70

 I start a new decade today.  Where have all those years gone, the older I get the quicker they go by.  I have so much I want to do I best get busy.

I sit and think of all the things that have happened in my life.  Being born in the 50's there were so many things women could not do.  We could not attend a lot of colleges and depending on the degree you wanted you could not.  There were so many jobs we would not be hired for.  I had to have my dad co-sign for a house and car in the 70's.  I could not wear pants to school until I was a Senior (and they had to be slacks, NO blue jeans).  

I saw the first man walk on the moon.  We did not have cell phones, computers, no Kindle or I-Pad or any of those electronic devices. There was no cable TV, we had an antenna with 3 channels and TV went off the air from midnight to 6am.  TV was black and white.  We got our first color TV when I was in Junior High and my grandma came and bought it for us.  We did not have processed food growing up and therefore we did not have a lot of the diseases we do today.  

We had a Blue Law, nothing but emergency facilities were open on Sunday.  We got up and mom popped the roast in the oven before we left for church.  Sunday School and church and then home to eat that roast (which lasted for several meals during the week) (I really do not like pot roast now).  We did nothing on Sundays, maybe a nap, reading, and then back to church that evening.  Stores were not open on holidays, you could not go to the movies, etc. 

Doors were not locked, purses were left in the car when women went in the store, they took out the money they needed and it was still there intact when they got back to the car.  Families had one car because the mom did not work outside the home.  

As kids we played outside as much as we could.  When the streetlights came on we better be home or else we got a spanking. Yes we got spanked and I think we are the better for it.  None of this time out crap.  We rode bikes, roller skated, drank from the hose and had adventures that were beyond any book we could read or vacation we could go on.  

New Year's Eve there was a couple on the block who could not have kids and Peter Pan was on the TV every NYE.  They had all the kids over for snacks and the movie in case our parents wanted to go out.  It was so much fun.  I never had a babysitter.  

We had a telephone that was hung on the wall.  We had party lines, you carefully picked up the phone to see if one of the parties that shared your line was on.  Sometimes you had to wait a while to make your call. Also long distance cost extra, but it was cheaper on weekends and after 7pm.   

 I feel sorry for kids today they are not taught to think for themselves, grow their brain, build an imagination that they could do anything, etc.  We were never bored there was too much outside to play in.  

These are some of the parts of my childhood I wish we could back to.  Life was simple but it was good.  I plan on making this decade a good one because I do not have too many left.   

 

Orb and the Pepper Tree

 This morning I wake up and Orb has 2 webs, he was very busy overnight.  One has food the other is attached to the bird feeder, I hope the birds don't destroy it before he undoes it.  The webs are beautiful.  Not sure what the gobs of stuff are unless he stopped and still spewed silk.  And where does all that silk reside in his small body.  Nature is just amazing.

My pepper plant continues to bloom and produce. I think it thinks it is a tree.

 

The Flag

 I have finally finished the flag.  I will take it in next week to be quilted and then home to finish the binding and hang it.  I am glad it is done. While I loved the project and it was a huge challenge, I loved every minute of it.  Would I make it again, yep I would, but not right now.

 I found some red poppy fabric in my stash that will be the back of it.  In the lower right there is a red piece with a heartbeat and initials.  The initial are to honor my dad who spanned the end of WWII and into the Korean War.  The heartbeat is for my niece who works in the medical field.  I wanted it to somehow encompass the 2 most important people in my life into it.  I would imagine there is around 150 pieces in it and about that many hours.  

There is a border around the flag in a light cream with gold shapes and black dots.  It is very subtle so as not to overpower the flag.  You can not really see it but it does finish the edges and make it easy to finish.  

 I am not real happy with the flag pole but at this point I do not know what to do with it, so I will just leave it. 

Isn't this what retirement is for?

 

Jesus Died at 33

 

Jesus died at 33. The human spine has 33 vertebrae. The same structure that holds us up is the same number of years He held this Earth.

We have 12 ribs on each side. 12 disciples. 12 tribes of Israel. God built His design into our bones. He wrote Heaven into our anatomy.

The vagus nerve runs from your brain to your heart and gut. It calms storms inside the body. It looks just like a cross. That’s the power source running through us. Every time your body heals, every time your heart slows in prayer, every time peace shows up when it shouldn’t…that’s Him.

Jesus rose on the third day. Science tells us that when you fast for 3 days, your body starts regenerating. Old cells die. New ones are born. Healing begins. Your body literally resurrects itself. That’s not coincidence. That’s design.

And it keeps going.

Your heart has an electrical rhythm. Your brain lights up when you pray. Tears contain different chemicals depending on if you're crying from joy or grief. The blood speaks. The bones store memory. The body worships whether you realize it or not.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are walking prophecy. Walking tabernacles. Dust and divinity in one.

God didn’t just create you. He carved Himself into you.

You don’t need to look far to find Him. You just need to look inward. He’s been in the design since the beginning.

Orb Weavers

Last night I looked out to see if my feral had come up for one last feeding before dark.  I noticed a small spider building a web from my gutter to the bird feeder stand.  I pulled up a chair and watched it go back and forth and up and down.  It was too dark to see the web but I knew what was happening.

This morning I got up and looked to see if the web was built and there were various bugs suspended in air, caught in the web.  About 3 hours later when it was daylight I went out to get some picture and nothing was left but the one thread connecting the gutter and bird feeder stand.  

So of course I had to some research and found out Orb Weavers do this.  What a lot of work to build a beautiful web only to tear it down just to catch food.  I am anxious to see if it happens again tonight.

 I did wake up the other morning to find a connector thread in my kitchen from one cabinet to the ceiling light. I never saw a web built though.  Maybe there were not enough bugs in the kitchen to trap which for me is a good thing.

 Nature never ceases to amaze me.  They are a pretty little spider.  I always name all mine Charlotte. So I hope Charlotte number ????? stays around.  

 

The Flag

 So the flag is done but for adding the background and having it quilted.  The quilt shop will quilt it in a wavy pattern like the flag is waving.  I have to say this really stretched me and if I ever did it again there are so many things I would do differently. Mostly get a flat light board to better draw all those pieces.  I am happy with it, well not real thrilled with the flag pole but I got a less busy piece of fabric hoping the flag shines over it.  I am using red poppies for the back.  

My biggest problem is where to hang it. I have 24 windows which does not lend to me having a lot of wall space and my living room with 2 large walls is painted terra cotta orange. However I am going to hang it in the living room cos it needs to be seen.

So here is my progress so far.

 

 

Garden, Caterpillar and BigBoy

 I finally found a caterpillar this week, it was just kind of hanging on the milkweed, so I scooped it up and brought it in with a milkweed leaf.  You can see the black spot by its back and in the morning it was all black.  Finally I have a caterpillar and something got to it.  It is buried under the Red Bud tree.

 Not sure what BigBoy was doing. He often sits like that on the couch, cats are funny.

The Banana Pepper plant is going crazy and there are some that will be ready to pick in a few days, it has tons of blooms.

I had my first and second and third cherry tomato this week and both plants are loaded.

I love the purple petunias, they look like velvet.

 The safflower is blooming under the bird feeders,  It drops and grows, and there are thorns like crazy around the flower part.

The plants I brought from inside are doing great.

The deer must have been up the other night and helped themselves to my Sunflowers.  This plant jsut showed up, must have been the squirrels carried it there.   

 

Dear Joann's

 I have received your email twice now telling me about Michael's picking up a lot of the things you used to sell.  And oh look a 50% off coupon on ONE thing regular price.  Did you get a look at the exclusions, there are more things excluded than there are in the store. Michael's started doing this with their coupons eons ago and it never got me in the store. I think I was last in one pre-COVID.  Their prices are more expensive, their sales aren't that great when you consider the regular price and they tend to have more framing and silk flowers than anything else.  

I can not imagine buying fabric and yarn online when I can not see or touch it.  Yes I have bought yarn online but only from a store I was very familiar with their products.  

I want to know if Michael's is going to offer the Big Twist yarn at the same price and have the same sales Joann's did.  Probably not.  

I will stick with Hobby Lobby even though they now sell bedding, really why?  If you are a craft store stick with the crafts, I can buy the other stuff cheaper somewhere else.  

Good thing my basement (aka my craft room) is well stocked, so perhaps I will use up what I have and forgo the online shopping.

 

Happy 100th

 Yesterday I attended a birthday at church of our oldest member.  Vernon was 100.  I have never been to a 100th party before.  His whole family was there but his wife. She has passed a few years ago and it was just him and his cat.   Half our church was there as well.  The night before one of the news channels did a little item about him and when I was talking to him a reporter was taking notes, she had pages.

Vernon has had an amazing life so far.  He was part of the team that drew the map for the state of Alaska from an airplane when it became a state.  He retired from the military and went on to teach school and be a scout leader.  His kids are all military as well as some grandkids.

I would often sit him at Fellowship after church, it was as if my dad was still alive.  He has not been doing well lately and has not been to church for a while but yesterday he was as sharp as ever and having the time of his life.

People like him need to be celebrated before they are all gone.  I asked him if he thought he would ever live this long and he said his first goal was 75, then to see the turn of the century and next year he was going to start all over again and turn 1.   

Happy Birthday Vernon, you definitely need to be celebrated.  Thanks for sharing your life with our little church, we are blessed to have you as a member.   

Garden

 The garden is really pretty right now, plenty of rain, could use some sun and everything is vibrant and growing like the weeds.  I have tomatoes like crazy and the pepper is growing fast and has blooms.  I love this time of year when it is all pretty and green.  And there is a ton of catnip this year too.

 

 

I Must Have Fallen and Hit My Head

 I took a collage class at a local quilt shop (The Fabric Chic).  Well actually I took it 3 times before the light bulb came on.  I admit this is my new addiction.  You take a picture and re-create it from fabric and other embellishments.  It is not for the faint of heart but it is fun. My Rooster took me 50 hours and it just needs to be framed now.

I have a list of Laura Heinle patterns I want to make.  I was at my monthly work day there and was going to work on the zinnia.  I found a charm pack in my stash and thought how pretty would this be, batiks of blue, aqua, purple, yellow, and pinks.  Well I started to lay them out and it was just not working, and my brain was not in the mood to deal with it.

So I went to the shop and none of the fabric jumped out at me.  Ok Oh look the flag pattern is in, on my list of to makes.  I got it and started picking out fabric to get me going for the day.  As I was having fabric cut the employee said you know there will be a class for this, wait what?  Ok sign me up not ready yet.  Ok I will be watching for it.  3 days later I was the first to sign up.  I got home and opened up the pattern and went to my stash to get more fabric.  

After realizing there was a class and not wanting to start the flag, I had noticed this very pretty red/white/blue quilt and thought why not do a red/white/blue zinnia for the 4th, so I found enough fabric to do that. I got all my pieces cut out and now I need to sit down and put the pieces together.

Holy Crap what did I do?  Can I do this.  Of course I can cos after all I made the Alice Starmore Water Lily sweater.  There are about 100 pieces of fabric melded together and pencils to do some shading and words and stars and flowers overlaid and it is a 2 1/2 day class.  As you can see each stripe is several small pieces of fabric. 

I have been collecting supplies and this is not going to be a cheap class, I may need a part time summer job to pay for it.  

I need a challenge and something to settle my mind right now and this will be it, may take all summer but the hard part will be finding a place to put in my house, after all it needs its own wall.

 

Iron District

 I finally got to the Iron District. They have a sourdough bakery.  They used to have classes, will keep checking to see if they offer them again. I got the regular sourdough loaf and the flavor of the day was Parmesan/Black pepper.  The flavor of the day would make great grilled cheese sandwiches.  I just slathered mine with butter.

The Iron District is a group of small container cars.  Each decorated differently.  Most are eating places with a jewelry store and clothing store.  It sits on a corner of a long block with empty cars to add more places.  There are picnic tables in the middle.  Unfortunately they do not open til 11 so I had to go downtown to the art supply store and hit it first as I need supplies for my Flag collage (more on this in another post).

 https://irondistrictnkc.com/north-kansas-city-iron-district-about

It has some food that I have no idea what it is but it all smelled good. DId I mention there is an ice cream place, a place that serves wine and snacks, burgers, a bar, etc.  If you are even in town check it out in NKC.  And then go to The Rabbit Hole, the museum about children's books.

Spring Garden

 Well it is Mothers day so we can plant now, even though we have had snow on Mothers Day before.  Some of these come back every year so I have no control over them.

I did plant some zinnia, calendula, and other flower seeds today.

I love these purple violets in the yard, just a splash of color. I also have white ones and clover and of course those yellow flowers.

Catnip anyone, the cats are happy and Licorice will spending a lot of time out there enjoying his garden.

These are pots I wintered inside, 2 geraniums, vinca and xmas cactus

My meadow sage (purple) comes back every year, the swallowtail love it, but it only blooms once.   There is a tomato in the back that has blooms on it and my milkweed is about to bloom by the sage. 

The whiskey barrel has a tomato plant blooming and in the top of the picture is my salvia.  

Lets see what they look like come August.