Saturday, September 24, 2011

Perfect Day


We all have a little Buzz Lightyear in us. No matter what anyone says, we know who we are.  And that’s a good thing. 

All is good on the home front. We had DH's happy birthday this week, and a sleepover with our four-year-old granddaughter, who said the next morning, “Oh, Grandma, isn’t this the perfect day? It’s just me and you and Papa and Pooh.” It was a grand day indeed. 

Today I went to a craft sale with my wonderful daughter-in-law Jackie where we bought some lovely and unique items. I truly am blessed. Not only do I have three terrific sons, I have THE three best daughters-in-law on earth. I arrived at Jackie and Cody’s in time to take pictures of them and Bear and Gander (the Granddogs) with their successful morning goose hunt, and then Jackie and I were off to the little town of Nowthen for their Heritage Day festival. 

The story is that when the small town known as Burns Township asked for a post office in 1876, Washington D.C. stated there was already a post office in Minnesota with the name Burnstown Township therefore they couldn’t approve another one and asked for new name suggestions. Jim Hare, the first postmaster, sent a return letter with several suggestions, and ended the letter with ‘nowthen’ as he normally started and ended most sentences. The ‘Post Office Department’ thought that was as good a name as any, and hence the town was named Nowthen. 

I’ve always loved that tidbit of information. I’m a touch behind in my writing schedule with all the visiting this week, so will spend this evening working on edits that are due in October. Aw, yes, another perfect day. 

Remember who you are. It’s important.  

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Pooh


This is Pooh, the little fellow we inherited from my mother. He is a character and very set in his ways. Such as, he lives to travel. My mom took him everywhere, so when he sees an open car door, he jumps in. He sat in the front seat of my car while I vacuumed it the other day, with no fear whatsoever that I might vacuum him up in the process, and a few nights ago, he was so intent on ‘going’ somewhere, DH took him for a drive down to the mailbox and back.

Pooh went up north with us over Labor Day weekend, and we kept him ‘double’ chained, remembering a couple years ago when he was with us up there and ran away the morning of the 4th of July. 
Our property is in the ‘woods’, eight miles from the closest town. There are miles upon miles of ‘uninhabited’ areas, not to mention bears, wolves, and other forest creatures that might have considered him easy prey.  We searched and searched, on foot and on the four wheelers, for miles on end, but found nothing. The next morning, on the off chance someone might have seen him, we went to town (where the cell phone finally has signal) and called my sister-in-law who went to my mother’s house to check the answering machine in hopes someone had called the number on his tags.  

Sure enough, some people visiting the area (Northern Minnesota) from Florida, had seen him running along the highway, and since there are no visible homes in the area, they had picked him up. An easy task with the way he likes to travel. They left a number for us to call, however, their phone didn’t have signal, either.  We did finally connect, and Pooh and mom were reunited. (Above photo.) We discovered they’d picked him up minutes after he’d “escaped” his chain. They later sent us photos of Pooh at the 4th of July Parade, Pooh at the fireworks, and Pooh at the street fair. We, my husband and I, my mother, son, and daughter-in-law were scouring the woods all that day and therefore missed the parade, street fair, and fireworks.

Needless to say, no matter where we are, DH and I are vigilant in knowing where Pooh is at all times.

Life is good here, the sun is shining and the birds are singing (and Pooh is sleeping at my feet). I plan on making  two more batches of jam, one plum and one raspberry, today, but only after I hit my daily word count. This story is flowing well, and low and behold, the hero has a dog that takes to the heroine right off the bat.

Enjoy life, it’s yours, make it count.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

9-11

We do not always remember days, but we do remember moments.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Home

First, I just have to share this adorable picture of my son, his baby, and my nephew and his baby.

We went up north for the long weekend with family from Iowa. Had a nice time even though the fish weren’t biting on Lake of the Woods. It was just too windy. Which was fine, we had many other things to do and people to visit. I also read a couple wonderful time travel stories while traveling the six hours up and back. Reading always revives me and now that I’m home, I’m ready to dive into writing my next story—already on chapter three and I’m loving these characters.

In just the few days we were gone the plums seemed to double on their branches so I made plum jam this morning, and will do another batch tomorrow I’m sure, as well as one more batch of raspberry. Isabelle loves the raspberry, Hayley likes both the cherry and plum, and Karlee, well, she eats just about anything.

It’s sad to see summer coming to an end. It seems like just yesterday was June and September seemed so far away. But fall brings new activities and events to look forward to, so all is good.

I’m off here for now. Promised Papa I’d make a coconut cream pie today. Have a wonderful week! Oh, and For A Sister’s Love is still on sale for .99 cents.