Joyous Tomorrows

This last week end, I spent with my son, his wife and their 3 new children.  It was a special week end, starting out with visiting when I arrived.  The mom had to go pick up a daughter from sports, and the dad was giving his last presentation for his classes for the semester. There was the making of gingerbread houses. Always a fun Christmas activity. Of course, afterwards, there were the territorial markings of MY gingerbread house (and candy.)  But nothing out of the ordinary. starting construction. Nibbles were required to make sure the product was good. :) The next day we were up and it was 31 degrees outside.  Did the family let that stop them? No, we were out walking on the green belt just huffing and puffing.  It was fun. There was shopping to do later and in the evening we went to the church ward party.  The dad had to create a stall for their part in the party, it was a night at Bethlehem event. Stall and creator. Stall keeper and wife. Of course, Mary

As I was looking for a recipe by my grandmother Lenora Gildon Langley to post on FamilySearch's Family Tree, I realized she did not have specialty recipes like we see today.  Grandma Langley was a pioneer camp cook in her methods.  Everything was cooked with bacon, and she used stuff from the garden.  There weren't steaks or chicken like we have now in abundance. They would kill their own chicken, dress it and most of the time, boil it with dumplings or noodles, and carrots.    My favorite memory of her was my early teen years.  She lived in a small house my dad had bought for her behind us.  When I got home from school, she would pull out her handy wash bowl full of flour and whip up some of her version of Indian fry bread and serve it up with homemade jelly or strawberry jam from the store. Sometimes, there was honey.  I watched her as she made it, so I continued to make this for my children as they grew up.  Yummy days.  I know my oldest aunt Della Langley Whitaker, an

I love children’s creativity.   multi-media art by my granddaughter As my 6 children grew up, we would have a room full of toys and they would always go for the oatmeal box as a drum or my pots and pans. Don’t know how many spoons were taken outside for shovels, I still find some occasionally.   The youngest used a hanger to jump out of a loft to catch his fall… that didn’t turn out too well. (oh my)   However, there weren't any broken bones… the daughter twirling knives caused that. Laughing at the memories of the oldest son galloping across the yard with his stick horse his father and I had made for him.   He ended up on the front page of the local newspaper when he took it to town, and the reporter was amazed at a child that was happy with a toy that didn't do anything. Oh yeah it did.   It spurred imagination. Now that I have 23 grandchildren, it has been a delight seeing my grandchildren continuing in the world of imagination and creativity. The oldes

Yesterday I went shopping with my daughter and son-in-law when they were looking for appliances for their new house.  While they were doing the comparisons, I took the two older granddaughter out to the garden center to look at the plants.  (You knew this would happen.) We looked at the different plants. I told  them the names of each as well as why they would or would not do for the new house.  A front apparently rolled in because the wind picked up and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees.  We chose to go back inside and looked at yard art and the seeds.  We found Butterfly Weed seed Why we wanted the Butterfly Weed. ... only one package left so we picked it up, some Johnny Jump ups, and Nasturtiums they could plant in the hanging back which could be brought in on cold days.  Of course I found one or two other things I could buy to spoil them with. The transaction for arranging delivery was taking a while so the parents suggested we check our stuff out and wait for the

Since I began blogging in 2009, I have had photo envy of Carol at  Reflection's Flora and Fauna  .  I love the way she catches wild life.  I have been trying so hard to catch an animal, bird, insect, or reptile in a nice pose or at least a realistic pose instead of a blur. This last weekend I had my chance, or so I thought at a picnic the family went on at a local park in California. My son in law, called my granddaughters attention to the fact there was a gopher digging next to us.  In a few minutes it was evident he was coming up. I grabbed my camera and rushed to stand near enough ( I am terrible with zoom coming out clear) so I could catch a shot of him as he emerged.  There I stood, camera aim... so I thought, first picture was of grass, second was of freshly dug grass. Then!  I caught a shot as he emerged.  I clicked 3 more times but only got him once as he paused to look at me considering what I was doing. The quick as a flash he flipped and I was left with a pic

This morning I went out to start planting the shrubs I had chosen to replace the rosebushes my daughter had lost to gophers.  Just the thought of having your landscape eaten by gophers was a new one to me. As I started to dig the first hole, I realized I had the wrong tools. A hand spade and small shovel would not work.  I had not dug in dirt this hard since I had tried to get some dirt for an experiment in the frozen tundra of Idaho in March of 2004.  Oh my!  It was time to get out the pick ax and the heavy duty shovel.  As I chopped and dug through the hard clay and rocks, my thoughts went to the pioneers that had gone to climates like this and had to create fields to grow crops.  Well, just the few holes I dug were tiring, can't even begin to put myself in their shoes.  Hats off to the pioneers! My young padawan was disappointed when I informed her that the tools would put her in danger and she would have to wait until we were ready to put the plant in the ground... O

I was helping a special friend today, who does not have a car right now.  We were in town at the bank, when I received a call asking about my address.  I was hesitant to answer the woman speaking because no one was at home.  After a few moments of conversation, the woman explains she is trying to deliver flowers for me.  She is at the address that I gave her.  Well, I couldn't get home, and had left our sweet dog outside, who was barking at her.  She was delivering from a Florist that was 25 miles away, so neither of us wanted to repeat the trip.  I finally said, put the phone out and I will talk with our dog and get him to sit down.  She said, "I'll try".  She puts the phone out the door and says "Here he is..." my cue to talk with him.  I told him it was okay and told him to sit down, in a stern tone.  She walked up to the door and sat the flowers down on the porch.  I asked if she needed to keep the phone on while walking out to the car.  She said, &

This spring I have had the fun working as my daughter's gardener.  It has been satisfying when people drive up to her house and say, "Beautiful yard!".  Hard not to get a puffed up attitude.  The Lord has blessed my efforts to keep her yard beautiful. The front yard we started out with barren brick mail box.  I added 'Carolina' Jasmine on each side and replaced some lantana that had died over the winter. Will show you later in the summer the results. The front yard we planted some 'Kaleidoscope' Dwarf Abelia, it has been touch and go, but it has taken hold and will be great to show you when it is blooming. Great fragrance too. We also planted violas and pansies for color in the beds. They have lasted until now. Getting ready to change out for petunias. The back yard we put in 'Purple Hempstead' Verbena, with 'Mystic Spires' Blue Salvia, and Soft Pink Petunia, with some beautiful hanging baskets for one bed. The Clemanti