And This Little Piggy Went Wee-Wee-Wee-Wee...

All the way HOME!

Pick a peck of pickled piggies...

but not really pickled...

but you can pick a peck of 'em...

even if I don't know what a peck is...

you can pick 'em...



but absolutely no pickling!



Nope-Nope!
Ü

And you don't even have to be named Peter Piper to have one!



Really!

The piggies are 8 weeks old now and are as cute as a button... even though I don't really recall ever seeing a  cute button... but nevertheless, they really are C-U-T-E! And comical they each have thier own unique personality, they are funny to watch interacting and playing. They love it when I bring in their fresh pile of hay. They will run around it chasing each other and jumping. Then one will dive into it and hide then run back out again it is sooo funny to watch! I really do love these little guys... *sigh*
Pigs really are special!

Webster's Winter Wonderland....

I was looking through my albums on my computer and ran across this video taken of Webster a few years ago. We were at our friends house and he was introduced to a microphone... I'll let that thought sink in...

Scary eh? As anybody who knows Web knows that a microphone is the last thing that he needs! Yikes!

Yep... we had to pry it out of his hands as we were leaving that night... heh heh heh! Okay, not really but anyway, I thought I would share this here today... so without further ado, a blast from the past... Webster at age 6 singing his rendition of Louie Armstrong's It's a Winter Wonderland!

Oh... and by the way... I have no idea what a "pig boo" is?

Merry Christmas!

At Christmas time, I like to reflect back on where we've been and where God has brought us and then I make up a newsletter of sorts to send it out with my Christmas cards to our friends and family. But for the past few years I haven't done it, not because I haven't had anything to write about for there has been plenty going on, but I think because I was caught up in all the busyness of life and just was not able to.
But now the dust is finally starting to settle on the whirlwind that has been these past few years and I am catching my breath. And there has been change. Some changes have been hard and some not so hard but still somehow I don't think change even when we know it is good is ever effortless.

And in the end no matter how easy or hard life can be I do know that God is working things for the best and I just need to trust in him through it. And it is something that I choose to do and to be honest I think that may be the hardest part sometimes... just letting go and believing that God knows what He is doing even when it seems my world is upside down... He still has everything in control.

 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding but in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5

I do know that Gods track record in my life is spotless, He has never failed to take care of me... even when I make mistakes! God is soooo good like that!

We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  Romans 8:28

We have so much to be thankful for in life, whether we are high up on a sun shiney mountain top and can see for miles or down in a deep dark valley where we can't see the road or what step to take next... but God is there and we thank him for his provision and guidance He is ever present and abides with those who choose to abide with him.

And life on the mountain tops is so easy, life is good up there! We feel the blessings of the Lord pouring down on us like the warmth of the sunshine that lights up the sky, but it is those valleys that we dread we feel cold and alone and it can be very scarey.
I've been there... kidney failure was a deep dark valley that I did not want to enter. I knew the valley was there but hoped, then begged and pleaded that God would not have me walk that trail... but I did.
It is just like a horse that is trained to trust it's rider, I had to trust my God to take me into the place that I did not want to go and even though inside me I felt like panicking I had to trust him to lead me through it.
God knows what he is doing and it is because of my valley experiences that I have learned that I do not live by my feelings as they can be deceptive, God does not change at all... ever! He is the same God on the mountain and in the valley! I am thankful he not only reigns as the King of Kings but he also has the reigns of my heart and he will guide me through any valley of my life and and over any mountaintop and he will one day lead me home!

I pray that you all have a blessed Christmas and will let Jesus reign in your hearts this year!

It was just a little snow...

What's the big deal?

So we got a little snow...

It was a Nor'easter,

It's not like New England hasn't seen a Nor'easter before!

Alright,  maybe not everybody in New England has seen this much snow before... or at least gotten up close and personal with it, take Webster for instance...

this is the first time that he has been on the outside looking in and I have been on the inside looking out...

It's kinda nice from this perspective

And I, of course, wanted to capture these moments for posterity...

Well, Web wasn't too thrilled about my capturing this particular momentous occasion...

and went and reported me to the Farmer of the DELLs

I was told to stop harrassing the forced labourer volunteer worker and was not to take any more momentous pictures...

*sigh*

so I became the paparazzi and went incognito sneaky-o instead! hehehehe

And it is a good thing too!

Because as soon as my back was turned what happened?

I catch him sleeping on the job!

Com'on... get back to work!

Hehehehe

Hey... HEY! Where do you think you're going?

You're not done YET!

Boy... it's sure hard to find good workers now-a-days!
Ü

One of these things...

One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things just doesn't belong,

Can you tell which thing is not like the others

By the time I finish my song?

Did you guess which thing was not like the others?

Did you guess which thing just doesn't belong?

If you guessed this one is not like the others,

Then you're absolutely...right!

So what if there is two feet of snow outside... it's still summer inside! Ü

Oh for Pete's sake!

The resemblance is uncanny...

They've got to have some distant relative in common... heh heh heh!!

Alright you two... knock it off! Ü

Br-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!

Br-r-r-r-r! It is cold outside! Single digits even... only 7 degrees!!

It's nice to be where I am at the moment, snuggled up inside because... it is really cold out there!

I feel sorry for the animals. I can look out my back door and see them all out there waiting to be fed...

and my husband feeding them... Ü

Makes me really appreciate where I am at the moment... snuggled up inside... because you know...it is REALLY cold outside! Ü

Our Annual Christmas party...

Well... we have one week to go and true to my husbands style he waits until the pressure is on to do a Major project around the house!

The last one was just a few short months ago when he decided to remortgage the house and take advantage of the lower rates. Well it just so happened to be the same time that my parents were here to visit and we ended up having to revamp the entire kitchen as even though it was the same mortgage company that we had they now wanted a full appraisal instead of a drive by... and our kitchen was running in temperary mode...

See... temporary mode

So it was obvious that we did indeed need a revamping but to have to do it the same time as company being here was a wee bit hectic to say the least... and then to add to the stressors of all that we were invaded by the fleas from Hades and also their close relatives the zombie fleas (because I believe that the ones that did indeed succumb to the miriad of poisons revived to live again!)

But we did get the kitchen finished...

well finished enough anyway, as we are still in need some minor work... like the leaky pipe in the upstairs bathroom that needs to be fixed  so then we can patch that hole in the ceiling... minor stuff like that.

So that brings us to the current project.

We are upon the time of year we open our home to family and friends for our 14th annual Christmas Party and it is a week away... six days to be more specific and...

This was my house today...

Can you guess what they are doing?

And do you think it will be done by Saturday?

Ü

And one might think this would stress me out... Naaah, says I! This doesn't stress me a bit... I am cool as a cucumber... I am getting used to living on the edge... on the edge of insanity that is! Hehehehe

But in any event...sanity or insanity... Come one, Come all... I would like to invite you to join us this coming Saturday. We will have lots of food and hopefully we will remember to do the Christmas carol sing along this year which has always been a fun part of the night. And if anybody needs directions please let me know... I would love to see you all!

And if the Lord leads you to wear your work clothes that day when you come here... be it far from me to interfere with the Lord's urgings... and your obedience

No need to bring anything if you do come... but you may be encouraged to take something home... like a piggie... or two... or three! Ü

Let it snow... or maybe not!

It used to be that I coveted snow especially for Christmas day anyway... but now I am getting to the place of saying... how about we skip winter altogether and go right into spring? Ü

I'm thinking it must be an age thing, as I never have had a desire at all to live anywhere other than a northern climate and actually still don't as I really do love to see the seasons change. And know I would go crazy missing all the drama of it all... but still...

 there is something inside of me that says... can we skip winter altogether and just go to spring?

I think I am just having a hard time letting go... *sigh*

Chicken in the Woods

Okay... I really don't know why I titled my post that, it may have been because that is what I gave the title to my pictures when I uploaded them to my computer... but I don't know why I titled them that then either. It may have to do with the picture of the mushrooms that I took as they reminded me of Chicken of the Woods but it wasn't them (although I have seen them before and eaten them and they are very tasty indeed)... or maybe it was because I was taking pictures of Webster in the woods and he is the biggest chicken that I know of, so that could have been it too... but regardless, there you have it... it is what it is... Chicken in the Woods...

I love the beauty in the simple things that God has created... there is such perfection and balance between the colors and symetery found in natural living things especially at this time of year. They all seem to blend effortlessly.
I suppose that may be the reason that I have a tendency to gravitate towards such colors as these found here in these photos. And I also suppose that is the reason I have chosen such colors to paint the inside of my house...this is the paint pallette of my favorite room... my dining room!

Notice the similarities?

The real reason behind this particular post though wasn't just to show you all the lovely pictures of moss and twigs and such, but was because I am learning new photo layouts techniques and I wanted to see how they looked posted as the finished product. And now after seeing them I must say I do like them! Pretty snazzy I think! Ü

And my blog still seems to be a continuing work in progress, as I have not gottem it to a place where I like it.

I do like the simplicity of this straight forward template but it is quite dorked and so it still needs tweaking and changing until it reaches perfection... sorta like me... as I still need tweaking and changing too...until I reach perfection! Ü

And I realize that it probably would behoove me to explain some of my photos. Take for instance the one where Webster is holding a thorn... that is the brier from the Greenbrier plant and it is unbelievably a native species... and a very nasty native speicies at that! Just take a good look at the size of that pricker! Yikes! Mean I say... very mean! 
And the reason I say 'unbelievably native' is because it is usually the non-native species that I would have such disdain for and feel justified and patriotic even, at trying to erradicate them.

I suspose though that greenbrier is not quite at the same erradication status as ticks and fleas which I really really disdain, but that disdaining discussion will have to make up a whole 'nother post of it's own.

So until then... You all have a Blessed Day today!

Skype!

A very good friend of my daughters (and a very nice friend too!) recently gave a gift to her and to me, and that gift was a Dynex video cam for our computers. What that has enabled us to do is make video phone calls (which is really, really cool!) and all we had to do was download a free service from the internet called Skype.

This has been such a blessing! I mean for people like us who live too far apart to be able to stop in for tea and crumpets once a week or even once a month we now are able to see each other daily! The only requirement is that we both have to be available at the computer!

But there is a limitation and that is the video camera isn't portable... which if it was I think that would be really really awesome... I mean I could give video tours of our house or even the farm, that would almost be like a virtual petting zoo, well, except that you couldn't pet them, or feed them... or smell them either... which that would be a good thing... but moving right along now...

So, I can't tell you how exciting this is, and for Webster who has been missing his Momma Sissy (and his Momma who has been missing her too) this has really been a miracle!

Not only have we been able to talk to each other and see each other but we can interact with each other too!

What an ingenious idea!! I LOVE it!!