Change is a hard thing. Especially when it involves happy memories.
My mother and I put up this border along the wooden back splash
in 1995 I think. It was cut from contact paper. I was in my
Mary Engelbreit stage. As you can see I am not a very good
decorator. Anyway, the point is that I had to remove it the other
day and that was a hard thing to do. My mom passed away in 1996
and putting up that border is one of the last things we did together. I
still miss my Mom. Somehow the world feels a little lonely without her.

as I was browsing through pictures I found this one.
It is the cake I made for Zack and Danielle's shower.
It was a test to see if I could actually make the wedding
cake. It was really tasty. I used my pound cake recipe
given to me by a neighbor of David's parents. She has been a
friend now for a long time (about 35 years) and I think of her every time
I make this recipe. Anyway the wedding cake turned out fine, but what a stress
filled day that was for me. Will I ever do that again? hmmm I don't think so but
I have had to eat my words many times. It is much more tasty to eat cake.

Isn't this adorable art. My best friend's daughter draws these playful creative little creatures. I think she should write a book and let us all in on the lives these adorable little ones live.

a morning of cooking

I got inspired to make some wheat bread.
The pictures are in reverse order. ???

More inspired cooking.
I made some biscuits and set them on
the wood stove to rise.

Here they are after baking. So yummy with
my red hot jelly and butter. Also fried
some sausage for these biscuits.

I should get up every morning at 4:30 a.m.

Here are the valentine cookies I made for my
piano students. I ate some too. If I eat
one I'll eat five. They are so tempting.

Now this snow is more like it. It was so
beautiful coming down on Friday. What a joy!

I took this picture of the tree through our back windows. So pristine.

David took this one during the storm while he was walking the dog

David and his dog Chase walking as the snow fell.

The next morning the snow was still beautiful even though it shows
evidence of the fun had by our sons and grandchildren. Four wheeler
tracks, little footprints, snowballs and even a snowman.

One of life's simple pleasures is seeing the snow piled on the trees.
This is the big cedar in front of our house.

The morning sun cast a rose colored glow on the
trees behind the house.

Christmas Card 2008

This is my hand painted card for Christmas 2008. I missed painting a card for 2009 but I hope to start working on an idea in time to get it done for Christmas 2010. A lofty goal. :)