A Day in the Life...
Howdy, Sweet Friends, this will be somewhat of a newsletter since it's been a while. Last month, surgery for Jem, he's doing great now thanking the Lord. Yesterday one of our daughters had a minor surgery and will have follow up surgery soon.
Yes, my mom has dementia and it is many times on the back burner and a matter of constant prayer but I must prayerfully go on in this delicate dance of Life unto the Lord, living with no regret (EDIT:4.21.24 as far as giving my mom attention and so forth)...Making sure I'm doing what I should be doing, leaving no stone unturned in the theatre of my conscience and heart.
I hope you will enjoy this newsletter of sorts...
Little Dresses for Africa
I make Little Dresses for Africa here and there, I try hard to make a Little Dress for Africa for every item I sew for myself.
I made 4 of these lately, all the same. I buy the cotton tshirts at Hobby Lobby, these little tshirt dresses are so comfy for little girls! I added a pop of bright yellow ric-rac to the bottom to cheer them up a bit and give a pop! I already had the lovely bird print cotton fabric on hand.
Hail Storms Oh my!
A Dreamy, Mysterious Evening After a Hail Storm.
Let's just say, this was different.
Maxis are Much of my Style
My style is a fusion of classics, black turtlenecks and scarves, pleated midi skirts, 40s-50s vintage and boho, many times I wear wide legged light-cotton ankle capris or loose fitting yoga pants in the winter with tunics....But maxis are fun to wear with a cinched in waist and a gently fitted top. I've recently found cotton sleeveless tops for the summer and cap sleeves as well at J.C. Penney from the St. Johns Bay brand. We live in a very warm climate and in the summer we need cool clothing.
My most recent maxi makes:
These lovely blue and white cotton fabrics are from Hobby Lobby. These photos just don't do the pretty colors justice...
Time for Supper, One of my Favorite Times
Time for a cozy supper and a quick peak out the window in the kitchen...Hauntingly beautiful old oak trees.
Soups are my Thing
Love to get a couple of onions, saute in a generous amount of olive oil til browned a bit. Saute lots of fresh garlic until fragrant, no more than a minute, usually 30 seconds or so. I never go over that, garlic gets bitter when browned at all and my Italian grandma from Naples stressed that! At least several tablespoons of dried basil, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. Perhaps nutritional yeast for flavor. I add a good no sodium pasta gravy or good Italian tomatoes, frozen spinach and asparagus. Water. I throw in some lentils and low sodium white beans and oh my...This is a wonderful Mediterranean delight! I serve this with a good gluten free angel spaghetti, breaking that up into pieces before cooking. Bellissima!
Rest in Peace Dear Cousin, I Wish I Could Have Known You...
As many of you know I had been on the hunt for my cousin. I had miraculously found her seven years ago after years and years of searching for her but in the end she did not desire to communicate with me or our daughters, an unbelievable and great disappointment. I always hoped I would run into her at a restaurant in the city, I knew what she looked like through her social media. She did communicate with Janie and Joycie for a bit through social media and then went off radar. In one of her first communications she asked, How in the world did you find me?! She had lived within an hour of me for years, she lamented to Joycie in writing how she missed the country where she grew up with her grandparents on a ranch riding horses not far from here. I pictured her personality and even appearance much like Rosalind Russell in the old movie, 'Auntie Mame'. Seven years ago when our daughter wrote how old I was (EDIT: I was in my late 50s) she quickly wrote...A mere child. She had some salty choice words for my grandfather when told my grandfather on that German side had disowned me too, she then wrote gently...People don't have to be mean like that. She is an only child as I am also an only child, we're cousins on the German side, my father's side. We had never met, she was not mentioned hardly ever, her mother was estranged from my German grandfather after my Uncle Wesley tragically died when my cousin was a baby. She was a good nineteen years older than I and she had no children and was unmarried when she passed away. Though we had never met, we had many of the same characteristics, it's uncanny...She was an artist, majored in art history, loved animals and a conservative, she enjoyed writing, her reviews and marks are everywhere and prolific. She actually raised butterflies in the back of her home in one of the most expensive neighborhoods if not the most expensive in the city, fed the possums in her backyard, kept colorful garden clogs by the back door, a beautiful large lush yard, loved her large dog. Her achievements were great on this green earth, she designed and made many things, even opened up a factory in downtown where the plastics she used to design walls and ballroom floors in notable places were actually made. She at one time was a buyer for a major department store.
She was tall like her father, my uncle: 
My dad's brother. Uncle Wesley was ten years older than my dad and is pictured in this photo from a 1940 college yearbook. My dad and my uncle had a very similar handsome face but my dad was shorter than his brother, I am also shorter, and we had the same brunette features, her dad married a brunette much like my mom he met in college, she is pictured on this very same yearbook page.
This past year I was quickened by the Holy Spirit one evening to check on her online. When I looked her up I saw her obituary! Gifts were to be made to her animal foundation she created. Now Jem and I are in search of her grave in a beautiful, beautiful historic cemetery in the city, one of the oldest if not the oldest. Many prominent people are here, many of the old, old city families. It's one of the most unusual old cemeteries, it's huge for one thing, you can look in one direction and see beautiful old oak trees and yet skyscrapers hovering in the distance.
A physician's family below; their sons, a young man in his later youth, the larger angel. And a baby boy, the smaller little angel. Oh my heart...
Even though I haven't found my cousin's place of rest on the German side, I have found some of our Italian relatives who arrived here in the early 1900s. Oh, the little children, a beautiful toddler girl's portrait...Heartbreaking.
Day to Day Here, Back to the Forest
The real joy of life is in its play. Play is anything we do for the joy and love of doing it, apart from any profit, compulsion, or sense of duty.
It is the real living of life with the feeling of freedom and self-expression. Play is the business of childhood, and its continuation in later years is the prolongation of youth.
~Walter Rauschenbusch
Day to day to I go about my creative job of homemaking, and lately have done much gardening as well...That is play along with designing and sewing.
Bought a few extras yesterday, I love ivy, and things that do well in heat, moss rose, succulents, etc. I have a few miniature rose bushes and regular rose bushes as well.
Grace is making fairy garden items for her fairy garden...All from twigs and dried flowers.
The way I creatively and more stress-free-manage our home is in a very spirit led way...I seek the Lord and ask what to do first....First things first and He will show me what to do first. He hears even the smallest prayer! There is no prayer too small for God. Don't let anyone tell you any differently!
I ask for help and guidance from the Father what is most important and so forth...This makes for a confident and sweet homemaking experience. We know when to stop and rest, when to go and when to play. We may not have a perfect looking magazine or sterile home, but it will be kosher and more importantly a sweet home with a sweet cheerful spirit that honors God. A place that says: Peace.
Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.
A Thought From Jem and I
My husband and I were talking Sunday and we heard a favorite preacher of ours talk about the scripture about sitting at the seat of scoffers.
The Bible says not to sit at the seat of scoffers and I think many do this by allowing unsavory things that have a worldly spirit into their homes through television and so forth.
I love to play sweet music in the background many times from the 40s, we have an old fashioned Christian radio station that will also play beautiful Christian music. And of course I will keep tabs on events in our world from a trusted radio station that is in line with my values for the mostpart. But not too much! Not all day! I hear what I need to hear, I learn and turn it off. Although important we have knowledge of what is going on, that is wise, but too much stuff and news can bring us down and make us feel yuck.
God is so good, He truly answers prayers if we will seek his Face.
I love to wake up early in the morning and get my coffee and pray, I pray the Lord's prayer and I talk with the Lord about every little thing! He answers too, in His time He answers. He gives Grace and Mercy and Guidance.
I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. ~Isiah 49:15
Prayer is the way to open ourselves to God, and the way in which He shows us our unstable hearts and begins to strengthen them.
~Teresa of Avila
Here's a sweet little thing for you sweet friends, it's a clip from the old 1944 movie: Hollywood Canteen during WWII. A time in our country where even many of our actors and actresses had a healthy fear of God and love for our country, they did what they could to serve and honor our country!
I Present Roy Rogers and Trigger, Hollywood Canteen (1944) Trigger is dancing and Roy is singing...Don't Fence me In. Enjoy!
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Is this not the sweetest thing?
Some days we see that God's Creatures are kinder then humans and have more good horse sense too. ; )
It doesn't take monumental feats to make the world a better place. It can be as simple as letting someone go ahead of you in a grocery line.
~Barbara Johnson
Let's be Jesus with skin on to others, don't be that person talking about your wonderful church as you push others to the side to get a good deal as your grandchildren watch. Yes, this happened to one of our married daughters recently...Two ladies talking it up about their church waiting in line far behind our daughter pushed and shoved and actually took cherished things our daughter had patiently stood in line for, (she arrived early in the morning) out of our daughter's cart at a resale shop. Our little grandson now calls those women...those bad women.
We don't want to be known as "those bad women". The Bible says that even a child is known by their doings.
Have a sweet day, let's cling to the Father and talk to Him a lot, He listens. If something doesn't register with your spirit, if it's not a pure and lovely thing, then be careful of it, there are some seducing spirits out there. We're shocked by how people are swayed as we sometimes overhear conversation, what people are accepting and what we are seeing people do. (As in the days of Noah) And it is many times people who should be old enough to know better. People are buying into the culture without a thought. Beware. Beware of even what you may apologize for, we do not have to apologize or make excuses for our Faith.
Let's keep things pure and sweet, real, insulating our homes and lives in godliness, not a cold, sterile home or life of course, but of kindness, smiles and laughter and holiness too. If we keep things sweet and godly our children should be able to spot the counterfeit because they will know the real thing if we know the real thing and live it. Our grown daughters still come to me and tell me little things that impacted their lives for good. I hope to share soon.
Closing with this beautiful song by one of my favorite true-blue Christian artists. How Beautiful by Twila Paris
How Beautiful is the Body of Christ.
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~Amelia
