Peas and Memories....

I was so excited when I found out fresh peas would be in today's farm share.  There just isn't much better than peas straight from the garden.  

I have never really enjoyed shelling peas.  It seems so tedious and time consuming.

Today, after I got home with my fresh garden goods, I knew the peas would have to be cooked tonight!

I even looked forward to shelling them.  

As I sat outside enjoying the spring weather and shelling my fresh peas, I recalled years ago when I used to shell them.

I have fond memories of shelling peas with my grandpa.  Not that I loved the work, but he always made things fun.  It was just fun to be with him.

My grandpa loved gadgets.  One year he purchased a gadget that shelled peas!  It worked kind of like a ringer washer.  It didn't really work all that great but we had fun trying it together.

I was much slower today with getting my peas shelled.  It took me awhile to get back in the groove of it after all these years.  I might have finished the job much sooner if I wasn't eating them as I shelled them :)

I have to admit, I was a bit melancholy as I prepared these fresh peas tonight.  But I'm also thankful to have such sweet memories of sharing garden chores with my dear grandpa.  And, they were super yummy with our meal :)

Coming up.....Daisies!

I planted these gerbera daisy plants several years ago.  They've had a rough start and I really didn't think they would make it.  However, each year they come back bigger and better!  They make me happy :)

I Love Spring!

I enjoyed capturing just a few of the lovely spring blooms this afternoon.  Some in my yard and some at my dad's place.  Oh how I love spring!

My dad's gorgeous purple azaleas are blooming.

Grandchildren

Naomi and the children were able to come visit for a couple of days.  We had so much fun!  I didn't really take many photos at all except for some on the phone.  This morning I took the opportunity to try and get a few shots while Naomi was packing to go home.  When the older two saw me put Lucy on the air mattress and start snapping, they were all the sudden interested in getting their photo taken as well :)  It didn't last long but we had fun.  

Another Goodbye

Today is an emotional kind of day for me.  Today is the last day that any family will live in my family home.  The home I grew up in and has had my folks living there for over 56 years.  Today, I said good bye to my precious Aunt Mom.  My Aunt for my whole life and my step mother for the past 15 + years.  Since my dad went on to heaven in January plans have been made for her to move back to Michigan to be near her own children.  And today, she left.

Steve and I both love her so much!  

We sent her off with this fine crew from MI.  I think you can see from their faces that her family is happy to be getting her back!  

All her things, packed and ready to go.  See why we are going to miss her so?  She is so much fun!

Good bye for now beautiful lady.  We will be heading north for a visit for sure!  Thank you for everything Aunt Phyllis.  Thank you for showing us all such unconditional love.  I am so fortunate and blessed to have had you in my life!

Enjoying the Warmth!

It was so wonderful to get out and enjoy the 60 degree temps today.  I started with trying a little target practice with Steve.  I'm certainly in need of more practice in that area of shooting!  I soon put that away and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon shooting with my camera, which I'm way more comfortable with.  I think Steve felt a lot more comfortable with a camera in my hands too :)

The Search for Bread

I've been gone from my blog for a long time now.  Actually, I have been gone from my camera as well.  But I am starting to feel the urge to pick it back up again.  So, I'm back....maybe :)

We have recently begun to eat wheat free at our house.  We are hoping for some health benefits for ourselves and also trying to encourage a friend who is eating this way for health as well.  The search for satisfactory sandwich bread is not an easy one.  There are lots of wheat and gluten free breads in the stores ready made.  However, since we are continuing our quest to also eat whole foods with minimal processing and without weird ingredients, that basically leaves it up to me to bake it.  And I'm ok with that if I could just find that perfect loaf.  Here is my first try.   I'm not at all sure this is the one I'm looking for.

So Much Love

What we thought was going to be a very short time at daddy's bedside turned into a 5 day bedside vigil.  These have been days I will forever cherish.  My siblings came from out of town and we loved daddy together until he left our hands and went straight into Jesus' loving arms.  We sang, reminisced, read scripture and held his hand along with his wife, our "Aunt Mom".  Please don't look at these photos as sad but see them as a beautiful gift to us, his family.  We were given the gift of loving him together during his final days.  On his last morning, as we were singing around his bed, we all heard him try to join our song.  So very special.  Then at 7:59am on January 25, 2013, our daddy entered into heaven with Jesus for eternity.  So thankful for the hope and assurance that we will see him again someday.  Thank you daddy, for being the very best!

Family

Sunday night while I was staying with daddy is when his crisis began.  It was apparent that he had a severe GI bleed.  He was so very sick all night long.  I took care of him the very best I could and Steve came to help of course.  But as soon as they could, my siblings came from their out of state homes to be with daddy as well.  I can't express how wonderful it has been to have my family here with me during this time.  We have all shared the constant physical care of daddy and been able to love him together as a family.  What a blessing!

The Calm Before the Storm

This photo of daddy and myself was taken Sunday night.  When I got to his house to stay the night with him, he was sitting on this couch instead of in his usual chair.  I told him I was glad he was sitting there because then I could sit right beside him.  He said, "thrilling" or something similar.  He was still trying to be funny like he always is.  But I could tell he was feeling poorly.  This was the last time I saw my dad able to sit up in his living room.  I'm so glad I asked my husband to snap this photo of us together.

A Visit from Cindy

Daddy and Aunt Phyllis spent the day with us again today as their power has remained out all day.  My younger sister Cindy, and her husband Darrell came up from NC to visit with daddy today.  We had a great day together.   After daddy's near brush with death yesterday, he seemed even more alert and chipper today.  He stayed awake for most of the day with just a few cat naps.  He seemed to really enjoy having people around.  Thank you Cindy and Darrel for making the trip up!

Daddy has asked several times today where his house is.  I think being in a different home for a few days has got him confused.  We just got word that the power at their home has come on.  Steve has gone ahead to set up heaters and make sure everything is functioning well.  We will then take the folks back home.  Daddy says he sure will be glad to be in his own bed tonight :)   He said he plans on having sweet dreams.  We should be getting them home just in time to help get daddy all settled in his bed for the night. 

Good Day/Bad Day

As many of you already know from following on Facebook, daddy and Aunt Phyllis lost power last night during the snow storm.  After a lot of prayers and help from good people, we got daddy and Phyllis safely to our house for the night.  He had quite a restless night and none of us got much sleep.  However, when he got up later in the morning, he was in great spirits and more coherent than we have seen in a while.  His hospice nurse, Marcia, was kind enough to visit him at our house.  She was happy to see the marked improvement in daddy.  As you can see he had a great time with her.

A couple of hours later when I got him to the table to eat, he was alert and started eating his lunch right away.  In just a couple of minutes he became unresponsive and unable to focus on anything.  His color changed rapidly and he was clammy.  Marcia was kind enough to come back out to check on him.  He eventually came around enough for Steve to be able to get him in a recliner.  With his 02, blanket and a good nap, he woke back up around 6pm acting almost back to normal!  We pushed the recliners together and Phyllis napped right beside him.  So sweet :)

We were unable to determine what happened today.  At first we thought stroke but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Maybe a TIA, maybe atrial fib.  Just don't know and probably never will.  It was a scary thing to watch and I'm so happy to see him feeling so much better tonight.

And here are a few snow photos just for fun.