REMEMBERING

I will be changing my practice of Friday posts and now doing what I will call, "Patriotic Posts" randomly. I thought it appropriate to include some Memorial Day pictures this week!

The pictures here are from the Colon cemetery just down from our house. This statue of a Civil War veteran is just across from the stone you see. The gravestone is that of William Boughtin, our uncle by marriage. Rhiannon discovered some very interesting history about him quite by accident while we were searching for other family history. He was a war hero if you ask me. We were amazed at the stuff we found out. I can't remember everything for sure without digging out the family history records, but he was in many major battles of the Civil War. He was wounded a few times, got sick and still returned to fight after being honorably discharged. He apparently was a man of great regard for his country. It was amazing to discover all this about his incredible service record in a book that we found while searching for other family members, never even realizing he existed.

We now refer to this man who lived generations before us as "Uncle Will." After learning about his amazing life quite by accident, we stumbled upon a picture of he and his wife in later years, probably in the 1880's. My grandmother had it in the family album and their names were right there all along--only we didn't know who they were or the stories behind their lives! His wife was the daughter of our widowed Civil War grandma. Both women were presidents in the Women's Auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic (I believe I have that title right!)--Mary B. a county president, and her mother Asenath president of a local chapter here in our home town! They are both buried here in our town cemetery not far from Uncle Will's grave.

It makes me wonder how many interesting lives are represented behind the many flags waving in the cemeteries on this Memorial Day? So many are now forgotten. Some soldiers' graves are so old that they didn't have a flag on them. As you celebrate Memorial Day, I hope it is a day of remembering to be thankful for those who are willing to fight to preserve our freedoms. Just today we learned of a friend that will be going to Afghanistan soon. His particular line of work in the service is very, very dangerous. It makes you realize the sacrifice people are willing to give. "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." Jesus John 15:13 May we all remember...and be thankful. Blessings, LORI

A VISIT TO MY COTTAGE GARDEN

Here are some pictures of my garden! I hope you enjoy the tour! The first is my current favorite spot in the vast English garden.

Next, devotions in the garden.

Two free finds lend a whimsical touch to the garden.

A close up of the abundant Sweet Williams. The pretty little blue flowers are Nigella or "Love in a Mist." Isn't that pretty name? They self seed freely and each year there are more and more. They are so lovely and I use them for pressed flower pictures.

Next I invite you to my vegetable garden for a moment. These are the cabbages, radishes and peas. I think they look charming! Below them we stray from the garden for a moment to go into the house. I spring cleaned this 8X8 dormer yesterday and added some decorations to the wall. I call this area the "European Corner." I usually love American Victorian antiques, but have this small section of the house that reflects Europe--some Vermeer prints, a little delftware, and the spinning wheel!

The weather is so beautiful that we can't stay in the house for long. Let's go back outside. The next picture is a view from the other side of the garden where the "snow in summer," is blooming profusely.

Another view from the east and then a picture of a recently made garden stone amongst the Sweet Williams. Next is a close up of yet another garden stone--I had too much fun making these!

More Sweet Williams surrounding my old iron headboard.

Next is a picture of the lovely and profuse Meadow sage along my back deck!

And last we wander back out to the vegetable garden to watch Miss Emma pick the first strawberry of the season. One of her first statements upon visiting is "Granny, Berries!" She loves to eat the blueberries and strawberries I have in the freezer. I thought it only appropriate to let her pick the first one of the season!

I hope you enjoyed the visit to the garden! Blessings, LORI

Pittsburgh

Clint and I recently made a trip to a church in southern Ohio to preach. Our host and hostess, the pastor and his wife, (old friends and classmates) treated us like kings! They took us on a riverboat cruise and dinner in Pittsburgh! How lovely. We especially enjoyed the skyline!

The trip was wonderful. We were warmly received and generously treated. This church really knew how to make you feel loved. Clint and I both spoke on Sunday morning and the people were very responsive. Right before I spoke I was sitting and praying. I had something in mind to say, but suddenly something else came to me. I believed that was an indication from God to change the course a bit. Sure enough I suddenly had an accompanying scripture pop into my head and I used that to add to my few remarks. Many people came up to me afterward and thanked me for what I had to say and one in particular confirmed that it was just what they needed. Glory to God! I love experiences like that!

I hope you enjoy a bit our trip with us in case you never have the chance to go on a riverboat tour of Pittsburgh!

EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES!

Just thought I'd show you a picture of my newest rose--a climbing Pinata! Isn't it lovely? We just put this plant in two days ago. It had several buds and I guess it is loving its new home from the looks of things. I've had so much trouble with my garden the last while that I almost hate to plant a nice new plant. It sometimes feels like I'm sentencing it to death. I have high hopes for this rose. My mom gave it to me and it's so pretty and healthy. Another rose planted in the same area flourishes, so I think we'll be ok.

I had an adventure this morning. I got up early and before everyone else was ready to help me and I moved 21 teenage chickens (actually middle aged chickens) from their cardboard condo in my barn to their more permanent home--the coop! Actually no home is very permanent for them since their lives are already about half spent. They are meat birds. I decided to venture out and raise a flock of birds to be butchered and put in the freezer this year. My laying hens will be ready to be picked up just as the meat birds are leaving the premises. It only takes 6-8 weeks for these birds to reach full maturity for butchering. I made a deal with a neighbor who gets laying hens (chicks) late in the spring. They are going to be about two weeks old when I pick them up. I'll get about 6 and pay him for raising them for a few weeks. It eliminates having to use the light on them and so on. A very good deal. Then by fall we will be having a consistent bunch of eggs every day.

As I was moving the chicks, of course they flapped, fussed, and carried on considerably. They tried to avoid me and didn't want to leave the only home they've ever known. It reminded me of how we are as people. Sometimes we think we know what's best for us and miss the VERY best by dragging our feet and resisting change. If these chicks could have known that they were leaving a crowded cardboard box set-up for a larger more comfortable home complete with grass and sunshine, they would have hurried into the portable cage for the trip! But instead, it took me a good deal of time to round them up, capture them one by one and force them to move. I put them in a dog cage, 5-7 at a time, and loaded them on the truck for a trip to the coop. Once there, they were obviously happy in the new surroundings. Aren't we like that? Sometimes we resist change in our church, our job, our home, our lives, when in all actuality change would be the best thing. I couldn't help identifying with them--I too am probably middle-aged! I was anxious for them to enjoy as large a portion as possible of their lives out in the sunshine and fresh air. Our weather has been too cold to move them before now. As I have written before, change is strongly associated with life. If you are living, you are changing. Change can be a positive thing. Ponder these thoughts and see if the Lord has been trying to get you to change in some area. Don't be like my chickens, too stubborn to move! Blessings, LORI

Friends: Just thought I'd post a few pictures while I am able to do so. These are what my gardens look like right now. The first is a picture of the border beds that line our driveway. Next is the new raised-bed veggie garden. Still a bit more work that needs to go into that one. I have pole beans to plant and other flowers around the "teepee." I had just watered when the picture was taken. I also will be mowing down the scraggly rows in front where strawberries used to be. We hope to put up a new birdhouse as well. Holllyhocks are planted along the back fence. I will also put cucumbers and squash back there. It doesn't show, but there are several rows of potatoes in front and back of the raised beds.

Next is the English garden. I think it's the prettiest time of year for this garden. Each year the garden changes. I am working on making garden stones to decorate the pathways. I've also begun a project of lining the paths with bricks instead of mulch. Expensive and slow work. It will be done years from now, I suppose! Still have some work to do in getting all the yard furniture out.

I hope you enjoy my garden. Currently blooming: iris, violas, forget-me-nots, daisies, coral bells, columbine, and many more just about to pop! Wish you were here to take a footpath tour! If you are ever in my area (for all you distant friends!) please contact me for a garden tour!

FOUNDER'S FRIDAY--A CAPABLE SEAMSTRESS

I felt it appropriate this week to highlight Betsy Ross and the American flag on Founder's Friday since I was showing off my own needlework on a recent post. As well as that, I have heard bits of news lately concerning something that appears to be a distaste on the part of some for our flag. I haven't been able to listen long enough to make much comment on that, for I wouldn't have my facts straight, but this is nothing new. This kind of nonsense seems to occur every once in a while. I remember other incidents of flag burning and so on when I was younger. It seems every so often someone makes news for such despicable stuff. To behave in such a manner is an insult to those who died to make us free, rallying under the symbol of our flag. I remember returning to the United States after my first trip abroad and I was never so glad to see American soil as I was that day. I appreciated my country anew and felt like kissing the ground of the Detroit airport (I'd been to Detroit many times before and never felt like kissing the ground!) when I departed the plane. We truly do not realize how blessed we are to be living here until we see other places where life is not so easy. I enjoyed visiting other countries and honor and respect them and their citizens, but I LOVE my own country deeply and thank God for placing me here.



Betsy Ross was a Philadelphia upholsterer at the time of the Revolution. The legend of the first flag goes something like this: George Washington and two of the signers of the declaration visited her shop and commissioned her to make a flag from a sketch Washington showed her. She supposedly suggested changing the six pointed star to a five pointed star, showing the gentlemen how easy it would be to create a perfect star from a fabric folding technique. The flag we now have reflects Betsy's suggestion.



Apparently this story was not public until nearly 100 years later when a grandson of Betsy's told it. Whether or not it is accurate doesn't really matter all that much as far as I'm concerned. The lesson that I find in it all is that even a widow lady (Betsy was a widow) could conceivably use her God-given talents to do her country a great service. After all, someone made the first flag--someone who had to have needlework experience. What do we have in our hands to use for the sake of our country? Will we be patriots who look for ways to use our talents to promote the good of our nation?



If there ever was a time that all American patriots are needed to rally to the cause, it's now. Ask God what special thing you might be able to do to help return America to its roots of freedom and traditions of honoring God. The Lord will always use a willing vessel. I am encouraged by the Betsy Ross story. To think, a simple bit of needlework made such a huge impact on our nation for years and years! What can your special talent or gift contribute? Blessings, LORI

Garden Stones

Yesterday Rhiannon and I made garden stones! We didn't know what we were doing for sure. I was working from memory of a project I did a few years ago at a craft night. We saved broken dishes and little stuff to use for several years. Finally we got brave enough to try. I ruined two of the stones today while trying to turn them out of the molds. They were apparently not dry enough yet. Our weather turned rainy and cold last night and I think they needed more drying and setting time.

We learned some things and are anxious to try again. I am discouraged with myself. I saved an oval casserole pan--perfect mold for stones--for several years. I got it in a box of "free" junk at a garage sale. Along with that I saved several large pieces of broken transferware (my favorite style of dishes) to use in making these stones. Just a few weeks ago I threw out the oval pan and dishes in a barn-cleaning frenzy. I figured I would never get around to using them and out they went in a rash-trash moment. I mentioned the project to Rhiannon and she thought it sounded like fun. Suddenly I realized the other supplies I needed would be really inexpensive and obtained them. I went to get the oval pan and broken glass and realized it was gone! Still not recovered from that. I'll be on the lookout for another oval pan. I did save the heart shaped ones and a ruffled cheesecake pan for molds. We live and learn. Blessings, LORI

DEDICATION SERVICE AND FASHION RUNWAY!

I feel kind of "sheepish" including such a spiritual subject as "Dedication Day," with fashion news....but the truth is....the two little ladies had cute new dresses! Even Granny had a new dress that was made the week before for the wedding of a friend.

On Mother's Day we had what we normally refer to as "baby dedication," at our church. Emma and Sophia were the only two children dedicated this particular time. Our church does not baptize infants because we adhere to what we term as "believer's baptism." Therefore, we only baptize people upon their confession of faith. Sometimes older children are mature enough to understand baptism and so occasionally they are baptized, but only after they come to an understanding of salvation and can ask for baptism themselves. Instead of baby baptism, we have a dedication ceremony in which the parents come forward and we pray for the children, blessing them and charging the parents and the congregation to bring them up in the nurture of the Lord. Clint preached a wonderful sermon on the Proverbs 31 woman and the church presented each lady with a rose.

This last Sunday was Emma and Sophie's special day! Granny made dresses for them. I think I wrote about the dresses several months ago. Yes, I began the construction on them quite a while back. We were getting a little anxious thinking that Sophie would outgrow hers before the ceremony. You can see the pretty details of her two piece gown in the picture of her in the chair. Her dress and Emma's were made of the same fabrics with a few different details. Emma's had a bolero jacket, while Sophie's had a long scalloped-edged coat with ruched ribbon. Both girls had dresses of silky rose fabric covered in sheer shimmery fabric. Emma's featured a matching lace belt at the bodice and Sophie's had two rows of ivory lace at the hem. Don't they look cute?

My dress was the one I recently made from a Folkwear pattern. It is fashioned after the turn of the century tea dresses worn in the early 1900's. I love it. I found enough fabric while in Iowa to make 5 more for about $30. Each one will be different and the sheer overdresses will mix and match with all the underdress fabric I purchased! CAN YOU SAY, 'GOOD BARGAIN!?'

You will notice in the one picture that we are posing in one of my favorite places--in front of the spirea out in my English garden. Taking formal pictures in front of spirea is one of my favorite traditions. Clint and I have a treasured prom picture of us back in 1980 in front of his grandma's huge spirea. I was wearing a "Gunne Sax" pattern dress, specially made for the occasion. Spirea are one of my favorite flowers and they figure in to my first book, "The Fields of May." You need to read the book to see why!

What a wonderful day it was! Mother's Day was very special to me this year as we watched our two little granddaughters dedicated to the Lord. It kind of made all the years of parenting come into perspective. After church, both moms and Rhiannon and JT, Kori, and Emma and Sophie all came over for dinner. We used the new china I was given by my mother in law. We set a beautiful table complete with lace tablecloth, bouquet from the English garden, and stemware, just to eat grilled burgers, brats, hot dogs, and baked beans! Oh, well, sometimes you must celebrate the simple things in life!!!! Blessings, LORI

FOUNDER'S FRIDAY--National Day of Prayer

Has there ever been a time in our history when we needed to pray more than now? Well, just for a little information, I learned that the a national day of prayer, such as was observed this week, was actually first observed in 1775. The Second Continental Congress called for the nation to pray for protection during the volatile time of seeking independence. Our Founders recognized the need for including God in our decisions and seeking His favor and protection.

I heard in passing, a little news clip suggesting that some this year were trying to say that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional! Wow! Again, look how far we've strayed from our foundings! All you have to do is study a little history to see that many of our founders placed quite an emphasis on prayer and the Christian life.

I decided today to simply mention the National Day of Prayer since it was observed this week and does have a history in the founding of our nation. Instead of highlighting a founding father this week, I hope this little bit of history will remind you to pray for our nation not only on the National Day of Prayer, but every day.

The gardens are flourishing! I wish I had a recent picture, but have been too busy to take many. Rhiannon bought me two wisterias and a silver lace vine for Mother's Day and they are getting a much-needed rain today! The iris are blooming as well as day lilies, lilies of the valley, forget-me-nots-violas and violets, leopard's bane, daisies are almost open, spirea, lilac, wigelia, and I forget what else! A beautiful time of year! Blessings, LORI

AN AMAZING TRIP!

I wanted to share some of these really amazing pictures with you from my latest trip.Get ready for one of the prettiest garden tours you have ever seen! Just browse through the pictures and enjoy,see if you can guess where I went, and then read the post at the end.

























On Tuesday, Rhiannon and I went to Holland. Holland,Michigan; that is! It's tulip time and wow, what wonderful sights we saw there! Rhiannon's favorite flower is the tulip and she was just having a great time taking these photographs. We visited a tulip farm and wooden shoe factory and saw where the beautiful Delftware is made (I love dishes!). I toured a working windmill. You see it in the pictures. I was amazed at the inner construction and complexity of this beautiful several hundred year old structure!

We had a great day and wanted to share some of the beauty of God's creation with you. I kept standing and gazing at the never-ending tulips and thinking that if someone was depressed, it would be good for them to come and just gaze at the tulips and realize God's intricate love and creative design. Surely that would minister to a discouraged person's heart if they really thought about it long enough!Blessings, LORI