May 2014 bring blessings of good health, peace and joy to all of you.  

Happy...Happy!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate that this week....

And Happy Hanukkah, also, to those who will be celebrating that holiday this week!

MEMORIAL.....

Memorial Day is a day in MEMORIAM of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for us!  BBQ's are nice, but please always remember the reason for this special holiday......and pray that they have not died in vain.   Thank you, also, to all the family members who gave their brave young men and women for the freedoms we treasure in this great country of ours!

A time to count our blessings......

I'm sure we all have had some sad days since last Thanksgiving....and maybe went through some tough times, but......this is a time to focus on our blessings.  We are told that our struggles make us stronger.  Sometimes I find it hard to believe that, but I have found that if we really sit down and think about it, we can usually find a silver lining in all our "clouds".  May you and your family have a wonderful thank-filled Thanksgiving holiday and may we all keep in mind those who are less fortunate and those who are not able to be with family for the holiday.

Happy Easter.......

To those of you who celebrate Easter, I wish a most blessed and beautiful day!  We are off to church to do more music....what a special Holy Week we have had.  Although we have been extremely busy with 4 services at which we have helped provide music since last Sunday (and 7 practices within a 9-day period), it has been a joy and an honor to do this.  Soon, it will be time to take a rest and it looks like we're going to have a beautiful-weather day on which to do that.   May the spirit of the risen Lord be upon all of us!  (And a happy 29th birthday to my daughter today, too!)

2011 is nearly upon us....

As we bid goodbye to 2010 and welcome 2011, my wish is for a gentle, kind year for all....filled with good health, happiness, a kinder economic climate, and peace in the hearts of all people so that, perhaps, we can start to work on peace for the whole world. Thanks to all my blogging friends for their support and encouragement over the past year and I look forward to many more shared projects and events in 2011....AND to meeting a few more of you in person this year, too!

Happy Independence Day......

Happy Independence Day to all here in the U.S.A. and a big thank-you to all who have toiled over the years to guarantee that we continue with our freedoms. God bless those who are serving today to uphold our freedoms, too.

Speaking of independence, this photo shows the independent streak of the homeowner in Salisbury, MD. Apparently, he has a couple of rental homes and the local historic preservation group prohibited him from replacing a window in one of the homes, so...in protest, this is what he did to another of his homes in that area!!! I wonder how the local preservation group likes THIS? (I'm betting they wish they'd let him replace the window in the other house!!! LOL)

A day of remembrance.......

Today be sure to set aside a few moments of quiet time to remember the real reason we have this holiday. Many have given life and limb so that we may be free to have our holiday barbecues with our friends and family. Let us always be grateful for what they have done for us and also realize that right at the very second you are reading this, there are others risking their lives for us. I pray they will
all return home safely.

Happy Easter......

To all of you in Blogland who celebrate Easter, I wish a happy and blessed day....filled with friends, family and good food but...most importantly of all, some time to reflect on the reason for (and true meaning of) this holiday...that our Lord died that we might truly live. Especially in these times of a tough economy and a war-torn world, it is essential for us to have faith that there can be new beginnings and that good things can come out of tragedies....that the sadness of Good Friday can lead to the joy of Easter morning over and over again in our lives. Prayers that all of you will celebrate the season with joy and love for one another....especially showing this love to those in need of a smile, a kind word, or some friendly help. We don't have to look far, as they are all around us... and you never know when the smallest gesture can make a big difference in someone's day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.....

With the first name of Pat and family roots in Ireland many years back (with the Donnelly family), I would be remiss if I didn't post and say Happy St. Patrick's Day! This is one of many photos taken when I was lucky enough to go to Ireland for a few weeks with my husband and daughter in the summer of 1994. This group of siblings was very talented and we enjoyed their music a lot. I wish I could recall their name...I'll try to look it up and report back on it sometime in the not-too-distant-future. (I wonder if they still play music together? They did have CD's when we were there.) I think I need to scan more of my Ireland photos and post them on my blog occasionally...I have some really nice ones.

May your day be a blessed one.....

Taking the day off from posting......but wanted to say....

The handbell concert.....

If you click on the the photo above, taken before we began the handbell concert, you can see we look rather apprehensive. We WERE......I'm 3rd from the left in this photo and here is why we were looking so serious. We had an absolutely terrible run-through before the bell concert. We were all nearly in tears as we had practiced so hard for months and knew the songs so well...but we fell apart on the run-through. It left us very nervous for the actual performance. The performance, however, was much better than the run-through...thank goodness!!! The audience seemed to like it. While we all made mistakes, luckily we didn't all make them at the same time...so maybe it wasn't all that noticeable to the audience. Hubby took a few snapshots and one small video. With any amount of luck, I have managed to put the video here and you can turn up your volume and play it by clicking on the black arrow in the bottom left-hand corner of the video. The photo quality isn't so great and the music is slow starting...about the first 20 seconds is us getting ready and the count being given to us by the director. Then you will hear a tiny bit (about 34 seconds) of one of the songs. It is called Fanfare and is a very fancy version of "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful". I wish you could have heard the entire song, but hubby's camera can only do videos of a certain length. I think I can hear someone singing softly along with the bells....so at least folks recognized the song!!! That's a good sign, right? LOL I am the 2nd person from the left in the video....with short dark hair...next to the gal wearing the red vest. Enjoy!!! (We wear gloves so the metal of the bells doesn't get all smudged with fingerprints as the bells then look nasty!)

What I WOULD have made......

Here is a photo of something I WOULD have made....if I had remembered I HAD it! *sigh* I have the whole kit and got it probably last February. I had plenty of time to do it.....so I put it aside. And....I just found it last night. With as much as I have to do right now and as far behind as I am, I doubt it will get done for this Christmas, but I better not put it away or I'll forget about it....again! Edited to add where you can buy this as some are asking: Click HERE.

To answer a couple of questions I've had recently in emails........Mary (who won my recent anniversary giveaway) did select her prize. She chose the gift certificate to Joann Fabrics. The other question I've had is about my recent skin cancer surgery on my forehead. I went back to the surgeon one week post-op and some stitches were taken out but the rest were left until this upcoming Friday. I don't like the way one part of it looks, though....I think it is a stitch that was taken out too soon and it's opened back up and is not healing. If I don't like the results I get this Friday, I'm going to have my primary care doctor deal with the rest of it for me. ALSO....who made it be December already??? Yikes!!! Don't you know I need more November days to catch up on things?

The grandkids on Thanksgiving.......

Here are a few photos of the grandkids on Thanksgiving day. They will be heading home today....and then I have to get my sewing room set back up and do my medical typing and get serious about Christmas decorations inside the house!

Looking through the oven door (it's a cool-touch door) at the turkey cooking...and the dog is helping them watch it!The turkey is done........almost time to eat!

Happy Thanksgiving......

To all my fellow bloggers who are in countries where Thanksgiving is celebrated today, I wish you and your family a day filled with love and good food and gratitude for your blessings! I also ask that we all take some time today to remember those in the armed forces who are away from family and friends this holiday season. I was looking for just the "right" photo to put here today.....there were so many nice ones like a lot of you have chosen and already posted.... and I was not able to decide on just one. Then, I decided to go for a "fun" one instead. So...here it is. I hope this isn't YOU and your turkey (or your mom or aunt or whoever is cooking your turkey) when dinnertime is near today!!! I guess this gal will be taking the family out to dinner or else making them some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. LOL

Veterans' Day..........some HAPPY news....and more about the quilt retreat

Today let us pause to give thanks for all who have served in the past and are serving now.....some of whom have sacrificed life and limb that we might be free. I hope all military people (past and present) know that we appreciate what they have done for us.

Now for the happy news.........I am very pleased to tell you that the baby for whom we had been praying (who had serious trouble at her birth on Oct. 24) has made a miraculous turnaround. She quickly made enough progress to get out of the NICU....and then made even further quick progress and was able to go HOME on Monday!!! I am so thankful for that....and I appreciate those of you who joined me in praying for her and her family.

Okay....we move now from the serious to the more frivolous........here is a picture of a set of 8 fat quarters I got for a very good price...and they are very good-quality fabrics with a wonderful feel to them. I don't have any definite project in mind for them, but I loved how they looked together, so I got them. (I think you can get a better idea of how pretty they are if you click on the photo to enlarge it.) Yes...another purchase to carry in that bottomless Amish tote bag!!! LOL

REMEMBER....and a small giveaway

REMEMBER......

Many of you asked me to REMIND you of this......which I posted way back in May......it is a little bit of useless trivia for you...just in case you want to plan a special party for tomorrow.......LOL

At five minutes and six seconds after 4:00 a.m. on the 8th of July of this year, the time and date will be;

04:05:06 07/08/09

Note that they are consecutive numbers. I was told this will never happen again...but then someone else was a party pooper and told me it will happen again that night (exactly 12 hours later). Told you it was useless trivia!

To celebrate that AND my 250th post, I am having a quick little giveaway....just for those who are already HERE so please don't blog about it on your own blog. (You know how I like my regular readers to win and not some unknown person who won't be back after they try to win!) It is a panel of the Beachy Divas fabric from Elizabeth Studios (bought doubles of it at the LQS)....a fun summertime prize.....sort of silly....but this IS a silly day coming up tomorrow........04:04:06 07/08/09, right? I will wait until the 10th and draw a name from my regular people who come here all the time. SO....IF you want this prize, comment on THIS post. If you don't care for this prize, that's fine and my feelings won't be hurt. Please excuse the wrinkles in the fabric......was too lazy to iron it before I took the picture!!! Click on it to see it enlarged and in greater detail....and also to see the wrinkles more clearly.....LOL I also showed some of this fabric on my post yesterday when I showed photos of the bag I made with two of the "beachy divas" from the fabric.

The big holiday weekend is over......

It was a nice holiday weekend for us...a mixture of fun times and relaxation. I already blogged about our time at the art show. That night, we went with some friends to sit on a pontoon boat one of them owns so we could watch the fireworks over the bay. We stayed tied to the dock...too many "drinkers" out on the water to take the boat out safely. We had snacks and drinks before it got dark and the fireworks started. Here are some photos of us. One of the guys is partially hidden in the photo.....guess he didn't pay attention when we said, "Look at the camera, Everybody!" You should be able to click on all the photos to enlarge them, if you wish.This next one shows the guy who owns the boat as he was taking a picture of the rest of us with his cell phone camera.
This shows some of the geese that were floating by us while we were on the boat. We counted and there were 53 of them....quite a large group. Guess they were partying for the 4th, too.Then...last night, we went to a nearby park for their Sunday night concert which was featuring a small Army Band from a reserve unit in northern Delaware. It looked like the concert would be rained out, but it wasn't. It was very fitting to end the holiday weekend with all that patriotic music. I did manage to get a little bit of sewing done a couple of days back. Remember the "beachy divas" fabric I got at the local quilt shop's recent anniversary sale? I decided the idea of a quilted bag was perfect for that....so I took two of the "gals" from the fabric and used one on each side of the bag. I think it will even be fun to take this bag to the grocery store....might put a smile on the cashier's face as she looks at the beachy gals instead of the usual boring, store-logo bags seen all day long there! I used it on the boat on Saturday night and also last night at the concert and got a couple of cute comments about it. Here are two photos of that bag.....one of each side....it holds a nice amount of "stuff"!

Happy 4th of July to my fellow American bloggers....

May we always cherish our freedom and remember that liberty comes with a price. Never forget those who worked so hard to declare our independence and to frame our constitution....and, of course, always remember those who have paid the price that we may be free.

Let us never forget......

We all come from different backgrounds with various points of view....and we may not all agree on national policies (now and in years past), but I'm sure we all agree that we should never forget the bravery of our armed forces....those who served and made it home to their families....and those who made the ultimate sacrifice and never got to be with their families again. If you feel so inclined, please click here and take the time to read a touching story of how some veterans are memorialized each year at one of our National cemeteries in California. I also would like to thank my immediate family members who have served in the military.....my deceased father (Navy).....my deceased mother-in-law (also Navy).....my father-in-law (Army).....my husband (Air Force). Also, we now have a female relative in the Air Force who will soon deploy to Afghanistan. This day is about remembering and memorializing and even though the date now changes each year from what it originally was (so it can be a MONDAY holiday and give us a long weekend), we need to take a moment or two from our picnics and parties and think of the reason we have this day....because we can never forget.....it's too important and we owe it to those many men and women to remember!