March 2009

Spring is on its way!!!

We have had temperatures from 4 to almost 84 in the last two weeks.  Now it is in the 30's and raining.  The buds are swelling on the bushes and the daffodils are blooming.  Hopefully this rain and then some sun will help bring everything out.  This Hellebores is a very early blooming plant.  

We had to replace a leaking bathroom faucet - the replacement resembles an old pitcher pump.  I remember many times priming and pumping water with one when I was kid - this one works so much better!!!

Tona had a quilt made with an iris pattern, she wanted a picture and I wanted her to 'pose' with it.  

 

The bounce flash used is integrated with the camera metering and looks much better then usual.  Hopefully my flash pictures will continue to improve as I learn better how to use it. 

This is a self portrait I made one Sunday afternoon.  The lighting was from a large window without flash.

 

Along with the big swings in temperature we got about 8 inches of snow on the weekend we were supposed to go to Tennessee to visit our youngest daughter Jessica and her husband Garrett.  If the Lord wills we hope to see them this weekend!

 

 I tried to use the flash to capture the falling snow flakes.  

The evening sun was lighting the firewood with a warm glow, so I took the dogs out for a walk and took a few pictures.

 

 

 

Something strange in this picture!?!?!?!?  

We now have two coffee drinkers in the house.

Here is a strange sight that caught my eye - note the poison label on the truck carrying the portable toilet.  

 

This is the same Hellebores plant that was in the first picture just barely sticking out of the snow. 

Hope to have pictures and news from Tennessee next time!!!

December 2008 Round-up!

Chad and Angela came to visit and we took them to the Virginia Holocaust Museum.  Here they are standing outside of a genuine antique Polish cattle car similar to the ones used to transport so many to places they did not want to go during that awful time.

We were indeed blessed to have Alex Lebenstein as our guide .  There are so few Holocaust survivors left who can give a first hand account of what they suffered.  Alex was 11 years old when the cruelty of man came into his life.

There were many recreations of their suffering in the museum but this one of the crematory just outside of the gas 'showers' brings the point home.   The prisoners were used to dispose of their dead fellow prisoners reducing them to 4-6 pounds of ashes. 

While I would recommend everyone to visit be advised that it is disturbing and not appropriate for young children.

Chad and Angela brought Mia to visit also and she was cute, adorable, spunky and a whole lot of fun to have around.  Our Pomeranian, Yogi, especially enjoyed having her to wrestle with.  She made up for her smaller size in speed and spunk! 

Tona and Angela got into crafting (surprize!) and here they are posing with their handiwork! 

Tona's Celtic knot applique in progress.  She seems to always have a craft going and works on it (or them) whenever she get some spare time.

Sweetie's hair got long enough this winter for a new hairdo.  Don't you think she's cute!!!

The rest of the Heart's-A-Burstin residents - Brooke, Cosmic, Beethoven, Mozart, along with Frank and the hens are all doing fine.  

We are looking forward to new adventures in 2009 and may God bless you in His service, Randy and Tona (RAT).

Fall 2008 Update

Time for a fall update!  

Here is Tona, Yogi, and Sweetie taking a break!!!  I think Tona was going to look at sewing books when the 'crew' decided to join in.

Sweetie in a close-up!

Yogi and Sweetie having a playful 'conversation'.

This mushroom growing on the side of the old stump 'was just begging to get its picture taken'! 

Here is a side view of our house this fall with most of the leaves already down.  Our black cat  had a nice seat to keep an eye on things.

This is what I have been busy with this summer, and we have already used a good bit of wood so far.

We were inundated with acorns this fall and this one is sprouting.

A woodland shrub showing its fall colors.

This fall was very colorful and the roses do very well in the fall after the beetles are gone.

We are blessed to have such beauty in the changing of the seasons!

Time for a cup of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc!

Tona is working on some Celtic knots applique for a quilt and I am hoping for some snow this winter for the next update!

Convergence Quilting and Stuff

Tona has been convergence quilting of late.  She is going to help teach a class on convergence quilting soon so she is getting plenty of practice in preparation.

Click on the photographs below to get a larger version so you can see the detail.  

(If you see fingers in one of the corners it is the quilter's fingers!)

This one of 'Koi Swimming on a Sea of Convergence' is particularly striking.  The three Koi converging on the converged Koi in the bottom left hand corner is very intriguing.

Here is a 'Jungle Theme' that gives a good view of convergence.  The more you look at it the more you see coming together.

To me this one is a good complement of traditional block design and convergence.  Kinda mesmerizing if you look at it for a while!

Here is a picture of Tona and I converging for lunch at El Paso, a local Mexican restaurant that we have frequented over the years.  (Did you know you can use a child booster seat to boost your camera to a good height!)

Another blast from the past:  Tona and I converging for a picture a "few" years ago.

I guess you could say these mushrooms converge at their base!!!

(Just a convoluted way to stay on theme and include a recent mushroom picture!)

Just a quick update on things: Yogi is growing and doing well, from the last two tropical storms we have had the windshield broken in both of our cars, our neighbor brought his wood splitter and four wheeler over last weekend and we got a lot of firewood processed, and Tona is convergence quilting!!!

Drought, Rain, and Old Signs

Just a little update on our summer.  We have been in a drought for a couple of years now.  We had a dry winter and little bit of spring rain then a dry summer.  In April we had cracks in the ground already - usually what you might expect to see in August.

Here is what a little Oak tree should look like:

Here is a little Oak tree affected by the drought we have had this sumer:

Then we got rain from the remnants of Fay and Hanna - from Fay we got 2.5 inches and from Hanna we got 4 inches in about 12 hours.  See Tona's rain gauge for Hanna:

This Mint plant got a good watering!

Yogi had fun getting out after the rain and was playing with an ornamental squash from the garden. 

We got some wind - just enough to make a mess without causing much damage:

Traveling down route 10 in Virginia there is a deserted service station that had some old signs that I stopped and "captured".

The next two gas signs were on opposite sides of the same sign:

About two weeks after I took this picture this old store burned down:

And a blast form the past!  Our daughters when they were younger - Jessica on the left and Angela on the right.  

Two little blessings from God!

Introducing -Yogi - It's A Boy!!!

Yogi is our newest addition.  He is a Pomeranian about 3 months old.

Here are a couple of pictures of him playing outside yesterday evening.

I caught a few pictures of the asparagus yesterday morning.  I find the wispy foliage fascinating.

A couple of guests Tona placed in her garden.  

Our tomatoes are doing pretty well this year considering how terribly dry it is.  Tropical Storm Fay may give us some relief around the end of the week.

Here is Tona enjoying herself at Panera Bread in my jacket.

Hope everyone has a good week and we get more sleep tonight!