pretty rock

When I was little I had a couple of rocks that were pretty - ones something like the one above.

I can't remember if I ever had one of those rock tumblers.
You were supposed to put in a piece of gravel and come out with a polished stone.
I don't know if those things ever worked but I always wished that they would.

rocks with eyes ...and teeth

 I should be able to make these

 I should even be able to make these

Someone has too much time on their hands

and all said they look a little freaky.

more rocks

Pancake Rocks in New Zeeland

makes me want to go there

just to see the rocks

pretty rocks

back to the rocks

I can't recall pictures of my rock collecting days.

But here is my son - home from school

with some rocks in his pockets.

  He was not the most discerning of collectors

as it was all plain old gravel from the parking lot.

I figure that we owe Calvin Christian School

 $2.37 for the gravel 

that he brought home almost 20 years ago.

I interupt the rock conversation for a brief interlude

 Alexander and Isabel had been staying over 

at Grandma's house for almost a week 

and I found out that Isabel is very much like her mother. 

Shirley had a tendency to steal peppermints from my purse 

when she was a little girl. 

The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.

 This past week Isabel was caught with 

my little change purse full of peppermints for church.

They were big ones and she decided that she wouldn't eat them.

Instead she took each one (there were six of them in there) 

and she licked them thoroughly and put them back.

I ended up with six sticky wet peppermints.

Now that is a very sad face.

Don't know if she was sad that she did it 

or sad that she was caught. 

Don't look at me.

rocks it is

these rocks created by Arlene 

remind me of the henna

 that I had done on my hand yesterday

confession time

Since the subject of the day seems to be rocks
I will forthwith here and now maketh my confession.

When I was but a wee lass I coveted rocks.
I liked shiny ones and sparkly ones and smooth ones and interesting ones.
I liked to collect them and bring them ihome.
I believe I had a special hiding place but cannot, at this point, remember where it was.
Once I amassed quite a collection of the typical findings
I would spend time going out hither and yon to find more and more interesting rocks.

One day I found a particularly interesting rock.
An odd shape to be sure and I believe I pocketed it for further inspection when I got home.
The aforementioned specimen was forgotten until my mother was preparing to do the laundry.
She would go thorough pockets checking for the forgotten rocks that I had brought home.
This is a good idea when you do not want to ruin your washing machine.
But on this day she ended up being less than happy about what she discovered and
she had serious doubts about my proclivity for collecting.
For when she removed my treasure she discovered that it was soft.
Now one does not often find a rock that is soft.
And I hadn't.

I will hereby confess.
What I had scooped up as a treasure was -
you may have guessed it -
dog poop.

Sorry mom.

rocks

We have Alexander and Isabel sleeping over for the past week.

Tonight I was getting them ready for bed and could tell that 

Alexander was trying to sneak something to bed with him. 

The contraband item he was trying so hard to hide from me was a rock.

Just a smooth rock from the driveway. 

But that is what he wanted to take to bed with him.

Not such an odd choice considering that rocks tend to run in the family.

When Danielle and Timothy were married last fall 

her mom, Arlene, had made a work of art on a stone for every guest. 

The ones she made with our names sit proudly in our dining room and 

I will include a picture sometime in the next week or so. 

The picture above is another clever idea for a smooth rock.

Trouble is that I rarely look out on the gravel section of our driveway and think...

My canvass awaits....

But it just might.

reading

I have two of the grandchildren over for almost a week.
It is fun but I am not reading what I usually do.

I have been reading one of Oprah Book Club picks from a number of years ago.
So far it is a pretty good read.

Now, if I am lucky, I can catch a couple of Readers Digest articles in the bathroom.
Maybe I will find some books I can read to the grandkidlets.

Just picked up a couple of Dr. Suess from Sunrise in Guelph.
Still more to get but I have lots om my shelf with which to choose from.

I like reading, Sam I am.

speaking about parking

this looks like someone had a great idea

 I don't know how efficient it is but

I suppose space in some places makes a huge difference

parking

I have two little kids with me for shopping today.
I chose to leave early and parked farther away
so as not to be crowded when getting in and out of the vehicle.
So luckily I had more room than in the picture below.

waiting

I am not very good at waiting... 

I don't mind it when the waiting makes sense...

When there is a long line - there will be a long wait.

I inevitably pick the longest line.

Or so it seems.

This looks like a really good idea.

Doesn't it?

since we are back in the loo

When I did a little bit of travelling a number of years back 

I was surprised by the many varied ways 

in which countries designed their toilets.

The bowl was configured in many different ways -

lots of water

hardly any water

a shelf upon which your deposit sits in full view.

Strangest of all was the different ways with which to flush

the handles were located in different places 

some not attached to the toilet itself.

It easy to confuse me in the best of times but some toilets left me a'puzzled.

Found these pictures on the web 

of thrones similar to the ones 

upon which I sat

(as I did not spend much time taking pictures of the toilets)

pull cords

 buttons

 of various sorts

 I can only imagine how long I would have to stare at this one to figure it out.

 I don't know that I want to visit the country that feels that this sign is necessary.

back to the loo...and we just may spend some time here

I imagine it would feel strange to sit next to someone who you didn't know well

bike tree

I don't know

if the bike

intended

to go

through the tree

but there you have it

well bowl me over

                                                      

                                                              so pretty

probably used this title before but 'Wooden you know it?"

beautiful works of art waiting to come out of a piece of wood

wooden bowl set

bowl me over 

Just beautiful

have a seat

someone was able to cleverly use this tree trunk

fabulous

now I am in the mood for trees

who says the tree has to be outside?

methinks these stout limbs of lumber 

would make a fine addition to any home

I can imagine the grandkids climbing up it,

 sitting upon it and 

hanging from it 

Summer

With thoughts of summer I am often asked if we are going anywhere on holidays

my answer is usually - no 

Except for the Hotchkiss Family Reunion every other summer 

or an invite up to the Boven cottage

or a trip to the organ museum in Michigan

we usually stay pretty close to home.

It is Martin's busy time at work but we are at a stage in life that 

taking a week off in the middle of a busy time is sometimes necessary 

and always welcome.

As of now we have no plans.

We still might go somewhere at one point 

but half of the fun of plans is the anticipation.

While I have yet to see the Rocky Mountains and the Grand Canyon and the shores of Newfoundland.

I am also quite content with trees and rocks and waterfalls 

- all of which I can manage to find rather close to home.

The term staycation is a relatively new one 

but it is one that I will be participating in over this summer.

I need to remember to take the time to step out from the busyness and 

see God's creation that is as close as my own backyard.

clever clever

love this piece of sidewalk art

more food ideas

 too much pepper for your eggs?

The picture above reminds me of a frying pan that we had that was used for Sunday morning bacon and eggs. Once when cleaning it I noticed that alot of the teflon had been stripped off...and I just thought that there was alot of pepper on the eggs.

since we is talkin' 'bout food

 if the shoe fits - eat it

this looks lovely

========================

If I was asked - what could I do with some apples, marshmallows and peanut butter

 I don't know if I am clever enough to come up with this

creative 

I'm hungry

I found some creative ways to prepare food

 looks like fun

doesn't it?

bananas

my bananas are going bad faster than I can eat them

I will need to put them in the freezer so I can make banana loaf

they will join the other 17 bananas in my freezer

patiently awaiting the baking-of-the-loaf time

this is cute - no?

may the fourth be with you

clever use of sidewalk chalk

still in the loo

since we were in the bathroom yesterday thought we would stay there a while

what a good idea for bathing kids

The paper of the Loo

Was at Bethel CRC and I vote for them having the nicest toilet paper in a public place.
None of this one ply stuff. It was even quilted.

It reminded me of when I was in England-Holland-England a couple of years ago with my brother Jeff.
I packed and toted around my own toilet paper from home
because I didn't know what I would find when travelling.
Glad I did.

I always seem to be the only one replacing the empty rolls in our house.
I think I want to get me one of these....

Enough about the bathroom talk.