Finally, its cool!

This weather has been torture! While my husband was home on leave, we searched about a 75 mile radius for a window air conditioner, WITH NO LUCK! Can you believe it? Since I have been doing genealogy lately, I wonder what our ancestors did when it was hot out. Their was no electricity, and no air conditioners. Poor souls. That being said, this picture of Layla reminds me to relax and enjoy the ride. She was dressed in this sweater, had to have it buttoned, stocking hat and a southwestern patterned skirt, oh, and her snow boots. I just shook my head and grabbed the camera. Her brother and I needless to say were wearing as little as we could to stay cool. She definitely marches to her own drums, and I hope she never looses that!

This is supposed to be a votive holder, and I hung it where I have some other plants and jewelry until I could decide what to do with it. I got to thinking that it would be cool if there was some sort of plant in it, and even cooler if it would drape down over the edges and climb the chain. What better a plant than ivy? I thought it turned out very pretty. I don't know how much space it will need for roots, but hopefully it will grow and stay pretty.

And last, the shakers. What do you do when your Aunt collects Salt and Pepper Shakers, you find a little pair at Michael's for a buck, and you have embellishments lying around? Alter the shakers of course! Best part of all, these will be sent for her birthday coming up; what a surprise and totally unique. There probably will never be another set like them EVER!! I tucked some teal ribbon inside the shakers to jazz them up a bit. I hope she likes them, I know I do!

Long Periods of Time

So, "Long Periods of Time" seem to be my thing when it comes to blogging. I always have the best intentions of doing a better job. What can I say, life gets in the way. Below is a picture of some charms I made for a swap. They are mini art journals. Each has an original water color painting done by me on the very last page, with four pages front and back blank for the recipient to embelish, paint, write in, or what ever. They are bound with jumprings, and are oh so cute! They measure 1 and 1/4 inches tall by 1 inch wide.

Spring came with lots of excitement. My husband built a raised flowerbed for me. Currently it houses more vegetables than flowers. You can see it in the background of the next picture. Focused in the picture is the ornamental apple tree. The blossoms are so beautiful when it blooms in the spring. It is one of my two favorite trees in the yard. The fruit it bears is not edible, but they are very tiny dark red apples that are small enough to sit on a dime. The kids pick them off and throw them like rocks. I would rather they don't do this, but...there are worse things to worry about like picking the tomatos when they are not ready.

Finally, the head stone. I have recently taken up tracking down dead people. I know, that is kind of harsh to say about your family. Along with my Aunt, we are making discoveries about our family. It has been such a wonderful journey. On my way home from Nebraska and Iowa, I pass right through a town that my Pearse ancestors settled in. When I discovered that, it absolutely drove me nuts to have to keep driving and not stop to investigate.

This time, I stopped. I had found that the Pearse's had helped found the Methodist Episcopal church in the Hampton/Geneva, Iowa area. It was a long shot, but I drove the fifteen miles offf the interstate and found the current Methodist church in Geneva. Finding the second door locked, I heard a voice behind me say "You won't find anyone there."

As it turns out, I met two wonderful women, a mother and a daughter who did a lot of history and genealogy there. The daughter was in fact a member of the Franklin County Historical Society. I asked her if she could try to help me with some information about my ancestors. Who knew that when I pulled off the road on a long shot, I would bump into the two kindest ladies, that would be able to help me the most. Turns out, the mother, (who by the way invted a strange woman and her two children into her home when she didn't have to), had a map of the cemetery, and the daughter has contacts for me to get in touch with to learn more about my family history! I visited the cemetery on my way out of town, and did not have to look for the head stones. They were exactly where I expected them to be from the description the mother had given me. So wonderful. This was the neatest experience I have had in such a long time. I hope to stay in some kind of contact with them just to know them, aside from their help with my genealogy. Such wonderful ladies, they are so kind and bright spirited. I know that I will stop once in a while to at least give my respects to my ancestors, if nothing else.

This world works in strange ways sometimes, I'm just glad to experience it once in a while.