This Is Me -

*Editorial Note:  I have no idea what's going on with my pictures-have to put that on my 'to do' list-

R e a l l y-

This is Me!

Don't get your hopes up-

[You Know that Grammas are boring]

I'm Sharing Today With  Jann Olson-Come With Me!

http://jannolson.blogspot.com/2015/10/share-your-cup-thursday-171.html

On the outside chance some of you have been holding your breath to see a post like this on Like Gramma's House-here goes:

• Rainy Days...with occasional rumblings of distant thunder-
• Overcast days, leaves barely fluttering falling randomly On days like that one gets to down shift....hit the pause button...move to an 'on hold' folder all the important things that had to be done or happen that day. L A T E R Y'all!
• Wild things blooming in the ditches alongside the highways & country roads. NEWS FLASH -It's a good thing when the rag weed starts filling the ditches...because the GOLDENROD shows up and what a way to brighten up things. Why would anyone pay for Goldenrod when God has arranged for it in such abundance all around [unless you live in dead center of a metropolitan area and never leave the city...in that case "bless your heart."]

Oh my Lord,

Creator of all that was,

is or ever will be..

How I am loving all the natural beauty around me....Natural things for a multitude of uses, practical and decorative or ornamental...gourds, loofas, gnarly bare branches, cones from trees of all kinds, magnolia, pine, oak whatever. Huge beautifully shaped pine cones and let's not forget the

Acorns...the little ones from my back yard are okay but then I drool over the great big acorns from [I think it's called] a White Oak tree. The last time someone gifted me with a bag of these I made them last at least 15 years...where have they gone?

Of course the tiny, tiny little cones from trees in Maine that I have only seen once in my life..cones the size of my 'little pinky finger nail."  What a thrill when after asking my family in Maine at the time to send me some they actually did send me a package of those amazing teeny tiny cones.  I must look for some pictures .

Doesn't Everyone Get Excited Over Driftwood?

Driftwood  from along the beaches.....or make believe driftwood  from down by the creek....with beautiful curly, ruffly things growing on one side.  So would you say that Nature really speaks to my soul???/   No!  it's not simply nature.  It's Creation...and the Creator who speaks to my innermost being...that would be Soul, right?  I think so. 

Just Ask Me About Christmastime

I adore Christmastime..O Holy Night -  blue lights in [only] the house windows..or if you are blessed with a husband who would try to make anything happen that you asked him to do..blue lights secured around the Star atop the old 1900ish  barn in Texas. blue lights like the picture we have in our heads anyway, of the star of Bethlehem.

And I will always remember the outdoor scenes with cold weather, a fire to warm by and people from the community gathering to watch the live presentation of the Christmas Story- in Crossett, Arkansas

All Clear Lights...everywhere, everywhere...don't know when I graduated from the carnival lights of [childhood] Red and Blue and Green and Yellow perhaps it was around the time I left the foil icicles behind in the after Christmas throw away bags..Oh but it's a good thing..no more icicles to toss and bicker over the correct way to get them hung on the tree. 

Giving...Gifting...I think I knew I  had become a grown up when without a doubt I loved giving more than the receiving of gifts at Christmastime.

I don't look forward to gifts but the giving to others.  Could that possibly come from those

times as a child when I [thought] had nothing to give? 

If I had been surrounded with all the creativity as a child that surrounds my life now...what fun I could have had with the discovering, the creating, the presentation [ even gift wrapping] .

But it makes for wonderful real time, present day story telling- recalling everyone's version of those tacky old ice cicles...Mom was always the only one who knew how it should be done...ending with each and every foil strip hanging neatly alone...not tossed by the handfuls  willy nilly fashion with each toss forming a nasty little mess - yes little nests of a mess of foil icicles. ...

I wonder if someone is now listing those things on a Pinterest Board labelled Repurposed Christmas Decorations of the past.

Annnnnd..

FAMILY

Country Life-

Country Living-The Real Thing

Just a guess but I will go out on a short limb and say this house pictured could be 100 years old-likely a bit more. If these pictures and bits southern historical trivia catch your interest see more on Face Book /Grits & Gravy

Source-Found on Face book Grits & Gravy /

Check the www.address in bottom right corner for the person who submitted the photo

I lived in houses just like this growing up in the rural south Georgia area in the 1940's and 1950's-

Many years later it was like a dream come true [ strange as it may sound] that my husband and I were able to buy a very large farm in Southeast Texas with a 1906 dog trot farmhouse where we lived for 13 years pouring all our creative energy, and lots of as we say 'sweat' into making that farmhouse into what was sometimes described as a museum.

Who Do We Follow?

About Who We Readily Follow As Bloggers

And What We Model For Those Following us

[In our everyday lives or on the printed pages of our blogs]

Do you remember this song as a very young child?

"Oh, be careful little ears what you hear,

Be careful little eyes what you see,

Be careful little mouth what you say......"

[and always ending with-]

'"For the Father up above,

Is watching down in love...." 

Things We do For Strangers Even-

Stopping in front of City Hall today I noticed the car parking beside  me.  The lady in the passenger side started to open her door, stopped & apparently reached into the glove compartment pulled out a hair brush, started to brush her hair carefully, got out of the car and proceeded into the City Hall. 

Now she was ready...

Presentable as she entered our City Hall offices-

[probably to pay her utility bill as I was]

When Others Are Hurting -

Monday Morning Thoughtful Thoughts

It's Normal To Want To Fix It

When Others Are Hurting

We want to reach out and make it all go away.

Not all of our loved ones are in our family circle

Not all are close by, down the street, across town or just a short drive away.

Often we have left loved ones miles away where we were once connected

And shared our designated time together

As our [life] paths crossed for a time

A few months or

For years.