My Aunt Dora

Today I said "goodbye" to the earthly body of my beloved Aunt Dora. She was married to John Doell, brother to my dad. Aunt Dora was an amazing lady - she was a gifted hostess, everyone felt comfortable in their home, maybe the kitchen wasn't always in pristine order but she would focus on her company, she always made me feel very special & she was always interested in what I was doing & as my boys grew up, she would ask where they were & what they were doing, she was a wonderful cook & you never left her table hungry, you ate until you were stuffed & then some more, she was super ambitious - when she was in her late 40's, she went to U OF M & got her teaching diploma & taught special needs children for approx. 20 years, she was very involved with her kids at school by bringing music into their lives & cutting a record with two of the kids, Aunt Dora & Uncle John both played several instruments & entertained at care homes, family events & celebrations. She was always so appreciative whenever I took the time to visit her. She deeply mourned the sudden loss of her husband, John & then she & her sister went on short term missions to Mexico, she demonstrated love & devotion to her second husband , faithfully visiting him when he had to go live in Salem Home because Aunt Dora just couldn't care for him at home. 
As long as she was able to speak after she was hospitalized, she expressed gratitude to everyone who visited her during her 7 week hospital stay, Aunt Dora lived her faith in her everyday life, she expressed her longing to be with Jesus in heaven & that her dearest wish was for all her family & friends to join her there.

Today we celebrated a life well lived. I was just so honored to act as pall bearer. As I walked alongside the coffin, I said to myself & later expressed my thoughts later to a few - I am representing my mom, who was unable to attend, she & Aunt Dora were my first example of "girlfriends", I am representing my sisters who also were very fond of Aunt Dora too.  I am doing this for you, Aunt Dora, in thanks for your love & caring for me, for the wonderful example in using your gifts to further God's Kingdom & for the godly woman you were.
I love you, Aunt Dora, I know for a fact that I will see you in Heaven & until then, I will "run the race & I will keep the faith."

10 Things I've done in the last 10 days

1. Made 35 jars of grape jam.
2. Cleaned up the garden & flower patch.
3. Tilled the flower garden.
4. Compiled a 3 month list of Sunday Greeters for church.
5. Went to Winnipeg to have lunch with 2 cousins.
6. Defrosted my freezer.
7. Went to Bismarck, ND with friends to a Southern Gospel concert.
8. Read a book on my IPad.
9. Watched #27 Sprint win the feature race at Red River Speedway.
10. Made a quilted table runner & started another one.






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In a Jam

This year the grapes produced very well. A few days ago I noticed a couple of robins hopping in & out from under the grapes leaves. A short time later there were a few more robins & so I went to check if the grapes were ripe enough to pick so that's what I did & I left lots for the robins to invite their friends & have a party!





So the next afternoon, some of my grandchildren helped me with the process of pulling the grapes off the stems, then cooking them for about 5-7 minutes & then squeezing the juice out of the grapes using a cone sieve.
After all that messy work, I produced 35 jars of grape jam!! I'll probably give 25 jars away. Some of the grandkids have submitted their orders!
Now to go & clean up a messy kitchen!!

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My September Garden

Here are some pictures I took last week of my September garden.


Some of the petunias have done very well & produced many colorful blooms.


This clematis started very slow & is just now producing it's yellow blooms.


The hostas have done very well & produced beautiful foliage.





This is what my flower beds looked like last week. Things changed this week after Jack Frost paid a night visit.
I was getting rather weary of all the watering anyway!!


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Pot Holders

Created with PhotoShake iPad

This is about all the sewing I've gotten done this past month. I made a stack of these pot holders to give away as gifts. I found an easy pattern on the Internet & used up some of my stash.

Cookies!

It was baking day with Carly.

Here she is cutting out a 4 leaf clover.

Here she is with her "special" cookies she decorated.

Yep, I"m the kind of Grandma that bakes butt-crack & boob cookies with her grandchild!!!