Sophia and Ming Ming too!

Sophia received one of the Wonder Pets toys in the mail and she couldn’t be happier!  The package had no gift card and was ordered off an internet site so Toni doesn’t know who sent it.  But, who ever you are,  you made a great hit with the gift.  Sophia thanks you!

 

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Back with Sophia and Cohen

  ( I am so glad to be back with them that I can’t stand it. )

We had a most wonderful day.  Both children took long naps and were well behaved.  Cohen was especially in good humor.  He laughed all afternoon.  When Sophia woke she played with Cohen and took several pictures with my camera.   In the first picture (below) she is in her Cinderella dress, one of many dress-up outfits she received for her third birthday which was Fri., Nov. 26.   

 

A short walk under the cloudless blue sky....

 The Crow's Foot is growing in profusion under the bare trees.   It meanders around a tree trunk, pokes it's toes up through dull brown leaves and climbs up the woody incline and around another tree making a path of jewel green.

 Bending and pulling on the ropey spine of greenery, I tug, it comes away from it's mothers breast with much too much ease.  The smell of damp, rich, leaf decay floods my brain.  I think of my grandmother.  She loved the earth.  She would take Margaret and me walking in the woods whenever she had the chance. We would keep an eye-out for Princess Pine, moss for Jesus' crib and holly trees with lots of berries early in the fall. 
Each would try to remember in which area our treasure was found so we could come back and retrieve our prize for the holidays. We would look above for mistletoe,  holly leaves, and pine.  Our gaze would drop for the evergreen vine, moss or the fallen spiky balls of the Sweet Gum.  Anything that we felt was pretty, or had the potential to become a glittering jewel with glue, paper, or silver and gold paint was fair game.  When we got too cold to go on, or when dusk fell, we headed home, following the smell of burning leaves which smoldered on every curb on "the mill hill".

  These are just a few shots of what happened to catch my eye as I walked home.

Time to decorate for the holidays!

Time to gather natures bounty for all of the Christmas decorations you are going to make.

Thanksgiving Dinner / Before and After

Margaret and I were invited to dinner at our niece's home yesterday.  The twins and their mother, Sara, really put on the dog, 'er, turkey for everyone.  Leo, is visiting from AZ and Sara, his youngest daughter, had a wonderful traditional Turkey Day Special.         

                                      Clearing the table.....

I managed to eat a lot of food, but, did not take very many pictures.  I will have to show off Sara, her husband, Jeff and "Pop-Pop", Leo, in another post.
Sara has a lovely, welcoming home, and is a most excellent cook.  Jeff, whom I had not met before, was a very nice fellow and I'm looking forward to enjoying their company again.  Of course, the twins made the day most wonderful.

Sara's beautiful home and Christmas decorations made me want to come home to clean, paint and decorate!  Maybe I'll get a 2 foot pre-lit tree and put a few bulbs on it to add the Christmas Spirit to my under-world abode!  I may even get super charged and collect some of the crows foot from the woods for the mantel!  Believe me, if I do I'll post pictures. 

 I seem to be looking up more lately.  Or maybe it is just that I can go outside during the day for the first time in 50 years!  Pathology departments are always in the darkest corner of any building they are located in.  If you want to see the world a laboratory is not the place to be....unless you want to peer down into little worlds....

Unoccupied houses look so forlorn....

Sylvia naps in the tall weeds.

                   

Cyrus sure got a big laugh out of something here, didn't he!

 Cy takes me into his confidence......and I'll never tell!

A Visit From the Littlest Messinas and Foo Tries to Take a Nap.

                                   Cohen will be walking on his own soon!

                         Sophia shows Mommy and Cohen her water colors.

Sophia thinks Foo-Foo needs to be  covered for his nap .

 Foo thinks he is just fine without the covers.....thank you very much!                                                               

A Happy Birthday Celebration Scraptacular and One Heavy Pound Cake!

Today (11-20-2010) we celebrated Anna's birthday by having a scraptacular scrap-a-thon, hosted by Kelley and myself.  Marian came in from Winterville, and Anna's friend, Stephanie, whom she works with, came from only a few houses down.   My Grandnieces, Tessa and Johanna and, of course, Trey were here.  Plus, Anna and Marian's step-sister,  also named Stephanie, from Winston Salem.   Toni, Anna's 'newest' sister,  joined in our celebration of Anna also.  Thank you, Toni, for coming and thank you, Vincent, for staying with the children while Toni was here making original, colorful, and all around wonderful, card creations...from one claiming not to be creative!   ( We have  3 new scraping partners to join in our scrap-a-thons now, Toni, and both Stephanie's.  And what talents they are!  How fun it is to see one another's creations and learn so much from everyone's handiwork!    I am sorry I did not take pictures of each card and album page...I will try to remember to do that when we are together again.)
The only thing to mar the day was that we missed Wendy.  She usually is the star out-shinning all of us with her ability to turn out page after page  of memories for her photo albums. This is the first girl's day she has missed being with us.  She will have to attend our next scrapping day so it will be truly complete.

....Let them eat......CAKE!

Now, a word to the wise. When shopping for key cake ingredients always make sure the left hand knows what the right is doing! ( That is if you are lucky enough to know your left hand from your right. Wearing your wedding band is a big help in this category. ) Check all labels during both trips to the grocery. Actually, checking labels over and over again could possibly save that second trip for those of you that are not dyslexic! At any rate, read all product labels while on the shelf, in your hand, and once again as you near the register. It probably wouldn't hurt to double check again as you place your groceries in the car. Needless to say, I now have plenty of self-rising flour.

Self-rising flour does not make for a pretty pound cake. But Boy, does it taste good! Thanks for leaving it with me Anna!  

Toni, what are you whispering to Anna?

Another word to the wise.  When you move the oven racks in your oven in order to accommodate the large cake pan be sure they are level...that is double check the rack's position making sure the sides of the rack are held in place on the corresponding side shelves which hold the rack level.  This makes for a nicer appearing cake for presentation.  Not to mention this will also eliminate shouts of, " That's not fair!  Her piece is bigger than mine!"

And, our lesson for the day comes from Trey and Foo-Foo Kitty as they relax and enjoy their reunion.  Proving, once again, love is best and  IS  ONLY when shared!

A SPECIAL THANK YOU GOES TO TREY FOR ALL OF HIS LUGGING ANG CARRYING FOR THE OLD LADIES AND TO MARIAN FOR HER ORGANIZING AND SETTING UP OF THE ROOM AND SAVING THE DAY BY BRINGING IN THE ALL PURPOSE FLOUR!  ALSO WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO KELLEY FOR HER WONDERFUL CREATIVE MEMORIES DOOR PRIZES.

OOPS!

I meant to title the previous post as it was on SmileBox, but, as you can see relying on my memory of only a few seconds earlier does not work.  So, Falling Leaves really should be Softly Falling.....
Your loving mother, sister, grandmother, mother-in-law, whatever, O2 deprived, dyslexic, ADD, arthritic, narcoleptic relative. 

Falling Leaves

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The Beauty of Fall

We are called into the fallen leaves as we are called into water.  The smell, the feel, the sound all beckon us to loose ourselves under the surface, to relax and abandon all cares.  

Cohen is content to watch sister play and enjoy the warmth of the sun.