Joy in the Little Things

[Phaedra]

teddy bears out of old fluffy sweaters

OHHHH! That must be super sweet!

 

[Phaedra]

a lot of sewing shops will have classes so you don't have to read manuals.

Yes, but they offer classes in Germannnnnnnnn

So I try to learn online, well, not bad at all, I can save time and cost from going to those classes.

 

[Phaedra]

How blessed you are, your father in law loves you and guided you into the world of gardening and sewing! You are pretty handy on making chicken coop doors! Good job, they sure look nice.

Thanks Bay, I want to try building a small greenhouse in the coming weeks, hopefully it can be also practical and look nice.

 

[Phaedra]

Wild blackberry NY cheesecake

 

[baymule]

Chicken coop, greenhouse builder AND cheesecake! Lady of many talents!

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Thank you for the update on your father in law. I'm glad to hear that the new place is soooo much better! He does love his reading!

 

[Dahlia]

OHHHH! That must be super sweet!

We would stuff the bears with dried lavender too!

 

[Phaedra]

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me present the door of our second roofed run - I applied some metal pieces to ensure the structure is robust enough. As I used less wood, the door is much lighter, too.

I also used some old garden decoration items, just re-painted them.

The lesson learned, painting them first makes things much easier!

 

[SPedigrees]

The sewing machine is a gift from my father in law, so it's extraordinarily precious. He is the one led me into the universe of gardening, and a couple years later, he gifted us his sewing machine. However, dementia already caught him then, just we didn't realize.

When he brought us his sewing machine, he couldn't remember how to use it. None of us realized about the coming shadow. Later, he told us that the machine didn't work any longer (in fact, the machine should be ok at that moment.) and he throw that away. Before Christmas of that year, he gave me cash and asked me to buy a modern one for myself. I was so touched at that moment, as he always treated me like his own daughter (he didn't have one, he has three boys). We shared a lot of hobbies - gardening, cooking, classical music, and the last turned to be sewing.

I never used a sewing machine before, just like I never grew anything on the ground.

It is hard for me to believe, Phaedra, that you have not been gardening all your life, and probably sewing as well.

Your stories of your father-in-law's cognitive decline strike a chord with me. A friend of mine has suffered the same fate this past year and is in a home for Alzheimer's patients. She and her husband lived across the road from me and my husband for 50 years. When we both lost our husbands we had much in common and used to visit back and forth. But then, as the disease gradually took its toll, she changed, her memory failed. Sometimes she believes her husband is still living and he's in the hospital, and other times she knows that he died. She didn't recognize her sister and sometimes mistakes one of the staffers for her mother or her daughter. So far, surprisingly, she has remembered me when I've visited. The facility she's in is an hour's drive for me, so I can't visit so often as I'd like. I have more dead friends than living ones now, so I try to see her when I can.

 

[Phaedra]

Living with them is such a blessing.