Norman is such a good mother

This has been the scene lately in the evenings at our home . . .

Little Sally snuggles up to Norman

Ahhh . . . the sweetness

Ahhh . . . the comfort

Norman--mother of all lonely kittens--well, ummm, mother of a few lonely kittens that he decides are okay--well, ummm, as much as a neutered seven year-old male kitty can be a mother to one or two chosen kittens every once in a while, especially on a comfy quilt on a comfy couch.  Sally's a lucky little girl!

Supper

I made a yummy real supper last night.  I do make yummy real suppers a fair amount, but this one was so pretty and real supper-ish looking and there was a camera within steps of the plate, so I had to take a picture!

Dan's plate of spicy pan-fried tilapia with potatoes, tomatoes, and cucumbers from the local farmers' market as well as . . . ummm . . . organic lettuce from the grocery store. 

Anyway, it was good stuff!

Neato!

Wanna know something crazy/mildly interesting? 

My phone takes halfway decent pictures.

I mean I can't blow them up as big as I can with my camera, but golly . . . these pictures are kinda fun.

The one at the top there is from a while back as I was coming home from town and noticed this beautiful pink glow behind me.  I thought to myself, "Too bad I don't have my camera with me."  And then I went "Wait, I do have my phone.  It can't hurt to try it!"

The pictures sometimes make me think of a color polaroid  because of the way you don't get to adjust how long the "shutter" is open, so you can get interesting halos like this one . . .

But, goodness gracious, isn't that a cool photo anyway--kind of a pinhole, foggy effect--so neat!

Pretty good for my free phone I got from Sprint when we signed up for their family plan last year--in case your wondering it is an LG Lotus (LG and Sprint have no idea who I am).  Who knows, if they even have them around anymore, but I like the pictures I have gotten!  Even took some good ones of the boys I taught when they were goofing off during VBS!

Just a fun, quick shot that I was easily able to email to their moms without having to haul a camera in my pocket.

And then last night while visiting with friends at our local county park there was the most stunning sunset . . .

Pure and unadulterated gorgeousness!

Hope your week will be filled with unexpected blessings!

Wedding Presents

I just received a wedding present this week.

Dan and I have been married nearly 8 years.

We are so blessed to have been given this gift.  It may not have been in the making for 8 years (or maybe it has, I don't know), but when this dear friend was making this gift and was ready to give it she thought it would make a wonderful wedding present for us.

And it is a beautiful wedding present . . . something I will cherish . . .

Look at this quilt!  It is my quilt of many colors!

Our local community theater group put on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in July and now that song just keeps running through my head--it was red and purple and yellow and green and . . . or however that goes . . .

Anyway, this quilt was made by a dear friend of my mother who we used to go visit in the Summer up on the Leech Lake Reservation.  She and her husband (a pastor) had a small mission church and my mom would help run a Vacation Bible School with the kids.

I was little enough to be in the VBS with all of the kids and we would go swimming and ride on her husband's pontoon.  They had a beautiful home on the lake right next to the woods.  They also had a special spot in their hearts for orphaned animals.

One of those was a fawn who would come running out of the woods for a bottle of milk when it was young and corn (I suppose) when it was older.  They had a special collar on it to signify that nobody should hunt it (that was when I was really little, so I don't remember exactly what happened with that one--probably someone did eventually decide that they didn't care about the collar :( but there are also tons of bears around there).  The other little orphaned critter they cared for was a porcupine.  His name was Thorny.  He would come out of the woods every night for a bit of bread and milk.  Duane would pick him up (he didn't want anyone else to chance it just in case, but Thorny was a really nice porcupine) and because of this I know that porcupines have really soft fur on their bellies.

I'll have to search through my parent's photo albums and find some photos to scan in from those days.  I also saw my first black bear close up at their place.  It came out of the woods to scavenge after a bunch of the VBS kids had a food fight the evening before.

Hmmmm . . . anyway, I'm sure Susie doesn't go on the internet much (if at all) and she may never see this tribute to her and this thanks (a card will be going out in the mail soon, though), but Thank you Susie!  This wedding present was well worth the wait and I didn't even know I was waiting for it--those are the best presents anyway--the ones from the heart that you never expected!

July Photos

Glove

Dewey

Bunny

Singing

Storm clouds over Downtown Dassel

Storm clouds to the North

Best Buddies--Norman and Bernie

Orange Zinnia

Orange Zinnia even closer

Field of clover

Hope your July was filled with blessings!

Birthday Pictures

Breakfast!

Delphinium blooming!

Flowers in the planter!

Random Video

Pretty things

Breakfast this morning!  Wild blackberries (picked by Dan) with yogurt cream.

A new baby bonnet for my new niece!  (ravelry link)

This was done in doubled Cherry Blossom Sock Yarn

by Sundara Yarn. So pretty!

And today I will start a new thing

or keep on going with what has been started.

Wednesday morning Dan took this picture around 6 am--gorgeous, huh?  He's so good at catching beautiful morning light (I'm better with the evening light--probably because I don't have to be at work at 7 am (and this week it has been even earlier for him)--and these mornings on the farm are the mornings he wishes he could stay home all day rather then head on the 20 minute trip two towns over to work)

That picture reminds me of a song I just heard on Radio Heartland -- don't know the name of it (I could look it up--found it Choose Joy by Buskin & Batteau--and downloaded it, too!), but the lyrics said that every morning when you wake up you have a choice to start the day with joy--what a neat song!

Anyway, I thought I would also show you some updated photos of things/critters on the farm . . .

My pretty blue planter fill with pretty flowers (I just love the combo I put in there this year--I love last year's as well, but this puts a smile on my face)

Little Donald is growing by leaps and bounds!  We figure (or Dan did) that he was at least 100 lbs when he was born and he has gotten SO much bigger!

Kittens are growing, too!  L to R: Dewey, Bunny, & Hughey  The ones on the left and right are brothers and little Bunny in the middle is a few weeks younger.  She is part Manx(?), so she has no tail.  She is really sweet.

Lastly, some knitting:

I started these Endpaper Mitt's (ravelry link) last week--they were all the rage a couple of years ago and now that I was finally able to purchase the yarn I wanted for them I am able to come a little late to the party.  I am always a year or two late on trends (or a few years early--never the right time)

 A little closer look.

So pretty!  Can't wait to finish them, weave in the ends, and block them!

Oh, and last night the Dairy/Berry Day events got canceled due to bad weather, so next Thursday we'll try again!

I come from a small town

So, I come from a small town . . .

that means so many things . . .

it means tonight in our town we have a fun event at the bandstand
Dairy/Berry Day--free root beer floats and strawberry sundaes served by the Dassel Ambassadors and Ambassador candidates--live music by local musicians in the Mid-Minnesota Concert Band.

. . . but there will be someone sorely missed tonight at Dairy/Berry Day

this was her small town, too

our local newspaper editor, Lynda Jensen -- a fixture at any local event, willing to share pictures with me of event happenings (as I update the city's website or cable channel), a woman in her 40's with 3 children who knew what true sacrifice is, with a husband who was in Iraq while she was pregnant with her last child (and I can't remember for sure, but I think he was still there when she had her), the wife of a police officer with all of those crazy hours -- she died on Tuesday after suffering a brain hemorrhage from a fall she had a couple of weeks ago that went undetected.

We had just laughed last week at a local chamber of commerce meeting about her 18 year old daughter's need for her cell phone.

Praying for your family, Lynda, and for your co-workers at the newspaper.
Elisabeth

June, june, joon, joooooon

I like June--it's my birthday month--things are growing in the garden and I usually haven't lost my ambition to keep the weeds down yet--strawberries are ripening--school's out (not that it makes much difference in my life--no kids and I am no longer in school or work at one, but still I've always loved that feel of school being out)--cute critters are out and about--and on and on and on--now, Dan doesn't love June so much--it means work (really hard work) trying to judge when to cut hay, keeping the wildness in the pasture at bay, working on things out in the mosquitoes (I guess these things can be said for me as well, but Dan is the one who really feels the pressure of all of it and is the one who does the really hard labor of it all--I help him with the hard labor, but he's the one who really gets down and dirty--I drive the tractor:he picks up the bales, I somehow throw the bales onto the hay elevator:he somehow pulls the bales off the elevator, stacks them up in the heat of the hay mow, and comes back ready for more as I finally drag another bale onto the elevator) . . . but, I digress--I really came here to show you some pretty pictures, so  . . .

Strawflower--I'll have to get a photo of the whole pot of flowers I put together on the deck--yellow and white flowers in a pretty blue pot!

The old wooden manure carrier that used to sit out behind the barn just going to waste.  Now it is in the front yard with a couple of rose bushes, painted daisies, and some lilies.  I planted it full of canna lily bulbs and they are starting to poke through the surface now.  I can't wait to see how it will look!

Last year's kittens!  Murphy, Betty, and Maggie--Murphy's saying, "What aren't you petting me? You could be petting me if you weren't taking that picture!"

Well, that's where life stands at the moment!  Hope you are enjoying your summer beginnings!

It's Spring, so that means it is time for . . .

. . . millions of things to be happening at the same time.  Planting the garden, fresh kittens, a new baby calf, and pretty things blossoming outdoors.

  Molly's kittens!

Little Donald born on May 8th!

Donald and his momma, Bessie.

Flowering crab tree at one of the local parks!

It is officially tick season around here--I don't know that I really need to announce it far and wide and even if I did, I am sure there is someone far more important that actually knows when tick season really is or if there is an official tick season around here.  Friday and Saturday there were ticks abounding out in the pasture where Dan was working on a new fence line.  I was only out there briefly those days, but both days I had 3 on me.  Sunday ticks at the park where we went for a picnic in the afternoon and Monday I weeded through the weed patches right by the house (otherwise known as my flower beds) and ended up with two ticks crawling on me.

Aren't you happy that I spared you pictures of those?  I've been feeling all creepy crawly since then!

Just saw . . .

. . . this and it made me think of the nice bowls I made for Norman a bunch of years ago for Christmas.  It is very important to make sure your animals have beautiful things to eat from (even if they'll never care or notice) ;D

  Norman and a couple of orphaned kittens (Ernie and Bernie, in case you're interested) eating in the back room of the house.  (The kittens finished their food, so Norman is finishing it up--but hey look over in the corner--that is his nice wheel-thrown food bowl made especially for him by me!)

A close-up shot (not a very good one, but at least it gives shows you what the bowl basically looks like).

Ummm . . . that's all, nothing more important to say.

I Think I Like Him

Dan on Easter Sunday

Yet again, the bathtub is unfinished

 Trip Around the World baby quilt

. . . but we made about 15 quarts of maple syrup, I finished up the cutest baby quilt ever (well, it is the cutest one until I end up making one for my own child which has yet to appear on the horizon), the church is decorated for Easter, and I am going to make a broccoli/grape salad and a spinach/artichoke dip for our get-together at Dan's parent's house tomorrow!

More gratuitous, gorgeous baby quilt pictures (made for a new niece that will be arriving in the next couple of weeks--don't worry, there is a little bit of knitting that will be made, too, but I know her mom has been working on things for her as well!)

The back--isn't is cute?

Detail of the top-stitched binding

I just fell in love with all of these little patterns that I got a JoAnne Fabrics!

Oh, and we brought a load of scrap iron to the scrap iron place yesterday.  We went there a couple of years ago and I took a bunch of fun pictures of all the metal and cool stuff around there and I kept meaning to bring them copies of pictures (scroll down a bit--but also check out those cute kittens!) that I had taken.  I brought them with me yesterday and the woman who gave us our check for the metal just loved them and was so excited to get them framed and put up on the wall!  That was so nice of her to love them--I thought they were cool, too, but sometimes people think differently than me.

Soooo . . . in honor of that here is a quick shot that I took yesterday!

Dan at the metal scrap yard (I stayed in the truck--too many giant cranes picking things up and such)

Anyway, I hope your Easter is a good one!