Antoine's expression here is just like it was when he got the puppy for his birthday. Adoration and happiness.

What's more fun than giving your puppy a bath on a hot summer (spring) day? Especially if two of your most favorite aunts are in on the fun.
Annie calmly accepted her punishment. She seriously had a 'whipped dog' look in her eyes and didn't realize this was fun. :)

A little resistance here....

And she ran straight for the camera here and shook herself viciously. And proceeded to go bury herself in the leaves and dirt. I think little boys and dogs have something against being clean!

~ellen

Taking another jog down memory lane...Gramma's house just has so many memories. I sat and watched her many times using this sewing machine. She used to sew 'mutza' for men in church and if a dating boy showed up at Gramma's house (which was in plain sight of our house- just across the yard) then us kids were in on a secret. Engagements were not announced until two weeks before the wedding, but no suit coat and vest and pants could be sewed in such a short amount of time so they had to be ordered before the two weeks prior. And I remember feeling just a little smug that we knew something no one else did. I was (and still am) amazed at the precise and straight seams she made with her machine. In my younger years I didn't think anyone else even knew HOW to make those suit coats. I can still hear that needle going up and down and hear her foot pumping on the foot pedal.How sad that handwritten letters are becoming a thing of the past. Seriously, an email is just not the same! Although I do appreciate those. :) Another treasure from Gramma's house....
And her lamp still sits on this shelf by the window. The winter or two that it was my responsibility to keep her woodbox filled I saw this a lot from outside. Glowing in the window...nice and warm inside where she often had something for me when I was finished. Most times it was a piece of bread with jam.
And this last picture is actually not Gramma's house, but another empty house. I just love the wooden porch floor and the old chairs. And it kinda' fits in with these other pictures. :)

~ellen

I love seeing dads play ball with their boys. Especially when that dad is my hubby! Not really loving the grass stains in the pants. But really, I guess I don't even mind that all that much. Antoine's getting big enough that swinging the bat doesn't topple him over anymore!




Best Buds....

Those first boquets in the spring are so sweet and delightful..."I picked these for you, Mom. Aren't they beautiful?"
And a few more lovely signs of Spring in this cold windy little corner of the Earth...

Yesterday may have been almost 70 and 'hot' (according to the kids who so badly wanted to go barefoot), but today was rainy and windy and colder, then this evening it started snowing. Oh joy...! I love Garrett County. (I do, I do)

I love fog. It's so dreamy and mysterious, and sometimes spooky. I saw a deer this evening when I was walking. Of coarse I wasn't watching for it and wasn't ready with my camera but it would have made a great picture! Next time I'll be ready....

It's amazing how seeing something can bring back a host of memories. This card with the Lords Prayer written in German resurfaced from who knows where. It's dirty and creased. But my mind went back to when I started going to Sunday School when I was in first grade. Gramma was my teacher and I remember feeling like such a big girl carrying my sunday school book and my little song book to church. I was nervous about going up to sit on the first-graders bench in front of the church. There were a lot of stern looking men and women who could watch us while we sat in class. I was proud of my gramma- she was my teacher and I thought she was the prettiest of all the old ladies with her snowy white hair! We learned the alphabet in German and learned to read German and each of us got a German copy of the Lords Prayer. It brought back other memories that had nothing to do with Sunday School, but still had to do with church. I remember sitting with Gramma in her spot on the front bench and during church, the lady behind Gramma would lean forward and over the bench and slip some candy in my hand. I remember precisely how the road felt to my bare feet on those hot summer days walking to and from church. We'd squish the tar bubbles with our toes and if it got to hot, we'd walk in the grass at the side of the road. I remember when I was old enough to sit with the other girls my age instead of sitting with mom and realizing I was now to old to go barefoot to church.
Oh, I could go on and on....


I think I'll teach this to my children.

The sign of a little girl taking piano lessons.....I thought I better capture it before it's gone forever. She's learning the names of the notes now and starting to play by them instead of by her 'numbered fingers'. Kalei and Victoria are both excited about going to the recital this year.

Okay, gotta' try out blogspot. See if I like it better than xanga! My brother and his wife were long-suffering enough to let me get this shot. And I won a contest with it! Yay!