leder legends

  Every fall it happens...the hated "clean out the Garage" day!  It's done, the trash can is full to overflowing and two vehicles are parked in the garage.

  The Family Tree --  Karel and Truus Gri m immigrated to Canada in May of 1951 and f rom them comes a family tree of 199 names.  Their 8 children married, had children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  One thing that I found interesting-  Of the 199 first names there are 21 repeats .  My husband's family immigrated in 1956. They were 10 years younger than my parents.  Their 5 boys married, had children and grandchildren.  I am sure more great grandchildren will arrive in the coming years.  There are 86 on that list and only 2 first names repeat.

A mountain near mt. Denali in Alaska Are you afraid?  -of the virus resurge? -of the pending election results? -of the possibility of losing friends and acquaintances? -of things never getting back to normal? -of loneliness as the winter approaches? -of dying alone in a hospital or retirement community? -of not being able to see children and grandchildren? -of never being happy again? I'm hearing so much of this these days!   I take heart in the old songs-- (I added you tube links...please excuse the ads) My hope is found in nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkMapZB8qMk and new songs--- In Christ Alone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16KYvfIc2bE I will be there https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwdXxBZBnSg

I made 5 masks tonight. With the rise of the number of new cases of the corona virus I don't think the need for masks is going away soon. I found a new pattern for what they call a 3D mask.  The style keeps the fabric away from the nose and mouth and yet fits snuggly around the face. I found some cute fabric! The pictures are a bit blurry but I did this all from my phone. I'm experimenting! I also realized that the first one I made (the last picture) is the size I should have stayed with because altering it made the middle front section too  narrow.  I wore the second one for three hours and the style definitely made it more tolerable. I have more fabric lol!        

Monday and Tuesday! The sunshine has been wonderful this fall with many days giving us higher than average hours of sunlight.   So, why oh why is one overcast day enough to send us into a tailspin? Monday and Tuesday were such a contrast.  Monday was oh so gloomy but Tuesday was wonderfully bright.  Monday I accomplished almost nothing except a computer project and ended by making a nasty rice, chicken, peanut butter and ginger dish for supper.  I napped at 5:00.  That was not a great idea. It was hard to fall asleep that night. Tuesday is today! I went walking early after an even earlier shower. That got the day off to a good start. Then I did laundry and baked- pecan bars and a double recipe of almond biscotti and two packages of cookies from mixes.  I was done by 1:00. Next was a wonderful nap..not too long and not too late in the afternoon.   Meanwhile the sun was shining brightly! I did some sewing and son Nathan came over. He was going to he...

 Oh, what to do with 2 large bags of apples. I have this lovely apple corer/peeler and hubby offered  to peel and core all the apples.  I cut them up farther and added lemon juice. We have two pots of apple sauce going...one will be strained and the other will be left chunky. 24 cups of apples were used to make apple pie filling that will be frozen.   I can freeze that in bags but I think I will fill some square disposable containers, top that with apple crisp topping, put on the lid and than freeze.  Those can be baked and gifted. Easy I also decided to do an experiment.  Can I freeze apples without any process?  Turns out I can freeze them but there is process.  I soaked them in water and lemon juice for 10 minutes, dried them (that’s a process) and  placed them on cookie sheets and popped them in the freezer until tomorrow. Then I will bag them to be used in the midst of a cold winter.  Clean u...

Summer has making a valiant effort to stick around.  After a week of low temps, we enjoyed quite a few days of lovely sunny weather with a few 70 degree plus days thrown in.  Today might be the " official" turning point. It was dismally dark and cool, it got warm for a few hours and then the wind and rain started. It has that autumn feel. I applied Round Up to another part of the yard hoping that I can get rid of all the weeds before winter.  The chickweed seems exceptionally vigorous riģt now. I also applied fertilizer to ALL the.plants still flowering.  Son A told me to get this fertilizer called M.O.A.B. especially for Lucy. I get to fertile Lucy every 2 days. The numbers are 0- 52- 32 and that means no nitrogen. M.O.A.B. made me think of that evil tribe in the Bible but it stands for Mother Of All Blooms. That sounds a bit friendlier, right? I figure that if I am going to do that then I can also give a boost to all my plants that are still blooming.  So thin...

 I got a few wonderful pictures from Alaska!

  Being SHOPPED is when corporate comes in unannounced and checks out your store for service, cleanliness, quality etc. It was not completely unannounced... they said they were coming in the first week of October.  They came yesterday evening.  The son had asked for a bit of help on Tuesday so I helped clean for 2 hours on Tuesday ... and 2 hours Wednesday and 2 hours on Thursday. It was kind of fun but I should probably do this once a week.  It would be much easier and quicker to clean then. I love it when things like counters, floors and bathrooms shine! Oh and windows too!! I wondered, on the way home each day, why the bottom of the barrel workers along with the millennials find it so difficult to clean up after themselves or just to do a menial job thoroughly?  It's not worth it! What have we done? I have also taken it upon myself to return pop cans. I returned two large bags Wednesday and got $38 and one and a half yesterday and got $18.  The...

  My Christmas wreath is on my front door.  Why is it up so early? It’s not!!  It has been up since last year.   Admittedly,  I do leave it up longer than most every year but this year with the corona virus shutdown, I decided to leave it up until the all clear was sounded.  Governor W has been slow to relinquish her “emergency “ powers!! So it is still up on my front door! The Michigan Supreme Court last week ruled that her use of the emergency powers etc was unconstitutional because it was based on a 1945 law that is no longer valid.  What are the consequences of that ruling? Can EVERYTHING open up like before? Can masks and social distancing be ignored? Or does it mean that we still follow the commonsense guidelines that are in place BUT that the governor cannot mandate this?  The verdict is still out.  The discussion continues, The Christmas wreath is still on my door.

  The muse???  I guess that is what I call my inspiration and/or motivation to write something here.  I have been hard-pressed  to find that.  I can blame many things but I will lay it all into the lap of Covid-19 and all the ramifications surrounding it.  Life has changed and I have yet to embrace it ... not even partially.  I want/need things to get back to normal!!  Phlox still blooming in a friend's yard. Petunias!! It's been cold and rainy here as well.  I rejoice with the rain because we need it so badly.  We got 1/4 inch last night and it was in the form of soft drizzly rain!  So good! Along with the rain came COLD temperatures.  I did cut back some bushes at a rental. I think they are juniper bushes.  I filled the back of the truck.  It rained the entire time I was hacking away and then stopped raining the minute I had the truck loaded.  It figures!  I was wet and cold and spent the rest of the day h...