Mrs. Amelia's Daybook and Coffee Time

Outside my window...  All is very still. The trees are just in standstill mode except for a few over gently swaying in the breeze. Every now and then huge flurries of blackbirds flock over and sometimes settles making quite a loud ruckus.  It's very grey and overcast.

I am thinking...  I'm thinking I am going to get a lot done today moving quickly and doing the next thing. This daybook is a treat for me today.

I am thankful for... Pretty music. My husband getting me for understanding my squeamishness about visiting his mom in the hospital, his sense of humor yesterday in the hospital room picking up my mil's cell phone when a relative would call and putting on a 'girl's voice', saying..."Hello, this is Lena...I just had surgery" Thankful for my mil's sense of humor. She looks up from the hospital bed, (full makeup, hair piece on) when we came in and says..."I didn't have time to bake".    ...And I'm thankful that Mar is getting settled into something she enjoys and a great close college to boot. We live here in the country and this top school is close by.  Totally the Lord.  And it will be an occupation she can meter out on her own, working at home most of the time plus meeting very interesting people in the court system. I think that is great.  Plus, her class is all girls, the college calls it 'the nursery'.  Ha! That is so great.

I am wearing...  My hair is in a messy bun, black workout pants, tennies, a magenta long sleeve t with a light olive green  cotton v-neck sweater over it.  It works. : )   ...Oh and a silver vintage windup timex watch. <3>

In the learning room...  Becs is sewing on the machine.  She's sewing a secret! (I wonder what it is?) : )

I am remembering...  So many memories from when I was a very little girl and my mom and dad were a happy couple, both good looking people, having friends over to play tripoli and such....Normal.  They are both almost 83 now. Divorced but talk.  Life is so strange....Just so very strange. When "To a Wild Rose" comes on my favorite cd I think about them both so much and those years... It's like re-living a black and white movie with music and all....

I am going...  Nowhere really, maybe for a walk in a bit.  Hopefully Hubs and I can squeeze in a datenight this week.

I am currently reading...  Other than my Bible, I am going to get back started on "Main Street Vegan" and "One Thousand Gifts" a gift from Mar for my birthday.

I am hoping...  Ohhhh...I don't know. I hope and pray for many things. One of them is I pray our country would go back to old fashioned values. It can be quite depressing at times for this lady when I see what my four daughters must contend with, let alone my husband and I... I look in disbelief what comes out of people's mouths, what they actually believe and overlook! The WWII generation disappoints me sometimes. Even they have bought the lies. Yes, church-going ones too. They think everything is okay.  It's not okay.

 On my mind...I need to make some changes with my schedule.  Today I'm doing better praise the Lord.

Noticing that..  I haven't eaten lunch

Pondering these words... The song by Sara Groves about having  a new hope. I don't quite know all of the words or the name but I like it! 

From the kitchen..  I sorted and am quick-soaking some white northern beans and will make a nice Mediterranean soup for supper with a loaf of ciabatta bread I bought and put in the freezer. Perfect!

Around the house...  The washer is going, going, going...the dryer is drying, drying, drying. My sweet doglets are napping, so are the kitlets... Every now and then Becs and I will exchange some pleasant conversation and philosophies on life in general.

One of my favorite things   Oh! Aha!  I think one of my favorite things is a family movie night and I have something really good lined up hopefully for tonight! Yes indeedie! EDIT 2.1.13 I'm sorry to have to say but the movie, "Cape Fear" I wrote about here is not suitable. It's also not a 40s movie but a 1962 movie and it's very typical of the racie movies that had started up at that time. When I had requested for Li-Li to check the movie out from the library out I had no idea. Neither did Li-Li. My apologies.  Li-Li checked out "Cape Fear" from the library, I think it's from the 40s, an old black and white with Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum.  Gregory of course is a distinguished lawyer and Robert Mitchum is a horror. It's a good ol' creeper. We love, love, love 40s movies - more than Elvis loved jewels. ; )

Here's a few pics I would like to share today:

 And this is one of the most FAVORITE SIGHTS in the WHOLE WORLD!!!  This is our four daughters coming back from taking trash out.  Here at the Forest Cathedral, trash-day is a bit of a chore. : )  But it sure is cute with the girls!  (At least for me to watch) : )

 This is what was a REAL USO activity building  in what we call USOtown. Hubs and I LOVE exploring in this old town. This place has a gym, locker room, an auditorium, etc. I try to imagine the soldiers and such going in and out with pretty young ladies during the 40s WWII. I wonder if there were famous entertainers too, I would imagine so.

                                      
 This is reflection of me in USOtown one fall Sunday when hubs and I were scouting around having fun.  I love flowie skirts and ankle strap ballet flats. I enjoy celebrating my femininity. : )

Have a nice week everyone!  God bless and may we lift our nation up in prayer.  

Love,   Amelia

 

A Favorite December Eve, Little Notices Today. Close Your Eyes and Remember

4:30ish pm.today.  I'm listening to a cd I rather like these days..I put this cd on in the morning as I pour my coffee in the kitchen. The cd?  "for Book Lovers" it has favorite classics and it is sooo pretty. I just listened to Reverie by Claude Debussy. It has To a Wild Rose, Katharine in April, Simple Gifts etc. I would recommend the cd. It's very nice indeed.

I'm looking out the back windows of our country home here and I see bare artful trees with beautiful arms twisting and bending against the sky...and oaks with leaves, hints of blue sky and fluffy clouds barely peeking through but grey cloudiness is coming in quickly...That means coziness. A gentle breeze now and then, I see where my old fashioned mop placed against the back door by our girls, the white yarns swaying gracefully in the breeze just a little, to & fro...to & fro....I've never seen a mop look so elegant.

I think today I'll post photos from one of my very favorite days last Christmas. Actually Dec. 1.  It was one of the first days our daughter, "Delle" was able to get out of the house after seven kidney stones! I knew when I sat in that ER room that this Christmas may be a trying one and all I wanted was to get back to normalcy as I sat praying to God and of course for healing for "Delle".  God answers prayers.

This favorite evening of this Candlelight tour, it was Dear Husband Jem, Zuzu and Janie our oldest daughter. That night Joycie & Grace were under the weather and they really missed out on this sweet event bless their hearts.  Next year I have a feeling they'll be ready to go.

Where we live here, we are on a country road, a very historical area, the road was designed for Model T's and thus, The Skinny Road as we affectionately call it.

Our property backs up to a historical ranch and our property was actually part of a historical ranch too...Love this place, I can go walking out pray looking up to the sky as I lay in the grass...many days the cows and their calves frolic about beyond the gate. Really neat. I can be having one heck of a day and I go for a leisurely sachet to the back....I go talk to the Father and He has a loving way of putting things into perspective.

The old small town nearby has a plantation home where oil wells abounded like trees in a forest at one time,  Mr. B. the sweetheart who sold us this piece of property, used to spend time in that magnificent plantation home as a boy.  The home was owned by one of the governors of Texas. It has been said that all Texas governors are judged by the standard of this governor. I can remember my history teacher, Mrs. Menard telling about this particular governor.  You would have had to have known Mrs. Menard...she reminded me of a larger than life Lady Bird Johnson. A Southern Belle to the hilt.She had known my grandfather. My grandpa's business was one of those interesting places on the water from 1920 that a writer once wrote should have been encased in glass and placed in the Smithsonian.   

Boat shows, a mummy, money hanging from the ceiling, monkey's....People from the city as well as locals would go to the water on the weekends to my grandfather's place, fishermen, farmers, judges, our family doctor, it was quite a place.

Here is our little December evening in photos in case your wondering where I've been going with all of this.  This was one of those evenings where you would want to close your eyes to capture the moments.  Much I didn't capture on film, there was a cooking house etc. I met a handsome couple, now living in the city. She was from France and her husband was from a nearby tiny town too...a handsome Dick Van Dyke kind of man. Who would know?

 I hope you enjoy spending the evening out with us!  Here goes!

Jem, Zuzu & Janie as I lag behind...sneaky me with my camera. ; )   

Janie gets a shot too.

 A little house with Mr. Claus sitting relaxing, the little house was where a workers family lived I presume.  See the Santa Claus on the porch?

 Isn't this lovely? The old oaks?  I love the white fencing.  At one time oil wells were everywhere and I mean everywhere...

 

The majestic columns of the home, and the pretty Christmas lanterns...

 A lovely Southern Belle greeting the eager crowd,  don't tell but I saw her tennis shoes under her dress. ; )  ...Sooo now you know what those Southern Belles wore on their feet! : )

 One of the guides gives an educational talk. They took small groups, one at a time.

 A highschool choir sings many Christmas carols and very Christ-centered ones as we were so glad to hear.  The ladies had homemade cookies for everyone and wassail.  ...Sooo nice.

 This lady was so friendly, I made a new friend that evening. : )

 This is Ms. Betty, we met her before Grace was born...when we lived here before; 20 years ago we had stopped here to get to know Smalltown  before we had offically moved in. She was soooo sweet. She tells me she wants the girls and I to be tour guides next Christmas...I think the girls would look so pretty in the antebellum dress...It would be fun wouldn't it?  I tell Ms. Betty we live on a piece of Mr. B's old property. She smiles and tells me she would sure like to talk to him about the history of this place.  She's right, he is a sweet history book and a blessing to know.

 This guide tells us how they would wrap gifts in whatever they had around their home and seal the package with string or perhaps wax. Scotch tape wasn't heard of in the Victorian era.

Governor rocking chair made by prisoners especially for him as a gift. They made the chair extra large for his frame. 

Look at the barn and carriage house, isn't this wonderful? It's huge!  You can see Zuzu, Janie and Jem. 







Quite a few carriages and wagons. Janie looking at the signature there.


It was getting to be supper time....sup-sup-sup-sup supper time!!!  

And this was really GREAT after the candlelight tour...We heard sirens and thought oh my there has been an accident, streets were closed. What do ya know?!  A darling parade!  This is a model of the first capitol of TX.  There was the highschool marching band complete with male drum major and baton.  Adorable. So old fashioned...

 


I was like a kid at Christmas this night, I was standing on the siderail of our Utility vehicle laughing with glee. Jem had pulled over in the grocery parking lot and we watched the precious parade and then off to our favorite smalltown mexican restaurant.  Yep, it's the kind of place where the waitress knows us and brings us four salsa bowls from the get-go for our chips... They even ask us...Do you need a menu?   ....That's my Smalltown USA... : )

Such a privilege to be back again.  I hope you enjoyed your time with us on my favorite Christmas  day from this past season. God is good.

Love to All,   ~Amelia