Honored To Be Included

Tradition says everyone gets their choice of birthday cake! Topped with one candle and lots of help blowing it out!! Happy Birthday Timothy!

Steve and I were invited to Garen's parents home, for dinner, when we were in Philly. We ate a Tangerine off of Ken's tree! Watched a video of Ken and Maroush do Italy! Enjoyed a tasty family dinner.

She is the best! Her lovely smile and happy demeanor shine like a light from above. If I had to chose a sister she would be the one!
 

Matriarch of the family. She holds the power! We all behave!

Gathered at one table, altogether, means so much.

This family came complete with a pair of snuggle bunnies!

Ta Da!

Thank you for the lovely time we spent with our family-in-laws!

 

A Book Signing Party For Lonnie And Twyla Money

Looking out at the mountain ranges from London Kentucky. The book signing was held at a tiny little country club nestled on top of a hill in downtown London Kentucky.
 

Oak Hill Gardens. Where they hold weddings and receptions, celebrations and book signings!

The evening before was a birthday party for the mayor's wife. The floral arrangements were over the top and they had left them on the tables for the party on Saturday!

We had snacks and fresh fruit, lemonade and ice tea.

The Guinea Hen was the door prize. You had to guess how many dots Twyla had painted on that bird!

This was some serious counting. The count was 2009, I was a low ball count. The winner was within two dots!!

The winner, with 2007 dots, was Alex Huninghake!
 

Two yellow birds if I ever saw them! Lonnie and Twyla Money. Such a happy, sunny couple. I always look forward to seeing them. Been stopping at their studio since 2004.
 

I wish I had bought this blue chunky chicken! 

Ha ha! Who bought more books than me? Darn if I didn't get her name. 

A team effort. Lonnie carves the critters and Twyla paints them. 

I love meeting Jerry and Cheryl Kerler. Neighbors of the Money's. Ask them about the Maple Tree chickens!! It was a funny story.

Twyla said, "keep taking pictures!" So I did. 

We had the crowd from "the lake" supporting the author, Karen Abney.

Lonnie's sister, Shirley. I had never meet her until the party. But I had bought her handsewn placemats over the years and admired her quilts hanging in the Money's studio. 

The signing table.

 Karen had designed a small coloring book of some of the Money's critters. It was darling, I bought four!

This is the team. The photographer, Roland Egerton, the author, Karen Abney, her son, Alex and Lonnie & Twyla.

In the middle of the whole shebang, my husband, Steve Scott, reading the book.

That's the story of the book signing.

 

The Big Truck

It is going to take a big truck to bring this barn home! 16 x 20'. 

The excavator has cleared out the building site.

He brought in sand to level the out where we are placing the barn. The sand also helps to deter any water away from the building.

With the excavator he will lay the gravel on top of the dirt.

This truck weighs in at 60,000 pounds and has 9 gears. It does not stop on a dime. Remember that when you go to pull out in front of him while driving down the road. 

It takes a big truck to carry a big load!!

The work horse, called a Skid Steer Loader, I always thought it was called a "skidster". He is building the dirt up so the barn will sit up away from the driveway. I will keep you posted on this project.

 Swede Road Barn Sales coming soon. 

 

The Big Tree

Thanks a lot Parshall Tree Care Experts! 

Just about a week or so ago, we were having high winds, down here, in the Holler. Steve and I were standing up by the garage and noticed the big Maple was moving in two different directions!! We looked up. Way up. Higher than Steve could get a picture! The top of this maple had a split that could come tumbling down in the 35 mile an hour plus wind!!

Who ya gonna call? Parshalls out of Traverse City. The freeze warning for heavy equipment, on the roads, had just been lifted.

We had just done logging about four years prior. They were going to take this tree but at the last minute Steve and I wanted to keep it because it was so huge. The logger said it was worth $1,200. We said oh well we want to keep it.

We should have taken the money and closed our mouths. At the time we didn't realize that the tree had a split starting at the very top. We couldn't see up that high!

But there is a good ending. We now have fire wood for next year, we heat with wood, and we have two twelve foot, seven feet around, logs that can be put through a band saw to make one inch thick boards!!

Now the question is, do we have enough for a new kitchen floor?

By the way, these guys did a fine job! 
Parshalls Tree Care Experts 231-409-1295

 

Just Last Week It Was Easter!

It was just a week ago that I was shopping for a center piece to use on my Easter dinner table. I had gathered three, four inch pots, of spring bulbs, to put in a basket I had purchased at the Nashville Antiques and Garden show in February. The flowers were blooming way before Sunday. Would they last? They did! But I bought backup tulips anyway!

The guest list was small. Uncle Ray, Steve and I. The menu was typical. Ham, baked beans, potato salad, Jello, all men love Jello, and a fresh fruit salad. 

The dishes, I used to set the table, have a story. They are Autumn's Delight by Johnson Brothers in England. Many years ago my mother won on a horse, Victor Flanagan, at Hazel Park raceway. She quickly drove over to Pontiac Pottery, on Telegraph Road, and, with her winnings, bought place settings for eight. She and her dishes have been gone for forty-seven years. 

Then, just this year, my husband took me to an Antique shop over by Bay City. We looked around and what caught my eye? Seven dinner plates on a shelf. I immediately scooped them up. All I had was her platter. I felt blessed to have found them. Who wouldn't want their mother's china? I also was able to buy eight, Cape Cod water goblets at another shop! That had been her pattern for glass ware. So I set the table for my mother. 

My mother died of cancer, forty seven years ago, on April twelve, nineteen seventy seven. 

To have found these plates and glasses was a blessing for me. 

Happy Easter.