New Year Goals

Above is a picture of my Geranium plant that my daughter in law gave me this summer. I had it on the porch all summer and not one single bloom. I brought it in this fall and just look at it. It is so full of life and blooming it's little heart out. It's amazing what a change in location can do. Not all changes are that drastic but some are...

So, it's the New Year. Time to make new goals for 2012! Forging new pathways and making changes are usually a good thing. I heard a pastor once tell this story. " There was a farmer who had a mule and wagon that for years followed the same path amongst the sugar maples, during sugaring season. After so many years, ruts began to form and the farmer no longer had to steer the mule. The wagon wheels were caught in the ruts and guided the mule in the direction he needed to go."  I'm sure you see the analogy here, if we don't make new goals, we will simply be guided by the past "ruts" of our life. Changes and goals can be bring about new and better things!

I'll just tell you a few of the goals I had in mind for our blog. I call it ours even though I do all the writing....Tim inspires me, so he is part of this too.
In a way we're sort of like these birds.... different in our approaches to life, yet somehow, we manage to make it work and even share the same feeder. (big smile)
This is one of the new goals I have. I'd love to photograph more birds or wildlife in general.

Here's another....keep working on my birdhouses. I actually sold a couple, which surprised me, because I had so few in my Etsy shop. It encouraged me enough to keep going though.
 Jayme (youngest daughter) made this little mushroom birdhouse. She has written a children's book about little people who live in Mushroom houses and how they learn to accept each others differences.
We've been making some new birdhouses also. My goal is to add more, regularly, to the shop. I'll share a glimpse of my favorites once in a while.

This lovely flower is called Passionflower. It grows quite well in what was once our horse pasture. A lot seems to grow in our horse pasture. It is slowly turning back into forest, I'm afraid....We can't seem to slow it down. With just the two of us now, some things just have to be let go....
Passionflower is a medicinal herb that is quite useful. Dried and made into tea it is a relaxing herb something like chamomile. Medicinal herbs, both wildcrafted and the ones I intentionally cultivate are a particular passion of mine. I'd like to write some more about those.

Of course I'd like to spend some more time with this guy. We're at a place in life where people really start to have problems.....unfortunately, the statistics for divorce after 40 are pretty sad. Marriage is always worth working at and never to be taken for granted!

....and this is what we really, really want to spend more time doing! Getting out, walking, hiking, watching the birds, looking for that exotic and rare herb! See, you can combine them all. I think that's a pretty good mix don't you?
 We've had a hard time trying to fit this in. Our schedule is so full at this point in our life and our budget is stretched to the limit. I'll be looking for ways to "backpack on a budget!" (a serious budget)
 Of course, I'll write about that!

Most important to us of all.... Our family! This was taken last year at Christmas. We didn't all get together this year or I'd have an updated picture for you. I just love this one. Look at all those joyful smiles! (We are missing our newest granddaughter in this picture. You can read about her here.) I'll write about family too. We started with three kids....now we have six! We've doubled our investment in just a few short years. I love it!

So, that's what I want to do this next year, write about...Our Appalachia and all the things we love!


                                               Have a very Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post about some of the first outdoor hikers. Funny thing is, they were astronomers too. Something, I always wished I knew more about. They also used camels to help them out because the trail was more than a 700 mile  hike. I'm smiling, as I'm sure you know who I'm talking about. Seriously though, I find this little clip quite fascinating and this really is an historical event. Not just a story you hear at Christmas. It is worth watching so take the time and just watch it. Pretty amazing.

You can purchase the complete DVD  here at The Star of Bethlehem.       It is, after all......Christmas.

I wish I had some great outdoor pictures to share with you, but alas....we are having a very mild and wet winter here in the southeast. No snow.... Just rain. We've had some lovely "springlike" days and I have enjoyed those. I am determined to enjoy winter for whatever it brings this year. I have some issues with seasonal affective disorder  and I am just not going to let it get me down. If anyone else suffers from this I'll share a couple of links that may help. Here is one about different supplements and herbs that may help and here  is one about the benefits of Vitamin D, which I am trying for the first time this year. The beach on a nice sunny day is always good too. But, if you can't accomplish that you could do light therapy. Light Therapy-Mayo Clinic. I am going to give this a try also. If none of this does any good....there is always hibernation! Works for the bears.....

I hope your Holidays are all that you are hoping for. If you are wishing for a white Christmas I hope you get at least 12 inches! Or perhaps you are a little bit like me and can envision a day at the beach....sun, salt water, palm trees...I know I'm ruining all your visions of  dancing sugar plums and white Christmases (or something like that). I'll stop now. I'll be nice and show a couple of snow pictures we took when we visited Montana this November.

This is the mountain directly behind Tim's grandparents place in Paradise MT. This was my backyard view for the first two years we were married. His grandparents moved to this place in the 1930's, built a home and ran a dairy for some years before they both went to work for the Railroad. They are no longer living and the home they built was torn down a couple of years ago.... it's a lovely, snowy mountain though isn't it?

This was taken in the front yard at my sister's house it looks so typically like Montana in the winter to me. At least the way I remember it. Pine trees decked out in all their snowy finest! Who could ask for anything more? This is not too far away from where I grew up....just over a ridge or two. We got there in the middle of November and this is what greeted us. It was truly beautiful to see again!

I hope these put you in the Christmas Mood. Enjoy your time with family, it's precious and all too rare for some. Most of all, I wish everyone the Merriest of  Christmas's and Happiest of Holidays!

A Morning in Paradise

Paradise Montana that's where we've been the last couple of weeks. This little town is where Tim grew up. We lived there for a couple of years after we were married....long time ago. One morning while we were there we went for a walk and snapped some pictures. I thought I'd share them with you. There are a few so I'll try and keep my comments to a minimum. A picture says 1000 words anyway, right?

These are taken down at the river. The Clark Fork is well over 300 miles long and eventually drains into the Columbia and then of course the Pacific Ocean. It is a beautiful river. One that we swam in many summers. Some of my fondest memories are floating down the river on inner tubes with Tim and some friends. The last time we went the water seemed much colder than we had remembered!

On the far side of the bridge where you see the cliffs is a small beach that we used to call Orchards. Favorite swimming spot of our day. I don't know as it's used much any more, but at one time.....

Sun coming up over the mountains.

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 You can see some of the cliffs that Tim and his older brother used to climb.

The Elementary school. Grades 1-8. It has been declared an historic building but is still in use.

We really had a lovely visit. Mostly we saw family, that is why we went back, after all. We have already "seen" Montana. But, I was able to find time to take these so I could record "Paradise". We even managed to see some snow when we first got there. Snow and Montana just go together.

This is the view from my sister's place coming down into the Plains valley. Where I grew up.  Originally known as Wild Horse Plains because Native Americans wintered their horses in this valley. It is located about 6 miles from Paradise and is where we both attended high school. I will always be grateful to the little town of Plains if for no other reason than I found this guy I've been hanging around for the last 27 years or so. We haven't lived in this valley in over 25 years or in Montana in over 7. It was lovely to go back and visit. Something we hope to do again.

Now to settle back into our life here and get back on schedule! Someone once said vacations are to make you miss being at home. We did! It's nice to be back.