Can You See Me Now?

I am still adjusting to the new glasses but I do like being able to see again. I bounced back and forth to wire rims all my adult life.  I did take time to have those huge lensed glasses in the 70's or 80's but to the most part I have been peering through the small sized lenses for a long time. Because of the change in my left eye the past few years,  I was closing it most of the time so I could focus.  I know it is the big glasses look right now but I didn't want circle glasses or square ones.

The only space that I have for the small train is a crowded one. It is limited space and I can't really line it all in a row to display it. I moved it around so I could photograph it.

I think that it is so neat to have the smaller sizes and you can still feel like you are in the train yard. My display for the trains is just on hold. Life gets to be too busy to do the fun things.

I hung all the twelve snowmen ornaments and really didn't take time to look at them. This guy definitely is a smiling guy with an over-decorated present or two. I am glad that I do pick these up when I see them as most stores don't offer them anymore. I do now remember that I bought the snowmen at a sale at a home store. One can buy them individually but to thee most part they are actually plastic.

The village is fun to assemble. Our having two different areas to display them allows us to spread them out into of a more natural looking village. It is easier to appreciate the different items when they are not all packed in tight. We haven't bought a new one for quite a long time. Our son gifted us a couple a few years back from a garage sale.

I am returning most of my purchases for my wife  from yesterday and will try again today.  I was wearing the new glasses and things were not working well.  I had bought something for my wife that was exactly the same item but in a different color. I think I can do better if I just start over again.  I did catch myself realizing the fancy flannel shirt that I had at the counter was one she already owned. I think things will be smoother today.  I can read sizes and prices better now but I have to hold them out in front of me a couple of feet. I couldn't focus on anything before so removed my glasses in order to read.

Everyone stay store during this holiday season. I wish you all to have a good day.  Thank you for checking in on my post today.

Making a Village.......

The Christmas village is being assembled.  It is actually done as of this time of posting. You won't see it until I get all the lights installed. We found one of our village pieces, a barn, in a box marked village people. It was nice to finally find them all. The barn makes number eleven.  Finding the lights for the village was sort of the same situation, as the box was mislabeled.  The string of the lights for the house were filled with bulbs that did not work.

Angels for the tops of trees have become elaborate.  We picked this up after Christmas not really knowing what it does.  The wings are fiber optic and the colors change continually while it is lighted.

There really isn't a good way to get a good photo of it but this visual of the tree shows the colors the angel is displaying at the time. With the village now done and the trees are all up, we can just move on to other things.  More shopping is needing to be done and one set of presents need to be mailed out soon.  It doesn't go far but we don't get together on the holiday.  She is without family and enjoys us sending her a batch of small things to open. I think she opens one a day after Christmas until they are all opened.

We have a Christmas lunch with my wife's friend on Thursday  and she too likes getting a lot of small gifts to open.  She is a crafter so she is easy to buy for all at one craft store. One must always include chocolate in the collection to make it a true Christmas.

It is a bright, sunny day today.  It will be a good day to work outside too.  Thanks for stopping by today

Monday......

I take a lot of photos and sometimes they just work perfectly. The reflection in the window with all at sparkle of the lights. The ornaments also reflect all the lights. All the work in putting up the tree does pay off.

It takes a while to get everything plunged in at night.  At night when we go to bed we ask what is all the light that must have been left on.  It is the Christmas room with its two trees. It is a good way to warm the room with all those lights on at the same time. I have been leaving my out door lights on all night as it is getting closer to Christmas.

We will have visitors after Christmas.  We don't know exactly when at this point but we will be planing for company again. The boys will probably have grown some more but they should remember the house with them being here at Thanksgiving.

The outdoor tree is fun for us.  We do enjoy seeing it at night while sitting at the table. It is a cheap tree and lights on the rails but it makes a great look in the dark. I did get two of the legs wired down to the floor and the opposite side is braced with wire to the deck rails. I kept getting the reflection of the room in the window where I was shooting.  This was the best shot with minimal room reflection.


The trip to the old place to day was needed as I had not been there for nine days.  The mail had built up at the post office and I really needed to see all was safe and sound. The furnace does a good job and water and electricity were all fine.  I do check to see if there were any chance of break ends through the basement too.  Everything was fine.

The lake was freezing up in some areas. It is such a small body of water so there are so many different places of freezing and others are open because of the currents to the dam spillway.  The seagulls have not left yet, so I could see them walking on the ice when the mood is right and others are floating around.

We have plans for a meal out this evening and squeezing in Christmas shopping in the afternoon. It is dangerous out there in the malls on weekends. Hopefully middle afternoon on a weekday will be less stress.  Thank you all for stopping by today.

Sunday's Posting.....

The pears have arrived from our Chicago area kids. They are so beautiful to see as the red pear is so great to look at. The first one that we tried tasted good too.

We went out with our Sunday school boys today to a real Chinese Restaurant. Our head minister found it in the college town north of us and we had the real food.  Most food of this caliber are Americanizes and that works for me.  The cooks of this place cook true dishes that do look like a lot of unusual vegetables in a big bowl with garlic chicken.  The spice chicken is coated with sweet and spicy coating and the plate is covered with paprika peppers.  The way things are served reminded me of the old fondue pots day.  Everyone gets a bowl of rice and you pile on things from any bowl that you want.  The spices are hot so I did eat slowly and had a lot of rice to eat. We enjoyed eating with the boys as they are from Asian parents, either Chinese or Cambodia. They really liked the food as it was just like home cooking for them. Our boys in the Asian group are all growing up on us.  They were just a bunch of scrambling little guys a few years ago.

We made some deadlines the past week so we will remake our list for this week.  We usually do get it all done but now it is a choice of  which to do first.

I thank you for stopping by today.

Saturday's Stuff......

Friday's sunset was wonderful. The structures in front of this view must have been stunning to see.

You can see the reflection of the sky in the storm door. I had seen the view through a bedroom window so I knew I needed to get out there. Barney decided that he needed to go outside for other reasons. So we both went out and I took shots with the dog leash in hand.

The scene on the dresser is duplicated with the dresser mirror. The Christmas room is getting a collection of things that really can't be displayed anywhere else.

It is time to get really serious with some of the Christmas shopping.  We did get our Maine package sent yesterday and the painting done by my wife has been sent.

We made some purchases today at Walmart and I was pleased with the store. They hired people to be at every single checkout counter and it kept the wait from the crowds down to a minimum. I do expect to wait but I don't like seeing long lines when they don't have cashiers at each counter. Today I had two people in front of me and it didn't take long to get to the head of the line.

We are having great weather today with the temps being warm.  No windchill and 50's is a good thing.  Thank you for stopping by today.

End of the Week's Worth.......

The village is set out but not placed in its new location in the living room. Maybe this weekend we can get it organized and put out all the people that go with it.

The ledge on the stairs is its temporarily location plus three businesses are setting on the stair.  Somehow we have lost one of the pieces to the collection.  It wasn't in a box but was bought at a garage sale. I can't figure out where it is.

This was always on the fireplace mantel but it fits perfectly reached from end to end on the stair railing. I had to invent a way to attach it without destroying the wood rail.  My wife has some ribbons to put on the exposed wires to finish off the job.

Leaning tree is showing its response to the strong wind that comes down the valley. There were bricks on the base but the continue wind shaking the tree causes the bricks to slide off of the base. I will wire the thing down today to the deck floor.

It is a sad sight but it looks great at night when I right it up and turn on the lights. It is strange that we don't have snow out there but we will.  Our seasons are so similar each year and sometimes the snow doesn't come until a few days before Christmas.  Our temperatures are still staying decent with the severe cold not invading us.  That too will change because we live in Iowa on the great plains.

Shipping out my wife's painting today after I get the box created and everything is packed to keep it safe.  We have gifts to ship out today also for our kids who live in Maine. It may not make it out there in time but every year the time varies.  We need to get shopping now for a sister so we too can get it shipped.  The distance is not that far but getting it there in time would be good.  I had to go clear my workroom and storage area so I could get to the mat cutter. It will help me in reworking a box and also cut foamcore for surrounding the canvas.  I will share photos later of the painting once the new  owners have received it.

One ornament that represents our yellow kitty is hanging on the tree. We lost her a few years ago and she still is in our memory.  I found the ornament in a sale box after Christmas one year along with two others that resembled our two dogs at the time. The newest shiny brite set did end up on the big tree.  We are now finished with putting up trees and it is a good feeling.

Some people seem to be ready for the season way ahead of time.  We don't ever get things done as soon as we should, but we do get them done. Living close to many different kinds of stores has relieved us of a lot of stress.  Driving a few short miles just to shop for two people makes it so much easier.  We can return the next day to do the next set and not have to shop for everyone all at the same time. That is so stressful to do it like that.

A New Day.......

I had an idea that I wanted to make a special shelf for the train in our downstairs living area.  I started on a boxed-like design and tried to assemble it.  I even bought more wood as I was going to have boxed frame with sets of shelves for more than just one train.  By late afternoon things were going bad with the assembling of it and some shelves were too short for the designated place.  I tried to regroup by shortening the main frame and I was disgusted.  By later afternoon, I took it all apart and tossed all of the wood back into the shop saying that this is not going to happen.

I slept on it after a very bad, awful ,yesterday experience and regrouped today. I should not be doing this at all as Christmas is coming. I am on hold with that though as my wife finishes up a painting today.  It will be shipped tomorrow.  While waiting for her to finish, I did this.  The new design uses some of the old wood but the concept of shelves being held by two supports really lightens up the design. I guess I was thinking that it could look like a  pice of toy train railroad track. The wider board is the bottom of the shelf and the top one will still be big enough for train cars if I find some more to collect.

With the move from the shop to the open floor in the family room, the design evolved.  That is how I work to refined things.  None of these pieces are attached as they lay on the floor. I will not be changing much more now except I need to figure out how to put a back ledge on the small board shelves to keep the small train cars from falling out of the back. I do have a plan but will need to go back to the lumber store.

The center shelf from the first layout did become wider. Because of it being wider, I did have to make a larger set of brackets for it. I will do some cutting on the board to make it fit into the vertical board. I will do that on another day. I guess it will be having slots made for it to slip back a little on the vertical board.

I will do a trial and error thing with the cross bracing of it.  I am thinking that I would like to do a cross X behind the middle of the shelf like the symbol of a railroad crossing. I want to keep in simple so if it clutters it to much I can do different bracing.

The one half of this set of smaller train is placed around the small Christmas tree. I don't really have anywhere else to place these.  So the will wait in the rail yard while I finish up the shelf.  I just got word that I can get the box ready for shipping my wife's painting.  The people loved here work and paid the bill.  It will be shipped to Michigan which means it won't take so long to get there.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I wish you all well wishes and good times.