Goodbye sweet Frannie.

After an unexpected early morning trip to the vet yesterday, we had to say goodbye to sweet Frannie.

I’m sorry I didn’t comment on any blogs yesterday. It was a pretty rough day to say the least. I will try to do better later today, but my hearts just not in it right now. I really missed her sitting on my lap last night while I was knitting.

“Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

I will talk you all again soon.

 Blessings, Betsy

Hazy Monday

Well, the weather app on my phone says it’s sunny but this is my view as I’m sitting at the lake right now. It’s a bit hazy and I’m not sure why. There are probably fires burning not too far away, but I haven’t watched the news in days. I must say I don’t miss it either!

The flowers are doing wonderfully here this summer.

It has just started getting hot though, so will have to be sure and keep up on the watering.

Yesterday the park was crazy busy when we got here after church. I think everyone had their entire families out for barbecues for Father’s Day. Today though, it’s just me and about 10 other people in the park. I’m loving the quiet. Dennis has a meeting late this evening so Chloe and I will be staying here by ourselves tonight. And I need to go home tomorrow. We’re having a tree taken down on Thursday.  It breaks my heart to have to do it because it’s a beautiful tree, but although we have it pruned almost every year it has still grown too big for the area. The landscapers that planted it were not very wise in their placement.  I will try to take a picture of it when I go home tomorrow if I remember.

Look what our friend Paul gave me yesterday. His stepfather just passed away a few months ago and they are cleaning out his basement. These four knitting magazines were in the garbage bin and he pulled them out thinking I would like them. They were published in 1943 and 1944!  I had so much fun looking through them. I will definitely be adding them to my collection. Everything is still very much the same, except for the brands of yarn that are recommended.

Now this is a terrible picture of me and I didn’t even know it was being taken at the time, but I just had to share with you what I got to do one day last week.   Meet Luke!

One of the new Mom’s from our church was in our area running errands when the baby decided he needed fed. Right now! She called to see if I was home and asked if she could come over to feed and change the baby. She does not like using public bathrooms if it all possible. I said of course, as long as I get to have my chance at holding him. This is little Luke. He was adopted by Mike and Kim. I even got to feed him his bottle. 

Do you know what is amazing to me?  Even though little Luke is adopted, he has only had two bottles of formula in his seven weeks of life. Kim gets breast milk that is donated to a co-op here. He has had the same mothers milk since the day after he was born! This particular mother also has a four-month-old of her own and she produces a lot of milk. I think this is wonderful. We all know that breastmilk is so much better for these little ones and now even adopted babies are able to have this little boost in life.

I loved rocking him and feeding him. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to snuggle with a little newborn.  I think it’s a Grandma thing. Kim couldn’t believe how he snuggled right down as if he belonged there.  I like knowing that people realize they are always welcome at our house no matter what time of the day or night and they can always call and come right over.

These are the chairs I ended up buying for under our deck last week. After going to six different stores I found these at the “Home Store.”  Dennis and I went back that evening so he could look at them and bring them home in his truck.  As you can see they have footstools and the backs recline way back. The little end table came with them too. We had a good time putting them together Monday evening.  Mine has pillows but Dennis didn’t want any.

Tuesday we invited Neal and Jenny over for dinner after work and I grilled pork chops and made potato salad and deviled eggs and a big green salad with apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert. We ate outside and then sat on these chairs and relaxed. Well Jenny and I got the recliners and the guys sat in the other chairs! Dennis also strung rope lights up under the deck so it’s very cozy in the evenings.

I finished one sock and have another one done through the heel flap. I plan to get the rest of the heel turning done this afternoon and then it won’t take long at all to finish.

I’m using Knit Picks Felici yarn in the Dockside colorway. I’m also using the free Hermione pattern.

Here’s our precious Miss Piper all ready for her dress rehearsal for her dance recital which was at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday morning. It broke my heart to miss it, but maybe I will be able to be at the next one.

The neurologists office called me on Friday and scheduled me for my next Botox shot in the middle of August. Unless the spasms return, the plan is to do the shots every three months. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am with the results of the first one. I even set up my sewing machine on Thursday and sewed a new dress for the first time in almost 3 years!  I am hoping to start doing some flying to visit family soon, but first we need to get some of these medical bills paid off. This is been a very expensive endeavor let me tell you.  

Alex FaceTimed with us for a couple of hours on Saturday and he’s going to be able to be home for Thanksgiving this year. He already has his plane tickets! We will have all of our children home together for the first time in six years! Can I just tell you how happy that makes this Mama‘s heart? Oh, how I miss having us all together in one place. Where I can actually touch them and not just see their pictures on my phone or iPad. I think it’s a Mom thing!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Monday and I think I’m all caught up on your blog posts now. I hope I haven’t missed any of you.

“I lift my eyes to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. He will not let your foot slip-He who watches over you will not slumber.”  Psalm 121:1-3

I have shared this verse with you before, but it was my mothers favorite verse and for some reason today my heart wants to share it again. Love to you all. 

Blessings, Betsy

A beautiful Monday.

It was rainy and cold here Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Cold, as in 37°F out at the lake! Not many people were there, but Dennis and I were warm and cozy inside our trailer. We came into town and ran some errands Saturday and on Sunday we went to church and mowed the grass at home before returning back out to the lake for the late afternoon and evening.  On a whim we decided to come home last night. I haven’t been home on a Monday for well over a month. I have spent the morning going to Walmart to buy new solar lights for our yard at home, going to Home Depot and Lowe’s to look for some lawn furniture for the house.  We have spent most of our summers at the lake for the last eight years and we took our furniture from the house there.  We are finding we would like to spend some time outside when we’re at home, but only have these two deck chairs to sit on.

Now, I do enjoy sitting out here and having a cup of tea and reading my Bible, but for longer stretches of time I need something that reclines more because of my back. Would you believe that the first week in June is too late to buy most lawn furniture? Oh, you can still find an odd resin chair here and there, but as far as comfortable lawn furniture goes, most of it is done now. At Home Depot a sales person told me you had to buy it in February! Well we had almost 3 feet of snow on the ground in February. I wasn’t thinking much about lawn furniture at the time!

As long as I was outside, I snapped a few other photos of our backyard for you. Dennis had the shed built several years ago and a friend made the plaque above the door that says “Papa’s house.” That’s what Piper called it when it was being built it has stuck. We don’t call it the shed very often. It’s always Papa’s house. :-)

I would like to get a couple of comfortable chairs to go back here under the deck. That’s where we had kept our other lawn furniture and I really enjoyed sitting out there and knitting while listening to books on CD.

See the blank space under the deck? We put rope lights up underneath and it makes a nice and cozy little room outside on a summer evening or afternoon. This is the east side of the house so it’s always nice and shaded by about mid morning.  This is the area that I would like to find some furniture for.

I have harvested the rhubarb three times now and it looks like it’s ready to be picked again!

Last week we were driving home and we saw this beautiful double rainbow. Of course, by the time I got my phone out to take a picture of the right side had faded somewhat. It was absolutely stunning.

And the mist at the base of the mountains was gorgeous too.

I have finished three burial buntings in blue. The smallest is for 1-2 lbs. The medium is 3-4 lbs. and the largest is for 5-6 lb. babies.  

I just started a pink one last night.  The color looks very washed out here but it is a very pretty pastel pink.

I hope you’re all having a wonderful Monday and were able to enjoy your weekend. I read a lot of blog posts last night and this morning and I think I’m all caught up.

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.”  Proverbs 3:7

Blessings,

Betsy

A Rose

Happy Wednesday!

I thought I would share with you a picture of a beautiful rose I cut from my rosebush last night. Dennis said it reminds him of the rose on Beauty and the Beast.

That’s it for today. I have gotten virtually no knitting or crocheting done for the last two days. I cleaned the camper top to bottom before I left yesterday, and we worked in the yard all evening. This morning I had two doctors appointments where I did knit on the leg of a sock. I hope you’re all having a lovely Wednesday.

My back is still doing fabulously! I want to thank you all so much for your prayers. They are working. Please keep them coming.

“Let us then approach God‘s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  Hebrews 4:16

Blessings,

Betsy

Windy!

Hello everyone! It’s late Monday afternoon here and I’m at the lake enjoying the beautiful blue sky. It is really windy though. I just took a couple of photos for you and you can see that the wind is blowing almost 20 mph and has been all day long!

I guess you can’t tell very well in these photos. It was all I could do to remain upright to take these photos a few minutes ago. These are my favorite color of iris. Aren’t they gorgeous?

I bought a bowl of beautiful flowers to sit on the stairs. You can see which direction the wind is blowing by the way the grass is pointed!

This is a little bit better picture of the flowers. Aren’t they pretty?  I always like to have a bowl of flowers on the trailer steps in the summer. I think it makes things much more homey and welcoming.

Last week I dropped off a batch of baby hats and blankets to Holy Family Hospital. The nurses told me they are out of the burial buntings that I make so I told her I would make more.  My friends, it really depresses me to make these, but the nurses tell me that it brings the family a lot of comfort and often they keep the bunting as a momento. They are very easy to make and I would encourage you to see if your local hospital could use them. The nurses repeatedly tell me that it is good for the parents to see their baby wrapped in something pretty instead of just a hospital blanket. It does make it worthwhile. I would be happy to supply the pattern that to anyone that would like it.

The first Hermione sock finally has the heel completed. I love the colors of this yarn, but my goodness it is splitty. It is Knit Picks Felici sport yarn in the color “Dockside.”

My back is doing fabulous! I see the spine doctor on Wednesday and I’m so excited to tell him that. I don’t know how long this Botox injection will last, but it’s been like an absolute miracle. I can’t say that enough. I am over the moon! I’ve been able to work in the yard. I have been able to take walks. I have been able to stand for more than five minutes and visit with people. I am so happy right now.  The hardest thing is to try not to overdo it.  I can’t wait to be able to book a flight somewhere!  

Alex asked me if I could find any pictures of him with Mutsuko. Mutsuko’s family hosted Alex when he first went to Japan when he was 13. Mutsuko lived with us while completing her bachelors degree and Alex lived with her family in the summer while teaching in their private school for several years beginning when he was 13. She is like a daughter to us and we miss her very much. She was in her 30’s when this photo was taken! Doesn’t she look 16?  I think Alex was 14 or so.  She’s beautiful inside and out.  I have gotten to visit with her several times when I’ve gone to Japan to visit Alex.

And, just last week Alex sent me this picture. This is Harumi. Harumi also lived with us while she completed her degree. She is married and has two children now. I find that so hard to believe. Harumi is absolutely wonderful. She is also like a sister to Alex. Just like Mutsuko. She calls us Mom and Dad and I actually arrived in Tokyo just hours after the birth of her first baby. I was able to see him right away. I can’t wait to go back to Japan and see my two girls there. I hope it will happen soon. I was so glad they got to meet up with each other again last week. Alex just happened to be in her office building in Tokyo. What are the odds of that?

And I thought I would leave you with a photo of our place at the lake that I took Friday evening. This is definitely my happy place. It is so peaceful and quiet here. I wish I could stay here year-round but I know that isn’t possible. It’s not unusual to have 4 to 5 feet of snow in the winter here.

I’m hoping that each of you are having a wonderful day.  I know that I tell you all often that I’m praying for you for various things that you have happening in your life.  I write them down in this notebook and I pray for them each and every day.  When I tell you I’m praying they are not just empty words. Even though I haven’t met most of you in person, I care very much for each and everyone of you.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  Philippians 4:6

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”  Ephesians 6:18

Blessings Always,

Betsy