Spring Creek Retreat

Hi everyone! We got back from Spring Creek Retreat late Sunday afternoon. I've been so busy since then that I haven't had the time to post any pictures or anything. I have 2 videos to show you and some photos that I took.

First, I want to show you the room that we slept in. It had a king size bed, which was wonderful. Now I want a king size bed.


Then I couldn't resist showing you this lovely wall hanging that the owner of Spring Creek Retreat made.


Next, I have to share one of my favorite things about Spring Creek and it's the lovely, awesome shaped tree that stretches out over the deck at the creek house.





I love just lying back in the deck chair and gently rocking while gazing up through the tree's leaves.



The following pictures are of my family and friends frolicking in the creek.




This next picture is of my cousin, Cheyenne, with her Magic Stone that she found in the creek.


Next, are the pictures I took of the creek.




I couldn't resist taking this photo of this little weeping willow tree.


I love, love, love weeping willow trees. In fact, as I was leaving work last Wednesday afternoon before we went to Spring Creek, we were having a thundershower. As I was driving away from campus, I took this short video of a weeping willow tree we have on campus here. There is a small waterfall right behind the tree and you can't see it, but I hope you can hear it. You will be able to tell that I have a distinctive southern accent.



The other video that I want to share with you is one I took when I went down by myself to the creek. I love to just sit and listen to the creek. It's so relaxing. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I hope the video is not too blurry. Loading it into Youtube blurred it somewhat.

My Little Chickadee

We are going to Spring Creek Retreat this weekend and I should have been packing, but instead I was playing! I was playing around with painting this little chickadee.


He didn't come out as well as I wanted, but this was sort of a practice one. I used watercolor pencils and then lightly watered them down. The yellow on the chickadee's chest didn't come out as rich as I wanted it to. But, I drew another one and I plan to paint him while we are at Spring Creek this weekend.

I have been working with watercolors more and more and I'm beginning to get a better feel for them and how they respond. I hope to be able to make some more paintings using watercolors. I've used oils and acrylics and even played around with colored pencils, but for some reason I keep coming back to watercolors.

When I get back, I plan to put prints of one of my little chickadees in my shop as well as these prints.




I also hope to have a video to share, if I can figure out how to get it into Youtube and then on my blog.

Playing in the Rain

One of my favorite blogs is A Fanciful Twist. Vanessa has made a wonderful video that makes me want to go out and play in the rain. I love her ability to find joy in the simple things and be able to go outside and discover things with a childlike innocence. It reminds me that I need to just have fun. Pretend I'm a child again. Play and dance in the rain and reconnect with my soul.



We are going to Spring Creek Retreat this weekend for the first time in almost 2 years. I am so looking forward to it. I have missed it so much. I would love to make a video of me just lying on the deck of the Creek House and looking through the trees and of the water flowing over the creek rocks. It is the most peaceful relaxing place ever. My problem is that we have one of those old VHS recorders with a BIG camera. I'm not sure it's even working anymore. I would love to have a new one. I doubt if this one could be loaded into Youtube, darn it. I want so much for you to see how wonderful this place is.

Maybe I can figure something out before we leave.

Antiques Roadshow in Chattanooga, TN

This past weekend we were blessed with the opportunity to attend the Antiques Roadshow during it's stop in Chattanooga, TN. It was so much fun! Lots of standing and waiting, though.

I went with my sister-in-law and we each were allowed to take 2 items. She took her step-dad's 1952 Martin guitar. She also took a Japanese doll that her brother (my husband Eddie) sent to her when he was in the Navy in Vietnam. He was in Hong Kong on R&R and bought this doll and sent it to her. The appraiser said that alot of servicemen brought these dolls back after the conflict, so they are not very collectible. So, it turns out that it's really only as sentimental value to us. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it, but I plan to take one soon, since I'm going to scrapbook this adventure.

I took a porcelain teapot that was Eddie's aunt's wedding pattern when she was married in the 1940's. Alot of those were made after WWII, so they are not very collectible either and only worth sentimental value. The other thing that I took is an antique folk art walking stick/cane that my maternal great-grandmother carved in the late 1800's. It's over 100 years old. I was pleasantly surprised at it's value.

I've posted here the pictures of us as well as the cane and the doll that my SIL took. I'm sad because I thought she was holding the doll up and she is not holding it up in the picture, so you can't really see what it looks like.

By the way, I'm the one holding the cane. You can also see the wagon that we used to hold all of our items. And I'm really sore today, that wagon was heavy, but I'm so glad we had it because we never would have made it through the day without it.

Summer Daisies

This morning I stopped at the grocery store on the way to work and I saw these pretty daisies. They were on sale for $2.79 a bunch. I really liked these and I bought them for my desk at work.

I had a coworker once who would buy a bouquet of flowers every week when she went to the grocery store to put on her desk at work. She said it was just something that she did for herself and it made her happy. I think that's an excellent idea. My problem is that I can never remember to do it. Besides, I don't do the grocery shoppping, Eddie does. Sometimes I go to the grocery store on the way to work to buy something special for lunch that I'd like to have. That's what happened this morning when I saw these.

The picture is not as clear as it could be because I took it with my camera phone, but I still think it came out pretty well.

I've been longing for a bouquet of sunflowers. I need to find some of those soon.

Little Book of Everyday Wishes

I was in the grocery store this morning and they had a bargain bin of books. I found this cute little book for only $3.00 and I bought it. The title is Little Book of Everyday Wishes.


It just looked like a charming little book with wonderful little illustrations. It begins in January and has a little wish for every day of the year.

I love books like this that help us remember to do the little things in life and to play. It sort of reminds me of another book that I bought awhile back called Permission to Nap.


I love this book. I'm a firm believer in taking naps. I think we need it to refresh ourselves and take care of ourselves. I wish we could all go back to kindergarten days when we all took an afternoon nap after lunch. It's too bad that our lives are so busy with jobs and other things that we can't take time for ourselves anymore. I can't take naps during the week while I'm at work, but nine times out of ten, as soon as I get home from work I crawl in my bed and take at least a 30 minute nap, sometimes more depending how tired I am. Never mind that I should be exercising instead of taking a nap. Phooey. Who wants to exercise when you can take a nap instead? I've decided to exercise on my lunch break, then I can go home and take that nap and not feel guilty.

Meet Me in St. Louis

Last night on Turner Classic Movies, Meet Me in St. Louis was on. I absolutely love this movie because of the storyline, the singing, the vivid, rich colors and the outfits or costumes, the cars, all of it. Here is a video clip from the party scene. It's one of my favorite parts of the movie.

The Rainbow

This morning I was reading one of my favorite blogs, A Fanciful Twist, and she was writing about a rainbow she saw when she was out for a drive. It was a beautiful rainbow and her post was all about listening to messages and taking time to stop and have adventures. Taking detours from our original plan to enjoy nature and just have fun.

It reminded me of a short little thing I wrote a couple of years ago when I was on my way to the grocery store and saw a beautiful rainbow. After I saw the rainbow that day, I was inspired to write about it.


One afternoon I was running some errands after work. It had been raining earlier that day and had stopped for awhile. I was sitting in my car at a red light and looked up and noticed a beautiful rainbow in the sky. I thought to myself, “I have to park someplace so I can look at this rainbow.” I had to stop at the grocery store, so I drove into the parking lot, parked and got out of my car. I just stood there with my car door open and looked up at the rainbow. I counted about seven different colors. I wished so badly that I had a camera so I could take a picture of it so I could go back and look at the beautiful colors later after the rainbow had faded.

While I was standing beside my car looking at the rainbow, I thought it was so rare and wonderful that I wondered if anyone else was looking at it too. I looked around me and, to my surprise, people seemed to be going about their business and no one seemed to notice the rainbow. I wondered how they could miss such a beautiful, rare occurrence. I wanted to shout to everyone, “Look! Look at that beautiful rainbow!” It made me wonder how people have gotten so busy with their lives that they don’t take the time to stop and smell the flowers, and notice the beautiful things that God has created for us. I stood looking at the rainbow until it had almost completely faded away, then I went into the grocery store to do my shopping.

I’m sure there are some who could explain the rainbow scientifically, but to me seeing a rainbow just proves without a shadow of a doubt in my mind that God does indeed exist in our lives and loves us. I have always believed in God as long as I can remember, but every time I see a beautiful rainbow it’s just like God is reminding me that he is indeed in my life and cares for me and takes care of me. My prayer is that other people will know and feel the same and that they will take the time to stop and notice the beautiful things around them that God has created.

Shop Update!

I've had so much fun! I've felt so much better this weekend and I decided to make some new things for the shop. I've made some shopper tote bags and I decided to put my whole cloth quilted wall hanging up for sale.

Here are all the things I've created and put in the shop and you can find it all right here.

Cripple Creek

Yesterday on Cozy Little Whimsy Nook, I saw a video of someone playing a banjo that brought memories of my dad flooding back. He was a musician by ear. He never read music a day in his life. He could play the banjo, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, and piano all by ear and I'm sure he could have played anything else he set his mind to. My dad passed away 15 years ago in 1993 and I miss him terribly. How I wish I still had his banjo, guitar and mandolin.

One of my dad's favorite songs to play was Cripple Creek. I searched Youtube for banjo players picking this song and this one is the closest to the way my dad played it. Also, you will see in the video clip several other musicians playing other instruments. In the south, it is very common for friends to get together in a very informal setting like someone's garage and just jam, just for the fun of it. This looks like just that kind of setting. Don't forget to go to the bottom of my page and turn off my music before watching the video clip.



For your entertainment, click here for the song lyrics to Cripple Creek. It's really a fun song and has quite a catchy tune.