Wordless (mostly) Wednesday

Saturday Sweethearts

Ethan with Jazzy and Jujubee (2019)

Hold my paw.

I don’t know if I can.

Why not?

I don’t feel brave enough.

 

You’re braver than you think.

 

I wish you didn’t have to go.

 

I need to go. I have bigger places – and God – to see.

 

I wish I’d done more for you.

 

You did your best.

 

But it wasn’t enough. I hope you haven’t suffered.

 

Hold my paw...

 

I hope you know I love you.

 

I’ve never doubted that.

 

I won’t ever forget you.

 

Memories fade…but we’ll see one another again. Me and all the others. And won’t that be glorious? Oh, so glorious...

....

 

Hop far, sweet bunny. And always remember I loved you. 

Rest peacefully, precious Jezzy. Kiss Jujubee for us.

 

….

 

The night is long…but the days are, oh, so short.

 

….

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wordless Wednesday

New Year, Old Reflections -- 2017

My favorite thing to buy at the beginning of each year was the Life magazine "Year in Pictures." My parents had a few from over the years, and I loved looking through them at the moments in time that were captured through the photojournalist's lens.

Here's to looking back at 2017 through our pictures. So many photos (whittled down from 1,000s to a mere 400 or so)...and so many smiles -- many, many more than the last few years.

God is good to us! He has carried us through quite a lot in the past few years, especially. And being able to recap the year through photos is always a joy. Seeing memories forgotten already...truly priceless.

In an age of constantly changing technology, what are your favorite ways to keep memories alive year to year?

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Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and old lang syne?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And surely you'll buy your pint cup!

and surely I'll buy mine!

And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have run about the slopes,

and picked the daisies fine;

But we've wandered many a weary foot,

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,

from morning sun till dine^†;

But seas between us broad have roared

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there's a hand my trusty friend!

And give me a hand o' thine!

And we'll take a right good-will draught,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Sweetheart

Emily took this photo of our sweet Rosie. Doesn't she look festive?

Worded Wednesday

The hardest part of loving pets into old age is having to say goodbye. 

Rest in peace, our sweet bunny Tony (L).

Click here to read about when we got them.

10 on 10

I saw this done years ago...and forgot all about it.

On the 10th of the month, you take a theme and post 10 photos related to it. I've done others here and here.

See if you can figure out my theme today.

Why not do one yourself? Leave the link in the comments so we can check it out. (Someday I'll figure out the "linky" thing.)

And a bonus photo:

On Bunnies and Birthdays...Again

Today is a bunny birthday in our house. (For some reason, it feels like it's often a bunny or "piggy" or kitty or dog or human birthday in our house.)

Well, today is actually two bunnies' birthdays.

Our Bubble and Squeak celebrate being born at our house 7 years ago! They were the first of our Bonny and Clyde's kits. (The second pair included their younger brothers, Clementine and Earl Grey.)

It's funny how quickly time passes for pets and yet you don't realize it until you stop and look at them and at the photos of when they were "brand new."

Take a look and join us in celebrating this sweet pair of bunny girls -- from 3 days old to today.

If I Close My Eyes...

and breathe in the remnants of fragrance after I empty a box of Earl Grey tea....

...I am transported back to England to the coastline of Cornwall where I am sitting in the garden of the old Victorian hotel where we are staying, having a cup of tea with my sister and pretending to be old married women conversing about our grown children.  We are proper and polite and speak with "frightfully nice" accents.

...I am hugging the t-shirt my sister brought me from her trip to England with Teen Mission International. She has all kinds of goodies from her trip, including Earl Grey tea, and everything in her luggage smells of it. It is my first time smelling it, and I know immediately that I love it, even though I am 11 and don't really like tea yet. Five years later, I buy a box of it to put in my own luggage on my trip to England with Teen Missions International. I enjoy a few cups of it along the way, too.

...I am on my honeymoon in Windermere, England. I am sitting across from my new husband, enjoying a milder day on our honeymoon...and a pot of Earl Grey tea.  Stuart isn't a "tea drinker," per se. But he enjoys it for me. That's true love.

...I am holding a small gray baby bunny, from the second of Bonny Bunny's litters. He is small and gray...unlike his brother and older sisters at the same age. I wonder at his coloring given the fact that both of his parents are Himalayan Netherland Dwarfs. He is the one that Emily chooses for her 4-H project. He is the one with the most determined personality. He is the one that she names Earl Grey in honor of her favorite tea. He is the one who lives up to the nobility of his name. He sits proud and tall when she talks about him in the 4-H meetings. He loves his hut and sits on the roof like a bunny version of Snoopy. He uses his litterbox with pride and munches on hay whilst sitting in it.

...I am holding a long white bunny, no longer strong and proud. He is sick and dying. It is the middle of the night. I awaken his owner, his "mommy" and the one that he loves more than any other person. She holds him and pets him as he slips away to live with Jesus....

Earl Grey = a tea, a bunny, and so many memories.

Run, Rabbit, Run

The kids are a part of our county's 4-H Rabbit and Cavy Club. It's been a unique, interesting, and mostly-fun experience for them. Emily has been a member for 5 years; Edward just joined this year.

For the past two years, the club has hosted its own "fun show" to give the kids who don't show "professionally" a chance to experience the feeling of a show.

And, well, it's fun!

Both kids did quite well for themselves and had...fun. *wink-grin*

Wordless Wednesday

On Bunnies and Birthdays

We spent tonight, sitting on the floor in Emily's room, celebrating the birthday of two bunnies in our family: her Earl Grey and my Clementine.

There was a plastic teaset and paper placecards and a bunny "cake" made of dry oats and rabbit pellets. There was music and even a toy "corner" for Ethan if he had joined us (though he was already in bed).

We brought brownies and bunny-shaped marshmallows to share. And a present of carrots and wooden-block chewtoys.And as we sat down and watched the bunnies hopping around the room, I took a good look at my kids.

It was one of those freeze-frame moments when you take a mental photograph to "look" at later. It was a warm and fuzzy (no pun intended) time...one that made me realize that this was what it was all about.

Stopping. Sitting together. Laughing. Enjoying. And just being.

Take a moment to try it some time.

I promise you it's very worth it.

4-H'allow's Eve Party

Occasionally I feel like I'm "Martha Stewart" and have achieved her domestic goddess status...and then I wake up.

It's not that I'm "unclever" in the kitchen...or "uncrafty"...but I often take shortcuts and can be a bit "lazy." I thought our cupcakes looked awesome...until I saw our friend's. *wink-grin* Now, I'll take this moment to point out that she's had much more experience in making them for her kids to take to school for their birthdays. Our birthday cupcakes stay home with us since our class size is much smaller.

Ahem...

Cute, huh?

Still, we had a good time at our 4-H club's Halloween party/meeting tonight.

Emily took Earl Grey as a "girl," and she dressed up as a "bunny." Quite a cute switcheroo. Her friend Sierra took her guinea pig as a princess.


There were witches and bugs and clowns and even "Zorro" costumes. Each member did a great job at making their bunnies or guinea pigs look sweet. It was hard for the judges to decide the cutest.

Wordless (mostly) Wednesday

George (4 weeks old)

George -- Week 2

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Sweetheart

Merriest Musing on Monday

Happy Monday to you! Happy new week to you!

And happy 3rd birthday to our bunny boys, Earl Grey and Clementine! (A pic from their birthday party last year...and, no, their eyes don't always glow like that...just when they get their photo taken, and red-eye reduction doesn't help somehow.) Can anyone say, "Pahr-tee?" Well, party bunstyle, anyways.

Only a few more days until our human boy's 8th birthday! Our little Valentine is growing up! Ugh! Why? Why can't they just stay little? Perhaps that's where the concept of the "lost boys" came from in Peter Pan? Maybe the author didn't want his kids growing up so fast? Still, he is very excited about his big day and has made a list a mile long of all the goodies he's "hoping for." It's quite challenging because he has yet to write it all down, and his favorite-mosts -- the ones he would have marked with an asterisk or two -- change daily. Here's hoping we manage to get the all-time favorites. *wink*

Another episode of 24 tonight!!! Woooo-hoooo! It's so hard to wait week-to-week after we've gotten used to watching whole seasons on DVD or going online to watch "video on demand." What is the world coming to? It's hard to imagine how we ever made it years ago when we HAD to wait...and if you missed it, well, that was that. You might get lucky and catch it on a repeat later in the season or even during the hiatus when reruns might be shown.

We are heading out on a "roadtrip" this Thursday. I say "roadtrip" since it's really a trip to a specialist in Delaware. But since it's kinda faraway and in another state and all, we're calling it a roadtrip to make it fun and help take away any nervousness. We're hoping to get going really early (insert fits of laughter here) so that we can stop for breakfast on the way. A bit of background on the reason for our trip: We found out that Emily has grown a whopping 3 inches since last October which is hugely impressive to us but not a great idea for the curve in her spine. The spine doctor told us to expect that though, so we weren't too surprised or worried when her curve went from 10 degrees to 20 degrees in three months. No. Why would we be? ....??!! So we head down to duPont Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, to figure out what the best course of action would be. It should be interesting if nothing else, right?

We think our little "Mr. Noise" enjoys the nightlife a bit too much...though he never seems to be enjoying it at the time. Ethan has developed quite a pair of lungs, and there's no doubt that he could probably be heard in the tri-state area over the weekend. He's an absolute "peach" in the daytime (eats, plays, and sleeps well)...but we're aren't sure what goes through his sweet little head at night. Still, this too will pass, and one day we'll look back on it and....laugh (bwa-hahahaha!)....yeah, right! Years later when we finally wave goodbye to him as he drives off to college, we'll sink into our bed to sleep for the next year and a half. Who am I kidding? We won't sleep even then. We'll be too worried about what the kids are doing...and where they are, etc.

There's no hope then, huh? *wink*

On that note, I'll sign off for another Monday. Enjoy!