SEASONS

Well, I said I missed the change of seasons...be careful what you wish for

BABY STEPS

Baby steps with a HUGE impact........

This will really be appreciated by my friends and family who have visited me. As most of you know - I am currently living in the lower level of the church while I s l o w l y finish the upper level. This will eventually be a guest suite - but for now it's my full-time living quarters. It will be wonderful for guests but is a bit crowded for my all day, everyday life.

Yesterday I put together a new bookcase - and cleared the table.........the table where I kept everything, and worked, ate , blogged, scanned, printed, read, ...need I go on ? Everything ( and more!) in that bookcase was on this kitchen table .

I have always planned for this bookcase - but never had the opportunity to pick one up until now. The placement faces the seating area of the suite and hides the side of the refrigerator - and we always love to do that !

AHHHH - it's a good day.

SMALL WORLD

I live in a little, tiny, drive-thru town of about two hundred - a town that is known by very few people. I was born and raised in a city some 55 miles away. Surprisingly, one of my best friends since high school produced this photo for me ........ a picture of her mom- age 2 -sitting on the lawn in front of her grandma and grandpa's house..... circa 1932. This is the little bungalow across the street from my church - and you can see St. Mary's in the background. Amazing !!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

I know, I know........where the heck have I been !?! Loooong story - in fact, too many stories and I'm not going there right now with one exception: someone has decided to make my blog their personal playground leaving bizarre and sometimes gross comments. My computer had a horrible virus and had to be scrubbed - I lost a lot of stored info and we are suspecting the bug came in through this commenter......or not.....the "not knowing" has made me very cautious and though I know it wasn't St. Mary's fault - I just stopped writing. blah blah blah.....

SO ! a quick update ... Christmas trees are my favorite things - the lights are the first thing on in the dark morning and the last to go out at night - I'm not even sick of the music ! LOVE LOVE love it all. I did realize however(after last year) that I would have to decorate the top of the tree from the second floor loft and then scoot it across the room to its perfect location. I learned that last year when I had to throw things at the top because my ladder wasn't tall enough.

Our first MAJOR storm came early and I never got to any outside decorations - another lesson learned......on the final nice weekend when everyone was outside hanging lights - I was planting perennials. Thinking that the gardening is REALLY done this time.

The storm shut everything down - even the University of Wisconsin closed for the first time in history. By the second day we were getting stir crazy and I had a spur-of-the-moment dinner party - people prepared what they had in their refrigerator/cupboards and we had a wonderful dinner. The buffet was on sheets of chip board on top of my unfinished kitchen island....I promise to update on that soon.

And finally - just so you don't think I've been a slug - my neighbor taught me about preserving and pickling. Pretty impressive - for me anyway. The freezer is full as well - my summer garden bounty. Life is good.

HELLO GOURDGEOUS

Okay, Okay - I plagerized that title from my friend John....it was a year ago this month ( OH MY - it was LAST month) when he and his wife Karen visited. My daughter had set up my blog and named it St. Mary - and I never did another thing. John showed me how to down load photos and upload to the blog - or is it the other way around..........whatever.......and here I am.

Summer is definitely over ...vacation is over...anyone else feeling a bit depressed? Wandering aimlessly through the garden yesterday, pulling a weed or two , looking for a renegade tomato or zucchini, I realized I needed to "let it go". STEP AWAY FROM THE VEGETABLE PATCH.

I have many unfinished projects - things left undone for one reason or another (mainly one reason - I didn't want to do anything inside when I could be outside), So, I am back on the renovation track. Loading the camera with new batteries, making my to-do list , making the shopping list .

I've already eaten all the Halloween candy so I may as well get to work.

I'M BAAAACK

I am back and ready to get back to work on the church - but we will continue to post pics of our wonderful adventure on http://www.theafricanqueens.blogspot.com/

a few more days and my body will re-arrange itself

BYE BYE GARDEN

OKAY ........why has blogger changed stuff - right when I don't have time to figure it out ????HELP

SO I spent the summer in the garden and visiting friends - remember this arbor I was building?  It is so loaded I am afraid it will tip over with the first wind.  so I am saying goodbye to my garden and to you - for a bit......I am leaving in the morning for three weeks in South Africa...I would love to have you come along:   http://www.theafricanqueens,blogspot.com/

see you in a few ....behave yourselves while I'm gone !!