Francesca's Toy And Bookshop

 I am getting ready to take a short trip soon, and have been gathering things I need and running errands.  It's all part of travel, which I dread, but has to be done.  There's so many little details that goes with traveling, and I'm a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of gal, and planning is not my thing.  So, I've been going into town a lot lately, from store to store, picking up the things I'll need for the trip.  I will see my love birds soon.

We had consistent rain all last week, and thunderstorms rolled in.  When they send booming sounds through the skies, they can be scary sometimes.  One came in and was so loud, it made me jump.  I love how the rain cleanses and purifies, washing away dirt and leaving the earth fresh and clean again.

Along with the thunderstorms, our state bird flew in.  This looks like a juvenile male.  The females don't have the cluster of feathers on their head.

The purple flower bed seemed to sprout up over night at my church.

I thought this was the most unique and pretty pink blossom tree near the post office.

The last of the red tulips.

A piece of blueberry pie and a hot cup of coffee were just what I needed through the storm.

I was going through a box of stuff to see if I wanted to give away anything, and I only found a couple things to donate.  These I'll keep always.  Yes, I love little things. 😉

Speaking of giving things away.....

Jess signed Francesca up for the Kids' Swap Meet.  It was a success, and she made $120!  Rain was in the forecast, and they had an outdoor space, so they were glad it stayed clear.  She gathered lots of toys to give away, and was great with the customers.  She learned a lot too.  They have been gathering toys for her "shop" for a couple weeks.  And Jess feels so much lighter giving away stuff.

Our California Poppies.

And a batch of chewy brownies through the stormy week.  These reminded me of the many batches we used to bake for the fundraiser dinner years ago.

Pope Leo urged, "Come back to the table.  Let's talk.  Let's look for solutions in a peaceful way."

I appreciate you very much, our Pope of Peace.  

Have a beautiful spring week!

🌸🌷🌼🌹🌸🌷🌼🌹

Sweetness Of Spring

 I hope you had a lovely Easter.  Mine was very nice, with my son baking a wonderful ham dinner - garlic mashed potatoes, cranberries, asparagus, along with a lemon cake that I made.  We watched the movie Peter Rabbit on Netflix over the weekend too.  Here's a few pics of our Easters in no special order.  I've been recovering from this awful cold, and with lots of tea and soup, I'm finally starting to feel like myself again.

My brother-in-law came into town right before Easter and brought me a gift bag of goodies - chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, flower seed packets to plant, and this pretty card.  I thought it was perfect from the three in-laws.

If you remember Mia's pioneer days, Nel sent me this picture, and I wanted to share some of the stations that were set up with different kinds of pioneer-era activities for the kids to do: building a log cabin out of milk cartons and pretzels, square dancing and music making, pancakes, games, and more!  Nel volunteered at a station where kids made rafts out of popsicle sticks and yarn, and tried to support the weight of a floating apple.  Mia had so much fun.  I'm glad she learned about this time in history.

On Good Friday, me and my son went to the creek, and I wanted to get some fresh air and spend some time in nature.  There wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but the creek was filled and everything was so green and growing.  Soon, I will see dozens of California poppies growing along the ridges.

We had some rain last week, and we're supposed to get more in April.  I'll leave you with this, just because I loved it.

 

A School Project Near and Dear

 I had a really bad cold last week - runny nose and eyes, coughing, feeling awful.  I haven't been sick in years!  This was the kind of cold that you ask yourself, "where do these viruses come from?"  Well, my son passed it on to me, but you wonder, where did this originally come from?  One of the worst colds I've had, and I coughed so much that my ribs were sore, so I put some aloe vera on, a healing remedy that my dear mother-in-law told me about years ago.  Well, I washed all the sheets and did some spring cleaning, and it's a new week.

I also rearranged some furniture since I did some deep cleaning.  I gave away a night stand that I had.  It was very nice, but I don't like heavy bulky furniture these days; it's light and sturdy pieces for me.  This is one piece that I have never parted with - a vanity, and the lid opens up to a mirror with compartments.  It's really cute, and I'll pass it on to my grandgirls someday.  They can paint it or do what they want.

For my new blog friends, you may not know that I love the pioneer era.  I can see myself living in that time, and enjoying the slower pace that they had.  I know there were many struggles as well, and one of the things that would be hard for me is washing clothes on a washboard or going down to the creek to wash, and then hanging them to dry.

I've rode horses in my lifetime, so I think I would be able to handle driving a wagon accompanied by a team of horses.

They had to gather vegetables from their gardens, milk the cows for milk and butter, and the kids had to walk the long prairie distance just to attend school.  That wouldn't be easy either.

But all in all, if someone asked me what my favorite era was, I would have to say the "pioneer era."  I feel very connected to this period in history.  And when Nel told me that Mia was doing a "pioneer days" school project, I was overjoyed. ✨✨✨  This was something that was near and dear to me.  Right away, I sent her pictures of the hair styles that were popular back in that time.

Here is a little about it.....

Mia's "pioneer days" was a week long event for all 2nd grade classes.  The kids were given new names common to the 19th century - Mia's was Frances May - and they worked in a one room school house for part of the day while they learned about what life was like for kids on the prairie.  Nel found her costume and lunch basket on Amazon.  They got points every day for doing things like dressing up, coming to school on time, bringing your teacher an apple,🍎 and participating in different pioneer era arts and crafts as homework.  Mia wrote a note to her class with a quill pen dipped in ink, which was actually really hard to do!  At the end of the week, they had a Living History Day where parents dress up and volunteer at different stations with 19th century activities for the kids.

Nel "sort of" dressed up too.  She doesn't have a pioneer dress, but she thought she could pull together something like this. ; )

A special sighting on Palm Sunday.

And my first Robin visitor this spring.

Happy Easter, friends.