Happy New Year!

This is the time of the year when we reflect on the past...

and look toward the future.

 Hoping you have made wonderful memories in 2015, and that you will make many more in the new year. 

But, most importantly...I hope you...enjoy this day.  

Have a safe and Happy New Year! Good health, good fortune and good cheer to all!

Robyn, Annie & Mr. MW

Merry Christmas!

From our house...

...to your house.

Stay safe and make some memories!

Enjoy the day,

Robyn

...a good read

At our last meeting with our Florida Bar family, the current president ended the meeting by reading a few of these commandments. Always worthy of a read, if you are familiar with them a reread at this Christmastide is time well spent. If they are new to you...enjoy.

                    

              The Paradoxical Commandments                            

by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001  

                             Enjoy the day,

                                   Robyn

A Favorite Christmas Memory

This is a photo of my big sister and me. I remember this day because the department store had an outside area with reindeer in pens. I could not believe that reindeer were actually real animals!

But this is not the favorite Christmas memory I wanted to share with you today.

My father mustered out of the army in September of 1945, when he returned from duty in Naples, Italy in WWII. He headed home to Pennsylvania to see his parents, and then headed south to marry his Florida girl. No time or funds for an engagement ring...just wedding bands. They were married on December 8. The next day they boarded the train headed to Washington, D.C to start their new life together. 

Then came kids, a house, cars, tuitions...all the expenses of life. 

Twenty years flew past, and one Christmas morning, when I was in high school, my father told my mother her present was on the Christmas tree. 

She searched and searched, and finally found it...a beautiful diamond ring hanging from a red ribbon....her engagement ring.

It's fifty years old this Christmas. It's band has thinned from years of wear, and my wonderful parents 

have passed on. But everyday they are with me...in my heart...and on my hand. I have only to glance at my hand, at the ring I now wear with my own engagement ring and wedding band. Everyday, I remember my favorite Christmas memory.

I hope you will share a special Christmas memory with me.

Enjoy the day...and this wonderful time of the year!

Robyn

Bits of Christmas

My decorating is very limited this year. I did, however, have fun with my mantle and hooking chair. The beautiful crewel bag arrived today. It was stitched by Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm and is a perfect addition.

I've added greens for the season, but this beauty will be staying out after the holidays. The small stitched house has a red roof!

Above the mantle is one of my favorite antique samplers. It is stitched in wool.

My goal for 2016 is to have all my antique samplers framed and hanging. This sampler is in an early circa 1840 painted black frame, about the age of the sampler. I framed this myself and it does not have glass. 

I am hoping the hunter was a lousy shot and the deer escaped to return to the woods!

The red house and the tiny bird on the red fence are two of my favorite motifs.

Now, if I could just get myself into that chair to pull some loops!

My amaryllis is showing off today. Two of the buds opened overnight.

Have a wonderful rest of the week. 

Enjoy the day,

Robyn

December Kitchen Window

There is a very early red and green sampler in my kitchen window for the month of December. It is the work of Mary Freeman and is dated 1824.

For the moment, candles are lighting the window. I have no doubt my daughter will be lobbying for twinkly white lights when evening falls. I'll most likely add a small strand.

I've planted some old baskets with paperwhites and they are just beginning to shoot up.

Two small cypress trees flank the sampler. The white candles nestle among the fresh extra limbs from our tree.

More paperwhites sprouting.

A very old red and green toleware canister wears the colors of the season.

Peeking out the window more red and green and another early sampler. Bits of Christmas coming soon.

We are looking forward to the wonderful aroma that will fill our kitchen when all the paperwhites bloom. I'll click another pic and share it with you when it happens.

Red...and greens...and baskets of bulbs, handwork from so long ago...these are my favorites that grace my December kitchen window.

I have enjoyed sharing my kitchen windows with all of you over the last several years. Alas, this will be the last monthly window. Time for something new!

Hope you all are enjoying these magic days!

Enjoy the day,

Robyn

Early Christmas

This is a side glimpse of the biggest gingerbread house I have ever seen. The entire house is made from "real" stuff. It sits in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton in Naples, Florida, and it was the backdrop of a fun day for our girl.

Christmas came early for Annie. Her favorite friends surprised her yesterday.

They made a special trip...drove across the entire state...to Naples, just to spend time with her, and take her to lunch.

She was over the moon!

You can see the size of the house in this pic when you see it next to the huge entrance doors.  

Inside there is a fireplace and a sled ready by the door. 

Outside it is all about the candy.

We tried to count all the different types of candy that cover the door. 

And we were amazed at the list of ingredients!

Gingerbread houses and very special friends...a wonderful way to start the month of December!

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The month of November is a blur to me. We had so much going on I had little time to blog or visit. I hope to be back with my December window very soon. 

Hope you are all enjoying the magic of the season!

Enjoy the day,

Robyn

Gobble, gobble...

Happy Thanksgiving! We will be spending the day with some dear friends. When told about our plans for the day, Annie's first words were, "What about the leftovers?". The kid is always thinking!

Hoping you will be spending the day with those you care about the most, eating lots of your favorites, and simply enjoying the day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Robyn

Paris...

I experienced Paris as a twenty one year old college student. I was forever touched by her beauty. 

My daughter sees the chaos on the news and asks, "What happened now, Mommy?".

The world has gone mad.

Pray...without ceasing...for peace.

November Kitchen Window

Again...my kitchen window for November is full of pumpkins, bittersweet and Shooner Redware. I just can't help myself.

I've added a couple of new pieces to my collection...a tiny pitcher with dots...and a pretty little pitcher.

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We have been enjoying the new look of our mantle. 

I need to put my hooking chair to use...right after I dust that little side table!

Hope you all are enjoying this wonderful time of year. I've finished my Christmas sewing for my friend's shop in Dade City. I did a lot of wool applique...hence, the wool dust that coats the furniture in my sun room.  

If you happen to be in Central Florida on Saturday, stop by Antiques on the Main Street...it's the best little shop in town!

Enjoy the day,

Robyn

Happy All Hallow's Eve!

Have a fun and safe weekend everybody!

Enjoy the day,

Robyn

Atlantic Beach

Last week we spent several days in Atlantic Beach, a place we had never been. It is on the coast up by Jacksonville.  

Every evening, while Mr.MW and Annie enjoyed the pool, I walked the beach...for miles.

I gathered shells and feathers to add to our collections. 

I observed the efforts of the day's beach goers. 

I added a few inches to a simple scarf I am knitting for the daughter of a friend.

I snapped a few photos and...

enjoyed the sunset.

It was a slow, quiet few days. The weather was perfect. 

The company...the best...and...

the hallway had polka dots!

Enjoy the day,

Robyn