Sharing

Bumblebee and lightning bug sharing the wealth of pollen available from a sunflower. (Photo taken the end of August.)

April Snow! Where Did It Go?

Woke up on April 20, 2021, to several inches of snow that had quietly fallen since midnight.

Here's the same view about eleven hours later!

K--is for Kites

Today is much too windy for flying kites, but thought I might share some kite memories...

It was always fun when Dad would bring home a kite and a roll (spool) of kite string, probably from Shafers' variety store. It arrived as two lightweight joined sticks rolled up with the kite paper, which in my memory was always red. We would carefully unroll the paper, rotate the sticks to form a T, then hook the points of the diamond-shaped paper to the slots in the ends of the sticks. Next we tied a length of kite string to the ends of the shorter cross stick, bowing it up to just the right curve. Another length of string (maybe two feet long?) was tied to the longer stick through a couple of holes poked through the paper a few inches from the top and several inches from the bottom. The roll of kite string was securely tied toward the top of this string. A tail of old nylon stockings attached to the bottom was the finishing touch.

Then, it was time to go to a pasture at the edge of our small town and go fly a kite! If the launch was successful, the kite would soar up and up as the string unrolled in your hand! One had to watch as the string came closer to being completely unrolled, to be sure it was attached to the core of the roll. Otherwise the kite could take off on its own for parts unknown! When it was time to head home, the string was wound back up on the spool. This took considerably more time than letting it out! More than once I may or may not have been late getting home before the six o'clock whistle blew!

At some point we bought kite string winders, but even that took awhile, especially if we had combined more than one spool of string for reaching even higher heights with our simple paper kites.

Now, the kites we take out are most likely to be the two- or even four-lined stunt kites that I previously wrote about on this page. But the fun of those first kites, and the family and friends with whom I made and flew them, remains!

J--is for Joy

It's always a JOY when we're with the grandkids! Here they are at ages 6,5,4,3,2,1,0, 0. I love how their ages line up in order that way! (even though it only does that for approximately a week each year)

I wasn't sure we'd be able to get a photo this year with all the restrictions, etc., but it worked out that we could all meet for a couple of hours earlier this month.

Previously posted ABCs:

Apple, Blog, Cornflakes Candy, Cantata and Christmas, Draw This,  EEEEE, Family, Gum Ball Machine, HIE, Iris

I-is for Iris

Yes, I'm still here, living life with all of its up and downs, ever grateful for the solid rock of Jesus Christ through it all. I don't know how people manage without His strength. I know that some of the stuff we've dealt with since I last posted was only manageable through his grace. I also know that the blessings we've received during this time were also only through his grace!

The "Scribble Picnic" art cooperative I was part of came to an end last year. It did a good job of keeping me posting fairly regularly. Maybe I need to get back to using a theme. Hmm... I started going through the alphabet a few years back. Guess I'll try to continue with that. And who knows--maybe I'll pick up my colored pencils and throw in a scribble now and then!

Here's a bouquet of some of the iris, and a few roses, we gathered from around the yard last evening.

I give B. credit for getting them planted years ago. In fact, it looks like I did a post about all the varieties we had back in 2008. This link will take you there if you're interested in seeing them. Iris from 2008

Previously posted ABCs:

Apple, Blog, Cornflakes Candy, Cantata and Christmas, Draw This,  EEEEE, Family, Gum Ball Machine, HIE

Pieces of my Heart

Earlier this month a new piece of my heart was claimed when Grandchild #6 was born. He and the other five have taken up residence there, but as you can see, there's still plenty of room for more! God has blessed us!

Linking with Scribble Picnic, where this week's theme is Hearts.

Just a Few

I wanted to get a quick sketch done to join in on Scribble Picnic's “A Few of My Favorite Things” theme, especially since I missed the last theme. The key word there is “quick”! 

Of course there are many other things that are also "favorites"–family, chocolate, the sky, fuzzy blankets...–but this is plenty for now! If you're interested, you can click back on these links to previous drawings or posts related to these favorites of mine.

Mail

Cats, cats, cats

Crochet

Music, music

Bible

Basket

See what the favorites of others at the Picnic are by going here.

Picnic in a Forest

It's a picnic in a forest – a Scribble Picnic that is! Thought I'd play with some watercolors this time. You can take a hike into other forests here.

Other painting I did today involved latex paint. Helped our youngest daughter paint a bedroom in anticipation of a new family member in February! What color? A nice neutral green!

(Note to Andrea if you stop by:  I've left comments on your last several posts, but nothing shows up.  If you go to "Settings" then "Posts, comments and sharing" maybe something was accidentally selected that prevents comments from getting to your posts. Or maybe your notification email address has changed? Might be worth checking anyway.)

Double Bubble Double Trouble

     Do you remember chewing pink bubble gum and making those fantastic bubbles? It was even more fun if your brother or a friend was doing so at the same time. Then the challenge began... who could blow the biggest bubble? Of course, eventually, someone's huge bubble would reach the bursting point with a sudden jolt! Somehow it wasn't nearly as much fun when you had to peel it off your face!

     We usually went with Bazooka gum, since from 1953–2011 it included a Bazooka Joe comic strip! The other brand of choice was Dubble Bubble. Now that spelling of double bothers me, but I probably didn't even notice as a kid. 

     Double your fun by going here, where others are also linking up with Scribble Picnic for this week's "Jolt" or "Double" theme.

Tiny Bottles

     

     Over the years I've come across a handful of small bottles that caught my eye. Some were found half buried, for who knows how long, in the ground around our farm house. Some just showed up in our belongings, perhaps from our parents' things, or again–who knows? I know the original contents of a few, but not all. There's a newer bottle that held liquid garlic; one was probably aspirin tablets; another still has some powder that looks like foundation; and the little one on the left was for Sweet Oil "For Earache". I don't know what the chipped and cracked bottle with the star on it is. But when drawing it for Scribble Picnic's bottle theme, and looking at it more closely, it looks like it might have the letters VRM in the center of it.

     I was too late to link at the picnic last time, but if you care to check out the chicken scribble I posted it's at this link.  See what others at the picnic have poured onto their drawing paper this week here.