Have you read?

How about we talk books. Have you read All The Light We Cannot See?

Share your thoughts with me. 

What are you reading this summer?

 

TEST! 1. 2. 3. TEST!

TEST

Nana Diana Takes A  Break posted the following post to help with receiving our blog comments back into our e mail inbox! 

I am testing .. I do hope it works. I enjoy the friendships I have made here at The River in blog land. I have missed having my comments come to me in my e mail.

I will keep you posted on if this is working on my end. Please let me know if it is working on your end.

Thank You

Carla

 

 

The Unloved Chair

My parents bought this chair at an auction for $1.00. I fell in love with it right when I saw it.

With a good washing. Some paint. And a handy husband .. take a peek at this $1.00 chair.

 A white wicker chair with a pale yellow upholstered seat.

A good washing and paint.

 Starting to look better, but we need to do something about that pale yellow! 

 We took this project on! We can do it! 

Hey, we are only professionals.

 Using upholstery tacks.

 All set up to sit in and perfect timing as well. We had a dinner party that weekend. 

I was all excited to share my story about the unloved chair.

How about you, any stories about something you gave some tender loving care?

 

Home Built Greenhouse

The other day I shared,  A Greenhouse in the Woods, today I will share a greenhouse design my friend Charles designed and built himself.

 Charles designed and built his greenhouse himself. When I walked in to it the first time, I just loved that nursery smell, plants growing, you can not beat that!

It is a fantastic greenhouse and works so well.

We will take a peek inside.

 Yum, yum lettuce. 

Charles was running out of room for all his started plants. He was using every inch of space.

Some more plants growing inside the greenhouse. The photos are taken on May 6th, 2018! 

I think I can say in all truth, "Charles has a green thumb!"

A Greenhouse in the Woods

A few of my posts I will be sharing some fun from this Spring. With the graduation party I fell behind in blogging. I have so many fun things to share with you, so here we go back to May.

One of my Master Gardner friends, Cindy, had a greenhouse built last summer. This spring we started our seeds for the cutting garden that we are planting together for the Twilight Garden Tour in August .. more to come about the Twilight Garden Tour .. she also cared for our pollinator plants for our pollinator plant sale we had May 19th, my post advertising the plant sale Annual Plant Sale.

 

 Our pollinators on 5/5/2018.

Cindy had her greenhouse designed to be a spot for her and her creative time working with plants. She found this lovely chandelier for her greenhouse.

 A greenhouse in the woods.
I just love the way it looks as you drive up her wooded driveway.

Take a peek at the top of the greenhouse, look at the beautiful detail Cindy had added. Her greenhouse is a special place for her. It is truly a beautiful site as you drive down her driveway.

 

Graduation Party.. photos .. tips and tricks

Party photos!

And tip #1!

Have a friend be a designated photographer for the party.

My husband and I both had plans to take photos, but you get busy visiting with guests.

2020 Graduation Party checklist .. have a friend be the designated photographer.

 My mom made the cake and little cupcakes.

 Photo Posters .. I made up four different photo posters. 

It was a very special time for me and my husband to look back and pick photos out to use on the photo poster boards. I will be honest, we both cried and said to each other "it went so fast!"

Having friends who ask if they can help .. and taking them up on it. Friends made bars, helped decorate and serve the food. It was a true blessing to us to spend the day with friends and family.

Tip #2 .. we hosted our party away from home, so we had to bring everything and take everything home. I did great remembering everything. Yippee! When clean up came, I did not think about how to take left over food home. Tip for Graduation Party 2020 .. take home containers.

We served Ziti, French Bread and Salad with three choices of dressings.

Graduation cake and a variety of bars.

Water, Coffee and Soda to drink.

 Cards and Graduation Guest Book

The Graduation Guest Book cover is made from wood and is personalized. I was so pleased working with this Etsy shop.

We had candy dishes on the tables.

My theme for the party was wood. We had a wood guest book, card box, candy dishes and serving bowls. 

 It was a blessed day!

I thank everyone who made it special for Sam!

Meals on Wheels

Back in April I shared how I was gifted two African Violets. 

How I was gifted two African Violets

I have been doing Meals on Wheels for the past year and a half, in September it will be two years.

As you deliver you also build a friendship with some of those you deliver to. In the case of the African Violets, a friendship began with the caregiver to one of our participants.

Wednesday of last week, I was greeted by the daughter of a participant, who had been caring for her dad for over a year, to share he was passing. For the past year, for that five minuets, we would visit about weather, family and give each other household tips. At times on a hard day for her to be that caregiver to her ailing father, Meals on Wheel was that light, that little break for the day.

Wednesday of last week, we said our good byes. She thanked Doug and I for delivering the meals and for taking time to be the friend she needed on those hard days.

This is the first of my Meals on Wheels participants to pass on me that I was a friend too. It felt strange inside to say "Good Bye" after all this time. When I shared the news with my boys, both said to me "Mom, you were the light to them when they needed it, they will have good things to say about the Meals on Wheels program. Not just about the food, but about the those who deliver."

The Black Cloud

Hello Friends!

I am back. 

We had a lovely graduation, family time and the party was fantastic.  Thank you for the prayers and well wishes for Sam. I will be sharing photos from our graduation party this coming week, along with tips and tricks if you will be hosting a party anytime soon. And a few things I learned to do for the 2020 Graduation Party!! 

It is good to be back and I think a story is a good way to get back into the groove ..

Our family celebrated Memorial Day by attending the Rice Lake Memorial Day Services. It always is well done. The guest speaker for the past years has always done a great job and again this year. Lakeview Medical Center Hospice Care also spoke this year about the new program they have for Veterans, We Honor Veterans. The coordinator of the program shared a few moving stories of honoring Veterans while on hospice. 

At the end of the service we rose to sing God Bless the U.S.A by Lee Greenwood .. we were led in song by a WWII Veteran. 

As the song began, he was not able to sing, he then announced to all of us "I have been thinking of this all morning, now when it is time to do it, I have forgot the words." All of us in the crowd cheered for him. As the chorus came he got the words back and was able to finish the song. 

We all gave him a standing ovation and many cheers.

It was a great program.

After the service we went to our friends home for dinner and time on the lake canoeing and fishing. We took our canoe for the day.

The weather in Wisconsin has been a wee bit NUTS!! 

Memorial Day was a HOT day, 100 degrees and that is crazy weather for May in Wisconsin.

The weather folks said nothing about storms. Why should they, the sky was blue, the sun was bright and a warm breeze would help cool one off.

We had a great time at our friends, enjoying our time on the lake, fishing (I caught 7 fish!)  It was getting late and time to head for home.

We loaded the canoe up on the rack of our auto.

We heard thunder in the distance. The kind of thunder when you say to your friend "Did you hear thunder?" and they say "I think so,  maybe not, maybe it is a jet, not sure." Because the sky is blue, so why would we think thunder!

We said our goodbyes and on our way we went. We got on to the highway and saw a BLACK CLOUD and we were driving into the black cloud. I quickly got my phone out and looked at the weather. A storm had brewed up, but it should not hit our hometown, we just needed to go along the edge of the black cloud to get home.

We were doing well. We were cruising along .. so was the black cloud.

All of a sudden the wind picked up, it literally picked up our canoe off the top of our auto.

I screamed! 

Jeremy stopped, the boys got out, they tied the canoe down as tight as they could.

Jeremy said we will take it slow, we will get home. Just as he said that, going along at 45 miles per hour, the wind once again picked up the canoe and swung the canoe sideways on the top of the auto.

I am getting out! I am running away! I want nothing to do with driving home with the canoe on the top of our auto.

I begin to scream. "Jeremy, WE HAVE TO ABANDONED THE CANOE!"

We have friends in the area, I say "Can we take the canoe to Dave's?" Jeremy looks at me, the boys look at me, they say at the same time "Mom, Dave's is back that away, two miles back that way, two miles back in the black cloud!"

What are we going to do!

Jeremy and the boys tie the canoe down one more time, we do not make it a wee bit more and the canoe is lifted up and the entire conversation from above happens again, but this time I am louder!! The boys also agree, we need to abandon the canoe. Jeremy agrees we need to abandon the canoe.

 We scan the homes we are around and say "that one looks like nice people."

The storm has not hit yet, but you know how it can be windy, the sky is green and it is going to crack open at any second .. well that is what it was like as we knocked on the strangers door. 

We explained .. we are about 30 miles from home .. can we please leave our canoe .. the wind keeps blowing the canoe over .. we will pick it up in the morning ..  .. THANK YOU!!!

We were blessed that yes, we did come across nice people. We left our canoe. We got home just in time. Then the lighting cracked, the power went out, the hail pelted and the thunder rattled the house.  

In the morning we went and picked up our canoe.

The End!

It is good to be back .. Graduation Party coming up next.

♥

Carla