The Symbol of the Season

 Happy Resurrection Day!

HE IS RISEN!

A Week Away

 I'm back! Our trip was a quick one, just five nights away from home.  I'm sorry that I didn't have the opportunity to check on everyone's blogs.  But now, life is returning to normal (sort of).

I am posting my Friday Fave Fives to share all the wonderful things that happened on our trip. (the link takes you to Susanne's blog where you can join and post about your FFFs, too)

1.  I am thankful for safe travels.  The Professor and I were happily surprised at the short waiting lines, especially at TSA checkpoints.  Our four flights (two each direction) were smooth and on time.

2.  OK.  Where did we go?  My cousin passed away last month and I wanted to attend her memorial service.  If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you will know that I was born and raised in Oregon.  Portland, to be exact.  Almost all of my family (especially on my dad's side) live in Oregon.

3.   We spent all of Saturday (after we checked out of our hotel by the airport) visiting friends.  I have a college friend who married a guy I've known since high school.  She makes and sells soap and years ago my daughter (and I) worked with her at local county and state fairs.   (If you want to purchase some the best soap in the world, go to Laurelstone Soaps www.lssoaps.com)  We had so much fun talking that we didn't take a single photo.  Then we met another friend for dinner at a delicious Lebanese restaurant and talked until we closed it down.

4.  After visiting our former home church for their Sunday morning service, we drove to where my cousin's memorial service was being held.  The tribute to her was lovely and prompted so many memories of her and our times of playing together as children. Like the time it snowed and we were at school.  She and I decided to go outside and play in the snow at lunch recess and since we were the only ones out there, we didn't hear the bell and stayed out until the principal rushed out and pulled us in.  Yes, we did get in trouble for that one.  All my cousins and my brother were there and also some of their children and grandkids.  After the service all but the oldest cousin gathered at a coffee shop and we chatted for another two hours.  I am so blessed with all those boy cousins (and a brother).

left to right:  cousin1, cousin3's wife, cousin3, me, cousin4, cousin2, my brother.

All but cousin4 and I live in Western Oregon

5.  Monday and Tuesday were devoted to time spent with my brother and his wife.  He drove us out to the beach on Monday and then on Tuesday we did some exploring of the area where they live which is Oregon wine country.  I took so.many.photos.  Here are just a couple from those days.  Come back for LOTS more.

The beach!

Vineyards!

And then it was time for us to return home.  Even Eleanor was ready.

A Quick Fave Fives

 I am leaving on a jet plane very soon, so I am doing my Friday Fave Fives quickly.  Here are my Five Blessings from this past week.

1.  We enjoyed an unexpected fun evening with Tall Boy Friday night.  A friend from school gave him a free ticket to attend our local school district's Fiddle Fest, a night of music by the string band from all the middle schools and our high school.  We all had a great time and loved the music.

2.  I always enjoy our monthly fiber arts group get together at a local coffee shop.

3.  After the group time, Nurse Girl Daughter and I decided to make a quick detour to one of our favorite garden nurseries.  I never win raffles or door prizes or anything like that.  So imagine my surprise when I answered my phone on Monday and the caller was from the nursery.  She told me that I WON! A GIFT CARD!   AND.  So did my daughter!  I am sure there will be another visit to the nursery soon.

4.  My daughter is friends with a couple who own an alpaca farm.  They were out of town last weekend, so she went over to the farm to check on the alpacas and feed them.  I tagged along.  It was so much fun (even if she had to muck out the pens).

5.  I finished another blanket for our local pregnancy center.  Super simple pattern.  All knit rows.  Size nine needles.  Simply Soft yarn by Caron.

Okay!  I'm out the door! Yes, I packed lots of knitting and a few books!

SPRING!

Today is the first day of SPRING!  YAY!  Does it look like spring where you live?  Here at Willow's Cottage it does today.  But don't count on it being warm and sunny next week.  This week's *Friday Fave Fives may have some references to weather.  And also some wonderful blessings.  This is how things evolved on this last week of Winter here at Willow's Cottage. *follow the link to join us by sharing your blessings.

1.  Weather.  On Friday, we experienced some wild winds and rain and many communities in our area lost electric power for several days, including our daughters.  Then, over the weekend the weather seemed like spring was coming.  I spent two houses Sunday afternoon doing some clean up in the garden beds.  Then the frigid weather set back in, and we had ice and snow and below freezing temperatures.  Why is all this a fave?  Well, our weather isn't boring :)  We go from sunshine and daffodils to snow in 24 hours.  And we were all safe from falling trees and accidents.

From sunny daffodils from the garden...

to snow

2.  Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day.  And it was my Birthday!  T, S and L joined the Professor and me for breakfast at Denny's because I like their multi-grain pancakes.  Then in the evening, all the family (except Younger Son Dr, Mike in San Jose) enjoyed dinner at our house.  We ate green salad, green roasted veggies and two kinds of pot pie and a shepherds pie.  Notice the green and pie theme?  My choice for birthday dessert was triple berry pie.  Yum!  It was all so yummy!  Dr. Mike did text me to wish me a Happy Birthday, as did my brother in Oregon.  And many friends and family.  I felt greatly loved.

3. My Birthday Present(s).  Of course, I loved my presents.  A knitting pattern book.  A "coupon" for my daughter-in-law to help me organize all the books in our 'library'.  And last but not least, a trip to Goodwill because everything was 50% off on St. Patrick's Day AND there was a HUGE bin full of yarn bundles.  PAL and her mom and I may have mostly cleaned out the whole bin.  There were some high quality yarns in so many different colors.  When we brought them back to our house, we opened them all and shared them with the knitters in the family.  We all walked away with so. much. yarn.  Me?  I probably have a life time supply of sock yarn now.

PAL was very excited.

4. In the afternoon, the doorbell rang and I opened the door to a friend holding a bouquet of flowers!  The ladies in my Saturday morning Bible Study group gave me a beautiful gift of flowers and special cookies.  That was a wonderful surprise.

5.  Always Walks.  We managed to get in two walks this week.  One was inside the local mall where we just walked around in circles for two miles.  The other walk was today (Thursday) outside for 2.75 miles in sunshine and 60F temperatures.  As we were walking back on the local path by our house, I commented to The Professor that I am thankful to be well enough and active enough to be able to walk.

Bonus:  crocuses from my garden.

What blessings helped you say good-bye to WINTER and welcome to SPRING?

Friday the Thirteenth? Uh-Oh

 Friday the 13th.  What good can come out of this day?  Well, lots.  Lots of good things.  The more we focus on the the good, the more we see.  That's why Friday Fave Fives is important (even on the 13th).  Friday Fave Fives is a great way to encourage gratitude every day, every week.

Here are five things that reminded me to be grateful this week.

1.  More daffodils!  I just can't get enough of them.  They're blooming in my garden!

2.   I love to cut some of the daffodils and bring them into the cottage.  It makes me smile every time I glance over at the side table.

3.  I am thankful I have family and friends to walk with and many trails to walk on in our community.  One of our favorite paths follows the Licking River and sometimes crosses over it.

4.  Yesterday, I opened up the mailbox and found a letter awaiting me.  If you don't know, it's my birthday month.  My birthday is next week, but I just couldn't wait to open up this card from my dear friend M.  It included a lovely letter which I plan to answer this weekend (maybe tonight?).   We've been friends for fifty-five years a long time.  We sang together in our college trio and toured during summers representing the school.  

I treasure my friendship with her and am thankful that we have stayed in touch all this time.

5.  Last night we spent the evening with friends at their home.  They ordered Nepali-Indian food for dinner.  Oh my.  Delicious.  An added bonus was that their two teenage sons and a girlfriend wanted to have dinner with us too.  We had a great three hours of eating and chatting.

So, I guess Friday the Thirteenth isn't so bad after all.

Marching In

 It's March!  I'm excited!  Are you?  And it's Friday.  And time for Friday Fave Fives.  Here are the five blessings I am choosing to share from my week.

1.  One evening when I was climbing into bed, I thought, "I am thankful for a warm bed."  Snuggling under my cozy blankets is something I don't take for granted.

2.  The weather has been very very rainy this week.  Finally, yesterday, it was mild and dry enough to take a walk around our neighborhood.  A bit more than two miles.

3.  We spent Sunday afternoon with a young mom at her place.  We've known her for a couple of years and adore her fourteen month old daughter.  Spending that time with them was a delight for us.

4.  This afternoon, my daughter-in-law and PAL drove down to the next county with me to a used book store that supports a local nonprofit.  We might have found a few books we want to read...  and then we stopped by a 'country store' where there is lots of yarn and fabric as well as used goods.  I only purchased two balls of yarn and a pair of needles.

5.  And it is almost Spring!  To prove it, the plants in my garden popped out some indications that Winter is winding down.

The crocus is blooming!

Daffodils are getting ready.

The forsythia hasn't begun to bloom, but it is setting out many buds.

Even the bees were busy outside of their hives.

That wraps up my first week of March.  I hope you had a great week, too.

Barns Are Back

A working barn

A barn  that used to be a working barn

A barn in a peaceful setting

End of February Faves

 I am late to the Friday Fave Fives party this week.  I have been having difficulties posting.  After writing up my whole FFF post, it has disappeared.  No idea why.  But anyway, I am back, endeavoring to try again.

I am truly thankful for Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for hosting Friday Fave Fives every week and encouraging us to remember to be thankful for all the good things that have happened to us.  So, here are mine.

1.  Another reason I am late posting is that yesterday, Friday, I had an outpatient medical procedure (planned).  Results are good, as far as I know.  The Professor provided transportation and took excellent care of me.

2.  Last Saturday, I attended TWO knit group activities.  One was in the morning and is the group I host with my daughter Nurse Girl.  In the afternoon, I spent a few hours with another group that meets occasionally at a friend's home in a town south of me.  A good time was had by all at both meet ups.  I mean, what could be better than knitting and snacking all day?

3.  A fun three mile walk with my daughter and the granddogs.  We walked, talked and sipped on hot teas while wrestling the dogs who are called The Mongrels by her.  The weather was perfect.

4.  Another wonderful hike with our daughter-in-law this afternoon.  We hiked a trail we usually don't take.  It was a new one for them, and I have only done it once.  The path follows the river along the canal that once helped link Lake Erie to the Ohio River.

5.  My new laptop is becoming more familiar now to me and I am able to transfer photos from my camera to the computer.  Here's proof:

Come back for more!!

I hope your week has been wonderful and full of blessings!

Friday Fave Fives, February Take Three

Friday Fave Fives is here already.  It is Friday, but we have been so busy, I'm not sure what day it is... I really needed this time to stop the craziness and focus on remembering all the blessings of this past week.  I am truly thankful for Susanne's faithfulness in hosting Friday Fave Fives.  You can join, too, by clicking on that link.

1.  As of last night, I have a NEW working laptop computer!  Thanks to The Professor!  We are still working on getting everything moved from the old one and downloading all the sites that need passwords.  Come back soon for a photo dump!

2.  The snow has melted (temporarily).  Most of this week, the outside temperatures have been mild.  Although we have experienced heavy fogs, lots of rain, and thunder and lightning storms, it has been a wonderful respite from the frigid cold.  The winter birds have visited my feeder. Even my bees have been out of their hives frolicking in the warm weather.  I know that we are in for more freezing temperatures and snow, but I am thankful for the few days when we have been able to leave the house without hats, gloves, boots and parkas.

A funny anecdote about the snow... earlier this week, The Professor walked into the house carrying a newspaper wrapped in a plastic bag and tied with a rubber band.  That was not unusual because that's how our local printed paper is usually delivered.  But.  The date on the paper was January 23rd!  Evidently, the paper arrived just as the snow storm started scattering all the snow down on the edge of our driveway and it got covered in the drifts and piles of snow blown and shoveled off our driveway.  It lay there for three weeks hidden in the snow drift.  But it stayed dry and was still totally intact and readable.

3.  We have been able to get outside and walk several times this week.  One afternoon at the local arboretum (3 miles), twice in our neighborhood (usually 2 miles), and once on the local county path that runs alongside the river.  I know that walking is important (vital?) to our health, so we just keep walking.  I am thankful that we can and that we have beautiful and safe places to walk.

4.  Lent began on Wednesday.  My "Art Girls" friends and I are reading the book Journey to the Cross by Paul David Tripp during this Lent season.  The book has forty days of devotionals.  Already, on Day 3, we are being deeply challenged with the topics.  I highly recommend this book.

5.  Last weekend was my daughter-in-law's birthday!  We celebrated with a dinner at their house.  Her mother had flown in to visit so we enjoyed spending time with her, too.

This photo was taken at least ten years ago, but they still look just like this.

I hope you have had a warm, cozy, joyful week with many things to be thankful for.

Friday Fave Fives in Second Week of February

 Friday afternoon.  The weather has warmed up a bit and snow is melting.   Another busy week.  Now it is time to stop, take a deep breath, and focus on all the wonderful things that have happened this week.  Friday Fave Fives is the best way for me to remember all the blessings from the past several days.  Susanne hosts FFF every Friday and I am so thankful for this weekly reminder of all the blessings in my life during the week.

1.  You will notice that again today I am not posting photos.  Sadly.  But.  A new computer has been purchased and we (meaning The Professor) are in the process of getting it up and running.  Then, I will be able to post ALL. THE. PICTURES.  I can't wait!

2.  I have spent many many hours the past few days scrolling back and reading all my oldest blog posts from the time I started this blog in October 2005.  Yes, I've been blogging that long.  It was a wonderful walk down memory lane.

3.  Last Saturday The Professor and I and Nurse Girl and Warrior Boy went snow tubing with our Trail Life troop.  First time for the three adults.  Oh, it was great fun!  I'm up for doing it again.

 4.  Our house cleaner came this week, the first time since before Christmas.   I greatly appreciate all the work she does to clean our bathrooms and vacuum and mop our floors.  The house looks so much nicer.  And that makes me happy and relaxed.

5.  Two long walks this week.  One afternoon we tromped through the snow drifts with PAL and her mom for three and a half miles.  The sun was shining and it was a fun walk.  Then this afternoon, Nurse Girl and I took the dogs for a walk along the river for three miles.  Most of the path was clear as it has been a bit warmer the past two days and the snow is finally melting off.  I love my walks.

There were other blessings during the week like coffee time with our friends, a couple of long phone calls with a friend and my sister in law.  Afternoons sitting and sipping my tea and reading a book.  I hope you have had a calm and restful week, too.

An Important Day

 It's Friday and the end of the first week of February.  It is also Friday Fave Fives day. (the link takes you to Susanne's blog where you can join us) But that's not what makes this day the most important.  

So why is it an important day? 

1.  It's Tall Boy's Birthday!  He's eighteen!  How did he grow up so fast??  He went from this

to this,

to this,

(a year ago, and so he is even taller)

As he answered me this morning when I texted him "Happy Birthday", "we are the same age now"... yes, he's an adult!

2.  It has been very very cold all week.  And then more snow arrived this morning.  I am so very thankful for a warm house and all the warm blankets.

3.  Earlier this week, two young men from a local chimney company came to inspect our fireplace.  The result was the best we could have asked for.  By the end of this month, we should have a safe and functioning wood burning fireplace, again!

4.  I am a bit later than usual today posting my FFFs because I was busy doing something else.  That something involved hot tea and homemade scones.  My daughter in law invited me to spend an hour or so with her.  We discussed all kinds of things.  One topic was the Well Read Mom group we are in is going to be reading Dante's Purgatory in February.  I have never read it, but of course, The Professor has and owns an interesting translation of it.  We spent some time comparing our versions.  I am loving having my daughter in law living just two miles away from me.

5.  The issue with my computer not playing nicely with my camera will be solved soon.  The solution is that I will be getting a new computer as my current one is old and quite outdated.  The Professor has been researching all the options and has come up with the best choices and prices.  I am happily anticipating having a new computer.  And being able to post new photos.   And.  I am thankful that the other person who lives in this house is so knowledgeable and experienced with computers.  (If you are a new reader of my blog, you may not know that The Professor taught computer science/literacy at a California State University for the last ten years before he retired.   And before that, he worked many years for Intel Corporation.  So, yes, he knows his computers.)

I hope your week has been filled with many blessings, too!

Home! The End of January

 Can you believe it is the last weekend of January and the first weekend of February?  This month has flown by!  And it is Friday Fave Fives again, the Fifth Fave Fives this month.  Here are my faves for this week in backwards form.

1.  The Professor and I are home.  We arrived safely from Gulf Shores yesterday afternoon.  The drive on Wednesday was long.  Yesterday's drive through the Smoky Mountains was shorter and absolutely beautiful. I am thankful for our wonderful trip and also thankful that we are home.

2.  On the last night we were at the Gulf of Mexico, we walked three and a half miles on the beach just at sunset.  It was gorgeous.  (You may be wondering why there are no photos attached... my computer is not talking to my camera again.  Hopefully, I can figure this out and post pictures later.)

3.  The Professor loves museums.  We spent almost a whole day touring the USS Alabama Battleship Museum in Mobile.  I enjoyed it, too, but I loved watching how engrossed he was in all the exhibits.

4.  One day, we drove west along a sand spit to Fort Morgan.  It was a very windy day and we braved the winds, gusts and rain and walked all around the ruins of this fort on the western edge of the peninsula protecting Mobile Bay.  Yes, we are history nerds.

5.  Maybe the best evening we had at Gulf Shores was spent in Pensacola, Florida.  We met my cousin (actually my cousin's son) and his mom for dinner.  This is only the second time I have spent time with him, and we enjoyed our visit so much.  He's a wonderful young man.  When we had a bit of a car issue, he jumped right in (under) and fixed it.  I am so thankful that I have developed this contact with him.

Bonus:  while we were gone, our area got slammed with twelve inches of snow.  Before we returned, our grandson Warrior Boy came over and cleared our driveway and front porch.  

Now I am home and I am happy to be snuggled up in warm blankets.

Fave Fives on Holiday Time

Popping in a bit late for Friday Fave Fives.  The reason is that I am traveling.  This time, The Professor and I are enjoying a few days away.   Anyway, here are my Five Faves from the past week.

1.  As I stated above, we are gone from home right now.  But the night before we left, the kids and grandkids popped over to say goodbye and give us hugs and tell us to have a fun time.  I love living close to my family, and I love that they care about us so much.

2.  First night out.  We stayed in Kentucky.  We planned our overnight stop so we could have dinner with a long time friend.  We were all new to our church in Oregon and met almost immediately.  All these years, we have stayed in touch!

Horrible photo but proof we were there...

A bonus there was that Eleanor was so excited to meet LB because she is a great traveler, literally all over the world, and Eleanor follows all her adventures on F-book.

3.  The next three nights we stayed in Tennessee with friends from California who have moved there.  We had so much fun that we didn't even take ONE photo!

One of the few pictures I took!  Again, not in focus (I blame it on the speed we were traveling...)

4.  One day we had lunch with two couples we have known for decades who also moved to TN from CA.  In fact, one of the men is the person The Professor has known the longest in his whole life (except for his older brother) -- since he was one year old!  AND this man was one of my college professors! (he was a young prof at the time...)  Again, no photos-- we just talked and talked and talked.

5.  You may have all heard about the really really cold, icy and snowy weather our part of the US is expecting.  I am thankful we planned our trip to drive south to Gulf Shores, Alabama before all the snow and cold weather arrived (not that we knew anything about it at the time...).  And I am thankful I can keep in close contact with the family we left in Ohio.

If you are in any of the areas that will be affected by this winter storm, I hope you are prepared and will be safe and snug at home.

A Quiet Week in January

Some weeks are exciting and adventurous.  Other weeks are quiet and boring.  Sometimes, I appreciate boring.  This week was one.  But that's okay.  I am sharing my Friday Fave Fives, five things that I have found to be blessings in my life this week.  Susanne hosts us every week.  You can find her blog HERE.

1.  Well Read Mom monthly meeting.  I am enjoying reading a book each month with my daughter-in-law.  This month's book was a tome.  And I struggled a bit with it.  Hunchback of Notre Dame.  But sitting and discussing the book with a dozen other women of all ages helped me see much more in the book.  I am glad to be a part of this group.  (And it's fun to visit home in different parts of the big city where most likely I would never venture.)

2.  Our usual coffee time with T and S lasted three hours.  I guess we had lots to discuss.  And another lady joined us, a friend of all of us.

3.  Two good walks with Nurse Girl and the dogs.  The second one included PAL and her mom too.  And we walked on a trail that has been closed for over a year for renovations.  Being able to walk that trail made it extra fun.

4.  Working on a couple of projects.  I realized this week that I needed to order seeds for this year's gardens.  So I pulled out my seed box and have been organizing and deciding what I need to order.  Definitely red kale and some herbs...

5.  I've been working on a couple of knitting projects that have challenged me.  One is a pair of gloves for which I wrote the pattern.  Part way through the second glove, I realized that I hadn't done a great job writing down part of the pattern.  I think I have it fixed now and the gloves are almost finished.  (photos to come when they're done)  The other project is a shrug for a friend.  No pattern.  I'm copying the one she owns and loves to wear.  I'm in the muddling middle of that.  I do enjoy the challenge.

Bonus.  Last night, the whole family enjoyed a yummy Chinese dinner at a local restaurant.  It's near Younger Son's birthday (Dr Mike) who is still visiting over Christmas time, so we included that in our dinner celebration.

Bonus2.  In the fall, I shared a few photos of Tall Boy because he is a high school senior and evidently it's a thing to do a weekly Senior photo on social media. Then I quit.  So here is a picture of Tall Boy from many years ago. (2016)

January First Week Faves

 Always remember how much you have to grateful for.

It's Friday night.  Time to share my Friday Fave Fives-- the five blessings from this past week.  (click on the link to join us in sharing what we are thankful for.  Here are mine:

1.  Nurse Girl and I made it home from SoCal in time to celebrate Grandson' Warrior Boy's birthday.  He turned sixteen!!

Many years ago...

Two years ago...

2.  Warmer weather.  We've had a respite from the snow and ice.  Because it has been a bit less frigid, we have been able to be out two afternoons to take walks.

 

3.  I have been working on this one thousand piece puzzle I received for Christmas for a few days.  It wasn't easy.  But I finally finished it!

4.  We hadn't seen our friends T and S for three weeks.  Our weekly coffee time lasted us three hours!  We had so much to catch up on!  I am so thankful for good friends.

5.  Family photos!  It has been a couple of years since we were all together as a family and could have pictures taken.  Fortunately, the photographer was able to reschedule us for today after we had to cancel our planned photo shoot when Nurse Girl and I flew out to SoCal.  I can't wait to see the results!

What have you been grateful for this first full week of January 2026?