Some things I love...

Comfy shoes that don't look that way...mashed potatoes and gravy...my laptop...my new CanonT2i...fall leaves...Toll House Marble Squares...my laptop...my $100 down pillow...cotton sheets...three dots...my old front porch...Canon lenses...books on tape...Fanny Flagg's voice on books on tape...sleeping in my camper...Lake Superior sunrise...Lake Michigan...those big round haybales...Thanksgiving dinner...

Windy weather on my porch...

The barometric pressure is the lowest it has been in 70 years!!! Who knew that could cause extreme wind?? Trees are down and we have lost some shingles from our old house but this house is sturdy...

I am so sad on my porch...

My old friends 19 year old grandson and her daughter's only child was killed on Saturday...I just can't  imagine how that feels. The family is inconsolable. I have such a tenuous hold on faith anyway and this kind of horrific event chips away. How awful and random is our universe...

They did it...while I sat on the porch...

Chi-chi-chi-le-le-le  Chile!!!! Wow, the Chilean miners under ground for 69 days have been rescued. It is remarkable the effort so many people made to rescue these people. Man's humanity to man...I like this story.

Orange moon...

I love this moon pic. It is so orange.
Ivan is recovering slowly but surely. This has been an awful experience for him. Pain, hospital stay, medication and the slowness of recovery have been difficult for him. It sure makes you feel compassion for people who go through illness and surgery. Stay healthy...move it and eat well. Aging is scaring me a little...

Pain on the porch...

My poor old hubby of 41 years just had major back surgery. He is having a difficult time with the pain...he is such a big strong man and this pain has laid him low. He does not do well with me and our girls helping him. He keeps saying "You just have to do this for a few more days." It hurts my heart to see him so low...

Vintage apples I see from my porch...

This old tree, very gnarled, very old... produces tart green apples that make the best pies. I have actually had to fight the deer to get them! "Shoo, you leave my apples alone!" And really, as far as I am concerned, the purpose of an apple is to be baked in a pie...and eaten on my old front porch.

Sunrise on the porch...

"Some grief is good grief...just ask Charlie Brown..." I just heard Michael Scott of the Office say that. I liked it. If you look really close at the picture you can see the arm and back of my porch chair...

Rock Formation...

Flowers

Pizza face!

Backwards climber...

Biking from the porch...

I actually rode my bike for 10 days in a row which is huge for me...the reason I did it was because of a book on i-pod. Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos. I could not stop riding! So smart, so human and such a wonderful read. I read Love Walked In also by Santos that was the beginning of this story a year ago. I do not know anyone else who reads like I do so I guess I am a one person book club...kind of sad.

Reading on the porch...

A quote from Julia's Chocolates...I love this!  "Grab the love. Hold on tight. Treasure it. Love must be cradled and nurtured and enjoyed and danced with. Never, ever, forget the love. It's why we want to live."

Splish, Splash...

Reading on the porch...

I have been reading a lot this last couple of weeks and I picked up some good ones at the library...the very best one was Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb! Irreverent, tragic, funny and so human. I hated to finish it, to let go of the characters. I want more of this author. I've been listening to the Jane Austin Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler while I force myself to ride my bike every morning...it is working. The Sunday Wife by Cassandra King. Good but tragic. Harder to read than her other much funnier stuff but there is hope out there...

good things on my porch...

My neighbor called and said meet me at the fence (good fences make good neighbors). She brought this loaf of bread made with basil from her garden, still warm from the oven. But there is more to like here, my husband got to it first and saved me the heel...my favorite part.

Sleepyhead...

She is in my arms I took the shot so I would not ever forget this look...

My very favorite visitors to the old front porch...

My grands are all back in their respective homes and I am alone on the porch. Once in a while when chaos reigned I wished for a quiet moment...I have too many of those moments now. but I did clean & vacuum and straigten the furniture on my quiet old front porch.

I am back on my porch...

Home again... no more living out of my suitcase for a while. I can sit on my own front porch and read a book, crochet a (luxe) washcloth and stop eating so much fancy (fattening) food. I must bring some kind of discipline into my life...maybe a regular walk or some kind of excersize program. A vegetable might be a good thing to try....

Pickin' and grinnin'

Blueberry Buckle

Blueberry Crumble
Oh, I had fun today! Two hours of picking wild blueberries with J.R. She is a master picker and knows where to find the best berries. Then I came back to camp and baked from "scratch" my old fashioned treats!!

Bucket...Jump!

Bringing my porch with me..

I just spent a few days with my brothers and sisters for a grad party. It was so much fun for me. I have not spent enough time with them since I moved so very far away. I brought my camper and we all watched a movie together in it, cozy and like old times. I miss being a part of their daily lives. We have grown apart. I hoped my girls would live in the same town with me but history has repeated itself (again). We all live so far from each other. We get together but life and miles keep us from being part of everyday lives....the one regret of my life.

Lilacs near the porch

A safe place...

   Her name is a word for a safe place...I chased her for the last few days to get one good photo. She is fast and fearless and three years old! She loves tea parties on my old front porch and eating! Hiding from her Granny is her newest form of entertainment. Not as much fun for me! Within hours of her birth she had surgery to connect her esophagus to her stomach...within days she pulled out her own feeding tube and took a bottle. She cried silently because of damage to her vocal chords. We did not know if she could ever eat solid foods or talk. She has been eating solid foods for almost a year now (swallow therapy and true grit) and talking nonstop with perfect diction for two years. She is one of my heroes...

Watering can

Lake Superior

Four of our grandkids ran into the 40 degree water so Granny could take a picture!! Lake Superior doesn't warm up even though it was 97 degrees because of an unusual May south wind. Last week they were catching snowflakes . One of the girls asked me, "How close to ninety are you, Gran?" I am "only" fifty-nine so I wanted to know if I looked like ninety? She said no she was just hoping it was a long time yet before her Gran turned 90!

The Geometry of Sisters...

I wish I belonged to a book club. I enjoy reading. Sometimes I need to talk about what I read. This book by LuAnn Rice is about estranged sisters and a daughter who when she is in trouble patterns her behavior after her mom & her sister. The pain caused by these two separate but equally damaging behaviors is dreadful for the sisters. It makes me miss my sisters. We all moved so far from each other. We just barely keep in touch. See each other only a couple times a year. Not at all part of each other's daily lives. How, I wonder, did this happen? I love these people but I don't feel like I know them very well anymore. Now my own daughters live all over the country and have to work hard to keep in touch with their sisters. I hoped we would all be neighbors maybe live in the same town...instead we travel for holidays and vacations. They do a better job than I did with my sisters and they have a Mom to help. once in a while a book starts me thinking...

Federal Highway backroad surprise...

Just went for a ride on an old backroad today when I saw the most incredible sight. Trilliums everywhere. Miles of them. The woods were full of these white tri-petalled flowers. Also some pink ones! I have never seen the pink before...

Wine and whining on the porch...

I could have used a good glass of wine and a good whine today. I am feeling low and a little lonely and kind of old as in worn or faded. I really try to respect other people's (hubby, brother, friend) views, opinions and politics even though I know how wrong they are...I do most of the time. It wears on me some days though, not to give 'em the old what for. I have more often just told people how I feel then keep to myself...it does ruffle feathers.
It is not important at all to me for my home to be perfectly in order. I would rather play(edit) with my pictures or my camera or read or...But it is so important to my husband of 40 years. Sometimes I think I am so messy just to make him crazy for fun and he is so neat just because he knows it makes me so nuts to pick up all the time. I need some messy time.
I was surfing last night, late, and my sister,P, IM ed me!! First time ever! We are so far apart geographically and in life points but so alike I can't believe it. We are in parallel universes behaving in the same way!! Staying up too late , dropping cakes etc. There I've had my whine and my wine!

Flower girl is 2 mos old today!!

Love on the porch...

Today I was thinking about the people I love and it crossed my mind that some of the people I love are not perfect. My thought was " I have loved some less than perfect people in my life." It is hard to love people who are not right for you or who are not what you expected the people you love to be. But I have to admit loving the people in my life who do not fit my expectations is still a wonderful experience. The best thing about the life I am living is loving and being loved back. Oh, the flaws we have because at our best we are just human...

Still nothin' doin' on the porch...

It is still too cold to do any painting on the porch!

We spent time at camp for Mom's day with some of our grandkids...it snowed. The kids ran around catching huge snowflakes on their tongues! My daughter gave me Iris for the day Sunday as my gift. She is six and a lovely child, wise beyond her years. She is a good friend. Papa brought us breakfast in bed with coffee to her great delight. She said " I could get used to this!" The dress she is wearing in this pic is one her Mom wore in my brother's wedding many years ago!

He's got the whole world in his hands...

Baby feet, you've got the cutest little baby feet!

 

Granny with baby on the porch...