Christmas Day - Men making cookies - little gals too!

Here the guys (Poppop and Daddy) help the little ones roll and cut cookie dough. Most of Christmas day was Jammy Day.....we opened gifts, had brunch, made cookies, took a nap, put the turkey in the oven, iced the cookies, ate dinner, played with all of our new stuff, and had a wonderful day!

Our daughter and her hubby live in town, but they packed their bags and moved in for two nights and almost three days, and we had the best time. It was so nice falling alseep at night knowing all the beds were full of family.

Don't they look serious about their cookie making?

The Cosby Cabin in Maggie Valley NC

Love this cabin!!! I will post more photos of it soon, as I took some of the inside too. We had a fire one night and it was so cozy. We cooked pork chops on the grill on the back porch, read, watched the election returns on TV (yes there were all the comforts of home, even a washer/dryer) and took lots of walks around the property.

The pets on the property claimed us, and there was canned food in the kitchen for them, which is why they claimed us. Two little Jack Russell terriers followed us everywhere; they had boundless energy and then fell exhausted on the porch when we cooked out.

The cabin was well over 100 years old when it was found and brought to the Boyd tree farm. Old bits of newspaper still cling to the inner walls where it was once used for insulation.

How fun it was to cook and sleep and sit by the fire in an actual old log cabin.

Mountain time again

Well, it has been a wonderful autumn. A week ago we spent one week in Tennessee and North Caolina, and the colors were spectacular. We got to visit with Tom's brother and his family, and spent two nights in an authentic log cabin (see http://www.boydmountain.com/) and then spent several days with good friends outside of Asheville.



The image you see here is the view from their deck and family room windows (and the driveway, kitchen, and the dining room, too), of the house we stayed in near Asheville. This view changes every five minutes, and deer wander across the meadow. It was so lovely. This faces west, so the sun goes down behind the mountains. It was also a dairy farm at one time, and the barn buildings are nearby and the fields are still planted in hay. The haying had just finished when we arrived.

Our host is a wonderful cook, and lives by the recipes of Paula Deen. She is also a crazy wonderful friend, and we had so much fun. Isn't this to die for?

Cutting the aprons.....Leftover Kerchief from a giant gets recycled.......

Here is Jennifer, modeling her apron to be. It was a giant kerchief, probably meant to be a card tablecloth.....so cute! She made every angle and border go just right. Even the pockets were going to line up when they were added.

It will look so cute with her jeans when it is finished. Her mom is also a member of our chapter, and she made a blue apron from a scrap of fabric she had. I can't wait to see all the finished products next time, and it got to be 10:00 and we were still sewing.

The girls love to come to these meetings, as it is a night out for them, and hubbies get the kids for the evening. I love having them, as they are all sweet Christian women, and so much fun!

Would you believe all these tiny women have 7 children among them and one on the way? The two older mommies, Donna and I had only children, so we are so blessed to have all the little ones in our lives.

Dueling Needles

The North Florida Farmgirls have fun and lots of laughs (although here they are hard into concentration) as we made aprons. I should say they made aprons.....I worked on the quilt I am making for the new little one on the way. I only use my fingers to sew. However, after watching them, I almost wanted to get a machine of my own and learn. Here is Brittney and Julia hard at work.

North Florida Farmgirls September Meeting

Well, it has been a long time since I added anything to this blog but I had to tell everyone about our last farmgirl meeting. We got together and made aprons from a MaryJanesFarm pattern. It was also Tom's birthday, so one of the gals brought a cake. We called him down to the kitchen, since he runs for the upstairs during our meetings....and he slowly came down wondering why we needed him to sew aprons. We surprised him by singing Happy Birthday and then we had cake and ice cream......that was before we even broke out the scissors. Cake first, work second. This first photo is Julia trying her apron on before sewing to make sure it fit at the neck. You can barely see her mommy tummy, but it is there! She made her apron from a vintage sheet she found at Goodwill. It was so soft and pretty with pale lavendar flowers. The lace you see is the apron she was wearing underneath her newly cut one. I thought the two looked nice together!

Fay, oh Fay, please go away!

The photo you see is our bedroom, and due to a bad back, I have been seen here a lot lately! Read on........


Well, we have had an interesting week-end. And we, so far, have been among the fortunate. We have had no loss of power and no flooding. Our house stands pretty high. We have a rain gauge, and it holds five inches. It has been emptied four times now and there is another 2 inches in it today. I am ready for the rain to stop for a good long while, because everything needs time to drink in the water. However, the bands of rain keep flowing through, literally. I have not been out with our camera, but I can tell you a little dry stream bed two houses from us ran like the Colorado, whitewater and all.

Still, we were able to get out intermittently. Daughter and I went to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 and really enjoyed it. We had seen number one together, so we had to take in the second one also! The theatre began to drip from the ceiling while we were there, and I kept wondering the whole time if that roaring sound I heard was from the action movie in the next door theatre, or if it was happening outside. I am such a worrier.....

Oh, how hurricane season can get tiring, 6 months of each year! Prayer and reading my Bible really helped me in the more worrisome moments. And we were able to get out and drive around a little, seeing the trees down (and neighbors out in ponchos talking in groups), getting to church (to see a tarp on the front door), and having dinner out with daughter and her family last night at Ted's Montana Grill (where one of our cars did not start right away after dinner). Blessings exist among the struggles, and I ask God to help me focus on them and let the rest go.

Life lessons never go away! I am 59 and still just beginning to learn to trust in God and lean into him. I get such a feeling of peace when I do that without question. The last weeks have been full of challenges. Son-in-law had a kidney stone, which required a middle of the night drive to get him at a Christian camp in the country. I was in bed for nearly a week with severe back pain. And then we had 22 inches of rain.......but we had electricity, no leaks, a full fridge, books to read and plenty of home projects. Son-in-law came through just fine and passed the nasty old stone. And this week, we find out if the new little one on the way is a boy or girl! Julia and Scott go to the doctor Wednesday.......and among all of these life experiences, Abigail started school and is having a wonderful time. I think she has already made another leap into growing up.

God blesses us so abundantly with gifts and lessons to learn from Him. If anyone out there is reading this blog, and doubts the love of God, or the existence of Him, I say this. Open your heart. Read His word with an open mind. He has given us the gift of choice, and wants us to choose Him willingly. He is there.