Stand By Me

Playing Song Around the World "Stand By Me" - Click here for another funny movie.

Back Among the Living

Hello Everyone, I am back online after a horrific couple of weeks with the Swine flu that turned into pneumonia. I am still dealing with weakness and shortness of breath but am finally able to type without getting winded!

The six day long fever, two trips to the ER, breathing treatments, antibiotics and chest x-rays have given me some much-needed perspective and appreciation for my one body and the health that I usually posses. This has been a huge blow to even my ego that I have had to have so much help doing every-day tasks but the out pouring of love and support, people exposing themselves to our flu to come to our rescue have been overwhelming and I can't thank all of you enough, you are priceless!
Please take care of yourselves, everyone, this is so nasty! It has been confirmed that elderberry, in concentration actually coats the H1N1 virus until it can be expelled from the body. New Chapter has a new product called Immunity Take Care that is an elderberry concentrate lozenge, every little bit helps.

Well, as I look around, I see enough work to keep be busy for two weeks so I better get moving, I just wanted to say it feels good to be back among the living!

Happy Autumn!

Happy Autumn!! It is a struggle for me to look forward to this dark time of year but this family celebration really set the tone for the season.   We had great weather, family, songs, stories, food, fun, adventures, fire and even toads!

The Clothesline

THE CLOTHES LINE POEM

A clothes line was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the 'fancy sheets'
And towels upon the line;
You'd see the 'company table cloths'
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby's birth
To folks who lived inside
As brand new infant clothes were hung
So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed
You'd know how much they'd grown.

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It said, 'Gone on vacation now'
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, 'We're back!' when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare.

New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way.

But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess.

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line!
            -AUTHOR UNKNOWN

More Swampstock Pictures

a bigger party than anyone knew?grandma gets down

Lydia jamsGood ol' SwampyLovely Leanne

Swampstock 2009

Good musicmuch dancingTom tells awesome stories!!Daddy plays guitarthe sun sets on the first wonderful daycampfirefire-side hulamoon rise on night two

New Blog!

http://www.paisleypeace.blogspot.com/

I set up a blog that features some of my crafts, some custom, some from etsy and I'm even selling some home-made granola bars locally.  Anyway, I'd appreciate your support in helping spread the word by following this one as well.

Bean Peace

Bean Peace
A poem by Drew K.

A mystery wrapped in brown,
A fragile enigma,
Enveloping the senses,
With the earthy steam
Of a bean.

The mind wrapped in warmth,
The essence of dark roast,
Heating from within,
The senses thrill,
With every lingering
Sniff of the aroma
In the mug

Home School Blogs

If you would like to follow our home school year more closely, you can visit our portfolio sites. The one for the younger two girls is http://www.hydeportfolio09-10.blogspot.com/ Lydia is doing one all on her own complete with reports and pictures and she would love to hear from you. http://www.lydiacreates5thgrade.blogspot.com/

One Woman's Weeds......

These Turtle Head flowers (chelone obliqua) have taken over my Mother-in-Law's flower bed. So no matter their beauty, she hates them for choking out her lilies. I asked her if I could cut a few and she said " Take 'em all!!!" So now, every few days I go and pick a fresh bouquet of....well, weeds.

Breakfast in Bed

My babies brought me breakfast in bed this morning. It's always sweet , but historically when young, well-meaning children bring you a meal on a silver tray early in the morning, it is a version of an actual breakfast that you have to summon special Mama courage to choke down. Today, that was not the case, far from it in fact. The chocolate pancakes that my girls made FROM SCRATCH were the BEST I have EVER had. No kidding!!!

Thank you so much, my little ladies!

Shower in a Thunderstorm

Every time I think living in the country couldn't possibly get any better....IT DOES!

I just didn't think it was going to get warm enough this year for one of my favorite summertime activities. Then, the conditions rolling in gave me much hope. The humidity hung in the air like a wet blanket and the thunder cracked and made my dogs pace back and forth.
The wind was bending the trees and peeling the leaves off their branches. I put my dogs in the bedroom and opened my back door just in time to see torrents of rain splitting the tree tops and soaking the ground. The sound on my tin roof was deafening, so loud that even my cries of excitement could barely be heard by my own ears.

It was totally time.....First I stripped down and had a run around the yard stopping only once to rest in the rain-soaked hammock then it was on to the business of actual showering. I ran in the house to grab the shampoo and a bar of soap. I stood at the corner of the deck where the rain gushed out of the gutter and by the time I was done, I had clean hair and a crown of leaves!
Ahhhh! Refreshment like no other! Thank you Mother Nature