Category Archives: Family

Catching Up

Chickens, Daffodils, Dandelions, Family, Gardening, Grandchildren, Reflections, Sewing, The Farm, , , , ,

Hello and welcome. It’s been pretty quiet here on the blog lately so it’s time to do a bit of catching up.

Sewing Projects

I spent a lot of February and March sewing for Jackson and Addie. The first three photos are things I made for Jackson. (I apologize it some of the photos are a bit blurry. Sometimes my hands are not as steady as I’d like them to be.)

T-shirt for Jacksom
Spiderman shorts
Spiderman Hoodie

Jackson loves Spiderman. My sister had sent me some Spiderman fabrics that she wasn’t going to use, since her grandkids have outgrown the Spiderman phase.

On Easter, when I gave Jackson and Addie their outfits, Jackson looked at the things I made for him, then looked at me and said, “You are the girl!” I construed this to mean, “Thank you Grandma. I love them!” 🙂

My sister also had some extra cat fabrics. Addie loves cats!

Cat Nap Pajamas

The patterns on the fabric are difficult to make out in the photos, so I added close-ups of the fabric.

Close-up of fabric
Pants for Addie
Close up of fabric

I also made myself a summer turtleneck.

Turtleneck I made for myself.

I love the way it turned out, and my husband complimented it several times when I was wearing it.

Farm Views

We’ve had a lot of rain this month and much of it came last week but on the nice days I’ve been getting out to enjoy the weather. I love watching the world come alive in spring and each day we’re seeing more and more – flowers opening, plants sprouting, leaves unfurling.

These photos were taken early last week.

Since then, we have a hen or two that are sitting on eggs, so, you’ll likely be seeing chick photos in a couple weeks. Also, dandelions are blossoming and the fruit trees are beginning to flower, so the bees have plenty to forage.

Plantings

Each year since 2019 I have potted up pansies to display in the bed alongside our deck. In past years my husband was able to get them from the greenhouse where he worked in 2019. They are a wholesale business but allowed him to come and purchase a couple of flats.

This year, in March, when he tried to call them, he was only able to leave a message, and he never got a return call. I was disappointed but ready to accept that we would not have pansies this year. My husband didn’t give up so easy. He began calling around to other local greenhouses to see if they had pansies. Mostly they were not open yet for the season. Eventually he got a message back from one of the greenhouse owners that they thought they could help him. Several phone calls and about three weeks later he picked up a flat of pansies.

I couldn’t be happier!

My husband also picked up a package of pansy seeds so we can start our own plants next year.

I did have them set out along the deck but brought them in for a couple of nights when we had the temperature dipped down below freezing. Hopefully we are past that now.

My husband started some cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower plants in March. They are now big enough to be planted in the garden, and we are hoping things dry up enough this week that we can get them planted. We also have some potato seedlings that we will plant as soon as the soil is ready.

Other News

This is so exciting!

It was the last week in March when I received my preview copies of the book my story in being published in, Chicken Soup for the Soul, I Can’t Stop Laughing. The book goes on sale next week, on 4-27-26, and I will be doing a separate post about the book and about the process of being published in this book.

One of the benefits of having a story in the book was that I received 10 free preview copies. When I told my family that I would be getting them and that I would be giving them out, they decided they need to hold a book signing event. I was honored.

On April 4th we met at a local coffee shop for lunch, and I signed and passed out copies of the book. (That’s me at the far end of the table.)

As a congratulations gift my family gave me this beautiful garden statue. It says, “The Garden is my Happy Place.” 🙂 You all know that is true.

Thanks for visiting and Happy Spring!!!

Bugs and More

Birds, Bugs, Family, Leaf Bug, Reflections,

Hello and welcome.

Yesterday morning I was blessed to be able to spend time with some of my family: my aunt, one of my sisters, two of my daughters and my sister’s granddaughter (my great niece). We met at a local coffee shop and spent at least an hour and a half just drinking lattes and talking.

At one point the conversation turned to bugs. My daughter mentioned that she has been seeing a lot of spiders lately. Then my sister said she had been seeing stink bugs (like the one pictured below).

I agreed about the stink bugs and added that I had been seeing a lot of “those bugs that look like giant mosquitoes” (like the one pictured below).

I have since found out that they are called crane flies, and they seem quite harmless.

My sister then mentioned that she likes seeing leaf bugs. I said I had never heard of leaf bugs, so she described them as looking “just like a leaf”.

“I probably just sweep them off the deck never realizing they are there,” I joked. (These days I’m always sweeping leaves off the deck.)

Later in the day I was on our deck and grabbed the broom to sweep the leaves off. One of the leaves stood out from the rest as it was bright green instead of the browns, yellows, and reds of the rest of the recently fallen leaves.

As I took a closer look, I realized it wasn’t a leaf at all. It was a bug! I grabbed my phone and took a photo. I sent it to my sister who quickly replied, “That’s it.” I am still amazed that the first time I ever saw one of these bugs was when it showed up at my front door just a few hours after my sister was telling me about them.

I did a little research and found out that these bugs are also called Katydids. I have heard of katydids but never knew what they looked like. I do think they are a neat looking bug.

While I had my camera out I was able to get a picture of the squirrel that has been a frequent visitor to our yard and driving Ranger and Ruby crazy.

This black capped chickadee paused in the cherry tree for a minute or two so I could get a couple of pictures

as did this little bird in the picture below.

I’m not sure what kind of bird this is and am hoping some of my smart readers can help me out. Please leave me a comment if you recognize this bird.

Thank for visiting?

Have you ever seen a leaf bug?

The Big Day

Family, Reflections

The official holidays were over and most people were done celebrating on Sunday, January 5 when our family got together for our big celebration. My husband, with my permission, began planning this day a couple months ago. It was my 60th birthday and he wanted to throw me a party.

Since my birthday fell on a Sunday picking a date for the party was easy. I began telling people to save the date way before we had any other plans made. That was a good strategy because nearly everyone we invited made it.

My sister and brother-in-law booked a hall, and my husband ordered the food. (We now highly recommend Nino Salvaggio catering service.) It was a wonderful day filled with family, friends, fun and food enhance by love and laughter. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday –

Me with 3 of my daughters. Tina, Lindell, Me (Ruth), Kara.

but I got one. As you can see in the above picture some of us are Detroit Lion’s fans. I was wearing my Detroit Lion’s hoodie that my husband bought me for Christmas. Lindell was wearing a Lion’s sweatshirt and the Lion’s shirt that Kara was wearing was one Lindell made her for her (Thanksgiving) birthday. It said, “All I want for my Birthday is a Lions Win”. For my birthday she put a piece of tape over the word “My” and wrote “Mom’s” on it. 😁

Sunday night, after the party, my husband and I capped off the evening by watching the Lion’s beat the Minnesota Vikings to win the conference championship and secure the #1 seed in the playoffs.

It was a great way to start 2025 and a memorable 60th birthday.

GO LIONS!!!

The Good Stuff

Family, Fishing, Grandchildren, Pond, Reflections

We were blessed to spend a few hours with Tina and Ken and Jackson and Addie on Saturday. The morning was cloudy with even a few light rain showers moving through but by the time they got to the farm around 2:00 p.m. the rain was finished, and we had as much sunshine as clouds. We even had a nice breeze to help keep the mosquitoes at bay for a while.

We started out by picking blueberries.

I’m not sure how many we picked but they did leave with a little over a quart of berries. I did see Addie eating them by the handful while we were picking so we likely picked much more than it appeared. As they were leaving I noticed Addie trying to open the container that the berries were in so I’m not sure if any actually made it home with them. LOL!

Then Tina and I took the kids in the pond. They are both trying very hard to learn to swim. They kept their floatation devices on and practiced kicking their feet and paddling with their hands. They are both seeming to catch on.

Meanwhile my husband and Ken went fishing. They were reeling in fish one after another. This large blue gill is a mystery fish. How it got in our pond is a mystery as we never put blue gills in there. The rest of the fish they caught were perch (we had stocked the pond with perch in 2013).

When they were finished fishing Ken took Jackson and Addie for a boat ride. (Those are some happy faces.)

The three-hour visit passed much too quickly, but we are so thankful for these precious moments with them.

58 Trips Around the Sun

Family, Reflections

That’s right, I completed my 58th trip around the sun this week. It seems my husband and I have been celebrating this since just after Christmas when he instructed me go online to Sayklly’s Chocolates website (they make the best chocolates I have ever had) and order some chocolates as a birthday gift from him. They arrived two days later and I’ve been enjoying a couple pieces each day since. (This is another reason I didn’t need the cheesecake but these chocolates have a longer shelf life so I can savor them well into the year. :)) If you are ever in Escanaba, MI, I recommend you pick some up.

Then on Monday we had our day out – shopping, then lunch at a local restaurant. It was a fun day.

I thought today would be a good day to share some of the old photos I discovered while using my dad’s old Dell computer. A little look into my past so to speak. I’ve selected just a few of the photos and most of them have me in them so you can meet a younger me. 🙂

MOM

The first photo however is of my mom.

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If the date on the photo is when it was taken, she would have been 13 years old. Back then the date on the photo indicated when it was printed so I can’t be sure when it was taken. It looks more like summertime than November in Michigan. Perhaps it was her birthday in August. People have always told me I look like my mom, but I think she was much cuter at that age than I was.

50 Years Ago

The next two photos appear to be just random photos. Not taken at any special event. I think I was around 7 or 8 years old when these were taken.

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This is me with my youngest sister, Erin.

032 From left to right: my oldest sister, Kathy, my youngest sister Erin, Me. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I don’t remember either the cat or dog in this picture.

 40 Years Ago – Family Vacation

The rest of the photos were taken on our family vacation in 1982. It was the only time that I ever vacationed with both my parents. Mom, Dad, me and my two younger sisters Jamie and Erin drove cross country to visit friends in Page, Arizona. I think it was a 10-day trip. We also visited friends in Columbus, Nebraska along the way but the only photos I have were taken in Arizona. My older sister Kathy was married at this point, so she didn’t go on vacation with us.

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The above picture was taken when we visited the Grand Cayon. Jamie, Erin and me sitting on the rim of the Grand Cayon.

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My Mom and Dad standing in Lake Powell.

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This picture was taken when we visited what our hosts described as a rock cut. This particular cut formed a path, like a tunnel, through a huge rock formation. I think the cut/tunnel went all the way through and came out on the other side. (Correct me if I’m wrong, Erin.) Pictured from left to right: Tiffany, Me, Dad, Jamie – Front: Erin, Justin. Tiffany and Justin are the children of the family we visited. Erin and Tiffany are still good friends today. 

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We visited a second rock cut. This one went down into the ground. This picture shows my dad climbing down into the cut while we kids are already down inside.

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Inside we climbed the walls. Jamie and me inside the cut. 

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Erin and me inside the cut.

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Me inside the cut.

As I was writing this post I became curious about these areas we visited on this trip so did a quick internet search. I’m fairly certain that these cuts that we visited are what is called Antelope Canyon and opened for tours in 1983 – the year following our trip. It has since become a popular location for photographers and sightseers and a source of tourism business for the Navajo Nation according to this website. (There are some great pictures on that website.)

Thank you for joining me for this trip back in time. I hope you will stick around this year to see what trip number 59 has in store.