A Few Thoughts About Goals and Being Good to Ourselves

These vibrant flowers 

were for my birthday 

from a good friend of mine.

They are so beautiful! 

Such brilliant, cheerful colors.

And they are lasting so long.

This year I have dreams

that are re-surfacing and I'm finding 

myself on a journey back to me.

Feeling stronger and more confident. 

Finding it easier to focus. After so many years

of feeling like I was losing ground,

it's a relief to have direction.

 There a few things that I have learned.
One is that there is always hope.
No matter how small a thing it seems,
do something that keeps me moving toward
where I want to be.

Another is that not one person is without
challenges in their life. 
No one has an easy time of it
all the time.

One more is that it takes
a lot of devotion and hard work
to get where I want to go. 
Though we need to work hard, I'm learning
to not be too obsessive and to take
lots of mini breaks. 

And honey... 
one thing is sure.
If we give up, 
we will NEVER
get there. 
So we persevere.

This was the most delicious red velvet 

cake that my daughter made me. 

And I had been craving cake thick with frosting.

Is there any other kind? 

I wanted to get a picture of a slice 

but never did.

My two daughters and their families

surprised me with a late evening party.

It was so sweet of them! Handmade cards

and sweet gifts. 

So far, getting older has been good

to me. I try to exercise, a lot and eat lots of

healthy foods and keep my stress down. 

There are some things that 

I don't like about my appearance but I 

have decided to embrace all of me

and really work on loving myself. 

And being very good to me. 

I don't hold to the "hard road"

mindset anymore. Life has enough

bumps in the road

without inviting them! ;)

So let's laugh a lot and create

as many happy moments for ourselves 

and others that we can! 

How do you create happy moments?

Think lots of positive thoughts

and keep on the sunny side.

  These past couple of weeks 

have been a busy time

helping my daughter pack and move 

and helping with her sweet girls as

she started a new job. 

I'm glad that I started my valentines early

and I was still working on them

at the last minute! 

I love making them and get caught up in

the details. Here they are waiting 

for the finishing touches.

 Maybe I can squeeze in a post of close ups before the month is over. 

I have a favorite sugar cookie recipe

and I always use half wheat flour.

I try to make our treats a little healthier.

Did you know that you can substitute oil with

applesauce and it keeps your baked goods moist?

A little trick to save calories and make your baking a bit more healthy.

I baked these to take to the local

people where we play music on Wednesday

nights. They are so supportive and it's nice to 

give a little something back to them.

 We had a huge snow storm come through

last weekend. If you follow me on IG, you already know and have seen these.

With a foot of snow, the mountain was covered in

this frosty white blanket.  The birds were wanting to eat. I bought extra seed to make sure that they had plenty.

I hope your February has been delightful. It will be gone in a few days and March will bringing

with it many thoughts of spring!

Have a lovely week and thank 

you for your visit.

Big Hugs,
Tamara X

Winter Scape Wanderings~ Keeping the Wonder

I hope that your

new year is off to a good start.

I'm sitting here by a crackling fire, 

(that needs a log ;)

drinking tea with my feet up. 

My day started very early today for 

which I'm happy. 

That allowed me to get my work done early

and have creative time.

What a lovely "wintry" winter it's been so far.

Most days, when it's cold and snowy outside,

I can hardly wait to lay footprints

in the brand new blanket of white.

I have such wonderful memories 

of roaming the hills of our farm in Ohio.

That was way back when I was a girl and teenager.

Now the mountain you see invites me to

 wander and roam it's canyons, slides,

draws and ridges. 

If you've visited before, you know that we live

 at the base of a mountain. We call it ours,

but it really belongs to the 

National Forest Service ;)

Some mornings, we are 

awakened by the beautiful

creatures that live alongside of us.

Their antlers scrape the house as they bite off the

grass that grows there.

Last winter, it was so dry, they were drinking from

a hose that was draped in a tree.

They heard the water as it 

trickled down to the ground.

So we are very grateful that the mountains

have several feet of snow.

Aren't they such magnificent creatures?

we never tire of seeing them

but we do have to chase them off at

times because they make a snack

of the things we work hard to grow!

They roam the mountain among the trees. 

I saw them this morning skirting 

across the meadow at the tree line.

The deep snows have driven them to the

lower country to forage.

Here is a Yucca plant.  

Pronounced yoo-ka in Spanish. 

They grow wild here. 

They produce tall spikes of beautiful,

creamy white flowers during the rains!

My son and his wife lived in Ecuador for

 a year and they learned how to

cook the root. He baked us some

 Yucca root fries when we visited 

at Thanksgiving. They were delicious! 

Crispy and chewy.

Being the first snow of the season, makes it extra special. 

 I was blessed with a window that day to take a

luxurious amount of time. All I wanted really. To hike around

and take in the sparkles that wink at you when the sun hits 

each tiny little flake. To breathe in that 
cold, fresh mountain air...
Oh my.

I always want to keep the wonder

that creates excitement over these

tiny miracles that pile up and spread the

beauty of winter over mountains and valleys.

Don't you truly believe that there are those 

special little miracles and wonder in every day?

Something that touches you down deep.

I thought this little dried plant 

was so pretty even in it's simplicity.

Maybe especially because of it.

Simple pleasures.

It looked so frail but yet has held up 

through all the rainstorms and wind

and now it stands through 

the snowstorms, too.

Are we like that sometimes?

We will experience times of feeling fragile 

but we are stronger than we know.

Isn't it so lovely in all it's slenderness 

just holding up that snow 

that's reflecting the light of the sun.

(Some of my pictures are sunny and some cloudy
 because the skies cleared up while I was out.)

Thank you for coming by and sharing in

 my wanderings around the mountain.

I hope I haven't bored you.

I get so caught up in nature and life and can

obsess over the smallest thing!

I'd love to hear about something

 that you have found 

that causes you to stop and wonder.

That makes me think of Mary Poppins!

Enjoying the wonder of the simple

things in life seemed to be part of her very being.

Have a wonderful rest of your week.

Tamara xo

Winter Days at Our Mountain Home

Hello...

Winter greetings from the AZ mountains 

which is like a high desert.

We've been having many gray days here

with rain and snow. 

It's been wonderful.

Cloudy days are rare here in the southwest and being 

an Ohio girl, I relish them.

I haven't been working on many projects lately because

I have been doing a lot of deep cleaning

and ordering of our home. And I've been obsessing

over music and playing guitar for hours.

Do you follow any of the music awards?

I don't always but some of my favorite singers and

songwriters are among the nominees so it's been exciting!

Lori McKenna is one. 

She wrote Tim McGraw's hit,

Humble and Kind.

You can watch her singing at the Opry here.

Beautiful words with a timeless message.

She has already won a Grammy and was nominated

 again today by CMA. 

Here are some winter moments of our life in the mountains.

 A little snow fairy..

 Ambushed!

 I had to laugh at this snowman. He looks look 

one that Pigpen might have made. When you don't have a lot of 

grass, this is what your snowman looks like. Haha!

But the giggles had so much fun making it.

 I'm not the only one who likes to huddle 

up close to the wood stove.

Just some cheering up in my craft room. 

That lovely pillow was made by my sweet friend, 

Stephanie from The Enchanting Rose. 

You can find many beautiful shabby, 

handmade items in her Etsy shop 

called Rose Petal Blessings.

 One of my favorite singers. 

I spend a lot of time listening to and playing her music. 

What a great inspiration she's been to me~

beginning in my early teens. 

Early morning visitors. When it snows, they are forced to come down from the high country to feed. Such beautiful animals. 

The other night, there was a herd of fifty in our field! 

It was quite a sight. 

They were running and frisking around.

*********

I hope your world is bright and full of hope as this new

 year is speeding ahead.

Please pray for my friend, Kris as

she heals from a knee injury. 

Do you have goals and dreams that you 

have resurrected in this new year? I hope so.

Never let your dreams die..

Fan the flames of your dreams with 

the hopes for your future and feel yourself soar~

Heres a quote that I'd like to to leave you with. 

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. 

Because if you are making mistakes, 

then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, 

living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, 

changing your world. 

You're doing things you've never done before,

 and more importantly.... 

you're doing something. 

--Neil Gaiman. 

Have a lovely weekend and thank you for coming by~

Tamara XO

Vintage Finds and Peaceful Words For A Winter's Day

A friendly welcome to my 

friends and new followers.

I'm so glad that you're all here.

Thank you for coming by.

I hope your week has been filled

with wonder and delight.

New experiences and a quiet

contentment with the familiar.

I do enjoy winter very much.

********

 Walks in the chilly air.

A good game of Fox and Geese

Campfires in the cold

Snow

Steaming cups of tea

 Neatly stacked fire wood

What good is the warmth of summer

without the cold of winter

to give it sweetness.

~Author Unknown

``````````````````````````

And another thing

that I enjoy is thrift store shopping. 

It's one of my favorite 

things to do.

Do you find it relaxing or exciting to look?

It can be both for me! 

A few months back,

I found these old hymnals. I like most old books

 and music is such a big part of my life. 

I am a gatherer..

  Sheet music or any kind of 

book that is related. 

I love the look of aged paper... 

especially with notes. 

I have seen crafters and artists 

   use it for creating many different projects. 

I enjoy using it for that as well and 

some I just collect.

These two are too special to take apart.

(I find it really hard pulling books apart anyway.

They just seem sacred to me...

 or something like that...am I strange? )

I have never seen a Psalter Hymnal..

I was very excited o find it.

The gilding and details on both of these

books are so special.

The edges and corners are so tattered  

and torn from hands taking them from

their place in the back of the pew. 

And possibly from falling to the floor from

the hands of little ones that are so

eager to read and sing along...

When I thought of these photos, 

 the colors of winter came to mind...

gray

blue

creamy white

brown... 

 and 

even green.

 The words still read the same.

Bringing peace and hope.

And the old scratched teapot. 

It's lid wouldn't stay on but it really

was a beauty to me with all of it's

scrolling details...

the pretty botanical handle and tarnished finish.

Winter days just seem to call 

to my heart to be still.

 Here's a handmade, cotton apron with it's 

corn flower-hued roses and 

vintage green leaves. I knew it was very old when 

I saw it and I couldn't resist bringing it home.

The cotton fabric is so soft 

and the added ribbons are so nice.

(The apron is tied on my thrifted wedding

dress that I found for a dollar. 

But she deserves a post

all her own and so that will come later!)

Hydrangeas from a family picnic last fall.

******

Winter is a time for comfort,

For good food and warmth,

For the touch of a friendly hand

and for a talk beside the fire:

It is the time for home.

It is no season in which to

Wander the world as if one 

Were the wind blowing aimlessly

Along the streets without a place to rest

Without food and without 

meaning anything to one.

Just as time means nothing to the wind.

Edith Sitwell

How many lessons of faith and

beauty we should lose,

if there were no winter in our year!

~

Thomas Wentworth Higginson

April Days, 1861

I hope you've enjoyed your visit.
Stay warm and be safe.

Blessings,
Tamara xo

Joining the party at:

Shabbalicious Friday Link Party

Vintage Inspiration Party

Sundays At Home