Grandparents

My friend lost her grandmother last week. It really hit a nerve with me today as I noticed the pictures she posted and her daughter also posted. Her grandmother obviously made a very lasting impression on her. Growing up, I had a lot of friends lose their grandparents and it just seemed natural to me for that to happen. But, now I am a grandma. This time I "felt" what it must be like for her. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't ask the Lord to help me be the grandma that He wants me to be. I want to teach them about Him, I want them to Always feel loved no matter what and I want them to remember special times that we had together and hold those in their hearts forever. When you become a grandparent, your grandchildren become your world. It is a new world full of love, laughter and lots of prayer.





The sad part is that sometimes we don't appreciate our grandparents until they are gone. That is when we start to miss them. We have opportunities to see them whenever we want. They are always at home or close by the phone. They are a solid part of our lives and we take it for granted that they will be there in the same place when we have the time. I wish I could go back in time and just spend one more solid day with my Grandpa Vic and tell him how much he means to me or hang out with Grandma Erma and laugh with her. I think we sometimes take advatage of our granparents love. Most of our time with them is just using up their love and not giving it back. At least that is how it was for me. I could have learned SO MUCH from my grandparents if I would have spent more time with them.




Grandparents are a precious thing. They are full of knowledge that they got first hand. They love unconditionally. They will do anthing we ask of them, they are always there when we need them. Mine are all gone now. I have lots of regrets as a grandchild. Please, give your grandma or grandpa a hug this week. Tell them you appreciate them and love them and spend a little "extra" time with them.

Indiana Corn

When I was about 13 years old I spend most of my summer with Aunt Vera and her daughters Linda, Kathy and Kelly. We lived on a farm in Indiana and each had our own pony or horse to ride to make our summer more enjoyable. Aunt Vera was a lover of amimals. Along with our horses and ponies, she had 10 fish tanks in the house and a monkey on a leash. I can still remember some of the meals she made for us on that farm in Indiana. I can remember her sending us down to the field to pick corn for dinner. It wasn't until I got married that I realized something about the corn that we gathered for her to fix. After I was married and Terry and I moved to our dream home in the country (where we live now 33 years later) I noticed that the corn in the fields around us was growing about knee high that 4th of july. I told my husband "I can't wait till we can eat that corn!" He gave me a crazed look and said "You don't eat that, cows eat it!" Well,I wondered in my astonishment....If we weren't going to eat that corn then what corn were we going to eat?! He then proceded to give me a lesson on the difference between field corn and garden sweet corn. He is a corn snob. It has to be yellow and white and just young enough to be filled out but not big enough to be "ready for the crib". I however, tend to like it "ready for the crib" just like Aunt Vera used to make it for us.

So this week as we put up our corn in the freezer, we chose the young tender yellow and white sweet corn but I always grab a few dark yellow tough ones to mix in. It brings back some wonderful memories of Vera and the girls on the farm. It's much more fun stealing it out of the farmers field too. Corn snobs don't know what they are missin!

Usually every summer there are a few mornings when I can go out onto our porch and enjoy the beautiful weather, but this summer has been exceptional. I have enjoyed a lot of mornings on my porch. This will be a summer to remember. Yesterday I grabbed my cup of coffee and in my comfy loungies (I'm in the country, I can do that) I went out onto our porch to sit with the Lord. It was perfect! The sun was coming up and there was a peace that only comes from above. I snapped this picture because I never want to forget it, but the memory is so much better than the photo. I felt His presence and I felt so blessed to experience a little bit of Heaven.

We always have too many barn cats. This year I have become a little attached to them. I'm thinking it's because we lost both of our dogs last year and it's a quiet summer without them. We have a mother named Cleo and her two little ones. Tyrus named the chubby one Putters. He's my favorite and of course he won't let me get near him because I like him. I did manage to get a little close to him during his afternoon nap though. I'm hoping by the end of the summer he will like me a little more. He's shy, quiet and doesn't trust anyone.

Then there is Callie who Emma named. She never leaves you along and is pretty scrawny. Here she is sneaking a drink. I don't think that kitten will ever learn to eat food.

If this is global warming then Praise the Lord! I am loving this summer and you will not hear me complaining about the weather. Soon my yard will be hinting to me that fall is approaching so I will be enjoying every morning that I can on my front porch.

Gayle's Mint Tea

You can tell it is summer at our house because we always have a pitcher of Mint tea made. I really shouldn't call it Gayle's Mint Tea because I learned to make it from a good friend of mine who has passed away from Cancer. When I was a very young little girl, Mrs. Mast next door who was an older widow would invite my sister and I over for tea. She would pick the mint from her back yard on North East Street in Bremen and brew us a cup of tea in a beautiful little china tea cup. That was my first experience with tea. I remember it making me feel very lady like and proper. Then many years later the memories all came back when my friend Sherry had mint tea brewing for me. Now I want to share the recipe with you so you can pass it on to some little neighbor girl or a good friend.

I'm not sure how it got started, but we have a mint patch out back. It's grown quite large but we don't mind at all. It isn't bothering any other plants and it's handy right out our back door. '

So here is how I make Gayle's Mint Tea. I cut a large handful of the mint. Usually just the top tender leaves.

Then I wash it off real good. We don't have

any chemicals or sprays on it but don't want to serve

up any little bugs with it. I shake it off real good too

for those kind that hang on tight through the washing.

This is the crucial part of the brewing. I put it in a pot of very good water (reverse osmosis or filtered) and fill it up almost to the top. Then I brew it just until it is starting to boil. Don't let it boil! And don't go sit at your computer or go outside while it is on the stove or it will boil and burn (I've done that). When it is almost ready to boil, turn off the burner and put a lid on it. Let it brew for about 12-15 minutes. I throw in about 4 tea bags to give it a tea color. I use decaf tea bag and get the cheapest ones I can find.

This is the part I always feel guilty about but it's summer right? I add the sugar. Never, never add artificial sweeteners to Gayle's Mint Tea! If you do, you can't call it what it is. It won't be real and it could never taste the same. I add 1/4 cup of sugar to a two quart pitcher. That isn't that much. Too much will ruin it and too little, well, that won't hurt either. Mix in the sugar while it is hot, drain off the mint leaves into a pitcher and there you have it. Pour it over a tall glass FULL of ice and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Stop in anytime and have a glass with me. If you catch me at the right time, you can have a cup of it hot too.

Cherries and Patience

My husband and I ventured out to do one of his favorite things on Fathers Day. He loves to get in the car and drive up to Michigan to gather or pick produce. Right now the Cherries are ripe and plentiful. We have great memories of picking cherries, and peaches in Michigan. We go to the same orchard every year where they are chemical free and safe to eat right off the tree. The weather was perfect and the trees were loaded. We have our own special spot where we sneak off to away from the natural flow of cherry pickers where the trees are more plentiful.

We got two boxes of dark cherries and one box of sour cherries. I ran to the car to get the checkbook while Terry had them weighed. I got back and he informes me that they are $75.00! Since when is getting back to nature and storing up your food become so expensive?! We have reached the pinacle. It is now way cheaper to fill your body with junk than to eat healthy from the earth. We even cut out the middle man! I guess we were paying for the ambiance. Which I have to admit was perfect.

My husband and I have been doing a study on the fruits of the Spirit. For several weeks we have been studying "Patience". Need I say more? One quote that we wrote down in our notes is "Patience is not waiting.... It is how you act while you wait". Ouch! What does patience have to do with picking Cherries? We picked them quit quickly and enjoyed every minute of it. Loaded them up in our car, stopped and got a half regular/half sweet tea and pulled onto I94 to head home. About a mile on down the road. The air conditioning went off, the windows wouldn't roll down and all the lights on the dash were gone on our little old Beamer. We looked at each other and smiled. It was fathers day, we were on the side of the road with Semi's blowing past us. We each had two bars on our cell phones. How were we going to act? Man, this is getting long..... I'm just going to post the pictures and let you finish the story with one final note. Those $2.49 a lb. cherries are currently costing us about $75.00 a lb. and the final bill isn't in yet!

The Briar Patch

Jessica (My daughter) asked me to join her this week-end at The Briar Patch for their annual craft show. Yikes! I have been in a very creative mood, but time just won't allow me go with it. I have, however, managed to work some time in and get a few things ready for the show. I usually do assemblage/collage pieces but that medley of bottles sitting on the window sill in The Loft http://www.loftartgallery.com/ have been calling out to me to dress them. I also have that wonderful rusty can of keys that continue to intrique me. So I won't have a lot to take with me but I will have a few things. I look forward to sitting back with Jessica http://www.jessicaflores.com/ and putting up our flip flops while we watch the crafters mingling around the Briar Patch http://www.thebriarpatchgardenshop.blogspot.com/ . I hope I see some of my friends there.

One of my favorite finds from a garage sale several years back was a rusty can full of beautiful old keys. I know any assemblage artist would go crazy over them. Here is a necklace that I put together with a few of my favorites.

I love glass, beads, wire, paper, etc.... junk!! Stuff! This little bottle is one of my favorites. I may have to keep it. It just seems a little sophisticated to me. Maybe it's the gold, maybe it's the Dr's prescription. Maybe it's the history.

Leafing through my collection of Dick and Jane workbooks takes me right back to 3rd grade. I love the pictures which are so pure and innocent. I love how Dick and Janes mother and father are always there playing with them. This bottle doesn't have Dick and Jane on it, but their pets are running all around it. I will have some Dick and Jane Cards at the show this week-end.

My New Blog

Facebook is boring me. There is so much more to my life. So I am stepping into the world of blogging. I'm not sure why, but I think it will be a good thing. Sometimes when I bake a beautiful pie or sew a little nightgown for my granddaughter, it just seems like it needs to be posted somewhere. I think that would finish it. I'm not eloquent with words and descriptions like my daughter http://www.jessicaflores.com/ is, but I think it will be fun to finish my projects with a little blogging and get on with the next one.