Happy Thanksgiving

 Saw a nice prayer in our paper:

Oh Heavenly Father

We thank Thee for the gift of food, as we pray for the hungry.

We thank Thee for the gift of health, as we pray for the sick.

We thank Thee for the gift of good friends, as we pray for the friendless.

We thank Thee for the gift of freedom, as we pray for the imprisoned and enslaved.

May these prayers of Thanksgiving stir us to service, so that Thy gifts given so freely to us may be used to bless other.  Amen

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and stay safe!

Fun Easy Post with Pictures!

I took these photos back in early and mid summer as I laid out stepping tiles and planted grass in between and then got our fountain set up.  

I thought this would be a fun post to reflect back on how much I love spring and summer and how I still like fall, but as the leaves all get brown and fall off and it is all brown and gray outside, and then the darkness comes...yuck not so much.  LOL.  

This area of my yard is between the back porch and our deck where grass is sort of hard to grow because of the shade and because it is high traffic area.  Plus, I knew I wanted to put a fountain here, and I considered doing completely flagstones, but that was going to be too expensive and too harsh looking anyway.  I don't really want to do much landscaping here, because the leaves really get thick in here and it is so hard to rake out of all these corners.  So, I thought these pavers spread out would help with the traffic and minimize the effect of the non consistent grass growing.  Plus, it gives us a platform for the fountain and i just mow over it as if it were all grass.  I think I like it.  I put a groundcover over lining the deck, so it will fill in and i won't have to trim up by the deck, just let it grow.  I can't wait to see how it does next spring after it gets going.  This is the light green moneywort and it is very low maintenance.  Around the edge over next to the patio I am going to get large river rocks and just make a nice border, where i can rake or blow the leaves off easily and it will look nice since we don't have gutters on this side and the rain just drips.  

Oh, how far away spring feels...

 

Work, Work, Work

 So, I am doing ok at my new job.  Finally getting into a routine and developing some systems around how to do my job and be most efficient and effective.  The learning curve was the first couple weeks and now I am settling into a way of working that seems to be working pretty well.  I think I will even come to enjoy it, once I feel more confident. 

Although the money is nice (got my first paycheck), I hope that the mandatory 60 hours a week does not go on too long.  I mean, I have done 60 hour workweeks before - and NOT at home, but it is a lot and gets old after a few months.  We figure with the pandemic ramping up all over the country, we will probably have to continue this schedule through winter, and maybe through spring.

I had a treadmill that I found used.  I used it probably not even 20 miles and it went kaput.  So I ordered and received one from Sams.  It was very heavy in a huge box.  DH and I opened the box in the driveway and took out the pieces we could.  Then we dragged the bottom half of the huge box into the house and down the hallway to the spare guestroom.  DH spent about 3 hours yesterday putting it together.  Today was nice, so i did couple miles at lunch.  I am going to do 2 more miles on my new treadmill after work today.  I have been conditioning so well, hiking and such, i don't want to loose my strength I have built up.  Plus, I still need to lose about 15 pounds to be more comfortable in my clothes.  Good luck during a pandemic!

Anyway.  Just pretty much working and getting my routine down.  On my only day off that I did not have to go anywhere, Sunday.  I raked my front yard and tore down my raised veggie garden.  Then i had a nice long walk inthe sunshine and listened to my newest library book on tape.  Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance.  The subtitle is "A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis".  He is a young man who grew up pretty poor in Appalachia with a mother who abused pain medication and a father he did not know who managed to get through law school and graduate from Yale Law.  It is really good.

Well, I hope all you out there stay safe and aren't running out of TP.  Our Sams was out on Sunday.  Here we go again!

Quick Post

 

Yesterday we buried my Dearest Granny.  Due to Covid concerns, we were limited in what we could do and as it turns out, my Granny just wanted a very limited service, did not want a sad affair.  So, we met just small extended family, and then we held brief but very beautiful graveside.  It is about a 4 hour drive for us, I left at 5:50am with my niece riding with me.  DH went up the day before we our friend, J, from Florida.  He got on a plane from Florida and came just to be with us and help in anyway he could.  His wife had to stay in Florida - she is a busy nurse.  J and DH drove up Sunday to check on J's lake house.  The weather was sunny and beautiful - low 70's.  Today, back home I woke up to high 60's and it go up to 73 before a front moved in and it got cold and dark, windy...pretty soon the rain.  So glad we did not have rain yesterday.  I got some very nice calls, texts, posts and cards from my family and friends.  My husband's family brought by a couple of beautiful strawberry hydrangeas.  I planted them Sunday.  

We were so lucky that our minister from my small town I grew up in was able to travel from his city to perform the service.  He was able to tell nice stories of when he was a new minister and came to our small town, that the 3 ladies on the hill (My Granny and her 2 sisters in law) were his biggest cheering section.  My Granny he was especially close to, because she kept the books for the church.  He has gone on to have a large church in another big city in my 'hometown' state of Missouri and moved on to have an even bigger church in another big city.  He is well thought of in the Methodist church structure.  He and his wife have grown their little family of 4 kids to numerous grandkids, all spreading their wings now.  We were so happy we could do this for my Granny.  We had someone give her service that had known here since 1987.  I know my Granny would have been proud of her family coming together and so that is what I will hold close to my heart, that she is smiling down on us.  

A Very Sad Post

 My very Dearest and Cherished Grandmother died yesterday.

RIP BEL 3/6/1919 - 11/3/2020

Have been so busy dealing with the end of my Granny's last days on earth.  She was moved into her new apartment right next to her daughter end of September.  She fell a couple more times, broke her wrist about 2 weeks ago.  I did not have a chance to get up and see her in the city to tell her about the wild horses and all the springs, like I had hoped.  But once she declined, she declined quickly.  So, after my very first week on my new job, on my day off (Sunday) my sister and my niece drove up to see if she would know us.  She was resting peacefully, but gave signs she might have heard us.  We held her hands and stroked her hair and told her her job here on earth was done and to fly and be free.  We know she is excited to go to heaven and see her parents, sister, sister in law, brothers, cousins, husbands, dauther in law (my mom) and especially her son.  

So, as the entire free world is watching the election results, I am getting her obit finished, her funeral arrangements, her pictures and preparing the picture she painted of me and the afgan I crocheted her to be buried with her.  

Whatever the outcome, be nice to each other out there.