Every night I leave my kitchen sink light on, so in the morning I never know what will be on the screen outside that window. About four times a year I will see a luna moth. This one is actually small, about 4" from tip to tail. But they never cease to amaze me.
Today Ruthie and I went to the farmers market in search of more cheap chairs, but we found ourselves surrounded by an entirely different culture ~ horse folks! There were trucks with horse trailers everywhere! Ruthie and I walked through the stables to see all the horses. We were told that this is a fantastic year for buying a horse because of the terrible economy. They expect most horses to sell for $1000-1500, half of the usual amount.

Ruthie enjoyed the sing-song chant of the auctioneer. There were dozens of boxes of reins, saddles, saddlebags, etc., to be auctioned off before the horses, so we left.

Ruthie did some more vacuuming while I mowed the lawn. If only we could have two more days like today...we might break even!

We are preparing our hearts for tomorrow's sermon. Take care and have a restful Sunday. Many blessings ~ Kathie

Look at that naughty muscovy standing on my fragile marigolds that are only 2" high! Those two muscovies better make a big dent in the mosquito population this summer or they're roast! Maggie was going bananas this morning because she isn't able to use her hands...but that didn't stop her from vacuuming with her feet!

It worked like a charm! When she got tired of vacuuming, she had someone put a swiffer pad on her feet. Poor darling.

This morning we were driving to town when we saw a "Garage Sale ~ Friday" sign. Now that's my kind of garage sale! I bought this double boiler for $1. Next year when Maggie's honeybees have lots of beeswax for making candles, I'll be all set. I'm not sure if you can tell how big this is, but the bottom is 2 gallon size, the inset is 1 gallon. Perfect! It even came with the ladle.
I'm not sure why, but my children love to pose for the camera. They always think up the craziest ideas...and their father is always a willing cameraman.
These two pictures are ridiculous. They are pretending to fight for the line.
Guess where Mike and my middle four children are tonight. Virginia...again! Yep. They found out that on July 1st the law changes, and anyone who rides a jetski will have to have a boating license. In 2012 the law changes again, and everyone, regardless of age, will have to have a boating license to drive a boat or jetski.

Here in St. Mary's County there is a boating course that runs 6 weeks long. But in VA the course is 8-4 pm all day Saturday. So today they drove down.

Anna wanted me to show you this picture of the schoolbus that goes 350 mph. (Most of today's pictures are from Anna.) It was impressive.

Well, we are between severe thunderstorms, so I want to run up and get my shower. For two hours after everyone left, Ruthie and I ran around cleaning and doing laundry. So now we're gonna get showers, then enjoy a good video (probably Roy Rogers...hurray).

Enjoy your weekend. Many blessings ~ Kathie

I so love driving down our dirt road this time of year. The mountain laurel is just beautiful. I'll never tire of it.
Anna took this picture of our asparagus two weeks ago. Now it has grown about 18" and gone to seed. I enjoy watching my children get excited about the garden.

My pictures are going backwards from today because I forgot to upload them in reverse. My guests last week, Ellen and Chris, gave me these lilies. Lizzie picked the daisies from our field. How I love fresh cut flowers!

I bought this wrought iron candle holder at the thrift shop for 25 cents. It was rusty, so I sanded it down and sprayed some black paint on it. The beautiful floral candles are from the Dollar Store. So far it's been too windy, or too cold, or too hot, to use. But it sure is nice for looks!

My horseradish is 18" tall!
We had a lot of fun with Chris and Ellen last week. Chris is a friend of Mike's from his Navy days. Chris retired from Delta Airlines a year ago. Ellen owns her own company and commutes to Baltimore. They are full of wonderful stories. They also have our sense of humor, and lots of it! Thanks for a fun time!Chris and Ellen came up to watch the Blue Angels at our airshow rehearsal last Friday. The show was wonderful. Very few clouds in the sky...unlike the actual airshow on Saturday. According to the newspaper, the rain held off until after the airshow, but was cloudy.

Otto the trick helicopter was a favorite. So was the schoolbus that had a jet engine that could go 350 mph (but makes for terrible pictures).
There were a lot of static displays as well. I didn't take any pictures the entire weekend, so I need to raid my childrens' picture files. These pictures are from Ruthie's new camera. Did I mention the 100 pictures of darling Abigail?
After the airshow, we took my mom (who came to the airshow with us) to the Hog Point Bridge on base and we watched 11 skates swimming in the water. The one thing about our airshows here at Pax River...there is always a beautiful breeze.

Late Friday evening we packed our van and headed to VA to Mom and Dad's weekend home. My children had fun swimming, fishing, tubing, jetskiing, waterskiing, and boating. This was the only picture I found...guess Ruthie was having to much fun to snap pictures. We came home Tuesday morning, and we've been running ever since.

In a half hour I have to pick up my neighbor's children from the bus stop and take them home. Then drop Allen off at Tang Soo Do class. Then drop sourdough rolls and magazines at a friend's home. Back to pick up Allen, then home for dinner. Maggie finished the last of her MRIs today, so tomorrow I get to sleep in (but don't tell anyone!).

Enjoy the sun. Many blessings ~ Kathie

Last week we traveled to CSM (College of Southern Maryland) at the LaPlata campus to hear Sarah give a reading. Sarah had written three wonderful poems and was asked to choose one to read that night. I have searched Sarah's blog and cannot find a copy, so I will be sure to post it when I finally catch up with her. Sorry the picture is dark...I didn't want to use my flash. We are so proud of her!

Afterwards we went to a Chinese restaurant. It was very expensive, so we got two dishes and split them eight ways. It was still a treat for us...and took the edge off our hunger until we got home. Hope I don't get in trouble for this picture ~ can you tell I took them all by surprise?

Maggie has been studying online about maple trees. She and her sisters have scoured our property (and Grandad's property, and Simba's property, etc) looking for sugar maples. Maggie hopes to tap every maple she can find.
She's been collecting leaves from all the different maples. The time to tap the trees is February, so she's just in the searching stage now.
Somehow in the midst of all the leaf-collecting, Ruthie got interested in flower pressing. I'm not sure if you can tell, but look closely at Maggie's right arm and you will see the wires hanging down. The wires carry electrical impulses to her arm. The only time Maggie is allowed to use her hands is when she is hooked up.This past Saturday I sent Mike and Allen to the Farmer's Market to buy a chair and a rhododendron. Well, this was definitely a "two-fer" day. Mike bought two rhododendrons for $20 (normally $15 each), and two chairs for $20 (normally $18 each). I LIKE twofer days! After seeing this picture, I think I'll send him in a truck next time.

My children are with my Dad at his church. This is our week to help him cook. The menu tonight was hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken, baked beans, deviled eggs, potato salad, chips, watermelon and pineapple. I stayed home to clean for tomorrow's company.

This week is flying by. Maggie has been in more pain than usual probably because she had a different accupuncturist. Keep praying.

This weekend is the airshow on base featuring the Blue Angels. As always, we will be going the day before to see the practice show (same as the regular show but without the crowds). If you'd like to come with us, let me know and we'll meet you outside the base to get you on. But bring ear protection!

Many blessings ~ Kathie

Well, another week has passed with no word from me. Just two excuses...I've been busy, but I also had a 48 hour bug this week. Headache and fever. What a winning combination. Thanks to my low blood pressure, it took me an extra day to recover. But last weekend we all worked together to paint some more of the basement.

I tried to get a picture of the end result, but it was hard with 12 bookcases standing in the middle of the room. We are almost halfway through the entire basement. I made the mistake of buying paint rollers from the Dollar Store. We ended up throwing them away. Totally useless. Oh well.
I never got to post this picture from our ladies' tea. This is Maggie and Anna singing. Lizzie got blocked by the music stand but she's playing her violin. I am on the other side of Lizzie playing my ukulele. The tea was wonderful. The ladies in our church sure know how to organize, decorate, feed, encourage, and welcome women.
There were many gift bags (I think about 30) that were given away during the entire tea. One of the special handmade gifts were some necklaces that were made by Bev, a member of church. These necklaces are made from our church bulletins! Bev cuts the more colorful bulletins into long triangles, then rolls them up around a toothpick. After gluing, she paints them with clear nail polish. Makes me wish I wore jewelry!

Anna got busy sewing and crafting, and contributed this garden-themed quilt, and a dozen notecards. I will have to find out where Anna has her pictures of the cards and share them with you. They were beautiful!

What beautiful centerpieces we had! Ruthie brought ours home and planted them in our log planter. I will take a picture when the impatiens grows a little and fills in the planter.

This will be a short post. We have a busy week ~ appts, the monthly meal at Saysf, out-of-town guests, dirty windows, lessons, piano tunings, etc. Now that the bookcases are back against the wall in the basement, I need to put all the books back and get the basement into working order again.

This afternoon we went to our piano recital where Allen, Lizzie and Anna played. It was a nice time seeing many old friends. Next month is our violin recital, then Lizzie has 10 pieces to finish memorizing for her adjudication in June. Then summer begins in earnest!

Our garden is doing well, the lawn is mowed, the chickens are growing quickly, and my children are finishing up their schoolyear. Maggie's occupational therapist is trying many new therapies to ease Maggie's chronic pain. Maggie has weird tape to wear on her neck and arm, an electronic zapper, and some liquid pain medication that she rubs on her arms. We are so thankful for everything this therapist is doing. Thank you for all your prayers for her.

Enjoy your week ~ Kathie

Our church owns an old 1925 farmhouse that we are sprucing up in anticipation of hiring an assistant pastor. Our trustees have spent many hours working on it. My three youngest children and I went over yesterday to wash windows. What a wonderful old home! Since a lot of folks who read my blog go to my church, I will take you on a quick tour. I just loved this huge shade tree. We had one of these where we used to live. It's called a non-flowering mulberry tree. Sarah spent many hours climbing on all the branches.

I enjoyed the many shelves...especially the ones set into the walls.

The stairs are very steep, and split at the top. Each set of stairs leads to two rooms. (What a nightmare for a family with young babies!)

Here's another closet set into the wall.

Perfect for canned goods.

My favorite room is the room in the back with lots of shelves and storage. It would make a wonderful sewing room.

The laundry room has long ceiling lights that light the place brightly. Perfect place for the homeschool scholars! (This is actually a large room.)

Of course, what is a farmhouse without a large porch.

Also typical...the outside door to the basement/cellar. There are lots of shelves for canning jars down there (...from what I could see from the top of the steps indoors. Actually...I was a wimp...and too scared to go down the stairs!)

Beautiful azaleas bush.

And best of all...a path that leads right to Ernie and Violet's back door!! Mr. Ernie and Mrs. Violet just celebrated 61 years of marriage. Mrs. Violet is famous for her collection of 3000 dolls (and her good cooking!). Mr. Ernie needs to put a gate in that thar fence!

My children loved this whole place. Allen was wondering if we could rent our home to the new pastor, and we could rent this home. Ha! I enjoyed seeing this little outbuilding.

Actually, the outbuilding is in better shape than the farmouse. Looks ready for occupants!

I saw some grapevines that are trying to grow through the weeds. And there was an apple tree that could probably be revived if pruned.

My only suggestion was to block off this section with lattice so no child would climb under here to retrieve a ball or hide during a game of Hide n Seek! I'm sure plenty of snakes have made their home here.

So we had fun working and playing. We weren't able to do any of the upstairs windows on the outside. I was afraid the windows wouldn't close if I could perchance get them open.

How's this for a before and after picture?! I brought fried chicken home from Walmart yesterday. It is very rare to find fried chicken with no milk or eggs!

I am off to take Maggie to her appt. Lizzie has to get a tetanus shot because she sliced her finger on a rusty nail while washing windows. Always something!

We stopped at a thrift shop yesterday, so tomorrow I will show you pictures. Great deals!

It rained again all night with lots of lightning and thunder. This is our 9th straight day of rain. Ask and ye shall receive. PTL

Many blessings ~ Kathie