If Only - - "In A Fairy Tale World"

, originally uploaded by taste the rainbow♥.

Once upon a time in a far off place lived a gentle sweet lady with a smile on her face.

Her hair is a silvery gray from the years of love for her family that time has changed.

Her body is worn and frazzled, with her heartbeat growing slower each passing day. So many memories she holds in her hands.

The beeping of machines and cords tied to her now. Catching her breath, a tough job to hold.

Hospice, a consult is on the horizon. She is facing the end, (which is unwanted by those she is leaving behind). A tear in our hearts knowing it is a matter of time.

Not a happy ending, yet comfort and peace the outcome for one so worn.

This is not my favorite fairy tale, but the REAL world my family is living in now. Hug the ones you hold dear -- time is fleeting. Happily ever after is NOW!

Only A Mother Would Know

A Cup of Tea.

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me.

I was maybe 3 years old. Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as
a gift and it was one of my favorite toys.

Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I
brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water. After several
cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home.

My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of
tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!' My Mom waited, and sure
enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she
watches him drink it up.

Then she says, (as only a mother would know.. :)

Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach water is the toilet?

(Fathers and Grandfathers be warned !)

Pernell Roberts, last star of TV's `Bonanza,' dies

Mon Jan 25, 9:19 pm ET
LOS ANGELES – Pernell Roberts, the ruggedly handsome actor who shocked Hollywood by leaving TV's "Bonanza" at the height of its popularity, then found fame again years later on "Trapper John, M.D.," has died. He was 81.
Roberts, the last surviving member of the classic Western's cast, died of cancer Sunday at his Malibu home, his wife Eleanor Criswell told the Los Angeles Times.
Although he rocketed to fame in 1959 as Adam Cartwright, eldest son of a Nevada ranching family led by Lorne Greene's patriarchal Ben Cartwright, Roberts chafed at the limitations he felt his "Bonanza" character was given.
"They told me the four characters (Greene, himself and Dan Blocker and Michael Landon as his brothers) would be carefully defined and the scripts carefully prepared," he complained to The Associated Press in 1964. "None of it ever happened."
It particularly distressed him that his character, a man in his 30s, had to continually defer to the wishes of his widowed father.
"Doesn't it seem a bit silly for three adult males to get Father's permission for everything they do?" he once asked a reporter.
Roberts agreed to fulfill his six-year contract but refused to extend it, and when he left the series in 1965, his character was eliminated with the explanation that he had simply moved away.
"Bonanza," with its three remaining stars, continued until 1973, making it second to "Gunsmoke" as the longest-running Western on TV. Blocker died in 1972, Greene in 1987, and Landon in 1991.
He mainly made appearances on TV shows and in miniseries, or toured with such theatrical productions as "The King and I, "Camelot" and "The Music Man.

Geese Like Winters Here

Being a transplant from Nashville, TN to Great Falls, MT causes one to spend their first Winter season shoveling quite a bit of snow and then also exploring the local area for sites and sounds.

One place my family likes to drive to and walk about is the local park and duck pond. It is surprising to find that the geese and ducks have not gone. My husband says it is because they are so well fed by park patrons that they do not migrate. Our kids are a bit taken back at how aggressive these birds can be when it comes to dishing out the bread pieces or even some burrito shells we have had on hand.


One research I did says the following: "Families of geese do not break up after the breeding season, but form strong family units that migrate and winter together until they return to their breeding ground. Only then do the yearlings leave to start their own families. Indeed, some geese mate for life. Canada geese can live up to 30 years in the wild and longer in captivity."

Maybe the strong family relations are why Great Falls seems to have a very large number of geese these winter months!

One thing my husband did note which I had not noticed at all -- The loud and very aggressive sea gulls are definitely gone during the cold season.

A Lovely Face

We have a new addition to Savannah's lovely dolls. She doesn't have a name yet and those suggested -- Margaret (Peggy), Mildred, and Hortense (by her dad's recommendations) -- don't fit Savannah's liking very much.

Her cheeks are rosey and she is pretty solid in her body. She is silent as her "Crier" may have been removed some time ago, but I find no signs of her seams having been opened or closed other than from the original manufacturer.

She is a Madame Alexander Huggums doll from the early 1960's and is older than me!!!

Here she is pictured with a friend. I don't have Savannah Rose close at hand to know her name either.

TWO WOLVES

This is the best I have ever heard life explained!!





TWO WOLVES

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

"One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

"The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"


The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed"

A Beautiful Inspiration

Digital ID: 1161045. [Head of the Statue of Liberty on display in a park in Paris.]. Fernique, Albert -- Photographer. 1883


Note the two "life-size" replicas of the Statue of Liberty on either side of the full-size head.

I would love to travel to this park in Paris and sit for a long while marveling at the beauty of this sculpture/monument.

I got to travel to Washington DC and New York on my senior trip in high school over 20 years ago. If I could go back, I wish that I had better camera equipment than the latest Kodak disk camera (short run life and not very good with pictures) of that time period.

Also, my one regret on the whole trip was not getting to tour the Statue of Liberty. It was 1986 when she was undergoing repairs and cleaning. The tours were totally closed for the one day we spent in New York.

Maybe someday I will get back that way again, but for now it will just go on a mental "Would Like To Do List".

Bambi & Thumper ....really do exist!

This was taken in Alberta , Canada in a back yard...Very cool!
Bambi & Thumper ....really do exist!

Reversible Tote Project

This past week I found a blog from a lady in Romania about a shopping bag. She made the pattern and illustrated the instructions for making it. The link can be found here from Geta.

I like to call my shopping bags TOTES. This one is sweet because you can reverse it to your liking very easily.

This was my first attempt at making her project. I decided to add one of my many embroidered pieces onto one side of the tote.



Once completed exactly to her instructions, I have decided that I will work the closure of the handles a little differently on my next creation of her tote pattern. Also, an adjustment on longer length handles for the pattern might be worked on as I prefer longer.

My finished project was snapped up by Savannah Rose to be used for her dolls and their many accessories. She is always carrying a handful of items with her on our outings.

Wheel of Fortune Quilt Blocks

In browsing through my many stashes of quilt block books and patterns, I chose this project to undertake.

I feel a little a proud of myself, because I did not notice the 3 spools level of difficulty found on the pattern until after I had started making the first circle. Needless to say, there was some stitch pulling as this takes a little effort to know how to position the fabric pieces together to sew one at a time.



I know there are friends out there who will report to me that they don't like polka dots, but I kinda like these. Wynston (my 12 year old son) refers to the circles as "lollipops".

I haven't decided totally the outcome of the placement of these quilt blocks. They have to be applique'd onto a background fabric. I have been thinking of something other than a white background. Also, I have been playing with the idea of embroidered poodles, but who knows. I am feeling creative and a "vision" will come along soon of where to place these Wheels of Fortune.

Time For Tea Quilt

I know it is most definitely not Spring, but the patterns I found in a recent book purchase on Ebay inspired this embroidered little quilt top. It has such an "air" of cheerfulness. I had fun laying it out and doing the stitching.




I have found online a neat idea for using a real tea cup and saucer to make a pin cushion.





I also found a teacup inspired yard ornament that I want to try when Spring actually arrives and the birds return. It is of course, this type of bird feeder.

Looking Outside My Windows

I have decided I am staying inside today. This decision has been made after two consecutive days of running errands and doctor appointments in the snow and having a little fun fish-tailing the wheels due to access ways being overloaded with snow, ice, sand, and what ever else.

The sun is out, but from the thermometer one can tell it is cold in our little part of the world. From what I am hearing via conversations with my husband (again in Kansas City) and then on Facebook with friends in the South and all over, it is cold pretty much everywhere. One schoolmate wrote it was 38 degrees in her part of Florida and she has lived there for 12 years with it never getting that cold.



I do feel accomplished in having kept my sidewalks and porch ramp cleared off. I wonder what the neighbors think seeing a Southern girl out with her handy straw broom sweeping instead of using the shovel. The broom also works great in clearing off the van with its heaping pile of snow.



Wynston and I laughed last year when we were purchasing new snow shovels from a Goodwill in Nashville. (No snow there so the stores donated the shovels to charity). Now we are still laughing, but so enjoying the benefits of pushing the snow off the driveway with them.

Take time to look out your window today!! Stay warm and keep well.

Savannah's Fairy Creation

Thought I would blog a peek into what Savannah and I have been creating. It was her idea to pick up some paper clay and make a fairy because Santa brought her three beautiful fairy books by Cicely Mary Barker. If you have never seen her artwork with fairies and flowers, it will brighten your day to explore her work online.



Savannah has in mind to send this fairy to her aunt in Chicago and is hoping she will like it very much.



The wings were added this morning to give her that angelic touch and also to help her sit up on her own.




I am amazed at how Savannah came up with this cute character from a small piece of paper clay!

Handbook 2010

HANDBOOK 2010

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E's--Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2009 .
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours..
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you..
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument.. Agree to disagree.

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy, so, be happy.

Last but not the least:
40. Please Forward this to those you care about, I just did.