Sarah's Vineyard

Today, ORU came together for lunch at Sarah's Vineyard in Cuyahoga Falls, OH.  We missed one of our members who is suffering from the plague of cold that has been going around this winter, sparing few.

We had a very pleasant time. A very personable and good waitress served us well. Our food was tasty and filling. The restaurant was not really busy and we could hear ourselves talk, which is one of our favorite things to do. You see, we still have more opinions than anyone really wants to know, which is to their detriment to be sure.  As we age, we grow in wisdom which does not always help us keep our opinions to ourselves, but to broadcast them far and wide to anyone who chooses to listen and even to some who have no choice. But of course, that is always for their good.

Even though the sun seems to stream in on us here, it was a rainy spring day. There was a surplus of puddles to cross in the parking lot. 

I noticed on the way home a few trees in full bloom, daffodils, crocus and a few other signs of spring.

See You Later, Alligator

See you later alligator... or maybe not. Spring break in Florida means more than just beaches.  Here are the triplets with their Floridian cousins at the Alligator Farm, a Zoological Park. Looks like this one has met his match with these 5.

Guess you may have noticed my posts are getter shorter, well so have I been getting shorter. Not that there is any connection, except the possible cause of each is age. Although I have met some very verbose seniors.

I tend to check out earlier...and if not going to bed, then falling asleep at my desk. I really do not like this stage of life where it seems if I'm not actually sleeping, a person observing might be fooled by my lack of expression and glassy eyes...like right now. The only way a person would know I am awake now  is to be aware that my spell check is not doing this writing because

3.14

It's An Intellectual Thing

It seems like there may not have been quite as much celebrating of Pi day in the triplets' home this year...but they didn't miss it all together. Either  that is the case, or I was not privy to the pictures.
In either case, it is a tradition worth recognizing and acknowledging with a layout, so here it is in all its glory, starring Mason and Ashley and whipped cream pie:

Sweet Little Lamb

We have figured out now that when March comes in like a lamb, it will not necessarily go out like a lion...or vice versa. The saying still persists. Old habits are hard to break.  

Seeing this sweet picture of Ava looking like a cute little lamb on March the first made me think of that saying.  

Trusting we can finish up the month on the lamb side and avoid the lion until next winter.

Puppy Hank

In my opinion, puppies are what love is all about. Of course, I realize that could be debated; but my statement tells you how avid I am for pups.

This is our granddaughter, Leah with her friend's very young puppy. 

I really don't know what we would do without our dog. She has certainly been a joy to us in our old age. She is always there at the door to meet us enthusiastically when we return home and she begs to go with us when we leave.  She even sleeps with us...yes, on our bed.

Naturally, we love our children and grandchildren more than we do her, but we don't have as much chance to show it, since they are so far away and she is HERE.

God bless our pets.

Spring Trip

It is spring break season all over the country. Don't know why they haven't made it a national vacation week, but I'm glad they haven't. Some places would really be crowded if everyone tried to get in the same week. 

I think this break probably means more to those of us in the north, but people in the south enjoy it as well. (In the north, we not only get off school or work, but we often escape the weather here by going to the warmer, springier south.)

This was the triplet's break and Florida was their destination. They were up early...for them and on the road for a long, long ride. All worth it to hear them tell it. 

Seeing the pictures made me want to do some layouts. 

80th Birthday

I  would ask you to choose which one you think is celebrating her 80th birthday, but I'm afraid you would say you think it is me. 

Actually, I'm hoping  you would say that neither of us is 80. But Jean really is. And not only that, but she has always been quite beautiful. It is a blessing to know her. She is as sweet as she is cute.

If the saying, 'you are only as old as you think you are' is correct, I'm REALLY old  today. At least I was this morning. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. We are promised, new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. 

I have some good plans for tomorrow, so I'm counting on a much better day.

Creative Expression

Oliver shows off his creativity at the Wolverine Farm Letterpress and Publick House in Ft Collins.

Having been a first grade teacher, I am in a position to praise his work. I remember what a trial it was to get some children to open up and fill the page. Many wanted to make some small markings  on the paper. He really let go with some free expression. Wish I had him here, so that he could tell me about it. Maybe I'll ask if he still has it.

HIs mommy is so good to find all the cool places in their area that benefit children.  Caleb, Oliver and Julia have lots of new experiences often. All is good. But as usual, they are growing up much too fast. 

Cards

Cards are cards, some are used for games, some are used for greetings and others are just plain hilarious. Aussie is part of the last category.

As you know computer technology changes so fast that new things become antiques almost before we can turn around. Greg recently found one of those antiquities in the Audio Visual room at church. It was a CRT (cathode ray tube) monitor. Aussie's comment, " Do you have a bag of popcorn to put in it?"  Funny guy, that Aussie.  

Of course he isn't exclusively amusing, all three of the triplets are pretty quick and the three of them can really keep us laughing. They are so consistently funny that they really should have their own sit-com. I'm not sure with all the talents combined in that family, why that hasn't come to pass already.  Maybe it is just a matter of time. Maybe they are letting school, etc. get in the way of progress;)

Julia 'Walks'

Julia just turned 1 last Thursday. I don't yet have pictures, but I'm behind anyway. This layout features the little sweetie when she just decided on December 28, to pull herself up with her cart and push it across the room. Then, the little star she is, turned to face the 'camera', as if to say..."I hope you got that."  And it WAS captured on video. I 'clipped' a  couple of shots from that video for this layout. 

What did we ever do without cell phones that shoot pictures  AND videos? What a wonderful world! 

We have so many friends on our prayer list now. It gets a little discouraging sometimes to see so many we love suffer, especially with serious things like cancer.  And some of them are so young. that makes it even harder.

Because of that, I hesitate to say this because it is so minor and how can I dare call attention to something like this...but I'm thoroughly miserable  tonight  with what I'd like to call an old fashioned head cold. While I was at the doctor today for a general check up, she asked if my nose were running. It was not. I don't know why she wanted to know. What difference does it make? Well anyway. Shortly after lunch, it started to run and run and run. I'm going through tissues, box after box.

Now, I'm getting more symptoms as well. I'm trying to remember to thank the lord that it is something so inconsequential.

Can't remember the last time I had a cold.  That's another blessing.

Smooch the Pooch

Leah was working one day back in October when I customer brought in this cute little pug.  I love this picture of this cute little fellow and our beautiful granddaughter smooching him.

Pleasant thoughts...it is easy to love a dog. If you have never done that, try it sometime. You will probably like it.  If you don't even care to try. I'm sorry. Hope you have a nice day.

The Man

You might know that when I say "He's the man," I'm talking about this one here,  my husband.

While I am old and ready to give up this bigger house for a smaller more senior friendly place, Ron is still loving his home on the lake. 

He just found something we needed...a Vacuflo attachment for the kitchen.  It certainly wasn't the easy job he had envisioned, but he worked it out and now we have this hose, which allows us to whisk away the coffee grinds he always gets all over the kitchen counter. It is a great addition and I appreciate it.

I believe in looking for the positive. For some years now, I had to really look hard, or at least close to home, to find those positive thoughts. However, each day now brings along with the terribly negative stuff, some improvements to bless the lives of those in our country. 

Thank you Lord, for your blessings. Please continue to work on our behalf.

Ski Memories

Perhaps Caleb's best birthday gift was a ski trip with his dad. Even if a person doesn't ski,  ski country is a wonderful place to spend time.  But Caleb is quite the skier already. I love the videos we have of him whizzing down those slopes, passing adults who sometimes stop to watch this little guy fly. He has such a wonderful balancing skill. You may remember he was riding a bicycle when he was just a little tiny fellow. That's right, a two wheeler! 

It is good to see him and his dad share their love for this winter sport.

His mom was quite a skier as well, but now with three small kids, she is a little busy, to say the least, and not willing to risk injury.

Risk. Are we willing to risk letting thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants to flood our nation, knowing that many of them are dangerous dudes? I'm not.

Recently, when our president saw the danger in so many flooding over our borders, he ordered special  vetting of all immigrants, especially those from a few countries that pose the biggest danger to us.

A rogue court has shut down those orders in spite of the danger that brings to our citizens.

Jimmy Carter did the same thing when he was in office and no one questioned it. What has happened here? Why are many of our judges favoring possibly enemy aliens over the safety of our own people?  It is the perfect right of the president to protect us. As a matter of fact, that is the number one responsibility of our government.

I was proud to see our president, Trump, speak face to face with Saudi Arabian Deputy Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salmon in the White House this week. They are in agreement about Syria and it's ISSIS refugees. The Prince recognizes that Trump is a friend of Muslims, just not the jihadists that are causing so much trouble all over the world at this time.

Julia

Julia was very interested in all that was going on Christmas morning. I think she didn't miss a thing.  Therefore, we didn't get many pictures of her with her presents. She was right there with the boys, watching them with their gifts.

Here is one picture of her, taken from above; but it was so busy and colorful, that I decided to use the black and white trick. It is not good that the layout itself stands out more than the picture, yet I still like the soft look. 

She seems to study everything, soaking up knowledge. I would love to know what is going on in that brain of hers. I guess it won't be long until we'll have to wonder no more. I can hardly wait.

Today is her first birthday. Due to complications, she didn't get to celebrate that yet, but she won't know the difference. Considering her thoughts, can you imagine when she gets that birthday cake and is encouraged to dig into it?  I am living this over and over again in my head. I won't be able to be there, but I'll never forget it.

By the way, we were doing FaceTime with the family tonight and at the end Julia said, "Bye, bye". It was the first time she had spoken to us. Very sweet. Very sweet, indeed.

Praying for her and her brothers tonight. Praying that God will cover them with his wing and protect them from harm. 

Go Team

Caleb is looking at this football that he got for Christmas like he is thinking. 'What is this thing. I can't play soccer with it.' I would think by the look on his face that he doesn't know what it is, but that IS NOT THE CASE!  He is an Ohio state fan! O H I O. He is very familiar with football, even though he was born and has always lived in Colorado.

From what I understand, there are lots of Ohio State fans there. They don't have to follow their team alone!

This is far fetched reach for something pleasant to say, but Ron is sick and I showed up for a long ago scheduled doctor's appointment early this morning, but the doctor didn't. Wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been 21 degrees with at least 20 mph wind that had blown snow back over the shoveled side walk at the doctor's office. 

Oh well, back to that little bit of joy. Chelle called me this afternoon and said she had just seen Air Force 1 fly over  her in Nashville. Trump is speaking there today, so I watched his whole speech knowing that Chelle had been tickled to see his plane.  

I love that the man has put his wonderful life on hold to serve our country as president. It makes me sad that so many people do not respect that and want to go back under the control of socialists. Sad there are so many uninformed people who have no idea what it is like in communist (socialist) countries and have no idea about our nation's constitution.  Our teachers have been indoctrinated, just as have the journalists, in colleges and universities set on socializing our nation.

Oh, I heard another thing today that will make anyone with a brain shudder. Now I believe that black children, as well as any color child, deserve good teachers; but it has been said recently that their teachers should not have to be able to read, because they don't have enough teachers.  Ridiculous!

Let's get every child into a school where they can learn English, math, science, social studies, etc...ALL OF THEM under qualified teachers.

Starting the New Year at the Aquarium

In a way, I'm bouncing back and forth in time. I'm not finished with my Christmas layouts; but I'm always having other pictures catch my eye, by begging to be made into scrapbook pages. This lone little picture called out to me recently. Today I heard from Leah, our granddaughter. She had some info about some photos I'd asked her about. I found out this one had been taken on New Year's Day at the Concord Mills Aquarium in Concord, North Carolina. She was with Trey, whom I do not know. I loved the colors, it is one of my favorite mixes. The layout went together quite easily...something I welcomed, since I've been  frequently  running into trouble lately.

Praying that good, solid, Americans send post cards to our president on Thursday to thank him for what he is doing for this nation and encouraging him to keep up the good work.

It is heart breaking for me to see and hear those who deride him consistently day after day...those who call him names and even try to keep him from accomplishing his duty to protect our nation.

I am praying, detractors are kept at bay long enough for President Trump to make America great again.

Time Well Used

Posting a few pictures of Ashley's Christmas. The cool thing is she has her fellow triplets, who are both boys, to celebrate with her each year.

I have several pictures of them together, but I picked out these few to make her  own  page. 

She collects tigers and if I were to try to tell you how many, I'm sure I would fail. She adds to them so frequently that she may even get another one before you read this.

The next piece here is from Max Lucado's book, Just Like Jesus.

It made me stop and think today. Perhaps it will you as well.

You Are Tweakable

What if, for one day, Jesus were to become you? Would you still do what you’d planned to do for the next twenty-four hours? It’s dangerous to sum up grand truths in one statement, but I’m going to try. If a sentence or two could capture God’s desire for each of us, it might read like this: “God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus.” That’s good to know, right? You are tweakable. You aren’t stuck with today’s personality. Where did we get the idea we can’t change? If our bodies malfunction, we seek help. Shouldn’t we do the same with our hearts and our attitudes? Jesus can change our hearts. He wants us to have a heart like his. Can you imagine a better offer—than to be just like Jesus?

Time

As my husband would tell you, I spend a lot of time at the computer. Actually, he would say I spend all my time at the computer. I hope you can tell that is an exaggeration.  

Actually, today, one of my busiest at the computer,  I've been at it for about seven hours. I've read lots of email, mostly forwards and  political  news.  I've played Words with Friends. I have not checked FaceBook today...I'm sure I'm missing a lot. 

What I've enjoyed the most is making layouts for my next book. In all that time, I've only come up with 5. I worked about one hour on the layout above. However, I accidentally deleted it without saving it. All my work was lost and I had to start over.

In the past, Photoshop Elements has had a feature that saves ones work in 'recently edited files'. However, in this newest edition of Photoshop Elements 15 that feature does not work. There have been many, many of us very disgruntled about it and we have begged for a fix, to no avail. With that feature, I would not have lost all my work. It is crazy how with all the other versions of PSE I've had, that feature was a 'life saver' and now it is useless.

OK, so I started all over again. Of course the second time was not as time consuming. All the creativity had occurred. All I had to do was repeat the work. But it still took time.

This is our youngest daughter, the mother of the triplets. She is wearing Christmas presents and they are very pretty on her.

I am a Christian and therefore try to think positively. The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:8 what to think about:

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

That used to be easier for me. Today, the world is a sinful mess. It is hard to live without reading, hearing or experiencing directly the opposite of what God wants us to think about.

But we must keep trying. I would appreciate if you will pray for me on that topic. And I, in return, will pray for you. 

Christmas Presents

It seems I usually have an excuse to cut this blog short. Tonight we are losing an hour. I do need my sleep. Tomorrow is a full day. I don't want to fall asleep.

Since we are turning our clocks forward tonight, I can not take the chance on staying up any longer.

Hope you enjoy this layout of Mason at Christmas. It tickles me that he got pop...two different kinds for Christmas. I guess that's what happens when you like to drink a lot of it and your mother has a good sense of humor. Glad he does as well. I can tell he appreciates it.

Our Sweet Little Ones

It was super nice to be able to visit with our sweet little grandchildren in Columbus in early December. Beth snapped these pictures of Oliver and me while we were waiting for lunch.  You've probably seen in an earlier post that Caleb was sick that day.  

We added Julia to the next pictures. It was a great day!

Praying tonight that somehow our God will provide a safe environment for the little ones who had nothing  to do with the immorality in our country today. 

Old Photo?

This photo was taken at the Teddy Bear Hospital put on by hospital employees in Ft Collins, CO on February 11...this year! Yes! This year. someone had found an old instant camera and was using it there at the hospital. John and Beth were lucky enough to have their family picture taken. It looks just like it was taken in the 50's. I love it!

I'll tell more about this special hospital at a later date, when I post more layouts about it.

Well, I have to say that this started out a good day with our Ladies' Bible Study where we use a book by Lisa Harper called The Gospel of Mark.  I recommend the book, but I really like the videos that come with this study. Lisa always causes me to think. And she is very funny. She surely does keep my attention.

But there was a downturn tonight, when Tucker Carlson was not on his show at 9:00 PM EST. A night without Tucker is just plain sad!  

May God bless you all this week.  God Bless the USA!

Books

The love of books knows no bounds.

It is very encouraging to see books like these provided for kids at the Bean Cycle Roasters Coffee Shop in Ft Collins.   Oliver and Julia are making the most of  them.  I don't know what Julia found, but Oliver seems very intent in his 'perusal' of the Dinosaur Babies book.

Reading is important for freedom. And it is also important to keep historical books; because, as we all know, what we read on the internet can change from day to day. There is no guarantee that what we find there will still be available the next week.

Many years ago, a book named 1984 was written by George Orwell. In it he was predicting the future year of 1984. He hadn't thought of computers, so in the movie, people worked for the government, changing from day to day all written history, so that people would soon not know anything that the rulers didn't want them to know. There were a few people who could remember, but going against the group was not allowed and it made them very afraid to speak up about anything.  Everyone's words were constricted to Groupthink, which is what the libs are trying to do to American school children at this point in our history. The group who has always demanded tolerance has become totally intolerable of anything different from themselves, their little group.

Praying for real tolerance, knowledge and wisdom for Americans.

Go Girl

Ava likes her trike. I like her hair. It is long and thick with a lot of body. It will be too soon though that she pays much more attention to her hair than she does to her toys. I cherish these young innocent days...not anxious for them to pass. That is the way with us grammas. We know how fast they grow up and then long for them to be little again. They are so much fun.

But there comes a time when they really need to grow up. And it should actually come before voting age. However, this year...never seen this before...many 'adult's have not yet matured beyond the 'it's all about me stage.' It's actually, to use a word they know, deplorable.  Watching a person of age throw a fit can be very funny if no one gets hurt. But after a while, if no progress is shown, it is downright sickening. If you haven't noticed this recently, check your mirror.

Skiing Breckenridge, Colorado

Even though they settled far from our home here in Ohio, I am not too upset. It is obvious that Colorado is the place to be, especially for skiing. And our Caleb is quite the skier. Of course, John is as well. It is great to see them enjoy the slopes as much as they do. This was John's birthday celebration trip in January.

In the news today is the wire tapping of our president. It keeps us glued to the news, both the fake news provided by the major networks and that which is much closer to the truth, some of which comes from the twitter account of the president, himself.

Would we have ever thought that our news agencies would turn against us and join in the effort to overthrow the government and put us into subjection. I  know the journalists have been schooled by Communist professors. My question is this. Do they realize what they are doing, or are they really that ignorant?   

Please pray that many in the media will come to their senses and turn away from the propaganda objectives  have been taught and begin thinking for themselves and reporting news accurately instead of  with the objective of overturning our government.

Pray very hard. It is hard to get anything done when you are constantly putting out fires.

Field Trip

Our daughter, Chelle, was one of the parents who went on Ashley's class field trip on the twenty-fourth of February. She used he camera skills (Greene Room Photography)  to record the trip.

Just telling you about it is making my very tired. Actually, to be honest, I've been about to fall asleep for a couple of hours now. This is becoming a habit. I suppose it means I need to set a decent bedtime and stick to it...but that is something I haven't done my whole life time.  I remember in high school my doctor telling me I burnt my candle on both ends.  It is really starting to affect me. I don't want to admit that it is any different for people my age, but I"m not sure who much longer I can hang on to these long held habits!  And it is not that I can't sleep. It is plainly that I don't allow myself a lot of time in bed...or reclining, period.

But I'm just about to buckle and go to bed...and it is only 10:30! The only thing I know that will be prevent me form going to bed soon is if a friend  lets me know it is my turn  in Words with Friends.

I give up. Going to bed. Good Night.

Well, I didn't get to bed early. I got up, started moving and woke up...just not enough to remember I hadn't actually published this layout.  

Went to bed at 12:30, thought about this post when I woke up. Checked to see if I had posted it. I did not...put it on my to do list and forgot about it. Well I just now remembered it. It is 5:00 PM! Sad, isn't it?

Unseasonably Warm

The date is February 24, 2017. Anyone who has lived in northeastern Ohio knows this means it is unseasonably warm. Ava is enjoying the out doors with her Nutty Buddy Bites.

Don't know why, but I'm very tired tonight and have nothing on my mind worth sharing. Not that I usually do, but I'm really empty headed tonight. 

Pray for our nation and its leaders. Pray that those who have lost their minds over the election, recover quickly.

Scholastic Art and Writing Awards

This is Aussie, our teenaged grandson. He loves his cat, but that's not all. He has a wide area of interests, from Chinese to Rubik’s Cubes, computer programming and now writing.

As his dad posted on FaceBook, “we are very proud of him, as he earned not one, but two silver key awards for the two literary writing pieces he submitted to Scholastic. One was about our neighbor, American war hero, Bruce Ware and the other was about his own experience in the hospital with the flu and pneumonia.”

Always busy, yet more than willing to help when help is needed. 

Not all young people are snowflakes these days. I love watching  Aussie, Mason and Ashley as they mature and broaden their interests.

Keep up the good work, you all. Love you.

And for those of you who just can't get over the fact that your candidate lost in the last election, grow up. It is time to take care of yourselves. Do whatever it is you do best and carry on with life. You still have the freedom in this country to do that...as long as you obey the law. 

National Pie Day

Phyllis retired from United with over 50 years of service as an airline hostess. I know, they are called something more PC now, but I'm not PC. I'm down to earth honest.  She has been so busy that we've not had much time to socialize, but now that she is retired...we still don't because she can fly free...so she does.

 However, we did cram a day in on January 21.  We headed to Canton to find a fashion jewelry store at Belden called Charming Charlie's. 

I have shopped alone all these years and enjoyed the joint venture. We also found some new places, or old stores in new places. We had lunch while we were out and spent a few dollars on things we really didn't need. It was great fun.

To top it off, we decided to celebrate pie day by stopping by Shaffers, a store near here, for pie. The pecan pie was as good as it looks.

When Phyllis first retired, I looked forward to her being home, I still do. I'm also looking forward to her moving closer to me...we need her and her Ron at the lakes. Maybe we will be able to get together more often.

Oh, I must clarify the first sentence on the layout. "Phyllis and I had a big fun free day" should put emphasis on the fun.  It should have a comma after  fun, to indicate it was both fun and free, rather than it was fun free...as it says. ;)

Amazing Adventure at CrossFit

I found this photo in my files today. It was dated October of 2016, so I'm surprised I hadn't started a layout for it, but I had not.  It was interesting working with it. The shadows are so dense. But I think it came out ok.

I had another big surprise just a few minutes ago, while checking FaceBook.
Someone or some couple has just bought a house, a very nice house and they are in this picture. Life is changing. Talk about adventure!