Time Flies

They say "time flies when you're having fun."

Well, we must be having a lot of fun!

You might want to pour yourself a cup of tea.

Oh, and you'll need a couple biscuits... this is going to be a long one!

I have much to share!

I remember the days when my children were busy in extra-curricular

activities... music lessons, sports, scouts, etc.

Those were busy days for sure.

In those days, however, we were geared for busy-ness.

Our own personal activities were put on the back burner.

We wore many hats in those days, both at home and at work,

but none as important as being our kids' biggest fans.

In retrospect, it all passes by so quickly that it's almost

impossible to believe we've come full circle.

Nowadays, we've traded some of our hats in for others and happily get to wear

our "biggest fan" hats all over again... for our grandchildren!

Farm chores and fun activities can easily fill a weekend.

Add to this the fact that we have arrived in those sweet days that 

are also filled with the activities of our grandchildren,

and it adds up to a fun-filled, fully-packed schedule - 

especially on weekends.

Lately, we have used our weekdays to recover from our weekends.

The past few days were no exception.

We began the weekend with our Littles.

Their Daddy (my son) had shoulder surgery on Friday,

so, while Hubbs went along to the hospital, I gave everyone breakfast and got them to "school."

Surgery went well, and once everyone was comfortably settled at home,

we headed back to the farm.

(I need to mention that we took their Black Sammie along home with us,

to make life easier for everyone... not to mention the fact that Black Sammie 

loves to visit the farm.)

Sammie is a Lab/Coon hound mix and boy does he love to sing!!

With mornings as cold as yesterday, all dogs wear coats for morning chores...

Black Sammie fits in Oakley's (how we miss that old boy!) old coat.

And if you are new and wondering why we call him Black Sammie...

it's because we have our own Brown Sammie.

Saturday morning, we travelled an hour to Tyler's swim meet

to watch him swim a couple of events.

He's quite a fish!

He is in the next-to-the-last lane in the photo below.

We were back home by lunchtime.

The weather was cold and clear, so we spent some time in the pastures,

cleaning up manure from the preceding day.

Of course, the pigs are always curious as to what we are up to.

And the sheep... seeing that there were four dogs in the front pasture,

made a hasty retreat back into their yard.

Saturday evening I met my daughter, Jenn, and Tyler in my favorite little local town

(where they actually moved to last week)

for the annual Christmas Tree Lighting.

Santa arrived by hook and ladder truck...

was hoisted up on the ladder truck to the top of the tree,

where, as he reached out his hand to touch the tree...

the lights magically came on.

Before heading back home, I stopped to watch Tyler decorate

their tree...

then returned home and finished decorating our second tree, 

in the family room.

Sunday morning we had our traditional Farm Breakfast...

Dr. Becky (Hubbs' sister) and her hubby and kids joined us, as well as Tyler and his Mom.

After a little farm work, we headed back to town to watch Tyler's guitar recital.

We made a quick stop by the Littles' house to check on their Daddy's shoulder...

then back to the farm.

Somehow, between all of this activity, I did manage to get two sewing projects finished.

This special order top in grey linen...

with a pocket that I hand-embroidered.

And these special order bibs for a baby named Violet:

I worked on this project, started last week...

another yoked sweater... this one with leaves around the yoke.

I baked a pan of tiny Gingerbread house parts...

and decorated them...

And just to give you an idea of their size....

I'm sure you are wondering how I found the time, 

with all of the family activities and farm chores.

It may have had something to do with waking up each morning at 4 AM.

I can be very productive at that hour of the day.

But don't worry... I was sound asleep by 8:30 those evenings!

I seriously think that my body is in a time zone located somewhere in the middle

of the Atlantic Ocean.

So did you think that the weekend was over?

Not yet!

Sunday evening we drove a half-hour north of the farm to our favorite brewery.

You've heard me mention the Rusty Rail before.

Performing here, on this particular evening, was one of my very favorite entertainers...

(I've mentioned her before)

Davina and the Vagabonds.

Now the truly amazing story about all of this is....

I had raved about this gifted performer (musician and singer) on my blog

a few summers ago when I first saw her.

One of my local friends is an old friend of Davina's mother,

and she forwarded that blog post on to her.

Davina's mother happens to be Dee Hartman,

who, if you read the comment section of my blog is an extremely

generous and talented commenter....

frequently gifting my comment section with a bit of her poetry.

Dee, herself, is a pretty amazing and talented musician, poet,

and artist.

(This family has great genes!!)

To make a long story short, after years of communicating via

Facebook and my Blog...

I finally got the chance to meet Dee in person last evening at her daughter's show.

She's every bit as sweet and wonderful as she looks in this photo.

Great Fun!!!!!

The show was fantastic... of course.

Meeting Dee was the icing on the cake.

She gifted me this print one of her artworks, 

a painting of fairies and morel mushrooms...

(just like we have here on the farm!)

See?  I told you she was an awesome artist!!

I can hardly wait to hang this where I can see it daily.

Thank goodness Monday is here.

It's time to rest up from this wild and wonderful weekend!!

Oh, I forgot... tonight is Tyler's school holiday concert.

He's singing in the choir and playing the violin...

one very busy boy!

(If you've been reading my blog long enough, you will agree with me...

it seems like just yesterday we brought him home to the farm as a newborn baby.)