MEASURED

Hard to believe its almost Christmas again.

I haven't been caring for my parents quite three years yet,

but this will be my third Christmas.

Autumn came and went without much fan fair.

I did have a lovely birthday in October
thanks to my sis, Susan.
We ventured to Miss Bobo's,
located in Lynchburg and owned
by Jack Daniels.
Quite a spread!

Otherwise, I've just tried to stay busy.
One project I took on was to do some organization
in my Dad's garage and workshop.
Cleaning out drawers and cabinets,
putting like things together and such.

 Where my Dad and my Uncle James before him
acquired all the STUFF in that garage I'll never know ,
but STUFF we have. The following pictures
of measuring tools is just a glimpse  of the
STUFF.

Now, I'm a crafter and I would love to be
creative enough to come up with ideas using
all these goodies, but my brain just won't
cooperate.  

 I found about 15 to 20 various rulers and yardsticks

and I was able to come up with some Christmas
crafts, thank goodness.

Dad and I worked on this project together.
He drilled the holds at each end and we bolted
them together, I wrapped the lights.
These sticks were interesting,
they were 48 inches long instead of the normal 36 inches.

We mounted it on the outside of the workshop,
we can see it from our back window

and traffic in both directions on the highway
can see it as well.

The other craft I did was this yardstick/ruler
Christmas tree,
thank you Pinterest.

Wishing you a very merry

measuring Christmas.

A LOOK BACK AT SUMMER

Summer has come and gone

and it's been a good one.

I was somewhat daring...

cut my own hair!

Someone new in the neighborhood

came by for a visit.

Purchased some new bedding online from

Overstock.com.

Mom had a barium swallow test

that was

absolutely useless.

 Dad did a lot of reading, playing solitaire,

and snoozing.

I spent many days 

trying to organize

Dad's workshop

(this is the before pictures, I don't have after)

Now, what do you think Fall will bring?

I can only imagine.

SUMMER DAYS

 Just a few snapshots of a lazy Saturday morning.

FLAG DAY

According to my "easterseals" calendar

today is flag day.

We in the Davidson household are 

old school when it comes to the flag.

I'm the first one up in the mornings so I put it up,

Dad takes it down every evening around dusk.

We try not to let it touch the ground,

but when you're 92, accidents happen.
It stays dry on the porch, when rain
is in the forecast.

The flag is a symbol that I hold dear

but what I hold more dear than the fabric alone,

are the principles behind the flag.
Red/Valor
White/Liberty
Blue/Justice, Loyalty, Perseverance 

So, if you want to bend the knee
its alright with me
but I'll stand as long as I can.

Show your colors today.

DAVIDSON CAKE BAKEOFF YEAR THREE

Well, it's that time of year again.

The Davidson Family Cake Bakeoff.

This is our third year and my sister,

Susan chose the cake.

Hummingbird cake

I had never tasted hummingbird cake,

and I had certainly never made one.

I have now!!!

I looked around the Internet for a recipe,

and found the traditional cakes were all

pretty much the same.

I chose to use the recipe in the 

1978 Southern Living magazine, one of the first times

it was introduced to American cooks.

The cake was easy enough although it took me

triple the time to bake because once again

I was using our toaster oven.

BUT THE FROSTING...

I literally thought I was going to 

burn the motor up 

on my Mom's harvest gold1970 hand mixer.

Two packages of cream cheese.

Two sticks of butter.

Two boxes of powdered sugar.

I'll be wiping cream cheese frosting off the walls

for the next three weeks.

It all came together

and was delicious.

And, by the way made a perfect

birthday cake for my Mom's 

89th birthday.

MOM AT EIGHTY NINE

 Today is my sweet Mom's birthday

she is 89.

 Unfortunately it was not a very good day for her.

She couldn't stay focused and didn't 

seem to be interested in any 

birthday festivities. 

 I did get a big smile from her when I rolled out

her birthday cake...we always smile for cake, right.

 She enjoyed a piece after lunch

because I'm not totally sure

she'll make it until supper time.

Anyway, a big happy birthday 

to my Mom.

DAUCUS CAROTA

The back section of our side field is peppered

with Queen Anne's Lace

 Queen Anne's Lace, also known as wild carrot,

birds nest, and bishop's lace

has been my favorite wildflower

since I was a child.

Its always been quite wondrous to me.

Magical. It congers up imagining of 

knights and maidens,

kings and queens

What's your favorite 

wildflower.

GOOD GERBERA GARDENING

 Gerbera Daisy is one of my favorite flowers.

I always buy one or two each Spring

for my outdoor pots.

This year is no exception, 

but I hit gold!

I had purchased two at Walmart off their 

clearance wall for $1.67.

When I got home I could kicked myself for not buying more.

On my next trip the following week I was

determined to purchase more.

Well, guess what.

The folks in the gardening area were cleaning 

out their clearance plants and getting 

ready to trash them.

I asked if they gave them away when they marked

them out of stock, unfortunately the answer

was no.

They said they couldn't give them to me...but

a discounted price wasn't out of the question.

I filled my cart with about fifteen plants 

headed to the check out.

$0.50 each!!!

Most people would have just passed them up,

none were blooming and many had some brown leaves.

I knew a little Miracle Grow would 

do the trick.

And so it has.

Happy Gardening!