I’m Still Here!

Hello my dear friends. I'm still here. I dropped off the face of blogland for awhile. I'm not sure why, except it's been a busy time. I didn't have internet for a short time while camping and I have been very tired. But I'm back and hope to be a better friend of you all. :-)

Last week we went to Lake Anita State Park in Iowa for 4 days with our cousins and great friends, Curt and Barb and our pastor and his wife, Jeff and Angie. To say we had a wonderful time would be an understatement. The weather was sismply amazing and a true gift from the Lord. See that blue sky? It was like that the entire time. The leaves were beginning to change and we had cool, (cold) nights and nippy days with just enough warmth to be enjoyable. We were very grateful for our heaters during the night. This is what we did a LOT of. Talking and relaxing and eating. Eating a LOT! :-) From left to right, Jeff, Curt and Dennis. We all take the responsibility for various meals and then we all chip in for "extra's." So much FUN!

One day we went into the town of Atlantic, Iowa and got ice cream at a very cute shop called Udderly Delicious. It was so good and lots of unusual flavors. An employee got off work while we were sitting outside at a table enjoying our ice cream. She sat at the table with us and told us the history of the shop and we learned a lot about the town too. So much fun!

This is the "tree in the middle of the road" outside of Anita, Iowa. The story goes that surveyors stuck a stick in the ground to mark the middle of a future intersection. When they returned to begin road construction, the stick had sprouted limbs and leaves so they left it in the middle and constructed the road around it. Unfortunately, time is beginning to make it's mark on this gorgeous tree. There are signs of big limbs breaking recently. We speculated that the big tornado that came through Omaha continued on it's destructive path through Iowa and would have come very close to this tree. We enjoyed it on this day though and hope it still stands for a long time to come. It was so quiet while we were there. We wandered around on the roads and not one car came by while we were exploring.

Angie was taking a photo of something at the base of the tree. We also found an abandoned cemetery just a couple of miles away from the tree and spent some time exploring the very old gravesites. It's fun to wonder what their lives were like over 150 years ago. They had to be very strong people to live here so long ago with the extremes in weather that we have.

 Here are the three of us. Zoey was very interested in the smells out in the middle of farmland, USA.

One day, the other four of our co-horts took a bicycle ride around the lake and we met them at a picnic area with lunch for everyone. My back isn't allowing much activity at all these days, so we were the transportation during this trip. From left to right, Barb, Jeff, Angie, me, Dennis, Curt. We sure enjoy each others company.

Dennis's co-pilot doesn't take her eyes off of the road. I'm not sure if she doesn't trust him or if she just finds lots to look at. :-) lol

Dennis, Zoey and I went on our own to Mahoney State Park this past Sunday and returned yesterday. Another absolutely beautiful camping adventure. It's very dry here as you can see. No campfires allowed, but Zoey enjoyed laying in the sunshine.  There were very few campers there and we had the entire campground pretty much to ourselves.

We cleaned and winterized the camper yesterday, so our camping adventures are over for another season. It was 29F at night on this trip so we needed to get the water lines taken care of. We would have loved another trip or two, but we have to take care of the trailer too.

I don't remember if I showed you this blanket that I finished a couple of weeks ago. Sorry about the blurriness.  I also made another blue one and a pink one since then, using the same pattern. All will be donated to the Open Door Mission.

I finished a set of fingerless gloves too. I have no idea why the one on the left looks smaller in the photo because they measure the same.

I've also been collecting supplies to begin an English Paper Piecing quilt. I plan to do it all by hand, so we'll see if it takes ten or twenty years! I thought it would be a fun thing to have as a take along project. Everything fits into this little box. So far I'm just using cotten that I have leftover from making dresses.

Piper has outgrown two of her sweaters that I made her in January and February and asked if me if I would make her more. Well of course I will! She wears them almost every day, now that it's getting cooler. She went with me last week and chose the yarn for both sweaters. I like to use Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn" for her sweaters because they get washed very often and the yarn holds up really well, it can go into the dryer and is very, very soft.

This is NOT my project, but a photo found on the internet. I would like to make this though. I think the colors are beautiful and I've never made a granny hexie blanket. I think it would make some nice baby blankets to donate and use up some scraps at the same time. What do you think? Is it too old-fashioned for today's mom's?

Dennis's Mom is doing about the same. We notice small changes often and she never gets quite back to where she was before. She definitely has what's called "Sundowners". We get calls every evening around 6:00 and she's very confused. Dennis spent a couple of hours with her when we got home yesterday afternoon, with him getting home around 4:45. At 6:10 she called wanting us to know she was ready to be picked up to go home and how did she arrange a ride? She had absolutely no recollection him being there earlier. We feel blessed that she still knows who we are and is able to call us when she feels confused. Dennis is always able to get her calmed down and realizing where she is but we also know that will change someday soon. She trusts him completely. 

It is a lifesaving thing for us to be able to go camping for a day or two at a time for a break. We were at Mahoney State Park this week which is just 15 minutes from Mom if we needed to get home, but yet we feel like we're able to relax. Even when we went with everyone last week, we were only an hour away so we could get home fairly quickly if we needed to.

I hope everything is well with you all. I have been reading blogs when I could upload them. I was one of the phones affected by the Verizon outage a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't use my phone for a couple of days. That was an eye-opener as to how much I depend on it and what a possible cyber attack could do to the country if it was widespread.

Take care everyone. Remember that in these troubled days around the world, that the Lord is with all of us. He loves us deeply. Enough to give His life for us so that someday we can be with Him in Heaven. I truely believe that we don't know the day or the hour of His return, so we need to be ready at anytime for Him to come and take us home! Won't that day be a wonderful one?

I'll try to be back very soon to visit with you all.

Blessings and love,

Betsy


JESUS IS COMING SOON

Troublesome times are here, filling men's hearts with fear
Freedom we all hold dear now is at stake
Humbling your hearts to God saves from the chastening rod
Seek the way pilgrims trod, Christians awake

Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon
Many will meet their doom, trumpets will sound
All of the dead shall rise, righteous meet in the skies
Going where no one dies, heavenward bound

Troubles will soon be o'er, happy forevermore
When we meet on that shore, free from all care
Rising up in the sky, telling this world goodbye
Homeward we then shall fly, glory to share

Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon
Many will meet their doom, trumpets will sound
All of the dead shall rise, righteous meet in the skies
Going where no one dies, heavenward bound

Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon
Many will meet their doom, trumpets will sound
All of the dead shall rise, righteous meet in the skies
Going where no one dies, heavenward bound
Heavenward bound, heavenward bound