Last Week...

After a rain, huge diamond drops...

Sage

Modern wax art, courtesy of Deborah

Green

B.R. Cant getting ready to bloom!

Teeny butterfly!

Schoolwork!

New plum tree leaves

Gorgeous!

Out browsing! Ben let them out to forage

N&K came over to play with Debs and Stephen! :)

Stephen, taking photos for his blog!

Amazingly verdant...

Morning dew

A gorgeous morning!

Tennis with people I love!

Two of my best buddies :)

Then we rollerbladed/unicycled/scootered at a park!

Deborah cools off after rollerblading!

Beauty

Wallpaper for your computer, anyone? :)

  Goats!

An absolute cutie

Trying to reach that ticklish spot... ;)

The kids have figured out how to "surf" on our pond! Here Deborah does it.

Stephen shows the approved method

Even Micah can do it!

The McK's came over for dinner, which was very nice!

Deborah, Ruth, and Seth returning from seeing the baby goats. :)

Interesting Fact of the Day

You've probably seen the poster "Keep Calm and Carry On" before -- or one of its many spin-offs ("Keep Calm and Fly On," "Keep Calm and Love Turquoise," "Keep Calm and Return Fire," etc. etc.!)

It may annoy you -- or you may think its kindof neat. :)

Well -- did you know that it wasn't started as some trite phrase?

The now-famous “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster was actually was one of a three-poster series created in Britain in 1939. The posters were created to encourage civilian morale when the feared mass bombings of English cities began.The crown was the Tudor crown of England.

A civil servant named A.P. Waterfield came up with the slogan “Your Courage,” which he described as:

“a rallying war-cry that will bring out the best in everyone of us and put us in an offensive mood at once.”

Held in storage until actual major bombing began, the posters were then never widely used, and were forgotten (what a shame!) until 2000, when antique dealers in Northumberland discovered and displayed an old “Keep Calm” poster. It attracted some much favorable interest that they began to produce and sell copies -- and it spread virally! :)

Here are the three original posters:

 Whether you like the phrase or not, it has an interesting story, doesn’t it? :)

Last Weekend!

Morning magic...

This butterfly was so tiny! About the size of a penny, but so cute!

Ben planted purple vetch around our property, and it is coming up!

Fun times together

This is probably my very favorite Peanuts cartoon ever -- do please click on the picture and read it! :) 

It sums up a really important truth so well...

Thinking

Doing his math!

Time for boating!

Off to explore unknown seas

What a beautiful birthday present from Deborah! She and Beth have always had a real ability to wrap things beautifully!

The morning of my birthday -- so lovely to watch the sun rise...

Art

It was so fun to go to the biannual Bonham Library book sale!

Here we are, waiting in line!

We browsed local antique stores afterwards -- such a fun morning!

What an amazing white hat! ;)

On our way to a wedding that very afternoon, we passed the Bailey Volunteer Fire Department's biannual Boot Drive -- here's one of the faithful helpers!

At the wedding

Naomi and David exchange rings

Neat decorations

Visiting with friends afterwards...

SO FUN to get to talk with Mr. and Mrs. B!!!

On our way back home, we pass the BVFD Boot Drive again!

Deborah gave me this gorgeous knife for my birthday!

A scarf from Mom & Dad (love it!)

And a jewel of a little box...

Playing "Draw & Describe" that evening!

Still

Now -- Monday! The rain made such lovely, fleeting patterns on the pond!

Friends from church came over for lunch!

Such a nice visit!

This handwriting (rightly!) makes me feel like mine is terrible! :) It is so beautiful that I always feel like I've received something very precious, just looking at the outside (and it's true!)!

 

The rain clouds retreat, with noble blue dignity

Two fun people to play cards with!

And I'll close with a picture of what we've been having a lot of recently -- misty, overcast, green beauty!

Happy Birthday Elisha!

Yes this is Deborah and I'm hijacking the blog to wish Elisha a happy birthday!

And she's turning 28! even though she is getting older she is still and will always be a great sister!

Love you Elisha!

And many happy returns of the day!