Mum's the Word.....

aren't they BOOtiful????

Peter brought them home for me yesterday to plant here in the shop's yard...
yeah, well, that is if we can find the ground underneath all of the WEEDS!

The Garden of Weedin'
will officially be NO MORE
after this week...

I have to roll up my shirtsleeves and set about getting rid of all of the 'volunteers'

that now inhabit the front garden...

*ugh*
(after all the bites I have from Hayin', I think I'll wear a HAZMAT suit!)

HA!

hoping your day was a great one...

today is MY kinda weather!

high, dry and cool breezes...

AAAAhhhhhhh.

Blessed be, Friends~

Lori

Hey! ...I mean.....

HAY!

...I spent yesterday afternoon hauling about 100 bales of HAY
up onto the tractor out in the big field...

50lb. bales of hay mind you...each!

we had hayed the field the day before, and was letting the bales dry...
and then the rains came!

SOOooo, we had to scramble to get them all into 4 seperate piles,
then cover the piles with tarps.

all the while it was raining.
and humid.
ugh.

My overhauls, and gotchies were soaked, & my hair was just loverly,
all plastered to my head,

with water dripping down into my ears.

& I had tiny pieces of scratchy hay stuck ALL over my body...

AND Not to mention that I was bitten by every single bug in the field!

(ok, maaaaybe not every SINGLE one, but hundreds and thousands I'll betcha!)

TODAY IS EVEN BETTER....

I'm covered head to toe with bites and scratches,
my eyes feel like they've been poked by needles (yeah...that hurts!)
and I have been suffering with a leaky-faucet dripping nose to boot.

AAAAACHOOOOO!!!!

(i'm so pretty!)

I am high as a kite on Benadryl and all I want to do is curl up into a ball and sleep...
(and scratch...and scratch some more.)

But alas, I must forge onward...
I must stitch, punch and design....I must create wonderful things for my shows!

Tomorrow I'll worry about uncovering the bales and laying them back out to dry...

(*sigh*)

but this time, Peter,

I'M DRIVING THE TRACTOR!

the picture below is of my friend Robin who visited me at the shop yesterday
(before I went a'haying)

She brought in her quilt that she's working on...

it's Felicia's pattern and it is beautiful!

(and so are you Mizz Robin!)

Blessed be, my Friends!

~Lori~

Getting ready for AUTUMN!!! :)

this is where you can usually find me...stitching and swinging on the porch...

one of my many Autumn/Hallowe'en flags!

(please forgive the farmhouse's siding, or lack-thereof...
we still think she's just beautiful in all her chippy-glory! no shiny stuff for us!!)

I've gotten some more of my Harvest decorating 'stuff' out of its hiding place
and am coaxing Autumn more & more to come here sooner everyday!
LOL :)

We are supposed to go from the high 80's and humid (ugh)
to 78 & dry by this weekend!!
WOOHOOOOO !!!!

that means these wonderful things will be just around the corner:

~more leaves changing colors on the Blue Ridge~

~crispy line-dried sheets~

~baking apple pies (baking ANYthing!)~

~PUMPKINS!~

~cozy-ing up the farmhouse~

~sleeping with the windows OPEN & NO A.C.~

*sigh*

oh, my list goes on and on, but I'm sure you know exactly how I feel!
Being a native New Englander, the LONG hot, Southern summers get quite boring to me.
I want (NEED) the changes of Seasons...
it renews the Soul & refreshes the Spirit!

so, I've dug out my flags & some faux flowers..that helps a bit...not really though,
I want to plant MUMS!
So, again I will look forward to changing out the summer linens and curtains...

collecting kindling,
(i'm sitting here sweating and thinking of kindling!...is it just me girls?)

and the cinnamon/clove scent the farmhouse takes on when the woodstove is burning.

such a tease....

oh I can hardly wait!

I've updated my picturetrail too, and will be working on it daily as I'm retiring alot of my older designs to make room for the new...

the link is on my sidebar or:

www.picturetrail.com/notforgottenfarm

AND

while sitting on the porch this morning,
I happened to look down and there sitting, staring back at me,
munching on something with his whiskers twitching,
was a great big, fat old GOPHER!

...startled,
I screamed...
which made the dogs come running over to the fence
and start barking wildly...
that kinda ticked him off

oh yeah...he didn't mind me being there at all...
but didn't like that I notified the dogs of his presence...
in fact, I think he gave me a rude gesture
(bird sighting!)
and walked (waddled) casually under the shop's porch....

of course I grabbed the broom...

(not that I was going to hit him, ...or ride away on it...ha ha.)
just thought if'n I needed it, I had it for some sort of protection...
maybe i thought I could 'shoooosh' him away?

(hey he was BIG, ok?...stop laughing!)

So I went back to my stitching and held my broom at arms length...
didn't see him again today.

(are they nocturnal?)

I'll be sure not to dangle my toes while sitting on the porch anymore...

(hmmm...wonder what that was he was muching on...)

well, folks, I'm off to the farmhouse to make supper...

it's one of those nights where I didn't plan on anything in particular,
but I usually can whip something up that's good!

Hope you get to enjoy the cooler weather soon, too!

Blessed be!

Lori

Cooler and lovin' it!

Finally,
the weather has broken a bit...

the humidity isn't as high as it's been, so that makes it feel a little cooler.

Today was the first day in forever that I've been able to open up the windows in the farmhouse...aaaahhh the fresh country air!
it smells so sweet!

(especially since Peter's been cutting the Hay field, getting ready for the show here in Sept.)

Pete's dad has been here for about week, helping him put in a new water softener in the farmhouse, AND
they finally finished the OUTHOUSE!

(i really didn't want to take a picture of them in there, but they insisted...
and yeah, that's hubby on the john...just posin' though!!!)

an outhouse with a flushing toilet and running water...

LOVE IT!!!!!
(Peter added the flowers...nice touch!)

I'm on the hunt now for old 'stuff' to decorate it with...
looking for old newspapers to cover the inside walls with
(a little 'reading material')

We've got TONS of work to do before the show
(which is less than a month away now! EEEP!)

the grounds are covered with weeds...been too hot to work out there...
then it rains and is too muggy, wet, bugs...
oh alright.
I just don't like to weed, ok?
(they have feelings to ya know!!!)

anyhoo, now that it's getting a little cooler,
I'll have to start on that...in the meantime,
I'll continue to stitch, punch, paint, sculpt and draw
all kinds of new halloween goodies for the show!
(btw, take a look at my HALLOWEEN BLOG)

Off to the farmhouse to make BLT sandwiches...
have some AWESOME tomoatoes from the garden and a loaf of fresh bread...
add me a nice icy glass of buttermilk
& I'm in Country Heaven!

Blessed be Friends!
Lori

My SINCERE Thanks!!!!

My Heart is FULL knowing I have such Friends on the internet.

I want to thank all of you for your comments

and for your opinions on the previous post's subject...

it was not written to slander Waxing Moon specifically...but to hopefully try to deter yet another person from perhaps thinking that it is 'ok' to do.

it's just not.
so mote it be.

I also want to publicly thank Jacquelyn from Waxing Moon,

for emailing me with the most sincere, professional and heartwarming apology ever.

Jacquelyn,
thank you for contacting me and letting me know that you are a true Human.
By that, I mean, that we all make mistakes, and will always do so, and we, as intelligent Humans have the capacity
to realize our mistakes and feel regret or remorse...

and most importantly,

try to correct the mistake in a respectful manner.
you did just that by contacting me, & I commend you for that.
I wish you nothing but happiness & success in your business

and all of your paths.

With MUCH Sincerity,
Lori

that's what we're supposed to do folks...
fix our mistakes.
nothing wrong with addressing an uncomfortable situation, but do so tactfully...
the outcome may just surprise you!!!!

my sincerest thanks again to everyone!!!!

BLESSED BE!!!!!!!
Lori

The Hall of SHAME ~

every once in a while,

(well, mayybe more often than that even...)

Some Kind Soul emails me, to enlighten me to a new
pattern or design on the market
that closely resembles one of my own...

this happend yesterday, as I received an email from
a very upset customer and follower of my work
(thank you so much)
to let me know that my
"GIVING SISTERS"
cross stitch design that was released in 2007,
was being used as 'inspiration' for a new design from

Waxing Moon called: Witches Dance (?)

above you can see my original copyright(C) design...
here is the link for 'theirs':
http://www.abcstitch.com/designers_php/feature.php?id=702781

please correct me if I'm wrong, but this is just a little too 'inspired' for me...

SOOOooooo, being the gracious, yet professional person that I am,
I emailed them.

Short & Sweet.
To the POINT., and wishing them well on their journey.
I'm not mean, nor usually critical, but it burns me up when this happens...
and I just can't help but speak my mind.

My continued Heartfelt Thanks to my loyal customers
and followers of my Folk Art, for always standing by me...

it hurts terribly when this happens, as it has in the past,
and probably will again sometime in the future...
BUT

a person such as myself stumbles, strives and eventually,
with the help of Folks like you...
succeeds.

I value each & everyone of your opinions,
PLEASE leave me a comment letting me know how you feel?

Blessed be,

Lori

the SKY is FALLING!!!!!

ok....well....maybe not the sky...

but my KITCHEN CEILING IS!!!!!!

yepper...the toilet in the bathroom above the kitchen sprang some sort of leak.
when?

who knows...but,

I thought I smelled MOLD a couple of weeks ago and mentioned it to Peter,
"the Man in All His Wisdom"

told me to scrub the base-track of the shower doors better.

uh huh.

right.

so I did.

I got out the bleach-water to clean it...scrubbed it good.
no more mold smell.

EUREKA!

then two days ago, I'm standing at the coffee maker in the kitchen, and...

drip!
drip!

DRIP!

I look up...and to my astonishment, there is a bulging water-bubble

up there on said ceiling!!!
"OH NOOOoooo!!"
I yelled to the cat...

(who was standing next to me, getting splashed with the drips off my person)
She took off like a bat out of hell and headed up the stairs...

well, that's where I was headed, (to the bath) so of course now she thinks
I'm chasing her and getting her wet on purpose!

She went right, and I went left, and I screached to a halt in the bathroom.
no water.

anywhere.

"HMMMmmmmm"...now I'm humming to myself,
thinking, ok, I've finally lost it...
where is it coming from?

Suzy, (the Cat) peared out from under the bed, still licking her wet fur,
to see who I was talking to
(she's usually the only one that hangs around with me during the day)...
(yes, I talk to my cats...no. I'm not completely crazy.)

(no. they don't answer me back...well...not in English anyway...
but that's a whole 'nother story)

Anyhoo, I race back down stairs,
(suzy heads back under the bed)
and the water-bubble on the ceiling is now twice as big as it was.

So I
(in all My Infinite Wisdom)
decide to get a kitchen chair.
I have to touch the water-bubble.

(why you ask?)
(i seriously don't know, was just compelled to)
(ok, maybe I am a bit daft then, ok? I'll ask the Cat what she thinks about that...)

So now I'm standing, tippedy-toed on the kitchen chair,
reaching my little pointer-finger upward, upward, up-

SPLASH!!!!!!!!!

three gallons of water, a sheet of wet sheetrock
and 20lbs. of sopping wet, moldy insulation has now landed on my head.
I, however, haven't moved...
I'm still standing on my toes, pointing upward.

Guess who now decides to walk in the back door?

yep.

HIM.

I will not quote him exactly, for fear of being censored or kicked out of blog-land,

but I'm sure you can guess what Peter had to say to me...
I froze in mid-air.

I pretended that I had just happened to be there when he walked in~
on the kitchen chair, pointing at the ceiling
(not touching it...no...I wouild NEVER do that Honey, really)

showing the CAT the big water-bubble on the ceiling.

Of course, she was nowhere to be found after the crash/splash,

so I had no one to corroborate my story...
(that's the last time I'll listen to her...
and no more tunafish either dammit)

LONG STORY SHORT

we (Peter) concluded that the beeswax seal on the toilet had loosened up with age, and that probably for weeks water has been slowly leaking into the floor and insulation....

easy to fix. no problemo.

so I suggested to Pete that now that the kitchen ceiling needed to be re-re-sheetrocked
(it's been finished twice before)
that we might as well go ahead and remodel the entire kitchen...

He told me to go ask THE CAT what colors she thinks would be nice....

(hmmm....a nice shade of Salmon perhaps???)

~~~~~~~::::~~~~~~~~

Moral of this story:

Don't touch things that you KNOW YOU REALLY SHOULDN'T.

and
DON'T Trust the CAT.

Blessed be, Friends,

Lori

lighten up....

Hi Folks!!

Hoping this hot weather hasn't stopped you
from creating something wonderful!

I know I tend to lean toward
more 'lighter' crafts in the Dog Days of Summer,
I tend to put away the heavy rug hooking, quilting and such
and start painting, and hand stitching more...

I have been needlepunching up a little storm over the past few weeks,
and I want to show them to you here SO badly,
but I won't! LOL!!!
I want them to be fresh for the Ghoultide show in October...

I've made a couple more clay/fabric dolls, and they will be available on ebay soon...

but I have made this:

I call it
COLONIAL AUTUMN PANTRY
spice/potpourri

a wonderful blend of:
juniper berries
cloves
cinnamon
rosemary
peppermint
spearmint

I use it to fill my little pinkeep pillows, I throw some on the floor to vacuum up
(makes the house smell AWESOME!)...
and generally keep bowlfulls around the house to freshen the air.

100% organic & natural, contains NO OILS or FILLERS!!!

I have a limited quantity available in my etsy shop right now!
(www.notforgottenfarm.etsy.com)

I will have more scents available as my herbs dry,
look for lavender and sweet annie to come!!

Hoping your days are spent
comfortably enjoying your favorite activity,
I can't wait for this heat to break!!!

Blessed be,

Lori

Have you EVER??????

Seen a little gold beetle-bug like this???

forgive me if I sound shocked, ...but...

I AM!!!!

I was sweeping off the front porch of the shop just a little while ago,

and in the dirt pile was a sparkling little 'something'...

crawling along slowly but surely, trying not to end up
in my dust pan...

now we have our fair share of bugs here in the south, mind ya'll....
beetles like I've never seen...even ones with horns like a rhinocerous!!

but this little fellow is just precious...

I let him scedaddle away...
hopefully off to brighten someone else's day
and not be eaten!!!

please let me know if any of you out there know what he's called...
for now, I'll call him
"Midas"!

Hot weather is doing a number on us here...
our poor gardens are just about spent now, and everything
(including me!) is wilting!!

It's too hot to even be in here (shop), so I'm heading
back into the cool old farmhouse...
I'll have a nice drink of homemade iced lemonade
and a slice of cherry pie for lunch,
then back to stitching in the AC!!!!

Stay COOL Friends~

Blessed be!!

Lori

Creative Gifts from Nature ~

Tiny blessings seem to float into our lives
without so much as a whisper sometimes...

when we least expect them,

or think we least deserve them...

I try to notice them as much as possible...

a bluejay feather laying on the grass in my path~
a barred owl's song at dusk...

a basket full of ripe tomatoes and corn~
a winged visitor to my herb garden.

My days are usually spent creating,
stitching, painting, designing...
and I am prone to be more introspective
when doing these things...
focused solely on my art, meeting deadlines, shipping & myself.

Lately, I'm becoming more and more aware of the wonderful creations around me,
in the form Gifts from Mother Nature herself.
(the new glasses are a plus!)

It's these quiet little Gifts (as I call them) that recharge my creative spirit & soul..
taking a walk around my property can yield more productivity from me
than any trek to a big city museum full of man-made culture.

when you take a break from your creating, when you tire of the repetition,
whether it be from stitching, painting, hooking~
go outside and look for your Gifts...
they'll be there waiting for you, ready to lend a tiny helping hand of inspiration...

Wishing you all a gift-filled day!!!
Blessed be, my friends~

Lori

THERE you are....

Oh what a difference REAL glasses make!!!

(exept for the fact that I'm tripping over things that aren't really there,
and stepping waaaaay up and over little things like thread on the floor...)

...these are progressive bi-focals and wowzers...I feel like I'm in a weird bubble!

Oh I am a MOVIE STAR in my new spectacles...
aren't they purty?
(that's my Hollywood/Famous/Cheesey smile)

They're perfect...
and they darken in the sunshine
so I don't have to fumble with sunglasses.

AWESOME.

it will take me a little getting used to,
I still am trying to peer over the tops of them, and
am definitely not used to seeing things so clearly...

(my, is this old farmhouse DUSTY!)

anyhoo, I'm thrilled...
the computer screen is SO much sharper now...YAY!
that means MORE CROSS STITCH patterns!!! woohoo!

(working on Christmas as we speak btw)

~AND~
LOOKie at this most awesome cupboard that I found!
it's grubby and grungy and painted black and beautiful!!

it had a tag on it for 99.00 so it came home with me!

I'm either gonna put it here in the shop, or perhaps next to my chair in the den in the house...I have stuff all over the den, and this little cupboard would help me corral it in some.

It is as HOT as BLUE BLAZES here.
we've been in the high 90's for the past 2 days,
and by the afternoon/early eve, you just can't go outside...

so, if you're having weather like us, please please make sure to
drink plenty of water, take care of your plants and animals...and just go easy.

Blessed be, Friends~

Lori

Where Am I ???

I've been holed-up in my studio for the past couple of days, stitching, staining, painting frames and working generally, non-stop...

I'll be doing this for weeks to come, and it's ok!!

I enjoy my creative spurts...look forward to them even.

it's the times that I'm in a creative funk that I can't stand...
those times are spent incessantly cleaning and rearranging everything:
house, furniture, rooms, curtains, rugs...If I could move the toilet & the tub, I would.

You never know where the couch will end up after one of my rearraning binges, so please look before you sit!

How many of you out there in blog-land do that too?
I must admit to doing that at least twice a year, sometimes more..
thank the stars that my creativity has been fueled as of late with
awesome ideas and dreams...
items that will be available soon on ebay, Spookytimejingles.com (August 13th),
at my Primitive Gathering here on September 19th, and of course,
at the GhoultideGathering.com show in October.

and, since I'm working on Halloween things,
that just makes me yearn for crisp weather, sweaters and boots...
I want to get out all of my Fall decorating items...I have so many things!
but, I think I'll wait just a little longer...(maybe a week).
HA!

So much for "Spring Fever"...

what I have is
Autumn Madness!!!!

Hoping your weekend is a productive one,
doing what you love to do most!!

Blessed be, Friends~

Lori

I survived.

Barely...

the trip to the Eye Doctor yesterday was an experience to say the least.
here's how it went:

I arrive at the office to be greeted by a receptionist
wearing the most hideous, coke-bottle thick glasses I have ever seen.
(hmm...bad sign, ya think?)

I am asked to fill out a form, being a new patient.
So, I reach into my bag-of-tricks to pull out a pair of my little cheaters...
"Oh No!" the receptionist says,
"don't wear them, the Dr. wants your eyes to be adjusted"

"but..." I say,
I need them to fill out this form".

"Oh, can you please try to fill it out without wearing them?
...we don't want any strain on your eyes for the exam"...

STRAIN?

on my...EYES?

from...WEARING GLASSES?

WHAT?

(is my hearing going too?)

So I slide my glasses back into my purse, and am fumbling through
the 2o-page form to see if I can see ANY print clearly...

ah! there's some...what does it say? sign here...
Hmmm....
what am I signing?

Nope. next page.

Name: (illegible scribble)
Address: (chicken scratch)
Reason for Visit: (are ya kiddin' me?)

I do the best I can, hand the papers back to the girl,
(who is sitting about three inches away from her computer screen, btw...)
and another girl comes in to bring me to the exam room and to introduce me to the DR.

I'm sitting in some sort of chair now,
that looks like something out of a "SAW" horror movie...
(you know the ones)

The room is dark, and of course, freezing cold.

I'm trying to read the DR.'s credentials and plaques on the walls, but of course,
I can't because now I'm scared to put on my glasses...
I do notice, upon walking over to the wall of awards,
that the Good Doctor was a LT. COLONEL in the US Air Force
and has many medals...
aside many from mobiles of airplanes hanging from the ceiling,
(which to me look like bizzarre spiders hovering over my head!...
just a leeetle distracting!!)

In bounds the Dr...
"How do you do...I'm Dr. Razzemfrazzem...you must be Mrs. Brechlin"
"the same" I relied,
"I hear you're having trouble with your eyes" says the wise man...
"yep" I say, "can you turn the lights up a bit so I can see you?"
"afraid not" he says, "need to keep you from straining your eyes".

...so that's how you do it...I think to myself...
how stupid I've been...all I need to do to see better is to turn off the lights
and not wear my glasses.

Brilliant.

On with the exam.

I'm in the torture chair again, and the face-plate of the machine is smacked up against my face, my chin resting on something (can't see it)
and I'm now supposed to keep my eyes open
while the DOCTOR COLONEL snaps shut the little peep holes that I'm trying to look through...
All the while, I'm thinking something is going to come poking my eyes out, or cut off my eyelids.
(yep...waaaaay too many horror movies under my belt!!)

So on the wall in front of me appears a fuzzy, lighted block with what-are-supposed-to-be letters (or numbers? who knows?) that I'm supposed to identify.

"Can you tell me what you see?" he says to me.
"a wall" I say
"anything else" he says.
"um...If you stop clicking the machine and making me blink,
I might be able to fudge something"

He didn't like that & snapped into COLONEL mode.
"Sit up straight! Keep your eyes open! what do you see!" he snaps.
"The door" I say...to myself!!! LOL

OK...so I get serious...nothing is going to stab me in the eye, I have to do this test.
so I did.
and failed.

miserably.

I am 20/30 in my right eye, and 20/80 in my left. ugh. great.
need glasses? definately.
progressive bi-focals. how lovely.

So then he comes at me with the DROPS.

oh, I do NOT want them.
and now he's standing over me, with me turning my head from left to right,

like a child who is being force-fed creamed spinach....
except it was my eyes clenched shut, not my mouth.

"Mrs. Brechlin!" he yells.

"oh...sorry" I meakly say and force myself to keep still.

In go the dreaded drops...

Immediately, I feel a burning, but am quickly told that will go away in a minute or two,
and is completely normal...
("normal? dropping acid in my eyes is NORMAL? "
my warped horror-movie mind is shrieking inside my brain!!!)

ok. now everything has a purple aura and looks 'sparkly'.
"oh how pretty" I say aloud, thinking DR MADMAN had left the dark room...

"What do you see?" I hear from behind me..
startled, I reply, "oh...just ...um colors, and a little bit of haze"

"Good" he says, "now let's give those drops about 15 minutes to work
(WORK????) ...while you pick out your new frames"...

Um...

I can't see at this point.
seriously.

how am I supposed to see to pick out new frames?

so, of course I reach for my cheaters again...

"Nope" says Dr. Dread...

So I'm grasping at the multitude of glasses frames in front of me...

knocked two pair off the display, and finally found a pair...and put them on...
"Those are Men's glasses" the bastard says.
(so why put a blind woman in front of the Men's display?)
now I want to kick him.

Finally, I pick out a pair that I think looks good on me...if that is, in fact, me in the mirror.
what I see staring back at me is a cross between a rabid Raccoon
(no one told me not to wear mascara, thankyouverymuch.)

and a maniacal Owl wearing
dark (can't tell the actual color), plastic glasses.

"Who's that, Clark Kent?" i say, jokingly...
*crickets*
"Anyone there" I say again
*sounds of scuffling and muffled laughter*

I'm convinced that I have now been taped throughout my complete and embarrasing exam...from start to finish...for the shear amusement of Dr. Demento
and his Zombie, Coke-Glass Bottle wearing entourage.

"Oh they look fantastic" says the Blind Receptionist.
"great'...I mustered.

all set. all done. finished.

$337.50 later,
I now have to drive home...
wondering just what kind of glasses I will be picking up in a week's time,
trying to keep my car on the road,
and feeling like a vampire because of the sensitivity to light...

oh, I did get a free gift.

a spiffy pair of cellophane sunglasses that I was supposed to slip
between my cheater glasses and my eyes....
how attractive.
they didn't work for spit.

when I finally got back home, my daughter thought I was on some kind of drug,
and my husband was leading me around the house....
making sure I could navigate around the kitchen to make him supper.
what a saint he is.

by 9:00 pm, my eyes finally were back to normal.
I dropped into bed at 10:00,
and dreamed of horror films all night long....

p.s. the names above have been changed to protect
the high credentials of the medical proffession.

Blessed be, my friends
Lori

I just can't seem to focus....

MY EYES !!!!

ok...I'm admitting it.
My eyes just aren't what they used to be.
I am squinting, closing one eye,
making terrible faces just to read the ceral boxes in the morning,
and playing guessing games with the roadsigns...

I can't see upclose, and I can't see far-away.
I have pairs and pairs of what I like to call
"CHEATERS"...
you know, those funky, psychedelic little glasses that you can buy from
the stitching department at Michael's Arts and Crafts for 5 bucks a pair?
( I KNOW you own a pair....fess up.)

I keep a pair in my purse, a pair next to my bed, a pair in my sewing basket
(ok, in EACH of my sewing baskets)
the car, the bathroom, the kitchen...

I stash them in coat pockets and re-discover them when the weather turns cold again,
("oh look"!!!, I'll say...like their brand-new again!)
and find them in out-of-service purses high on the closet shelves.

Do I need Eyeglasses Anonymous?

NO!

I NEED AN EYE DOCTOR!

so today, fine Friends~
at 2:45
I will be visiting my local Optician.
He's already informed be to bring my

'cheaters' with me...
(what, is he kidding? all 394 pairs??)

ok Doc, you got it....let me start packing...

these are just the 'cheaters' I keep in the car!!!

I'm not happy with the fact that he'll put those drops in my eyes to dialate them.
I know that he has to, so he can reeealy check in there to see what's wrong,

but I just don't like not seeing at all...and those drops make it worse.

I'll be sure to stay put in his waiting room until it wears off!!!
Nobody needs an almost blind-to-begin-with woman
with Doctor induced 'blurred vision' and humongous pupils
trying to drive her van around the Food Lion parking lot!!
(I'll look like a crazed stalker or something!)
not that I'll be able to see myself....

I'm hoping that I'll be a candidate for some sort of new
Lasik Surgery or something...
I don't want contacts either...
they make me claustrophobic!
*sigh*

well, wish me well...
I'll ...um...
"see" ya later...

Blessed be!
Lori

a 'not so hostile' take-over....

my gardens don't pretend to be perfect.

their little rows never line up,
and I don't mind when the begonias pop up
in the patch of ox-eyed susans...
or I find a stray and lone echinacea in the midst of my sweet annie...

I never scold them or grumble about weeds
(much to my husband's dismay, since he built the rasied boxes).

I even like the 'volunteers' when the choose to visit me once again from the year before.
hence, these sweet,

velvet blue
Morning Glories...

a tiny version, much smaller in flower size than my
'regular' Morning Glories, but tenacious still...

they've fastened themselves to the front porch of the shop,
where I'm greeted daily by a cheerful little
waving of leaves & petals...
letting me know that, yes indeedy,
'we're still here!'

no problem...

grow little weed flowers.

show the world what you've got!

sometimes the prettiest flowers in the garden,
begin from a not-so-pretty seed...

wishing you all a peaceful Sunday!
Blessed be,
Friends

~Lori~

a good harvest....

yellow squash, green squash, zuchinni...

you name it, we got it.
...and lots of it!

a great crop this year for sure, with all this rain we've had~

So, what is a farmwife to do when she has all these vegetables?
can. freeze. bake. repeat.

here is a yummy recipe for a treat that I've had for years...
it's really good and wholesome too!

~Orange (or Lemon) Frosted Walnut Squash Bars~

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp grated fresh orange peel (or substitute lemon)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup coarsley grated yellow squash (peeled)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
~ (frosting recipe to follow) ~

Grease 9 x 9 inch baking pan. preheat oven to 350*

in saucepan, melt butter. remove from heat and whick in sugar and eggs until blended.
add flour, peel, baking powder and salt.
beat until smooth, batter will be stiff but the squash will add moisture...
stir in grated squash and walnuts.
pour into pan and bake 35 mins.
cool for at least an hour...
~Frosting~

combine 2 tbls. butter,
2 tbls orange (or lemon juice)
1 - 1/2 cups powdered sugar....
beat with a beater set on low until spreadable.
spread frosting on cooled cake, when frosting is dry, cut into bars.

a nice, ice-cold glass of buttermilk
is thee perfect accompaniment to this super-moist, sweet/tangy dessert!

Hope you enjoy!!!!

Blessed be
~Lori~