The Family Project

Isn't this a beautiful picture of our granddaughter Victoria? Her older sister took that photo and submitted it in a competition. She got a perfect score for her efforts, and we have a beautiful keepsake picture!!!

This is the old apple tree Tom gave to the grandkids. When they began to use it, play in it, climb on it and generally beat it up...it began to produce apples in abundance. They still like to climb in it and we got bushels of apples off from it last year!

How do you like my Garden decor? This old garden tool makes an interesting picture I think. I call it "The Retired Rake"
And this is what Monday looked like from Gilbert's perspective.

She's not very well focused but, look at that silly sparrow that has decided to make a nest in a hole on the bottom side of a dead tree branch. I wonder how she plans to keep her eggs from rolling out of the nest onto the ground.

I call this "Eye Candy" I love the colors.

This is a hammock Jon and Kristie brought back from Panama when they were there on a short term mission trip this past winter. And it's making memories. This is our Resurrection Tree. Hand crafted Crosses , made by Grandson Damion , accent the silk flowers calling attention to the Spring season, and the Resurrection of our dear Lord and Savior. Our family gathered on Easter Sunday and it was "the best Easter ever" to quote one attendee. I have to agree, heartily. It was so good to see everyone again after being gone all winter.

These bluets used to be in the corner of the Cottage Garden. The work that was done on the house last year required that garden be dismantled. And now it is a nice stone driveway. The bluets chose to stay and bloom regardless. A nice surprise.

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick bush is always a study in any line but a straight one! It seems to catch my eye often. I like the curls rather than straight lines I guess.

When I left these hens and chicks last Dec they were still green. Now they are pink!!! What a pretty surprise. I'll be watching now to see if they turn green in the summer months.

Our grape arbor, waiting for the grapes to grow on the supports, looked eery, mysterious and intriguing the other morning when the fog met the sunrise.

And turning the camera lens southward, this is the view I had. A different eerie, and mysterious. I think I like to look at the effect fog has on things. It makes things kind of dreamy.

We got home from Florida just in time for the Easter contata at our Church. It was well done.

This is an amazing citrus juicer. Friends of ours showed us theirs, and we were able to find one, reasonably. It's a heavy duty hard working piece of equipment. I managed to juice 1/2 gallon of grapefruit juice, and 3/4 gallon of orange juice with very little effort...cutting the fruit in half and setting it on the juicer, and pulling down on the handle is all it took. Nice. And the juice is so fresh and tastey. It's almost gone. But we sure have enjoyed it.

Jessica is our happy Mom to Be. Looking quite healthy and rather pregnant...it becomes her.

We are content now to be home and jumping into the Spring yard/ garden / house work. There is a good long list of To Do's and not enough time or energy to go around. However, by God's grace we have raked rocks out of the yard before the grass got too long, raked up the sticks that fell from the trees, raked leaves out of the flower beds, rolled the lawns, sprayed for weeds and planted the Early Garden. I helped with those tasks some more than others. That in itself is a major Praise! I feel better than I have in a number of years. Tom also pruned the fruit trees and Damion helped with that job. Yay for the grandkids ... willing workers one and all.

Another blessing ... Tom replaced the piano I had with a beautiful electronic piano. I can sit for hours and hours and play the same song over and over and over again. Oh my!!! I can't even begin to tell you what a joy that is to play and play and play. Now, if I could just figure out the fingering and the timing...those concepts have escaped me all these years. There are features on this new piano to teach me what I need to know to really learn to play the piano so that listeners won't need to cover their ears. And that's yet another feature...it has a head set. I can play to my hearts content and bother no one!!! I'm learning discipline too....I make myself work to earn piano time. Some days that works. Some days...it doesn't. :-)

While in Florida I learned to have my camera in my pocket so as not to miss that one perfect shot. I continue to do that and get a lot of satisfaction from the things I see from the viewers side of the camera lens. I hope you have enjoyed the fruit of those "labors" (term used loosely, since most of the time I am dodging labor when I'm in that picture taking mode)! I'll try not to stay away so long now.