Rainy day... Sunny day. Rainy day... Sunny day. Welcome to our Winter.

I had a great day with a friend yesterday. We even went "out" to lunch. This is what she wanted to do. I don't blame her. She has been cooped up for a few long months and when the doctor told her to start walking... lunch was of the first order.
 "J" has a temporary handicap sign to hang on the rear-view mirror and so we were able to park in a "handicap" zone, really close to the restaurant. This has its advantages in the rain.
So I took "J" to lunch. She WALKED.... no wheelchair, no walker... nothing but her willpower and a big black Velcro boot. I held on to her but she did really well.
When we got back to her house I know she was tired, but she took me upstairs.
This is her beautiful staircase.

 "J" has been sleeping downstairs since the accident because this beautiful staircase was not wheelchair accessable, as you can see.  But she climbed it, slowly, yesterday.
This is the upstairs landing...

This is a beautiful antique buffet at the top of the landing.
 In front of it is a very cute cat abode for one of "J"s four cats.

 To the right of this cat house is the door leading to the balcony where she slipped on some ice and broke her ankle last November. The door is locked for the winter now.
One of the cats was watching us from under a table.

This is the upstairs guard cat?
 Oh my! Scary isn't he?
 We  worked on some Ancestry.com relatives that "J" has been helping me find. She loves to research family history and she called me one day asking for some information about my family. She wanted something to do while she was in that wheel chair.
Thanks to "J", I now have found relatives, on my father's side that were born in Ireland in 1736. I find this fascinating. I have a lot of family that came from Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland. Amazing information.
 Of course there wasn't a lot of territory for folks to spread out into at the time, with safety, so I guess a lot of people came from these areas .
I also found out that a great, great grandmother was born in Ontario, Canada. I'm so excited about this. Her name was Matilda Ann Beckwith (A name I had never heard of before.) Her son, Daruis Henry Williams (born in Illinois) moved to Kansas and married Annie E. Cottingham (from Kansas) in 1880. They had a child named Arthur Deloise Williams (my grandfather). My grandfather married Maude Ethel Herald, moved to Southern California from Oklahoma, and my father was born in Eaglerock, CA.
Have you ever traced your ancestry? It's so exciting and interesting. You have to check each person to see if the tree is valid, if the information is true, but so far we have had very little trouble finding these relatives.
I can't wait to find out about John McKinney and Elizabeth Jane who came here to Virginia from Ireland. Now, I want to find the European connections. It's like a gift that you find after years of wondering who these people were and where they came from. "J" has found a relative that came over on the Mayflower. How amazing is that.
 I would especially like to know about  the women... who chose to marry, move to different places, leave their parent families, start their own families in a new environment and die far from their place of birth... the questions of how they lived, what their lives were like, how many child they had, which children died young and why. It's all there in the census, at least back to the 1850's or so, when the census started. But there are other places to discover information, like death records, enlistment records, genealogy libraries etc. There are lots of ways to find out about your family. It's like meeting these people for the first time and having a conversation with them. You want to know more. I'm hoping for some surprises and things that I didn't know. I can't wait to continue this on my own.
A few years ago I found out I had a distant cousin living in the Northwest. Our grandfathers were brothers. But, we never knew each other. The family didn't visit. It seems that the brothers moved in two different directions as young men. Maybe Clarissa, my cousin, and I can get some more of this figured out.
Well... This is something to work on and learn about.
"J" is doing really well and the recovery seems to be going in a good direction. We had a good time yesterday, despite the rain. It was a nice visit.
 We had two days of rain and now the sun is shinning again.This morning I went out and planted Hollyhock and gladiolus bulbs.

 This afternoon The Prospector and I sat on the porch for awhile. The Prospector hurt himself a few weeks ago. He did some 30 yr. old stuff with his 67 yr. old body and is paying for it dearly. He hurt his back and left leg. So he has been taking it really easy. He finally went to the doctor and they took xrays, gave him some pain meds and told him to rest. So he is...

He's not happy about it, but he has slowed down. He can't do much of anything.
 Carl is happy.

He sits with the Prospector and watches over him. (Notice the paw on the slipper.)
The hip and back are getting better but it will take time.
I'm doing double duty for a while but that's OK. At least it wasn't a broken back or a slipped disc.
 It will heal and then he needs to remember how old he is and be more careful.
Right, my love?
The sun felt good. I looked at my morning's work. The garden is doing nicely. It's been such a mild winter here. I feel bad even saying that with all the tornadoes back east, but we have not had much of a winter and I would like more rain before summer sets in.

This is how the front garden looks right now. Beautiful.

With tulips coming up next.
The parsley never died this year. It's still going strong.

Well... got to go and feed the goats and chickens now.
Have a nice weekend...

“"The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things: Of shoes..." ~Lewis Carroll ~

I was asked by many of my followers about the shoes that I posted yesterday. So here is some information on them.

My daughter-in- law bought them for me as a thank you gift for helping out when she was recuperating from her operation.
 No, I didn't need a gift.
Helping my family was enough.
Losing my "transmission" was a bit unsettling, but I survived.
So, Robbin bought them and ... I LOVE THEM!!
Thank you sweetie. They are charming.

They match my decor.
My orthopedic inserts fit into them perfectly.

They are wide enough for my very wide feet and they are so comfortable that I want to wear them all the time.

They have good rubber soles that wrap up around the sides and work well on my non-paved roads and trails.
The Velcro straps are convenient and easy.
The brand is Keen. Here is a link:
http://www.onlineshoes.com/womens-keen-shoes-list_ct1,br38,tt2
I'm going downtown to see a friend later. I'm going to help her get out of her wheel chair and start walking. She has her doctor's permission to start standing on her feet again.
This is huge, because she has had a time of it since she slipped on her icy  balcony and fell.
She is doing really well. I'm so proud of her. She never let this get her down. 
I will wear my new shoes and visit her in style.

By the way...Have you seen the latest issue of Where Women Create? I love this magazine.

 There is an article on Magnolia Pearl's Airstream Trailer. OMG! It's so over the top beautiful.
And... usually,  most of the articles are about younger women that have all kinds of energy and I want to say
Enough already. Where are the older talented creative women... and how about some men once in a while."
Well guess what? They must have heard me.
There are two articles this month about... you guessed it...
 A lady named Fay Wood who lives in an old church and makes amazing art. She has been an artist since the 60's.
There is also an article about a MAN, Ryne Hazen, who lives in Utah and is a photographer.
Check it out. They may have to change their magazine's title. Yes!

Wordless Wednesday: A gift of shoes.

Honey with the Angels.

My Mom's cat, Honey, has gone to be with my Mother and sit on her lap.

They will be together again.

Mom will be waiting.

Thank you my son, Robbin and my little Beans for taking care of Honey until it was time for her to leave.