"Not Exactly My Colors.....

Grams." I have had the wonderful experience of teaching my just twelve year old grandson to sew. And yes, these are not his colors, this is a bag he would never carry...and I probably would not use it either.....But, it is what was on hand, someone, a little girl might like this and it was a good beginning for sewing and matching up seams.
I think that he did a fantastic job. The only thing I did was show him what to do and I did do the pressing..showing him the difference between pressing and ironing.
I also helped him to sew a pillow case..no pictures..but flannel with "POW and SMACK and SOCCER and FOOTBALL on it.
I am amazed at how well he did. do click on to see how wonderfully he did

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Snap Up Your Snorkle...Find Your Fins...Take Up Your Towel.....and

.... have a wonderful time with some of God's greatest creations.

We did have a wonderful time. I did take these pictures and I have to say that for someone who has no clue I did a.o.k. The darkness and the curves of the glass were a challenge to say the least. We saw sea otters and sea lions...did not come out too well in the photos. It was a great day.
I will be off (what's new) from Sunday through Wednesday, but I will be checking on everyone when I have time. This is a Sunday Stroll a day earlier and definitely not on dry land.

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She Sells Sea Shells.......

....going to the sea shore with her.

Happy Weekend to all....

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Happy Birthday....

...to a 4yr. old! Wow, 4 years old already.


S. came down with our son on Sunday to spend the day. While her daddy was helping to cut down some big, dead trees, we wandered around and had a great time.



I made this little smock for her and I think that she likes it. I thought it turned out pretty cute.



Next Sunday she and her daddy and mama and the two of us are all going to go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I haven't been in years and S. has never been. She is very excited but a little bit apprehensive that the sharks are going to "get" her. That thought would worry me too. Hopefully, her fears will melt away once she realizes that there will be glass between her and those scary creatures.




It's a beautiful aquarium and of course the Oregon coast is gorgeous. Maybe we can even have a picnic on the beach.

I love you, sweet little one!

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Casting My Bread Upon the Water...

I made bread for my grandson the other day. He had been complaining that he never gets to eat white bread, so I sent a loaf home with his dad. He took one casual glance at the bread and declared, "It looks just like Jesus Bread."


It was a little rustic looking. It was a bit off center...not a bit like the picture from my very old cookbook.

But today I heard that he had declared it the Best White Bread he'd ever eaten.....so my bread came back to me many fold and with blessings.

Who knew I could actually make Jesus Bread!


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An Early Christmas Gift

Our three year old granddaughter spent the weekend with us. She came down Friday evening with her Daddy. Mom stayed at home to have some R and R after her final exams. A well deserved rest for her, and a gift for us.
Samantha was a Busy Lizzy all weekend. We went for a walk on Saturday, she helped carry some plants in the nursery when she wasn't making mud pies, "feeding" the maples by putting spent leaves in the pots, and hitting every mud puddle she could possibly find.
Inside, she was "cooking", grocery shopping, arranging my Christmas bears and working on her Project. This project consisted of heavy stock paper, every sticker I could find, and random pencil squiggles on the paper.
Her enthusiasm for everything knows no bounds. Her pride in her accomplishments and joy of just Being is contagious.
My wish and prayer for her is that she can hang onto her enthusiasm, pride in her accomplishments and her sense of wonder for life. I fervently hope that the rug of childhood is not snatched out from underneath her too soon.
I know that before we turn around, she will care about what she puts on in the morning, she will be cognizant that her headbands she now wears backwards on her head are not "cool", and that she will soon begin to compare herself to others and may feel she comes up short. Someday too, she may want to be somewhere else rather than with her grandparents.
I am keeping safe the memories of these times we have. I am going to remember always this weekend when she declared, "Gams, you are hilarious!", or "Gammie, you are my best friend!"
I am going to keep the sight of her hugging her Poppy and the memory of her draping pieces of my yarn all over her Daddy's head in a safe place.
Thank you, Samantha, for the gift of you. We are blessed.

Not Quite Ready For Project Runway

...but she does have her Rules and Philosophy for The Enlightened Three Year Old.

When reminded to chew with her mouth closed, she now will reply that she can't hear you when she has food in her mouth.

On Sunday, while jumping up and down, the declaration was: "I must be so happy!" When I inquired why, she replied, "Because my mouth is open!"

Why didn't I know that rule?


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P is for..

...a little person's passion.
I was stumped for a personal "P", so I am borrowing from my three year old grand daughter and her Passion for cooking. I've blogged about that before, so I won't repeat myself here. I made this little apron for her last week and sent it home with her Dad on Sunday. I hear she likes it and is planning to wear it to church! I hope she is planning to wear something underneath it!

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The Three F's

No, no! Not those kind of F's. These kind...Family, Food and Flowers.
Last night our oldest grandson spent the night with us and we had his most requested meal: Boney chicken, edamame beans, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, green salad, strawberries and blueberries. He also requested biscuits, but I drew the line at those. For those of you unfamiliar with boney chicken, it's simply "normal" roasted chicken. When he was quite a bit smaller he'd only had boneless chicken breasts. The first time I made chicken for him he wanted to know how I got the bones in there...hence the boney chicken. It's a standard now! All was yummy, we had an early bedtime after reading some of Paddle to the Sea. It was a lovely evening. Hope yours was too.

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Poochie Love

Our Granddaughter spent some time with us last week and through the weekend. She brought her own little "dog" with her and was able to spend time with our, not so little dogs while she was here. It's so much fun to listen to her talk to all three...real and imagined poochies. I love to hear her with her Puppy and watch her tenderly take care of him as she cuddles him, feeds him and blows a whisper on her finger to let me know that Puppy is sleeping. That puppy sure sleeps a lot and is very hungry. He apparently loves being fed. Gravel is the metaphor for peaches, ham, chicken, peas, pancakes, cottage cheese, salad...you name it. She loves our dogs and always seeks them out. When she has to navigate around them (they do take up a lot of room) she always says, "Excuse me" to Cleo or Nadia whom she calls Narnia. She always exclaims to her Gams and Poppy, "Cleo and Narnia are so essited to see me!"
She is fortunate to have a real dog at home who came on the weekend. She worries that Maddie is missing her. Parents, G'parents and four poochies had a great weekend.
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