Hi Paula, how's your Summer going so far? Very different like most of ours I expect.   Normally I would be beach bound by now. Staying home does save money though. If there's a silver lining to all of this, that's one I guess. Are you still feeding your deer?  We had a group (herd?) of 5 in our yard recently, 1 of them right under my clothesline. That's pretty exciting since we don't see them that close usually.  I imagine them grazing in the pre-dawn hours while we're sleeping though and they whisper among themselves let's don't wake the humans. lol.  No more snakes sitings here since the week of Father's Day but I stay alert for them. I'm terrifed my dogs will get bitten.  They're nosey by nature and rush to check out any and all critters. Nothing much planned today. Need to finish up the laundry but mostly will soak up the AC and be thankful for it!  Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Tuesday afternoon! It feels good to be here visiting with you again. Hopefully life is returning to normal around here and I can get back to my routine now. I do love my "rut", you know. So tell me how things are with YOU? Are you doing ok? Things in the world are a bit askew these days and it's easy to get overwhelmed by life. That's why I missed coming here; I love the friendships I have on NOTH and the escape from the craziness we call life. Enjoy your evening and relax. I know I will! Thank you for your concern and prayers for my daughter. She and our grandson are moved and trying to get settled in. Of course the Corona virus is keeping us all from really living normally, isn't it? I mean, who would have ever thought of people hoarding toilet paper, Paula? I'd be more apt to hoard chocolate, if we're being real here! 

Much love to you~
Darci

Though I hope we get at least one good snowfall this winter, I find it hard to complain about today's sunny, cool weather. The sun shining makes all the difference in the world!

It feels like I've been gone from The Hill forever, Paula. The only update I have to give about my dad is that he got his heart monitor yesterday and will wear it for 30 days. He seems to be feeling better and doing well. Part of that is just getting home and sleeping in his own bed, I'm sure. He has two black eyes from his fall last week but he says it looks worse than it feels. Your good thoughts and prayers have been much appreciated. Thank you so much.

Yesterday we went to lunch with middle daughter, Melanie, and then to our favorite garden shop after. Melanie has Mondays off work so we went into Main St. and had a nice visit and delicious lunch. Today's tuna sandwich at home is going to pale in comparison. LOL

With love and many hugs~

Darci

Good afternoon, Paula. Good to hear from you:) Glad you got some snow this winter, as I know it's enjoyable to those of us who love it's beauty and "smell". I wish I knew what it was that caused that, but it definitely has its own aroma while snowing and afterwards. Wonderful! I think the total silence of the event is captivating, too. To the point I can hear flakes hit the ground. Don't think we'll have to worry here about having too much of it each year as some do. While I'm wishing for it, others have had their fill, and rightly so. Thanks for your kind comment on my page. Paula, I'd be happy to help you get music on your page! Find the song you want, and let me know. k?  I would miss it, too. Hope your January is a good month for you and family. I love it's laziness in some areas of my "being', and in other areas it's a month I get stuff done not attempted in others. Right now DH and I are taking a few days to dismantle our Dickens Village, wash/paint it's shelving, dusting the houses and accessories. I do dread it each winter, but always so glad to enoy it's being sparkling for another year. This year and the last quarter of last year I've been downsizing a life's accumulation of stuff, giving to our local boys ranch thrift store and making other parts of our home seem a bit more neatified. DH won't let me go in the thrift store when we take a load over, tho. Sez I'll bring somebody else mess home and fill it up again:) Take care, dear friend.  *hugs* -di

Hi Paula, so nice to hear from you. Love your snowman/snowy page. We don't get snow here of course and that's probably why I'm so enamored with it. lol. If i dealt with living in it daily I might not be so fond of it. My granddaughter is in the midwest and they have had snow a few times this season. She was in Kansas City last weekend when all the winter weather hit and her trip home was delayed with the school trip they took. How nice that your hubby got a snow-day. A good day to stay home and rest or catch up on inside stuff.

Yes, possums are definitely nocturnal. They sure like to come around here scrounging for cat food. The deer are so pretty and I'm glad you get to enjoy them.  Remember when we had the black bear nearby? Well he's baa-cckkk. He will keep the deer scared off from here mostly. Bear don't hibernate this far south. They become more lethargic on really cold days but we don't get many of those of course. Not much going on today. Hubby is not off for the MLK holiday but was able to take quite a bit of time at Christmas. He spent part of his vacation redoing our deck steps out back to make them more user friendly for me. haha. I have a bad foot and the lower rise on the new steps sure helps me out.

I left my Christmas stuff out a little longer than normal too because we did have a shorter season this year (it occurs to me I should now say LAST year)  with Thanksgiving falling so late. We have had a mostly mild Winter. Christmas Day was almost balmy. The cold arrived this morning finally and the wind from the north has it pretty uncomfortable out there. I believe I'll scrounge around in my freezer and find the makings of soup. Talk to you soon.  Warm and cozy hugs, Beth

Hi Paula Love your page with snowmen. Loved hearing from you and what you have been doing. I just having been here in a long time. Do go to Facebook to check on children and greandchildren, and to get pcures of my great-great-great grandson. (5 Generation). He will be a year old end of this month. His grandpa sent me picture from is phone of Roy Boy (nickname) walking. Loved it.  Both Thaksgivin and Christmas was great. My oldest daughter Debbie had both holidays at her house and was a lot of fun. Who knows what next Thanksgiving or Christmas will be like.  Daughter Laura has cancer spending a lot of time with her and part of time we take her to hospital for treatment. Her room mate also takes her part time but can't miss to much work. Then there are other appointments.  We are all taking things one day at a time. Yesterday we spent day with her. Today weather doesn't know what going to do. Snow, have ice, high winds. So far have just had freezing rain. But they were saying on weather forcast could lose power. So everyone have got generator's ready--gas cans filled. Never know about Michigan weather.  Have good winter. Stay well. Hugs and love Helen

Hi Paula, thanks for stopping by. I always enjoy your missives. We are nice and cool and dry today after Tropical Storm Nestor dropped a lot of rain on Sat. and we had very windy conditions off and on till late that night. Tonight we have more storms on the way. In the meantime I have the clothes line full of towels and blankets.  Lol about Big Foot being a vegetarian. I always picture him an omnivore. Out of necessity, ya know?   We had a mostly quiet weekend. I made an apple cake yesterday. I had pinned the recipe on Pinterest last year and made it one time so yesterday I kept searching my boards for it.  After much time and contemplation i realized I had pinned the cherry cake version of that recipe. haha! I subbed the Apple pie filling as I'm not a big cherry lover. Anyway it's super easy. It's one cake mix, 3 eggs and one can of pie filling, then bake it in a sheet cake pan according to the box directions.   Oh and we have chestnut trees here too. There's a huge one in my aunt's yard and she used to call them chinqapins. I researched it and its another word for Chestnut. Native American in origin I'm sure.  It sounds like it. God surely housed chestnuts in a device to discourage us humans from partaking of them, huh? I wonder if that was to keep the little animals from eating them when perhaps they are dangerous to them?  I see a grand design in everything since I've gotten old and decrepit. Also I learned recently possums do NOT carry rabies as they have someting in their blood that protectss them from it.  Isnt't that interesting? Hubby says he will stop discriminating against them now. haha. You may not be plagued with the in the Northwest but their numbers are prolific down here.  I know you are enjoying the lovely deer. It's got to be thrilling to feed them on a regular basis. I would get the biggest kick from that. Hope your new week ahead is good. Tomorrow is my tutor lessons but wil be back on the Hill later this week.  Love, Beth

Hi Paula, hope your weekend was good. Ours was mostly quiet. Our football team managed a win Sat. night after we got a new QB. Yesterday was a trip to Lowes after church for new window screens. Hubby feels like there's no end to the honey-do chores. 

Oh, about the music players. You tube works well and there's a link I can share with you that lets you copy and paste the code to a page friendly format. I will send you a link. 

Molly (my 9lb shih-tzu) and I have been sitting by the window this morning as I visit my Hill friends. We have observed all manner of wildlife from my window. Squirrels galore, a big woodpecker, obnoxiouly loud as always and a sweet brown bunny hopping along the tree line. Of course Molly wanted to give chase to them all. She quivers in anticipation. lol. I didn't know deer like birdseed but now that I do I will scatter some near the bird bath as well and hope the deer get any the birds may leave. We have a bird bath and are filling it with fresh water every few days for the birds as we are definitely experiencing drought conditions.

How lovely that you were able to visit your aunt. It's sad that Alzheimers robs so many of their faculties.  You have to laugh at some of it though, like her wandering her off and not returning. I do believe a sense of humor with such things helps to keep us sane.

On Friday I got the good news that my son and his wife are moving from Texas back to Florida. I've over the moon excited that they will "only"  be about 3 hours away now.  Hope your week has gotten off to a good start and I'll catch up with you soon. lots of hugs, Beth

It's Tuesday and I hope we both have a terrific day! So far, so good for me. I have homemade chicken noodle soup in the crock pot even though it may be 90* this afternoon. With such hot days and lack of rain, we are making sure the birds/squirrels and even the bees have water to drink. Oh, and our backyard frogs, too. Everything is thirsty. I watched a squirrel and several birds at the large bird bath all at one time yesterday. We desperately need rain. I have gotten my house work done and will enjoy spending a quiet afternoon of crocheting on my new project. Enjoy this day, whatever you are up to. Paula, I will never remember everything you wrote so I can respond to it so just give me a, "hey, you didn't comment on this" heads up later. I am really sorry about your aunt with Alz. Dave's mom has dementia and it's a horrible disease. She still knows us but her short term memory is no longer. We took her pecan sandies cookies last time we were up to visit because she always had them at her house. The very first time I ever ate one was at hers and Dad's house years ago. Anyway, when we gave them to her she was so excited and commented that she'd always loved those cookies (yep, Mom, that's why we brought them) but then, a bit later,she  said, "These cookies are delicious. I've never had them before." Made me sad. You know, when people ask me how I can possibly be cheerful with all that is going on in life and in the world I tell them that is PRECISELY WHY I choose joy. Too many family issues and sicknesses and the world spinning off its axis....why NOT choose to find the joy in every day? I've been accused of being delusional and seeing life with rose colored glasses but that is simply not true. I just choose to place my focus on what IS right and good in life and I say many prayers to my Creator to heal the world. Otherwise it completely overwhelms me and I won't go there. I've had two serious bouts with depression so I don't wish to revisit the black hole. It is now 10:40 p.m. and I just realized I never finished this and sent it. So, done or not, I will send it now. Did you find that birthday card yet? That is so funny and you just know it's gonna show up in the most bizarre of places! Love ya, Buddy!

Smiling in the sunbeams~

Darci