Thursday, March 31, 2016

Spring Stuff


 It's springtime now. The grass greens a bit when it rains and the spring bulbs are all coming up blades of green. 
Brad went to Nebraska and we miss him. We miss him for him. We also miss him for his chores. When Elv brings in firewood he makes a good job of it to last for a day or two or three. Turns out this is less messy for the floors. That's something!
On Monday I cleaned out the pile-it place in my desk. Here's a sketch from the hand of Elv's mom. I think it's Grandma Hershey. Pretty sure about this. It should be framed, right? 

 
 










Has anyone else noticed the new availability of clementines/tangerines? Is there a difference? We're enjoying them.
I had coffee and scones with Dorothy in my living room this morning. It felt rich and restful.
   I hate to admit  that after all that noise about having a real camera, it turns out that the phone camera is better for me.  I cannot get a non-fuzzy picture with the Super SteadyShot. Not one!
    Listening to Pandora and too "Scotch" to pay for the no-ads version and finding that I am tired of listening to the same songs over and over. So I keep "thumbs-down-ing" them. Till Pandora says no more and I have to listen to Laura Story talk-singing after all. Well, I suppose I wouldn't have to. So I don't. (BTW, if you put adblock plus on your computer browser, Pandora doesn't get to play those ads! Really!) So I move over to Oasis Choral Radio. Still good stuff there. Laura Story was singing a song called Who But Jesus that stated that only Jesus would invite weary people to come to Him. Nothing wrong with those lyrics, I just don't like her style much.
     It does take a caring person to ask weary people to come. Leave it to Jesus. He says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden; I will give you rest." Nobody else would want my weariness and my garbage in trade for rest! Why is it, we carry truck around, and expect to feel heroic for our effort? It really doesn't make sense. Humans need a SaviorSo we come hesitantly, sometimes, finally! Grudgingly. And He really does give rest for all that. We come. He delivers. Amazing!
    Next song is Oasis Choral's song quoting the verse, Come to Me, with a lovely obbligato.  Dissonances in the right places. It's beautiful! Take that, Pandora!   
     

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Gratitude Upgrade

 I rearranged the refrigerator art this morning. Gwen handed me a new piece while she was here this week so it was a good time to update anyway. Jube's beaver and Havilah's big yellow duck stay. I'll add in more as it comes. We enjoy it. There are two Thankful magnets.  Elv met me here this morning while I was playing with the arranging and read them out loud. Dawning spread across his face when he said, "I haven't been feeling so grateful lately."
Me too. So here's my list, below.



~ For the children's artwork: purple squirrels, yellow ducks, and elephants. 
~ For colors: pencil colors along with the sketch books in the arms of our six year old, her eyes shining while she thanked us for the nice birthday gift. 
~ For eye glasses: mine and yours, but especially Myles's. Now we can see.
~ For lemon juice. To add to my drinking water. It's good. Try it sometime.
~ For spring breakup. Because now Elv has time to install a furnace and haul scrap metal and clear the trash out of the back room.
~ For Elv. Because he goes about mending things: fences, relationships, machines, drive shafts, you name it. 
~ For laundry soap and cleaners and new washcloths. 
~ For the prospect of a new walk-in closet soon. A place for everything and everything in its place shall have new meaning around here. 

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Intermission Post

March came in with ordinary winter weather, then promptly turned lamb-like. It was too early for spring but we all lapped it up anyway, heedlessly enjoying the warmth and disappearing snow. 
I walked around the house as soon as the snow was gone to find that the tulips and lilies were pushing shoots. Maybe that happened in December already when it was lamb-like then. Do bulbs push shoots and than put everything on hold when it gets cold surviving till they get the proper signal? 
The robins came back testing their territorial notes last week. That was a bit optimistic, too. I wonder where they are today after a 24 hour deluge of heavy snow.  

It wasn't just the robins and flowers taking advantage of the spring weather.  We've been cleaning corners and planning painting sprees. 

 Opening our favorite porthole gave us fresh air and the sounds of the dripping eaves and gentle chimings. Fresh air to replace dusty, wood-smokey, re-breathed stagnet-ness.





 These frames get very greasy on the shelf above the stove. Taking them completely apart to be cleaned is a good idea. 
Dried and acrylic sprayed flower bouquets can also be swished gently in warm, soapy water and rinsed under the sprayer hose. That goes for faux greenery and living house plants. Wood-burning heaters really make the decor dusty. 



 Imitation is the sincerest flattery. My mom has a white pitcher collection on her kitchen window sill, too. Mine remind me of her daily. In the summer when the flowers are blooming they all turn into vases making an indoor bower. 


Tomorrow the Grabers are gathering in to celebrate Mom's 90th birthday at a nearby lodge. We've been shopping and planning. Today I am trying to finish up the laundry and thinking about what not to forget. It isn't very serious if we do since the lodge is less than five miles distant.
At home here little zinnia packets await spring again. It's snowing and dripping outside, the tree trunks black with spring dampness. 

Brad is leaving for the summer to go work in Josh's mechanic ship in Nebraska. And to help Francis and Josh ready a new house and move. He is cleaning and closing up his cabin for the summer today. The model ship will live on the shelf in the closet along with his knife collection and other treasures, winter clothes, skates, boots, tools, gloves, projects, and outgrown shirts. 
He will leave the dresser top clean and cleared. His two desks cleared as well, except for the old computer, black and silent, his high school work complete. This fall when he comes home; how changed will he be? Will the chain mail creations seem silly and from long ago to him?  He commented today that since school finished up life has certainly taken new turns for him. He is interested and excited about the bends in his road. He learned how to weld the last few days. He has been quickly raking up sawdust and tree trash so that Amy and I don't have so much of spring clean up to do.  
I am going to miss him tremendously. Elv says I'll go into a slump. I'm devastated and excited all at once for him. I remember the adventure days myself so I am determined to help him enjoy his. Is there a more exciting time of life than being plunged into a whole new world of work and social life?
 I'll miss his looking out for me here at home. Going to just plain miss him. But I'm glad for him. And for us that he can. 
I'll stop before I confuse myself here, too.  

    

Friday, March 4, 2016

Winter Flowers

 A bouquet of tulips in February definitely helps to ward off the typical blahs of mid-winter. I recommend this for every family's table. The benefits outweigh the expense easily. 
    Choosing fresh flowers at our Hayward Wal-mart can take a minute. I think we must get the last of the supply up here and some of our flowers are looking pretty dismal by the time they are available to us. So I take my time to look them over carefully before buying. We got a full week out of these.
    

 Angelie had her first birthday last week. She is absolutely adorable and cute and pretty. That's the Marmee talking, of course! 
    She just started walking, but will rather crawl because it is faster in her rough and tumble world of two older brothers. I notice that Charlotte already is enjoying the rise of the feminine side of  the balance with their understanding between them. 
  
 We know that spring is coming. So the flower coffee table books are back and this time I am reading them. What's nicer than a smoothie on a sunshiny morning with a glossy paged book that is educational, inspirational, and pretty. 

 Last year's dried zinnia are still gracing the sills and shelves around here in March. I told you all about that last fall. We used silica gel beads and dried dozens of these beauties of lots of different color and sizes. In the end I had flowers to share. I was reading in Lisl's blog yesterday and saw in her pictures that she is using some of those flowers for her decor too. Drying flowers is rather rewarding, they can be used to beautify someone's world on the other side of the globe.   Lisl's Blog.


 For winter to already be waning puts me in a near panic. There are so many things to yet be accomplished before spring works begins. 
~ Bedroom remodel to finish.
~ A speech to prepare.
~ Indoor painting.
~ Writing projects.
~ This house is dirty and needs cleaning.
~ Take off the bathroom door and sand and re-varnish.
~ Paint the bathroom.
~ Get Brad ready to go to his first full time job in Nebraska.
~ 90th Birthday party for Mom Graber.
~ Taxes.

And now it is snowing! Delightful! Loving winter for as long as I can.

This blog has moved!

Please click here to see the latest from Stone House Scribblings.