Memorial Day

It is so very important that we remember all of those that have gone before us, fighting for our freedom.

It is equally important to remember those who are fighting even now for the freedom that we enjoy and for the world that we wish for our sons and daughters and their children to enjoy.

My nephew is in Afghanistan even now, as a Chaplain in the United States Army. I pray often for his safe return to his sweet little wife. But also, that he would do his job over there to the best of his ability. We are very proud of him, he is a wonderful young man full of hopes and dreams and visions of a better world for both the young and the old.

Let us remember all of the young people who serve so faithfully at home and abroad.

Come back tomorrow for my first ever Give Away!

Blown Away

Good morning to all!!!  Happy Wednesday to you.  The winds yesterday were tremendous!  We had gusts

 up to 90 km/h and higher I'm sure.

We almost never hear sirens in our quiet little neighborhood, but they were heard time and time again all day long. 

 I am reading in the Book of Job and this stood out to me.  Young Elihu is discussing the power of the Almighty God and he says in chapter 36:29, " Who can understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunder that rolls forth from heaven?".  Then in 37:9,"The stormy wind comes from it's chamber and the driving winds bring the cold." 

The thunder could be heard all night long, rolling and cracking.  But only the wind was left on Tuesday morning when I woke up.

The driving winds broke a large limb off of our Mountain Ash in the front yard and blew tiny limbs everywhere.   I spent quite a bit of time tearing and cutting the limb apart so we can dispose of it, it was a huge limb.  It didn't disfigure our tree, which I am so glad for, I love that tree!

I braved the winds to get pictures, I walked down to the river, a ten minute walk from my house.  Funny thing, I was the only one out walking!  I wonder why!  I was keeping a close eye on the trees around me.


After braving the winds in order to get pictures, I got home, quickly downloaded all of the photos,  then somehow I deleted the whole folder of photos that I had just taken!  The photos that I am showing you today are from last summer, but they are the exact same area that I was in yesterday.  I wasn't able to capture the power of the wind in the photos yesterday anyway, so these will do.  It is a little windy today, but the wind has died down considerably, thank goodness.

I am joining Outdoor Wednesday and Watery Wednesday.

I wish you all a lovely, sunshiny day!

Old Suitcases

 

Do you like old suitcases? I adore most anything vintage and while out junking with my grand kids this last weekend we came upon a HUGE garage sale and the bottom suitcase was only 50 cents!!! Another woman actually had it in her hands and I was trying to talk her into buying it because it was so nice and so cheap and she gave it to me and told me that I could buy it! I was doing the happy dance! The top wooden case with the leather straps and handle was FREE on the curb. (Last weekend was set aside for people to put anything on the curbside for free.) The basket and old jars were also free.

What I was really looking for, last Saturday, was an old end table or a bedside table. I came home without it, but I remembered having this old stool that I got at a garage sale last year for about $1.00, so I put it all together and this is what came of it.  Tell me what you think. 

I am joining Cindy over at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.  There are always wonderful things to see over there. 

Thanks for coming by, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.  Don't forget to leave me a comment!

It's a Small Blog World

Hi! I'm so glad you came by today. I've got some exciting stuff to share with you!

I won a giveaway!!! I won this lovely purse in the two photos above, isn't it the sweetest? And in such a lovely Spring color. I have several things that it goes very nicely with. Jody has the blog Living on 4Th Street. If you enjoy sewing check out her blog, she gives links to free patterns and has so many great projects and giveaways. She must have made the darling little card, too, the flower is machine stitched onto it. What a great idea. Thank you, Jody! I love it!

I received an email from one of my blogger friends, Tammy, from A Doctor in the House, who said that she had met my niece Kayla and that she had spent the night at her home. I know Kayla is on tour with the Bible School that she goes to. I am so excited that she got to meet Kayla and Kayla got to meet her. I haven't met Tammy yet, but I know I will one day! Kayla is the cutie with the red hair on the left. She has always been such a sweet, good natured girl. And Tammy is the lovely lady on the right.

I won an award a few weeks ago and I have not posted about it as of yet. Thank you, dear Greet. If you haven't met Greet from Belgian Pearls, please go over and take a look and tell her that Cindy from Oakview Cottage sent you. We've been friends for nearly a year now and I visit her blog as often as I can, knowing that I won't be disappointed.

For the Happy 101 Award, I need to mention ten things that make me happy.

1. Time that I spend with Jesus, my relationship with Him makes me VERY happy.

2. My hubby is next, he has given me a life that I only dreamt of at one one time.
Happiness is just being with my sweetie.

3. Spending time with any or all of my children.

4. My grand children's smiles and laughter is so beautiful.

5. Hearing the birds sing and the bees buzzing.

6. Just spending time at home.

7. Flowers in profusion always make me happy.

8. Lovely landscapes viewed in person is one of my favorite things to do.

9. Walking along my beautiful Red River.

10. Enjoying time with my sweet friends.

There are so many more, but ten is enough for today!

Our lovely weather is still holding, the temperature today is in the upper 20's Celsius or upper 80's Fahrenheit. I've been spending lots of time on my new patio that I will be so excited to show all of you as soon as it is finished.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment. If you do not have a blog, you can comment and click "anonymous". I would love to hear from you.

Hugs, Cindy

Carolyn's Garden

My daughter lives in Northwest Washington.  Her garden is so beautiful.  I hope you enjoy looking at all of it!

I am joining Susan over at A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.

Please leave me a comment telling me what you think, where you are and what your weather is like today.

Hugs,

Is Free Thrifty Enough??

                                        I'm not kidding, almost all of this stuff was free.  It may look like junk to you, but squint your eyes and imagine it all in a lovely coat of white and distressed lines here and there and doesn't it look better?  Well, I think so.

 My eight and nine-year old grand loves spent Friday night with us.  I got up Saturday morning at about seven.  Made biscuits, eggs and sausage for breakfast and my grands and I hit the streets scouring them for treasures.  It was Free Day in my fair city!  Anything "good" that folks wished to rid themselves of was put at the curb with a free sign on it.  And my, did we had fun!

We found a few garage sales, but mainly what we found was free.  The brown suitcase above was 50 cents, can you believe it?  The wooden box on it and the doilies and vine wreath were all free.  What you can't see is behind the cases, it's a box full of linen and muslin fabrics that I will be able to make a few lovely pillows from.

My grands had as much fun as I did.

What did you do this past weekend?  Did you have fun doing it?

Please leave me a comment and let me know.  You can be sure that I will visit you to see what you have been up to.  I love discovering new blogs!  I am  joining Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for "More Thrifty Treasures".  There is always lots to see over there, so check it out!  And thank you dear Rhoda for hosting this fun blog party!

Show and Tell

 

My oldest daughter sent this to me for Mother's Day. A wooden calendar. It's hard to tell in the photo, but it is painted black. I turn the blocks for each day and the month cubes can be turned, too.

 

                                             My son and daughter-in-law gave me this lovely purse made by a local girl.  She has her own business making purses.  I love it!

And lastly, last weekend I picked up this little file holder that I am using beside my chair in the sunroom.  It's the perfect place for my teacup when I am sitting there.

I am joining Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell.  Please go over and see what else is being shown.

I hope you all have a great weekend.  I plan on going to more garage sales and cruising the streets for FREE things.  This is Free Curbside Treasure Weekend (that's not the official name for it, just mine!)  I AM hoping to find some real treasures, though!

What are your plans for the weekend?

Blossoms and Bees

Do you see the bee?  There were several in the Crab Apple tree, doing the job that God created them to do.

Do you see the bee in the middle of the photo?

I was having fun on Saturday trying to capture the bees while they were sitting on a blossom.  Our crab apple tree is so gorgeous right now.  Spring time is so exciting!

I am joining Susan over at A Southern Daydreamer.  Go over and see what else is happening.

Happy Wednesday!

Great Garage Sale Finds

Today I'm joining Rhoda at Southern Hospitality.  She loves garage sales and has so many wonderful thrifty finds in her lovely home.  These are what I found at the garage sales that I went to.  Blogger is giving my a hard time again, it won't let me insert text at the top of the page or in between the photos.  If you have had this problem and conquered it, would you be so kind as to tell me how to fix it?

All I can do is explain the photos that you have already seen here.  In the top one you see little embroidered napkins, they came in a bag of other table linens and the little glasses that I got for free at the second sale that I went to.

The second photo show tomato plants that I got for 50 cents each.  They are heritage plants especially formulated for our Manitoba climate.  The birds were free from that sale as well.

The third photo shows an old shabby quilt that I got for $1.00.  It washed up nicely and I will use it here on my porch on the old chair until I get it recovered.

These linen hand embroidered tea towels came in the bag of linens, as well as a lovely linen table cloth with hand embroidery and cut work (I think it's called) on it for 1 dollar!!  It's in the last photo.

The wicker book case below was $10.00 and the enamel ware tin with the lid was $2.00.

The cut work linen table cloth was in the $1 bag of linens.  It is so pretty.  It has a few little spots on it that I will work on and as soon as the sun comes out I will dry it in the sun.  I feel sure that the spots will disappear.  I love

the enamel tin.  It suits my farm house kitchen perfectly.  For the time being I will keep cookies and bread in it.

Thank you for coming by, I hope your Monday is sunny and bright!!!

 

Happy Mother's Day

When you become a Mother, you decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~ E. Stone

Two Plum Tree Blossom boquets for all of my sweet Bloggy friends who are Mothers.

A Tribute to my Mother

The photo below is of my mom and dad back in the early 1950's. 

My mom married my dad just days before her 17th birthday.  She remained happily married to my dad

for just about 40 years when my dad died in 1991 of a massive stroke.

She had followed my dad from Oklahoma to the coast of Washington state and then into British Columbia, Canada, where they pastored churches.

The best thing she ever did for her six children was love our dad.

She didn't complain when life dealt her some pretty tough blows.  She lost a baby when the baby was only six months old.  Our house burnt down in 1969 and she fell and broke her leg while trying to move a couch into the new house that dad had built for us.

My mom was quiet, stable and loving.  We knew she loved God first, dad next and us last.  We always knew that we were extremely important to her. She knew what it was to sacrife something for us.  I remember many times when we were sitting at the table eating a meal, that one of us would want another helping of food and my mom, knowing there weren't any extras, would tell us we could have her portion, because she didn't want it anyway.  As I got older I realized that it wasn't because my mom didn't want it, but because she wanted us to have something that we wanted.   My goal as I married and had children was to be like my mom.  I didn't have the luxury of being a stay at home Mom like she had been, but I did my best to love my children the way she had loved us.  My mom died of a brain tumor just three years after my dad passed away.  She was only 59 years old.  I am very thankful for the mom that God gave me.

A close-up of the Plum Tree blossoms. 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Hugs,