Something Very Special

Living out in the country is just GREAT! I love the peace and quiet that surrounds you (when the teak wood mill down the road shuts down for the day!); listening to the "Whi-por-will", crickets, and frogs in the evening; swinging on the front porch and watching the breeze sweep through pine trees; catching a glimpse of deer, herons', and other kinds of wildlife; and just living a "slower" kind of life.

Friday morning was a special morning for us; we were able to see and experience something not many people get to see!

Early that morning Collin took some books up to his tree stand hoping to grab a few quiet minutes to read. As he was reading he heard a noise that made him get down and investigate and what he found was amazing!

A Momma deer had just given birth to twins!
I love how the warm brown of his fur contrasts with the white spots!

When Collin came upon them Momma deer ran off and this little guy was left behind. Collin was able to get some pictures of the newborn and left him alone.
Do you see that his nose is white at the tip?

Sayre and I came down an hour later and found him all curled up just sleeping away. He was curious enough to look around and even get up to figure out what was going on!
We left him after about five minutes figuring that Momma deer and the other baby were around somewhere and would come back for him.
Look how his spots seem to be running a pattern all the way up his neck?!

Can you see that his legs are still wet?! To think that we had the priviledge to observe a newborn creature is just amazing!
This is just another reason why I love living out here! To be able to see God's creation and actually experience it like this opens your eyes even more to how sovereign, creative, loving, gentle, and kind our creator is.
I'm reminded of the refrain from the hymn
All Things Bright and Beautiful
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.
I have had this hymn playing through my mind all spring and on into this summer and I think it fits perfectly! I love to sing this hymn to the music composed by William H. Monk which I think the link should take you to.

I hope you enjoyed catching a glimpse into God's exciting creation with me!

Strawberry Pickin'!

It's that time of year again for strawberry pickin'! We used to go every spring when us kids were younger, but we fell out of habit several years ago. This year we decided to make an effort to go "a pickin"!

This was the site of our pickin'. We arrived by eight o'clock and commenced pickin'!
(yes, the name of the town is "Due West" and we're aren''t sure what it's "Due West" of! It's a quaint little college town -Erskine College has it's home there- and I do believe it sells stickers that read "Due West of WHAT?!")

"The boys' pickin"
Momma, Sayre, and I were the only ones from our family to pick, however we did bring along Chelsey, Ezra, Luke, and Samuel Greene who were very anxious to pick their own berries!

"Momma busy pickin"

Chelsey is an amazing strawberry picker! This girl picked two gallons of strawberries in the amount of time it took me to fill my gallon basket up to the top of the handle!!! I'm still not sure how that happened for I was NOT engrossed in other things!!

Samuel was a terrific picker! He kept his mind focused on what needed to be done; but he still managed to have fun!!
He and Sayre are literally two peas in a pod! They sit in the back seat of "The Burb" and giggle over their conversation!

We have saved all of our strawberry pickin' baskets over the years and we have quite the collection!

The boys found several berries that had a green top AND green "fuzz" on the bottom! They were rather odd looking to say the least.

An hour and eight gallons of strawberries later, we were finished! We headed over to "The Pantry Shoppe" so Momma could pick up a bag of wheat and then headed home.
We plan on making jam and strawberry short cake with our berries!! The boys can't wait!

A Look in the Mailbox

There is something special about opening the mailbox and finding a letter just for you tucked among all of the bills, junk mail, and magazines!! A handwritten letter from a friend is something to read and enjoy with the extra bonus of saving it as a keepsake for years to come.
I have exchanged letters with quite a few people over the years, and I cherish every single letter that I have received! Many of them contain challenges to grow spiritually... many are filled with fond memories.... many are just plain old "keeping in touch" letters.... but each one is a treasured memory.

I have found that one of the ways that I can be an encouragement to others or just brighten somebodies day, is to write them a letter. A letter is a part of you, for you have to think ahead about what you want to say and then take the time to write it all down on paper! I don't know about you, but when I receive a letter I feel very "honored" and excited, for it took someone time to write me.

When writing someone I like to use happy cheerful stationary or cards. I have found the "Vera the Mouse" cards to be just what I like to send (and receive!!). This card says inside "Thinking of you!! What a nice thing to do...... think I'll do it some more!!!" Isn't this what we're doing when we write a letter?

Hallmark is my all time favorite source for stationary and cards. They have some of the nicest stationary and boxed cards of all time!
I've had people tell me that they can't write letters for they don't know what to write..... from my own experience on the receiving end, I know that I just enjoy hearing about their life, what they are doing, what they are planning, if we're good friends- what they have been thinking about or struggling with, family life, and the list could go on and on! Don't think "oh, they won't enjoy hearing about what I've been doing"; to coin a phrase, "think outside the box" and you might be surprised at the results!!

Recently, I've started incorporating stamps and stickers into my letters. I'll put a stamp or two on the envelope, and if the stationary is lacking for color, out come my trusty stamp sets!! I have two of Vision Forums stamping sets.... you can find one here, the other here, and the one I don't own here. These are just some of the things that I feel makes a letter more special to receive!
As I once told a friend, "You never know who's day you may be brightening!"

Spring Time Flowers

Spring time is probably my "most favorite" time of year (pardon the bad English). I love watching the buds form and begin to emerge and I love the flowers that begin blooming in mid-February!

We knew when we moved here over a year and a half ago that we were getting a special house with special land! We just didn't realize how special our place was until last spring when we saw all of the daffodils blooming all over the place!

They were in clumps, by themselves, out in the field, in the garden, and in many other places that we had never even dreamed of looking! It's obvious that the previous owners loved the happy spring time flowers!

Amidst the daffodils you will find one or two other spring time flowers. I think that this is a Hyacinth... I think. I don't exactly remember what it looked like last year other than that it was a beautiful purple color! This is the only clump of Hyacinth that we have here. I'm also sorry to say that we don't have any crocus'. We find that very interesting and have plans to plant some bulbs this fall.

There are many different varieties of Daffodils around here. We have the "normal" ones, ones that have yellow petals and white centers, one that have orange centers, miniature daffodils, ones with thin spindly leaves, ones with thick leaves, double daffodils, and I know I'm forgetting some. We literally have daffodils blooming all the way through April!! It's beautiful!!!

I cannot wait to go gather a fistful of these happy flowers for my room!!

We also have these "flowers". They come up in huge clumps and cover a large space of ground. We don't know what they are and since they didn't bloom last spring we are assuming that they bloom every other year!

Here is a close up. Does anyone know what they might be?
Oh I just love spring!!

For Rainy Days...

One of the ongoing projects that I have is building my own recipe book. I've been collecting the recipe's of foods that are a HUGE hit with my family (or that I think are just incredibly good)for several years now, and I finally began to file them sometime last fall.

I really don't have that many recipe's but yet I have enough to need to do something with them!

A Page Out of My Recipe Book
My recipe book is based on my Momma's. She has a four inch think three ring binder that is just chock full of good stuff along with another binder filled with all the "sweet stuff" and "party" ideas!

My All Time Favorite Recipe Cards
I have three different styles of recipe cards (gooseberry patch, lined note cards, and some random recipe cards) but the ones pictured above are my favorite!!! You can find them HERE . They came from Small Meadows Press which is a Home Business that makes and sells stationary and all kinds of good stuff!!! You really need to go take a peek at the website!!! When I get some free cash, I'm going to purchase the Jane Austen Missives which is in essence note paper. I'm always needing to write a note to someone these days!!
I just loooooove the website!!!

Gluing the Recipe Cards to the Paper
I glue the recipes to the "notebook paper" and then stick them under a think stack of heavy books to make sure they are really glued down. I've found that the heavier recipe card will cause the notebook paper to curl up; setting books on top of them causes it all to lay flat.

Other Good Stuff....
My recipe book is not just for recipe's!! I've also collected several interesting articals, thoughts, and ideas/inspirations that are just sitting in a drawer, so why not just include them in my book???

Inspiration

This project gets worked on in spurts and is perfect for those rainy cold days or when I'm not feeling well! One always has plenty of recipes to cull through in our family!!!

ANOTHER Reason Why I Like Fall!

By now, everybody most likely knows that I love fall! The changing of the colors, the crisp air, the beautiful weather, and the cosiness of it are all high on my favorite list!

Well, there is another reason... one that I forgot about until I switched out my summer clothes for the winter ones.

I LOVE my socks!!!!

Fall and winter are when I pull out the knee socks!! I remember thinking several years ago "where on earth do the Bob Jones students get their long socks?". Thankfully, I have found several places that sell knee socks since then!!

I have been amazed at how "put together" I feel just wearing a pair of these socks instead of my normal "gym socks" (which is what I've always worn.). You can buy fun styles or more dressy styles. You can layer under them for extra warmth but but try them without all the extra sock layers and see how warm they keep you!
Our present house gets' rather chilly in the winter. The main floor is not insulated and you can literally feel the cold radiating up from the "basement". By wearing these socks, I have kept myself much warmer than I would have otherwise been. I am amazed at how warm they keep as opposed to the "gym socks" that I wear during the summer!

You can find Knee socks without much problem. My favorite place is Dillard's, where you can find solids, stripes, prints, and polka dots without much problem! TJ Maxx is another place, but they don't seem to have a very good selection at the store I visit.

These three socks are my favorite ones! They are bright and cheerful and make me feel extra happy when I wear them!

I like to wash my socks on the delicate cycle and then hang them out to dry, and hopefully doing this will prolong their life span! :o)

So now everyone knows I'm nuts..... right???!

My Favorite Tea Cup

My Favorite Tea cup is very special to me. Every time I look at it, I am reminded of the time that was spent with my Daddy at the Father Daughter retreat that Vision Forum has each spring.

At each retreat a High Tea is held in place of Saturdays' lunch. These tea cups are a part of it and they are ours to keep. I have four of them and cherish them like very few of the other things I have! There are many fond memories behind these cups which I wouldn't trade for the world!

The cups and saucers' that I have are the "bigger" version of what Vision Forum sells Here. The bottom of my saucer says that it was made by "Reutter Porzellan of Germany". It's not a thick china and yet it isn't thin. I love how it feels and balances in my hands.

I was going to post several pictures of my tea cups in action, but I can't find them and am "afeard" that they are lost. I'd better go do some sleuthing in hopes that they turn up.