NEW CHRISTMAS WREATH

I made this wreath to place over some outside lights, but the light were too big, so I just hung it on my front door.  This is the largest wreath I've ever made (36").  Whoops, takes up half the door.  LOL

Old, Me!

Maybe a facelift next year!   LOL

SIGH....BROKEN HEART SYNDROME...I CAN TELL YOU THAT IT'S REAL.

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/Cardiomyopathy/Is-Broken-Heart-Syndrome-Real_UCM_448547_Article.jsp#.Wg0JHIhryM8

Batch Cooking Day at my house

I love cooking, but as I grow older I find I don't want to stand at the stove and prepare a meal every day.  So, my solution is cooking a bunch of different dishes in one day, or "batch" cooking.  (BTW: Everything is made from scratch, no shortcuts.) Today I fixed Ham and Bean Soup, Beef Stew, Black Bean Chili, pork chops seasoned with sage, and Buckwheat pancakes.  I freeze everything, then take them out of the freezer as needed, and heat them up in the microwave.  Oh, and I made a large batch of homemade cornbread, too.  Hubby likes his cornbread fried like pancakes so it's crisp and brown. Just place them in zippered storage bags and freeze.   You can thaw them in the microwave as well.  Just wrap in a paper towel before doing so. Those are real pancakes in the bottom picture.  I am gluten-sensitive, so I LOVE Buckwheat pancakes and honey or maple syrup.  Yummy!.

"EVEN SO, COME QUICKLY, LORD JESUS!"

Yes, I am one of them (Christian). 

Thank You, Billionaire George Soros!

Charlottesville, VA 2017.  Well, why stop with statues?   Maybe "Gone With The Wind" should be banned, too? Or, how about Thomas Jefferson's Monticello razed? After all, he was one of the largest slave owners in his time even though he wrote so eloquently that "all men are created equal." However, in present day, how does getting rid of these statues change the wicked past or make the horrendous act of slavery any less so? How does it absolve us as a nation? It doesn't. It can't. Yet, once we realized how wrong we were and even though it tore our nation apart, we went to war to try and right that wrong. The Civil War was Hell on earth for this nation.  It set son against father, brother against brother. It literally tore families apart.  Many died trying to set this wrong right, even though it came at a high price tearing our nation to pieces, killing large amounts of her own citizenry to do so. But, ask yourself this? Why is all this happening now, when we have lived with these monuments all these years since? Why is the racial pot once again boiling over? I believe I have the answer.  It is boiling over because there are factions in our country that want to divide us and they are working diligently to do so. This faction is Communism pure and simple. And, the very first thing Communism does is try to wipe out all of a country's history. They don't want the people to know who they really are and where they have come from. But, tell me, how are we to learn by our past mistakes if we don't know our own history? The simple truth is we can't! Before any other monument is taken down, or another statue knocked down, it should be voted upon by the members of the City Council, who represent the people of that community. It should be up to them whether or not these things should be kept where they are or put into a local museum. And, it must be done in a law-abiding way, not by lawless vandals sent and paid for by Communist Billionaire George Soros! We are supposed to be a nation of laws, and we are supposed to be a law-abiding people which sets us apart from other nations! This is a time we need to come together, not tear each other apart. Instead of tearing down marble symbols, what we really need to do is get down on our knees and ask God (as a Nation) to forgive us and then come together in love, not hate! After all, one Civil War has already been fought, we don't need another.

Backyard Entertainment - 2017

The Big Boss!

I honestly don't know what I will do for entertainment this winter.  All the birds will be gone.  :-(
But, I've sure enjoyed them this summer.

Flowers

A Baker's Dozen of Beautiful Cardinals!

Taken from my back porch.

I didn't write this, but (sigh) I could have...

Ghost In This House

I don't pick up the mail
I don't pick up the phone
I don't answer the door
I'd just as soon be alone
I don't keep this place up
I just keep the lights down
I don't live in these rooms
I just rattle around

I'm just a ghost in this house
I'm just a shadow upon these walls
As quietly as a mouse I haunt these halls
I'm just a whisper of smoke
I'm all that's left of two hearts on fire
That once burned out of control
You took my body and soul
I'm just a ghost in this house

I don't care if it rains
I don't care if it's clear
I don't mind staying in
There's another ghost here
she sits down in your chair
And she shines with your light
And she lays down his head
On your pillow at night

I'm just a ghost in this house
I'm just a shadow upon these walls
I'm living proof of the damage
Heartbreak does
I'm just a whisper of smoke
I'm all that's left of two hearts on fire
That once burned out of control
And took my body and soul
I'm just a ghost in this house
Oh, I'm just a ghost in this house

Songwriters: HUGH PRESTWOOD

© Universal Music Publishing Group

I'm in a sad poetry mood again. Seems the only way I can deal with this and more is to write. It is cathartic, I suppose.

For those of you who know me personally, you know what a tragedy happened to me over seventeen years ago. Due to undescribable circumstance, I lost my youngest daughter, Melissa, and my oldest grandson, Jacob, not to death but to TRUTH. There isn't a day that goes by I don't mourn them, yet I had finally learned to smile again, but then all heck seems to have broken loose in my life, in all areas.  Her birthday is March 9th, the same as was my Mother's. This original poem, written by me, is dedicated to her. Happy Belated Birthday, Baby!

Gift of Time

I've grown old and weary

in your defeaning absence

waiting for your presence.

And,I am disappointed.

At every turn, and every bend

I hear your voice, see your face

Full of beauty, full of grace.

And, I am reminded.

Often I tremble, my hands shake

Recalling fond memories of you

but always old ones, never new

And, I weep.

My heart is heavy, my eyes tear

when I realize dearest daughter

how much I miss your laughter,

And, our lost gift of time.

Copyright 2004
Deborah Taylor

REST IN PEACE, DAD! Charles Wayne 1924-2017

LOVE YOU ALWAYS, DAD! 

My Dad

is nearly 93 years old and is now in Hospice Care.  The doctor told us he has only a couple days left.

Although they are administering him morphine, he is for the most part, lucid.  Knows all of his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren by name when they come to stand by his bedside.  Pretty amazing! 

Only wish Jacob would get to meet his maternal great-grandfather before he passes.

For it is a rare opportunity for one's great grandparent to live long enough to meet them.  So sad the great grandson chooses to miss it.

Melissa -

Please know that your dad's hate runs so deep for me, he hired an attorney to send me a "Cease and Desist" Letter regarding Jacob. All this because I dared to send Jacob my email giving him a way to contact me, if he so desired.

Yes, after seventeen long years of not knowing where my grandson was, I found he moved to my city to go to college.  However, the cease and desist letter said if I ever tried to contact Jacob again, I would be charged with "stalking."

But, I don't believe it was Jacob who had this letter sent by a lawyer, but rather your tyrannical father; Jacob's grandfather; my ex.  In fact, Amy, (my oldest daughter) confirmed this to me about two days ago. That it was her dad and his wicked, wicked sister who sought the help of an attorney to keep me away from my grandson. BTW:  Did you know his sister, your Aunt, had two children and aborted them both (one at 32 weeks and had him burned in an incinerator instead of burying him) but tries to take over other people's children to fill the void in her own life.

I know how your dad (Jacob's grandfather) is because that was the way he was when I was married to him, and the very reason I divorced him.  For eighteen long years I endured his emotional (and some physical) abuse until the time came I could afford to get out on my own.


All this hate is because he didn't want the divorce.  He's has fostered and festered such a hate for me during the past twenty years.  He is so consumed with wanting to hurt me all the time, nothing else matters! You know what they say, "there's a fine line between love and hate."   But, this is the crazed idiot's way of getting back at me. Keeping me forever from seeing my own daughter, and from the joy of knowing my oldest grandson.

Note:
Charles, if you read this, please know I am no longer afraid of you as I was when I was married to you.  You belittled and abused me for eighteen long and miserable years.  I was so afraid you would kill me with the gun you had, and threatened me with.  But, I faced the awful truth before I filed for divorce because you know what?  I found I would rather be dead than to live with a tyrant like you for the rest of my life. What an evil person you are! I am so happy to be away from you and never have to look at your evil face again!


Melissa, after Jacob told me what his dad did to him (sexually), at Amy's insistence (he told her as well), she video-taped Jacob telling me again what his dad did to him. (He told YOU what Ed did to him, too, so you knew already!) Even though it was difficult to smile in the video while he was telling me these awful things, if I didn't smile, he closed off and would stop talking.

Amy said if we did the video, "people would have to believe us!"  So, I did.  But, thanks to lies, lies, and more lies from Ed, his Mom, your dad,  Sharon, and Dallas, they didn't.

For me, it ended there when you left.  Other than sending Jacob an email, I've done nothing else. 

That's the whole truth of it. 

Anything else your dad has made up just to get back at me.  Amy says he tells everyone I am "crazy" and that I wanted to "steal your child."  Are you kidding me?  Are you kidding me?  Think about it.  I was unemployed at the time.  I didn't even know how I would pay the rent much less buy things a child requires.

I love Jacob, but I raised my children and had absolutely no desire to raise my grandchild.

If you research pedophiles, you will find all kinds of information on them.  About the way they groom people and children around them so if ever they are caught they can say, "see I told you so."

One of those lies told to you (among many by Ed),  I remember distinctly.  Long before Jacob was born, you told me " Ed says our baby will be so beautiful, everybody will want to steal him from us!"   Remember that? I always laughed when you told me that, thinking it a ridiculous statement,  but I guess you weren't kidding! That was a setup if ever there was one. That way, if I ever discovered the real truth, that he molested his own child and told you, all he had to say is I was lying so I could "steal your child!"

And, this is exactly what happened!   I told the truth and he said to you,  "I told you she wanted to steal our child!"

Then, your dad stepped in for full payback. You two had been married for three and a half years and your dad was so angry at him for getting you pregnant, he didn't have anything to do with him or you until the day you went to your dad for help to get away from Ed.  Melissa, your dad saw the opportunity for payback, and from there on out, he used you and Jacob as pawns simply for payback for the divorce he didn't want.

What kind of a person is that?  What kind of a dad would do that???  He is as bad as Ed to tell all these lies, and cover for Ed, his perverted son-in-law.  Sadly, the one time I talked to your dad, after you left, he said he didn't care that Ed was molesting his child, his own grandson! Instead, he crowed that "usually when a person files a complaint with Child Services for an investigation, it is really difficult to stop, but he continued, "I was able to stop it by knowing people - judges and lawyers and the head of Juvenile Services - who were able to stop it."  He was so proud of himself.  But I ask you again...WHAT kind of a person does that?

ALL he cared about was that he found a way to punish me.  And, punish me he has.  Knowing how much I love you and Jacob, he has lied and has nearly decimated my heart at the huge loss of you two.  You know I truly understand the grief  of those left bereft by the World Trade Center bombings.  One day that person is in your life and the next they are gone.  Nothing left, not even bodies to mourn.

Melissa/Jacob, please don't allow your dad/grandfather to continue to use you as pawns, as paybacks!   You are worth far, far more to me than that.  You are precious and special to me.  I call you my prodigal daughter as I truly believe that one day you and Jacob will come back to me. 

Please call.  If I am not here, feel free to leave a message.  I would be so glad to hear from you.

Love,

Mom/Nana

P. S.  If you leave a comment, it's private. No one else can see it.  Just please put your birth date and year in it so I will know it's you.