Last Thursday, Andee, Lynn, Shelby and I met in Raleigh for lunch and to celebrate Lynn's birthday. Lynn and Andee have always loved their Aunt Shelby. It was a fun day and like all fun days, went by too fast! That's Lynn in the center, Andee on the left and Shelby on the right.
Shelby had to leave us and get back home shortly after lunch to finish up three batches of jelly for the farmer's market on Saturday. She brought Lynn an assortment of jams and jellies for her birthday. After lots of hugs, laughing, and waving goodbye to Shelby, we three went on to some of our favorite thrift stores! You just never know when you might find that treasure you have always wanted, though neither of us did!
Here, trying on Lynn's assortment of reading glasses. They keep me laughing!
Poppy had the day off work so he stayed home with Eli! As much as I adore both these big bundles of joy, I surely needed the break!
Eli watches the goats and the Guineas watch him. Still a little confused about each other...
Everything is wet and muddy here, and last night we had storms and another inch and a half of rain. Tomorrow though is supposed to be sunny and 70 warm degrees!
Life is a little dull around here. I suppose that's why my posts are a little dull. Thank you very much for visiting. I appreciate you all so much!
Love,
Henny Penny
Like we haven't talked enough about snow and cold lately...let me do a post on Alaska!
Poppy and I are not world travelers by any stretch of the imagination! However, we did travel to Anchorage, Alaska in 1998. A trip of a lifetime and one we will never ever forget...
Madison, my Granddaughter, Andee and Todd's only child, was only two weeks old. Andee called and said, "Mama, pleeeease come and spend a week with me. I want to see you, and I want you to see the baby...will you please? If I buy you a ticket, will you fly to Alaska?" It touched my heart...even knowing how deathly afraid I am of flying...how could I say no. I would manage somehow. All I knew was, I had to go!
I began panning my trip. I took eleven days off work. The next thing I did was call my doctor and explain my situation...my fear of flying and my plans to fly from North Carolina all the way to Alaska. "Will you prescribe me two nerve pills? One for the flight there and one for the flight home?" I promise to take only one of the pills, if the plane crashes on the way to Alaska!" :) As it turned out, the plane did not crash and I still took only one pill...half a pill going and half a pill coming home.
Poppy decided I was not going to Alaska without him, so he joined me.
In Alaska!! Todd and Andee...
Our new Granddaughter...
Andee and baby Madison...
Todd and baby Madison...
Andee and I mostly stayed close to home with the baby. Poppy enjoyed every minute out with Todd, making memories he will never forget like flying over the Glaciers in a small plane, and catching a fifty pound Halibut from a boat off the Kenai Peninsula.
Together, we did lots of sightseeing, eating out, talking and laughing. We even ate a reindeer hot dog from a stand in downtown Anchorage!
We loved every minute there with Todd, Andee, and Madison.
Todd and his Jeep...
We got home safely, went back to work, and got back into the daily routine of life. We had eleven rolls of film to get developed. I carried all eleven stacks of pictures with me when I returned to work. I mean this trip was a major event! I expected everyone at work to know how special this was and to line up to see these pictures. I began to feel like my co-workers were avoiding me...maybe I had overdone it with the pictures??? I carried the pictures home, and hushed about Alaska!!!
Our little Madison will turn sixteen in April! Hard to believe!
So, I hope you've managed to stay this long. I've come back down to earth since that long ago vacation to Alaska. I also knew better than to show you all eleven stacks of pictures! :)
Love,
Henny Penny
Spring was here yesterday for sure.
Folks, I finished raking and hauling off all those leaves in the back yard...leaves that have been wet and packed under all those trees we had cut down months ago! I am so proud to have a back yard again...now if grass will grow over all this uneven ground. When all is lovely green again I will post another picture...
There must have been pollen in the air yesterday, because today I don't feel so great, have red swollen eyes, two tick bites, and a blister on my thumb. The wet moldy leaves didn't help!
Notice the newest addition to my work basket? Yep, holster and all...just in case! Call me Annie! Now I know why cowboy's holsters had a leather string that tied around their leg (thigh). The holster slides forward on the belt as I work, getting in my way. I am adding a string to my holster...
I've been meaning to show you the Guineas. Remember the struggle of raising these babies all through the cold winter? They are now free to roam...
Thanks for visiting. Sorry for the picture overload. :) Hope to be back real soon.
Love,
Henny Penny
Dear Friends!
We have sunshine this morning! Eli is the only thing keeping me from being outside right now. He is asleep in his favorite spot at the front door wrapped in the curtain...
Please overlook the beat up old dining chair. Poppy and I bought this used mahogany dining set at a flea market back in 1989 for our new cabin. It was beautiful to me back then. We have used this set every day. It has now been through lots of holidays, grandchildren, sticky fingers, new puppies and on and on...I love the table, but six new chairs are on my list of "things I want". The fringe on this rug will never be the same either!
Sleeping with his tail in the cat's water...
This little fellow is a mess, but oh so sweet!!!
Hope to be back soon. We are headed outside now. Thank you for looking at my blog.
Love,
Henny Penny
Will winter ever end?
Freezing rain, sleet, and a little snow fell all day yesterday. It was supposed to end this morning...but didn't! The weather people have now decided it will rain all day today and again tomorrow!
Aren't we all sick of posting about the weather! I thought if I quit talking about this cold winter...it would go away.
Sure makes house training a puppy extra tough. It didn't take long to see that Eli loves jumping in icy puddles.
I have a hard time getting him to come back inside. Then it is like bringing in a cold wet mop! I'm loving every minute! But the floors!!
It feels as miserable as it looks here!
Mr. "B" keeps warm inside...(had to add a little warmth to the post).
Thank you for stopping by.
Love,
Henny Penny
As I wiped the dust off this old cedar chest this morning, I thought about my Mother. When mama got her first job in Asheboro, NC and moved away from home, this cedar chest was her first major purchase. I believe she told me once that she made monthly payments of $4.00 until it was hers.
Mama was born in 1917, so it was probably 1935 or so when she left home?? She was telling me once about the hard times back then and how lucky she was to get that first job in a hosiery mill. Mama said she waited in a long line of hopeful people who were turned down for jobs. Then for some unknown reason the man doing the interviewing took a liking to her. He was very pleasant, smiled, asked her a few questions, and offered her a job.
This was a very young mama standing beside one of daddy's brother...
And this is a very young daddy, looking proud of his boat. I wonder if daddy build this boat. It looks homemade...
So, going back to mama, her first job, and the cedar chest. Mama said she found a room in a boarding house. Funny how it was so important back then to own a cedar chest. Young, single women spent their spare time sewing, embroidering, and quilting, making things for their hope chest. This tradition of filling a hope chest ended around the 1950's.
It was while living in the boarding house that my Mother met my Daddy. He worked in the same town, in a mill too. Mama said she and a friend used to sit on the grassy lawn of the boarding house. They would have iced tea and ginger snaps. This tall, most handsome young man (who would be my daddy) walked past the boarding house on his way home. That's how it all began.
Even today, I cannot resist buying old embroidered dresser scarfs and pillow cases. These are a few of the pieces stored in mama's old chest...
The lace was actually crocheted onto these dresser scarfs, not sewn on. I remember that my Aunt Vastie, when I was just a girl, kept an embroidered dresser scarf on a table in the sitting room and all the important mail was stuck under the scarf. It used to bother me...I didn't like the way it looked.
Mama always enjoyed embroidering. I remember back when she was still living alone, I had gone down for the weekend. She said. let's ride to Vass, (a little town near by), I've found a dime store where they sell the prettiest pieces to embroider....dresser scarfs, aprons, bibs, and pillow cases. We both bought some things. Mama finished her pillow cases in no time and look how beautifully her's turned out...
I started working on the pillow cases I bought, with little birds, but never finished. That's when mama took over for me...
I now cherish these pillowcases. The years go by so fast! For me, I would go back to the early 1950's in a heartbeat!! :)
Another little funny...At my Aunt Berlie's there was a stand of pine trees. The story goes, one day Aunt Berlie's daughter asked how many of those pine trees would it take to make her a cedar chest. Aunt Berlie said, well you could cut them all down but you still couldn't make a "cedar" chest! :)
Thank you if you have managed to stay this long. I can tell you the house work is not getting done with me sitting here enjoying myself.
Love,
Henny Penny
As is normal for North Carolina, we went from two warm, almost hot, sunny days quickly down to 33 cold, windy degrees! This cold wind simply cuts through you!! Burr! I found these few Crocus blooming near the road. I should have raked the leaves here...
Poppy is off work and Eli has his first appointment with Dr. Davis today at 4:00.
What's a doctor?
We love Dr. Davis! Back in the 90's, Poppy and I carried our litters of Lab puppies to Dr. Davis for their first check up and shots before going to their new homes. Many times Dr. Davis has met me in the middle of the night because of a Lab having puppies.
We are anxious to find out Eli's weight. He is growing fast and gaining. We don't want to over feed...something I am good at!
In case any of you were wondering...a few posts back I was trying to remember the name of the child star who made the girl's hats popular...it was Gigi Perreau. This would have been in the early 1950's! My favorite time! :)
Better get busy. Eli is awake! Thank you for visiting.
Love,
Henny Penny
Good grief!! Why did someone not remind me of how life changes after bringing home a new puppy? Like I am not enjoying every minute of this job! :)
It has been years since Poppy and I raised a puppy. We have no regrets on picking "Eli". He is the most lovable, content, quiet puppy we have ever been around. However, I have not had time to be on the computer! :)
The weekend was special as Andee, Todd, and Madison came for a visit. Actually they came to work, and work they did! Todd brought his chain saw and cut all those big pine trees that have been sprawled across the back yard for eight months, into pieces small enough that a human being could actually move them. After the sawing, Todd and Andee loaded logs onto the wheelbarrow and dumped load after load into the woods. We now have a back yard free of fallen trees! How special is this...that they would spend their weekend working at hard labor for us! Did I take a picture? No! I forgot! Madison cared for Eli while we worked! Again, no picture! Where was my mind?
Now to get the last of the debris out of the back yard! Poppy and I worked on doing just that yesterday. I am determined to pull every sprig of Ivy from this yard!
Weetie stood guard as we worked...Again...
Eli learning from Weetie...
Poppy taking a break. Weetie has a full time job keeping such a big baby from walking all over her! There has been a little jealousy here.
Weetie was probably telling Poppy to not pay any attention to that silly puppy...
Did I tell you how beautiful yesterday was? It was 77, sunny, and wonderful outside!! I didn't want the day to end.
Friends, I promise to find (will try) something besides Eli to post about, and finally can stop talking about the trees! :)
Thank you for stopping by.
Love,
Henny Penny
