WONDERFUL WORLD OF AUDIOBOOKS!

 

Reading is not something I enjoy like I used to.

Until I discovered audiobooks!

Sometimes it can be difficult to find something decent to listen to.

I don’t watch R-rated movies, so I don’t want R- rated books either.

I recently discovered the Young Adult section of the library. I have found a gold mine!

Listening to them in the kitchen helps chores go by quicker.

I enjoy them most of all in my sewing room while I am busy with projects.

My list: (those I remember!)

All Harry Potter stories

Mitford series

Peter Pan prequel series, (just about my favorites!),

Anne of Green Gables

and so many, many more.

This year I discovered a new author to me…Debbie Macomber.

Right now I’m in the middle of her Cedar Cove Series. The thing that is so fun is that she writes about places in Washington State. This series is in Kitsap County.

Her Blossom Street stories were based in Seattle.  

They have become very popular and sometimes I have to wait a week or two to get the next one, so I get involved in other series.

I’m just starting Chronicles of Narnia. The first book was “The Magicians Nephew.” It explains how the wardrobe became the entrance into Narnia.

Another new thing I have discovered is Digital Downloading. I can download books right on my computer and then burn CD’s and listen to them on my CD players around the house. Isn’t technology wonderful!

A friend of mine recommended “A Long Way From Chicago” by Richard Peck. It is a 1999 Newberry Honor Book. I listened to the whole thing yesterday! It was great! It will make you laugh out loud!

One Training Wheel!

I got a very excited phone call from my 7-year-old granddaughter Natalie last Saturday. She couldn’t wait to tell me her exciting news.

Natalie: Grandma Wilson, guess what? 

Me: What Natalie?

Natalie: I can ride my bike with only one training wheel!

Me: Wow! I’ll bet you could ride with no training wheels if you tried.

Natalie: Not me…I don’t have that good of balance yet!

Natalie, Grandma Wilson thinks you can do it!

I know exactly how she feels. I don’t have that good of balance yet either!

Glacier National Park

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We went to Glacier National Park to celebrate our 25th anniversary.

Neither of us had ever been there so we were excited to see what was there.

We stayed in a very nice KOA Kampground in a little one room log cabin just 2 miles from West Glacier. It had a little swing on the porch.

It also had a warm hot tub which was more than inviting after our all day Saturday touring trip.

Jim realized his first perk for being a Senior Citizen. He was able to get a lifetime pass to all National Parks for himself and everyone in his car for $10! What a nice surprise!

One disappointment was the Going-To-The-Sun Road was closed for construction. So, we will have to make another trip.

I had two wishes for this trip. I wanted to see a mountain goat and a bear. On Friday the only wild animal we saw was a chipmunk. 

We will take the Red Bus tour next time. Jim loved these little buses. Several of them were in parking lots of places we stopped. Next time.

Saturday was by far the most impressive day for seeing natures grandeur. We spent the day on the east side and travelled to Logans Pass Visitor Center. This is the east side of the GTS Road. What a magnificent place.

Then we went on to Many Glacier. The lodge there had just closed. We could drive right down to it, but it was so big you couldn’t see it all. We noticed people up on a little hill behind the lodge so we decided to go there. A Red Bus Tour group was up there taking pictures. The view was incredible! We just stood there and took in the sights from every angel. The group left and we were left standing there when Jim nudged me. Out from behind a bush came a goat, then another one, and another one, right in front of us. There were five in all, including a baby. They sauntered off, so we got back in our car. When we were down at the lodge, there they were again!

On the war back to the entrance we came upon two cars and a motorcycle stopped on the road. We stopped to see what they were looking at, and there was a black bear!  He just sat there looking at all these people looking at him and then sauntered off the road.

We have never seen such majestic beauty as we saw in this park. We recommend everyone take at least one trip to see the amazing scenery!

Jims Great California Adventure

Jim got to spend 4 days in southern California without me! Yes, I was home alone! (That’s another story.) He had two days of business to tend to with a vendor in his home town of Sylmar. Every night he spent at Jenna & Derics’ in Tustan. Friday night he met up with his childhood next-door-neighbor buddy Eddie Lye and his family. (This picture was taken in the early fifties…Eddie, Jim and Eddies older sister in Sylmar.) They hadn’t seen each other in over 30 years! They just picked up where they left off sharing stories about their lives. Jim says he would have recognized Eddie if he passed him on the street. The biggest surprise was Eddie telling Jim that he had named one of his sons after him…James Russell Lye!

He also went to the place he used to work, old houses he had lived in, saw an old neighbor and visited his Dads’ grave sight, which he hadn’t done in over 30 years either.

Saturday they all went to San Diego to visit with Jason, Erin and the girls. (Now that part made me jealous!)

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From that to this!

    

This was our first attempt at refinishing a piece of furniture. The piece is known as our music cabinet. We bought it for $100.oo twenty-four   years ago. It is an old radio cabinet that had been gutted. We remodeled a little in the inside and kept our stereo in there. I want to do a similar technique to our 70’s bathroom cabinets, so I decided to try it out on something else first. What do you think?

   

MY CANE

 

            

I recently had a conversation with a friend. It went something like this.

Friend: Do you have a name for your cane?

Me: I don’t tell anyone usually, but I call it Jimmy. I only need to use it when I don’t have my husbands arm to lean on.

Friend: MY Dad named his cane. He calls it John MyCane.

Me: Oh, that’s funny!

Friend: Another friend has a walker. I asked her if it had a name. She said Texas Ranger!

Me: That’s a good one!

Friend: I have a suggestion for yours. Why don’t you call it “Slim Jim”!

Me:   Slim Jim it is!

Dads’ Garden

 

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August is Jims’ Law of the Harvest month.

August is why he spends countless hours in May, June & July weeding, watering, re-planting and sweating over this garden.

I tease him about it being his SALSA GARDEN. His prize crops are tomatoes and peppers. He makes a mighty mean salsa!

Oh, we get to eat a lot of the fruits of his labor. Every day! Nothing better.

But there is too much for just the two of us. So he fills the old metal wash tub with garden goodies and makes the rounds in the neighborhood….zucchini, cucumbers, summer squash, TOMATOES, beets, onions. It’s a great way for this reserved man to find common ground with our neighbors. He also takes his harvest tub to work. Yesterday, the cleaning lady took everything in it!I think people like to see him coming.

This is why he does it.

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My Uncle Allan

 

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Smile though your heart is aching

Smile even though it’s breaking

When there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by

If you smile through your fears and sorrow

Smile and maybe tomorrow

You’ll see the sun come shining through for you.

 

Light up your face with gladness

Hide every trace of sadness

Although a tear may be ever so near

That’s the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what’s the use of crying?

You’ll find that life is still worthwhile

If you just smile.

Turner~ Parsons lyrics

Charlie Chaplin~ music

Today is the memorial service for one of my favorite people in the world. I cannot be there, but I can share a few thoughts and memories about Uncle Allan.

 

From a very young age, I learned that when he came to visit, it was going to be a very fun, special time. I learned this from my Mother, who I know had a very special love for her oldest brother.

 

Uncle Allan always had a smile for everyone and a way of making you feel very special. He was a soft-spoken man and used endearing terms like Sweetheart and Honey when talking to his numerous nieces. I have fond memories of camping trips to the lake, waterskiing, visits to the Tekoa farm and lots of story-telling in the evening. He loved to share the antics of his childhood that almost always involved my mother! There was lots of mischief to get into when you lived on a farm! I remember the time he was stranded in Spokane because Mt. St. Helens blew and he couldn’t get a flight out. He had been to Portland on business and had flown over that beautiful mountain just days before!

 

I know that I will miss him dearly. He leaves us all with a wonderful legacy of love for family. May we all live equal to his great example.

MAILBOX THIEF!

Jim was leaving for work about 5 am and discovered that we were the victims of mailbox thieves last night! That was a first for us. It was a cute mailbox and apparently someone else thought so too. I couldn’t find one picture of our beloved mailbox. (I never thought I would want one!) Jenna bought it for her Dad for Fathers Day about 13 years ago. It was shaped like our house. We painted it to match the house. When we changed the front door from green to black, we even painted the mailbox to match. The pictures below are #1~A picture that closely resembles our beloved house mailbox. # 2~What we found this morning! #3~Our new mailbox! (Somewhat boring…not as cute as our beloved house mailbox!)

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FUN 4TH WEEK!

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Brian & Tara brought the family to Spokane to visit Grandma & Grandpa Wilson! We are so thankful to them for choosing us to spend their family vacation with! We did so many cool things together.  Enjoy the pictures!

Newest Baby Quilt

I'm sending this one off in the mail today. It is for Jennas' friend Lauren who is expecting a baby boy in early fall. Jenna picked out the fabric last time she was home. I had a hard time envisioning these fabrics as a baby quilt, but I like it better now that it is quilted!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SURPRISE!

 

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It has been a busy, exciting past few days! It started last Thursday when I had the opportunity to have Breanna & Carter for two days. Chris & Katie were in Hawaii, so the two sets of grandparents took turns tending them. Thanks to the wonderful help of my daughter Cyndi, I was able to have a couple days with them. Cyndi had her granddaughter Haylie on Thursday so we had a regular little play date going. It was so much fun, but boy was I exhausted! Then on Friday Jenna came up from California to surprise her Dad for his birthday. It worked! We kept the secret from him. It was great  having her home, even though it was a short stay. Saturday we had about 30 people over for dinner and birthday festivities. Sunday we said good-bye to Jenna and headed to my sister Nolas house for a family barbeque and to celebrate my Mothers’ 75th birthday. I sure do hope I inherited her young genes. She looks marvelous!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS & CYNDI

Since I will be out of town for the twins birthday, I gave them their prresents at our family dinner yesterday. While cleaning out their grandmothers house, they found these panels, a quilt top and little squared all cut out and other fabric, so I made them up for them.
They are very 60's fabrics so they were probably originally intended for them!

OUR LATEST PROJECT

Last night we put the finishing touches on our scrapbook/guest room. We started in January with painting the walls and trim. Then I made a new tab top valance. This is my scrapbooking area.

Then we brought in a bed and made a head-board from an old door that I had purchased. I'm almost finished with the quilt that will adorn this bed.


Look Brian, Jon, Katie & Jenna.....we finally got closet doors! Now we have two guest rooms....plenty of room for visitors!

ODDS & ENDS

I haven't posted anything for quite a while. Here are some photosd I would like to share.The first picture is my latest quilt. My dear husband had it quilted for me for my Christmas present. The next picture is a project that we just completed tonight. I bought this old window last fall from a friend of my sister Judy. It came out of a house built in the early 1900's. I finally came up with the idea of displaying an old quilt in it. The third picture is the front of my parents house last Saturday night. I would say there is at least 3 feet of snow! The last picture is our youngest great-granddaughter Haylie with her Daddy at our family dinner on Sunday. Such a cutie!

Got Snow?

We woke up this morning to another snowfall. About 5 inches fell over night. Jim took these pictures because the trees were so beautiful. We have had quite the winter. Decenber was a record breaking month. We got 61.4 inches for the month of December which is the most snowfall since they started keeping track in the late 1800's. Our little snowblower is getting quite the work-out. So is my husband!