Just Braggin' A Bit

Here is my daughter, Dr. Emily C., DO in her long white coat for the very first time. I am so proud of her. Thanks for letting me brag just a little bit.

Bountiful Blessing!

Isn't this a beautiful sight? I spoke earlier of my brother in law, Steve, who owns and operates Firefly Farm and sells his organic produce in the Cleveland area. He got back from market yesterday, after a very successful day, but still had this produce left over. He called and asked me if I wanted some of his leftovers and of course I said yes! So I grabbed my basket (the one in the picture) and walked just down the road and across the street to fill it up! Imagine my surprise when he actually GAVE me all this that he was otherwise going to have to just compost! Fresh organic tasty produce!!! I was so very excited to receive this blessing for my freezer!

This dear lady is my mother in law buried beneath the piles of Chard and Kale. "Grandma Bea" lives with us at the present time due to her failing memory problems. Grandma (almost 91 years young) might not be able to remember five minutes from now but her long term memory is still pretty intact so she quickly jumped to my rescue to help prepare the produce for blanching and freezing. She was good help and though her legs grew weary and she had to sit down from time to time, she never waivered in her help to me. I am thankful because that was a lot of greens to prepare! I am thankful my mother in law was a farm wife that used to can and freeze to feed her family of five children (my husband being the youngest). She mentioned yesterday "I had to do all this years ago because if I didn't we wouldn't have had anything to eat!" We talked about the pleasure it brings to see the cans on the shelf or the bags in the freezer. We had a good time talking about old times as we worked.

In the abundance was a large bag of fresh basil. Oh my goodness the kitchen smelled so good... the fragrance was every where. In fact it was hard to fall asleep last night because of the aroma of the basil in the dehydrator. When I woke this morning it was all dried and ready for winter storage. I need to start harvesting my own herbs but I hate to disturb them because they look so pretty and smell so good out on my back deck! They have really grown since I posted pictures of them last.

Also in the things that Steve gave me was a bag of Amaranth leaves. I had never had them before but he and Carolyn assured me that, sauteed with some garlic scapes, they were going to be very enjoyable. So I cooked them for dinner last with some fresh sweet corn (from the grocery store - mine isn't ready yet) and a T-Bone steak that we shared.

I went to bed really tired last night but awake again before 5:30 AM. I need to get Grandma Bea up and moving this morning. She announced last night that another of her sons is picking her up this morning for a trip to Amish country. Now mind you, I am not sure she has the right date and she didn't know what time he was coming (bless her heart) so I better get her moving just in case. Then I need to get myself ready for church this morning. We have a Sunday School party after the service at noon today, so I need to prepare some "Jones' Macaroni Salad" for the party.

After that, a long afternoon nap, and then I will probably stitch on my art quilt somemore. I love Sundays..... good day of worship with my church family and rest! Sunday - just as God intended!

Beautiful Day to Quilt!

Yesterday I worked so hard that I decided to spend some time out in my screen house stitching on my art quilt. The temperature is perfect today to be outside...It is 76 degrees with just a gentle breeze. I have both of the water fountains running, worship music playing softly in the background and my little buddy Max sitting beside me. It is a glorious day to be out here. It is so peaceful.




I sit here stitching while humming worship songs with gratitude to my Lord and Savior. Again I am reminded how blessed I am. To name just a few (in no particular order):
1. I live in the country with nature all around me.
2. It is so peaceful and quiet here. Just little Max for company today.
3. The colors and textures of the quilt I am working on stimulate my creative self! The fabric, beads, floss, buttons.... all give me a thrill to work with.
4. A screen house to sit. No bugs and a view I love.
5. Just finished a tasty lunch.
6. Text message showing my granddaughter and her mommy out taking a walk in the sunshine.
7. Cold glass of ice water to refresh my thirst.
8. Bracelets made by my mom and cousin Sally.

These are only a few of the blessings that I could name. Of course I could add my family and friends that shower me with love and encouragement every day of my life.

I thought I would show you a few close up shots of the quilt squares I have been working on. I am about 2/3 of the way done with this. I haven't decided what I will work on next. I think I will probably make some jewelry next. purchased some beads while in Arizona this past winter and I have been wanting to make some things with them. I also have been getting in the mood to start drawing again. I haven't really touched my whimsey art since I posted those pictures on here. I really need to get back to that. I was just starting to get the hang of shading their little faces. So many fun things pull at me. It is hard to find balance sometimes between the necessary and the wish-I-had-more-time to.

Homemaking is important to me and I love doing extra things to make my family feel loved but I really do enjoy these rare moments of time when I am all alone to just sit quietly and enjoy all that is around me.

Some don't like to be alone but I really do enjoy it. I really enjoy people but being alone is such a gift.



Well, this quilt square is calling me again to finish its little stars so that I can move on to the next square.

Thanks for stopping by. If there are ever any questions or if you have a topic you would like me to address, please just leave me a note here on my comment section or email me at lauriejones1955@yahoo.com and I will do my best to answer you.

Blessings to you my friends. Thanks so much for reading and taking a moment to peek into my life, ordinary as it is. I really appreciate the feed back.

Fun Day!

Today started out like any other day. I had purchase some fresh coffee beans the day before so as I stood grinding my beans for my morning coffee, I contemplated what I wanted to do today. It was so hot yesterday (94 degrees) that I didn't get much done besides go to my Hospice Volunteer Training and plant the last of the garden with a small patch of corn. It was our third planting so we should have sweet corn for quite a long time this year. I am glad because corn is one of my favorite things. The garden really grew yesterday from the hot temperatures and then night time rain.

Jeff and Sally

I realized that I had forgotten to get my mail yesterday so after my coffee I walked down the long driveway to the mailbox to see what was waiting for me. I was so excited to see that there was a package in there for me. The package was from my sweet cousin Sally who lives in AZ. She is just learning to bead and sent me a real funky bracelet that she made with her very own hands. Sally and I are so much a like. I often wonder if we are really sisters separated at birth! She added her own "free style" to the pattern and I think it is really unique. Thanks again Sally!

This is the bracelet she made for me! I love it!

I had so much on my "to do" list. I checked the weather and found that today was to be much cooler than yesterday (82 degrees) so I planned to do my laundry. I love to hang clothes outside and so I did three loads of laundry. I changed the sheets in my Mother In Law's room (she stays with us at this time) and proceeded to clean the kitchen. Once I finished that task, I started my baking for the day.

I normally bake bread twice a week but I also saw a really good recipe on a blog that I follow http://www.coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com/ for some cinnamon raisin bread so I made sweet rolls too from the recipe, adding walnuts and frosting on the top.

Hubby ate a piece before I snapped the picture!


Small loaf for the toaster.

I fixed a chicken and wild rice casserole for dinner with green beans. And now... well, I think I earned the privilege of sitting down for the rest of the night! It is still three hours before bedtime and already I am sleepy! It has been a very profitable day and my heart is content (as well as my stomach). Think I will go out to my screen house sanctuary and work on that art quilt until the sun goes down! I love the country life!

Tribute to My Daddy

It is hard to imagine that this little boy would grow up to be so important to so many people. Who would have guessed when he was this size that he would be a husband, father, papa and great papa to a family that loves and adores him!

Because of my dad falling in love with my mom way back in the early 50's, there is now a family of Mike and me (Laurie) with our daughters (and husbands): Amy (& Kelly), Sara (& Geoff), Emily (& Michael), Abbey and six adorable great grandchildren Braeden, Kyleigh, Ethan, Macy, Jackson and Eleanor and my sister Lyn (& Dan), with their sons (and wife) Brian (& Stacey) and Craig. Who could have imagined that THE WORLD'S SMARTEST MAN* could have produced such a brood? *inside joke to our whole family.

We certainly all love him and are so thankful that he is in our lives to guide us and encourage us along the way. He is quite the computer nerd for great grandfather and you can follow his blog if you like at http://wwwpapa-b.blogspot.com/ There you will see more about all of us! He is quite a guy and I wish him a very Happy Father's Day! I love you so much Dad! XOXOXOXO

What A Good Day!

We had a couple of visitors this morning. Apparently the small June apples that had fallen of the tree enticed this little buck to have some breakfast under our apple tree.


If you look closely behind him, Peter Cottontail was there for some breakfast too. We got such a chuckle the other morning because there were four little bunnies looking longingly into the garden at the young lettuce leaves and other tasty things. They had gotten in there last week and did quite a number to the lettuce but Mike and my son-in-law Michael got our fence up. Now the rabbits could only dream about what was inside the fence instead of helping themselves.

The garden is doing well this year. I was so excited to go outside and see that there a few peas that needed picking. There weren't enough for a meal so I just brought them in, podded them, cooked them and we ate the little snack before dinner tonight. Oh they tasted so good. If you have never had peas fresh off the plants and into your stomachs in less than 20 minutes, you have never experienced anything like this!

Here are my peas... my first peas of the season. Small harvest but huge in taste! They were so sweet and tasty! I am so thankful for the opportunity to taste fresh produce from the work of my own hands. So good!
And as I was walking back into the house, I noticed that this pretty flower needed its picture taken. My mom gave me this start a few years ago and every time it blooms it makes me smile!

Well, I better get off the computer and finish my dinner..... grilled ham steaks, spicy potato wedges, and a fresh garden salad from the produce of my brother in law's organic truck garden. He hauls food to the Farmer's Market in Shaker Heights every Saturday. You can check him out here http://www.fireflyfarmohio.com/ He has really delicious produce. I especially love his lettuce and sweet potatoes!

Just a little peek into my life for you to see. Stop by sometime and let's have some iced tea with mint leaves from my herb garden!