Mr.Wooley's Grandpa Has A Birthday !

~~~Happy Birthday to Mr. Wooley's Grandpa !~~~~~~O.K. So our friend is NOT a feline Grandpa....but don't tell Mr.Wooley that. And don't tell Zuzu that he is not her Dad either. Those cats get a bit persnikety and super-sensitive when they feel they have been overlooked in importance and place in family. ( most cats feel the family exists for their benefit and pleasure anyway)

~~~Our friend David celebrates his birthday. He is getting on in years (ha ha ) so his daughter threw a surprise party for him and invited a few of us to celebrate with him and Mr.Wooley. "The years between 50 and 70 are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things , and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down." T.S. Eliot

~~~Mr.Wooley checks out the gifts to see which of them should be left behind for his pleasure. "Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life." Daniel Francois Esprit Auber ~~~Hmmm....., I think Mr. Wooley found a gift to his liking. I wonder if he can operate a corkscrew ? "Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it , you've got to start young." Fred Astaire ~~~"I will never be an old man. To me old age is always 15 years older than I am." Bertrand Russell~ Happy Birthday to you David !~ "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." Les Brown

~~~"Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative." Maurice Chevalier~~~

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12 "The glory of young men is their strength , and the honor of old men is their gray hair." Proverbs 20:29

My Mouse-O-Matic, Miss Marple

~~~"It is better to feed one cat than many mice." Norwegian Proverb~Yes, the rainy season is upon us and Miss Marple is showing her extreme intelligence by touchingly placing her gift of a freshly killed mouse between the boots I will need to wear to do the daily chores. I do prefer this presentation rather than the time I found her gift IN my boot after I put it on and stepped off the porch...~~~~~~Miss Marple has been naughty. I sold most of my little sheep at the Harvest Fest and the remaining few were carefully wrapped and placed in a box to be carted off to the next bazaar. Today I discovered one of my little black sheep had been removed from the box, unwrapped , dragged and batted around the house and destroyed. I guess Miss Marple showed him..she killed him and left him on a rug for me to discover.She's probably pretty proud of herself, the little vixen. "Anything not nailed down is a cat toy." Author Unknown

~~~Here is Miss Marple interrupting Candy Cat's nap to attack her tail.~~~

~~~"The world is a cat toy." Miss Marple holds this to be a truth. She holds no special regard for others of her species, after all, she IS entitled, and any old cat tail will serve her purposes. Poor Candy Cat had to find another nap spot to be left alone. I suspect this was Miss Marple's devious plan all along.

~~~"To a cat, "No means "Not while I am looking."~~~

~~~Really, Miss Marple is a wonderful cat. She has more than proven herself in rodent control, and she is a bold cat who is very social. She follows us around like a puppy, oversees all household comings and goings. When life is a little chaotic or stressful she seems to appear out of nowhere to sit in my lap or nap with me, all the while purring. The loud and contented purring seems to lower my heartbeat and calm me. She will stay with me until I decide I don't need the comfort any more....most un- catlike of her. One would almost think she cares about me, and I think she does. I love Miss Marple. ~~~"Of all the toys available, none is better designed than the owner himself. A large multipurpose plaything, it's parts can be made to move in almost any direction-it comes completely assembled and it makes a sound when you jump on it." Stephen Baker

Brothers

~~~"There's no other love like the love for a brother. There's no other love like the love from a brother."~ Israel Zangwill

~~~This is a picture taken almost 20 years ago . These men are all brothers....from left to right, my Hubby's younger brother, Hubby, Hubby's Father and on the right, the brother of my Hubby's father. The 2 boys are our sons, Daniel on the left, and David, our oldest son on the right. Three generations of 2 brothers in each generation. These brothers all posed for me during a break in the hard work of building our home. The Uncle on the far right died a few years ago, and our Father still misses his older brother. My Hubby's brother lives just up the road from us with his family, and Hubby's sister and her family live next door.~~~By the way, Hubby's Father, brother and our oldest son are ALL named David. (below)

~~~This is our son David(the one holding the newspaper) in Iraq. He is shown with his fellow Marines in front of their tank. brothers in arms. "All for one and one for all, My brother and my friend,Brothers til the end." Author unknown

~~~This is our son Daniel.(below) He is a Farrier ( horse-shoe-er) and horse trainer. Daniel is the youngest brother and our youngest child . Here Daniel poses for me with a saddle pad his wife, beloved daughter-in-law, has locker-hooked for him. Daniel and his wife have opened their home with joy and excitement for our son David and his 4 daughters. As our grandchildren all say, Aunt Breezy is the coolest ! We agree. Daniel also has been a bull and bronc rider. I am glad his rodeo days are over. I had a problem watching my son break out of the pen on a bull at the rodeo....and I did not like to picture my oldest son in a tank in a war.... ~~~Our son-in-law(below, with Hubby), a brother in the Lord, a brother-in-law in the Lord, and a brother in every sense of the word except by blood. Tom is a son, and he is so much more wonderful than we could have ever anticipated we would be blessed with through marriage. Our daughter agrees. God in His wisdom and kindness gave us all Tom. Thank-you Lord for a son who is closer than a brother...and a father to our Grandchildren and husband to our daughter, one who surpasses all the very best we ever wanted for our daughter! sorry Tom for snapping picture while your mouth was full! ~~~Hubby and our oldest child, our daughter(below). Our daughter, loyal defender of all family. Daughter, wife, mother, sister to our sons and sister in the Lord. There are no words to express the love she has shown and given us, her family, and friends. Loyalty should have been her name. Not blind, senseless loyalty, but the loyalty that sees true and still loves. "The mildest,drowsiest sister has been known to turn tiger if her sibling is in trouble." Clara Ortega .This saying is soooo true, just cross her brothers and family and this kind, accepting and forgiving woman will become a tigress! Grrrr.......her brothers love her very much, and now they are taller and bigger than her. ~~~"After a little girl is grown, her little brothers-now her protectors-seem like big brothers." Astrid Alauda ~~~Another generation of brothers. Here big brother, #1 Grandson, is helping his little sister with her schoolwork. He likes to oversee his sisters and brother.

~~Brother to brother ! Brothers making each other happy! Here are #1 and #2 Grandsons !~~

~~~"Blessed is the servant who loves his brother as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well and be of service to him. And blessed is he who loves his brother as well as when he is afar off as when he is side by his side, and who would say nothing behind his back he might not, in love, say before his face." St. Francis of Assisi ~~~"In biblical times , the word 'brother' meant first of all a sibling, but it was often extended metaphorically to cover blood relatives, fellow CLAN members, close friends, and political allies. In the Old Testament, it was also used in the sense of "fellow countrymen" to denote all Israelites. In the New Testament, Paul referred to the Christian community as brothers." Illustrated Dictionary of Bible Life and Timess

Little Sheep and Harvest Fest

~~~A Miniature Flock Of Sheep~~~~~~Here are some of the sheep I make to sell at bazaars. They are made the way the Moravians used to make them for their creches. They are clay wrapped in the wool fleece from my Jacob sheep. Here they are compared in size to some apples.

~~~Each sheep is an individual, and they seem to take on personality as they get their little smiles. They look like a real flock when placed in a group on my table. ~~~Oh no !!!! Miss Marple, they are not mice. Gotta rescue my flock. I am taking them, some hand spun yarn, batts and rovings of my wool, and locker hooked saddle pads to the Harvest fest at our Lacamas Community Club. The harvest Fest is an annual fall celebration of local farms . An opportunity for the farms to show and sell a bit of what they produce. I was going to bring some lambs, but the weather forecast is for stormy weather and I do not think they want lambs inside where they are serving breakfast and lunch to the community. ~~~This is a busy month, a Harvest fest, a wedding, a bazaar, family events, and I still have apples to preserve as applesauce and pie filling, and a lot more things to make for the Christmas Bazaars. ~~~Do YOU have any local festivals or bazaars that are important to you and your community ? Are you involved in any of these events ? Just wondering....Have a great weekend !

~~~Fest : derived from"Festival :a season devoted periodically to some form of entertainment;" Funk and Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary~~~

Spot of Sweetness and Reward, Baking Cupcakes

~~~This is Candy Cat. Candy Cat is a small cat with some physical problems, but she is not aware her problems are indeed PROBLEMS. She is unable to do many things, and her eyes do not dilate properly , nor do her claws retract, but she is a happy cat and very easy to have around. I bring her up in today's post because she was a Christmas gift from our grandchildren and the granddaughter who loves her to pieces stayed with us for 2 nights and 3 days JUST FOR FUN ! Candy cat was snuggled and loved by #2Granddaughter in between all the playing and baking and arts and crafts !~~~#2 Granddaughter (below) is cracking open the eggs for the lemon cupcakes she and I are baking. She chose the cake mix and she told me cracking the eggs open is her favorite part of baking. ( I think tasting the batter is really her favorite)

~~~She is carefully scraping the sides of the bowl while the mixer does it's magic.~~~ "The torch of love is lit in the kitchen."Anon.

~~~Look at the concentration on her face as she carefully fills each paper cup with batter.~~~ ~~~While the cupcakes bake she is working on a sheep she is making. She and I spent the evening before making sheep. I make little sheep to sell at bazaars. I think she will be a future business partner. Last night she was my 'glue girl', and a very good glue girl she is.She did all the gluing, a step that takes a little extra time, so she saved me some time and labor. But, here she is working on her own sheep. (below) ~~~The cupcakes are out of the oven. We could not resist. We ate warm cupcakes without frosting. She has peppermint tea with hers and I had fresh coffee. She insisted on us using the pretty butterfly teacups. (below)

~~~"If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony." Fernand Poins ~~~

~~~Hubby and #2 Granddaughter frosting cupcakes. Well, Hubby was frosting his own cupcake. Hubby comes from a family that believes dessert IS the meal, and I believe the quote below is their family motto , actually, I think they believe life IS dessert !~~~

~~~"Life is unsure, always eat your dessert first."~~~

~~~Here is the cupcake our granddaughter made for me. She made little fairy toppers and wanted to make sure I kept this one. I think I will eat it for breakfast. Thank-you Granddaughter. ~~~I count it a privilege and a blessing to be able to do special things with children. Even better that I have grandchildren to have fun with. It takes so little to make a child happy, read a story together, bake together, color in a coloring book or play a game together. Sing silly songs or do jumping jacks together.Pick up colorful leaves, or cuddle in the rocking chair while you watch a special movie together. ~~~This verse from the Bible is one I take to heart and believe God is pleased to grant us here on earth. "Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labors in which he toils under the sun during the few years of life which God has given him; for this is his reward." Ecclesiastes 5:18 And I believe sharing time with the grandchildren borne of the children Hubby and I had in our youth is a true reward from God.

Spot on Doll houses

~~~I have a fascination for miniatures. Don't we all to some degree ? Here is a log cabin Hubby and our kids made about 15 - 20 years ago for our homeschool History Fair. The fair exhibited displays and research various families did on the history of America. The homeschoolers also performed a compilation of songs representing American history, directed by a top notch music teacher. The choir was moving and many grandparents who were very skeptical and hostile to their grandchildren being homeschooled never the less shed a tear as the homeschooled youth performed songs dear to the hearts of loyal Americans. ( my and Hubby's fathers for sure ) But I digress. ~~~Hubby and the kids collected the wood sticks from the woods, peeled and notched them, then constructed the cabin. We made a mortar to chink the logs, and furnished the log home the way a clever but poor family might have in the late 1700's to 1800's. We had fun, and I still have the log home. ~~~#2 Granddaughter is spending two fun filled nights with Hubby and I. She has grown so much, and I realized she is now old enough to play with some things that are not able to stand up to the rough play of the younger and / or less careful grandchildren. I brought the log house down off the top of the armoire and she played with the log home for awhile. I noted how careful she was, how she arranged things so nicely, and how much fun she was having. So I allowed her a privilege I have not allowed anyone but myself , ever. I allowed her to play with MY dollhouse!

~~~See how she set the tables for the mouse, doll and bear ? ~~~

~~~My doll house is the bottom shelf of our china cabinet. I used to keep the furniture in a real doll house, but had trouble making everyone keep their mitts off my toys. Keeping things behind glass has a way of saying " HANDS OFF " without really having to say it. (ignore the dust, the maid, me ,doesn't dust too thoroughly )

~Here is my small living room. Hubby and I made most of the furniture. I wove the blue rug.~

"Did you ever see a little girl who wasn't enchanted by a miniature dollhouse? As a matter of fact, did you ever see a BIG girl who wasn't enchanted by a miniature dollhouse? Young or old, the intrigue is the same; even little boys and big boys have been captivated by it's charm." Helen Ruthberg THE BOOK OF MINIATURES

~~~Here is the kitchen / dining room. I made the dry sink , the food, and wove this rug too.~~~ ~~~"Smallness has charm. There is something precious and appealing about the precise detail of a minute thing. Although small things rarely have risen high in the eyes of art critics, the smallness of objects has enchanted mankind throughout the ages.Perhaps it is people's love for precision. Or it may be that smallnes awakens a nostalgia harkening a person back to childhood, reviving one's instincts for play, for visiting the mysterious and imaginative world of pretend." THE COMPLETE BOOK OF MAKING MINIATURES Thelma Newman & Virginia Merrill ~~~Here the little kitten naps on the bed I made, and quilt I cross stitched. Hubby helped me make the bureau and a friend crocheted the rug. ~~~"A dollhouse becomes a showcase for your own creative talents and should be displayed prominently - in living room, dining room, or family room." ALL ABOUT DOLLHOUSES Barbara L. Farlie

~~~#2 Granddaughter played with the dollhouse for quite awhile. Now if I can just get the doll family to dust their home once in awhile....

~~~I think I will be letting all the grandchildren play with my toys a bit more often ! Smiles like this make my day, and all I have to do is share my toys.~~~

~~~"Play: Action without special aim or for amusement."Funk and Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary

Spot on Black Sheep

~~~Delilah, my Jacob / Romney ewe. She was once black, now.....

~~~A basket of wool to be spun.~~~

~~~A basket of wool from my Delilah, my Jacob / Romney ewe who started out as a very black sheep and is now a charcoal gray sheep. I spin the wool up and this is what I have for my effort.

It is 2 ply, and yes, she is a black sheep. Her wool is getting lighter and this year I think I would call the color of her wool 'charcoal brown '. I do not think her wool is a true black and it appears to be fading into a nice brown as she ages.~~~ ~~~This is my new lamb.( below ) Bartholomew. I am sure my daughter and grandchildren will shorten his name to BLACK BART. I am sure I need black fleece to spin black yarn, and Bartholomew was a necessary addition to my flock, don't you think ? Well, maybe Hubby could have been very happy and content without one more baa-ing , woolly, hay chomping animal on the place, but he DID haul little Bartholomew home after all. Isn't he cute ? He is the same age as the other lambs he is confined with. Bartholomew is a Black Welsh Mountain ram lamb...soon to be wether, a fancy term for 'castrated male sheep', shhh......don't tell him.

~~~"Baa baa black sheep have you any wool, yes sir, yes sir, three bags full." Yes indeed, my Delilah gave me at least 3 bags, or to be precise, one BIG bag of black wool which I think is quite nice.

~~~"BLACK WELSH MOUNTAIN SHEEP : The black Welsh Mountain is a small, black sheep with no wool on it's face or legs below the knee hock. The rams are typically horned,and the wool, always black, can be used un-dyed for many cloths."..." The wool is black , short, thick and firm to handle and does not require dyeing." quotes from Wikipedia. So, here again is little Bartholomew. He is very easily handled, and becomes calm when I pick him up. Very unlike my Jacob sheep. Very nice and I just might halter train him so he can be easily handled by our grandchildren. ~~~When you hear the term,' the black sheep', you usually think of someone who stands out in a group in an unfavorable way. BLACK SHEEP is an " English language idiom which describes an odd or disreputed member of a group, especially within one's own family. The term has been looked upon either positively or negatively depending on the era and culture which the term was used. " Wikipedia ~~~"The term originated from the occasional black sheep which are born into a herd of white sheep, due to a genetic process of recessive traits. Black sheep were considered commercially undesirable because their wool cannot be dyed, as white wool can. In 18th and 19th century England the black color of the sheep was seen as the mark of the devil." Wikipedia ~~~The black sheep in my flock have NOT been my troublesome and unruly sheep. The black sheep have not needed to be dealt with in any extraordinary way. The black sheep stand out simply because they are black ! They are different in appearance. Really , the black sheep are desirable to me. I want the black fleece and I want to spin up the black fleece. ~~~I don't want to pontificate on the scriptural and spiritual comparisons and analogies of white / black sheep. I do want to say that because the black sheep stand out in appearance from the more common white sheep ( in my case, spotted sheep ) their behavior and tendencies readily call attention to them. ~~~So maybe my analogy or comparison is not the typical one we might see and hear about so often. If we as Christians, meaning 'Christ Followers", stand out because we call ourselves such, and call attention to ourselves because we are Christians, do we really and truly represent Christ, The Son of God,? Do our attitudes and behavior stand out as truly Christian, or just STAND OUT ? ~~~"All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth;Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before it's shearers, so He did not open His mouth." Isaiah 53: 6,7