My Stella Bella

Our Stella has been struggling with some health issues lately.

She has had a partially collapsed trachea for some time now, but lately it has worsened, and one night a week or so ago she and i were up all night trying to soothe her breathing passages with Reiki, love and prayers. I brought her to the doctor the next day and he told me that she had developed a significant heart murmur she did not have just this past Spring. Poor Stell was suffering from congestive heart failure.. Dr. White gave me some pills to try and said i would know if they worked within 10 days.

This was Stell when we started the medicine....She was struggling to breathe and was heavy with fluid...

 and this is Stella now!

 She is still very snorkey from her trachea but her breathing is much improved, and her energy level is fantastic! (chew that bone little tiger!)

She's even doing her little pirouette dance at feeding time. Thank Goodness for our vet and for miracles come true. We love you so much Stella!

Farmer's Market Fresh!

Brand new batches of Mare's Moonshine for the Holidays 2014! My daughter picked these berries up at the Troy Farmer's Market as soon as they opened this morning and brought them straight to me. They were picked this morning, so you can't get any fresher than that! This is the end of berry season here so these may be my last liquors of the season...From left to right, blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, and red raspberry. Now all they need is some Reiki, time, and more vodka to top them off!

New Sneakers!

 It's back to school shopping time and Lola and her Mommy went shopping for sneakers.

 Lola loves the kind called Twinkle Toes...You take a step and all these little lights go flashing on the toe box. Very fashionable....

 And since they were having a sale on two pair, Carly told her she could get another pair, and this is what she chose.....

Hmmmmmm....Lots of lights and glitter too! That's my girl! She definitely dances to her own kind of music!

New Rosaries

 I made this little one decade pocket rosary for my Mother for her birthday. I wanted to make something special for her...

 so i found this bronze reproduction medal of Mary. Mom was born on August 15th, the Feast day of Our Lady of Assumption. The connector medal is Mary, Queen of Heaven. Mom has a special connection to Mary, as do i...

 I searched high and low for some nice 6-8 mm sized peridot beads (her birthstone) to use in her rosary, but to no avail...So i chose these peridot colored cathedral style glass beads. I hope she likes it...(she loved it!)

 I also made this little rosary i am calling Irish Blessings. The beads are olive green with glazing on them that reflects all different colors when you move them.

the small crucifix has little shamrocks on it

as does the centerpiece...

This little pocket rosary will be available in my Etsy shop soon!

Sunday Morning Waterford Farmer's Market

 There are a LOT of Farmer's markets around here...Some are very big and have lots of wonderful things to look at, sample and buy. But one of my favorites is the Waterford farmer's market because of it's location. It is one of the smaller markets, but it is super friendly, you can bring your kids and dogs, and it really has everything you would need from a farmer's market. It is located near the Waterford Erie Canal lock right on the Hudson river.

 

 This man is one of my favorites there. He makes chili sauce just like my Uncle Rocky used to make, and he even looks a little like my Uncle did. I caught a whiff of his chili sauce a few weeks back when he took the lid off his pots to stir it, and it brought back so many memories...i've been going back ever since. He is coaching me on how to make an authentic French Canadian meat pie from his mother's old recipe. My Aunt Claire used to make them and i've been wanting to make one just like hers myself all these years. 

 There are the doors to the Lock behind the little tug boat...

 All kinds of boats were pulling up to the market to shop.

 This little robotic car was interacting with all the kids...My grandkids would have loved it!

It was such a lovely day...I want to come back here every week, because once Summer is gone, so is this little market...

Kiva Sisters- Alejandrina from Honduras

Doña Alejandrina is 54 years old, married, and has three children who are independent. She lives in a neighborhood in the town of Choloma, Cortes.


Doña Alejandrina is a hardworking woman who has managed her own business for approximately 20 years. She prepares and sells baked goods such as cakes, donuts, empanadas, and cookies. Alejandrina also makes tamales by order and sews garments whenever she is asked. She reinvests her earnings so that she can maintain a stable business.


Doña Alejandrina has decided to request a loan of 10,000 HNL so that she can buy ingredients such as flour, shortening, sugar, yeast, eggs, and milk for making bread. With this investment, she will be able to complete a large order that has been submitted by her customers. Her goal is to generate income for completing the payment of her house and for continuing to grow her business.
For more information, or to make your own loan, click here

My Favorite Things: Making this year's batch of Mare's Moonshine

Let's see...so far we have 2 batches of strawberry and "our" berry blend(not sure what kind of berries i have growing on my fence but they are delicious), a batch of local cherries, and a batch of strawberry, blackberry and blueberry blend. Local sugar plums are in the fridge waiting for more vodka for the base. I still have several batches of my moonshine i put together last year that i will strain and bottle up for this year's Christmas gifts. After sitting that long...a year and a half or so, the liquor is very nice and very potent!  These new batches will probably sit in the basement until Christmas 2014, except for the sugar plum which i will open on Christmas Eve thru New Year's day. Hopefully we will have enough sugar plum to carry a few batches over till 2014, but sugar plum is VERY popular!

In the Garden

 I missed what was blooming in the whole month of July. I would go to the hospital in the morning and come back when it was getting dark. But we still have the whole month of August, September and October left, and the gardens are always showing their finest. This is a perennial Hibiscus.

 And this is the climbing rose i bought last year called New Dawn. It has bloomed on and off since early June and the scent is beautiful

 

  Here and there are little splashes of red from my bee balm

and the wild Black Eyed Susans are blooming all over the place this year. Here it is with some "Baby Joe" Joe Pye Weed

My Favorite Things: Notes from Lola

 Dear Gumma, I love you and i hope Poppy gets better soon and i love you. Love Lola

Beautiful Visitors

 I saw the butterfly first. She was so BIG and heavy bodied that i saw her thru the window in the living room and ran to get my camera

 here she is buried in the phlox in the front garden

 and finally she sat still long enough for me to take her picture.

 But then i saw this blurrrrrr go by and at first i thought it was a little hummingbird

 but when i got close enough to really see it, i saw it was a moth of some kind! I did a search and i think it is a Hummingbird moth! I have never before seen one of these little creatures in my life. But these little guys sure do like pink phlox!

 This little visitor was so fast i could barely point the camera at it in time before it took off for another flower!

 Zip!...blurry....

Zip!!!... blurry....

 (both the butterfly and the moth are in this photo...can you find them?)

 There he is!

My Favorite Things : Being at Home....

This isn't the prettiest pie i have ever seen or made, but it sure is delicious! 

Homemade peach and blueberry pie. It is so nice to be home and to get back to doing all the things i love....Yum!

My Kiva Sister- Shumaila from Pakistan

At the age of 24, Shumaila is an energetic married woman. She has been doing a business of flower-making for three years. It’s been a passion for her. She knows the method of making beautiful flowers from fabric, paper and other materials. She also arranges handmade wedding garlands for brides and grooms, and makes flowers out of every material she find suitable. The immense experience in the art of flower making has lent her great versatility in making flower to meet her clients' needs. It’s her fourth year with Kashf Foundation and for the improvement of her business she requires a loan of Rs. 40,000/- to buy the additional materials required for making artificial flowers, such as fabric, tissue papers with packs of floral tape, scissors and paints. It will help her to inflate her sales, which ultimately will help in generating more income for her.
For more information, or to make your own loan, click here

Getting Back to Normal

Bill is back home, we are adjusting to a new kind of normal, and i am attempting to hack thru the jungles that i call my gardens. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes....i have no doubt they made a great difference...Now...back to posting about life...love, mare

Back again...

Bill was released from the hospital on Monday and we were back in the ER on Wednesday...He has been re-admitted to the hospital. Please keep praying....Love, mare

A Special Gift

Lola brought me a special gift

 It was wrapped up special and made just for me

 

 She said "Gumma i wrote you a song.."

and here it is

"to the hedge and over the sea

and over mountains

and onto the seashore"

What a treasure for me....

More Updates on Bill

Somehow, someway, with the help of a lot of prayers and good wishes, Bill has stabilized in his lungs and in his kidney function. Three weeks after we entered the hospital we are finally able to address the problem that brought him there...the wounds. We are waiting to talk to the surgeons. They have found an infection in the bones of his left foot, and will amputate the part of the foot that is infected. I am very grateful that the infection is in a part of his body that he doesn't need to survive. Bone infection is very serious(osteo myelitis) but in a Quadriplegic it could be life threatening. We are hoping the surgery will happen early this coming week and we will be able to take Bill home to heal and recover. Thank you all so much for your Prayers and Good Wishes. I believe it is a miracle that he pulled thru the last few weeks of trauma. Please keep the prayers coming! Love, mare

Update on Bill

Bill is still in the hospital, and has been struggling. The IV antibiotics the doctors gave him to stop the infection have caused his kidneys to shut down(temporarily i hope) and this has caused him to be very confused. They are also keeping an eye on his lungs. Please keep the prayers coming. I really do appreciate it. Love, mare

Bill

Dear Friends,
     Bill has been admitted to the local hospital. He is fighting some skin breakdown and infection. I know what the power of prayer can do, so if you would think of us and send some good vibes, we would be so very grateful. Love, mare