Spring and Clothesline Memories........

Hello my friends! I hope this day find you and yours doing well, that Spring is blooming all around you, and all is ok in your world.  I would be remiss if I didn't say how sad and heartbroken I am about all the horrible events this past week or so....the Boston bombings, the Texas plant explosion, the Colorado skiboarders, China's earthquake..along with sad local news and other world events.  It got so bad I had to turn the tv off and focus on nicer, more enjoyable things. My heart and prayers remain with all those affected by the terrible tragedies.

This past couple of weeks, Spring has finally sprung here in my neck of the woods.  Though we've had as much as 30 degree fluctuations (we have freeze warnings tonight!), we've had enough warmer days that grass is greening and growing enough to mow, trees and spring flowers and spring bushes are blooming, people are working in their yards and garden beds, kids are out playing...it's just wonderful!

This past Sunday was my 55th birthday (yikes!).  For my birthday, besides a lovely dinner out at my favorite restaurant, my hubby built me a raised bed for my vegetable garden.  It is all filled with good planting soil and ready to go!  It's 4'X8' and will hold a lot!  It'll look really nice when the privacy fence goes in soon too.

 

 

 

The other most wonderful thing he did was to put up a clothesline for me!  Now that may seem like a small thing..even not that great to some, but I have waited years to have a clothesline again.  I haven't had one in 16 years!  I have missed the scent of linens and clothes hanging out on a line to dry..there is just nothing better then sliding into sheets after they've been outside!  So fresh and crisp and clean smelling!  



I have such wonderful memories of clotheslines.  My grandmother had one..as I'm sure most people did back in those days :)  I can still picture her in her housedress and apron, taking out baskets of the same items, along with linens and grandpa's work shirts to hang them on the line.  This was after I helped her with her old ringer washer! :)  She had one of those sweet clothespin bags that looked like a little girl's dress. She would hand that to me and I became her pin girl..handing them to her as she clipped clothes to the line briskly and efficiently..talking to me about her garden or canning or asking me about the current book I was reading or school.  With every piece that went up...my nose just had to go into it, to get a big whiff of that great scent as it flapped in the breeze. 

When I had my own clothesline, my own daughters would do the same thing.  Help me with the pins, run thru the damp sheets leading with their noses, laughing and enjoying the cool feel on a hot Summer day.  Always brought a smile to my face and a memory of my own childhood.  As time marches on and the Wheel of Life turns, my own darling granddaughter, Lily, watched as I hung out my first load of clothes on my new line.  As soon as I hung up the bright pink sheets, as if by an inner need...she started running thru the sheets...feeling the dampness and smelling the great, clean scent..laughing and having a great time.  Soon her little brother joined in.  And this Nana just smiled....and remembered.

 

 

 

I'm so anxious to start planting my garden beds.  Around here...we wait until Mom's Day...anything sooner and you risk losing the plantings.  I will, I'm sure, blog about my gardens, and herbs and landscaping...and all the improvements we are doing to our new yard.  We just love this house and making it ours! Hope you all have a great rest of the week!

 

 

Love,

 

Kim aka Nana

Still Winter........

Merry evening friends.  Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.  Some of you, like me, may have just gotten thru a very big snow on March 25.  Not December, or January, or February 25....but March :)   We had a big snow...got between 6-10 inches in our area.  Here in our yard we got about 7 inches before it was over.  Here's a pic the first morning!

Now Spring arrived, by calendar on March 20, but you wouldn't know it.  Something you'll learn about me though, is that I love Winter...and snow!  So I wasn't necessarily upset about this gorgeous surprise.  I actually loved it.  One last snow for me was a good thing.  I have seen people grousing and complaining about it, even threatening those poor groundhogs! LOL!  But I am of the belief that everything happens in it's time.  Take each day as it comes, make the most of it.  To do that, I had an all day fire in the fireplace, made some hot chocolate, and watched movies in my recliner.  I also went out and made up half a dozen large snowballs and put them in my freezer!  I will love pulling them out in the hottest part of the Summer, and watch the grandbabies play with them, or just let them melt down my neck, or maybe as a friend suggested, make a frozen margarita with them!! 

Spring is coming soon...even here the temps are warming up into the 50's this weekend and the snow has almost completely melted already.  Daffodils, tulips and crocuses are blooming.  I too, look forward to Spring...planning and working in my new yard, in my new gardens. Doing things outdoors with my girls and my grandbabies.  Taking walks, eating lighter, dressing lighter....  Can't wait!  But for a couple of days, I enjoyed the last fling of Winter and waking up to a beautiful, glittering, snowy morning.

"The last fling of winter is over ... The earth, the soil itself, has a dreaming quality about it. 

It is warm now to the touch; it has come alive; it hides secrets that in a moment,

in a little while, it will tell."
- Donald Culross Peattie

Peace and Love
Kim aka Nana

An Introduction!.......

Merry evening!  After tossing around the idea for a while..I have decided to start a new blog. I'm a blogger..have been for a few years but  it's almost Spring, we have moved recently to a new home (smaller and simpler), I have recovered from a rough year health- wise and decided to make a fresh start! 

My name is Kim or Kimberly or Kimmie..depending on who you're talking to :)  I will be 55 next month..(OMG!)...married to Jim, my high school sweetheart for 33 years.  We have two gorgeous daughters, Sara 31, and Kate 28.  Sara is physically disabled and lives with us...she's smart, funny, patient, loving and beautiful!  Kate, who is wonderful in every way, is married to her high school sweetheart Matt, for over 6 years now and they have given me my 3 adorable grandchildren!  Lily Rachelle is 4, Charlie Matthew is 22 months and baby Henry Joseph is just 2 months old.  They bring so much joy into our lives and being a Nana has become my favorite thing in the world to be!!  You will hear alot about my family in my posts..as they are my life! 

My adorable grandchildren!

My beautiful daughter Kate and her handsome Matt

My gorgeous Sara

 

 

 

 

 

My hubby who isn't fond of having his pic taken :)

and me!

 

 

 

 

Must include my beloved kitties....Jasper and Harley!

 

We recently moved back to where my hubby and I grew up.  We bought a smaller home..on one floor with a lovely, more manageable yard.  We came from a 3 story house with 2.5 acres and after my recent illness, we decided that we needed to downsize and it has been a good decision for us.  We are thrilled to be back where we came from and we love our new home.  We are still working on the improvements, updates, decorating and having a blast doing it.  You'll hear a bit about that too.  I am so anxious for the weather to break so I can start working outside on landscaping and gardens etc.  I love digging in the dirt, growing herbs and flowers and veggies and it'll be fun to have a clean slate to work with.

I have many hobbies, from reading to sewing, from crocheting to gardening, from cooking to cleaning and organizing....and my family and I spend a lot of time together...having fun and working on various crafts and projects...so I'll talk about that too!

Well..that is my introduction to my Life as Nana.  I hope to connect with others thru my blog so feel free to leave comments and follow along with me. If you have a blog too...let me know so I can follow along with you!

Peace and Love,
Kim