Life is good on Stauffer. Sometimes when all else fails it takes a step back and just breathe. I take care of what I can and then sometimes I realize that I just don’t have the energy or passion to have everything fixed — right at this moment. That item gets kicked and rolled around in the dust until it is at the bottom of the list. If and when I feel it is important I’ll kick the tires and decide — and not before. Right now I am on to some fun while this great weather holds. It would be sweet if we had some rain but as per Colorado — be careful what you wish for. Catch ya later.
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Noreen
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Noreen
This is what we have been waiting for all season — a breeze on a comfortable day. No way can I stay indoors when it is this nice out. Dennis is at the grill and my job is to steam some garden fresh green beans. Oh come on — a few mashed potatoes can’t hurt. Grandson Nicholas says “Grammie you make the best creamy mash potatoes.”
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Noreen
Things Have Come Together
Today is a red letter day in my book as the last of the three wedding gifts I have been working on are now completed. As I was nearing the end of the fabrication process Dennis and I did a road trip to the Old Alley Quilt Shop in Sherburn, MN. You can’t very well give a wall hanging as a gift if you don’t include a hanger for it to be hung from. Old Alley is 25 miles to the south of us and as we traveled it gave us a chance to check out the crops as they are beginning to show signs of the impending harvest.Several years ago Kevin gave me a twisted wire hanger that he had acquired when a fellow had stopped in to his shop hoping that Kevin would be able to handle and sell his wares for him. Kevin bought one and allowed the fellow to know his print shop would not be a good fit for quilting supplies.
I have used that hanger over and over and I knew that this light weight product would be a perfect fit for my wall hangings and also remembering Old Alley had a great supply of various sizes.The last of the three wall hangings got a bit of a different treatment as I found some wonderful beads and pearls that just begged to be used. How could we have a Christmas tree featured without a gold star and a small gold cross at the top? In a world of selling crafts, would I ever recoup my time in dollars and cents? No. But it sure is fun to see what I can come up with to put a unique spin on items. Once the basic items such as the top design, the batting and the backing are settled upon, all I need to do is have a cup of coffee and sit and gaze upon my shelves in the basement and wait for the ideas to pop.
If the grandkids think my basement is fun to craft in they have no idea how much fun and personal satisfaction I get every time I get busy. Dennis loves to get together with his buds every afternoon while my time is being spent stitching away, and just like today, sporting a band aid on a finger where the needle dared to puncture the skin. Sure can’t have tell tale spots on a finished projected. Sharing the finished projects are sometimes a tug on the heart strings, but I am truly sharing what brings me so much enjoyment.
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Noreen
First sign of changing seasons is the occasional leaf that has been knocked loose from its perch and flutters to the Koi pond. Dennis has his net handy and ready to keep the water as clean as possible for as long as possible. Not ignoring signs such as the leaves, we have begun work on some heavier items on the list. The circa 60s Ford has had an oil change and grease job and the Lincoln just got new brakes today. Check lists go hand in hand with preparation for the “s” word. It all keeps us older ones on Stauffer Avenue on our toes.
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Noreen
Can’t Have One Without the Other
My Button Tree
As I mentioned yesterday I was working on wedding gifts that will find their homes in good fashion later this fall. I do now have two of them completed.
What I want to share is one of my resources when it comes to putting the finishing touches on certain projects. Wall hangings beg for a bit of extra and where else would I go but to my button tree.
The button tree found it’s way to my home during this last late winter. I was astounded. I was speechless. I was thrilled just like a child that found treats under the Christmas tree. Who knew button trees were in season? As a child might sit under the lights of the Christmas tree in awe and wonder, I sit and twirl the button tree and I feel no need to suppress the gasps of sheer delight when one unique button after another is discovered.
The final results of my quilted wall hanging would be lacking if I could not pick and pull from the button tree.
Thanks be for those that know this special resource will not go unused.
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Noreen
We are invited to three late year wedding…
We are invited to three, late-year weddings within Dennis’ family. All three have already set up their homes so it’s kind of a tough call as to what they need.I looked into the sites where they are registered and it’s all a bit more than Dennis and I bargain for in money. We have already attended the bridal showers so my best bet was to get busy in my sewing and craft area of the basement.
We will have for them each a Christmas quilted project for their homes for their first Christmas as
Mr. and Mrs. -
Noreen
Our 2013 Tomato Crop
2013 Tomato Crop
This photo is 50% of our entire crop of tomatoes this year. We made sure we had healthy plants and found the best spot possible and we watered and waited. We waited and watered. Blossoms came and went. We have one more possible tomato yet to harvest. Perhaps we had no bees. Perhaps we need to fertilize our soil. Perhaps we need to be thankful we have a great farmer’s market in the town square three times a week. The size of the tomato would make a tennis ball look huge. Oh well – nothing ventured, nothing gained.
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Noreen
Do You See What I See
Reflections
I know my retirement life agrees with me because of what I see in the world around me. It may seem silly to some but to me it is a world of wonderment in the most simple of things. This photo is what caught my eye today as some of the hot sun rays shone into the house. The circular reflection off of the door handle was enhanced further by the sun beams hitting a small crystal hanging in the window.
So much to enjoy and so much to see. I am thrilled that my eyes are truly open.
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Noreen
A Favorite on Stauffer this Time of Year: Sweet Corn!
• One covered kettle of boiling water
• Add three to six ears of sweet corn and cover
(either broke in half or whole depending on your kettle size)• Bring back to boiling for several minutes
• Drain and eat with vigor and let the kernels fly
• Butter and salt and an additonal dish is optional
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Noreen
It’s a Big Job
It is a daily challenge and a big job to live in grace, which in very simple terms means to live such that it is in favor with God. From the time I took four years of confirmation instructions from Pastor Martin Schultz in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Stewart, Minnesota, my goal was to live my days in grace. How others live their days is not on me. This is my solo walk every day. I have slipped, I have tripped and I have fallen with definite injuries that have taken me out of favor with God — for that time. Every day I get a new chance and every day I strive for it being better than the one before.
So many personalities have crossed my path as my career choice was working with the public and generally an angry uptight public. No one likes having to pay taxes and who better to blame than the gal standing behind the counter where it all takes place. For no reason or worth, I have kept some of the letters that were written to me with the complete gamut of name calling and some threats. It was my job to let the venting go until it was spent. I did my job with God’s guiding hand and at the end of my career I could meet and great those that had been the angry people. I worked to find a common ground to meet them on at the time of the altercation. I stepped back and allowed them to step forward in a manner that gave them their dignity back so their lashing out had not defined them. I wanted to treat them with grace and they deserved to be treated with grace even through their less than good moments.
Now in retirement my world is quieter and more gentle. When Dennis and I can help out the family we give 100%. That’s not on anyone else’s scale other than ours. We all have individual potential. We do sometimes amaze ourselves as to what we can handle. It may not have always been easy and our comfort zone has had to expand much like the blown up balloons right before they pop. Being on board for whatever we volunteer for or to meet the request does not mean that we will sacrifice what our core beings (morals and ethics) are. We work hard to step up to do the tasks well with happy results ensuing. Happy is always a good thing. We want to help our families while we are still physically able, but more important we want to help our families while living in grace. A lesson we have learned is to let go of disappointment and turn it to forgiveness — “they know not what they do.”
Dennis is going to be celebrating his 77th birthday next month
and I am still closer to being 69 than 70 — whew! Our track record with family is pretty darn amazing. Dennis has been given the position of being the “go to” person for his four nephews in addition to his own five children. The nephew’s fathers were called home to God at much younger ages than Dennis is now. Many times “Uncle Dennis” is called upon for moral support. Dennis does it well and he does it while living in grace.With my family living farther away than a stone’s throw, I rely on keeping up to date via whatever piece of technology is at hand. They know I am only a call away and the car always has a full tank of gas in the event I must go — and go now.
The years I spent with my Mom after Dad passed away were the sweetest years and I am so thankful to have experienced them, sometimes in laughter, sometimes in tears. Mom charged on in life for an additional 18 years without her partner. She met each challenge for all she was worth and never a complaint was heard. Her life lived in grace impacted many then as well as now and I know also going forward into the future. It was not easy to watch her become more like a child than a parent, but come on, I still had her in my life. Being with Mom and living her experiences right beside her to the end was a window into what my own world will hold for me someday. Talk about a reality check. My heart would break for her as I could feel her discomfort, her pain, her embarrassments, her memory losses
and her impatience as her quality of life became less. I lived my Mom’s last years with grace. How could I not have? I didn’t have that chance of being with my Dad in his last years of needing elder care as he was taken from us in literally a heartbeat.I may be misunderstood at times, I may be a disappointment to one or many at times — it matters not. How could these times not happen? Though I am a child of God I am a sinner, thanks to Adam in the garden of Eden. I own who I am and I own what I am and I accept myself right up to the time the reactions of my actions may cause me pain. That double edged sword of actions happens to each and every one of us. It is up to me to take what life has in store for me with just as many ups as there are downs. I keep a sense of humor and know when to forgive myself when it is warranted, all the while taking my life’s job very seriously. I walk daily in the biggest challenge of my life — grace.
In life, please remember to give with no remembrance, or take and remember it always.