Not frozen!

Considering our weather lately, being "not frozen" is quite an accomplishment. These Christmas cacti have been under a frost blanket for the past few days, and they still looked good when I pulled it off yesterday. Another hard freeze is predicted for Saturday night, so the blanket goes back on soon.

Friday foto--The old and the new

The old--doily tatted by my great grandmother, and the quilt made by Steve's grandmother in the 1930's.
The new--Citrus marmalade made by me. I have made many types of jams and jellies over the years, but never tried marmalade. It is a LOT of work, but the results are worth it--like eating sunshine!

Sewing day

My wonderful nieces (is there any other kind?) came over one day during Christmas break to sew. They wanted to make purses, so we looked thru my patterns and fabric and they ended up choosing the same pattern. Rachel had black/cream fabric, and April chose the aqua fabric from my stash. Goes well with her shirt, don't you think? They both worked hard, and finished their bags by the end of the day.

A chocolate dipped strawberry and a glass of Cabernet. What more do you want?

Christmas at the Cooks

We ended up with 17 people for Christmas dinner. Here are some of us, just before opening presents. From left, April, Randy, Jacki, Mike, Robert and Nancy

Robert throughly enjoyed the day!

Rachel with the hand knitted shawl made by her sister April.
Jacki and Mike with the afghan I crocheted. Goes well with Mike's Gator shirt, don't you think?

Robert got a new fishing game which all the big kids played with too.

Jacki with the new fleece jacket I sewed for her.

April made Steve a toy train, out of chocolate candy. Anything made of chocolate is good!

Fall, Florida style

After Thanksgiving dinner, we almost always go for a walk. Florida fall is different in that we don't get very many changing leaves, but it is a beautiful time of year, nonetheless. These pictures were taken in the woods near my uncles property near Ocala, FL.

My brother and his daughter. I waited and waited for them to be framed "just right' in that grapevine.


Mistletoe in the trees.


A sky this blue is rare in FL, because of our high humidity.

This is an old wagon trail. We saw lots of deer tracks, but no deer.

Thanksgiving Day

At the top of the list of things to be thankful for is my family!

We celebrated Thanksgiving like we do almost every year, at my aunt and uncle's house. My aunt had the week from, well, you know.....and still managed to host everyone with a smile on her face.

The "adult" table. My mom Lynda, in red, her brother Jerry in blue, Faye, Vicky, Randy and Steve

The "kids" table. We really didn't intend for it to be segrated like this, it just worked out that way. My neice Rachel in blue, neice April in black, Jacki and Mike.

My brother Randy, and my crazy uncle Jerry.