• A different time…

    Have you ever considered what your life would have been like to have been born in a different time?  I’ve seen enough westerns to know I would not have particularly enjoyed crossing the plains and mountains in a covered wagon.  More than likely, neither did the pioneers.  Theirs dreams were set on a better life waiting for them.  My ancestors traveled by wagons from the mountains of North Carolina into the hills of Tennessee and on to Mississippi…after they had traveled by ship from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England.  I’ve traveled to North Carolina and been to the mountain log cabin that my immigrant ancestor built.  (He sold the homestead to the first physician in the state of North Carolina and the state has rebuilt it – since it was originally built in the mid 1700’s!)  Once my ancestors finally arrived in the piney woods of Mississippi, they built dog-trot style farm houses and grew their farms and their families.  Those were hard times, especially before and after The Civil War for our ancestors in the South.

     

     

    I think what has prompted all this reflection is a British series that I’ve been watching these past few weeks:  Lark Rise to Candleford.  A gift from my daughter.  As stated on the BBC website,  the series is an “adaptation of Flora Thompson’s memoir of her Oxfordshire childhood, set in the small hamlet of Lark Rise and the wealthier neighboring market town, Candleford, at the end of the 19th Century”.  The contrasts in the way of life between the small hamlet of Lark Rise and the neighboring town Candleford were evident.  If you haven’t seen this series, it is wonderful and I highly recommend it.  You can google it to see ways that you could watch.  You could purchase the set or watch it on BritBox.  I loved the costume fashions in the series.  Not sure that would have been the time period for me either.  Regardless of the weather, the women were dressed in layers that included bloomers, petticoats, a corset, their top layers and sometimes a jacket!

    I’m especially fascinated by the time period before and after World War II.  Some of my favorite movies are set during that time period:  Mrs. Miniver, Since You Went Away, The Fighting Sullivans, Casa Blanca, The White Cliffs of Dover, The Bridge on the River Kwai and Shining Through.  All but Shining Through were filmed in the 1940’s.  Shining Through was filmed in the 1980’s I believe.  One of my favorite movies of all time is set in the Guernsey Islands (which Doug and I visited on our British Isles tour and loved).  It is called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.  Well worth the time spent watching it.

    World War II ended on September 2, 1945.  I was born December 1, 1945.  Not sure what it is about that time period that fascinates me so.  I would have loved to be a set designer on the films set during that time period.  The fashions from that time period especially appeal to me – the suits, the shoes – all of it.  I remember the cottage that we lived in from the time I was two years of age until nine years of age.  It was decorated much like a set from one of the movies I mentioned above.  Recently, I saw a set of dishes advertised in our local Facebook Marketplace.  A set of 8 plates from 1946!  I purchased them.  They’re from Crown Potteries, made in the USA.  They remind me of an earlier time and place.  Maybe the older you grow, the more nostalgic you become.  As far as I know, we did not have dishes like these when I was growing up.  The family members who would have remembered are all in Heaven now.  I would love to have cups and saucers to go with the plates, but these dishes are long ago out of production.  A simple set of dishes that could have graced any farm table back in the 40’s and 50’s.

     

  • Autumn 2020…

    I should have entitled this post “the year of Covid 19”.  What a year!  I can’t believe the last time I posted in this blog (that I really do care about) was February and snow was on the ground.  The days rolled into weeks and the weeks rolled into months.  Now, it is my favorite season once again.  We’ve been so cooped up and isolated it seems to be a way of life now.  Not one any of us enjoy but, obviously, safer this way.  Someday, when our descendants are looking for photographs of us in the year 2020, we will all be wearing masks!  Imagine the questions about that.

    The time wasn’t entirely wasted.  I supported new quilt shop friends on Etsy and now have a delightful supply of quilt shop quality fabrics.  My granddaughter says my sewing area looks like a fabric store!  (She saw it on FaceTime.)  I made a couple of large lap quilts for the youngest two granddaughters which they loved and ordered fabrics for all the others.  I have a few quilts in progress.  I admit I’m not as fast at everything as I once was!

    I’ve also worked a good bit on family history.  I love solving mysteries!

    Doug and I traveled to Montana several weeks ago for a long overdue visit with my oldest and his family.  It was wonderful to have time with all of them!  We went to a beautiful lake in the mountains and I finally saw Big Sky!  I can’t ski but it’s beautiful.  My granddaughter Sarah graduated from high school in early June (although only parents could attend), but I did have fun helping to get her ready for college!  We ordered things and wore our masks to do some in person shopping.  Thankfully, there were very few cases of Corona virus there.  I can’t believe I now have THREE granddaughters in college!  Slow down, time!

    Early July was rather sad since my daughter and her family moved to Kentucky.  After 22 years with a company here in Des Moines, my sweet son-in-love had an offer for a new position too good to turn down, and so they sold the farm.  They bought a large home on 5 acres which she is hard at work on making it look like them.  She’s an artist so it will be lovely I have no doubt!  Sadly though, when the leaves are off the trees, I can see their house and it makes me sad.  Doug and I will probably move to Kentucky, Tennessee or Chicago one of these days…when the time is right.  For now, he is enjoying our 1.25 acres and all the flowers.

    I’m having a significant birthday on the first day of December.  I haven’t come to terms with the fact I’m that old yet, but I’m sure I will.  I’m looking forward to Heaven one of these days but hopefully not for many years to come.  So, I’ll just be thankful and rejoice I’m alive!  Even though I am old.

    Autumn in Iowa

    It’s rather late in life but I’ve discovered I really like makeup.  I’m an untrained artist (my daughter has a fine arts degree), so it’s fun what you can do with a little (well, okay, a lot) of concealer, primer, base, etc.)  I’m probably the oldest one they have but I have signed up to be an independent distributor with SeneGence International.  I will do it the easiest way possible which means I am setting up a website with them where you can order and have it delivered to you.  Things are still in the works now.  Their skin care and makeup products are wonderful!  I’ll be sharing more about it later but if you want to check it out my SeneGence website is:  https://senesite.senegence.com/DianneAllenRieck

    I hope this post finds each of you well and happy!  May the Lord bless you and keep you!

  • Patches of sunlight…

     

     

     

     

    We have had snow on the ground for weeks now with dreary overcast skies.  Today, the outside temperature has inched its way up to 41 degrees and it feels wonderful outside!  I love the sunshine and so does our cat, Tiger.  He chases the patches of sunlight all through the house.  I think he’s sunbathing!

     

     

     

    Patches of sunlight actually bring back memories to me.  

    I write about it in the post Moving to Victor Drive here.

     

  • Time to knit…

    It’s winter.  There are seven inches of snow on the ground.  I’m recuperating from ear surgery.  What other reasons do I need to sit and knit?!

    I found this delightful blanket pattern on Etsy a couple of years ago and purchased it.  I followed her suggestions for the yarn colors (I really like what she did!) and ordered the requisite number of each color.  I ordered the necessary circular knitting needle.  Then life got in the way and I got sidetracked.

     

    Pattern from MamaInAStitch on Etsy

     

    Recently, I found this little wooden container for the yarn.  I mean, I’m ready to knit.  So I need to go back to the instructions and refresh my memory.  I have knitting books – plenty of them.  There are always tutorials on YouTube from much more experienced knitters than I am.  I can knit and purl.  I’ll have to look up the other stitches to remember them.  This looks like an easy enough pattern with good instructions, so I need to cast on 105 stitches for the throw blanket size (52” x 57”) and get started!

    One hundred and five?!

     

  • Sweet Home Chicago…

    As you have probably figured out by now, this blog is a work in progress – just like life.  Last night, I completed the “page” Sweet Home Chicago with lots of photos of our small condo in the community of Ravenswood in Chicago.  Sweet Home Chicago “lives” on the right side of the blog under the title PAGES…along with a few other works in progress.  While our main residence is on an acre and a quarter in a countryside development next to a farm and cornfields, we enjoy our time in Chicago with our two youngest sons and their families.

    For as long as I can remember, I have loved decorating.  Over the years, I’ve subscribed to Country Living, Country Home and Southern Living – just to name a few.  I love coming up with decorating solutions for spaces.  This condo allowed us to do just that.  Check Sweet Home Chicago out here.

  • Snow days…

    At the moment, there are about seven inches of snow on the ground with more predicted tonight.  The cold has not been brutal this week, but it is cold enough that I’m enjoying staying in where it’s warm.  The sky is overcast as evident in the pics below.  I need to edit the photo and brighten them some.  Maybe I’ll do that in the next few days.  Truth be told though, this is what it looks like.  Drab and gray and white.  There have been a few sunny days with snow falling.  I like those best of all.

    Snow days are the perfect days to curl up on the sofa and read.  Or watch old classic movies.  Or finally work on my two blogs!  A week ago I had surgery to remove a benign tumor beneath my eardrum, so I’ve been in slow gear this week.  I actually finally made the bed today!  I’ve been crawling in and out of it all week.  Snow days are also the perfect time for a big pot of homemade vegetable soup which my husband helped me put together yesterday.  I made the cornbread with his help lifting the skillet (no lifting for three weeks!).  The soup is simmering on the stove now and smells delicious.  Snow days are also the perfect time for a big steaming cup of hot salted caramel chocolate which I’ve ordered from Amazon and this delicious Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea.  So good!

    So spicy and sweet with lots of cinnamon!

     

    We have one and a quarter acres…all covered in snow at the moment.

     

    Waiting for Spring and cushions…

     

    A comfortable place to sit…in the Spring!

     

    Taken at dusk yesterday.  The deer discovered our perennials under the snow.

     

    Dusk and feeding time.  Didn’t see any bucks among the herd.  Just a bunch of does.