Another day in Paradise

The sign says it all!

My Promise :-) One of our favorite places Lumahai beach. We had a potluck beach dinner, complete with smores and entertainment

Can you see me?

Can you see the fireworks?

The new steps my sweetheart made for me. The video below is for you my dear friend at the Ole potting shed.

The Woman that I Am

Billy Jean Cook
Jeanette Carpathia Jones

"Guided by my heritage of a love for beauty and a respect for strength -- in search of my mother's garden, I found my own."
-- Alice Walker, "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens"

Being home with my momma has brought up so many memories and feelings for me, and with Mother's Day just around the corner, I started to reflect on my Mother, and her mother (my grandmother) and my relationships with them. Being a mother myself, I find so much of these two woman in me, and the way that I look at the world, and interact with it. Both of these woman were hard workers, fantastic cooks, gardeners, kept immaculate homes, and yards. My love for crafting was inspired by them as well. Grandma was great with a sewing machine, and my mothers crochet was so beautiful. She made doilies, trimed tea towels, made afghans for all her kids and grandkids. I have been inspired to work hard for my family as they did for theirs. For these gifts I am so greatful, it is these gifts that surface in me from time to time. I was an adopted child (adopted as a 6 month old infant), and these women loved me like there was a blood bond. Another thing that I have learned from them is, there is always room for the love of a child, whether they come from your loins or not.

Thank you Billie Jean & Jeanette Carpathia for loving me, and leading me to my own garden

A Heart For Jack

One of the blogs that I follow is Kim over at Daisy Cottage. I read this post on her blog and was deeply touched by Jack's love for his wife Tabatha. The blog entry is below if you care to read it.
"Dear Daisy Cottage Family, I received an email from a very sweet man, Jack, a little while ago. With his permission, I am going to share it with you too. Dear Kim, My name is Jack Benke. My beautiful wife Tabatha passed away last Saturday at the young age of 42. She had been battling cancer for the past two years. I find my peace in knowing that she is in a beautiful place now and that I know that she is not suffering anymore. I know you never knew her, but you were such an inspiration in her daily life. In the last month's, she never missed a day of going to your web site and listening to your music and reading your web page. It gave her a great deal of peace during a time when she was in pain. We were able to pull your music off of your web page, and those were the songs that we played at her service. As I stated, you never knew her, but you were an inspiration to her, and I thank you so very much for that. I will continue her daily visit to your web page and listen to your music. Thank you again and God bless you. Jack Benke (photo below is Jack's wife Tabatha)

(Kim at Daisy Hill then wrote) As you can imagine, my heart has been touched in a way that I can't even begin to describe. The tears have not stopped. But this post is not about me. It is for Tabatha. She was one of us. She was here and she is here now in spirit. When I asked Jack if I could share Tabatha with you he replied ... Dear Kim, Thank you so very much for your kind words. Tabatha was my life, my love and my happiness and even though my life will never be the same, I will get my strength from her to go on. She battled this old cancer for two years, but she never gave up the fight. The doctors allowed me to bring her home last Thursday where she wanted to be. I was with her Saturday morning when she left us and she left in peace. Kim I have comfort in knowing that she is in a better place and no longer in pain. I have attached a picture of her for you to use as you wish. It would be such an honor to her knowing that you were willing to share her life on your blog. I feel closest to her when I listen to your music playlist. Thank you again Kim for touching her life in a special way. God bless you, Jack "

Kim at Daisy Hill had a fantastic idea to call out to her readers to make hearts to send to Jack in honor of his love for his beloved wife Tabatha. So I joined Kim at Daisy Hill, and made a heart for Jack. It has a little scar on the side where I closed the hole for the stuffing. Much like the scar that we carry when we lose a loved one. The out pouring of hearts was really awesome. Go check them out on Kims blog; http://deardaisycottage.typepad.com/daisy_cottage/page/2/ It would be the April 12th posting.

It has been such a blessing for me to craft a little ole heart, filled with prayers and stuffing, and send it on it's way to people I have never met. Their story touched my heart, and still I am in awe at the power of this electronic medium. May we all hug our loved ones a little more closely, and not take them for granted. May we pray for those blogger's who touch lives and not even know it!

Peace be to you Jack. You have a beautiful gaurdian angel watching over you.

Forget Me Not (for Lea)

When the wise God planted His garden,

Scattering the seeds from above,

The choicest seed in His packet

Was the flower of Mother-love.

Carefully watched o'er and tended,

Nurtured by sunshine and stronger,

It blooms a beautiful flower.

A flower so sweet and entrancing,

Dazzling and shining and white,

A love that guards us and guides us

Through life our beacon light.

A love that steadies our footsteps,

That stretches a helpful hand,

That comforts our sorrows and heartaches,

That always will understand.

Mother-love, God's gift to His children,

With heavenly fragrance fraught;

The brightest flower in God's garden,

His truest forget-me-not.

~by Myrtle Fisher Seaverns~

Reaquainted with an old friend and cleaning

I had a chance yesterday to get outside and work a little bit in our Bellingham yard. It's been over a year since I have had the pleasure to get my fingernails dirty here. What joy I experienced finding plants that I had popped into the ground. When Lindon and I replace our septic system, we had to totally redo the back yard. So all of the planting with the exception of the rhodie, and three wigellia's we put every thing in. It's still pretty early for plants to be a blooming but there are a few things that have come out that I will be sharing with you over the next couple of days.

Enjoy it while we can

We have our home in Bellingham on the market for sale. It has been a tough decision for Lindon and I to sell our beloved KeelerKai. But our decision has been made. Now it is a waiting game, and time to enjoy all that we love about this place. Keelerkai is so different from the Kauai property. One of those differences is the seasons, and the colors inside the house. They change from month to month.

Spring in the Pacific Northwest

Can I come out to play? I promise I will be good;-)

Thankfully Brody missed the coral color peony! He always looks for the shade

Progress??????

I have forgotten what the emerging of spring can be like in the Pacific Northwest. From the looks of the flowers, it's been a tough one for the posies, as the temps have been warm, then cold, then darn cold, to rain, wind, snow, sleet, hail, you get the picture! LOL Just wait five minutes and it will change. Lots of changes happening here in this part of the world. Our wonderful neighbor Paul passed away, and his kids shipped his dear sweet wife Joyce off to Wisconson. Will really miss them as they were the best neighbors. Paul's daughter sold the family home, and last week heavy equipment moved in. The big tonka trucks have really been shaking things up around here.

My mommacita is holding her own. Thank you all for the prayers. Everyday is a gift, and we are so thankful for each and every one.

Please Pray for my Momma

This is my Momma Billy Jean (with My neice Jessica). These days she is not doing to well. Please could you say a little prayer for her, and for her family as we gather around to support her.

Happy Saint Paddy's Day!

To all my irish friends and family, may your celebrations be filled with love!

When girlfriends come a calling

Cottage re-do

Cottage

cottage

hutch in cottage

Recently my girlfriend Suzanne came over for a weeks stay. It was SOOOO SOOO wonderful having her, as we have not had Paula & Suzanne time in over 8 years! Our time was blessed. Suzanne flew in on a Friday afternoon. She wanted to go to Costco to stock up on food, so we charged Costco and ended up at our place that evening, and talked well into the weee hours of the next day. So at 4:30am the next morning I get a phone call. Should I answer? Well who would be calling me so early in the morning? Must be something wrong with my Mom??? So I answered the phone. It was my web developer (whatthe ^&^%$^^), informing me there was a big earthquake in Chile and Kauai was on Tsunami watch, and I was the only one he knew in Hawaii (thanks Shane)! well he had my attention, and by that time I was WIDE AWAKE! So turned on the news. Sure enough we were on watch, and the first evacuation sirens were going to sound at 6 am. So I made a pot of coffee and at 5:58 am went over to the main house (I stay in a little cottage here separate from the main house) woke Suzanne up with a steaming cup of Joe, and as the first siren started going off, I helped bring Suzanne out of her slumber, into her first real day on Kauai. Warning Sirens and all. Now the funny thing about this is, while we were going to Costco the day before, stocking up on goods, I told Suzanne how much I loved, and admired her, and all that she means to me, and how much I miss her, and if I ever had to be in a natural disaster with someone it would be with her (she is very calm and organized)! The VERY next day we are hit with a Tsunami watch! We both could not believe it and were laughing kinda of sortof, but wholly heck a tsunami is going to hit us, and what do we do??????? well I had started to pray while I was making coffee and watching the news reports. Our place is well above flood zone, but to get here you go over 7 one lane bridges,THEN up a small hill. We are surrounded by FLOOD ZONE. So the worst case scenario could of been big wave and bridges wash out, we are stuck at the house and cannot get out (o.k. this is not so bad since we had enough food to feed an army). Power could go out etc, etc. After a meeting of the minds we decided the best place for us to be was right at home. Not to go anywhere, but prepare for the worst and pray for the best! So we set to action and filled every container we could with water, tubs, sinks, jars, pots & pans. We had all the food we could eat and then some. phone calls were made to the mainland to inform family what we were going to do. Flashlights, batteries, radio all set. So now it is 7:30am all emergency preparations are made, NOW what do we do with ourselves. well we did what any smart woman in an emergency would do, Suzanne started to re-arrange and re-decorate the main house with what I had there! She made a list of a few things we needed to find at a thrift store (after we survived our disaster mind you LOL!) and went to it. Can I just interject here I LOVE HER CHANGES! She did such a great job displaying all of my beautiful items, arranging the furniture in cleaver usefull ways. The main house just feels different, and much homeier in my opinion. Thank you Suzanne, I do believe you are in the wrong profession and need to become a professional stager! She wanted to attack my little cottage next, and I kept saying no no you have to relax and enjoy yourself. Well for the artist that she is, that was enjoyment for her. A few days before she left she started the cottage, ran out of time, and I followed her inspiration and made the changes she recommended.

The tsunami ended up being a dud. Praise God that it was, and I am also thankful that our early warning system worked. It brought the community out, got people helping others evacuate. And we were prepared. I would much rather have the warning, be prepared and no one getting caught in a big wave. History has proven they can be devastating here.

So Suzanne and I survived our natural NON disaster in comfort, prepardness, and now my two houses are styling. Thanks darlin for your love, freindship, generousity, and artistic talent. I so appreciate you Suzanne! Boy will we have something to talk to our grandkids about!

My blessing

Found my first sunrise shell the other day. When I walk the beach, I like to pray, and look for shells. I pray alot, and fortunately have many beaches in which to pray on! The many miles I have walked lots of beautiful shells come my way, and I have a habit of giving away my best shells. Well the sweetest little sunny came my way, and I understand what all the fuss is about. They are so beautiful.

Sunrise shells are in the scallop family (Langford's Scallop) and according to "legend" they were very sacred to the ancient Hawaiians. The story goes: "Servants of the kings would walk the beaches and look for these shells, but only the Royal Family would wear these magnificent shells. Folklore says: they received the name "sunrise" because early in the morning (at sunrise) the Sunrise shell would be the easiest shells to spot on the beach. The sun would reflect its rays of the vibrant colors of these beautiful scallop shells. Common Sense says they received their name of Sunrise shells because if you did not get to the beach before or at sunrise, then someone else would have already found them. " It is said that only "blessed" people find these rare Hawaiian shells.

Thank you Lord, I needed a blessing.