hither, yon, and dale . . .

Because I'm all *over* the place in this post!!

My goodness . . . how did March arrive so quickly?!  True to form, it's 'marched' in like a lion -- we have *cold* temps and snow in our immediate forecast!  Which is quite funny when you consider my next few photos . . .

Todd and I took a golf cart ride earlier in the week and noticed a bit of Spring making a showing . . .

Those sweet little flowers sure weren't counting on snow falling on them. We spotted them as we traveled down to Hidden Creek -- I hadn't been down there in ages!  

When we got down there, I noticed that someone (probably Sam, one of the Camp's top committee members) had cleared a huge swath of land from the very invasive bamboo that grows down there.  

If you look at the above pic, you'll see a little jut of land sticking out in the center of the creek.

I've always wanted to walk up there -- and now I could!  It's such a sweet little spot, too.  And Todd and I noted that though the bank is a little steep, there are natural steps cut into the side here.  Add a rope and I imagine Sawyer and I will add this to our favorite "spots", come summer.  Especially since in the summer months, the creek is a little calmer and there's hardly any water flow on the bank side of the spot.  But not today -- listen to the creek roll here!

Gosh I do love that sound!!  From the big creek, we headed across the camp to the little creek -- Crawdad Creek.  As we headed out, I noticed how much water has overflowed out of the creek, into what's typically dry paths . . .

Usually that's all dry ground.  We've had a LOT of rain in the last two months, that's for sure.  By summer, it will be all gone.  Crawdad Creek, though small, never stops flowing . . . 

We figure that, like the ponds, it's spring-fed.  I wish there was a way to eliminate mosquitoes down there -- I'd spend a LOT more time there, if there was!

And I had to share this funny picture . . .

What makes it funny is that this is a picture of a purple finch surrounded by goldfinches.  Only the purple finch is decidedly red while the goldfinches are decidedly olive.  They make me laugh!

At Joc's on Wednesday, I decided to throw down a challenge to see if Leia would make a good quilter's cat.

It appears that she would, indeed, make a good quilter's cat.  I figured that was the case, but just wanted to make sure.  Leia's sitting on one of my NewFOs for February, by the way.  That was my February doll quilt swap piece.  I also had a cute little NewFO/finish in the mug rug I made for my pastor's wife:

And I consider my CQ block a NewFO, too!

I got my spider web on it and that ended Lesson 5.  Lesson 6 starts us on beading.  The first thing we do is pull out the matching pincushion and treat the seams on it.

Next up will be the actual beading!  

I've got my beads picked -- I'll work on that today.  From there, I'll go back to my block and add the beading to it!

Ellie's little broken leg isn't keeping her down.  In fact, though she was aware of it the weekend I stayed with her, by the next weekend she was walking on it again.  Evidently Leia wishes it had slowed her down a bit more . . .

She was hiding from Ellie.  Ummm, yeah.  Gotta love cats!

Ellie was quick to help Leia out, by showing her the error of her ways.  I can just hear her, "See Leia -- it's all open.  I can see *all* of you!"

I suppose, since it *is* March, I could come up with some goals for the month. Let's see . . . number one on the list is the March doll quilt swap. Number two? FINISH my crazy quilt course! Number three. Hmmmm. I really would like to finish up some of the UFOs I've got lying around. To that end, number three will be finishing off the center of the quilt-as-you-go pineapple quilt I resurrected last year.

I need to trim the red to the black center and make sure it'll fit inside the rows of blocks!  And number four--start quilting on Joc's quilt.  Wow.  That's pretty industrious for me!  Especially when you consider that in the first half of the month we'll celebrate Joc's, Kim's and Sawyer's birthdays, Kim and James's anniversary, and my folks will come down for a visit!  In addition to the fun family stuff, Todd and I will head to Shocco Springs next weekend for a missionary training weekend and the following Saturday is National Quilting Day (March 16) and our guild has BIG plans.  Whew!!

I guess I'm out of here for the weekend.  Linking up today's post to the February NewFO linky party over at Cat Patches, the March "Get 'Er Done" post at Patchwork Times, and the Feline Friday linky party over at Sarah Did It!!!

:)

why does santa like to wear bells?

Wait for it . . . 

Because he likes a good bell-y laugh!  Bahahaaa!!

I've got my own personal, non-Christmas countdown going.  This is post number 980 and I've got fourteen days left in December.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!

Sawyer and I had a glorious time together Saturday morning.  James dropped him off and Sawyer was ready to go!  We had talked about feeding the fish and he was excited about that ... and he also wanted to see the cows.  That's always a hit or miss, so I had to cross my fingers on that one!

So we loaded up on the golf cart.  He had the baggie of bread to feed the fish with.  He took his duties of holding onto that bag *very* seriously!

Our first stop was at the new pipe that was just recently delivered up here for the new obstacle course.  Sawyer was awed by the size of it ... but wouldn't stick his head in the opening.  Not until I got down and did it first.  

The things I do for my grands!  He climbed in ahead of me ... but just a bit.  It is a little daunting looking down the length of the pipe from the inside!  

Next thing I knew, I was on the inside and he was back on the outside, encouraging me to, "C'mon, Neesey, we need to see the cows!"  Still clutching that bag of bread, too.

We went up to the upper field -- no cows.  Not a single one.  Not on either side. Oh well, he took it like a champ. We headed on down to the pond -- and I told him we'd head out of the camp and see if we could find the cows on the other side a little later.  

We got to the pond and he headed to the dock calling very loudly, "Fishes, we brought a snack for you!"  There weren't any of the bigger fish ... the water was too cold.  There were a lot of minnows, but I don't think he could see those.  We walked off the dock around to the right bank.  I turned around to see if he wanted to toss some bread in, and he lifted his piece to his mouth -- remembered it was fish food -- and dropped his hand. I took pity on him and told him he could take a bite if he was hungry.

In a flash, he plopped down on the bank and was finished off that entire bun. Well. I think my little guy was hungry!  (All that fruitless searching for cows.)

After the bun was finished and the hand was empty, he quickly filled it with a stick. It's what boys do. And boys with sticks near the water, well . . .

You guessed it! They play with the water with their sticks! And yes, that is one of the toes of my new polka dot boots!

After a little playing on that side, we walked over to the left bank.  That side of the pond sits under a grove of evergreens and there's a nice blanket of pine straw on carpeting the ground.

Evidently that was very inviting ... Sawyer flopped right down on his belly, mindless of the fact that  it could be wet, and went to town with his stick!  Oh my gosh, he's just darling.

I believe he could have laid there for a long time, just twirling around in the water with his stick, but it was kind of cold, and I was pretty sure it was damp underneath him!  Luckily I had a fleece blanket on the golf cart to tuck around us. When I said it was time to head out, he sprinted ahead of me. I love to capture him from behind . . . especially going across the "Billy Goat Gruff" bridge!

Note that he *still* has his stick.  He ran *way* ahead up the hill to the golf cart. Evidently I was not following fast enough . . . 

Check out that face!  He's such a rascal!  That expression just screams, "Are you coming or not?!" Haha!  

I so enjoy sharing the camp and things of nature with this little fellow.  And he soaks it all in and remembers most of it.  He can call the woodpeckers and he remembers where the deer bed down in the wind and rain and he loves being out and about in it all.  I'm sure you can't tell what a proud "Neesey" I am!

:)

i've got to count it *all*????

My shower got off to a very slow start this morning.  I have a little ritual.  I step into the stall, close the door, turn the shower nozzle off to the side, and turn on the hot water.  Once the water starts to get warm, I turn on the cold, adjust to the perfect temp, and put the shower nozzle back to center.

This morning, when I turned on the hot water, I realized that the pressure was very low.  And the water wasn't all that hot, either.  And when I turned on the cold water, nothing changed.

Uh oh.

Still, I'm the queen of positive thinking, so I went ahead and stuck my head under the . . . so-called running water and pushed on.  Usually the first thing I do is wet and lather up my hair, but as positive as I try to be, I've also got a good dose of reality about me and I chose to get my hair wet, but not soapy.  Common sense definitely paid off.  I was lucky enough to get my face washed (and all my Lever 2000 parts as well) before the water trickled down to a, well, trickle.  By the time I shut off the water, there wasn't more than a drip coming from the shower head.

Sigh.

I'd just brushed my teeth before getting into the shower, so I went back to the sink and tried the water, thinking maybe it was a shower connection problem.  Nothing.

I'd just washed dishes prior to brushing my teeth, so I walked down to the kitchen sink and flipped the handle there, thinking perhaps it was a bathroom connection problem.  Nothing.

Then I panicked.  What if the connection to the RV had come loose or broken and there was inches of water pumping into the RV basement?!?!  (Oh the horror -- that's where my stash of UFO's and quilt kits and batting is stored!!) I ran limped really quickly outside and around to the back to check.  Nothing.

Whew!

Unfortunately, it meant I had to greet my sweet husband this morning, when he came home off shift, with, "Honey, we don't have water."

After checking the breaker to the well pump and checking the connection to the RV, he determined it's the pump.  Great.  Or, worst case scenario, the well is dry. Greater.  LOL!  After a couple of calls, we've got a repairman headed up to the camp this afternoon, so hopefully we'll get it resolved soon.  In the meantime, we keep our fresh water tank filled (for the toilets) and several gallons of water on hand for 'such a time as this' so it's all good.

And at this point, I'm also celebrating the fact that I didn't put a load of laundry in first thing this morning like I'd intended to.  Because if I had, there wouldn't be clean dishes, clean teeth, or a clean Denise, when you get right down to it.  And I suppose it's better that it happened on an innocuous Wednesday than on a weekend ... all our weekends are booked up at the Camp and the well provides all the water.  No water on a weekend wouldn't be good.  *Especially* if it was the weekend we're the venue for a wedding event!  

So I guess I can count this a joy, too.  I can ... I will ... and I am.  It's all good.

:)

one more WEEK!!!

One more week (at the MOST) before this little guy makes his grand entrance into our world! I can't explain how excited I am for him to be here . . . being a grandma is just going to ROCK! :) I guess, seeing as how the blessed event is just a week away, I'd better get that quilt for him finished! LOL!

I don't have anything else quilty to share, so I thought instead, I'd share some of our wanderings around Camp Macoba (our homesite) last weekend. Todd had told me there was a creek running through the back of the property, but I'd not explored that deep into the woods (there really hadn't been an opportunity, due to weather, etc.) so I didn't know what to expect. I knew we had two beautiful ponds, because they're right there. This was our view from our picnic lunch . . .

When I thought "creek," I thought perhaps there was a little something like this . . .

Which was very pretty and woodsy and made the melodic water trickling sound I love so much.

Or perhaps, even, it was something like this . . .

Which was beautiful and tranquil and the perfect spot to dip your toes while sitting on the bank with a good book, or maybe some handwork.

I did not, however, have any clue that it was THIS . . .

That's a RIVER! LOL! Or a stream, or something bigger than a creek! It's big & beautiful!

And talk about the sound of rushing water . . . goodness, this is my wishes fulfilled! Look at the sunlight sparkle off the top! Look at the turbulent flow as it heads wherever it goes!

And, it comes complete with . . .

MINNOWS!!! Does it get any better than this???

Well, as a matter of fact . . .

How now? She was grazing up at the meadow, at the other end of the property. So we sit in the middle of woods, surrounded by ponds, streams, and the lowing of cattle.

I am living the DREAM, baby!

:)

this is for the birds . . .

Yesterday morning Todd and I sat at the picture window watching the birds eat breakfast. It was so much fun to watch the jays dive into the corn like kamikaze pilots. I'm not kidding. They fly head-first towards the ground at break-neck speeds, only to pull up and land on their feet at the very last second. And just as the jay gets comfortable in the corn, the red-headed woodpecker swoops down and displaces the jay. Not to eat corn, mind you, but simple to chase off the big ol' blue jay. Then the cardinal (Nick) comes in and flits from feeder to feeder, preening himself between dainty bites of black oil sunflowers seeds. He's such an aristocrat! Then there are the little birds; the sparrows, the wrens, the chickadees, the juncos, and the tufted titmouses (or would that be titmice?) who steadily consume their weight in feed. They make me laugh as they chatter and eat and chatter. And eat and eat and eat! Then two of them will fly swirlies together as if they're twitterpated in the dead of winter. But it's so pretty to watch! The nuthatches do their funny little hop-skip-jump upside down on the tree, and the downy woodpecker hangs close to, actually ON, the suet feeder.


Why didn't I share this all in yesterday's post? Because yesterday was a serious, introspective, Pulitzer prize winning post day. You can't write about birds and twittering and be a Pulitzer prize winner unless you're Robert Frost. Whom I'm definitely not. Hahahaha!


Anyway, we sat at the window and watched the birds and ate breakfast. You do remember me sharing that I was going to make my darling man a yummy breakfast of sausage apple pie, right? I'm sorry to report that it didn't happen. In my defense though, it's not for lack of trying. It's for lack of light apple pie filling. So instead, I opted to tweak a recipe I'd tried a couple of months ago at our mini-retreat. It's healthy, hot, and very tasty. It's whole wheat bread, turkey sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms, assorted herbs & spices, eggs, milk, and cheese. Layered and allowed to sit overnight, it took 30 minutes in a hot oven and it was ready to chow down! Which we did. :)


We were without water again yesterday; did I mention that? We actually lost it Friday afternoon, which, given the temperatures, is no big surprise. I feel so badly for my husband, because I can *see* how it eats at him until it's fixed. It makes me realize how incredibly blessed I am to have him as a husband; my provider and my protector. I need to be more purposeful in my recognition of him. I'm sometimes quick to challenge his way of doing things. An example would be with the heaters and the water sources. I was a little anxious about leaving them (the heaters) on overnight. But instead of saying something (or at least I don't think I did; I hope I didn't) I got to thinking about the fact that my husband wouldn't do anything to endanger me; he's a very smart and resourceful man. Not to mention the fact that he was schooled as an electrician and he's a FIRE FIGHTER! If he is comfortable with his plan, who the heck am I to challenge him? Good gracious; I need to read this paragraph frequently!


I did get my applique leaves on my swap project. I'm didn't want to get the sewing machine out until the water was on and the heaters were put up. The down side to our living arrangement is that there's only so many machines that can be plugged in and working at a time! No matter. Water was back by late afternoon and Monday is an off day. I'll get her done.


Friday is the third annual board meeting for Restoring the Church Ministries. Three years already!! What an incredible ride it's been so far. We've come a long way since our original vision. I mean, we're actually living in our fifth-wheel RV!!!!! I cannot wait to experience what God has for us this year!


Two weeks from yesterday we'll have another wedding in the family. It's with gratitude that I note I'm just a guest at this one! :) My nephew, Michael Jr. is getting married in HOTlanta! It will be so awesome to see my whole family again after only six months! Yippee!!!


Today is Sunday, so I'm off to ready myself for church! Pictures will have to wait until I can upload them on Tuesday. :(


Selah!


:)