MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

We had a sweet weekend visit with our sons'family from Bloomington. His wifes' Dad had a Christmas Cantata on Sunday Eve so the gals were all dressed up in their sweet pillowcase dresses their Mama had made them...
The dresses had fuzzy ball trim and they reminded me of little Christmas Balls running around with their dollies, holding the kittens and walking babies in the stroller.
The snow keeps falling everyday. It all started just two days after we got home from Vermont and parked the RV behind the cabin to unload it. I seriously sent out Email Christmas cards with Bing singing....I'm dreaming of a White Christmas...!! as only he can sing it...and oh, so true...it has been snowing since I sent that out. God blesses us!
My Hub also received a late birthday gift....Silver...he has been talking with his son about that and so while we were in Vermont I talked with Kev and we set it up that it would be delivered to his home for safe keeping. It arrived there on Gary's 61st birthday, November 16th. So, we REALLY REALLY surprised him. That is HARD to do! he is such a good guesser of gifts!..so now, we are seriously going to get into precious metals as our government seems to want to unline our pockets these days!!
While In Vermont I was envoloped in GREEN MOUNTAIN..they sold everything that was possible as organic and green grown. I had found the Mary Janes Magazine while we had our precious time with our sons' Steves family. The TSC was a favorite store of ours while there and it caught my eye at the checkout. It is a find. I love it. That is how we met up with the Alpaca Turkey Farm here in Indiana, through their ONE time adverticement in the back of the magazine. Anyways, there is a sisterhood you can join...I did as a rural farmgirl. It is fun, earning badges in the Sisterhood. I have to buy a denim shirt to sew them onto to wear around town. Yep! why not!!...... so PLEASE be safe driving in this unpredicable weather...watch out for flying reindeers....HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!! Yes, Merry Christmas!!! Quilted Christmas Bells!!! Kari

Warm Hugs

Summer Picture take by my DDinlaw gives us deffinately WARM HUGS and TRUE LOVE on a blustery, winter northern Indiana Day!! Hope it warms your heart too!! Busy Santas' Helper here on Hawthorn Road. Quilted, Crochet, Knitten, Felted, Sewn Up Love, Kari

What, No Lanolin?

Hey boys! What cha doin? We were so blessed this first Sunday of December! We visited the Turkey Creek Alpaca Farm and fell in love! The sweet couple that gave us a tour were very special folk. We talked a couple hours and chatted as we walked in the snow to the extra shelter they have on 2 acres across from their cabin home.
We had our first close encounter with the Alpaca. They are marvelous animals. Their fleece is so soft and is so compatible with the skin when enjoyed by a person in sweater form or scarves...no itch!!...no lanolin....and for those that want to harvest the fleece it is easier to card and make into skeins to be used by the knitting enthusiasts. This couple just bought their trailer to haul their products to winter events to sell their products. She knits with a knitting machine and makes gorgeous garments. Your imagination is your only limit. Being a crafter, quilter and person who enjoys yarns too the alpaca fiber is awesome!!....I wondered if you could use a knitting machine (Gary and I had thought of ways to make things with the fiber and had wondered if a machine would work with it) and she assured me that is how she makes so many things to sell, by machine!..of course she also enjoys doing things with hand knitting needles too. She also has a wonderful room in the cabin that is full of the fiber...and retail for purchase of socks, scarves, gloves, sweaters, capes...etc!
Now is a Buyers' Market, as in everything right now...they have 30 in their flock now..they had several fall births this year and have a couple crias due in May. We fit together with this couple like a hand in a glove!!...even our age....and...
As you can see their home..it looks alot like our cabin...hip roof...just not built as big. They enjoy a country home near the Amish and he has had farming experience. We had alot of questions answered and even the price can be recouped in a relative short time due to the interest in the Alpacas fiber now. People are wanting to get back more and more to the basics; using their hands to make purposeful things.
When we pulled into their drive we were struck with all the similarities,their home,their already mounted Barn Quilt on the porch...then we met them and had our tour of the farm...it was just a good day! We thank them for the time and so much freely given information. Yes, our horizon may have soft and furry Alpacas running into it with us....given the right time....and thoughts put into it. May we all dream....God Love You today!!....Be safe this holiday!!...and go ahead, Drink the Egg Nog!!....we will! Quilted Blessings!! Kari

Pass It On

We got settled back in our cabin this past week. It was fun to travel home knowing you could stop anytime in a Rest Area and hop into your bed that you are carrying behind your truck!...
We got home on a Sunny Day...beautiful blue skys...our Cabin Home was in good shape, no sign of anyone trying to get in to do damage it in anyway. We are thankful to God for protecting our Cabin this sprint out to New England. I enjoyed finding my Moms' Quilt that she made for us in a nearby tub; decided to start celebrating Spring at Christmas time! Mom would have been 96 this coming Spring...the First Day of Spring. So, we are enjoying her gracing our home..it is beautiful!! Thank you Mom!!
On the way home still in Vermont we happened to pass by a cabin on a lake...we said..."goodbye!! Vermont"...it was suppose to snow again the night we left and as far as we can tell from the weather channel they have had cold and snow since we left....as we have had at our place too!! It is ok, we are snowbirds, really.
The Campground was so full of color when we came a month before, now it is getting it's first thin blanket of snow. The other RV's that were still there had put 5 inch styrofoam insulation around their RV's and using heat tape; the manager had wrapped the water spikets, etc in the same blue insulation. We wish them the best! Those RV's are made in Indiana but they have very little insulation worked into the construction and the windows....well!!....I am just glad we are in our warm, LARGE cabin!
My last but not least store to shop in while in Vermont was Sams'. A great outdoor enthusiast store in New England. It has everything and anything WARM!! -20 was on alot of their warm winter wear! They were having a holiday sale and that helped this Granny out with tshirts, etc I still needed for my Gram Santa Bag!!
We would not trade our time together in New England for anything. It was an awesome experience to share...we will always talk about it ... maybe when we are OLDER and if we get a bit confused we may BORE our loved ones with our repeated travel escapades we have had together, which by now number in the 100's. Sorry, all you that sink down long roots!! Would not trade my life with my Gary and our kids and now inlaws and grandys for ANYTHING!!.... You can not take things with you when you pass on but you sure can try to pass on the love and a legacy into the hearts that you love!!......or have fun trying!!! Quilted Love here!! Kari

Girlfriend.....Your God Is Good!

TRUST
IN
THE LORD....


Going Home...Blessings....Beths Moores' Eat Pray and Love...Chip Ingrams' God As He Longs For You To See Him...My Gary, is my Love...My family, is my devotion... my Lord, is my Everything...
Bless You!....The Greatest of these is LOVE.... Quilted Seabreezes taking us back to Indiana....Delighting in Christ, Kari

Tree of Life

Many times as Papa and I have our java together we are thinking about our family! I need to find more pictures of my adult kids! We have tons of the grandys!! We pray for all of our precious family and find much joy in each one of them.
Enjoy our blessings in the pics I am sharing. Leahs' oldest girl Maddie is a Juvenile Diabetic. They are pictured at the OSU SHOE during their Walk For The Cure every October. Diabetes is a constant adjustment for her. She wears an insulin pump now but even then, she has trouble at times with highs and lows. She can feel pretty lousy and hurt all over when the sugar is high, or if she gets the flu it is scaring for her. She may have to have an IV to get her ketones down if that happens and that means a IV poke and blood work, the whole nine yards. She is a trooper with it though, an inspiration to us all. We pray for her. We pray for her to have the strength to endure, we pray for God to heal her too. We love our family. We love our kids, their spouses and our grandables dearly.

Just LOVIN' Gary at an early age as a teen has brought me jewels of life to live for and joys inside my heart that only Gary can or could have given me...and my God and Lord Jesus His Son.
Steve and his family had a Spanish Thanksgiving this year with friends. Leah was in Steubenville to celebrate there with Regina. Kev was in the "north" country at the farm with Gigi....What a wonderful Thanksgiving. Even in a RV! we had everything we needed to have a wonderful meal together and Thank Our God...Pilgrims' Hearts!
A thankful heart is like medicine to a soul.... there is a proverb that goes something like....when hope is deferred it is like a empitness you can not fill, but when Hope is revealed it is a Tree Of Life. Jesus is that Hope revealed...Our Tree of Life. May we always COUNT OUR BLESSINGS!!!!..... Family = Blessings, Sending Sea Breezes...while they last!!.... Kari

Thank You

We do thank the Pilgrims for their sacrifices! Just being in the "territory" this fall has been amazing! We only touched the surface on Garys' days off....
We were blessed in our RV Thanksgiving with hearts that seek after God, a family that does the same, married kids mature and raising their kids, our Grandkids...we have health and we have our needs met and more...we have choices and we live in a free land.
We live in a time when we are called to protect those freedoms that the Puritans came to embrace. We must stand up! Come if you can to your land of Liberty...recapture their spirit by being close to the areas where it was thought of, prayed over, and birthed.

Our tums are full, feet raised and resting....with our family and friends deep in our thoughts and hearts today! and then SATURDAY! AT THE SHOE!!....Go Bucks!! Beat Blue!! Seasalted kisses and hugs! Kari and the Gary that I am just Loving!! everyday!

Sea Breezes.......Overflowing Blessings....

We have to do some research! Fort Williams is next to the area of the Portland Head Light Lighthouse. We HAVE to come back to Portland, Maine so we can visit that historical place so important in the settling of our land.
The Lighthouse was just such a wonder to see and the museum that is in the Lighthouse Keepers Home is only 2$ and full of history~~ history~~ history. The curator that was on duty was amazing and we enjoyed our time with him. It was not busy on a cold Sunday afternoon so we got lots of info and connected with a New Jersey transplant. Ya gotta love that! If you look very close to the edge of the building you can see an OLD Lighthouse farther out on a small island of rock..it just sold for 180,000$ to someone that has to get water, electric, sewage...the works to the place..and also have a boat to get to it...but how cool is that!!...I asked several people about it and finally found a Maine person...I also commented on a pay phone on the side of the gift shop...she said Maine still has pay phones everywhere...she said proudly that you can't find them elsewhere but in Maine you will always find them!!...we ment very happy and proud Maine folks...I ment a photographer also from Maine....life is just so full! it is Overflowing here!!
We found that Longfellow was a native of Portland Maine and frequented the Lighthouse and grounds all the time. The famous writing The Lighthouse was of this very place. The grounds also was a Camp for the military until the 80's...it as a pivotal point also in the War of 1812..and also George Washington commanded that it be built in the 1790's.
We ended the day at a Ruby Tuesdays. DELICIOUS!! I had clam patties and my Gary had .... PASTA, his first love on the foot chain.
We had a blessing to when a Russian girl served us...we had our conversation (we LOVE to meet people) and she was here for college. She was a doll! Our sons' friend Jim, who is working in Russia now and married Olga there, had just been home for his Dads' Homegoing after a lengthy muscular illness. So, we felt a little closer to them just talking with her that night, thankyou Anna from Moscow. We rejoice in all our travels here in New England. We have tons of pictures stored up and memories that will be forever woven into the fibers of our minds and souls. Thankyou New England....and we are thankful for our ancestors and all their sacrafices... Well, off to finish up cooking our Thanksgiving Meal...RV duty!...I always said that when Gary got back from Nam and was safe in our arms...holding his first child close...that I would LIVE in a tent anywhere just that he would never go to War again.....well, is an RV close enough?.... The Loves Beats On! Sending healthy, salty Sea breezes!! Kari

Kennebunkport

When we arrived at the Beach (after following a sign in town) we were NOT disappointed. We can't wait to return to Maine to vacation. It is a favorite area so far. We love the Mountains too..but you can be such a beach bum here in the summer, and there are so many public beaches in Maine. Family Friendly!!
A family was playing soccer on the beach. That was fun to watch. Shiloh loved her walk with her Master on the Atlantic Ocean. We are so very much blessed to be Americans!
The Bushs' Compound was just up the road, we found out later....so I am dreaming that I actually got their Cove on film! Kennbunk is such a great little town.
I loved the turkey on top of a corner village grocery store...so small town. Love It!!
The Flag .... so much in those two words for this Patriot Family! This Thanksgiving...how blessed we are!! Seasalt Blessings!! Kari

Soul Mates

So many areas of Vermont and New Hampshire have wonderful walking trails. Grandma Moses Schoolhouse did not let us down. We had planned to go up on the trail with Shiloh after seeing the museum. There was an ancient graveyard on the other side of the hill. But, it was raining and foggy when we got done with the Paintings and the FANTASTIC Bennington Museum.
So much history.
In one room there was a fantastic Wasp...it was made in Bennington. You could buy it for $10,000 in many styles. I want to learn more about it. This model is the only one they know of that is left and it was rebuilt by Dodge in Toledo, in the 50's. All he started with was the chasis and from there he had several people work on it, including woodworking men. It was something to behold. Gary looked it over well...but then the man came in to check on us...it was rather strange!! but we had a good time.
On the way back, I ran in to the grocery store and got an apple pie and ice cream with a small candle in cinnamon scent to celebrate! Hamburgers and coleslaw with chips...he is easy peasy to please!!
Our little family of Shiloh and kitties had to inspect the candle and Shi gave him an unprompted hug on his lap! It gave us a laugh!
I am so glad that God chose Gary to be my soulmate for life. He never lets me down. He is a kind and humble man, loves to laugh at a good joke. When he speaks, he has something to say.. He keeps himself in shape mentally and physically for me too. He searches for God and loves his Maker and Son.. He was the most loving father I have ever known, always true and loyal. I am the one most blessed..and I rejoice in his 61 years on earth....my blue-eyed dreamboat!! (now he will be embarrassed, but I mean it!) Quilted LOVE!!! Kari Sue

School Day!

We went to School today! Grandma Moses School House of her works. The Bennington Museum owns the copyrights to her paintings so you can not at any cost take a picture of them....they do watch you carefully!! We were watched by one man most of our time there. Actually, we were about ready to say something to him...we were just taking our time and enjoying it.....but he was just doing this job.
My Gary posed as the teacher and I sat in the classroom as his "student"....we were just having fun but I guess we "broke the rules!"....the Man started following us after I sat in the desk...OPPS!!!!!.... we always like to add some drama to otherwise a grey and maybe dull day.

On the way there was another water way....it was part of Molly Stakes National Forest...all things between Battleboro and Bennington has been named in her honor, General Starkes of the Revolutionary War. While in Wilmington, we came to a cross section on the Route 9, there was this HUGE old hotel, that now houses shops....we noticed it was called Hotel Putnam....that reminds us of our home back in Ohio, Before we left Brattleboro, we noticed a bunch of cute little kids across from the Post Office,where we had stopped to pick up our mail,....the building was Aiken Center...haha....then our Route was named after Molly Starke...and Dad had worked at Starke Memorial in Indiana...so we had reminders of home today.. Just some Molly Starke trivia...she had 11 children on the pioneer frontier! What a model of strength and endurance!!
We enjoyed seeing Grandma Moses history and talents, awesome, Andrew was born on her birthday September 7th, she lived to be 101 and died in 1961, I remember talking of her in elementary school in Art Class...Then, later I was so very disappointed that the Dear Jane Quilt was not on display. It is only shown to the public from Labor Day until mid Oct...I had no idea!! and would have ran over to see it...yikes!!...why would they not have it encased so it could be enjoyed year round??....OH WELL!!...poor Jane... over 2000 pieces of hard work needs to be enjoyed EVERYDAY!!!....So, I bought a 2.50 cents magnetic bookmark in the replica of part of her quilt....
I will enjoy it with all my reading I do!!....Excuse me for my Quilted Vent!!.....all other trips have worked out really well.
More personal pics of my Birhday Man.. 61 year old... Gary in next post...... Just Lovin' Gary! Kari