Keeping Up On Spring

Hello friends.

Am getting a little late but here is 

what our keeping room looks like for Spring.

Hope you enjoyed the pics.

In other news.

The weather here has still been Springlike.

Rainy, cold and damp.

The Summer temps come next week.

Chip and Dale (the chipmunks I named last year)

They have become a family of five.

Their nest is in our flower box underneath 

our kitchen window.

I managed to take a sad pic of three of them.

Am hoping the snakes dont get them.

I know they can be a nuisance, 

but I do think they are cute.

Tuesday afternoon there was a close call

with the American Spirit freighter,

almost hitting the seawall underneath

the Blue Water Bridges that cross 

from the US to Canada.

These bridges are in Port Huron, MI.

One bridge for each direction of traffic.

The captain did not take the bend

in the river correctly.

If this freighter had been loaded...

it might have hit the bridges.

It also would have hit another freighter 

if one had been coming down from the lake.

The US Coast Guard is investigating the incident.
 

Well have to get to work.

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week,

and a fantastic weekend.

End of May Blessings To All!

Janice

Sunday Starts

 Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

My first start for May was 

Summer Refreshes by

Summer House Stitch Workers.

 

You may remember Spring Awakens.

This one I stitched last year.

Once again I have all 4 seasons...

and only stitched the Spring one thus far.

I am not much of a green person,

so I chose these three colors.

A more muted red and blue and gray.

Thunderbird (gray)...

my original color I chose did not show up.

Opted then for Uniform Blue.

It is a grayish blue color.

This is stitching up pretty quickly.

Almost halfway done now.

Am still on the strawberry mood,

but also getting the itch for some patriotic.

This is a Stacy Nash pattern.

Strawberry Basket Sewing Tray.

Stitching this on 32 ct Flax.

I will be making this into a pillow

once finished.

Then I started Alpha Berries

by Erica Michaels.

Am doing the cursive one first.

Cranberry floss used.

Finally 

Strawberry House by

The Scarlett House

My one day start.

Doing this on 32 ct 

One More Reproduction linen.

Not sure if I should do the actual house

in parchment or change to a blue.

What do you all think?

In other news,

Bob's procedure went well.

After surgery the doctor asked Bob

how he felt.

His response was "I feel lighter",

which made the doctor laugh.

The weather here has been cold,

damp and even rainy.

The furnace keeps kicking on.

We have been putting fires in our

fireplace to take the chill off somewhat.

Definitely not the Spring I thought

 it would be this far,

Both my mom and I are feeling better.

Thank you for the well wishes.

Sadly the swan family does not have 

a family anymore.

It went from five to three.

Then the other day none.

Me suspects the snapping turtles

may have gotten them,

as there are quite a lot in the marsh.

Or it could have been an eagle or even an owl.

Just sad that none are left to watch grow up. 

Well tomorrow is Memorial Day.

Please take some time to remember why 

we have this holiday.

It is not all about the BBQ's and picnics.

It is a day to remember our fallen soldiers

throughout the years.

Without their sacrifice we would not be free,

Freedom should not be taken for granted.

Sunday Blessings To All!

Janice

Whippy Wednesday

 Hello friends.

Here are my WIP's for this month.

First up is Antique Birds and Angel

by Quaint Rose Needle Arts.

Day 2 had me 3/4 of the first bird completed.

I did change the called for DMC 310 (black)

for Gentle Arts Raven.

Raven is a blackish green which I thought 

would look better with the DMC 500 green.

Day 3

I finished the bird and some flowers.

I think next I will work my way up.

Start on the flowers at the top and then

work down to the bird on the right.

Or I may work halfway and then start the angel.

Will see once I get there.

Day 4

I worked up stitching in more flowers.

This is going to be one colorful piece

once completed.

Day 5

Took me one day to stitch this pinkish flower 

and the greens below it and to the right side.

Lots of confetti stitching.

So glad it is finished.

Am loving this piece thus far. 

Even though it took one day to complete

that huge flower.

Also this sampler has no alphabets.

I am toying with the idea of adding 

in my own letters at the bottom.

Will see when I come to that part.

One more thing...when I say

this has taken me 5 days thus far...

this is my Sunday stitch only.

Next up is Sarah Casey Unwin.

Last month I had finally finished

most of the upper half.

I began stitching on the vase.

I only stitch on Saturdays with this pattern.

Am almost finished with the vase,

but not a lot accomplished in this past month.

Too much going on these past few Saturdays.

This is where I am at with the whole piece now.

I think it will be more fun for me once I get

to that big ole house and motifs.

Next up Strawberry Faire.

As you know I HATED doing this

big strawberry.

I finally figured out there was a pattern to it,

and started stitching all of the squares.

I finally finished that dang strawberry.

 Now on to the fun stuff.

In other news,

Bob has out patient surgery today

to take out the loop they put in

to check on A-fib when he had his stroke

almost three years ago.

Well our insurance company was going

to start charging for it, and Bob said

no frickin' way....well that's not 

what he told me but you get the gist.

They have NEVER detected A-fib,

so his doctor agreed it was not necessary 

to keep it in.

Michael goes to the doctor this week.

Hopefully he can return to work.

He is the one who joined us in Frankenmuth.

He was wearing a boot on his foot,

which has to wear when going out.

His tailbone is getting better and he can

sit longer now.

I got spoofed yesterday by someone claiming

to be my bank telling me I had fraudulent charges.

Clue #1 Phone number not a toll free one.

Clue# 2 They had only my 4 digit information

and wanted more.

Clue #3 Transferred me to someone else and

said they had to to clear up my credit report.

Clue #4 The new person told me I had

red violations on my credit report and the only

way to remove them would be to close out

all of my open accounts and then they could

re-open them with half the balances at zero

percent interest.

After that lie I was done.

I yelled at the guy telling him I would not 

be closing out my accounts and hung up on him.

As a banker myself...NEVER give out

 any information to anyone.

Your bank would never transfer you to

another company, nor would they want you

to give out your personal information.

Scammers want you to be nervous so you

will give them the information they need.

Please do not be fooled.

You can always call your bank to verify

anything suspicious, which is what I did

after hanging up on the guy.

The bank that supposedly was calling me

was not the same bank I work for.

I have accounts with a different bank,

because my bank has no branches in my 

home town area.

Don't Get Spoofed Blessings To All!

Janice

 

Our Mother's Day Mini Trip

Hello Friends!

As some of you were aware,

I picked up my mom last Friday

and we headed an hour and half west

from her house to Frankenmuth. 

Our dinner was at the Bavarian Inn.

Everywhere you turned there are paintings.

Paintings depicting Bavaria. 

Pictured above is the founding family

 who started this restaurant.

The Zehnder's purchased the building in 1928,

and lived on the 2nd floor of the restaurant.

The opening day was Mother's Day 1929.

They served 312 patron's at $1.00 a dinner.

In 1930 they were raided by federal agents,

and arrested for selling beer.

They had to pay $5000.00 in fines and bail,

which almost cost the family their business.

Today the third and fourth generation

run the businesses which now include

two restaurants, Bavarian Inn Hotel, retail shops

and even a golf course.

It's well known that the Zehnder family

put Frankenmuth Michigan on the map.

Frankenmuth also includes

Bronner's Christmas store which

is currently the worlds largest Christmas wonderland.

This retail experience is located on 27 acres. 

We did not visit Bronner's this time.

It would be difficult for my mom to walk.

Here is my my mom and daughter Michele at dinner.

My granddaughter Mikayla on the right.

She asked her mom if she could bring 2 friends...

my daughter said ok.

Well then my grandson Michael wanted to come.

The more the merrier. LOL

I did not want to take pics of the wait staff

without permission,

but you can see the gentleman in the background.

The wait staff all dress in Bavarian attire.

Family style dinner includes chicken noodle soup.

First course macaroni salad, cole slaw,

cranberry relish, carrot salad...

which none of us liked. We were hoping

for the bean salad. Oh well.

Plus stollen (fruit bread) and peach jam.

Dinner included chicken, mashed potatoes

with gravy, buttered noodles, dressing

and beans...which I forgot to put on my

plate before taking this pic.

Dessert is ice cream.

Vanilla, Orange Sherbert or twist...

which is half vanilla and sherbert,

which is what I chose. 

Could you imagine drinking beer out of this stein?

We spent the night in Bridgeport,

and then Saturday morning

I drove mom back to our house.

Us kids then took her to dinner for Mother's Day

on Saturday evening.

She stayed with us until Monday morning,

and then I took her home.

She was sick...and now I think I caught her cold.

UGH

In the wee hours of the morning yesterday,

our phones would not stop.

Tornado watch, Marine warning, 

severe thunderstorm watch. So glad it was not as

bad as predicted. The storms went around us...

which is fine by me.

Not feeling well today so probably

 will just lay around and rest.

I only worked half a day yesterday.

This morning still feeling under the weather.

It is raining so am just going to rest these old bones.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Mini Trip Blessings To All!

Janice