Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Busy times

These were taken two weeks ago at St Anthony's.
Just look at all that snow.

I hiked back to the woods and down to the grotto.
I did get stuck in the snow several times.  But I think I had it better than the deer whose
tracks I saw.  Their tiny little hooves went all the way down to the ground, and the snow was a good 3 feet deep in many places.

How ethereal Mary looks.
 
 I always want to wrap her in a blanket when I come here with snow all around.
 
 
This is a pond made by damming up the little stream that goes down to the Rib River.
It's a bit hard to see, but those are deer tracks leading out to a little open area for drinking.
There are other animal tracks following the deer there.

 
I didn't take many pictures of Easter, darn it.  I meant to because Miss V and I had
lots of fun fixing and decorating.
 

 
But here is a picture of last years deviled chick eggs.
 

I do think spring is on the way.  I'm going to be so confident in this fact that I'm putting my winter coats... well not actually away, but at least BEHIND the spring jackets.


Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Well, apparently we have somehow gone through the Wardrobe and landed in
Narnias never ending winter.
We got at least 5 more inches yesterday, and with the wind today, the driveway was blown shut again
about 15 minutes after our wonderful neighbor plowed us out.
Timidity and reason being the better part of valor, I will be staying home
today and doing double duties tomorrow.

Which means, back to "The Room of Happiness and Creativity"
But obviously I won't be lonely in that special room. 
Several furry beings love to keep me company there.
 
Also, I am in the process of reviving my Bag Lady shop.
I am working diligently on my inventory so I can have a really good booth at a craft fair next spring
 


Bags.
 

 
I love them



I love making them
 

I love giving them
 

 
I love experimenting with patterns for them
 

 
And I really love using them
 
 
In 3 more sleeps I'll be back here.
St Anthony's.
 

I wish spring would come, but no matter.  I love everything about
St Anthony's retreats
even when we are totally snowed inside, like this picture from about 5 years ago
also in March.
I have much to pray about, much to be grateful for and much to think about.
 
I just wish the weekends had an extra day between Saturday and Sunday.


Friday, March 15, 2013

Will this winter ever end?
 
The weatherman, who no one likes anymore, says more snow this afternoon and tonight..
and...
more coming on Monday.  Could be a "significant amount"
 
Which, in reality means...
they have no idea.
Most of us are hoping a "significant amount" is actually significant in the fact that it will be
INSIGNIFICANT.
 
oh we can dream can't we?
Then to add insult to injury, he points out that
 "last year on this day the temperature was 75!"
 
Gosh that sure helps the attitude, when today the temperature is 17!
Could someone out west where it is warm please send some warm dry sunny air our direction?
please?


Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Goodbye February

My February wall quilt is a puffy snowman I made years ago.
I like getting him out when I put the Christmas things away. 
I get out some other snowman decorations too.
But as February lengthens......... how can it be the shortest month???
We at the Green house get a bit tired of the snow theme
 

Last week we were supposed to get 1 -2 inches...
 

We got 14
14 more inches of white stuff
Getting pretty tired of that sort of thing.


I bought some turnips last week for roasting
but seeing their pretty GREEN GROWING tops I
can't seem to bring my self to cut them up.
ANYthing growing right now has my undivided attention!

 

I didn't have that problem with the tomatoes and the avocados however.
They are gone!


Monday, February 25, 2013

Gulf of Mexico, Biloxi Mississippi

My first visit to the Gulf of Mexico...

Sadly, the big guys only aunt died on Valentines day.
 
We flew down with my lovely mother in law for a few days to attend the funeral.


Despite the occasion, all three of us enjoyed some time away from WI winter weather
 


Tuesday, February 12, 2013

More Spring Fever at the Nest

If I didn't have spring fever after buying the camper I certainly have it NOW!
Last week I did a very ungraceful splits move in an icy parking lot.
As you may guess, that is not a move for someone over the age of 40.  Or even for someone staring 50 in the back of the head
 
I have bruises where bruises should not be..... and they seem to grow every day.
Still, it could be worse, no broken bones, only stretched and torn muscle tissue. 
Gosh, how luck does that sound?
 

 
Physical Therapy here I come!
And all the while I am dreaming dreaming dreaming of spring.............
 


Saturday, February 2, 2013

Spring Fever at it's worst!


 A few weekends ago, the big guy and I attended a camper show and ordered a brand new camper!  Hold on a minute, I need to get my butt back on my seat, these involuntary happy dances that overwhelm me when I think about OUR NEW CAMPER!!! We have been talking about moving on from our "sleeps 8 pop up camper" since we are basically empty nesters at this point.  Plus, there is very little set up with a hard side camper and the awning is easy to set up too!  This one comes with a refrigerator AND a freezer! Well, the pop up had a fridge too, but in reality it was a bit tough to reach it, since it was so low.  Usually a person (moi) had to sort of lay down on the floor and curve around the edge of it to see what was in the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back.  Usually there was something icky in the way back by the time we were done camping... green hot dogs, gray cheese....  why was it never a misplaced Hershey bar?  Now we get to go look through thrift shops, ( my favorite place to shop) to find small pots and baking sheets for the little stove and oven too!  Spring fever is hitting hard at the Green house.  Very very hard.
Perhaps I can bury myself in my studies and get my mind of of a certain really cool camper...
On that note, my only class this semester is "Using and Understanding Mathematics, A Quantitative Reasoning Approach"
now doesn't THAT sound like fun?
yeah, right.  I'll let you know!