Why?

Once again, good friends, our hearts are breaking over the senseless murder of beautiful young children in a elementary school.

Today was a day I never even turned the television on, no news came into my life until tonight.  It is almost unbearable.

20 small children, six adults to mourn this Christmas.  I can't even begin to guess why?

This prayer chain came from The Chronicles of Woos and Kathie B.  Its all I can do at this time.  There is nothing else to do except repeat why, why, why over and over again.

Jo

What happened to the SNOW?

Hi Everybuddy!  Here is something to sort of "set up" this blog post.
Years ago, I used to be a Nanny for a husband and wife who were employed with a major airline, he was a pilot and she a flight attendant.  We will call them John and Marsha, and their beautiful baby daughter whom I took wonderful care of.   OK, so now and then there might be a plane crash or an accident worth noting and when that happened, the phone started ringing.  John's Dad, John's Grandma, his mother, his sister all called to check and see if maybe this place of accident is where John was on this day. (It never was.) Then Marsha's Dad, Grandma, mother, Grandpa, sister would all call with the same query.  Was this and was Marsha there? (She also never was.) So I would have nine phone calls to comfort and tell family their son and daughter were not involved in an accident.

Now we come to Minniesnowda, 2012, with lots of headlines about a big snow here in this state.  We were projected to get a good hit of the stuff but here is what we got:

Not even 2" of snow!  Stella has found someplace out there where if she digs a little, she can even come up with Mud.  She is quite happy doing this, so when she comes in, and brings this black stuff with her, she is eager to get out there again and have some more fun in this mess.  I, on the other hand, am appalled at what the kitchen floor and Stella's bed look like so soon I will get the cleaning supplies and get to it.

Now how this connects with the top story is that I get e-mails asking if we are buried in snow, if everything is OK and while you can see what I got, here is what cousin Donna got in Minnieapples, a whole load of snow 6-8" or so .  Sister Mary, in Northfield, got 5 or more inches of white stuff on her beautiful tree ( a little window reflection there)

So while its loads of fun hearing from everybuddy, we are just fine, at least so far.  Oh, we'll get it, lots of inches to cover the ground and me , I will be glad because Stella will have to find something besides dirt to dig up!

Cheers and happy Christmasing* to all of you!

*Christmasing is knitting, sewing, buying gifts, wrapping, baking and all the things we women JUST LOVE to do.

from Jo, Stella and Zkhat

For Me, a new idea and a newish blog.

Hi Everybuddy:

This is one of those blogs where I want to use other people's pics and I am not sure I should.  So if either of the parties don't want me to use your pics, just say so and I will remove them pronto!

New Idea:  This came in the mail today, so it is making the rounds and I thought it was such a great idea for this time of year when we are all making cookies and various goodies, that people would want to see it and put it to use.  First of all my cousin sent it to me because she thought it was me doing the baking thing.  Her idea of baking is opening a box of Little Debbies.  But I want to tell you that while there may be just a little resemblance, it   is NOT ME.

Now is this slick or what?  I am going to do this for all the time  I have left.  Thanks to whoever is in the picture and know that people all over are going to be crazy about this.

New Blog:  For a while now I have been reading (and just loving) this very special blog .  This is the 7MSN Ranch blog featuring some most charming (yes!) donkeys, a pot bellied pig named Wynonna, and a sweet dog named Smooch.  The woman who  operates this ranch is funny, clever and loves her animals.  The name of the Ranch comes from 7 Miles South of Nowhere somewhere in New Mexico.  The blog has a large number of readers signed so you may well know it, but in case you don't, you should and you would love it. I did not ask if I could put this up, because when I write blogs between 12 and 1 am, nobody would answer me any way and who would get mad at someone for loving their blog.
Check out these guys and have a few more laughs every day.

Bowling for carrots here!

So this is pretty much it from me today.  I hope you are all having a good time with your Christmas preparations.  I don't happen to be but that isn't unusual at all.

All best wishes from Jo, Stella and Zkhat

 

I come to you for a Name!

Several many years ago a wonderful photo turned up on the 'net, it was called Paris by Night and is a panoramic view of the city.  I found it on my list of websites and this is it:

http://framboise78.free.fr/Paris.htm

You scroll across the bottom and it just seems to go on forever, so beautiful.

It made the rounds for a while, like most things of interest do on the 'net, and then you tend to forget them for a while.  So I am sure many of you have seen this.

But this photo was done by a man who also had a  second website with many really wonderful photos of Paris.  I wanted to find this and send it to a friend, but I cannot locate the second website nor can I remember his name. 

Can anyone help me with this?  I think his first name was Arnold if that helps.

Thanks and enjoy the panorama view if you haven't seen it before.

Cheers and good wishes to all,

Jo, Stella and Zkhat

A QUASI SHRINE AND A STORY

One thing birthdays always make me think of is my mother.  She was my adoptive mother,and my birth mothers older sister, my birth mother having died when I was 18 months old.  We'll call her Lila, she was a rare character and always loved to regale me with my November 16th birthday story.  The snow was deep, the winds were wild, and the old car wouldn't start to take my mother to the hospital.  Finally it did but it stalled on the railroad tracks and then finally moved along.  You can see what this is about.  Every year the story got wilder , the snow got deeper, the wind blew harder.  Guess what I miss most every year of my birthday?  All the old ones are gone and nobody knows my story anymore.

Here is another thing.  Everytime my son and I would send Grandma flowers for a special day, she would make this little shrine, of the flowers in the center, photos of Mike  on one side, and a candle on the other side.  When the flowers died, the candle got transfered to the center, and a picture of the flowers on the side.  It stayed up forever, or until the next one came, and every one who visited had to know about it.  So Mike and I would always have a laugh about the shrine for the flowers and soon a picture would come of it. 

So this year my son and his wife sent me flowers on my birthday along with a nice gift card.  I sort of felt I should make a little shrine, just to send to Mike, but this was the best I could do:

So this one is for you, Mike, it doesn't measure up to Grandma's but I'm just not the Shrine type, I guess.  Big thanks to you and Laura.


Cheers,

Jo/Mom

A Birthday and a Prize

About three weeks ago, Stella and I shared a blog post and mine had to do with a wonderful book I had read.  That was The Round House by Louise Erdrich. 

This book has won The National Book Award for Fiction which gives the writer a small statue and a $10,000 award AND a much wider audience.   Here is  photo of the very happy Ms. Erdrich.

Do yourself a favor and get The Round House at your local library or bookstore.  I am betting you will like it very much.

*Birthday*

Yes, its mine, and this morning when I  clicked on Google I found this and when I clicked on it (to see what the occasion was

It said

Happy Birthday, Jo  !

Now usually its in honor of say, Albert Einsteins 200th birthday or some other VIP but on my computer, on my birthday, it was just

for me.  So thank you to whoever is responsible for this.  Google?

Kathy B?  One of the Sues?  Mary?  Mike?  I have no idea, but

it was great fun.

Stella and I are going to the PO to mail a package to a friend, then come home and bake  that big birthday cookie I saw on Mennonite Girls Can Cook yesterday and the rest will be the same kind of surprise this morning was.

Cheers and hugs all around,

Jo

Peace on Earth

Everybody, lets just hold hands and paws and sing this song together:

LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH

Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step I take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
In peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth,
and let it begin with me.

Peacefully yours,

Jo, Stella and Zkhat (she's trying)