Saturday, March 31, 2018

Happy Easter!

Hello Blogging Friends!

Thank you for all of your lovely comments on my last post.  I appreciate your visits and hope to be better in replying to your comments soon!

I have my Easter tree up, and it looks like Spring in my house! 


I'm planning my Easter lunch on Sunday.  My son and his family are coming this year.  However, since I invited friends last year, I've asked them back for this year--the more, the merrier!  I just finished setting the table.  I hope Omar doesn't get up there and sit in every plate...


We are in Holy Week at the moment, and that's about all I've been working on for a while.  I love the services, and it does take much preparation for everything to go well.  The Cathedral was beautifully decorated for Palm Sunday.  We had a procession with singing, and it was stunning.  Below is a picture of the altar area with all the palm decorations.


I especially enjoy Chrism Mass, where the sacred oils are blessed and given out to the parishes.  All of the priests of the Diocese come, and renew their vows.  Representatives from each church come to accept the oils for their churches.  The photo below is during the Eucharistic prayers, when all the priests come forward to concelebrate Mass.  I love seeing them up there together. in their matching vestments.


I don't have much more to report at the moment!  Things will calm down tremendously after Easter is over!  My birds are coming back to the feeders.  I had so many during the winter.  Then they were gone almost instantly one day!  Oh yes-I went to Texas last week, as a guest for their music convention.  I had a great time and heard some beautiful recitals.  I was the featured speaker at their banquet. I don't have any new photos of Omar or Zoe, but I know that I will after Sunday!

Happy Easter and please come visit again soon!

Frances

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Happy St. Paddy's!!!

Hello Blogging Friends!!

Hope you're all lucky and happy, and full of green beer!

I've had my St. Paddy's tree up for a couple of weeks.  I always enjoy this one, too!  (I probably say that about each one!)  I love green, and this tree certainly gives me that "green overload!"



This is the tree from a couple of views.  And below are several close up photos of various ornaments.  I think the newest is the Lizzie Kate "Luck to You" with little beads I put around the edges.  The second close up has a little green pillow with a blue and green checked ribbon.  I pinned a little antique shamrock pin with a pipe on it.  That belonged to my "Nannie" who died about 52 years ago and she was in her 80s at that time.  It's really old and so worn out.  The shamrock is wire and little green threads were woven through the wire, under the little white pipe.  Almost all of the threads are gone, but I think it's really sweet.

 


You will notice I put green lights on the tree!  Also, there are many green beads.  We have a St Paddy's Day parade here, and I have tons of green beads from that!

I love stitching St. Patrick's Day ornaments!  I have such cute little shamrock fabrics!  I have a few patterns sitting here, patiently waiting for me to stitch them!  Haha   I need to do that, so I can use my cute fabrics!

My dear friend Janie came for a visit, and we had such a good time, as always.  She was able to finish up a couple of ornaments.  I did some stitching on a Christmas Cardinal, but it's not finished yet.

I always have to show a photo of my "two favorites!"
First is Omar.....I decided to clean the bottom of the windows...where the window closes.  It had dirt piled up there.  I opened the windows and got wet paper towels and cleaned it up.  The dirt comes through the screen and collects on the bottom of the sill outside.  They were so dirty!  When I opened the window, Omar jumped in the window and smelled the outside air, looking like a bunny!  ha  He sat there all afternoon.  I didn't feel I could leave the room because the screens are just barely screwed in and I was afraid he would knock the screen out and go for a neighborhood run!!!!  However, it was so nice to have the fresh air in the house!  I can't really do it now....all the pollen is everywhere!
I went on the patio to take Omar's picture, and he's really busy telling me something!  Silly kitty!


My son sent me this photo of Zoe. I laughed and laughed when I got it!  They were teaching her how to take a selfie with the phone!  That curl on top is so funny!!!


I guess that's about it for right now!  I'm getting out the Easter stuff and will get everything changed up quickly.  Holy Week is almost here!  EEEEK!  I love the services, but I play for 6 days straight!  It's a lot to keep up with, but I've got it pretty organized, so it usually goes off without a hitch!  (fingers crossed!)  I will post photos of the Cathedral with its Easter decorations.  It's always stunning!

One thing I forgot to show you on my Mardi Gras post was my lion on the front porch!  He was at my mother's house, and came to live with me when she died!  I found a large plastic bag in her closet with a Santa hat (with a little neck strap) and a mask and beads.  Those were the lion's finery for Christmas and Mardi Gras!  She would decorate him and had his things all packed up in a bag.  He can also wear the mask for Halloween!  Anyway, here is Mr. Lion in his Mardi Gras getup!  He's too cute!  I should try to find him some bunny ears!



I don't have as many birds as I had several weeks ago.  I'm sure some headed home to somewhere in the North.  I've got to do a little reading on that.  I still have my feeders, and birds are still coming, but not in the huge numbers they were before!  

Thanks for stopping by, and please come again soon!
Frances