rainy day happies . . .

Luckily, the rain held off this morning, for the most part. I went down early and opened the gate for a VBS crew we had coming into the camp today. It did rain just a little on my trip down -- just enough to make everything smell clean and earthy. I love summer showers!

The VBS group came in and did their thing. I finished up my Community Group lesson and then Todd & I headed over to chat with them before they left. It's a good thing we left when we did -- they'd packed up early because of the impending thunder storms and were loading the kids up! They'll be back up here for the next four Tuesdays, so I'm sure I'll get the opportunity to play!

Speaking of playing . . . raccoons barely get along with each other. So it's no shock that they don't get along with . . .

Cats! The raccoon walked up behind the [feral] cat (who was laying down there ready to pounce on the next unsuspecting bird). When the cat finally turned around and saw the coon, he JUMPED up and *very* warily backed away.

Yup -- the coon reigns in the clearing! The birds and squirrels don't mind the coons and were probably happy to see him chase the cat out!

Storms did finally move in, and the rainy afternoon lent itself to another of my favorite past times -- reading! I'd recently had a hankering to go back through the Little House series. I'm reading Farmer Boy right now. These are such charming stories.

And so well written. I find myself laughing out loud all through them! I wish, I wish, I *wish* that they were available for the Kindle. I wonder why they aren't?

It was also the perfect afternoon to brew a pot of Chocolate Orange tea and settle in with my latest issue of Tea Time!

Lot's of fun articles and tea parties and recipes in the July/August issue. I read it cover-to-cover! I did see on the tea calendar that there's a Sweet Tea Festival nearby in Thompson's Station, Tennessee, on August 27. There's a website and facebook page for it and everything. Sounds like something I may need to investigate!

i ♥ rainy afternoons!

:)

a full, fun father's day weekend . . .

It started out Friday evening with a surprise call from Kim, wanting to know if I wanted to get in some "Sawyer time" that night. Are you kidding me?! Of course! I suggested they bring Sawyer over for a sleepover, so they did! I love Sawyer sleepovers!

We had pizza for dinner. As you can plainly see, Sawyer likes pizza . . .

I know it looks bad, but he cleaned up very nicely! He sure can cram some pizza into his little mouth.

After dinner, Sawyer and I went out for a ride on the golf cart. He *loves* to ride around the camp. We went down the low road and saw this . . .

At first I was very startled, but then I remembered that we had the Christian Southern Archers coming out on Saturday for an event, and they'd already set up their targets. Sawyer didn't know the difference, though, and for the rest of our sixty-minute ride, he growled at every animal we came upon.

Especially this big ol' guy, up in the upper meadow. Even when we got close enough to touch it, Sawyer just growled and growled. It's very funny to listen to and even funnier when you know that he's actually mimicking his Aunt Jocelyn's cat, Leia (who growls at most everyone).

Sawyer even growled at this fellow . . .

Can you see the little Frog Prince in the center of the photo? Every time he jumped, so did Sawyer.

And I couldn't get a smile out of him for the life of me -- he was too intent on all the animals. He was hard-pressed to look away from them long enough for him to look at me!

Back at the RV, I turned on our happy lights and he amused himself walking up and down the stairs about a million times.

And once we were cleaned up and in our "escape proof" pj's, he still wanted to go outside!

We had a good night's sleep and his mommy and daddy picked him up early, to go visit Kim's dad. After checking on the archery group that was already up at the camp, I headed to the grocery store. It was a relatively quiet day, with Todd working down on the dock, and me doing domestic things and working on the ministry's newsletter, when a violent storm popped up and passed through the camp.

It took with it a couple of trees, including this one which came down over the main road *and* the road into the main camping area.

And yes, if you look closely enough, those are power lines and we were (once again) without power. I've never been so thankful for my husband's foresight than when he purchased that generator!

Saturday night we went to sleep lulled by the sounds of the cranked generator. We got up Sunday morning for a happy Father's Day breakfast of french toast and bacon -- Todd's favorite!

A quick call to Huntsville Utilities confirmed they did still have our repair ticket and that they'd get to us when they could. *sigh*

Sunday was a hot, hot day. Our raccoon visitor stopped by and took a little dip.

He really is very cute!

Later that afternoon, everyone came up for a little Father's Day get-together. We celebrated with Todd's favorite; a Carvel ice cream cake. I think it may be Sawyer's too.

Just take a look at the blue from the ice cream frosting, around his mouth!

Then Todd got down to business and opened presents!

He was very pleased and surprised by the Kindle! Yay!

And I couldn't post it on my blog on Friday, but this was actually the first Kindle holder I made! One for my dear man's new toy. :)

Sawyer makes himself right at home. I found my old cell phone for him to play with. He loves to carry around cell phones and remotes!

And here are the hers and his Kindle cases! We'll always be able to tell our Kindles apart.

And this morning, I played around just a little bit with quilted postcards.

This is definitely something I'm going to need to play around with more and get in lots of practice. I did two different techniques for securing them (mainly because I wasn't real pleased with how the first one turned out), but the second one did better. This will be a fun past time when I feel the urgent need to create. I even got them in today's mail!

Whew. I need a week to rest from the weekend!

:)

whatever works . . .

These are all photos of food or drink . . .

Taken with my phone . . .

And then texted to my daughter . . .

No matter how small . . .

Or time of day . . .

If I put it in my mouth (and subsequently swallow it) . . .

I send a picture of it to Joc.

Pretty odd, huh? Well, I can't knock it! She suggested instead of writing down everything I eat, to take a PICTURE of everything I eat instead. I suggested that I needed a lot of accountability and encouragement, and asked if she were up to it. She said as long as I sent her *everything* she would be there for me, so I did. Don't knock it, though . . . I've lost 10.8 pounds this first week! Isn't technology fun? And fyi...the pink glass with the 8 oz. marked on it is my water glass. Yes, I even send her a photo every time I get a new glass of water. Haha--good thing we have an unlimited text plan!

On a much more primitive level, here's a couple of fun things we've pulled out of the creek recently:

This old snapping turtle did NOT want to let go of the cage. Mind you, he wasn't stuck, he was hanging on! He was trying dearly to get to the minnows and crawdads that were on the inside! Do you see his tail? It's wicked long.


And speaking of crawdads, this is about the biggest I'll fool with 'em. Any bigger than that and Todd can deal with 'em! I can't wait until Sawyer is big enough to go down to the creek and do a little crawdad catching!

:)

ch-ch-ch-changes . . .

In our landscape looking out our picture window. Overnight. Like magic. Or maybe a small tornado.

Before.

At about midnight, Todd and I were jolted awake when the RV "shook" a little and what sounded like hail was hitting fast & furiously. Moments later, the power went out.

This morning, we were able to see that what we thought was hail, was more likely acorns and limbs from this massive oak that fell . . .

After.

Todd took a trip around the camp this morning. We do have quite a few trees down -- maybe as many as there were when the tornadoes moved through the county on April 27th. Some are blown over from the roots, but some are twisted and broken off mid-trunk. Whew! If that oak tree had been another ten feet taller . . . today would look a whole lot differently!

This morning we're still without power, but the generator is working, and we're comfortable. It's supposed to be on again, off again thunderstorms moving through today, so it'll just be a quiet day in the RV, waiting on the power. Sounds like the perfect setting for reading and quilting, don't you think?? And maybe a NAP!

:)

no design wall ... but plenty happening!

We are starting this week at full throttle! Todd and I are teaching a one night conference next Monday evening, and we're working to get the word out to the churches in our association. I created the graphic we're sending out on a post card today . . .

This is me in my element!! Now to print a hundred copies, get them labeled and stamped and in the mail!!

Todd and I could sit for hours (actually, there have been days that we have) and just watch the antics of the birds and the critters that come to our little "backyard" to eat and drink and socialize. Yesterday morning we sat and watched three chipmunks come in, fill their cheeks, and scamper off to hide their bounty. They're so fast, it's hard to catch them on film, but I got lucky here and got two of them...

They are so cute! There was at least one more a couple of weeks ago, but we watched as a hawk swooped down and snatched him up. It's a jungle out there!

One thing that caught us by surprise was this . . .

This was the very first time we'd seen a squirrel having anything to do with one of our bird feeders! Up until now, they've been content to forage on the ground (under the bird feeders) and glean the corn that the deer and coons have left behind. In fact, I had just thought to myself earlier in the morning, how nice it was that the squirrels were content to be ground feeders!

I had to laugh at the feeder he chose. It's our only platform feeder, so I can see why it would be the most comfortable for him to perch in, but look how it's hung . . .

He certainly didn't hit the branch and come down the rope! He really wanted in there badly enough to jump from the tree trunk -- six feet away, at least! He hung out there for at least an hour. I came down this morning to see he's now become a regular. Ah well!

For Mother's Day, Kim, James, Sawyer, Todd and I headed to Longhorn for lunch. I thought Sawyer did a great job.

Of course, as Kim pointed out, I was not the one who was picking up all the stuff he threw on the floor -- like his cup, his pacifier, his straw, his bread, his toy . . .

By the end of the meal, he was definitely ready to be rid of his constraints and GO! I suggested Kim give him her lemon and see what happened. It did occupy him quite nicely as we finished up and loaded stuff into take out carriers. Actually it was hilarious to watch; he kept on sucking the lemon wedge, but he made the most incredible, "I'm eating something sour!" faces!! I was laughing so hard, I couldn't get pictures. But still, the lemon wedge went back into his mouth!

Finally, I've been wanting a silhouette of him, which means getting the perfect shot.

I captured this shot yesterday, which is a pretty cute little profile.

I have to get rid of the rest of the background, but it's a good start -- cute, cute little guy!

Todd then took me to my favorite clothing store, and between his gift, James and Kim's gift, and a really NICE 40% off sale, I really came away with some nice additions to my wardrobe! This week I plan to go through and cull my clothes -- there are lots of things here at the RV I've not worn once since we moved here, a year and a half ago. Time to weed that stuff out!

I'm off to be about this day . . . I hope everyone's Monday is happy and sunny!

:)

Happy Mother's Day!

Just in time for Mother's Day, one of my favorite flowers bloomed ...

I so love peonies! They smell marvelous and open up into such glorious, full pinkness! They definitely make me SMILE!

Speaking of smiles, here's another of my favorites . . .

This is Sawyer enjoying his first Jell-O Easter egg! He made pretty quick work of it! (And it made pretty quick work of his Easter outfit, too. Ooops!)

From my darling Jocelyn, I got an early Mother's Day present . . .

That's sweet Everett's actual little hand print, etched into a silver charm, and his name engraved on the back side. Isn't it darling? This is a gift I'll treasure for all my years. This will be a tough day for my darling girl. My heart still aches for her. We count the days until she can hold him in her arms again in Heaven!

Todd and I trekked out for a bit yesterday afternoon. Spring is out in full force at the Camp!

I'm not sure what this flower is -- but there were lots of blooms on it, and it sure is pretty!

There's one last peony bloom on the plant. I think I'll take this one to Kim. These are her all-time favorite flowers ever!

The meadow was full of daisies and something else that was yellow, bright and sunny (and probably responsible for my terrible sinus troubles)! It really was a lovely day.

Our destination was down the Beech Bottom Trail to the Secret Creek. I love this spot. I think it's the perfect place for a picnic lunch and a long, lazy afternoon.

Truly idyllic. I captured just a short clip of the creek, flowing strong, to share . . .

Did you hear the crickets chirping in the background? How blessed I am!

Happy Mother's Day!!

:)