A brilliant sunny morning but very cold!! I’m encouraged when I see sunshine and then disappointed when I go outside and my fingers are quickly numb from the cold. So, here I am, back at the computer where I can start and complete a project. My outdoor projects are on “hold.” (Isn’t it aggravating when we call a number and get put on “hold”??) Even the little T@B trailer (cold as a refrigerator) isn’t getting my attention. ~~ OK, gotta go; just thought you’d like to know.

I pampered the Begonia for months. I brought it into the tiny T@B teardrop trailer on cold nights. Later I brought it into the Carriage on cold nights. BUT this last freeze (of the season) went unheeded and my Begonia has suffered from my neglect.

Join me for a simply supper?? All natural!! We have cabbage, carrots, celery, onions, potatoes, rutabaga  and turnips–in a rich organic Better Than Bouillon vegetable base. It’s very nice to have the large stove, and large kettle BUT in many respects I’m still “camping.” The large kettle was part of the set I purchased (for $5.) at the CARE “garage sale” the first week I was here (early October). I still have not found my boxes with kitchen utensils; I have not located my cutting board. And (absent-minded me) I forgot to buy garlic for the soup. We’ll have Brown Rice Baked with Sweet Potato Triscuit for a little crunch. I have veggies for a salad but will limit myself to soup tonight. ~~ We haven’t seen the sun all day; it has been very gloomy with some rain. A “hot soup” kind of day!! ~~ Speaking of camping: I’m still sleeping in my sleeping bag because a third of the bed is loaded with the big dining chairs, another third has my previous television and other things. (I have too much stuff!!)

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Postscript, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014, 9:30 AM: Funny how peculiar things come to mind?! For many hours I’ve been humming and singing words from the old song Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy. Specifically, like a broken record “Makes my eyes light up and my tummy say howdy.”  That’s the way I feel about freshly prepared food!! I REALLY enjoyed the vegetable soup yesterday and will continue to enjoy… because several small containers are in the freezer. (The meals prepared at CARE are “highly processed food” and my tummy rebels and screams “no way.” Granted, the CARE Center has to operate within a budget but [IMHO] their food is garbage!! Fresh fruit and vegetables are rarely served!! The occasional salad is prepared with iceberg lettuce which has no nutritional value. ~~ On a positive note: I have the health [and wealth?*] to buy and prepare appetizing food for myself.)

* Health is wealth!!

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12:30 noon: Today (2/26/14) the veggie soup is predominantly potatoes and cabbage–added to that rich broth. Yum, yum!!

Oh, happy day!!

Yes, I am obsessive about Bluebirds!!

Postscript: Hundreds of Robins on the green, grassy area.

Gratefully, I am healthy (PTL)!! I’m old (three quarters and counting) and tire easily!! It was a BIG job just moving (almost) everything out of the little T@B trailer. The actual cleaning will have to wait for another day. I have…. (Slight interruption here because I just noticed about two hundred Robins on the ground in the open area next of my trailer. A neighbor said the field was black, one year, with Robins as they feasted here on their journey North.) Continuing: I have GreenShield Organic Bathroom Cleaner “removes Mold & Mildew,” that I plan to use. A dear lady-friend sent this article about tested products. If GreenShield doesn’t do the job, I’ll check the others.

No work in the garden today because too many other things begging for my attention. This morning I watered about fifty plants in the CARE Center. I’ve been preoccupied with my yard and neglected the house plants–and some were quite dry.

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This morning, I took more than a dozen pictures of an antique Sikes Morris chair that one resident wants to sell. It’s a beauty!! (The resident is a pain in the derrière!) I have the opportunity to advertise “free” on eBay and she can’t make up her mind what she wants for a minimum bid. No lie: She thinks it may be worth “a quarter of a million dollars.”

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Postscript, Thurs., Feb. 27, 2014, 11:00: I did my research (on the Internet); I received email answers from antique appraisers. The chair only has a value **if** someone wants to buy it. The  old lady is determined it is valuable (but won’t give me a minimum bid). I walked away from that miserable old woman and I pray I am never, never (repeat: never) as stubborn, cantankerous, ornery, negative and difficult-to-get-along-with as that individual.

Three guesses, two don’ t count!! It rained last night; this morning was dark and gloomy. But I worked in the yard (without thought of breakfast or lunch). It’s 4 o’clock and I’ve spent a few minutes preparing a salad, and will enjoy it while uploading pictures and writing a message. ~~ There’s an old saying “Make hay while the sun shines.” I believe in “make a garden if the weather permits.” Do it while I can!! Life’s unpredictable. Friday: Conversation with a CARE volunteer; 3:00 PM, she had a stroke; last night she died.

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Visit messages published less than two years ago when I was creating “the masterpiece,” and working on other backyard projects.

For some unexplained reason, I have browsed many of my old blog messages. This one grabbed my attention and I feel compelled to publish it again.

Life’s Book

No matter what else you are doing
From cradle days through to the end,
You are writing your life’s secret story–
Each day sees another page penned.

Each month ends a thirty-page chapter,
Each year means the end of a part–
And never an act is misstated
Or even one wish of the heart.

Each day when you wake, the book opens,
Revealing a page clean and white–
What thoughts and what words and what doings
Will cover its pages by night?

God leaves that to you–you’re the writer–
And never a word shall grow dim,
Till the day you write the word finish
And give your Life’s Book back to Him.

Author Unknown

On second thought, maybe not so odd?! As I sort through decades of “treasures” (downsizing) I am reminiscing about people and events. Recently, I hung stained glass decorations in my kitchen windows. They have been packed for more than nine years; my husband, Donald Edwards, and I bought them at a “street faire” near Griswold’s, in Claremont, California, over thirty-five years ago. In Scottsdale, Arizona (1977 or 1978), we bought the Ironwood carved turtle. (I had many live Desert Tortoise for many years!! At one time, I had a large collection of decorative turtles. Do I keep this or donate?) Likewise, this (expensive) pewter Nativity set (designed by Michael Ricker) came from Scottsdale–and I have no place to display it. (I have a large collection of Nativity sets.)

Thoughts of my children are uppermost in my mind as I handle memorabilia that we shared. (It would be nice to share my treasures with grandchildren.) ~~ All the volunteer hours can not compensate for the mistakes I’ve made; all the charitable donations can not repay the debt I owe my sons.

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The Weaver

My life is but a weaving

Between the Lord and me.

I cannot choose the colors;

He worketh steadily.

Oftimes He weaveth sorrow,

And I in foolish pride

Forget He sees the upper,

And I the underside.

Not ’til the loom is silent

and the shuttles cease to fly,

Shall God unroll the canvas

and explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful

In the Weaver’s skillful hand,

As the threads of gold and silver

In the pattern He has planned.

~~ author unknown ~~

I haven’t located “kitchen” items yet but find memorabilia. This framed picture of family got wet in the recent foul weather. Sadly, boxes were left out in the rain!! (I need another pair of hands!!) ~~ I prepared this display, in 1996, for my publication Frantz Families–Kith & Kin. My parents, Ivan & Pearl Frantz, are center top (black & white photo), I’m just below them (age 43). At the top, oldest son Thomas Alan Ware, with his son Thomas Alan Ware Jr. to the right; Pearl, Justin, Jaxon & Shawn Ware on the left. Center right is son Stephen William Ware with his daughters Amanda, Jaclyn & Cambria Ware. Center left is son David Lawrence (Ware) Edwards with son Joshua David Edwards, and daughters Jerin & Corie Edwards.

(Remember, these photos taken prior to 1996.)

Frantz Families–Kith & Kin available free of charge on the Internet.

Mean landlord?? What do you think?? (Click each picture to enlarge for better view.)

Remembering a phrase sometimes used when putting the children to bed: “Pleasant dreams.” ~~ I had a dream last night–a wonderful dream–a pleasant dream!! It was so “real” and I remember it vividly now that I’m awake (and excited to share, at 7:20 AM). I won a million dollar lottery (but I never buy lottery tickets) and I lavished it all on the residents of CARE. It was like Christmas–only better!! I’m intrigued: What’s going on in my subconscious mind to trigger such a dream?? 

Postscript, 9:30 AM: I started searching the Internet to see if there is an answer. So far (many searches), my only acceptable (but questionable) solution is Dreams & Visions. ~~ ~~ Elsewhere, later, in answer to “I won a million dollar lottery and gave it all away.”

What did I do? I spent the day moving things from one place to another!!

Oh, my aching back!!