52 years

That is how long my brother worked for  A.M.F.. (American Machine and Foundry).    That is a long time and their gratitude for his dedication and good work was shown today.     A.M.F. was founded in 1936 . Privately held company and located in Virginia.


Congratulations Karl!

pictured here at moms birthday

Rainbow

Our neighbor across the street took this picture of our house yesterday at 6:30.
Beautiful shot Roberta.
If only there was gold at the end of one of them.

sharing with 
amaze me monday  and coastal charm - show and share

Yard plants

A rainy night I see this morning.  Sun is peeking through now and that's a good thing because we are off to visit Mom and then come back to get back to some much needed chores.
A few plant pictures.  Purchased these from Lavender Farms in Glen Allen on Saturday.

Gotta get these in the dirt soon.

Russian Kale I've not grown before and I will just put these in two containers.

still not found a place for Pee Gee hydrangea,  heard now after I purchased it that many professional gardeners do not like it.   I think I will love it.

In the distance in a much need tending to area is the table and chairs Steve purchased at the "At Home " store.

Can't believe the abused Lavender has decided to live in that pot after freezing all winter.

White Lilac needs to be moved - dread doing that and the Forsythia in the distance is fading.  Still a sunshine sight on a rainy morning.

Happy Sunshine Monday to all
Betsy

Easter Art

So pretty here today.   I am potting some plants I purchased at Lavender Farms yesterday, in the meantime I am sharing some Easter art done by the grand girls last week.

genevieve's rabbit 

made with paper plates.

She wanted two different color eyes

Adalyn

showing opa

Outside on the porch is a good place for glitter, glue and cutting with scissors.

You will notice that the artwork on the brick is done by Genevieve,  she just had to pick up the colored chalk for a quick warm up.  

Adalyn

adalyn

Cloak or Cape

I have been wanted to make this pattern I ordered some time back from Etsy.
A cloak pattern with a muff for my grand daughters.
Have not been able to get it together when it was really needed for the past winter, but looks like she will be able to wear it this coming fall and winter.
Right now it is still feeling like winter here.  Not sure about the Spring weather,  but guess it will feel like it some time or another.

Haven't sewed anything like this for a long time, so it took a while for me

putting in lining


I sewed on closures and looks o.k.                              
The arm holes took some doing to get them even

I made a quilted interior for the faux fur muff. Should be warmer this way

The hood should help stay warm.   Adalyn wanted red,  like little red riding hood is what I think.

I see I need to clean camera lens now

dad and addy

Pizza

Annette gave me a couple jars of Delicious pizza sauce she made and if she put it on the market,  I know it would be a hit.  Fresh garlic and spices and tomatoes from her garden last year.  Yumm

Crust was easy to make with active dry yeast , water , little oil and flour.
I broke my pizza stone so I put corn meal in the baking tray and then the crust on top, place it in the 400 degree oven for a few minutes to set up and then took out to add sauce and cheese.

popped back in oven with sauce for about 18 to 20 minutes.
Very good Annette

a salad to go along with it

steve's tray ready for t.v. watching while he eats in the den

Strawberry table

 A picture of the berry  table my daughter Annette grows her strawberries in.   I want one like this.     It looks like it's made  for potting plants with the table on each side - but she grows berries in it.
It would be great for me as it would take care of voles and moles tearing up the plants and I could pick them much easier.  She just amends the soil and gets a good little crop out of it.   Will have to try it.  I bet even having a second smaller box on top with berries hanging down on the sides would work too.

Berries greening up - dispite being confused about all the winter weather

Art???

Annette treated me to a fun painting night with Miranda.   She didn't tell me that this was a level 4 class,  so needless to say my painting showed that I wasn't ready for level 4.  We had fun and put our own slant on our piece of artwork.

Getting cell phone cameras ready.   What did we do before cell phones?

Probably a lot more

My sketched drawing before I added my unprofessional touches

Our colors

putting in the background and as you can see I painted over her shoe - but no

problem.

annette took out a leg and shoe but painted it back in

Miranda moving right along and managed to not take out any limbs in the process

I didn't get the whole picture - I need to start wearing my glasses.

mine

Glasses next time

I wanna do it again - so much fun

Here is Mom and Annette.  So glad Annette got to see her while in town.

Bakers dozen

Thats how many Quarts of canned sweet potatoes Annette and I canned this evening.  Whew,  some hard peeling.  These things are huge.  She grew these in her garden.

She put in 1 teaspoon salt and two tablespoons of honey to process.   If the weather gets warm enough there should be other things to can in the coming months.

Lots of work but will be so good later on.

Virginia Historical Society

Some neat toys of the past to see at the VHS in Richmond.    We stopped by on Sunday to take a look and will be going back to see more.

In the mood now for doing some retro decorating.  Brings back memories and some fun times.

nice paint by number

loved the thing maker - was very hot, we may have gotten little to close to the heat but never anything serious,  we knew the thing was hot and waited till it cooled down.
Didn't come with two pages of instructions or what could happen if we touched it and that it was hot,  we just knew it.

starting to want this retro look - clean lines

the princess phone

gumby and pokey

I had one similar to this and was more of a problem , never really sewed well for me

I used to love the spanish or mediterranean look

those huge lamps

my kids had these toys and never played with them much, they mostly wanted to be outside in the dirt

these were good learning toys at the time 

my son still has this one the girls can play with in the sand

was fun to see