Thanksgiving

What a glorious day - to be thankful for all that we have in our lives. We will have a dinner with our two daughters and their familes - and talk to our son and daughter-in-law in West Virginia.

I'm thankful for Don - and all that he is and does. He is the glue that holds our family together. And I'm thankful for another Don - Donald Ray Bayne III - our precious new grandson - Donnie. We got to spend two wonderful weeks in WV with Donnie and his parents this past October.I'm thankful for a little girl frosting cookies (Beccy - 3 years old)


I'm thankful for the wonderful teen age years . . .

I'm thankful for a daughter who grew into a wonderful, thoughtful and clever woman, a superb mother and a sweet auntie.

And I'm ever so thankful she found her wonderful Jason . . .who is clever, thoughtful, a fabulous dad and all around great guy!

I'm thankful for a little boy who can still charm the
socks off just about anyone. (Rusty - age 1)

I'm thankful for the wonderful and super talented man he grew up to be . . .and the fabulous father he is to Donnie.

And I'm thankful for the wonderful Jamie that he married - all her talents and kindnesses and the wonderful mother she has become.

I'm thankful for our youngest daughter (Lori - 6 months), one of the cutest babies you have ever seen . . .(of course all my babies were extra darling)

See what I mean ? Darling!!


I'm thankful for a silly child who could lick almost all the frosting off a cake and look you straight in the eye and say - yes it was very good, when asked if she had eaten the frosting . .

I'm thankful that she grew up into such a fine creative woman, a good mother to Jahn and a fun auntie for Ben . . . (Ben - 1 month old)

I'm more than thankful that she found her fabulous Jason . . .gracious, talented, always willing to help - - who brought Jahn with him into our family

I'm thankful for three children who would dress up and sing christmas carols
for us when we lived out in the country on a farm in Kansas.

I'm thankful for Don's aunt who treated our kids like they were her own grandchildren .


And grandsons - I'm extremely thankful for grandsons . . .

Yes, grandsons - I am extremely thankful for grandsons!!!

I hope your thanksgiving is as wonderful as ours -- and give your family a hug - they are the most precious thing you'll ever have!! And to our friends across the world - a wonderful weekend too - as we here in the US celebrate our Thanksgiving with family and feasting and good times.

My Favorite Spoon

Shhh - don't tell the other spoons - but I have a favorite. I've had it for years and don't really remember where I got it. It is a very old, white enamel spoon and is fabulous. The shape of the bowl is deeper and a bit narrower than modern spoons and you can really heap food up in the spoon. Did you know there is another name for the handle? Tang! I like that name for the handle - sounds so elegant.

My spoon can be elegant - or just plain down-home.

Mixing up muffin batter . . .

Muffins are in the oven . . .

A pork roast - let me help you lift that . . .

Cooking meat for stroganoff - smell heavenly . . .

Don't cry - it's just onions for French Onion soup . . .

Mixing it up with friends. . .

Nice and clean . . .

Perseverance - 2012

I've been thinking of my word for this coming year - and Perseverance keeps coming to my mind. I wanted to have Curiosity - but Perseverance keeps being Persistent! I have many thoughts when I think of the word - from having stamina through hard time to moving through many learning experiences and coming through the new year with new insights. Always before my Word of The Year has been simple to understand - but this year it is not so easy.



The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. ~Henry Ward Beecher


The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places. ~Author Unknown


When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
~Author Unknown


Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. ~Dale Carnegie


Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~Author Unknown


When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt


Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there. ~Josh Billings


The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground. ~Author Unknown


Fall seven times, stand up eight. ~Japanese Proverb



If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again. ~Flavia Weedn, Flavia and the Dream Maker, © Flavia.com


He conquers who endures. ~Persius


Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com




I frequently-regularly-often trip while reaching for my high ideals. Then I giggle, or cry, and get back up. ~Erika Harris, lifeblazing.com




It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. ~Albert Einstein


Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. ~Walter Elliott, The Spiritual Life


People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. ~G.B. Shaw, Mrs. Warren's Profession, 1893


There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream. ~Author Unknown


Perseverance... keeps honor bright: to have done, is to hang quite out of fashion, like a rusty nail in monumental mockery. ~William Shakespeare


The drops of rain make a hole in the stone not by violence but by oft falling. ~Lucretius


But the moment you turn a corner you see another straight stretch ahead and there comes some further challenge to your ambition. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Would You Like To Go To An Apple Farm?

2011 flowers 9-18-11 apple farm

Things I Don't Say

My dear friend Crispy did a blog about this - it was fascinating, and brave, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Things I Don't Say - but that are true, none the less.

1. I hate entering a room full of people by myself, I'd much rather walk in right behind someone else.

2. I love to spend time all alone - by myself - completely quiet.

3. I don't like big wide fabric borders on quilts - they seem like cheating and rarely do they add to the beauty of the quilt.

4. I like dolls and love to make clothes for my six dolls.

5. I'll straighten a crooked picture on the wall if at all possible, even though "they" say if you can't leave a crooked picture alone you have no self control - but I say, if you leave a crooked picture you have no taste.

6. I like to slop around the house all day in my old clothes - but I'll get dressed nicely if I have to.

7. My favorite fabrics are 30s reproductions and I greatly dislike the new color combos of reds, turquoise, orange and neon lime, or turquoise and brown - yuck!

8. I don't make fad quilts, nor table runners or wall hangings - just not my thing.

9. I'll catch a spider, fly or any other bug and take it outdoors - I have a special butterfly net for just that - I never squish a bug.

10. I'll give money to people standing on the corner - if they are brave enough to stand there and take the hate and disrespect that I've seen then I'm happy to give them $20.00 - when I have so much and they have so little.

11. I feel bad when I hear a sad story about someone's life - everyone is somebody - and is someone's son, daughter, mother, father, aunt, uncle, sibling - everyone is somebody.

12.

All the Lone Star Quilts

And now you have seen the quilts separately - here they are - all together.

You can read about the whole journey by clicking HERE there are posts for each quilt - starting with that first one

Rusty

Beccy

Lori

Jamie (Rusty's wife)

Jason (Beccy's husband)

Jay (Lori's husband)

Jahn-Zyel (Lori and Jay)

Ben (Beccy and Jason)

Donnie (Rusty and Jamie)

Don

And that's the story of 10 Lone Star Quilts.  The End.

Are We Walking To Alaska?

This is a different kind of post - but one that I'm very proud of - my book, Are We Walking to Alaska?,  has been featured on Fourth Wall Friday - at Cabin Goddess, a wonderful site that features authors and their books.  My book is a bit different than the ones regularly featured on the site.  Kriss did a fabulous job in the feature story.

That is me on the left in the photo.  This picture was taken on my mom's birthday. My little brother has a cast on his arm and a black eye - the story is in the book (no, I did not beat him up)

I'd be honored if you would visit and see the post about my book.  I'm very proud of my book - the story of our family moving to Alaska in the 1950s, before Alaska was a state.  My adventures were exciting to a young girl and I'd love to share them with you.  

You can purchase my book from a link on Kriss's page - or by clicking the postcard just under my header above, or from Amazon.com, just by searching the name of the book, "Are We Walking To Alaska?", in print or kindle.

 It is a book that the whole family can enjoy - I hope you will find it intriguing and as interesting to read as I found it to be when I was writing it.

Me and my youngest brother, Jeff, making snowmen in Alaska.  Notice that Jeff's hat is on the snowman in front of me.

Oh The Places I've Been