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Bill and I said a temporary goodbye to a dear friend Friday. Karl lost his battle with Leukemia early Tuesday morning. He is free from suffering and gone to rejoice with his Lord. We will miss him, but we rest in God's promise of a reunion in Heaven. His funeral was the most beautiful and meaningful I have ever attended. We are blessed to be so close to his wife and family. They are special people. One of the grandsons, a preacher in Texas, gave the message. Karl's son read the obituary and spoke lovingly of his dad. One granddaughter read scripture and gave a prayer. Another granddaughter sang a chillingly beautiful acapella rendition of Amazing Grace. What a blessing to have a loving, Christlike family left behind to share their memories of Dad and Papaw. If there was even one person in that chapel who needs to know Christ as savior, I feel they must surely have been touched and a seed planted. Goodbye, for now, Karl. We love and miss you. We will join your children and grandchildren in spending time with your lovely bride of 58 years. She will not be alone unless she wants to be. Thank you for sharing your life, your family, and your faith with us.

I have no proof, but I'm pretty sure my car a/c was shouting obscenities as I snapped this photo. I was in the car 30 minutes with the a/c cranked all the way up and it never got very cool. As a good Southern girl, let's just say, "I was glistening". I know I live in Alabama, but 105 at the end of June? Please!

WARNING!!!! I understand some people in my address book at getting spam emails from my yahoo email account. Sorry. I have done all I know to do for right now. AVG says my computer is clean. We are going to keep trying. In the meantime, don't open any emails from me unless there is something personal in the subject like. Again, sorry.

Hydrangea Aspera

 

Another beauty in the new garden.  I'd never seen a hydrangea with flat blooms before.  Much less one with two different kinds of flowers!  Whether or not you choose to believe in God, this is a wondrous work of nature.

Mignonette Hanky

 

 

Proof that I really am tatting!  This is the first tatted row and I have really disappointed myself.  Note the 2nd picture and the very obvious missed placement of a ring.  How often does this happen to my fellow tatters?

Another mysterious flower

 

My garden continues to reward me with new, mysterious blooms.  Any ideas?

Boxes are the best!

 

I don't know if my cats love this box because it smells of Gevalia coffee or if they love coffee because it comes in these boxes!

Precious Pictures

 

This picture is my dad, Robert Jason Slaughter, approximate age five and his sister, Eva Slaughter.  I will have to look at my ancestry records to see how much difference there was between their ages.  They were born in Columbus, MS, Daddy in 1927.  Eva's youngest daughter just shared a lot of photos with me that I will be editing and inserting into Ancestry.  I will share a few if anyone is interested.

Scincidae

Skinks are of the family Scincidae. They have no pronounced neck and relatively small legs. I am so glad they chose to live in my yard and come out to see me for a visit when I call them!

This is a picture of my latest, male conquest. He is a Broad-headed skink indigenous to North America. This one is about 14" long, but they can grow to 17", (including the tail), with the female being the larger of the two. You can see his lady in front of him. They are raising young under our storage shed. Hubby discovered them and called me out to see them. When I walked up and started to talking to them, as I must admit I do to all creatures, they moved towards me instead of away! In fact, they probably moved to within 3' of where I was standing. I seem to have this effect on reptiles. Go figure. When I started singing softly, they moved even closer still. I must remember not to sing if I see a snake!!! He was very protective of his lady, but was not at all concerned that one of their young came out to see me. Some men are just like that I guess. That was our excitement for the day and my excuse for not tatting. Sorry.

Good Monday morning, or evening, to you all. I wanted to say I am still working on my mignonette tatting handy. I need to make a picture of my progress, but it just looks like messy loops right now! Hope all of you are well and enjoying lovely weather.

I would like to introduce a very new tatter and his amazing interpretation of my pattern, "Georgia's Rose." Christopher is but 18 years old and has been tatting for about a year. The pictures are a little fuzzy, but you can see he did a beautiful job, and in a very short time. I think he must have tatted around the clock for two days. It's my pattern, and I couldn't tat it in two days! He made a few changes to the stems and turned it into a wrist corsage for a young lady. He is smart, he can tat and he is romantic. I look forward to watching his tatting develop during the coming years. Starting at such a young age will enable him to do great things if he stays in love with tatting. Congratulations to Christopher!

Hello tatting friends. Remember me? I still can't repair the background on my blog, but I have news. I am tatting - a little at a time, but tatting. I'm making another Mignonette tatting hanky like I made for Candace's wedding. I have no call for one, but wanted to make it anyway. I will post pictures when I get further along. I hope you are all well and happy.

Lala's Little Men

I know I haven't been here in forever, but I really miss you guys. I miss my tatting and sharing with everyone. Besides, Grandma Lala has to brag about her babies!

I have been practicing my tatting this last week. I am trying very hard to get healthy and improve my mobility, including my fingers.

Happy International Tatting Day everyone!

The View From My Window

The view from my window is a lovely dream.
Colors are popping, blue, purple, white and green.
Spring adds new colors and the promise of life.
Though problems exist, Spring is oblivious to the strife.

The view from my window shows me new and old.
Some trees are still bare of leaves and look so cold.
The old barn is empty except for storing hay.
I love looking at it and imagining better days.

Where horses once lived, now two cattle abide.
So interesting I find them, with their black and white hides.
I watch them often roaming over new grass.
New has overtaken old with blooms in mass.

The view from my window is one that I love.
I am happy and settled thanks to God above.