Friday Five (Links)

 

Hi Friends! For today's five I thought I'd share some links to things that interest me.

1. www.davidaustinroses.com

By far my favorite English Roses. Thankfully I have a local nursery that stocks David Austin roses.

2. Essential Oils - I diffuse them daily, use them in my skin care routine, use them for sleep support.

I'm also trying out a cbd muscle rub, Tim uses supplements from them, and I've bought a few calming oils to use when the grands are here!  I use Young Living, and if you are interested in trying something contact me, and I'll help you get started.

3. George News - www.george.news  

This is a news website that I find interesting. I follow them on Telegram, and they have a YT channel as well, where they host live chats for followers and share other interesting videos. (a lot of them are military videos, such as the B2 bomber flying, or planes refueling in air.)

4. Old World Design Society - Angela Reed of Parisienne Farmgirl blog has launched a seasonal society that includes a magazine (only digital issues are available now), a private FB group, and a few other perks.  I joined and let me tell you, that I am really enjoying it. The FB group is amazing for inspiration from other society members as well as Angela, the magazine is really nice, too. Old World design is not just one style, but it is beautiful and being a fan of English Country style, it is right up my alley.  Angela also hosts a podcast with Shaye Elliot of the Elliot Homestead, and they also both have YT channels with beautiful videos.

5. The Daily Connoisseur - Jennifer Scott has delightful videos for living, caring for your home, wardrobe ideas, meal planning. She has monthly videos talking of an artist or author, interesting things to keep us learning. 

I am headed out with Tim to meet his brother, sister in law, and niece for breakfast. They are home from Africa for some meetings, and we have to take advantage of the opportunities to see each other when we can.

I hope you enjoy the links, and let me know of others than you may follow that would be of similar interests, etc.  I love learning new things!

Around The House

 

I love creating beauty in my home, it makes me happy.

This lamp with this mirror, especially in the evenings, is especially lovely to me.

A hyacinth from Aldi brings beauty and scent to our kitchen, and is a sign of spring to come.

However, no house is perfect nor are my photos. In the bedroom, there is an extra pillow tucked along the wall next to the bed. In the living room, with the beautiful lamp and mirror, is dust and a plant that's too big for the cool basket it's in. And behind the hyacinth are jackets on the backs of chairs.

Real life in a real house that is lived in by real people.

I hope you are encouraged to live a beautifully real life! Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Tea on Tuesday

 

One of my girls gave me this beautiful china mug a few years ago. Usually if I drink hot tea in the morning, or hot chocolate at night, I use this mug.  I don't allow people to use it for coffee, because I don't want the mug to get a coffee taste to it.  I have plenty of other nice coffee mugs they can use!

Do you drink tea?

My favorites are Irish Breakfast, Yorkshire Gold, Lyon's, Barry's. I like chai, and really like a chai latte. I like Paris tea by Harney and Sons, I like a London Fog, which is made with Earl Grey. I love Chamomile. My tastes keep growing and I've even had a few green teas, that I enjoyed. 

I really like this quote by Chaim Potok - 

" Come, let us have some tea, and continue to talk of happy things."

Weekend

 We had a very nice weekend.  On Saturday, the guys helped move Lindsay and Joseph's baby grand piano from my parents house to their house. Joseph's uncle (who is a professional piano tuner/piano mover) had all the gear required other than the muscle! That's where my guys came into the picture!

 

In the video you see our son Nate with Tim on the back of the piano (the heaviest part) and our sons in law Wes and Joseph up front with Joseph's uncle. Lindsay is there too, holding a strap and Nate's jackets.  It was hot work moving it upstairs from the lower level of the house, but then heading outside it was freezing cold! Tim said it was super easy getting it into Lindsay and Joseph's house!

Proud of them all.

In the afternoon my parents came over for a visit. We had lunch together, talked and talked, and they got home before dark.

L and J gave us an electric fireplace/tv stand that was in their house when they bought it.  Tim brought it home and we did some quick rearranging and viola'! We like it. We can use the flame setting without the heat, which is a really nice feature. We won't be putting the tv here but it's a nice surface for a lamp, a book and a cup of something hot!

I have a prayer request for a friend of ours, her name is Sue. She fell down the last four steps into their basement yesterday. Our friend Denny was at their house, and he said she fell hard. She hit face first, broke her nose, gashed her forehead, has some cracked vertibrae. She also broke both wrists. She is in her late 60's. She and her husband both have health issues, he has some serious ones, and she is going to have to be in a rehab place for some time. If you'd lift up Sue and her husband John and ask for healing, and wisdom. There is a lot of both needed.

Thanks so much. 

Not much else happening here. Well, that's not true. It's snowing again. Five inches due today.  

I think we'll have our fireplace going and be cozy.

Snowy Pattern And Some Thoughts

 We are in quite the snowy pattern.  Our normal winters are not this snowy, and while we haven't had huge accumulations, getting anywhere from 2-6ish inches every week is a lot for our area.

Tim was away at a training seminar all day yesterday, but this guy took care of the driveway.

Remember how I said, just a few days ago that spring was on the way?  It really is.  Next week we're going to have temps in the 40's and on Wednesday its going to be nearly 50 degrees! That's how I know for sure that the season is turning. We'll have more snow still, at least that's what my weather app says, and some cold days, too. However winters' days are waning.  I'm ready, are you?

On another note - have you heard about Pastor James Coates of Alberta Canada?  He's been arrested for holding church services.  There is an article {here}that tells about the church and their decision to meet, and {here}is an article about his arrest.  Please pray.

We have to decide just how much our governments can demand of us.  If we take precautions and quarantine the vulnerable, the majority of people should be allowed to go about their normal daily lives.

If the Super Bowl can have people attend, and protests can have thousands, why can't churches meet?  The church involved in this had no cov*d deaths of their congregation, but they have had a member die because they couldn't get their cancer treatments due to cov*d regulations.

People everywhere should be concerned. Today it is covid, tomorrow what will it be? Many countries have been very totalitarian with their lockdowns.  At one point in Australia you were not allowed to go out to exercise or even to walk your dog. In Germany, they can forcibly remove you from your own home if you have cov*d.  

It's all madness, and where does it end?  

Spring Is Coming

 I know that for much of our nation we are having very cold temperatures, and last night I went out to our co-op meeting and I nearly froze! The mild daytime temps had fled and the wind had picked up and it was sooo cold!

 However, in the last week or so the birds have become a lot more vocal, we've seen the sun again (at least for a brief time) today, our creek is running with more water in it. Right now I can hear the birds chirping outside.

I've begun to make small changes in the house to reflect the changing of the seasons. After all the seasonal changes come on slowly at first, then we become more aware of the signs of change, and then one day we know we are in the new season.  That's how I'm approaching my spring decor this year.

I put my white matelasse bedspread on our bed, and added these pretty pillowcases that Rachel gave me.

It's brightened up the room, and given it a quick refresh.

I turned the pages in my Edith Holden book "The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady." I keep this book on the small bookcase at the end of our hallway.  

I've begun to take down faux winter greens from my table centerpiece, and today the greens and ribbon above the countertop will come down.  I think I will use grapevine garland and maybe some faux ivy.

I wanted to show you my waxed frames. It has added just a touch of sheen, and I like it.

I've hung them back up in the bedroom for now.  The black frames enhance these watercolors beautifully!

So, while I know we have a month of cold temps ahead of us, have hope my friends.

"That is one good thing about this world... There are always sure to be more springs."  L.M. Montgomery

Spring is about renewal, and I sense a renewal coming in many arenas of life.  I love to see God at work. 

 

Tea On Tuesday

 

I've been out of the habit of posting tea related posts on Tuesdays, but I hope to change that.  Some of the best times I've had have been over a cup of tea, whether at a tea shop, a tea party I've hosted, or just drinking a cuppa while my husband read in the evenings to our family. (We read through several good book series together which was fun!)

I've thought that I could do a tea related post and we could chat together in the comments. Wouldn't that be fun?

Weekend

 

We had a nice weekend, I hope you did, too. 

Friday, Tim had an inspection and then he and I went to a local cafe (Amish owned) and had lunch.  

We were chatting about a conversation I'd had with of our our daughters, which he found funny, so he was texting her to tease her.

He's still so handsome!

I've been reading lite fiction to counter all the stress of our nation right now.  I read The Enchanted Barn, last weekend and started The Substitute Guest at the end of the week.  Didn't read much this weekend but this is my favorite Grace Livingston Hill book.

I like to keep my hands busy so I started a new cowl in soft greys, pinks, and red.

I couldn't watch the impeachment trial in the Senate this past week, though I kept up with it and watched clips. It makes me sick to see the hatred people have for 45. It's based on lies and it's irrational.  Its shocking to see that someone who comes from outside politics is the one who really does things for the people of our nation and politicians from both parties don't like him for it.  They want to destroy him because he knows their secrets.

We've really become awakened to the fact that our politicians don't really serve us, they serve those who put them in office (financially) and they serve themselves.  So much of foreign aid money gets laundered back to them.  It's so corrupt, I'm not sure how it could be fixed.

Maybe if we actually ran the country according to the Constitution we might actually get serve the people of our great nation.

I will go on record here to say that I thought Trumps lawyers did a great job. They didn't have lie or manipulated information.  They didn't have to rely on hearsay.  They just showed the full truth.  The media has been so bad in manipulating the narrative, by only showing clips of statements 45 made.  For the first time many people actually got to see the whole of speeches etc, that 45 gave and prove that the media had worked to give the impression of something else.

We need to continue to pray for our nation.  I believe that God is not done with us yet.  I also know that all over our nation are freedom loving, peaceful supporters of the president. 

I hope that whatever your weather is like, you are safe, well, and warm.  Our friends in Texas are really in a cold weather pattern!

Let's make this a good week, and encourage one another, and as I heard someone say recently, "Let's not be our brothers' keeper, let's be our brothers' brother."

Friday Five

 

Five photos that have been on the blog before.  Celebrating Valentine's Day and Love.

source

source

We are in for more snow tomorrow. We are in a very snowy pattern right now, and I'd be happy to be done with it.  Tim does septic inspections and having to walk through snowy yards, and dig through snow to find the tank lid, and probe through snow to find the drain fields makes his hard work all the harder!  

I hope your weekend is a good one. We have no plans at this point but that's kind of our way! Lol!  

Found At The Thrift

 

Three wonderful Colonial Williamsburg watercolor prints. They were $2.50 each, and with my love of Williamsburg it was a no brainer to bring them home. (I bought these in 2016)

They've been hanging in my bedroom, and with all the other frames in my bedroom black, I started to think about how great these prints would look in black frames rather than the non-descript brown ones they were in.

The backs have a paper seal so I decided to just paint the frames black and finally got around to it yesterday.

I LOVE them in their black frames, but the paint I used is very matte. So I'm going to think about whether I can live with them or wax them to give them a soft sheen.  I'll probably wax them, but first they need one more coat of paint.

You can find the artist, Coby Carlson's work on Ebay, Poshmark, and other places. The framing is all different and unique which is why I wasn't worried about painting these frames.

Which do you prefer? Black frames or brown?

Knitted Hat

 

I finished the hat I was knitting for my mom.  It's simple knit, purl then I will do two purl rows, then knit, purl, then two knit rows and go back to the pattern.  That gives me the raised sections.

This variegated yarn is really lovely.

Kyle often leaves his sunglasses on the little lamp on the computer desk, so I thought I'd pop the hat on the lamp, but it didn't work well.

So I put it on my head, and took a mirror selfie.  I like it and I think my mom will, too.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Weekend

 On Saturday, Tim and I ran errands, visited with my parents for bit, went to a friends' hair salon for a haircut for Tim, and came home. Yesterday, we awoke to a fresh, falling snow! Beautiful.

This photo is from my bedroom window.

These two photos, and the video, are taken from the sliding French door in the kitchen.

We did church at home yesterday, and in the afternoon when the snow stopped, Tim and Kyle quickly cleared our driveway and headed to my parents to do theirs.  When they got there they found that the neighbor had already taken care of it for them! They have lovely neighbors.  So, Kyle and Tim visited with them for a while, and then headed home.

Tim and I watched a very interesting video about the election.  In light of Time magazine's article this past week, it was very interesting.  It's called Absolute Proof and you can watch it {here}.

Here is another tidbit I found interesting this weekend.

Someone compared this news agency's coverage of hcq when Trump recommended that it worked (based on what he'd been briefed on by doctors) in April, to an article they posted just a few months later, written by one of the same authors. 

Tim grew up in West Africa and they took Chloroquine and Quinine as anti-malarials. Everyone took this medicine, including pregnant women and children. It was inexpensive, too.  It has been used for over 60 years, and there are no heart issues associated with this medication.  Hcq is a milder form of medicine, and when we heard that it was good for treat covid we were excited because its a very common drug. But when you are trying to create a pandemic you don't want simple treatments and quick results. You want fear. So media went on a tear about how bad it was and doctors were fired for telling the success they'd had treating their covid patients with it.  They'd had success with keeping their patients (even with underlying health issues) from even having to be hospitalized! Then we all know what social media has done with kicking people off their platforms for speaking about these issues, as well as election issues.

I thought that was what we all wanted?!  I guess v*cc1ne makers would rather sell v*cc1nes than a .60 cent pill, though. 

I'm just going to leave with these thoughts for today - 

We can ask God for discernment and wisdom and he will give them to us.  We live in challenging times, when information is being blocked from us, and we must seek alternative ways to find out all sides of an issue so we can think about it and find the truth.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  We did.  The sun is shining this morning and with the blue sky and snow on the ground it is beautiful!

Friday Five (x2)

 For this Friday Five (x2) I thought I'd share some of my bookshelves with you!

I always like to see what people have on their bookshelves, don't you?  I love books about making a home, fiction, Christian living, homeschooling, history.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!