Beep Beep

Once upon a time, in 1984, it was just Jamie and I living in a tiny apartment in an old converted house. It was our first real place, just the two of us. I was 23 and Jamie was 4 when we moved there. We had lived with my parents for three years and they were getting ready to move to Florida. I had been dating Jim for two years and was madly in love. I made the very difficult decision not to make the move with my parents even though Jim and I were not talking marriage...yet. Jim would say that he knew long before this that we would be getting married. But that's another story for another time. 

Every day I had to be to work at 8am and drop Jamie off at the sitter's on the way. Jamie was not a morning person. We finally came up with a routine that worked for us and I would dress Jamie while she still slept, carry her down to the car and she would eat breakfast later.

I don't think Jamie and I will ever forget a certain song that played every single morning on our way to the sitter's house. It certainly did help to wake Jamie up. And we both sang along...

Monday's Musings #5

Monday...Monday...

I had a lot on my mind when Jim and I left to go north a week ago Friday. There were some decisions that I felt that I needed to make about things that I am doing and what better time to do the thinking than when your mind can be empty of  "work stuff"?

Beautiful morning visitors on the lake.

At the cabin, there is no computer access and I have an old-fashioned cell phone. So, I went old school and wrote. Yep, I had a notebook and a pen and I wrote. What did I write? Well, I wrote about the cabin, of course! I loved the writing part of it! All these years it's what I always wanted to be doing, but was always thinking I wasn't good enough or I was waiting for the right time. I want to keep up the notebook and pen writing.

A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.  ~E.B. White

I love to write! It doesn't matter if I'm no good. It matters that I enjoy it.

The decisions that I wanted to make had to do with some things in my life that I thought I should cut back on or give up entirely.
I cannot give them up.
They are things that I love too much to see leaving my life forever. What I need to do is set my priorities straight. That, my dear friends, is my next goal! :-) I will always be a work in progress.

The chickens' first gift to me!

Guess what! My chickens started laying eggs!!! I have collected five beautiful, lovely brown eggs since Sunday! Jim set up a chicken cam too! Isn't that the greatest? I can turn on tv and watch my chickens in their little house while they're settling down for the night. I haven't been watching much tv lately, but this is definitely must see tv! :-) I would share it with you all...if only I knew how. :-(
Oh, and I have to tell the story of how I discovered the eggs:
Jim and Jamie had been doing a fine job of taking care of the girls for me while I was not feeling well. For some reason, on Sunday, Jim was rather insistent that it was time for me to go take care of my chickens. He was really bugging me about it. So out I went, telling Jim that I was still sporting a fever of almost 101 on the way. I talked to the girls who came to see if I had any good treats with me greet me and opened the door to the coop to start cleaning it.
And I discovered two eggs. Jim knew they were there and wanted me to be the one to find them (and he didn't expect me to clean the coop). What a guy. This beats a dozen roses anytime!

Okay, so I've not been feeling well and every time I'm not feeling well I have very strange dreams. I've not been sleeping well either for over a week. Except for Saturday, I've just slept in bits and pieces, but apparently sometimes long enough to dream -
I've never been on a cruise...till last night. I had a dream that I was on a cruise ship all alone. Well, not quite all alone. There were also three pirates and I had to fight them off. I did too. I found that I could render them helpless by a good blow to the shins with a large branch that I had found.
Where would one find a large branch on a cruise ship? Why was I alone? And what kind of pirate is rendered helpless by a blow to the shins?

This is a group picture of the girls from a couple of months ago. They were still just babes then.

I realize that I'm rambling. I guess I have to find a better way to go about writing about random things in my simple happy life...

I am truly blessed. Have a wonderful morning/afternoon/evening (whichever you are celebrating ☺)!

Simple Sunday

This is Nina Alice Gardner
(according to the back of the photo)

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Duker-day...My Trip to the Cabin

My mom and dad took me to the cabin! It's my favorite vacation spot! It's my only vacation spot.
I love it there. I usually get to go everywhere with my mom and dad. That's why they like to go in September...it's not too hot to leave me in the car if they have to go someplace without me. I love it when they go on little adventures and I love it when we just hang around the cabin. Did I mention that I love it there?

The swans were there again. Now, that annoys me because my parents feed them things that they could be feeding me. I like bread crumbs. So, mostly I ignored the swans this trip.

This trip it was all about my blue ball. My blue ball is my favorite toy in the world. Ever since Sosha moved in with us, she doesn't let me play with it. Once in a while she gets put in the house so I can have quality blue ball time with someone, but that doesn't happen often enough.

My dad packed blue ball in the car before we were leaving. And we were leaving Sosha behind. I felt a little bad about leaving her behind...but not bad enough to take her with us.

Here is my take on the long weekend:

For some reason, I found it both entertaining and upsetting to drop blue ball off the end of the dock.
The ball would come close enough to the dock and then I would reach out and pull it closer and try to grab it.
I was successful once, but it was hard!

I would plead and whine and cry and bark for help.

And my dad would say, "Go to the shore, get in the water and swim out to get it!"
He would say it more than once because I insisted that he help me get it.

I was successful. Twice.

Eventually I did swim out to get it several times.
Still, I liked it a lot better when my dad helped.

It was fun when my dad would kick blue ball for me.
I think my favorite was when he would kick it down the hill...

...And into the water. I don't know how many times I jumped in and swam out to get it.
But it was never enough!

We had one day of rain.
My dad took it as a day to relax and rest.
I stared at him like this most of the day.
I would really have had no problem with playing blue ball in the rain.

The day after the rain, it was foggy.
During the swans' daily visit, I noticed that blue ball had ventured out into the lake by itself.
I was a little nervous about going out to get it with those swans right there,
but I was more nervous that they would grab it and take off with it.

I guess I'm getting older and more mature. I just didn't feel like wandering off the way I've done during past visits.
My dad discovered that if he left the back of our car open, I liked going in for a little rest.
I don't know...it felt safe there.
Plus, it was handy if they decided to go somewhere they couldn't sneak off without me didn't have to look for me.

On Our Way To The Cabin...

We made a couple of stops on our way to the cabin. These are "must go" places that we stop at every time we're up north and they're in an Amish area. Our first stop:

This is an Amish owned and run store. Jim can ALWAYS find something he needs here.

On our way to the Amish bakery that we like to go to, we found a new bakery.
So, we stopped here too.

And then we stopped here.

And this is what we bought. Oh, except there was another dozen of peanut butter cookies. They were gone by the time we got to the cabin. I swear I only had two! And, yes, this was just for the three of us (Duke included, of course!) and we shared with the swans. Duke stepped on the brownies so he got to eat the one with his pawprint on it.

The Amish school is near one of the bakeries.

I don't usually take pictures of the Amish.
I mean...I wouldn't want people to take pictures of us as we're driving down the road.
I had my camera out and decided to snap the picture just as the man waved to us.
It turned out pretty good.

**Thanks for all your well wishes! I went to the doctor and am on antibiotics so should be "back to normal" in a few days! ♥

Where Have I Been?

I needed to step back from my blog for a few days. Then, Jim and I headed north for a looong weekend. It was so good to get away to the cabin that Jim's family shares and that we love...our favorite escape.
We had a wonderful time and I was able to do exactly what I'd wanted to accomplish. I read a book, wrote about being up north, and worked on a cross stitch project. And relaxed!
I had made up my mind to come back rejuvenated. Instead, I came back sick. Going to see the doctor tomorrow, but wanted to share this:

This is the view we woke up to on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Not Monday, because it rained. Hey, we can't have everything. It was perfect every other day.

Duker-day...And Getting Away

So, my mom's been kinda quiet this week.

I think she needed to take a little break, but at the same time she's been really busy.

Don't worry!

Everything's just fine.

She'll be back next week. And she'll be ready to write!

Monday's Musings (4)

Is it Monday already?
*No, it's Tuesday. I started this yesterday, but never finished. So, I'm musing my Monday on Tuesday, once again.

• Yesterday - 9/11/11 - I really just wanted to stay home and mourn and remember and just be, but part of me needed to just get out....Jim wanted to go to a large flea market that we visit occasionally. That's what we did. We only bought a dozen ears of corn and an onion from one of the produce vendors. It hasn't been much of a flea market this summer, in my opinion.
• We also ended up a a large antique event. Lots of vendors all outdoors on a perfect weather day. Bought a couple of things. Mostly it was nice just being out doing something we both enjoy.
• I have a sewing machine that rarely sees the light of day. Most of the sewing that I do is mending or hemming by hand. Jamie asked if I would hem some panels of fabric for her to use as curtains to cover the shelves in her classroom. She totally expected me to tell her to get her sewing machine out, but I wanted to do it. A little bit of simple sewing and ...well, I really enjoyed it. Maybe I'll get the sewing machine out more often! 
• Thinking of sewing. I had a lot of hobbies that I gave up during my super busy years and have just not been able to get back into them now that I have more time even thought I really want to!
• This funk I've been in this summer has really drained the energy right out of me. I've been doing what's necessary, but not much more. In the past few days, I have been able to accomplish/finish one significant task each day, plus some smaller ones. Slowly...I'm making my way back.
• Once again, I am behind in my blog reading. As I've done before, I know I cannot catch up, but please know that I am trying to do some reading. Sorry for the lack of commenting lately. Some weeks I find it very difficult to keep up...
• I broke a tooth last week and, because of being on call for jury duty, couldn't make my appointment with the dentist until today. In the mean time, my gums on the other side of my mouth have become sore. Possible gum infection? I guess I will find out soon as my appointment is in less than an hour. I really do take care of my teeth and gums. Old age... :-(
• Jury duty: Had to call every day, but never had to report. That was a good thing! :-)

September 11, 2001 - my day

Jim and I talked about the details of the day on September 11, 2001 and he said, "You need to write this down. You remember so many more of the details that I've forgotten."
So I did.

Ten years ago...I was 40 and Jim was 43. Jamie was 21 and three hours away at college. Jon was 12 and in seventh grade.

September 11, 2001 was a perfect autumn day, or at least that must be what I thought as the sun came up. In those days, I woke up way before sunup. Jon's school bus came at 7am. My mind was focused on the busy day ahead. As soon as Jon left for school and Jim ate his breakfast, I started making my contribution for the Boy Scout Court of Honor/Cookout that night. We were having our first Court of Honor for the school  year and it was a accompanied by a cookout in the city park. Every family brings a dish and mine was tuna macaroni salad. A scout in the troop would also be receiving the highest rank in scouting that night. He was to become an Eagle Scout. Jim was Scoutmaster and I did a lot of the behind the scenes work. It was a very busy time in our lives.

Our business was also extremely busy ten years ago and it was unusual for Jim to still be in the house at that time, but we had a funeral to attend that morning. The father of a good friend of ours had passed away. Instead of being out on the job already, Jim was spending the early part of his morning in the office doing paperwork. He was listening to a radio in the office. I remember later thinking how out of the norm it was because he had brought his small radio into the office to catch the morning news. He usually didn't listen to the radio in his office. But then he was very rarely in his office on a weekday morning.

I had finished making my salad and it was safely in the fridge so I could cross one thing off my long to-do list for that day. I went into Jim's office to see what he was doing. Quite often when he was doing paperwork it was passed onto me to convert into an invoice or well log for a customer. Within a minute or two of being in the office, the mood of the news on the radio had changed and they began talking about a plane having crashed into the World Trade Center. I think that they first reported that it was a small plane. Jim and I decided to go into the kitchen and turn the tv on. This is one thing that is vivid still in Jim's memory - just after we turned the television on the second plane hit. I remember saying, "How can this happen? Two planes?" Jim answered, "It's a terrorist attack." I couldn't wrap my mind around that. We watched the tv, in shock, as we continued to get ready for the funeral. We saw the first and then the second tower came down. All during this time, we began hearing conflicting reports of other attacks. Of a plane hitting the Pentagon.

Somehow, we went to that funeral. I don't remember anything about it. I think every person there was in a daze. We didn't go to the luncheon afterwards. We drove around a little talking about what we should do. I wanted my family with me. I wanted Jamie to come home from college and I wanted to get Jon out of school. Jim, always the voice of reason, convinced me to leave them be. We talked about cancelling the Court of Honor that night. We drove home and decided that Jim would go talk to the parents of the scout who was to receive his Eagle rank that night. They lived nearby. He would let them make the decision. I remember him coming home a few minutes later saying that the mother had cried and said that they would wait. They did not want to "celebrate" on this day.

I put our American flag up. I remember that as I was placing the flag in the bracket (this was before we had a flagpole), a car pulled in the driveway. It was the realtor who was handling the purchase we were making of the fixer-upper house that adjoined our property. She wanted to let us know that we would finally be closing soon. She didn't say much about what had happened. I found that odd.

By then, we were beginning to hear more details and learned of the plane that had crashed into the field in Pennsylvania. I only wanted to watch tv. To know...

Jamie and I talked. I'm sure that Jamie and I talked a few times that afternoon and evening. We didn't know what would happen that day or in the next few days. Already the news was talking about gas prices being raised (they went as high as $5 a gallon that day in our area). I told Jamie to go fill her tank in case she needed to come home. I also wanted her to go buy a tv so that she and her roommates would know what was going on. They had moved into a house near the college that summer and did not have a tv there. I wanted her home, but knew that we must not panic. How could we not though?

that day.

The next days are a blur to me, but that day...the memories of that day are as clear as if it were yesterday. That's as it should be...

My brother...

Happy Birthday to my brother, Paul, who is slightly older than me (no matter what he tries to get you to believe ☺). I love you!

Simple Sunday

Duker-day...and Sosha

Me and Sosha. She's hogging the blue ball...as usual.
But I guess I still like her okay enough.