you the best produce to buy organic. Almost everything we eat is organic. I'll have to think about what isn't organic.....hmmm...... what I just purchased today that isn't organic is a liquid called "Creme de Chocolate" by HerbaSway. It is caffeine-free, calorie-free and instead of sugar it is sweetened with stevia. It is sold as a supplement, but I am hoping it will take care of my need right now for chocolate in a coffee drink! For 3 weeks I didn't have any chocolate or sugar, finally breaking down a week ago yesterday and having a bit of chocolate cake and then 3 days later a Mocha Frappuccino. Boy were they both good! :o) I am suppose to be on a no wheat, no gluten, no sugar, no yeast eating plan as I am healing from Lymes and a co-infection Bartonellosis (cat's scratch fever) I have been trying not to eat wheat (well, occasionally if I go out :o) for close to 5 years, but gluten is another challenge. What are the grains with gluten? Barley, Rye, Oats and Wheat. I remember by the acronym BROW. I had been eating an organic rye sourdough bread by French Meadow Bakery and although it has gluten, it had no wheat or yeast and was recommended by a friend, but then I realized that it does have a sourdough starter which may be a type of yeast so I actually made my own bread yesterday! I probably spent 50.00 on ingredients as I looked up several no wheat, no yeast, no gluten recipes online and each had different ways of doing it! I will post my recipe in my next post. It didn't turn out too bad, but still no substitute for the real thing! :o)

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HAVE A RELAXING EVENING OR DAY!

3 MONTHS HAVE GONE BY

Enjoy your own life without

comparing it with that of another.

--- Marquis de Condorcet

Well here I am! I can't believe it has been 3 months since I last posted and I wanted to get a post in before August ended. I was going to recap since June....actually since April/May, but will do it over the next 2 weeks. I have lots of pictures to share for anyone who cares. Has everyone been pausing this summer to enjoy the little things? (or big for that matter)
The above image was sent via email from my sister-in-law Terri months ago. I love pansies and the beach so isn't it perfect?


My attempt to photograph this lovely butterfly. I don't know if it was a Monarch or Swallowtail, but it was sure fluttering about that day in June.

These were my little skunks that I think were born under one of the sheds. There were 4 of them + the mother. What was funny was they were out and about during the late morning and early evening hours while it was still light! At first I was concerned they were rabid and I was afraid I would encounter them as I fed one of the feral cats, but they pretty much stayed by the sheds. I think that since they were young they didn't want to go to sleep when they should! They were so cute and silly. They would play "fight" and bump up against each other sideways with their beautiful tails straight up in the air.

Although they were cute, thankfully I haven't seen them since the first part of July.

Isn't that tail beautiful? Oops, I just deleted the other skunk pic...darn! I will show in my next post.

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These were the last of the sweet peas from the farm stand we got our pumpkins at last autumn.
Since I had several challenges with my health this last spring (more on that later) I totally forgot about them.(I don't know how I could have) Last year, I went by a couple of times a week to pick my own. I had so much fun! They were only 5 cents a stem and I bought dozens and dozens of them each time. The row was long, running north to south in all colors. I barely got these by the time I made it over there. Can you smell them? They are one of my favorite flowers! :o)

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The rooster. A story for another post. Enough said.

Ahhh.......the prettiest eggs in a rosebush in my in-laws front yard. This was taken the end of June and I just put my camera up in the air and pointed down and was lucky to get this lovely picture! My mother-in-law told me they hatched 3 days later and were gone before they knew it. She said it was hard to get close to the nest for a picture as the mother mockingbird would dive bomb them whenever they got too near.

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HAVE A HAPPY DAY!