2018 is almost here

I’m writing this early so it may or may not post after Jan 1, haven’t actually looked yet and don’t plan to before scheduling this post. I’m recognizing that blogs may be old tech but I need to start where I am. I enjoy watching video blogs and want to do some of my own, probably with puppet assist! Daily blog posts replace morning pages (Julia Cameron in ARTISTS’ WAY) for me in 2018. I did morning pages for years and didn’t get anywhere with it. Oh, it was good for the mental health and general creativity, but didn’t result … Continue reading

SCA: Making Mustard Medieval Style

We learned to make mustard medieval style. The class was taught for our local Society for Creative Anachronism branch by one of our members who plans to teach this class at events. Really good class–and good for kids too! Our class used brown and white mustard seeds, a choice of vinegars, herbs to add flavor if desired, water, sugar or honey to sweeten, and a mortar and pestle to grind up the seeds. It ages on the counter for days or weeks, developing its flavor and mellowing. My effort used apple cider vinegar, honey, 2/3 white mustard seeds, 1/3 brown … Continue reading

Rainbows and Double Rainbows

November was quite the month for rainbows here. For weeks there seemed to be an afternoon rainbow on a near daily basis. Twice I raced outside to get pictures and captured a few decent shots. Amazing! Absolutely beautiful! And I even managed to get a picture of my beloved family, muddy from playing outside, to stand still long enough to grab several different photos I will treasure of them positioned so the rainbow came down toward them, my treasure at the end of my rainbow. Caught two in this example. Rainbows always bring to mind the story of Noah from … Continue reading

Modest does not equal Frumpy

Our culture mocks modesty. It is said that modesty is frumpy but this is NOT true! Modesty is feminine and beautiful without being salacious or cheap.  Just because you don’t see modest feminine and beautiful clothing in the ladies magazines and fashion magazines does not mean that it does not exist. How do I know this? Because there are clothing stores online such as Holy Clothing where you can find beautiful, feminine, modest clothing. They make their clothing in Maxi, Midi and Mini. The Maxi is ankle to floor length depending on your height, the midi is tea length and … Continue reading

Returning to Puppets: review of progress

Last year around October I found myself signing up for five free days of lessons by Tom Crowl titled, Learn-Ventriloquism.  By the fifth day I was hooked and did something I never do–I dug out my credit card and PAID for an online course.   Lessons were incremental, each one a manageable bite, and sent out one a day. Every morning I logged into my next lesson. Between lessons I practiced. I read everything I could get my hands on about ventriloquism and ventriloquists. I purchased every documentary I could find (I’M NO DUMMY is fun and informative). I haunted … Continue reading

STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND-a recommendation

I read Archbishop Chaput’s book STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World earlier this year and forgot to blog about the book. I don’t think it was as good as his previous book RENDER UNTO CEASAR but timely in its commentary. The author describes how our culture has abandoned its Christian roots so totally that like the first Christians, we are indeed living as strangers in a strange land. Citizens of the heavenly kingdom, we find ourselves living in a world of vice hailed as good, and virtue mocked as idiotic. Into this culture … Continue reading

Christmas 2017

This one is going to be short and sweet: Got the younger kids and grandkids together for an early Christmas. We totally forgot to take any pictures of the ADULTS!!!! Christmas Eve: We had fun. Kids decorated a tree, then we opened the bean bag chairs and gifts from relatives. Christmas Morning: The rest of the loot, and a nice dinner. Kept it low key since I have been suffering some miserable winter cold. MERRY CHRISTMAS! CHRIST IS BORN!  GLORIFY HIM! Dear Lord, thank You for family. +Amen.       … Continue reading

Family Bee Keeping Project Update

Our bees thrived all summer long. We had a couple times when the heat softened the comb enough to cause it to break under the weight of the honey, but this was solved by opening up a couple more entries to help them cool the interior. We fed during our summer dearth, when the heat is such that few flowers bloom here. The colony grew, expanded to fill half the top bar hive box. This was perfect, so I left them alone when the fall bloom began for two weeks. When I returned to checking–we had a huge problem! By … Continue reading

SNOW DAY? Here?

We actually live in a warm climate area. Snow isn’t common, in fact, snow is uncommon, and snow that sticks is practically unheard of and snow that falls in multiple inches is miraculous and a cause for parents calling schools to tell them their kids would not be there that day due to snow. This was a couple weeks ago– a December snow! Not sure why my sharp images are showing up blurred. I will be finding out what I did wrong! Figured it out, all fixed now! Snow, and it was lovely, thick, and cold in the early morning … Continue reading

New Year thinking–on writing

Each year I put a new set of good things I would like to work on, to improve, expand, change, or grow into for the next year. I divide my 18 boxes in my planner into two groups, those that are about me, and those that are about others. Then I decide on 18 areas that I would like to grow in 2018. One of those is about my writing, but also about my use of social media. I write, it is rather constant. But this past year I’ve done some of my deeper comments on life in discussions on … Continue reading