A Rag Doll For Violet

Violet, 

will be four months old

come Christmas Day.

Peeping from the top of 

her stocking, will be this

little rag doll......

made with love .........

by her grandmother.....me.

And so it begins, now that

December is here.  

For Christians, this is one

of our most celebrated time

of  year. 

On the first Christmas,

gifts were given to Jesus

by Wise Men.  I like to think

we give in the same spirit.

Blessings for all......Dee Dee

A Grapefruit Tree

 We moved to Florida

in the month of December.

I remember finding it

fascinating seeing the neighbors 

grapefruit tree filled with 

yellow fruit. It was our good fortune that

several of the branches spilled over into our

yard. The fruit falling to the ground

we claimed as ours. An older tree, the

grapefruits were filled with seeds, but

properly prepared, they tasted mighty good.

For many years we were blessed with

not only a visibly beautiful tree, it also offered

a lovely fragrance from the fruit blossoms. 

I took the photo seen here, three years ago.

Sadly,  this was the last time the

tree yielded healthy fruit.  .

Unfortunately our neighbor's tree is dying and

most likely will be taken down. Most of 

the leaves are gone, and the one or two fruits

the tree has yielded  are brown.

Seems like an old friend is somehow leaving us. Sigh.....

Have a sweet ole' day everyone!  Dee Dee

Palm Tree Droppings

One of our taller palm trees

is surrounded by various

tropical plants.  Seldom do

I see the ground in that area,

and not until today did I

make this discovery.

Large pod-berry droppings

lay scattered on palm bark

making for interesting 

composition.

Here, 

I found beauty in the 

palm tree droppings, my

camera loving the 

filtered lighting

provided by the tall

Nandina plants. 

Zooming  through the leaves

using the Macro setting, provided

the lovely green in the photo.

This reminds me of a 

feeding dish for the squirrels....

provided by nature, of course.

The palm tree has two of these

large pods now.....

promising berry droppings for 

a good while to come.

I'm glad you stopped by.

Blessings.....Dee Dee

click on photos to enlarge

Cotton Fields

Our Thanksgiving road trip

took us through Georgia.

Mile after mile we saw fields

of white cotton.  

Had me humming......

"Oh when them cotton fields

get rotten, you can pick very 

much cotton.....in them old

cotton fields back home."

While the Mister gathered a few stems

for our "homeschoolers"......

I took plenty of photos. 

Have a sweet ole' day!  Dee Dee

Late Fall In Carolina

Nothing could've been

finer than to be in 

South Carolina.......

I took lots of photos of

our sweet  family member's garden.

They work hard for

these kind of images......

....and the garden is magical.

Pansies were thriving....love 

the colors....

The morning sunshine made for

some real pretty photos.....

We likened this small

maple tree to a 

"burning bush."

"Sweetness" was found beneath

a maple tree.....

Summer's end and 

a Coleus still drawing 

attention to itself......

And.....Roses were 

up-on-the-housetop!

Thank you  family ....

for a sweet ole' time!

Dee Dee and the Mister

*click on photos to enlarge

"Thanksgiving"

By Doris Lee

In this painting, 

 Ms Lee has captured 

my ideal Thanksgiving.

The kitchen's  buzzing with

ladies of the  

family busy with  meal

preparation.

Everyone is

contributing  in a 

prideful kind of way.

Favorite

dishes promise to be delicious 

and of course they are traditional.

The food  took more time 

to prepare in

those days.....a good thing, I believe.

It allowed  more time for sweet conversations

and catching up with out-of-town 

family members.

"Is the turkey almost done?"

My pumpkin pies need

to go into the oven."

This evening I'm hearing sweet

voices from the past.  They're

stored away in my heart and 

always surface during the holidays.

I'm real thankful for that and.....

for so so many other things.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  Dee Dee

More Petunias

I liked the red Petunias 

I placed at the front entrance

to our cottage.

So much so, that I brought

home two more hanging baskets.,

and yes, the same color.

They've been hanging in 

 our garden....looking pretty .... 

maybe even a little like Christmas.

I love how the reds

and greens look together.

After Thanksgiving, 

maybe I'll plant red Poinsettias

in the large pots out by the pool.

Enjoying these life moments and 

I'm glad you stopped by.

Blessings.....Dee Dee

Snow Cool

I've titled  it "Snow Cool"

for obvious reasons.....

Have a sweet ole' day!  Dee Dee

Oxen

Beautiful images and I'm remembering

the day that 

 I watched Amish farmers plowing the fields.

 Oxen  and men seemed content in their labor.

I'm reminded a 

commandment from God's Holy Word.

Exodus 34:2l

Six days you shall labor, but on the

seventh day thou shall rest.

The seventh day is the Sabbath...

holy to the Lord.

Have a beautiful Lord's day......Dee Dee

click on images to enlarge

Easing Into Christmas

I love this time of year!

I'm easing into  the Christmas season

with  light reading.

My bedside table is stacked 

with a collection of Christmas time

stories, thanks to our library re-sale bookstore.

Patrons are faithful to donate like new

Christmas Books each Christmas season. 

 I'm now enjoying "Irish Stories For Christmas"........

 tales of  ordinary Irish country people

 during the holiday season.

"The Miracle of Ballybradawn"

Our tale begins in the year of our Lord l953,

climacteric span which saw the demise of Stalin,

the flight of the Shah, the inauguration of 

Eisenhower and the conquest of Everest.

Not to be outdone, Ballybradawn was to witness

its own breathtaking phenomenon shortly

before Christmas of the year in question.......

I suppose these books provide delightful

reading any time of year.

Happy thoughts!  Dee Dee

Sheep

I'm thinking about sheep today.

I purchased a bag of  freshly

sheared wool....black with

tiny bits of grey for a Christmas project.

I'll be making

small black sheep for our 

manger scene, and 

 tucking a few of the woolly guys into

Christmas gifts.

Who doesn't like sheep?

The camera liked the 

sheep at the Farmers Museum in

Cooperstown, New York.

  

So did I.

The sheep's  in the meadow and the cows

in the corn......

And oh how I wanted to be like

Mary. She had a lamb who's

fleece was white as snow. The best

part was she brought the lamb to 

school one day and made the children

laugh and play .......

and then there was a.....

Bah Bah black sheep, have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.  One for

the master, one for the dame, one for the

little boy who lives down the lane......

We memorized this as children.  Little did

we know they were words of protest 

against unfair taxation on wool.

Who would have known?

Thinking good and happy thoughts!  Dee Dee

click on photos to enlarge

Read To A Child

Selective television and

lots of books to read

expand a child's knowledge

and imagination.

I never tire when reading to

children, and  find it sometimes

amusing that I'm a little girl all

over again.

Our public library has a resale book

store that  restocks almost daily.

I go twice a week to search through

the bookshelves.

The children I buy for are ages

three, five, eight and nine.

Yesterday, I found lovely books for

all their ages.  It's amazing to watch

the older children advance in their

reading skills, their vocabulary and

their continual expanding  curiosities.

My tip for the day.....Read all books

prior to reading to a child.  Not all 

modern day books are appropriate for

young minds.  Some have subliminal

messages that are not, at first glance,

apparent. Little minds are impressionable

and easily swayed for unhealthy thoughts.

Be Aware! 

Have a beautiful day....Dee Dee

The Old Work Horse

I saw the movie War Horse not 

 long ago.  I,  along with just about

everyone seeing the movie fell in love

with this terrific animal. 

This big boy, seen here, is a work horse,

earning his fee and hay at the 

Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown

New York.

I spent a good while this evening

with photos taken of him, 

 using  Photoshop.

He's so beautiful, don't you think?

Has a rugged look of a work 

horse and he

 reminds me of "War Horse"

The Museum has lots of visitors.

Families with children spend time 

with the animals on the farm.  I think

this guy has a pretty good life.

Gotta love that sweet ole' face......sigh...

Have a beautiful day!  Dee Dee

click on images to enlarge

"Chicken In The Four O'Clocks"

It'd  been a long while for me, being

around  farm animals. So,

I was fascinated with seeing these pretty

white chickens.  They were wondering

around freely at the Farmers Museum

in Cooperstown New York.

  I'm certain I annoyed a few

of these  very active birds with my camera.

They were interested in nothing

 more than foraging for food, scratching

around for seeds insects and worms.

I waited for this guy to come from 

beneath the Rose bushes. 

 Surrounded by

Four O'clock flowers and Lantana,

I had the perfect composition for a

nice photo shoot. 

I still have my original photo, but

what your seeing here is 

"experimentation" and my results

having used Photoshop.  I had way too

much fun with this.

Have a sweet ole' day, everyone.  Dee Dee

click on image to enlarge

"White Bunny"

I painted this 

White Bunny

 during the fall of the year,

as I remember and

a long while back.

I'd been inspired by another

painting, one with the same

subject matter.

I found Bunny in a file, on my

exterior hard drive today.

He looked  

 a little lonely and sad.

So, I've spruced the little guy

up by using Photoshop.....

sorta like giving him a  

good dusting off.

I've brightened his eyes and

by adding  a few more whiskers, he's

looking pretty "snazzy."

Have a beautiful week, everyone.....Dee Dee

Sunset

On thoughts as the day closes......

was today well spent?

Did we add our light to the world?

Can we say, "I did my best?"

~Starrlette L. Howard

Think on this....

A land which the Lord, your God

looks after; His eyes are upon it

continually from the beginning

of the year to the end.

~Deuteronomy ll:l2 from the Holy Bible

Have a blessed Lord's day!  Dee Dee

Petunias

I love red Petunias!

  A few

years back I placed a basket

of red Petunias in this same 

location....by the front door

of our cottage. As I recall,

it was early November.

They  lasted all through

Christmas...and well into spring.

I'm hoping for the same success

with these pretty things.

The weather is cool now and

they will get filtered sunlight

all day long......

Happy thoughts......Dee Dee

Click on images to enlarge....

Call The Midwife

I  wished I had paid more attention

when my daughter, mother of five,

told me about "Call The Midwife".....

She had nothing but high praise,

considering it her all time favorite, ever.

This past Sunday night I 

watched it to see what all the excitement

was about.

I loved it!  Sadly I was watching the

final show of the season. 

I did a little research and found I could

watch the complete season ....

all episodes on  www.pbs.org  through

December 3l, 2012

Anxious to watch, I bought  the

complete season today, on DVD,

calling it an early Christmas present.

The story is about a group of midwives, based in 

East London in the l950's.  Twenty-two year old

Jenny leaves her comfortable home to become a 

midwife in London's East End slums.

Expecting to find a hospital, she finds the clinic is a

convent.  Working alongside her fellow nurses and 

the medically trained nuns, Jenny has her eyes 

opened to the harsh living conditions.

She discovers the warm hearts and the bravery of 

the mothers.  Each one a heroine in Jenny's eyes.

I think you'll like this story, as much as I do.

It is intriguing in every way.

Have a sweet ole' day!  Dee Dee

Discovery

During our visit to Cooperstown,

I had an opportunity to just get

out and walk.  The fall leaves were

scattered beneath my feet and the

cool breezes carried the fragrance

of wood burning fireplaces.

On this day, I discovered something

interesting, almost hidden from my view

completely.

Through the Bittersweet berries....

and the tree limbs, I could see 

something resembling a chimney.

Warn and weathered, 

I had found an

old "Ice Shack" belonging to my

grandson.

As a young teen, he would take

the shack out on a frozen lake

to fish.

I was surprised to hear that the

 pipe peeking through the roof

was attached to an

actual wood burning stove.

Imagine that....

As a usual thing, I enjoyed

taking photos for lasting 

memory.

Have a beautiful day, everyone!  Dee Dee