Mommy and Daddy mourning dove have been very busy caring for 2 babies. Here is Daddy sitting with his youngsters. You can tell it is Daddy and not Mommy by the rosy color around his head and breast. Mommy is more of a tan.
Here are two little tykes looking out at the big new world out there. So far they haven't seen much but my porch. It's new and big to them just the same.
I don't think I have ever seen the trees bud and blossom as quickly as they have this year. It seems like we have almost literally gone from winter to a very warm and green spring over night. The picture at the left was just taken on March 28th. On that day, Alicia and Caeden donned their snow pants, boots, scarves, heavy coats and mittens to go outside and play.
And here they are today playing outside in shorts less than a month later! The birds are singing. I've seen some babies too. The trees are getting green. The grass is lush. Flowers are beginning to bloom. Best of all, the temperatures are warm warm warm!!!!! I love it! Sherman even went swimming in a pond today. It reminds me of that Bible verse that says "Weeping shall endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Something like that anyway! Not that I was weeping during winter because I do enjoy it. It has it's own special beauty. (Especially when I am looking at it through a picture window holding a hot cup of coffee)
If yesterday was a day of play, then today was a day of work. After a long winter, there is a lot to clean up around the yard. This morning I had the kids outside working. All 4 of us worked to pick up the many twigs that managed to drop from the willow tree during the last 5 months. I was pleased that they all had a pretty good attitude about it. I'm hoping to develop strong work ethics in my kids.
Here you can see...a job well done. Five containers of various sized paked with twigs and branches.
It is looking greener and greener here in upstate NY. Of course...there are not really any daisies out yet. This picture is from last summer. Since I really didn't have any pictures on my computer that represented what it was like here today, I decided to just go with this one. There is no school this week. My yard and house was filled with kids. I wasn't even babysitting. They just came. It started with my daughter Audra and her friend Jean. They decided that they should organize a neighborhood game of Capture the Flag which would be played in our yard and the next door neighbor's yard. I literally lost count of the number of kids who came by today. It turned out to be a nice opportunity for some new kids to join in the fun. All the kids were running around chasing eachother and trying to locate and capture flags. I noticed a girl standing on the edge of the yard looking at all the action. I could tell she wanted to join in, but seemed shy and unsure about it. I had never seen her before and was about to call Audra's attention to her in order to invite her into the game when Jean noticed her. Jean is very outgoing and didn't hesitate to invite her into the fun. Soon the girl's brother showed up too. They are new kids on the block.
It has been absolutely gorgeous outside the last few days. The warmth has been to fabulous. This photo was taken on Sunday afternoon. We went out for a walk as a family. So many people were out that we stopped a number of times to visit people we knew either on the side walks or in their yards. I just love this town. Can you tell? I took the two pictures from the previous post on the same walk.
I have just deleted my last post because of some inaccuracies. A long time ago while reading an article in a magazine about quilting, I ran across a little information about a girl who lived in this house in the 1850's-60's and whose father was the minister of the Congregational Church here in town. I also remembered that there was mention of a diary. I was interested when Gudl left information about a diary kept by a young girl by the name of Caroline Cowles Richards. I was very excited to learn that her diary is on-line. You can read the entire thing here. (ignore the cover page which is for a different book. Just click on the arrows to turn the pages)
So I began to read the diary and soon discovered what I thought were discrepencies between the diary and what I remembered the magazine article saying. First of all, Caroline's father was not the pastor of this church. In fact, she lived with her grandparents. Her grandfather was the town's banker. Her great-uncle had been the first pastor of the Congregational Church many years earlier, so I chalked that up to what had confused me. But then I was puzzled by things she wrote about her home. She described a wrought iron fence on her property that was quite high with a stone foundation. There is no fence on the property on which this house is located. It didn't seem like such a structure would be taken down. In another entry in the diary, Caroline tells of it raining quite hard. Her grandmother would not allow her and her little sister Anna to walk to church. Instead, they sat in the kitchen with their window opened so they could hear the sermon coming from the Methodist church located next door to their house. Well that settled it. This house was not Caroline's house. How could I have gotten two things wrong that I was sure that I had remembered?
It bugged me enough to stay up late on-line doing research until about 12:30 am this morning...but I solved the mystery. I finally tracked down the original magazine article that I had read. The girl who lived in the house was Susie Daggett. Her father was the pastor of the Congregational Church. She is mentioned many times in Caroline's diary because they were school chums. These two girls, along with a few other girls decided to make quilts together to keep for the day that each of them would marry. In the diary, Susie declares to the other girls that she has decided that she will never marry. The girls come to a concensus that they will make a quilt for her anyway. I could not find a picture of Susie...but I did find one of her father, Rev. Oliver E. Daggett.
It is hard to believe that less than a week ago our back yard looked like this. Monday and yesterday the weather was beautiful. Warm and sunny! It was about 60 degrees yesterday morning when I walked the kids to school. Everyone was wearing spring jackets. There are tiny buds on the trees and I saw signs of a few flowers poking through the earth. This morning the temperatures were back down to about freezing and I chose my winter coat again. This is typical NY spring weather. It could snow one day and be 70 degrees the next. As the days go by, the cold will come less and less and it will be warmer and warmer.
It snowed again overnight. It really is spring here, technically anyways. I have noticed certain kinds of birds are around again. I saw a few robins and a red-winged blackbird. The birds all know it is Spring and they fly back to upstate NY even though it still can get cold and snow. I noticed this morning that this snowfall didn't stop the birds from singing at dawn. I was up early and stepped outside to see the winter wonderland around 6:30 AM and it sounded like spring outside. All the trees looked amazing. I grabbed my camera to take a few pictures after it got a little lighter.
The kids did not have school today because of a superintendent's conference. The girls didn't waste much time going outside with the neighbors to play. Here are Alicia and Caeden in our backyard. They planned on making a snowman..but didn't actually succeed in doing that. Alicia says she gave up because Caeden was too destructive. He couldn't resist demolishing it before it was done. I was watching them through the window gathering snow in the wagon. I think a sled would have been easier. They had fun anyway.
Every town has a few locals to add to the flavor of the town. I don't really know who this man is, but I see him everywhere. I have lived in this town for about 15 years and I have seen him off and on for the duration of those years. He is quite elderly and he rides this 3-wheeled bike all the time, in all sorts of weather. I don't know much about him except that he "never drinks alcohol". LOL! I overheard him talking to someone in the Byrn Dairy last summer and I remember him saying that. I didn't know how he would feel about me taking his picture. I took it from a distance and zoomed in and cropped it. When he peddled close by, he looked right into my face and smiled and greeted me. I think he must be in wonderful physical shape for his age.
There are Amish communities that are near me and also some Mennonite. I've thought about driving out by their homes and taking some pictures...but I really respect their desire for privacy. They don't really like to be oggled at. Who can blame them? That is what is nice about this area. We don't have tourist attractions that call for people to gape at the Amish the way they do in places like Lancaster, PA. Generally they are left alone and once in a while we see them in town. A few weeks ago I saw a horse and buggy tied to a lamp post in the Wal-mart parking lot. I took a great picture with my cell-phone....but I don't have the chord to download it to my computer. Another time I was at the Salvation Army thrift shop and there were two Amish women chatting away in their Pennsylvania Dutch (a form of German). At that point I really wished I knew German. Not because I wanted to be nosy and eavesdrop, but I thought it would be fun to hold up a pair of trousers and say, "How about these? Will these fit Eli?" LOL!
I feel very impatient about that because the way my house looks is important to me. Unfortunately, it has peeling asbestos shingles on it right now...in not too attractive of a color. I keep waiting for the day when we can change it and make it look like the cute house that I know it can be. A brick house might be nice because then I wouldn't have to worry about the shingles. Here is a brick house that is only about a block from mine.
I love houses with history. This one has it. Unfortunately, I can't remember the specific names of the people who used to reside here. Several years ago, I was reading an article about some local history...and it included excerps from a diary kept by a young teenage girl who lived here. There was nothing really remarkable about her life. Her days were rather ordinary, but I was interested just the same. The article was really about quilts in local history. In the diary, the girl (whom I want to call Emily, but I can't remember) was working on a square for a friendship quilt with her school friends. She would talk about walking to a friend's house to work on it. LOL! Can you imagine what a stark contast that makes with today's young teenage girls. (Come to think of it though, we do have a group of young girls who knit together at our church)
It was an absolutely gorgeous day here in upstate NY. It was in the mid 60's which is highly unusual for this time of year. I took Sherman for a walk and took my camera along. I took a lot of pictures. Mostly of houses that I thought were pretty. I will show a few to you in the next few days. It was just so wonderful to feel the warmth . I wore a spring jacket and actually felt too warm wearing it. Just two days ago I took a walk and needed to cut my walk short because the wind was just miserable and I was freezing....and now this! And guess what. It is supposed to get all cold and miserable again tomorrow.
It's a white world here. This is when I like the snow best. When it is so fresh and clean and pretty. I especially like it if I can stay home and just be. Whatever I need to do-clean, cook, read, blog, paint...it's perfect. Yesterday I needed to go out and it was a bit scary. I went to a friend's house. She lives way out in the country. Her road had not been plowed at all by the time I left. I had a death grip on the steering wheel and drove about 20 mph all the way down her looooong and windey and hilly road, and turned onto another unplowed road and then I turn onto a half plowed road....one that had been plowed on the opposite side that I was traveling on.Finally I made it to the main road and was happy to see it plowed and in relatively good condition.
Martha snapped this picture of me making sandwiches for lunch when she came over yesterday. What really makes the picture is Sherman behind me. Always there just in case anything should be dropped!
I found this interesting picture on the web. This is actually a cake. So what do you think? Does this cake look appetizing? Audra says she'll take a piece with the tail. Which part do you want?
We are all anxiously awaiting the "7 strange or weird things about Dave" on Rachel's blog. Am I on the "list" now?
7 weird or strange things about moi? I'm not going to be very good with this. My husband could probably help you better. He is always saying I'm weird...but he must be too because he picked me.This is a rather dull list. It is the sort of thing that I will lay awake in bed thinking about and will come up with many more that are far better and much more amusing. Ones that will make me laugh out loud and cause my husband to really wonder about me. And in the morning I will not be able to recall a single one!
It's a grey day here. Freezing rain and grey skies. The kind of day where you don't want to leave your house. Instead...it would be preferable to wrap up in a blanket, sip a cup of hot coffee and read a novel. But...I must venture out to the bank and to the grocery store. We are out of milk and other things.
On Friday I drove out to UB to talk to someone about financial aid and to meet with the department of Library Science chair person. I had great plans to blog about it later that day...but meanwhile my poor son had broken his foot in gym class. Luckily my husband was able to get him from school. Between that event and Audra's birthday...I've hardly had a minute to myself.
I was afraid I would feel out of place there walking around with all of those young 18-20 something students. But it wasn't that way at all. Yeah...most students were young, but I noticed many that looked older. Who knows...maybe some of them were staff. It doesn't matter. I saw so many people from all walks of life and all different cultures. I noticed a high number of Asian students. (I just thought it was interesting.) Just before I left, I visited the book store just for fun. I bought Audra a birthday present. It was a reading lamp that that can clip onto a headboard. She had asked for one because she likes reading in bed. She has to get out of bed and walk across the floor to turn off the light and Alicia complains about the light being on. I think she was happy with the gift! (That wasn't all I got her just in case you think I am such a dull mother)
Today is my daughter Audra's eleventh birthday. I love her very much! Here are 11 things about her.2. She likes Mr. Bean.
3. She is a swimmer.
4. She's adventurous.
5. She sings in the 5th grade chorus.
6. She's got a good sense of humor.
7. She has cute freckles.
8. She likes to control what her mother is typing about her!!!!!!!!!!!!
9. She's a good drawer.
10. She's an AWANA kid.
11. Everyone loves her.
Happy Birthday, Audra!!!!!!
I took Allen to the orthopedic department at our local hospital this morning....where they discovered that Allen's foot is actually broken, not just sprained. There are three cracks. One on each of the second, third and forth metatarsals. Dr Kenny put a cast on Allen's foot which he will have to wear for 4-6 weeks. We go back in 2 weeks to see how the healing is progressing. Some of you will be glad to know that I took Allen out for lunch afterwards. (Tim Horton's) I just dropped him off at school.
On Friday Allen got hurt at school. He sprained the top of his left foot in gym class. I took him to the hospital emergnecy room to have it x-rayed. Luckily it is not broken...but it hurts and it is swollen. He has a fiberglass splint on it and he's not supposed to walk on it until it heals. He's been hopping around and also using crutches. Luckily he is not doing any sports at the moment. Only an occasional race....which now won't happen for a while. I took some amusing videos while we were waiting for the x-ray results...but I'm having trouble uploading them.
So we had this tye-dye party in 2004. I had read about the idea in a magazine as a birthday party idea...and Audra wanted to do one. None of my children have a summer birthday, so we decided we would have a "just because we feel like it" party. So Audra and I made up invitations and sent them out to a lot of kids from our family, church and neighborhood. Everyone was to bring a plain white t-shirt (or another item they chose to tye-dye)
I bought a bunch of ice cream treats to give the children and Rachel brought peanut butter fingers. I provided the dyes which were purchased from Michael's and lots of rubber bands and other stuff to help us do out project. Everyone seemed to have a great time.
Unfortunately I do not have pictures of kids with completed shirts because they all took home wet, tied up shirts in pastic bags. They had to wait a number of hours before rinsing and washing their shirts. I made sure to print up copies of instructions for the parents. The shirts all turned out great. At least the ones I saw. I will have to hunt around to see if I have a picture of any of my kids wearing their shirts.
Maybe I ought to do another one of these parties before my children grow up!
He was nine years old in this picture. Where has the time gone? He looks so little here. In less than 2 months he will be a teenager!
