As Our Life Goes On

We greeted our little granddaughter Kelsey in 1990. She was just a little over 4 months old in this picture. Now she is almost 26 years old now.  Where did all that time go?   Next week she heads from the Atlanta, Georgia area to Panama City, Panama to teach at the Metropolitan School of Panama.  

Matthew 6:19-21King James Version (KJV) 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. King James Version (KJV) Public Domain ____________________________________ Over the years we have accumulated and collected many "things". Some of these things can be considered collectible treasures and some things are junk.  That status will change very soon. Many of our so called "treasures" will be collected and taken to a large auction house and sold so that others may enjoy them as their own treasures. Our home may seem very empty as many of the large pieces of furniture will be gone. Most of the furniture that had shelves and drawers will be gone. This has forced us to reasse...

Spring cleaning is best done on a day such as this. The temperatures are n the mid 60s and the sun is shining brightly. There is not a cloud in the sky. The pole barn houses 4 autos of differing types and a tractor and a truckster for working in the yard. If there is an enclosed building we find a way to fill it with stuff. That is true of the barn also. Russ worked a great part of the morning and part of the afternoon cleaning and sweeping.  He saved some of the retired signs from the golf course where he has worked since 1970. 

Wolcott Avenue in Kent was a great place to grow up. The dead end street ended at our house. It was a quiet street used mostly by the residents. We had a large yard and big vegetable and flower gardens.  Mom had a perennial flower garden next to the driveway. It had such a nice variety of colorful flowers every year. I could look out of my bedroom window in the mornings and mom would already be down in the garden keeping the weeds at bay.  Each Spring a green circle of spiked leaves started to pop out of the ground. My mom referred to this as the "magic circle". Soon yellow double daffodils filled in the area to make a large circle of the beautiful blooms. I have a number of these bulbs planted behind the house but this year there is just one bloom. It surely is pretty and it reminds me of my mom.  Spring is one of my favorite times of the year.  New life and new beginnings are in the air. 

The mowing of the tall grasses in the meadow took place early this year. Last year the ground was still covered with many inches of snow and it was very cold. Today the temperatures hovered near 70 degrees. After getting stuck in the mud on the first pass the mower was kept to the high ground.  The old Yazoo started right up after being in storage all Winter.  A heavy mower being pushed out the mud. 

Where are those important things that I so carefully put away? The place that I stored them would make them easy to find on  another day. There are noises from the old wardrobe in the back wing. Could it be a ghost or spirit that takes and hides these things. Some day while cleaning a distant closet or space the things will be found and and put in their proper place. Caroline

I try to think ahead to a time in the future when Spring comes again. It won't be a long time now until the buzzards come home to roost and nest in the old granary next door. Boards have been removed for to use for repairs on the neighbor's horse barn and arena. The roof  of the little shed has leaked for many years causing the building to lean more to one side than it used to. Buzzards seem to like abandoned buildings such as this one. It seems odd not to see the landscape covered in snow this year. After two very snowy cold years this is a welcome sight. 

There may be no snow for Christmas this year.  That's OK with me.  I no longer sled down to the bottom of that hill in the picture. Santa will certainly find his way just as he always has to those who never have snow.  The warmer weather is refreshing after the last two rough Winter seasons.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Hope your day was full of good friends, good food and many blessings. 

As I approached home after shopping today I noticed white smoke billowing into the air and across the road. I hoped it was leaves burning even though that is prohibited by law. The pungent smell entered my nostrils and pleasant memories flooded my mind. I really like that smell.  I grew up in Kent, Ohio which is also is known as the tree city. Wolcott Avenue did not have curbs or storm sewers at that time. It still does not have these amenities. The falling leaves were abundant on the Norway Maple lined street. We would rake the leaves into large piles on the devil's strip or into the ditch. After playing in the piles for a while we would wait until it was dark. I don't remember why it had to be dark before we set the large piles on fire. Most people in Kent burned their leaves in much the same manner. We would stand by with rakes to rake the burning leaves into smaller piles as they burned. Kent had a layer of the sweet smelling smoke hanging over it each evening ...

Leaves of red and gold Litter the ground falling fast Beautiful a while ~Caroline

We're not in the habit of staying up late. We like to get up early to enjoy as much of the daylight as possible.  Our legs seemed leaden as we arose this morning after a late night party at our house. We decided that going for a ride in the country would be a good idea. The colors in the trees and foliage are not yet at peak and it seemed that the colors right around our own house were much more developed than those in Northern Portage County.  When we were getting ready to leave our destination we were amazed to see a mature American Bald Eagle fly very closely over us. It had been a while since we had seen one of these beautiful birds. It soared through the clear blue skies over and around us for a short while and then disappeared. It was a special sighting. 

Red leaves among green Fall has arrived just on time We can't hold it back -Caroline

Nice purple asters Gift from our son and his wife Wild blooming flowers -Caroline

The end of Summer is near. The heat and lack of rain has greatly affected the yard, garden and me. The Penstemon are in full bloom along with the hydrangea shrub and Helen's flowers. The Helen's flowers have faded to a light orange brown. They were much prettier at their peak orange-red color. The balance of the daisies in the small garden have dropped their petals and only seed heads remain. The bees love the purple Penstemon blooms and the smaller bees climb into the flowers. The large bee above is much to big to fit inside. Very few honeybees have visited the yard and garden this year.  The ground is cracked and I wonder how deep the wide chasms in the ground are. Our yard has had less than one inch of rain in the last two months. It has been disheartening to watch the radar and see the rain break up or rain out before it got to our yard. It has been so close many times.  The trees are dropping their leaves prematurely. This is especially true of our tulip tree...

This little shed was very ragged at the bottom of some of the boards on both sides. It is just an old shed from Pennsylvania but it was the first one that we transported to our yard and the functionality is so important that keeping it in good condition makes sense. The ragged boards were cut evenly across the bottom and a lengthwise board was attached to fill the space.  Auto body putty was used on some small gaps in other places and to fill the space between the new boards and bottoms of the cut off areas. This shed holds garden tools and it is waterproof even though the roof is old and original. That will probably be the next fix. 

It has only been a couple of weeks since the swamp milkweed plants were in full bloom. Monarch butterflies and many types of plant pollinators visited the very pretty blooms. Now the thin upright seed pods are forming. I tried to plant some of the seeds from last year but this did not seem to produce any results. I am thinking that the soil, sun exposure and moisture has to be just perfect for these plants. I am seeing a lot of the common milkweed along the roadsides.  The monarch butterflies need milkweed to survive. We shall continue to have a wild area in the yard to encourage wildlife of all types to prosper. The pesky rabbits that were born behind the garage have figured out that we won't hurt them and they are almost underfoot when we are outside.  I did see a large healthy looking red fox trot through the back yard last week. That could be why there are only two of the five rabbits that were here remaining. The deer are still finding a few apples under our a...

The twins in our neighborhood turned 90 last week. This is Harold helping Russ get ready to go get a lawn tractor. Russ helps Harold with heavy work at his house. There are still some old fashioned neighbors on our road. Notice that his T-shirt says Volunteer on the back. Harold as well as his twin brother Harry have long been a volunteers for many organizations in our area. We are indeed lucky to have them as our neighbors. 

Do you suspect that a bird would really rather nest in the nose of this spirit face birdhouse or the traditional birdhouse shown below. It seems that the wrens usually choose a well worn used birdhouse for their temporary homes. I just could not resist buying the face house at a local Goodwill store this morning though. We will find a place in the yard where we can see this funny looking house from the house and keep watching for any kind of bird to take up residence. The holes in the nose seem a bit large for a wren but perhaps another type of bird will like it. We'll see. 

This small moth was resting on one of the old sheds in the yard. It was a good place to hide from hungry birds. It was very difficult to see it until it moved a bit. Some wildlife is better able to hide than others. The young rabbit below has not bothered to hide from me and only runs if a neighbor's cat can be seen in the yard. It can be within 5 or 6 feet of me and not be alarmed. There are more than one of these young rabbits living in and around the yard. I am glad to see that the rabbits seem to be making a comeback in the neighborhood.