An Autumn Walk................

Dan got home early and it was such a nice day we decided to go for a walk. Tristen was ready to go. We went to the park but decided to walk rather than let him play first. He needed the exercise, me too. He was off at a run.

The ponds were perfect reflections of the woods and things around us


There were plenty of ducks around, doing ducky things


A few other critters too.


The sand was a little slick in his Spiderman shoes.

............and I did tell him not to run down hill. He did a face plant at the bottom and got sand in his eyes..........

Or was it from rolling in it earlier?

Meanwhile the ponds looked beautiful and calm even with Tristen there, well, maybe because his cohort Reina was not?



And then he was off to the playground, but we were all tired by then so it did not take too much to get him back to the car and off home. For a nap.

Now he's four.....................

Another year gone by and my little man is 4. His mother would be so proud. He is her image. When asked what sort of cake he wanted he said Spiderman. So here it is

We had his birthday yesterday as it was Sunday. We had a nice group come and visit. It looks like for the immediate future his birthday party will be mainly adults as those are who are in his life at the moment. Besides, its easier for me that way haha. Maybe as he gets older he will have 2 birthday parties. Who knows. I am not really into birthdays and only do this for him as a way to thank the people who are in his life and who are a great support for me. They encourage me and inspire me.

The three ladies in the chairs are (closest to camera) Laura Herman, she is wonderful with Tristen and has him every other weekend. She loves having him and her and husband Todd do a lot of things with him that Gerry and I just can not do. We either do not have the resources or money. So she is a big part of his life and as we get older she will no doubt do more for him as he grows up. Next to her is his auntie Phyllis, I suppose a great aunt really as she is his grandfather Dan's aunt. Next to her is Sue Winowiecki, mother of Bill who was Alexandra's fiance.

Above on the sofa talking to Tristen is Bill and his new love Stephanie. It's the first time we met. Bill asked if she could come or would it be weird? I said of course bring her, we wanted to meet her and I don't want it to be weird, not sure Alex would agree but haha...she cant say much now can she. Reina is on the other couch with Raylene.
The next picture is of Raylene and Reina contemplating the cake



We had cold cuts with cheese and rolls, bread and different dressings. A potato salad I made and a chicken macaroni salad I made. I also made meatballs in a yummy sauce and should have made more. We had chips and dips and strawberries with a yogurt dip and raspberries. Little cakes and nuts and yogurt popcorn. Lots of snacks as well as the cake but we forgot the icecream. Its still in the freezer. We took the cake in the front room so he could blow out the candles




That is Bill and Steph watching him blow out the candles. Bill almost married Tristens mum so its sort of sad in a way but I am so glad he is still a part of his life, and ours. I am happy he has found someone nice and has moved on. He is a very nice guy.
Next came cake. He was asked if he wanted a fork............no he said he didnt need one



Oh my poor carpet. Why is it you even bother giving little kids a plate. When done they dump it off on the floor anyway.
This is me with Cooper. I was about to have a small cake, Cooper looked like he may want to try it so I put just a little bit of frosting on my finger. He got a taste of that and grabbed my finger and sucked the life out of it. He has a tooth coming in I might add.


Almost sitting up is our boy Cooper. Such a happy baby and he always laughs when he sees me.


So aunt Carole bought him a Superman costume. She was a bit worried because we do not celebrate Halloween but I said that does not mean he cant have fun dressing up. He has worn it ever since.

The Hanky........

King Richard II of England, who reigned from 1377 to 1399, is widely believed to have invented the cloth handkerchief, as surviving documents written by his courtiers describe his use of square pieces of cloth to wipe his nose. Certainly they were in existence by Shakespeare's time(wiki).Thank goodness for King Richard II. Can you imagine prior to that? All those gorgeous clothes with yucky sleeves. Especially during flu season.
This is a wooden box that I painted. I keep my collection of hankies in it.

inside lined with felt.I made it from a plain wood box I bought, varnished and lined. Then I painted the top.

Some of the hankies I keep inside.


some of the ones I have I got for the lace on them.

I think I have a lot more than I show here, but I am not sure what I have done with them. I thought I would like to make pillows with some.

The Handkerchief was a staple for many years as a birthday or Christmas gift. No one uses them now and thats sort of a shame. Would be nice to keep one in your purse, just not for a cold.


I know I have a lot more somewhere because these are not all the hand edged ones. Ah well........who knows.

This one I should give to Danielle...............I can not remember when I got this one with the D on it but its pretty so I keep it.


So why do we not keep or use these any more? Yes, it can be a health thing, but to keep one on hand for the odd sneeze or to wipe your hands or mop a brow. Why use disposable all the time. Why not bring back the handkerchief. Many nice classy men keep one for just such occasions. You would think ladies would enjoy them too.
Sharing with Brambleberry cottage Time travel Thursday

Cooper......

My second great grandson is Cooper. He is the sweetest baby, by that I mean that he has such a lovely personality. At least right now he does. He is so easy. I love watching him because he is always smiling. He finds me funny because he beams ear to ear whenever he sees me.

His mother is Gabrielle. (my daughter Laura's 3rd child). She was a quiet baby too. You appreciate the quiet ones after the squawky screeching ones. cant remember if Danielle or Alexandra were quiet or not but Gabrielle was certainly so. Tristen was not a bad baby either but not so quiet not then and certainly not now.

Cooper is not quite sitting up yet. He is rolling over though. They grow so quickly. I can't believe that Tristen is going to be 4 in just over a week. Tristen is a little jealous and a little intrigued with Cooper. He really wants to play with him but is not at all sure he wants me holding him. It makes him want to be the baby. Funny that, that's how Alexandra felt about Gabby.

Tristen wanted to hold Cooper, and waited patiently till he was done with his bottle. Well sort of patiently

Finally Cooper got done, he takes his meal times seriously.

Tristen went and put on his footy jammies, I think so he could be like Cooper. How sweet.


He gave him a kiss but wanted Granddad to take him back as he was getting heavy.

I wonder what the two of them will be like together as they grow up. Sigh..........I now hope I will be around to see some of it. I never used to care about dying, now I don't want to miss anything haha.

Babysitting blues............

I didn't think I would do it again. I pretty much gave up on babysitting full time. I loved it while I did it but Mr noise box was enough for me when it came down to it. Now that I have decided to not put him in school this year I thought about it again, but had nothing in mind. Well one of Alexandra's friends (Tristen's mum) came back to Michigan and is going back to college. She has two children now. Brittany and Jeff were looking for a sitter and the price was prohibitive. She wanted to finish her degree and so I offered to help them. So Tristen has a play mate twice a week. Ryland was one of the kids I watched before but was small then. Now she is 3 and her brother is about 9 months. Tristen and Ryland get along quite well so far.
Here they are taking a break on the Ipad

I went outside because it was quiet...........the garden was a mess. They had been digging in the garden, in the black dirt. I found them watching the garbage man. Tristen likes to watch him, and this day especially because I had put a load of stuff out and Tristen thought he needed directing.


They were both black as the ace of spades. Ryland was especially grubby because she had a white shirt on.

They ignored my comments and got in the sand box, it was by then too hot over in the garden. Just as well as most of it was on the path.

I went to clean up over by the garden and then watered the plants. You cant see the path for the dirt, it all looks like a part of the garden.

Then I tried to clean up the deck, not sure exactly what they were playing, but there was definite dirt transportation going on.

So once I started to water plants they came out of the sand box. Ryland was giggling and trying to get into the water spray. I looked at that grubby little face and hosed her down so much screaming and giggling, she loved it. I managed to get most of the dirt off her and then put her into some of Tristen,s clothes. He was quite indignant and didn't want her taking home his tee shirt. He was not so happy to get wet, very unusual for him, but he was a bit touchy that day. It was so hot by then I decided it was lunch time. So they dried off and got changed.
Here they are, looking so innocent and a little cleaner.


Bodi is saying "rescue me, I did nothing"


All this time Brodi was sleeping. He missed it all. Just as well because I would not have been able to get all that done if he were up. Brodi is not so happy with the arrangement just yet. He is going through anxiety leaving his mummy. The next time went better though. I bought a baby walker for him and he was better in that playing. Easier to feed him too. I am watching my gr grandson Cooper at least once a week too so it was a good decision to buy that. Cooper loves it too. So anyway........I am back to babysitting again. I am not sure how this happens but we do what we must, right? Don't get confused with Brodi and Bodi haha.

End of summer.............

Well all the kids are back to school. Got almost the first week under their belts. Mothers are full of joy and life is great. For now. I remember summer holidays in England seemed endless but in fact were only 6 weeks long. Here its like 3 months long. No wonder the kids dont learn much, and have so much homework. I really wish our American schools did a better job. The kids stay at school longer in years, less weeks in the year and do not learn a fraction of what was taught in English schools. There is little discipline and they have their phones in class, teachers included so whats it all about?

I hope we get through this year without violence. It seems every year there are more shootings. What is wrong with a society that tolerates violence in schools. We pay more attention to what is called bullying than much else. While I agree it should not be allowed when people notice it, I can not believe its as important as what makes kids go out and shoot others. Is it connected? There have always been bullies. Usually they are cowards, they strike with friends who laugh or egg them on. If confronted they usually run. Its different these days. Kids are different. When I was in school I remember one boy loved to lie in wait for me on my way home. He would throw stones at my legs and try to hurt me in that way. I was always afraid and one day my Dad knew I had been crying. He asked me why and I told him. Well he said next time don't run, confront him. I did, I do believe I slapped him silly, in any case he never bothered me again and was always nice to me. We were told it built character to weather those storms. It did, it made me stronger. So today, what's different? There is a big need for councilors at school, we never had those. We got through everything best we could, it made us strong. We never heard of kids who committed suicide. ever. So what's wrong with us today?. Why the violence, the lack of coping skills? The lack of empathy, kindness? Is it TV and video games, is it really the constant use of the phones always stuck in an ear? We didn't grow up with any of that. We played games to gether.

We played games like "Mother May I" tag, we played school, marbles, board games, shops,we played together and made life long friends. School was not fun for me, I was a very shy and withdrawn child. An only child. I was scared by a lot of school activity because I was terrified and afraid the teacher would single me out. I could not talk in front of the class or do anything like that. Still cant for that matter. I would not have contemplated suicide or killing someone else though. I just do not know where that comes from. Society is evil in many ways. We can not protect children from life. Like a butterfly coming out of the cocoon we need to struggle sometimes to be strong and true. Just my opinion. Still...........we can not allow the bully to prevail. We as parents need to be sure our child is NOT one by showing them the great capacity to love one another even if we may not like one another.

What about Home schooling. I wish in some ways I could do that for Tristen. He needs other kids though and I do not think I have the skills to home school him. I have thought about keeping him in public school until Jr high and then trying a private school if we could afford that. I want to keep him safe, but I want him to learn and grow and have friends of all kinds. I cant do that for him at home. What is the answer? If it were up to me there would be no guns in the hands of homeowners, they would be for sport via clubs but that will never happen in this country and so we live with the eternal fear of violence in our schools until someone has had enough and demands that guns be forbidden in the home.

All I can do is love him and pray for him every day, and hope against hope nothing bad ever happens.