I Can See Clearly Now, the Rain is Gone...

The rain clouds have moved on and the sun is shining brightly here in Lynden. And the sunshine on the windowpanes has made it very clear that I have been neglecting my most hated chore...washing windows. In years past I spent a lot of time wiping little fingerprints off the windowpanes. Later, when the chicks had flown the coop, my windows looked nice most of the time. But it was lonely. A few years after than, my grown up chicks started bringing their little chicks to visit...and once again there were sticky little fingerprints all over the panes. Lovely! I left those handprints for weeks on end as a reminder of the little ones who'd been over to visit. Our grandchildren are getting older, and there are fewer and fewer fingerprints when they go home. Ahhh, but there is Koda!

 Koda is a watcher. She looks out the window constantly.

This is what we see when we pull in the driveway every day. We love it that there's someone who loves us enough to wait patiently in the window for our return. But the downside are the noseprints. Slobbery noseprints. I didn't take a picture of them; I know you won't mind! And no, I'm not in the least bit sentimental about noseprints!

So I got out some old rags and mixed up some vinegar and water. No need for fancy window cleaners...vinegar is one of nature's best cleaners!

 with a little elbow grease

 a little perspiration, I can see clearly again!

That's about all I'm up to on this lovely Saturday. Tonight Kelly and I are meeting some new friends to play bingo. I'm very excited. The fact that these folks would invite us to go and play bingo bodes well for our friendship. If they'd have asked us to go out for a swanky dinner, I'd be worried. We're simple folks. We like to do simple things. Given my druthers, I'd rather....

go out for a bowl of chowder..................than go out to a fancy French restaurant

have a home-made birthday cake..................than a store-bought one

go for a ride in the country................... than go to boutique

sit on driftwood by the bay.................. than sit in a fancy schmancy chair

make my own quilt..................... than buy a quilt

get some fun things on sale..................... than buy one hugely expensive item

wash my windows with vinegar................than Windex

order peach-flavored iced-tea.....................than martinis

go to a picnic..................................than a nightclub

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an austere person. I'll happily part with my time and money for things I enjoy. Travel, fabric and yarn, music, books, things for my home...I like all of those things. But I dislike  pretense and snobbery. Some would call me 'low maintenance'. I don't care for that term. It seems demeaning. As though a person who isn't trying to impress others with their material acquisitions somehow has lower standards or thinks less of themself. Not true. My standards are pretty high...I demand real...not show.  That's not easy to do. I don't think Paris Hilton or the Kardashians could ever meet my standards. But the great part is...I don't expect them to; don't even care if they do!

So what about you? What are some of your  I'd rather do __________ than _________?'



Is there something about your home that you hate? Something that you want to look this way, but for now it looks that way?

This is what I imagine my patio to look like someday.

 Like this...

Or this...



 or maybe even like this, with an outdoor fireplace.

I just want it to be simple and preferably made from bricks... a comfortable place to gather with family and friends on summer evenings.

But when I look out the patio door every morning, this is what I behold...

and this... 

and this.

I know...it's ghastly! When we moved here it was all painted over with somekind of slippery paint. A little water and one wrong move...you're on your keester. So I decided to remove said paint. Got out there with our handy dandy pressure washer and started blasting away. I found that there was not one layer of paint. Oh no-why that would be too easy. No, not two layers of paint...no by cracky; our patio had 3 layers of paint covering the cement. And just for giggles...the middle one was pink!!! Yep! I also learned that our pressure washer was no match for this job...a sand blaster, or better yet; a jackhammer is what's needed for this baby!

But since I'm hard headed I tried anyway. After testing every setting on the pressure washer and failing...I resorted to getting on my hands and knees and scraping with a putty knife. This is the progress I've made after 5 years! Today I went out and fired up the ol' pressure washer (and putty knife) again. Got another... well, I'd say conservatively 3 square feet of paint off. It only took me 3 hours. That's one square foot per hour! (I'm good at math.)

We've been planning to get someone in with a jackhammer to remove this mess. Someone young who works cheap and has a good back. But we've been overwhelmed by the work our other projects have taken...and decided to put this one on the back burner for this year. But I've gotta say, I don't know how much longer I can tolerate this eyesore! I've started praying about it. Probably should have done that from the beginning!

In the meantime I'm thinking sidewalk chalk art. You know, like the ones in Mary Poppins. I'll put on a pretty dress with a floppy hat and jump into the picture. Then I'll ride a magical carousel with Jane and Michael as Dick Van Dyke serenades me on bended knee.

Yes, I'm being facetious...everyone know that here in Washington State, the rain would melt my chalk pictures before I was able to hop into them!

Maybe I should just rent a jackhammer and do it myself. How hard could it be? Hmmm, I recall saying something like that about the pressure washer...

Dreaming of an Autumn Day at Fragrance Lake

Photo is from fishwhatcom.com

     I'm just sitting here on my sofa this late evening, reflecting upon a dream I had a few years ago. In the dream, I saw a lake; I recognized the place--it was Fragrance Lake. I hiked there once with Kelly and the kids. The only way to get to Fragrance Lake is by hiking...or by dreaming. It was a tranquil autumn day in my dream;  and golden leaves were dropping from the deciduous trees along the shore and landing on the water. The lake was dappled with golden leaves. A warm afternoon sun shone on the water, and an occasional breeze caused the leaves to float lazily about without a worry for where they went.
      Nothing else happened in my dream. I was just there.
      I awoke at peace, and just lay there, pondering my dream.
     A still, small voice inside of me said, "You've entered the autumn of your life, daughter." 
     That startled me a bit, but I kept listening.
     "This is how I will make your autumn years."
 
     Just of late, I'm noticing how full life is. Golden, ripe, and sweet. My forties didn't seem that way, and my thirties, well they were just a blur of activity. But there's a richness in the fifties. And I'm learning how to float like leaves on the water, without a worry for where I am going.
     The writer of Ecclesiastes says, "He hath made everything beautiful in his time." I'm thankful for the beauty of this time in my life.
     I don't know why I'm sharing this with you tonight. It's 12:47 and I should be off to bed. But I hope that you will somehow be encouraged to enjoy this time of your life; and to know that every time of your life holds a promise of beauty, as you trust in God.
     Good-night to you...and sweet dreams!

  

Out With the Old...

I don't know what's happening to me. I mean, inside of me. For the past 30 days I've had this urge to purge! No...I'm not anorexic or bulemic...my photo will attest to that. No, what I mean is, I have this strong desire to simplify my life. And now it's spilling over into my blog. I hope you like the new look; it's a little less busy, a little cleaner...which now that I think about it, is how I'd like my life to be. Isn't that funny how one area of life seeps into another? So here's what I've been up to so far...

*Cleaned out the garage, office and guest room. Sent about 15 boxes of stuff to the thrift store.
*Rearranged the family room. Took all the pictures off the walls, got rid of some of the furniture and made a simple, cozy sitting area.
*Put some of my antiques on Craigslist; with plans to sell them all. No more swirly, curly, ornate furnishings...I long for clean, simple lines.
*Overhauled the front yard. Got rid of a flower bed I've always hated and seeded it with grass, 'cause it's easier to mow than to weed.  The existing front flower beds are all shrubs and perennials; mostly green...heather, azalea, rhodys, hosta, and maples. We put down a nice layer of corn gluten (a natural weed repellent) and a thick layer of bark mulch on top. No more weeding the front yard.

I have big plans to sell the old Victorian bedroom set and create a much more serene, peaceful place for Kelly and I to sleep. Our room is small, so I've been looking at some nice designs on the web...which one do you like the best?

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