Grand-Girls' Birthdays

Two grand-daughters turned "5" in January! Isabella celebrated with her school friends at the gym where she takes lessons.

Alina celebrated with her girlfriends in Tea Party style.

Below are some of the friends, with their mothers, who came for Alina's party.

Kate B., showing us the bracelette she made.

The only boy, and sibling, allowed at the Tea Party was Alina's big brother,

Evan from Heaven.

He was a fantastic moustachioed waiter!

Alina with Gramma Catherine all dressed for the occasion.



Dear Big Sister, Greta.

Alina the Queena the Tea Party

showing her bracelette.

Mother-daughter beauties in attendance at the tea party:

Cora Lynn and Erin.

Olivia tasting her tea sandwich.

You may notice the pink hot chocolate in the tiny tea cup at the lower left.

Mari, finally tasting the best part of the foodly treats.

And Isabella with her baby brother before her own party.

She could not have received a better gift!

I am blessed to have so many grandchildren, and to have two darling girly-girls the same age. Isabella and Alina are not only beautiful, but also blessed by incredible mothers (my daughter and step-daughter:).

All the girls have hearts of gold.

Being a gardener at heart,

I consider these girls some of the sweetest flowers in my garden!

Full Moon and the Wolf Moon

Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.

Jeremiah 31:17

Can you see God, in the beginning, just stretching out His arm, pointing His finger, and creating such vast, complex. and stunningly beautiful heavens such as I witnessed Friday and Saturday night?

Occurring in January, the first full moon of the year, was called the Wolf Moon by native Americans because the wolves howled. They were probably just hungry and could see nothing much to eat which could make me howl too!

We were blessed here with the 2-night viewing of this lovely moon. Many thought a cloud bank would obscure it, but the cloud bank dissipated and thinned so we could watch its spectacular rising on Friday night. No one in my family thought it would be visible, nor did they think much of the facts I'd presented: it would be 14% bigger and 30% brighter with the red planet Mars to the left.
So, I drove out of town to high place and watched it rise on Friday night all by myself. Later others called me to see if I was still watching it move above the horizon into a thin cloud bank, and then ascend into the high sky. Sick as I was about not having my camera, the Lord gave me another opportunity last night. It wasn't the complete full moon, of course, and Mars wasn't visible, but it was still spectacular. The clouds were thicker and lower, so I didn't get to see it rise.

But the brilliance and larger size were still viewable. My camera, back in hand, I slipped out to the back patio to capture some of the radiance for you. It is rare that we have such clear skies in this part of Idaho this time of year. It snows madly as I write this, actually. Don't you love what God has created, what is made especially for us on earth? I am so grateful.

The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful

The Bad and the Beautiful

The bad is how the woodpile came alvalanching down knocking over a ladder and sending it into the windowed door out back. I was chased off the patio by the falling wood. The ladder, after falling against the window, left this beautiful design of shattered glass. It is a double pane window, so the inside is fine. We've ordered a new pane for the outer portion. I kind of hate to have it replaced. You can see the stack of wood behind it. The Good

My first package of seeds came yesterday. It is so exciting to open and see what I ordered, to fondle the packets, to plan and dream about how they will produce and what kind of harvest I'll have. Some new ones for me are cabbage and pole beans. I ordered more of my favorite tomatoes and one new one: Opalka Paste Tomato. One that is backordered is a winter squash I bought seeds for others to grow for me: Galeux D'Eysines, a French, warty, sweet and delicious one. I pray it comes so those who live in more squash-friendly areas nearby can grow it. It is the best squash I have EVER tasted.

The Fedco people always write a nice letter to their customers letting us know how the winter is going, how the seeds are holding out, fessing up to crop failures, and telling how many people ordered the new tomato, the same one I did,(142). I love this outfit because they tell you what kind of company the seeds come from in a ranking from 1-5, 1 being small farmers including Fedco staff, to 5 being Seminis/Monsanto varieties. I always keep my numbers low (1 or 2).