~~A Silent Night with Marco Polo~~

Remember my little Marco Polo Piano I wrote about in March? I found it on Craig's List for $50 for my birthday ~~ The cutest little thing & it is now newly tuned & sounds wonderful ~~ I am LOVING playing Christmas Carols every single day! My mom gave me lots of her old Christmas Carol books & I sit & play every one of them - over & over & over!

I have scattered my most cherished Christmas possession across the top of the piano ~~ Ryan & Eric with Santa, every year for years until they decided they were too old to sit on Santa's lap!
A big "comfort & joy" this season as they are both teaching in South Korea this Christmas & I miss them terribly.

Just made a cup of hot cocoa & I'm off to play Silent Night!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Eve before Christmas Eve!

Kathy xoxoxoxo

~~Comfort & Joy......A Simple Pleasure~~

Christmas Tea-Time with Candy Cane Lane Tea & Cookies.......

Take Time to Enjoy the Holidays!~~


Just a little moment of comfort & joy in my day ~~ taking time to enjoy the holiday season ~~

Wishing everyone little moments of joy too & a wonderful & happy Christmas Week! ~~

Kathy xoxoxoxo

~~How to get a Kitty out of a HIGH Tree~~

What a crazy & worrisome two days this turned out to be! I went out to feed our goat Vanilla Bean in the woods & heard Cosmo meowing from about 50' above me in a tree....so far up I could hardly see him.


Look how high he was! That started 2 whole days of trying to get my kitty out of this tree SO high up that I can only imagine how scared he was. If you look at the very top fork in the tree that is where he was for a long, long time....


So I tried everything I could think of to get him to come down but he wouldn't budge.
Coaxing didn't work - a huge bowl of his favorite food didn't work - baby talk didn't work - shaking the tree didn't work ~~ TZ even took down the flag pole, attached a hanger hoop on the end & tried to scoop him off ~~ nothing worked.......so poor little Cosmo who has grown up but is still such a big baby, was stuck for two days & nights, 50 feet up a tree in our woods ~~ he cried & looked so scared....


Especially here where he is peeking down at me wondering why I'm not climbing up there to get him down.....

For a long, long time he was perched in that small fork of the tree that he must have scooted & shimmied up because there were no limbs to climb back down. So on the second night when the forecast said lows in the 20's there was no other choice....


TZ cut the tree down with the chainsaw ~~ Cosmo held on for dear life all the way down & then jumped off at about 10 feet - no broken bones, no worse for wear - just a starving kitty!

Thank goodness it was a dead tree so no great loss there & we have tons of trees ~ If it had been a live one he might still be up there!


He came in & ate THREE cans of kitty food within the hour & has turned into a big baby since that escapade.....a very pampered kitty jumping in my lap wanting lots of love & reassurance ~ This kitty doesn't venture out much anymore.....he hasn't forgotten the big tree.....& stays safe & sound inside with Cabo & Cookie.....lots of baby naps....

~~A "Top Secret" Mess of Jewels....~~

Since it's "top secret" I can only show you a mess of jewels.....all over my coffee table which for now is my Christmas work table.....

Nothing organized about it but I know what I'm doing with them - just can't show you!....shhhhh

So to you, it's a "mess of jewels" - to me it's my Christmas Craft project for this year.....& believe me it gets harder & more challenging every year to come up with my new project, a new idea....something I haven't made yet after 25 plus something years of "homemades only" with my family.......which I still LOVE doing after all these years!

So after seeing the top 3 pictures I at least tried to organize here ~~ but once I get busy again they will be all over the place & a mess again until I have all my homemade treasures finished....& then I will show you!

HAPPY DECEMBER 1st!! xoxoxo

~~I Found Springtime on the Curb!~~

Look what I found - on the curb!! A little bit of Springtime being thrown away!

I can't imagine giving up on these Lovely Pink Impatiens so soon since they are still this Beautiful & in full Bloom!


They are now in a nice, bright spot in a corner of my kitchen, right in front of my kitchen door where they can soak up the sunshine ~~ I hope to baby this hanging basket throughout the winter so I can have Springtime every day when it turns cold!



It's still in the 70's here in Texas so it feels like spring but those cold days are coming!

Can't believe Thanksgiving is TWO DAYS AWAY! Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Kathy xoxoxo

~~Good Morning Autumn~~

We did a little autumn road trip this week & discovered this gorgeous fall "glow" just up the road from our house ~ the leaves haven't changed too much yet here in Texas so this was such a nice surprise to see!



My favorite new hanging candle $1.99 from Goodwill ~ I love the way the beads reflect on the wall behind it when the room is dark & it has a nice glow ~~


I Love The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!




This morning I went out to feed the chickens & Vanilla Bean & I really soaked in the brilliant, warm autumn sunshine, shuffled through the fallen leaves, & just took some time to breathe deep ~~ Everything is damp this morning from a late night thunderstorm so the air smells really fresh & earthy - fallish!

I'm loving Autumn so much this year & am just taking time to enjoy all the wonderful fall feelings of falling colorful leaves, breezes through open windows, candle glow! Every day feels special & I don't want to miss a single, cozy minute of fall. We're still having days in the 80's here in Texas but you can sure feel that change in the air & it's warm enough to get outdoors & really enjoy it.

So I'm off to open all the windows & let fall breeze in ~~ Hope you enjoy your Autumn Morning too!

GOOD MORNING AUTUMN!! xoxo

~~Our Little Cabin in the Woods~~

Four & 1/2 Years ago when we found our cottage we knew it would be "home sweet home" ~~ But what really sold us on our place was the woods behind our house, so thick at that time we couldn't walk through them. We moved in on the first day of Spring 2004 & within a week & with boxes still stacked in the house to be unpacked, we headed back to the woods & cut walking trails, put benches so we could sit & enjoy it, hung bird feeders, birdhouses, & windchimes, & made an arbor from tree limbs for the blackberries & honeysuckle vines ~~

And the next Spring we built this little cabin in our woods!

This was the first week & first wall & it was almost every bit put together by TZ with salvaged, found, curbside, & free materials ~~

With it's rickety tree log steps, it's very rustic & primitive with a screened in porch where we love to sit in our rocking chairs & watch the birds & other wildlife ~~

Cabo & Cookie love to watch for critters in the woods from the porch~~

It's a great place to camp-out when we don't wanna leave home......just head to the woods ~ We've even joked that we should move in ~~ what a much simpler life to live in a tiny little cabin!

The white storage cabinet & little fridge were both found on the curb!~~

One of the few things we actually had to buy were the two sliding windows on each side ~~ curtains, chairs, etc. were all from garage sales or the curb ~~

The sleeping loft has just a simple mattress & a window on each side - all were found on the curb - it almost feels like a treehouse up there because the peak of the cabin is up in the trees & there is always a nice cross breeze coming through those windows ~~ the doggie fence is to keep Cabo & Cookie from falling out! TZ built wooden slats on the wall for climbing up there & we have little skylights in the roof to let in the sunlight & see the sky ~~ the tin roof is so nice when it rains ~~

This is in front of the cabin where we dug a fire pit for campfire & cooking ~~

There is an unfinished "peak" at the tippy top with no tin - that would be right about when TZ fell off the ladder ~~ I'd rather see it unfinished than for him to get back up there - it's very high!~~

A special place to stop & enjoy the quiet & the birds ~~

I found our "WELCOME TO OUR CABIN" paddle sign at a garage sale for two dollars ~~

I especially love being out here this time of year in the fall ~~ the breeze is wonderful, it's very cool, & the leaves are falling ~ the trees are dancing! It's just a quiet, serene, & happy place to be & it's a nice, lingering little walk through the woods to get there!

Now if you go here - Good2go2Mexico you can take another walk that I'm sure you will enjoy. My sister Linda & her husband Bill moved to Alamos Mexico this summer ~~ You'll find lots of great, fun, & funny adventures in her blog!

Happy October! ~~ Kathy xoxoxo