days in the life of a
Previous POSTS
April 2009
April 21, 2009
DOWNY WOODPECKER
A new little bird has been hanging around our backyard...
...I mean, literally, HANGING AROUND...
...looking for a meal!
Kim's theory is that when we burned our old dead tree (which, by the way, is still standing), Little Downy Woodpecker was chased out of his home...
...and he is on the search for another home and food source.
He's pretty cute, although I'm not sure how smart he is. I don't think he'll find many bugs to eat pecking into the birdfeeders.
But it's fun watching his crazy little acrobatic antics from my kitchen window!
April 22, 2009
GRANDMA'S PREROGATIVE
One of the coolest perks of being a grandma is you get to do things you would NEVER do with your own children.
Like buy your grandson a set of musical bongo drums...
...put in some super-duper batteries guaranteed to last for 25 years...
...teach him how to pound on them...
...cheer him on as he figures out how to make the music come on...
... "ooh" and "aah" over how cute he is playing his annoying bongo drums...
...then leave a few days later, knowing that you will not be forgotten!
In fact, every time Karter bangs on his bongos and makes them play the same cheerful tunes over and over and over and over again, I feel sure that his mommy and daddy are thinking of me and thanking me for being such a wondertful grandma and buying him those bongos.
It's a grandma's prerogative to connive with her grandson to drive his parents bonkers!
Oh...yeah...and somewhere in the midst of my grandmotherly fun I videotaped his adorableness as he danced to the music. The child's got rhythm, I tell you! Well, kind of...
April 23, 2009
GETTING READY...
Kim has been getting ready for his favorite time of the year.
Garden season.
He loves it. He lives for it. He dreams and plans for it all year long.
Back in March, he started his plants from seed.
Cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, onions, and lots of flowers.
He's been watering...
...transplanting...
...and moving the hardier seedlings into cold frames to get them garden-ready.
The more tender plants, like the tomatoes and flowers, aren't quite ready to be moved outside until the weather and temperatures improve.
It'll be another 3 weeks or so before these seedlings are planted in the garden.
But the cauliflower, broccoli, and onions will soon be joining the already-planted potatoes in Kim's garden.
And, if every one of these plants survives and thrives, it looks like I'll be freezing 20 bushels of cauliflower and broccoli in a couple of months.
While I enjoy fresh produce from the garden, it also cramps my style to deal with all of it.
Oh joy, joy (with just a hint of sarcasm in my words!)! Garden season is almost here!
April 24, 2009
LITTLE FRIENDS
These two cuties are my little friends, Ashley and Hannah, on Easter morning.
If they look a little ornery, it's because they are! But in a precious, sweet way!
While I get to see them every Sunday at church, occasionally their mommy Lee Ann brings them over to stay at my house for the day. I love it when she shares them!
Ashley is 3 years old, and what a charmer! She's a little quieter and more reserved than her big sister, but don't let that fool you.
She's smart as a whip! And that girl knows what's going on, all the time.
Hannah is 5...going on 15! She's a thinker and a talker, very intelligent and wise for her years.
She's getting ready to go to kindergarten in the fall. What a treat she'll be for the lucky teacher who has her in school! I have no doubts that she'll be at the top of her class.
These two darlings have grown up in our church and they love and know and talk about God with a beautiful innocence that too many of us adults have lost.
They are just special children and I feel blessed to have the privilege to be in their lives.
They love the baby chicks we get each year...
...and constantly want to go check on them.
Quite the little country girls, they are!
(Now if only I could convince them that dead ladybugs are nothing to be scared of!)
Those big brown eyes just melt me every time!
And...nothing like a chocolate-chip-cookie mouth....
Hannah is my apprentice photographer. She loves to use my little Coolpix to take photos. Someday I'll share some of her "masterpieces" from the memory card...she has quite the eye for composition!
In fact, Hannah took this picture of Ashley napping the other day. Pretty good, I'd say!
While Ashley was napping, Hannah helped me make Monkey Bread.
She loves to help me in the kitchen, especially when it involves using scissors...
...and cinnamon and sugar.
Yes, she's licking up what she conveniently spilled.
No need for all that yummy stuff to go to waste!
We sure do have a lot of fun when my little friends come to visit!
April 25, 2009
HARSH REALITY
This spring we seem to have an abundance of robins. And with all the robins come lots of robin nests.
We have at least 3 (that we know of!) right around our house and rec room.
Can you see the nest in this holly bush?
If you look really closely, you can see Mama Robin's head as she scrunches down in her nest.
Since her nest is only about 3 feet off the ground (which turned out to be an unwise location, as you will soon see), a couple of days ago we saw the 4 gorgeous blue eggs
that she'd been sitting on.
While we were in the living room a few evenings ago, we kept hearing a bird tweeting just outside the deck window. It was dark out, and unusual to hear a bird at that time of night. I turned on the deck light and walked outside, just as a robin flew off.
Lo and behold, she's made a nest on top of the fireplace vent. A pretty smart plan, since we haven't been turning the fireplace on but the pilot light is burning, so it's a warm spot to nest and also out of the wind.
I had to climb up on a small stepladder to peer inside and see her 3 pretty eggs.
Don't you just LOVE the color? Robin's Egg Blue!
Mama Robin keeps a watchful eye and is ready to take flight if someone comes too close.
Thankfully, my telephoto lens let me capture her sitting on the nest.
Yesterday I discovered yet another nest, resting on a downspout (is that what you call that? It sounded good...) just under the eave along the south side of the house.
Too high, too much work to peek into that one. I trust there are 3 or 4 blue eggs in it!
Just an educated guess...
Wanting to see if the eggs had hatched yet, yesterday I checked on them and was saddened to see this.
The nest has been abandoned and 3 of the eggs are gone.
Maybe they were eaten by another bird. Maybe the wind knocked them out (doubtful since it is wedged up into the bush and against the rec room).
Whatever happened, this turned out to be a bad spot for this robin's nest.
I guess it's a harsh reality of nature, but I still felt sad for the mama robin.
She went to so much work collecting straw and vines and cornleaves, weaving her nest
together in anticipation of raising little ones.
And now something tragic dashed her plans for a family this spring.
Mowing nearby, I spied this in the grass.
There's no mistaking it...a broken robin's egg with nary a sign of a baby robin.
Proving once again that the world can be a dangerous place.
It's a harsh reality!
April 26, 2009
BUILDING A BAYOU
logo from Group PublishingThis is my 3rd consecutive year (after several years' sabbatical!) as Director of Vacation Bible School. Even though it isn't until mid-June, the director's job starts as soon as last year's VBS ends, so I've been working on it on and off for the past 10 months.
I have joined forces with the VBS directors from 2 churches in Middletown. We plan things together, share resources, and work on getting things ready as a group. It makes it more fun, less expensive, and we feed off each other's ideas and experiences. All the trouble is much more worthwhile when so many people will benefit from it.
So, in our rec room the past couple of months, I've been working with Debbie and Melissa and volunteers from all 3 churches to make the decorations that will set the stage for this year's "Crocodile Dock" Vacation Bible School.
This 8' x 20' backdrop will go on our stage. I drew a bayou scene (from instructions...
no, I did not come up with this on my own!) onto 5 sheets of styrofoam.
After a couple of painting sessions, I think it turned out pretty cool!
These greenish-brownish things leaning up against the backdrop are cypress knees. You know, those stumps that poke up out of the swampy water? They are going to be propped up in the green cellophane "water" that will cover the stage to provide some depth to the scene.
This rowboat is made from cardboard. It will be tied to the dock, with some fishing poles sticking out of it. I messed up on the name-painting...as you can see, my "SS" is a lot smaller than the rest. It was too hard to paint over it, so I figure I'll drape a fishing net across the corner to hide it and no one will notice.
And this is a fishing shack! Okay, it WILL be a fishing shack...eventually. A 3-sided shack with a sloping tin roof, all carved out of the same 2" styrofoam.
The dock leads out from the shack and the whole thing will be sitting over green cellophane water. Are you getting the picture?
Last week, Debbie and Jodean painted the shack and the roof...
...and Melissa and Karen painted the dock. (Yes, that is a stray wall from the shack drying there too!).
Then yesterday Karen and Lola "antiqued" the shack, adding shadows and depth and moss. When it dried, it looked amazingly real!
Debbie, Karen, and Lola painted pylons to go along the dock as a nice finishing touch!
animated character from Group PublishingThis is the main man, Jacques LeCroc, one of the daily characters for VBS. I can't wait to see him in his swamp home!
logo from Group PublishingBut as much fun as all this decoration stuff is, we aren't losing sight of the REAL PURPOSE for Crocodile Dock...to help children know God! That's when the real FUN begins!
It sure will be a neat place to learn, don't you agree? God's light shines everywhere...even in a slimy, dark, creepy, yucky swamp!
April 27, 2009
FIDDLEHEADS
Along the side of our house, the fiddleheads are unfurling.
Ferns are one of my very favorite plants, and I love the fresh green fronds that first come up in the spring.
The very tops of the new fern fronds are called fiddleheads...
photo from allviolin.com...because the curly-cue shape looks like the head (or scroll) of a fiddle!
The fiddleheads of some fern varieties are edible delicacies. I have no idea if ours are edible...doesn't really sound too tasty to me anyway!
Our ferns are another part of Kim's inheritance from his Grandma Fuson. These ferns came from her homeplace. Who knows how old they may be?!
Ferns are one of the most ancient types of plants, and fossils of ferns look very much like our ferns today.
Don't let their delicate looks fool you. They are survivors.
Graceful, lacy fiddleheads are a sure sign that spring has finally arrived! Hallelujah!!!
April 28, 2009
CHIEF DUMPLING CHEF
Mama has always been an amazing cook! And for the past several years, she has expanded her resume by adding "Dumpling Chef" to her many skills.
Every spring White Branch Church of the Brethren, the church I grew up and got married in, packs their small basement fellowship room with folks from all over the area for their popular Chicken & Dumpling Supper.
Last weekend was no exception! When we got there, they had actually temporarily sold out of dumplings and we waited a short time for them to make more.
Mama was rolling them out as fast as she could (yes...the dumplings are all hand-mixed and hand-rolled!)...
...while others were cooking them.
That is my cousin Gail, my aunt Fredette, and friend Martha slaving in the hot kitchen.
Also a talented seamstress (I think I totally missed out on inheriting any of her talents!), a couple of years ago she made these chef hats for the two dumpling-makers.
The dinner is sponsored by White Branch Women's Fellowship, but the money raised is used for special needs and projects of the church.
Aunt Fredette (we always called her "Aunt Bootsie" when I was a child...don't know how she got that name!) is the president of Women's Fellowship. I don't know if Mama has an official title, but I would call her the Project Manager. She always seems to be finishing up a quilt or organizing something for the group.
These are two incredibly energetic ladies! (Again...I must have missed out on those genes!) I'm sure they are both exhausted after such a busy day on their feet in the hot kitchen.
They sure do know how to put on a good feed for a huge crowd!
It's a labor of love, for sure!
April 29, 2009
HONEYBEE HEAVEN
Our apple trees have been in full bloom this week...at least until the rain and the wind did a number on them.
As you walk through the orchard, you can hear buzzing everywhere.
Looking up, the trees are alive with bees everywhere.
It's Honeybee Heaven!
They are packing away pollen and nectar to carry back to the hive, where other bees will turn it into sweet golden honey. See the pollen sac full of yellow pollen on his leg?
And in their quest to collect pollen and nectar, they are inadvertently pollinating the apple trees.
Just another tiny piece of God's miraculously perfect puzzle of life!
Busy, buzzing little girls! Did you know that all the bees that do any sort of work at all are the females?
And right now, these busy little gals are in Honeybee Heaven!
April 30, 2009
FIRED UP
photo by Kyler GraySee the kid in the yellow jersey, leading the pack at last weekend's Little 500 bicycle race at Indiana University?
photo by Adam P. Schweigert, WFIUThat is Eric, one of Kyler's good friends, who is also a sophomore at IU.
photo by Adam P. Schweigert, WFIUEric is an amazing bicyclist, and Saturday he was on fire...
photo by Alycin Bektesh, WFIU...and burning up the track as he led his Cutters team to victory!
Last summer, Eric spent the weekend with us (Kyler on left, Eric on right).
Instead of burning up the track, he and Kyler were burning up a tree!
They had fun with that fire all weekend. Cheap entertainment!
What is it about fires that so fascinate boys?
Maybe it's just the idea of legitimate, sanctioned destruction of something! Boys of all ages get a kick out of destroying things.
photo by Alycin Bektesh, WFIUWhen Kyler told me that Eric's team had won Little 5 and Eric had ridden at the end and sprinted across the finish line, I was so happy for him.
All his determination and perseverance and long hours on that bicycle seat had paid off.
When he's riding in the Tour de France and touted as the new up-and-coming Lance Armstrong, I can say we knew him "when".
And maybe, just maybe (I know it's a HUGE stretch, but I'm letting my imagination run wild here!) BURNING down the tree helped FIRE him up to BURN up the track!
The kid's hot, I tell you! On fire!
Congratulations, Eric! Your Indiana fans are proud of you!!!
