Let's Celebrate Spring !

 


Image Courtesy of  Vintage Catnip at http://vintagecatnip.blogspot.com/

  

Spring.... It feels so wonderful to be out in the garden again and see
 those pansy faces, tender sprouts and leaf buds. Everything is coming alive again!

  My fish amazingly survived in my shallow, muddy, leaf-cluttered pond.  I said it would be a miracle if they made it through this winter, and they did!  It's a sign, I'm sure!

   I've filed my taxes, packed away my winter coats, am bringing in large branches of flowering quince and camelias. I'm putting out Easter bunnies for the grandkids to see, and getting ready for yard sales!

Violas!  Don't they look like happy little faces?

These grape hyacinths pop up all over the yard!

              A special Spring Blog Party!

              Let's  Celebrate Spring with Victoria  and see what other bloggers are doing. 

              Visit A Delightsome Life:Spring Decorating! at http://www.blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/

Camelia bush by Violet's backdoor.

 My next-door neighbor, Violet died this winter, while I was away, so I missed her funeral.

 I look out the kitchen window, and feel a little sad, because I miss my old friend.

  We shared  our love of gardening, and many conversations, memories, and laughs!.

Camelias, Antique vase and Wedding Photo Vignette

                        We are honoring our folks on their 65th Wedding Anniversary.
                        They are living together in a nursing home, which seems so sad to me,
                         but they are fairly comfortable, and content just being together. 

Grandbaby Tommy is raring to go jogging with Grandma!



Nothing cheers me up more than being with my grandbaby boy!

 We take a walk every day that it's nice out.

 We sing and talk, play and learn as we go exploring.

Grandmothers provide enrichment programs for grandbabies.

 Grandchildren provide love and joy for grandmothers!



Aw, Honey, I would have been scared too!



Now, that's my little hunny-bunny with the big Easter bunny!



Have a Blessed Spring and Easter Season!

              

Laura Story - Blessings

Welcome, Spring!

I am so happy that spring is here! It's time for renewal and fresh starts!

As new growth springs from the earth, may we each experience new personal growth and together, learn to truly love one another. May we truly appreciate each day of our lives, and all the beauty around us.
Let us continue to pray for the people of Japan. They have courageously endured last week's disasters,and continue to experience such unimaginable horrors and tremendous losses, yet they remain hopeful and caring toward each other. May God be with them as they rebuild their lives and homes.

We girls enjoyed the Spring Antiques Show this weekend!





Lovely ladies modeled and purchased beautiful vintage hats.

Vendors exhibited tantalizing displays of china, pottery, glass, linens, ephemera, jewelry, and more!

    We love to learn the history of vintage items from each other and share tips on care
          and restoration of the wonderful old antiques and collectibles we deal in.
         What fun we had telling stories, seeing old friends and making new ones! 

"I think I would not have so many bad-hair-days, if I did not try to wear so many hats!", I overheard someone say.

Remind you of playing in Grandma's jewelry box?

"I swan"



"Grandmothers are just antique little girls!"

                                                                           

                     And of course we bragged a little about our grandchildren, and some even visited!  
          Next day, we are all home resting , I hope!  It's a chilly, rainy day, so I made big pot of chili !

What a nice weekend!  

clip art courtesy of Vintage Feedsacks

From an old book, called Gaylord Hauser's Treasury of Secrets:

__________________TranQuillitea__________________

Instead of synthetic tranquilizers and dangerous sleeping tablets,try this century-old recipe.

Mix 1 ounce of dry peppermint leaves(nature's digestive),
1 tablespoon rosemary leaves(nature's tranquiler),
and 1 teaspoon sage leaves(nature's sleep producer).
Mix and keep in tightly closed jar. Use 1 heaping teaspoon of mixture to a cup of boiling water.
Let steep for one minute, strain, sweeten with honey, and sip!

Amazing tranquilizing effect-without a hangover.



Love, Linda

Spring is coming! Hallelujah!

Thank you Lord, for helping me get through the winter. For keeping me warm and safe when cold wind blew furiously, and we endured two months of below-normal temperatures. You gave me strength when the days were shorter, and darker, and you helped me keep positive when everyday chores seemed harder,while fighting a cold.   I learned to trust that you would supply all my needs when heating bills were straining my budget, and my business was almost dead.

Thank you, for my car starting every frosty morning when I had to race to my grandchild's house before his mommy left for work.

Thank you for the beauty of winter snowfalls, crystallized trees, and comforts of home: savory soups simmering, and cookies baking.  For the many delights of the holiday season, and the peace and joy of a Christmas spirit that hopefully lingers all year long.
 For love and affection I felt, both given and received for Valentine's Day.

But thank you for the first glorious signs of spring, the snow disappearing, trees and flowers budding and the early robins searching for worms.  It makes me smile to see boisterous neighbor kids in T-shirts cruisin' on their bicycles, and playing  backyard ball games after school, for the first time in months.
 I look forward to Easter celebrations and warmer days spent gardening and walking with my baby grandson. I feel an exciting sense of my own spiritual growth and renewal with spring's approach!

With gratitude I watch the seasons come and go. ,

Vintage clip art, by http://vintagefeedsacks.blogspot.com/

Some of us have a little cabin-fever. As a late-winter outing, we braved strong seashore winds

 in Atlantic City last weekend, for the annual car auction and antiques  show. 

            I must say that not only men like cars!  Here's some of my favorites.



1961 Cadillac Convertible



1960 Cadillac Convertible



1955 Ford Thunderbird



1965 Pontiac GTO Convertible



1957  Ford Thunderbird



1923 Oldsmobile V8 Touring Car
This rare old car was exhibited in a museum in Kentucky for years.



I have a wonderful source for automotive literature . Please contact me with your requests.



I met an antique jewelry dealer with a gorgeous collection of cameos!

                           

Then I took a walk on the boardwalk and a look at the ocean, and I still feel small.

It was a nice weekend!

While cleaning a house yesterday, I saw this beautiful picture of a seashore cottage.



Cape May Cottage, by Thomas Kinkade



So now, I'm daydreaming about summertime "down the shore". I am very fortunate to have a

client in Cape May, who has me prepare his rental units each spring for the tourist season!   I look forward to staying there for a few days in May. 

All we need is love

 

                                    
Love is more than three words mumbled before bedtime.
Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day.     -Nicolaus Sparks 
                                                                                                     -                                                                

Love is a many splendored thing!

I am thinking that love is sometimes not doing something.
Maybe some things I do are unloving. I am still learning.  I can change,  with God's help. 
All I must do,  is remember to do all things with love!

Love is not criticizing your tweenage granddaughter's too-grown-up outfit, but telling her how pretty she is, because you know that good self-esteem will produce better behavior.
Love is not mentioning to your daughter-in-law that there are no vegetables on the dinner table, but telling her the boxed mac&cheese is tasty.
Love is not complaining to your husband that your house is run down, but trying to make it as nice a home as you can.
Love is not saying you're too busy, but listening to your family member, and making  adjustments  to your schedule even if you have to give up something occasionally.
Love is not sharing horror stories about medical procedures and childbirth, but listening, making empathetic comments, and sharing in their unique experience.
Love is not bursting their bubble, knowing when to keep it to yourself.
Love is not giving advice when it isn't asked for.

 Love is what's left in a relationship
 after all the selfishness has been removed.
- Gullen Hightower

All we need is love!



What a grand thing to be loved!
What a grander thing still to love!
                                  -Victor Hugo



                                                         

Perhaps love is like a resting place, a shelter from the storm

It exists to give you comfort, it is there to keep you warm

In those times of trouble when you are most alone

the memory of love will bring you home...

If I should live forever and all my dreams come true

My memory of love will be of you.

                                                      -John Denver

There is no remedy for love than to love more.
                                   -Henry David Thoreau

One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life, that word is love.

                                                               -Sophocles

"The Love Chapter"   My favorite scripture

If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.

And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge, if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast,

 but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated,

 it is not rude,it does not seek it's own interests,it is not quick tempered,

 it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

So faith, hope, love remain, these three, but the greatest of these is love. 

                                     -  I Corinthians 13   NIV





Love is always bestowed as a gift-
freely, willingly, and without expectation..
we don't love to be loved, we love to love.



                               - Leo Buscaglia

Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your home.

 Give love to your children, to a wife or husband,

to a next door neighbor.-Mother Teresa


Happy Valentine's Day!

                                                  

              

One-handed blogging --Grandma on duty

"It is as grandmothers that our mothers come
 into the fullness of their grace."
                                                   -Christopher Morley

(I wrote this two months ago!)      

      I'm holding Tommy, who's my four-month-old grandson, because he is starting to whine, and doesn't want to nap. Uh-oh! He is just learning this whining thing, to get our attention.  He likes me to rock him and sing softly.  My daughter and I believe that we can't spoil him with too much cuddling.   I  am going to begin caring for him as she returns to work.  I think I can begin to sell my vintage  and handcrafted items online, and check on the online shop when he snoozes or while he's playing nearby in his jumpy seat. 

"Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us
 for growing old"
                                                                      -Mary H. Waldrip

 "I am in my glory"  when I'm with my precious grandboy.  I feel  so sublimely happy and  very nostalgic.  There are frequent pauses, I'm struggling to type with one hand, and stopping whenever he needs something, (have to blog in stages) because that's what you have to do, with a baby in the house. But I feel my creative juices flowing!
 

"Just remember, in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow,
lies the seed , that with the sun's love,
 in the spring, becomes the rose."---Bette Midler's song

   Often, we look at  pretty blogs and I tell him, that someday I will have a pretty little cottage and a lovely garden.  I want to share in his childhood and teach him everything I know about simple, healthy living and good old-fashioned ways.


Little boy , image courtesy of  free<3.pretty<3 things<3for<3you


  I know he will love my garden and he will grow pretty blossoms for his mommy. 

Oh dear, I hope the fishies are safely burrowed down deep,in this frozen little pond!

      We will have a little pond, some fishes and a big ole' bullfrog.  Maybe if  we are out in the country a little bit, we will get a few chickens,so we can always have fresh eggs,and I want him to learn all about animals. 
 I actually dream of raising alpaca and selling their fabulous wool. 

Our big ole' bullfrog, he helps keep the mosquito population down!

                

     Most importantly, I want him to know about the power of positive thinking and that the most important thing in the whole wide world is that we all love one another.  I want him to have solid values, appreciate nature, art and the simple things in life.  I take my role of Grandma very seriously, but it is also a license to play and be silly and let the child in me come out!  I want to tell  him all of the important things I have learned, and share the family's history with him.

      Oh, the dreams of his future, and sharing in his life give me renewed purpose and beautiful hopes.  If I can help just this one child on his journey, I will have made a difference.

Love, Linda