Thanksgiving 2022 in Oakland

Oh my! Yes, Laurel more than surprised both her brother and me. Everything was so lovely, smelled so good, and tasted so fine. I was especially pleased that I did not have to prepare anything more than a pecan pie. Adam made his famous dinner rolls while Michelle baked a pumpkin pie and bought a chocolate cream pie from the library's annual sale. 

(We were down by one as Jake has declared himself a hunter who will no longer be attending our Thanksgivings. 😢)

This was Laurel's table theme with the sweet table runner that I first saw at Betsy's right *here.* When I saw that runner, I thought it would be perfect for Laurel's riverside cabin up in the semi-north woods. I had no idea that she would be moving to a new home closer to civilization. I also purchased one for Michelle and one for my sister. Both Laurel and Kim have enjoyed theirs. 

Michelle has hers packed away because she thought it was a pillow cover. It might be especially appreciated by Jake at their home these days. 🦌 Laurel bought her table and chairs new for our holiday. It was very nice seating...no one was crowded.

Speaking of table runners, Betsy has many beautiful tablescapes from which to gather ideas. Her blog, named after her grandmother, is simply beautiful and, if you don't already, you would certainly love it there. Also, she has the best recipes. I have several on speed dial. 

Okay, back to Thanksgiving. Alas, I took hardly any photos. You know how my family is not a fan of picture taking. My grandkitty has no problems with it. He has a ghost cat visit regularly who asks the same question, "Can Charlie come out to play?" 

Here's Laurel preparing me a cup of peppermint tea. Yes, into every lovely time a clinker must fall. 😏

Don't worry, though, because when Laurel was taking me home Friday afternoon, she found a lovely lake side restaurant called Lintonia. It had the added bonus of an eagle in a tree just beside the restaurant. 

We had the best cup of coffee and delicious tacos. Laurel just found out that they closed for good the day after we were there. So sad all the businesses that are closing. It was a fabulous little restaurant. My sister and I had already made plans to visit soon.

Thank you for reading my simple Thanksgiving record. I have been enjoying reading yours.

Love,

Vee

Happy Spring!

No matter what changes take place in the world, or in me, nothing ever seems to disturb the face of spring.

~E.B.White

Surprise! I even surprised myself. The First Day of Spring deserves some special recognition after a long winter.

  

My little chalk board drawing message has been up for some time. I have certainly been eager for better days knowing full well that life goes on and that there can be challenging days in any season.

The above pictures are of the less than stellar joys of the day outside, though the temps in the 40°s are good. The car is parked outside because the garage door is stuck in ice. I will wait for more melting before I dare to put it back in the garage. Shouldn't take much longer. Once things settle a bit more, I'll be manning the leaf blower to get the dirt swept from my drive. I had my driveway professionally sanded three times this past winter, which is unheard of.

The Christmas arrangement returned to me from my sister-in-law who generously allowed me to tip firs in early December. These tips are still doing well so I am keeping them for a bit longer. 

Let's go inside where things are looking brighter. 

 My daughter has started me on a bunny collection I think. The blue one is the first she gave me and the pink one arrived for my birthday. Jemima Puddle-Duck also arrived  for my birthday. She is very cute and pert. Have you ever visited Martha Ellen's post about Beatrix Potter? So much fun to ride along with her and her husband as they tour England. You can find more tours on her blog The Joy of Home with Martha Ellen. 

Oh I have been loving visiting BJ at Sweet Nothings these days as her posts are so bright and cheery and she posts such pretty pictures. I have been teasing her that she can make anything look fabulous. Well, if you don't visit her, go ahead and take a look around. Of course, she'll make you hungry! These cupcake liners are a gift from BJ years ago. I used to keep them in an apothecary jar, but I took the jar to Goodwill this winter. Just tired of trying to make it be cute and it was so large. 

I am still enjoying twinkle lights even if they are on the pussy willows. ☺

No posies in the house, but this little windmill from my son and family sitting in the ivy is my little flower just now and it is enough.

Have a blessed spring, my Friend!

How Long Does It Take

Hi there! I am writing this post on Thursday evening around 10 pm. Not sure when it'll post. Let's find out together.

Source

Or, in my case, it takes me all month to get nothing done. 

I actually tried posting again in February. The above three were my photo offerings, which I found waiting for me in draft on a post thrillingly named "February Thoughts." Obviously, it was to be my Valentine post, but other than that, I have no idea what my thoughts in February were.

Winter is on the wane. It was long and hard. There certainly were some beautiful days, though.

Right now, I'm hearing the steady drip, drip, drip of melting snow. Guess that means it's not freezing yet even at this hour. 

So I had the big birthday and these are my cards. I'm in the process of destroying most of the cards I've saved through the years. One can't take such things with her and I'm trying to make things easy on the kids. Shocking. But I will at least have a photo of these.

One of the cards held this photo of my grandson Sam who played basketball for the MidKnights. He is growing up fast.

This is a sweet book from Abby at Little Birdie Blessings. It arrived just this morning and I have very much enjoyed reviewing it. You can see Abby review it on her Instagram account if you'd like. Her account is not private so you should have no trouble seeing it. It is a special blessing to receive a tailor made book just for me.

Today, I finally made a grocery store run and a Mickey D run for lunch. There's been so much sickness that I decided to get some immune support in the form of these knock-offs of a well known brand that cost twice as much and have the same ingredients. The well-known brand used to have sorbitol as an ingredient to which I am highly allergic. The stuff makes me mighty sick mighty fast. I was pleased to learn that this does not have sorbitol and neither does the name brand these days. The Essiac Tea arrived in the mail from Amazon today. I am highly suggestible and when Mrs. T mentioned the tea on her blog the other day, I read with interest. You can read more about it there and I'll review it myself when I've had more than a cup of it. I didn't mind the taste, but that's all I can say about that.

I was just putzing along through the aisles when who should I run into...my sister. Now this is most unusual because she lives an hour east. I have not run into her while shopping in many years. I was so surprised. She had been stood up for a luncheon date and decided not to waste a trip so was doing her shopping as well. I said, "I'm free for lunch." She said, "I just had a Filet of Fish at McDonald's." So that is how I also wound up at Mickey D's. Told you that I am highly suggestible. 

My sister has been sick twice since last I saw her and was sick today with a cold. I opened up my gummies and gave her one on the spot. She said,"I take one every day." I said, "One? Three is what you're supposed to be taking every day." I doubt that I'll get her straightened out. I've been trying all her life. ☺

Lastly, in honor of Pi Day, I purchased this wee little lemon pie. I couldn't eat it all. I haven't been having too many sweet things lately. Still, it was mighty tasty and I enjoyed it. Did you get your piece of pie?

My Friend Diane

It’s been a rough week culminating with a final day of being a junior citizen. I’ll let you figure that out. I hate connecting the dots. 

Anyway, by Friday, after having been sick for most of January with the head cold from #ell and then coming down with a chest cold last Sunday, I was finally crying Uncle. The kittens’ mewing was keeping me awake all night and wouldn’t even give me peace for dozing during the day. Those of you who have ever had bronchitis or pneumonia know what I am talking about. 

My nurse practitioner squeezed me into a busy day and by evening I had my diagnosis and my prescriptions. My sister had just happened to stop in that morning and would not go home. ☺ She changed my bed and did my dishes and drove me to the clinic and to the pharmacy. She was a godsend. I was laughing in the morning when she told me that I couldn’t drive myself to the clinic because I couldn’t walk a straight line, but as the day wore on and I had grown more weary and ill, I was grateful that she didn’t obey orders.  Sometimes a gal needs a sister! 

While I was laid low, I spent time visiting my online friends. I noted that I had somehow missed visiting my friend Lavender Dreamer and clicked onto her site. Boy! Was I in for a shock. Her blog had been removed! 

It didn’t take long to be in touch with Diane and to learn that she had not taken her blog down rather a bot had. For further information, please click on *Diane’s new site.* The scary thing is that, if this can happen to Diane’s blog, it can happen to mine or to yours. 

Things like this make me think about backing up my blog, which is on the same tab with deleting my blog. Hmmmm, wonder why blogger planned it that way. My blog was last backed up in 2016. Now I am trying to decide which dozen posts best represent my haven. I think I should upload them to Shutterfly or something. One never knows...

As I told Diane: you chat about walks in the park and wildlife, books, and dolls, and crafting and sewing... It just occurred to me that Diane has been telling me to enjoy my life and remember to play for many years now. Why, goodness, Shirley and Tammy wouldn’t have a stitch of clothes if it weren’t for Diane! 

I pray that things are set right so that all the hard work Diane has put into her blog through the years does not go away in the blink of an eye. Lavender Dreamer and Mr. Lavender Dreamer are on the case and I certainly hope that they prevail. Otherwise, it just isn't fair.

Inspiration

The title was going to be "CopyCat," but I like to think that it became more than that. 

Yesterday, my friend Deanna wrote a post titled "Country Home" where she gathered some favorite photos to illustrate her points. One of those photos absolutely spoke to me. I admired it a lot often returning to it time and again throughout the day. Finally, I thought Why can't I use that photo to create something similar here in my home. I had some of the same elements. Certainly not all, but some.

This was the inspiration photo:

I had a basket...

I had a wooden box...

I had a tea pot...

I had pattern...

I had book piles and a tea cup...

I had shiny objects...

Of course, there were many lovely elements in that room that I did not have. *I loved the pop of blue on the bookshelf below the windows...nope, could not find anything like that. My chair, in comparison to the one in Deanna's photo, is large and cumbersome, which is why I did not shift it for the smaller chair that might have worked better. Either way, no delightful pattern like the chair or its two pillows. Yes, I did look at that photo very closely.

In the end, this is what I posted on Instagram this morning.

Now, I don't think that I'll be able to get away with a small table of books in the middle of my room for long, but other than that, I think that this is my look until I run into another inspiration photo.

*Deanna's Country Home post*

Edited to Add January 31, 2019 Just for Kristi...

When there's light on the subject, I need my sunglasses to sit there. ッ

🐦🐦🐦

Edited to Add February 8, 2019

Just the right touch of blue!


A big thank you to Mrs. T from Across My Kitchen Table as I now have my touch of blue. She says that she found this at her parents' home. I am honored to have it here. It really catches the light.

Comfort and Joy

Hi there! How's the Sparkling going? ッ

Some days are better than others, right? I am so glad that The Lord remains unchanging no matter what is going on with me.

First of all, I want to thank all those who commented and those who sent emails (without commenting on the actual post) regarding the What's the Point post. We should certainly be respectful of differing opinions and get along. I have heard of several teachers within the last few weeks who took it upon themselves to tell their classrooms of young children "the truth" as they saw it. Not good. Not at all good. 

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As I wandered over to my laptop, I thought that this might be my last post before Christmas. I'll just whisper that because I might get the inclination to post again. I never really know, but just in case, I'm wishing you the joy of a true Christmas. I hope that you celebrate, make merry, feast, and delight in the love of family and friends. Spread the joy all over the place, too, while you're at it!

I have a few links to share today and a few pics of my decorating and baking and what not...

Here's that tree I mentioned last time all decked out with every ornament I can find in the house. Most years, I don't bother to open every Christmas box; this year, I did. 

While I'm chatting about Christmas trees, my friend Mona from The Hidden Art of Homemaking blog and Instagram has the most enchanting tree. She used all her Shiny Brite collection and created a delight. You can find her post right 🎄here🎄. Think of all the hours that it took her! I love it!

More decorating in a bit... 

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I have actually been baking some in recent days. I made apple hand pies for John's sister Judy earlier in the week. I am not supposed to be eating hand pies, but they looked and smelled so good that I ate the imperfect looking one because it had no sugar and no calories. ッ

"That is a blatant lie" you say. Yes, well, I am quite capable of that. Why just today at the Transfer Station while recycling my old egg boxes, a gentleman who works there said that lots of folks who raise chickens appreciate the cartons. Yes, I said blithely, "My niece raises chickens."

"Oh, how many chickens does she have?" 

"Twenty-two," I responded. 

< insert *thud* >

I am sure that this will come as quite a shock to my niece who may not even have two. Why did I say that?! I didn't have time to think about it. Perhaps I am in need of drama. Anyway, I may have to tell that man that I am a liar, but I thought perhaps if I told you...

Okay, where was I?

Oh, yes, John's sister Mary came for lunch on Wednesday and we had a chicken casserole. I made her an acorn squash boat with butter and maple syrup. (You can't make me eat squash.) For dessert we had a molten lava chocolate cake with peppermint stick ice cream. Delicious. After all that, we went Christmas shopping. 

Yesterday, Sis arrived and we had a cookie baking day. We made many of those recipes that our mom would have made back in the day. We were hoping that they'd taste just the same; they didn't. Nevertheless, we had a fun day. If you're on Instagram, you may have seen that story.

One thing I learned all over again was that we need to read a recipe all the way through before we assume that we know what we are doing. Ahem.

So today I made sure to get reacquainted with my cookie press. I remember the first time I used this gizmo, John had to gently take it from my hands and get acquainted with it himself. Then he explained it to me. I found it that complicated. One of those discs up there is almost destroyed because of that episode. Apparently, I had put it in upside down.

I did better today even though you can tell by looking closely that things were not perfect. There are sprinkles everywhere and I do mean everywhere.

This is the recipe I used today.

Cookie Press Shortbread

1 cup butter (room temperature)
½ cup conf sugar
¼  tsp vanilla (I used an entire tsp)
1 ½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup cornstarch

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and use favorite discs to create your cookies. Bake at 275°F for 20 to 30 minutes or until edges are lightly brown.

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Have you finished your shopping? I almost have and I must say that I found my blogging friends' online shops most helpful. I can't show everything, but in a moment of weakness, I had a Merry Christmas to me moment.

This sweet camera bag was created by the incomparable 
🎄Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose🎄 and purchased through her shop, which you can find listed in her top bar at the blog. I did not order the sweet little bag filled with teas, but Stephanie was very generous. I do love that Buttermint tea from Twinings.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 

So here we are back at decorating again. Mary, John's sister and not the Mary depicted, had mentioned that she needed some grass for her Nativity scene. When a package arrived with all of this straw-like packing material, I put it to good use and saved some for her, too. (It's that big ball of straw right behind the shepherd boy.)

I am using a lot of battery operated light strings with the "seed" lights. I haven't quite figured them out because the Nativity lights come on when I least expect them. I was up in the night and there they were burning in all their Shekinah glory. ☺It was rather pleasant, almost as if I had caught the animals speaking at midnight on Christmas Eve. 

I always said that I would never have curtains in this dining room window. 

 The Pella windows have inner blinds, alas, the center blind failed and Pella no longer services them. While I decide what to do about that, I ordered these lace panels. I decided that 🎄Brenda's beautiful lace curtains🎄 had influenced me.

It has been wonderful to see so many sacred classic Christmas Carol phrases being used in decor. Joanna Gaines has famously used "A Thrill of Hope." All of this caused me to ponder what I would share with folks if I were in a position to share. This is it: Comfort and Joy.* May they be yours today and every day!

*(Copied from a lovely graphic at Pinterest)