Pear tree lane Farmhouse

~Welcome home~

This blog is dedicated to my dear family who live many miles away, and to you dear ladies , who have a heart for keeping the home fires burning. You, who love and cherish your family, and have a desire to create a home that says "Welcome, you are loved and cared for."

My desire is that when you leave that you will be encouraged and know that you too are loved.

Sue~

~A week that was...busy~

Written by Sue, Thursday,March 22,2012                     suntan weather, high 80's


Let me show you my new "Sloggers". What are "Sloggers? They are shoes made from rubber, that gardeners use, oh so comfortable. Cost $9.99, and I am proud to say "MADE IN THE GOOD 'OLE U.S.A.!!!. I  often wonder why retailers insult our intelligence by putting .99 on the dollar instead of rounding it off. I don't know about you , but I don't go around the store adding $9.99 + 4.99, instead I say $10.00 +$5.00. EH!!~smiling~

Wednesday.... was spent cleaning the porches from winter's grime, and spring pollen. It took me most of the day, and what a wonderful feeling to get it cleaned I mean scrubbed from top to bottom. I am already making plans for what plants I will use this summer, and how I am going to decorate. I put most of the furniture in the garage until this pollen is gone, way to much trouble to re clean ~grin~ The Sloggers came in handy for this job, because of using so much water, they kept my feet dry~

 I enjoy sitting here in the summer shelling peas and beans with family, because a breeze is always blowing, of course, it is a breezeway!
 The front porch is a favorite hangout when family comes.  Mr P. and I like to come out here early in the morning with our coffee and have devotions. When the pollen is over, we are going to put  a fresh coat of paint on the floor and I want to paint the ceiling a deeper blue.
This is the porch I call "my place", as I like to spend quiet time with the Lord,  I come here at night when everyone is sleeping and listen to the night sounds, most of the time I hear a train whistle in the far distant, and the Whippoorwill always sings me a song. I decided to wait to put my sheers up until, Yes, the pollen is gone.

Today... I  put the final coat of paint on the poles and caps for the fenced in garden. I am on a rush to get this done as most of you know that as long as it is wide open my dear chicks are on house arrest. I feel so sorry for them. I was so glad to have finished this.

Mr P. readied the land and planted our English peas, and corn, as today was a good day for above ground crops. If you look closely you can see some strawberry blossoms, which means in a few weeks I will be picking fresh strawberries, and that means strawberry jam!

Our weather has been exceptionally warm, maybe I should say hot, and I have enjoyed every minute, I have begun to get my farmers tan. LOL. I love this time of year, when everything becomes new again.

I want to thank Vee, from, A haven for Vee, for hosting "a notecard party:, yesterday. I enjoyed this party so much, and made some wonderful new friends. I am so thankful for her friendship, she is so gracious and such a wonderful person. We all wanted her to do another party, and plans are all ready in the making, I am so looking forward to her next party.
To all who stopped by and for your sweet notes, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

As you can see we have a lot of projects going on right now, it is a busy season for farmers, so I am going to take a few days to work on these projects, and to catch-up on visiting here in blogland, I also want to refresh my blog, I need to put some fresh photos up.
Until next time,
Hugs,
Sue

~Vee's Note Card Party~

Written by Sue, March 21, 2012....         very warm, thunder showers, Temps. 70's 
I am joining my friend Vee, for her Note Card Party, we are to find four favorite photos and post them. I must tell you this was a very hard task for me, as I enjoy so many things, family, our animals, our farm, our gardens. 

~Flowers from my gardens~ 

~This is a perennial sunflower~


~Butterflies love Lantana~
~A rose from my garden~

~Apples in the orchard~

 Please come join the party, by clicking below, much thanks to Vee for hosting.

http://ahavenforvee.blogspot.com/2012/03/note-card-party-welcome.html

~Life is a journey~

Written by Sue, Sunday, March, 18, 2012                       A beautiful warm, cloudy day, temps. 70.[DSC09306.JPG]
Do we trust God enough to hop on the back seat and let Him do the mapping and  driving? Which road would you take, if you were driving? I know which one I would take... the easy one, but how boring and useless that would  be!!

Proverbs 3: 5-6~ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,And lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will direct your paths.

When God is in control, He takes the scenic route. He likes to climb high roads, so as to build muscles, and make us stronger. Sometimes he will coast down hill and we will lift our hands high in the air, with the wind blowing in our hair, and the sun shining on our face,.... we feel so free.

Sometimes God's route takes us through a deep dark valley, it is at this time  that we put our arms around him and hold on real tight, all the while crying and asking Him to not let go. He then will say, "hold on tight my child,  just  'Trust Me'  a little further and you will be through this valley."  It is during  this time  we learn to trust Him most.

Isaiah 55:8-9~For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.~For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts, 

And there are times when we really think we can handle the steering  by ourselves, God being so gracious will let  go and let us take hold, when all of a sudden we hit a bump, or we get on a wrong road , we get scared and then we say "Lord I need you, please help". He then smiles and takes the realm back.

But at last we arrive at our destination safe and sound, it is then we say "wow! what a journey, I  feel so much stronger, I am now learning how  to deal with obstacles as they come, and for sure I have learned how to enjoy the ride too!! I also know now that if I had not let go and let You, Lord take the lead, I could not have made it." "Thank You Lord."
Blessings,
Sue

~Happy Friday~

Written by Sue, Friday, March, 16, 2011                  beautiful, sunny and hot, temps. 85
I am forever coming to their rescue. lol Do you think they appreciate it? No, or else they would behave!

DH and I had a consultation as what to do with the situation of Sue's chickens messing his gardens about. I had been letting them out early and it seems they were getting into some mischief.
Here I am making the point that they are eating slugs and bugs, and not meaning to mess the garden about, and that they have to take dust baths to clean themselves.
He was telling me how long it took him to undo what they had done, and how he had more importnt things to do than to chase them around the house like he did yesterday, ~btw~ that was a funny sight, one hen even hid from him, and I was trying not to let him see me laughing.
For some unknown reason thy like to clip the heads of onions and garlic, and they were taking sunbaths in the asparagus bed,and potatoes, so much so that dh had  to replant them, so for now the chickens are on lock down and are only allowed out for an hour late in the evening.~sigh~ That is until we get the fence repaired, painted, back in place. This is the same fence that we took down last year to make these repairs. So much for progress.

Today dh sanded the poles and I painted them. One happy camper he is to have me back painting, this is one job that he absolutely does not like to do. It is one that I enjoy. I had  so much fun basking in the sun and swishing that brush. He  kept asking me how I felt, and finally ran me in the house when he saw my face was getting red, hey! it was hot here today!, between running me and the chickens I think he's got his hands full, don't you? I am a big handful too!!LOL

And would you believe, ten minutes after letting them out four of them went right back to the garden, I sneaked out of the house to run them out before Mr P. saw them as I knew he would put them on total lock down.I am forever the peace maker around here!~grin~ When they saw me coming with my camera they took off running as fast as their short little legs would carry them.Do you see the newly painted poles? I painted all of them, and the caps today, and hope to put a second coat on tomorrow.

What a wonderful week it has been, a renewed friendship, with Jane, spending time outside soaking in the sunshine, she and I were able to do some visiting, Wednesday and Thursday morning at the VA nursing home and a couple of nearby nursing facilities. Visiting these sweet precious ladies and gentlemen was one of the most rewarding experiences I have had in a while. We were so warmly welcomed and got lots of hugs and kisses from them. The best medicine in all of the world!!

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your sweet kind thoughts and especially your prayers for me. There are not enough words to tell you how much you mean to me.
Enjoy your weekend!
Love always,
Sue

~Numbers 6:24-26~
"The Lord bless you and keep you; 
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift His countenance upon you,
And give you peace."

~Finally out and about~

Written by Sue, Tuesday, March 13,2012          a beautiful, sunny day, temp. 80 degree, unbelievable!, so thankful!
Hello Dear Ones,
I  pray all is well with you and yours, I guess by now it is obvious that I have been  on a break, one that I did not chose. I am so much better, and getting stronger each day. Thank you so much for your kind thoughts, cards, emails, and thoughtful gifts, but most of all for your prayers.

 I am blessed beyond words to have you in my life. But am even more blessed to have such a wonderful husband that takes such great care of me,. He has the heart and hands of Jesus, so compassionate and caring.I remember waking up one night when I was so sick, and feeling his hand gently on my head and hearing him softly praying for me. I never let him know that I had  heard him as I knew that he and the Lord were having a quiet time together, but needless to say, there were tears of joy from my eyes.


So many verses in the Bible speak of God's strength for us, one of my favorites that I have committed to memory  is Habakkuk 3:19~ The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.
Each day as I am getting  stronger, I know that I will once again be jumping as the deer in these photos that I took today from inside our front door.



With my strength returning I look around and see so  much work that needs doing, (for me that's a good sign that I am better, lol) our dear little farmhouse, and garden  have been calling  my name asking me when or if I will be able to attend to their needs, ~smile~

Another motivation to get busy cleaning is, some of the older grandchildren have called and want to visit in April, while on spring break! Now that is a shot of energy for this grandma! ~big grin~

Today was a busy one, as I had an appointment for a hair cut,one that I had canceled twice during my illness, this is what it looked like before leaving today,looking real shaggy, huh?

Why the photo, well I had been telling my hairdresser that I needed a before and after photo, because she does such a great job with my hair, so my plans were to take one before I left, which I did,  come home and take the after photo, well, guess who forgot to take the after photo when she got home? She did a beautiful job! I need all the help I can get! lol

It seems I got side tracked by going to visit a friend who had recently moved back, (after being gone for 20 years,) to our neck of the woods. She had called weeks ago, but because of my illness we just couldn't get together.

 My plans when I left the salon was to go straight home, but for some reason I was inspired to make a turn toward her son's home, whom she is living with while her home is being built! I do not make it a habit of just dropping in on people, as I do not like this to happen to me, but God's plans and ways are not ours.

We had a wonderful visit,and made plans to visit a nursing home soon. You see, lately my heart's desire has been to start visiting nursing homes again, but just could not seem to get it going because of being sick. I found out that she had been visiting several since returning,this is something she and I used to do together, one that I have so missed! We picked up right where we had  left off, just like it was only yesterday that we were together.Talk about our steps being ordered by God, and His perfect timing for our lives! ......

*********************************************
So not a whole lot going on around here as I have been out of commission for about six weeks, dh has continued to work on the green house, all the while looking after me, and what a wonderful job he is doing, I really feel bad that I have not been able to help him, I did however, slip out and take some photos, and will update in a later post. 
Pear Tree Lane is in full bloom, I  took these this afternoon as I was coming home. 
I love to walk under these trees and inhale the fragrance from these flowers! Just savoring another moment! These trees will soon shed these beautiful flowers for beautiful green leaves that will turn orange, burgundy, yellow and golden come fall!
Do you remember, Noel the lamb that we raised on a bottle, well, here she is all weaned and doing well, when I pass by the fence she runs and lets me rub her back. The other sheep just stare at us, not quite figuring out what is going on.


I think of you so often,and hope to be back posting regularly and visiting soon,. Please understand why I have not been out in blogland, as there are times when one is so ill, that they just don't feel like talking. I have only recently started taking phone calls.

Until next time, 
Love,
Sue