Saturday, June 30, 2012

Happy Days

As Mrs. Blackwood always used to say, "There's no rest for the weary." Isn't that the truth! Life just goes from one thing to the next.


John and Laura had lots of fun at potty camp this week. One of them graduated, the other's mother is still deciding what to do.......


4-H deadlines are looming and I'm trying to prod the children into finishing their projects. I'm thinking we'll be putting in hours and hours and hours this next week. Rachel finished her knitting project this week, which is good.


Potty Camp treat store was run by the boys one morning.


Sunday lunches with friends are always highlights of life. Speaking of food, did I mention I had my first Pampered Chef party this week? It was a wonderful evening and I loved all the food we made (herb butters, fruit pizza, watermelon salad, and salsa and guacamole).


The kids and I spent a lovely day with my Dad recently. We toured Oldfields and had a picnic in the grounds.

We all stayed carefully by the bench because every tree in sight had poison ivy growing thickly around its trunk!

The kids attended an evening VBS with our neighbors a few weeks ago. Our kids love VBS!


Laura loves her little rocker that I found at a garage sale.


My two girls make me so happy. They love each other!!!!


We made it to the Farmer's Market last Saturday! It is always fun to look around. 


Christina and Rachel got their knitting done during Potty Camp.

The other thing we did this week was host a 5-Day Bible Club! It was great fun and all the kids enjoyed it so much! The Child Evangelism Fellowship volunteers showed up each day and ran the club. All I had to do was provide snacks! We will definitely be doing this next year!

And now I am somewhat weary, and trying not to think about school planning and just how will I fit everyone's subject matter into a week......at least tomorrow is a day of rest.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Words and Wool


Here I am sitting on the floor in the kitchen during Potty Camp. Cousin John and Laura have been attending "Potty Camp" each morning this week. John is a star pupil. Laura, it has been decided, is not ready for potty training yet. This is sad news since I have a very pressing use for the diaper budget money. It looks like I'll be finding another creative solution other than the diaper money.......

Here and there I get time to continue work on my crochet afghan. I do love the colors and the crochet is very soothing. I finished another little knitting project this week but the photo will have to wait to be revealed at a later date. I'm still working on the white shawl as I find a chance.

Rachel is hard at work on her knitting for 4H as well as her embroidered Lord of the Rings quilt.

In the reading world I have begun a new author. Have any of you read Rosamunde Pilcher before? A friend recommended her to me and loaned me several books.
Coming Home is the book I have begun with. I was initially leery of beginning a 700-page book but am already 10% of the way through. Coming Home is set in England beginning in the 1930's and right now the book is about a young girl left in England at boarding school while her parents are working in India. I'm loving the book so far with its cozy descriptions of England and little things that make me feel at home in the story. Hopefully I'll just keep on loving it!

Do let me know if you have read any of her books or which ones you recommend. Thanks!

You can find more inspiration over at Ginny's Yarn Along.

Please note: this post contains affiliate links.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Mondays are for Grace


"A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul,...."
Proverbs 13:19

This weekend our family received news that the sabbatical grant our church applied for has been granted! This means we are to be given an all-expense-paid trip to Scotland next summer for six weeks! Can you believe it?! We hardly can. This is a dream come true, something we could never have done on our own. I'm so glad we have a year to think about and plan for this special trip.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Diamond Jubilee Tea Party

We finally had our Diamond Jubilee celebration this week, in the form of a tea party.


I dressed the part, in an outfit I happened to find last weekend at Salvation Army!


Christina brought over all her roses and made magnificent arrangements for the party.


Here are all the fabulous tea cozies!


Some of the yummy treats........


Chocolate cake was a must, complete with bunting!

The table looked so pretty with all the china and glassware.



I managed to find a picture of the Queen.


Christina brought over her Union Jack pillow.


And I pulled out the pillow cover I had found years ago in Scotland for probably less than a dollar. It took me months to figure out that the pillow was for George VI's coronation in 1937. The four countries of the UK are present with their flower.


The punch table greeted guests as they came in the door.


More of Christina's lovely flower arranging!


I just love my tea trolley!!! I'm so thankful to have it!


The bunting made everything look festive.


 Christina made her fascinator. She also spent two days helping me get ready.


This is my favorite picture of all!!! I love it that everyone was in red, white or blue and look at all the hats!!!!!!!


Having people around the table is one of my biggest passions.


We spent the time visiting and chatting all about the Queen -- everyone brought a few facts to share.


Everyone also brought a box or bag of tea and at the end we went around the table and each person chose a package.


Check out these lovely tea tins!!!!

It was a delightful afternoon and we are all looking forward to the Queen continuing her long reign!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Words and Wool

This week on the wool front I've been working hard on my crochet afghan. I do love the colors I'm using and it is relaxing work. 

I also received a surprise package in the mail from Scotland! My friend sent over a beautiful cardigan she knitted for Laura -- isn't it gorgeous!!!! And a ruffly scarf she knitted for me! How exciting. 

And here is the nightstand in its current state. Christina put me onto Nella Last's Peace: The Post-War Diaries Of Housewife, 49 . There are several books in the series and this is the first one I have access to. I love how Nella writes of her everyday life in Post-War Britain.


The only teen fiction books I have ever gotten into are the Flavia de Luce novels by Alan Bradley. This one, I Am Half-Sick of Shadows: A Flavia de Luce Novel, has been rather disappointing so far, mostly because the customary murder did not take place until half way through the book?!! Otherwise, I have gobbled up Bradley's books in the past. (They are set in post-war Britain as well -- um, maybe post WWI?)

Michael is away this week. As usual there is too much to do -- everything I don't get done in the winter I want to get done in the summer, as well as find time to relax. :) But we did just have our Diamond Jubilee celebration and I will post more on that later this week. Now I'm off to begin the task of planning for the next school year.

For more book and knitting ideas hop over to Ginny's for the Yarn Along.

Note: this post contains affiliate links.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Mondays are for Grace


"All Joy reminds.
It is never a possession, always a desire for something long ago
or further away or still 'about to be.'"
--C S Lewis

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Historic Zionsville

Thursday we met up with some friends in Zionsville for an historic tour of the town.


It's crazy to think that the history of white settlers only goes back 200 years in this area when other parts of the world have history going back thousands of years.






We walk past this Friendly Tavern on many of our trips to Zionsville. I never knew that it was originally the carriage works. Carriages were made on the upper level and sold on the lower level.


If you look hard on the upper left of the backside of the building you will see a large bricked over opening -- that is where the finished carriages were taken out of the building and down a long ramp. I never knew......


Original Zionsville is now a parking lot! At least the weekly farmer's market takes place in this parking lot so we are retaining something of the history!


This red building was the lumber store.


Outside of the lumber store was the public water pump with a tin cup for all to share.


This house, which is currently a tea room, belonged to a man who went away to World War II and never made it back. I believe he was killed in action 5 days before the Armistice.


Above these shops was the opera house -- probably more of just a gathering center for performances of many kinds.


The building on the left was the bank and the deposit box is still visible in the corner of the building.


This antique shop used to be a "modern" grocery store. It was the first place in Zionsville to carry Birdseye frozen foods! Incidentally, at one time, Zionsville had 9(!!!) food stores!


The floor above the Eagle Creek Coffee Company used to be used as a sort of public hall for events. The wooden stairs on the outside of the building was the way to the top floor. 


This building, tucked on a back street, was the town hall at one time. It had a basketball court (with building-supporting posts throughout the court), and even an ice rink. It was the center of many activities.


Here are some old photos of the brick street. The bricks are different colors down the center now to show where the street tram ran through. The tram ran between towns and ran on electricity, as opposed to the steam train which had its rails one street to the west.


The Village Clock Shop was the location of the tram stop, where you could buy your tickets and get on the tram.


Next door was the livery stable. You can see that transportation is always a main concern of a town. Zionsville had a tram, the railroad, the livery, and the carriageworks.


The Sanctuary was originally a Methodist church built in the 1850's. It burned down and a Baptist church was erected in its place. One year a monkey escaped from the nearby DOW company and found its way to the top of the church steeple!


There was a short-lived school in Zionsville -- not sure where the school eventually was built after this one.


This was the site of one of the first houses -- someone asked the owner why he built it so far from town (that was when town was down about 2 blocks from this current location).


And this house used to be a hotel.


Many of the buildings in Zionsville have burned down and been rebuilt. Sparks from the train contributed to many fires.  But in the age of wooden buildings and fires for many purposes, fires were far too common.

This fancy place used to be the ice and coal store!!!!


We know this shop because it used to be the Village Yarn Shop. It was originally a butcher shop!


Lincoln Park is built on the site of the railroad depot.


The view from the park shows a not-so-pretty back street. But, this is the route the railroad took through town so it was extremely important.


There is a plaque commemorating Abraham Lincoln's train stop in Zionsville and the fact that his funeral train later passed through the village.


The banker built his house on this site (it burned down).


This is the view from the banker's house. The banker reportedly wanted to be able to see the bank from his house, and there it is.


The new house on the banker's site has these two doors in the side -- for ice and coal!!!!


This is the building the Zionsville library was housed in up until 1994!


The kids found some water to play in....


And then we headed to Lincoln Park for some snacks.


And of course the adults got to visit too.


It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon and many thanks to my friend Alex for organizing the tour!!! It was terrific!

And here's Laura "taking some notes" at the end of the day.

Speaking of Laura, she had her MRI this past Tuesday. Sadly, it showed that the cyst in her head has grown in the last 6 months. This means we need to put off fixing the odd vein on her skull and wait another 6 months to do a further MRI and see if the cyst continues to grow. They have determined the cyst is an endo dermoid cyst which means it is still in the growing phase and is not mature. The question is, how big will it be when it is mature and when will it be fully matured. No one knows at this point so we will just have to wait and see. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for us! Laura is otherwise doing fantastically well!!!