Sugar Sprinkled Trees.

Mr. Groundhog was correct, looks like six more weeks of winter! On Groundhogs Day it was spring like, in fact I did a bit of work in my flower garden, the next morning we were having snow! I must admit I do not mind the snow, it makes everything look pretty. I do not like driving if the roads are icy and snow covered though.

My granddaughter, who lives in Florida really wants to come to visit when we have snow so she can play in it; my great-nieces and nephews would love to see snow as well since they also live in Florida. I wish I could pack it up and send it to them, but for now they will just have to look at it in pictures of the back yard. Our pug does not mind the snow.

A*B*C* and D, do you want to play a game with me?

1. Linda at Behind My Red Door was playing a game where you are given a letter and you have to name 10 things that you love that begin with this letter. Linda had the letter "R", which as she pointed out was great because her last name starts with R. Linda gave my the letter "D". Connie at Connecticut Log Cabin also played along and she had the letter "L". I know that there are others that also played this game and if you go to Linda's blog (Which I know you will enjoy as well as Connie's) you can see where she was given a letter.
   
   So, here are my 10 items that begin with the letter "D" in random order.

♥ My DAUGHTER-#1 that came to my mind, we have our mother-daughter differences, but I love her dearly and I am very proud of her! She is my only girl and is and will always be my "baby-girl".

♥ Dog-Our pug Zoebean, a/k/a Beanie, she is a comical little dog, very kind and loving and well behaved. She does not know that she is a dog though, she thinks she is a human and we let her think so, she is much loved by all of the family! About a year ago we were told she has a tumor in her bladder, she is doing well and is still her old self!

♥ Decorating-I love to take care of my home and enjoy decorating it for different seasons and holiday. I am so thankful that I have a home that we own and I take pride in keeping it looking nice inside and outside. Now, when it comes to moving stuff around as often as I do, my husband does not say anything, only to leave his den alone. . .that is his domain.

♥ Day Trips-we enjoy taking little day trips and my one regret is that I leave my camera at home, we have started taking more day trips and I try to remember to put the camera with my keys before we head out the door. We enjoy going to antique shops, eating at different little out of the way places, and you never know what you can come across while on these outings, like the time we found an antique shop with my last name. We also like to bring our travel Raggedy Ann doll that I made if the trip will be further, she is our travel Annie. . .when we had car trouble driving home last November I was so happy to have her to hold onto, somehow she gave us a sense of comfort, I guess as I am getting older maybe I am getting younger. . .she is like a security blanket!

♥ Dolls-I love to make my style Raggedy Ann dolls along with EFA Dolls and other cloth dolls and I love to collect special little dolls that tug at my heart strings. I have always loved dolls, after my daughter was born I was happy because right away I thought when she grew up we could collect and sew for dolls together, it never happened, she is not a doll lover, when she was very young the way she played with dolls was by cutting off their hair and making them swing out the window on strings. . .having 4 brothers could have been the reason why!

♥ Dishes- old dishes and new dishes, I love the patterns on old dishes and enjoy collecting old plates.

♥ Dairy Farms-I grew up on a dairy farm and I must admit I love visiting farms, I love the farm animals, but I do not LOVE the smells that comes from a farm! I love dairy cows and if I could go back in time for about 20 years I would love to own a mini farm.

♥ Daisies-I love daisies, one of my favorite flowers, I love all types of flowers, but wild flowers and flower gardens that look like they just happened are my favorites. The daisies in my flower garden did not do well last year, I hope this year they come back healthier.

♥ Disney-Yes, I love Disney, but what I love about Disney is spending the time there with my grown children and my grandchildren. I have been to Disneyland once, thanks to my son and his wife, when they lived in Seattle I flew to CA and they met me there and we went to Disneyland with my grandson. My DIL, Katherine, is the one who got me hooked on Disney. We are trying to plan a trip for late fall, Disney and Universal. I love to be with my grandchildren there. I also like to collect the Disney antenna toppers and I love Mickey Mouse and Daisy Duck! One is never to old for Disney. The first time my mother went she was in her seventies, she went with my brother and his sons, they live near Orlando. When my mother came back from her visit she talked about Disney World for months. I also love all the details that are in the parks, the little touches on the buildings. I do not, however do rides and sometimes the crowds can get to be too much, but I still love Disney!

♥ Deer-as long as they stay away from my flower beds. We have deer in our back yard year round, in the spring it is nice to see the fawns. Only a few times they had a party and ate some of my flowers, now I sometimes make my own deer away plant concoction or buy stuff ready made. I also will feed them apples. I enjoy all that nature offers, not just the deer, but all wildlife.

So, that is it. . .my Letter D. . .and I also love

♥ Dunkin Donuts Coffee and the cream filled Donuts!

If you wish to play along I will now give you a letter, if you do play, please let me know so I can come visit you.

AND THE LETTER IS: THE LETTER "A" Have fun! Wishing you A great day.

Groundhog's Day

Happy Groundhog's Day!

Late this morning I went out to take the trash can to the curb. The sun was shining and the sky was blue and the air was WARM. It felt so nice, it was almost 60 degrees. I made my way over to my flower bed to see if I could find any signs of little green sprouts. Sure enough, there were a few and that got me motivated to do a bit of garden work. Then, all of a sudden I saw my shadow, OMG, I realized that we had 6 more weeks of winter and that I had projects waiting for me inside. I would have time to work in my garden in the coming months.


I had started to make a cake so I had to finish that. I do not know what went wrong, but it is not moist and I had to fight with it to get it out of the bundt pan. Maybe it wanted to bake for 6 more weeks! I used a recipe that my Mother-in-Law had given me and never had a problem before. It taste good, just too dry, so it reminds me of dirt, therefore I am calling it a Groundhog Burrow Cake! With a scoop of ice-cream or berries on top helps to make it moist.


I also wanted to play around with my new sideboard in the kitchen. I had seen one several months ago and did not buy it, when I had the money to get it, well, it had been sold. I have been looking and looking for a long time to find the right piece for the right price. On Saturday I had my outing solo, my husband had things he wanted to take care of at home and I also had to buy groceries. I went to the grocery store near Home Goods, my favorite place to shop for things for the home. In the back of the store they had a white sideboard, it is similar to what I had seen before so I bought it. The price was right and the look was right for my kitchen. I played around with displays on it, not sure if I like the way it looks, but for now it will do, there is always tomorrow!


I hope everyone had a wonderful day, and just think Spring is right around the corner.

My Dad-For My Family-To Remember Him

My apple napkin holder hand carved by Dad for me 40 years ago. I use this everyday!A trunk made by my Dad, my sister and I shared this for storage of sweaters,

after I was married and had my children it became a toy box and now

I use it to store seasonal displays for my family room. It is near my fireplace.

My Mom and Dad, this was just before I was born, the original photo was taken in 1947~!

My Dad working behind the counter at Quimby's Lodge/Inn in Vermont.The cover of the issue of the Vermonter where they had the article about my Dad and the bear. The article and a photo of Quimby's Lodge/Inn. A photo of my Dad and my oldest brother, with the bear.Quimby's Lodge and Inn, I took this when we went to visit two years ago, it has never changed. . .you can see in the photo of the article. Then we moved to New York, this was our farm house and my Dad, I still remember sitting on that front porch! This photo was taken right after he purchased the farm, he sent the photo to Miss Quimby and they kept it all these years in their photo albums.
My Dad's bank book, the last entry was July 16, my birthday, we then moved to New Jersey. The last amount was $50.00.

The first entry.My son with a black bear, in the summer he works in Minnesota with bears!~
The photo is dark, but you can see a bear on the left.

Today would have been my Dad's 106th birthday. I remember the day my Mom called to tell me that he had passed away, we had just moved to another state and I was thankful that I had been able to go home and visit him before he left us. He loved cardinals, they were one of his favorite birds, after my Mom told me that my Dad had passed away I looked out the window and sitting in a large pine tree with boughs heavy with snow was a bright red cardinal and he seemed to look at me and then flew away. Seeing the bird made the pain easier to deal with, I knew my Dad was in peace.

He could put a stick into the dirt and a plant would grow, he had a really green thumb and enjoyed gardening. He also was a woodworker and carved scenes of Vermont where my family once lived and he worked. One of his wood carvings won an Honorable Mention at an art show in Princeton, NJ. He was so happy and we were all so proud. I learned to use tools, garden and do 'man's work by hanging around my father.

Our family left Vermont to move to Cazenovia, NY, where my Dad bought a diary farm, I loved living there. For me it was my own personal adventure park, but it was a lot of hard work for others in the family. I have his bank book from when we lived there, it shows the first deposit made on February 23, 1951. The last entry, which happened to be on my birthday, was on July 16, 1956! Our income was from the sale of milk. My brothers had all enlisted in the Army and running the farm was too much for my Dad alone, so we moved to New Jersey where he worked at Walker Gordon Farms. He loved New York State and Vermont and he would call it "God's Country", for many years after we moved to NJ we would vacation to Vermont and Canada, in Canada we would visit my Mom's family.

He was sort of a folk hero in Vermont where he worked at Quimby's Lodge/Inn as a jack-of-all-trades, a fishing guide, he worked behind the counter selling tackle and fishing stuff and souvenirs, he helped care for the horses in the stables and doing whatever, wherever he was needed. There was a bear that had become a problem and was trying to get into the cottages, getting into garbage and then after the bear startled a horse throwing the rider to the ground the owner of the Inn, Miss Quimby, asked my Dad to kill the bear and he did with one shot. He was written about in the Vermonter and was a hero at Quimby's and in the villages around the area. Two years ago I went there to visit and the Inn has not changed, I was about 14 when I last was there with my Dad and Mom. It was strange going back, the new owner let me take photos of photos from the many photo albums they had. It was like going back in time and getting to visit with my Dad once again. The truth be told, he told us years later he never wanted to kill the bear, but he also felt if someone did get hurt he would have felt responsible. Now, many years later, my son goes to college in Vermont, about 40 miles from where my life first began. He has always had an interest in bears; in the summer, he works with bears! He is studying their habits and feels a bond with them. . .funny how life can take you down a road where it runs parallel with times of long ago.

My Dad may have been a hero for many because he shot a bear, but he was a hero to all of us. . .he taught us the meaning of working hard for what you need, to care for what you own, to respect others and be kind and caring. He would say that you do not have to enter a church to pray, that you can pray where ever you are and he said he felt the closest to God when he worked in his flower gardens. He was a loving Dad and I still think of him everyday.

Happy Birthday to my Dad

Love,

PS-I am not a sports fan, but I am hoping the Arizona Cardinals win the Super Bowl, just because of their name. . .Cardinals!