Early January Pincushion Embellishing

The felt wool base all shaped and dry.

Some of my decorating options.

Tools  for  decorating

Starting the embroidery work with the pearl cotton.

 

One of the finished pincushions.

This is the one my friend in Vermont picked for a
bridal shower gift .

Christmas Gathering of Area Quilters

On the way to the quilt meeting......a barn catches the morning sun.

Our quilt group showing the pillow cases they sewed and donated to a children's  hospital.

After the meeting we were invited to one of the ladies' home for a Christmas luncheon.

Dishing up..a large pot of soup with other tasty foods. 

 

A decoration on the wall behind the oven

A big stuffed lion guarded the family gifts.

The sweet ladies.

Two of the happy ladies.

More of the ladies... getting their gifts.

Amy, Ana, and Alyssa on the stairs leading  to the second level.

Investigating the "Owl Babies" children's book.

In the car...I caught a picture of the home as we left.

 

Alyssa's Birthday

Her Rose.

Cashew Chicken..her meal pick.

Her birthday candles smoking.

Amy and Ana  with the birthday girl.

Autumn ..Warm Memories..Aglow

This photo was taken a year ago in the home of Texas friends. They have many guests in their home and we were blessed to be able to stay with them more than once last year. They shine with hospitality much like this glowing candle captured one evening in their home.!

Today, we are enjoying the warmth and beauty of a blazing fire on a quiet Sunday afternoon with family, good books, and hot chocolate ( homemade marshmallow atop). 

Both thoughts, past and present, are shining pleasures this autumn season. 

Fall At Our Place

 This is a picture taken in October at our place in mid-western MN. The leaves are on the ground and the produce has been taken in for the year.  The goats are producing very well and we are looking forward to the advancing season of less daylight with cold temperatures and white sparkly snow!

There is a light dusting of snow mixed in with the fallen leaves in this photo of the morning sun shining on our  pump house "hill".  It is a quaint little building standing like a sentinel over our place.

*Sentinel - [French sentinelle, from Italian sentinella, probably from Old Italian sentina, vigilance, from sentire, to watch, from Latin sentre, to feel; see sent- in Indo-European roots.]

An Early Morning Thought

I know it sounds fantastic; but think it over. It seems to me that we often, almost sulkily, reject the good that God offers us because, at that moment, we expected some other good . . . On every level of our life . . . we are always harking back to some occasion which seemed to us to reach perfection, setting that up as a norm, and depreciating all other occasions by comparison. But these occasions, I now suspect, are often full of their own new blessing, if only we would lay ourselves open to it. God shows us a new facet of the glory, and we refuse to look at it because we’re still looking for the old one. 

. . . And the joke, or tragedy, of it all is that these golden moments in the past, which are so tormenting if we erect them into a norm, are entirely nourishing, wholesome, and enchanting if we are content to accept them for what they are, for memories. Properly bedded down in a past which we do not miserably try to conjure back, they will send up exquisite growths. Leave the bulbs alone, and the new flowers will come up. Grub them up and hope, by fondling and sniffing, to get last year’s blooms, and you will get nothing.”

from Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer, by C. S. Lewis.

The Setting Sun Last Evening

  

Here are some pictures I took last evening 

as the sun was 'going down' in the western sky.

 I wanted the setting sun 

in the back of each photo. (The sunset 

was ever-so-much-more colorful 

than the pictures are revealing.)