Fun with Diane Stewart

My sister-n-law is visiting from Las Vegas and we went to Ocean Isle Beach and Sunset Beach today. We had a great time picking up shells, feeling the wind in our faces, and the quite was overwhelming. Tourist have vacated for the most part and beaches are clear. Just a few scragglier's running here, walking there.

We bent over and found some nice shells. I love to see shells with the outside gone, exposing the insides. The intricate insides of the shells. There must have been a storm, I'm guessing last night or so, there were so many broken sand dollars on shore.

There was also a nice size crab, light in color running like the wind sideways. He seemed to be more scared of us than the birds. The crab finally found cover in some grass, hay or could have been seaweed and sand. He seemed to feel safe there. I couldn't resist taking his picture. Can you see him, he's in at the top of the picture in the middle. I also took some pictures of the beach and ocean that I thought I'd throw in.

It's been a long time since I've been to the beach, to long. I use to go and just sit and look out at the ocean and feel the breeze. It was a great place to think things through, or just clear my head. For whatever reason you use to go the the beach, use it. We, along the coast seem to waste this luxury that has been afforded us.

I also took her to "La Belle Amie" vineyard. We had a great time there too.

For the Love of Our stray Ruby.....................

This is Ruby, a stray cat that has been coming to our house for that last 13 years. Every night, rain or shine, snow (did I say snow) even when we have hurricanes, Ruby is there. At one time Ruby thought he might move into our garage and that was fine with us, but Ruby was moved out of the garage by Henry. Ruby didn't seem to mind, just as long as he was fed every evening.

Another stray came along and this one we named Mambo. Now Mambo's story is unbelievable. Mambo starting eating at our front door just like Ruby and they became friends. Ruby is a male and Mambo is female. We happened to see Mambo (whom we hadn't named yet) had a collar with a tag. We called the number on the tag and found the owners. They were in our area visiting their parents and Grandma didn't like Mambo. So she opened the door and kicked her out. Our neighborhood is about half a mile down the road, Mambo came here. Her people came, picked her up and took her back to Grandma's house. She went back and forth, between the two neighborhood's for some time. Came time for her people to go back to D.C. and they couldn't find her. Which I thought was a poor excuse, she always came to our neighbor hood, right to our house to eat with Ruby. We said fine, guess they really don't want her, we'll take care of her best we can.

The way Mambo got her name is, her people were diplomats in Africa, and they brought Mambo back to the state's with them when they came home. To do this when entering this country an animal has to be quarantined for a curtain amount of time, and it's a long period. Something along the lines of 3-6 month's. That would explain why she hated animal carriers and I didn't blame her. Being couped up that long and the flight to the state's itself would have been enough to traumatize anyone. You would think with everything these people put this animal through they would have wanted to keep her, they probably had allot of money invested. But no, they let her go. Knowing her story I named her Mambo. So they left her behind and she moved into our garage with Ruby.

Where ever Mambo went, Ruby followed her like a love sick little puppy. At night in the garage they would curl up together and sleep. It did a heart good to see the love these two had for each other. It went on like this for some time until another stray came along, and we called this one Henry. Henry was the meanest looking cat I have ever seen. He came to love us and we cared for him but that's another story.

Mambo took up residence at a house kitty corner from us. A man and his wife took her in, but they let her out to roam. As much as these people hated it, Mambo still came to our house to eat with Ruby. They were still love birds! These people decided to move and they left Mambo behind. THEY LEFT HER BEHIND! Can you believe it? I grew an instant dislike to these people.

Mambo and Ruby still hung together, seemed like 24/7. Maybe Ruby took Mambo home with him. I know your going to say, home, what home, strays don't have homes. Well I think Ruby has a home. He comes to our house sometimes with his coat so shiny and clean, smelt good. And I know he's not doing it himself. Also once he disappeared for around 3 week's and it drove us nuts. We drove around, showing his picture to all in and surrounding our neighborhood. We cried our heart's out. Mambo still came to eat. All of a sudden Ruby showed up and was a little thinner. So I'm thinking maybe he had a virus and his people took care of him. He was back and we drew a sigh of relief.

Life for the two lovers was good. Always playing, running, eating, sleeping together, whether napping in the garage or out under the shrub's, sometimes out in plain sight sunbathing giving each other a bath.

Through out our neighborhood there is a mile of drain pipes that the cats roam through. A wicked storm happened one day. This storm lasted all day and through the night. That evening when Ruby came to eat Mambo wasn't with him. In the morning the sun came up and everyone was out in their yards cleaning up leaves and twig's from trees and bushes the storm had tore up from it's furry. Neighbors from the end of the street came by and ask if I'd seen the black and white cat that hangs around with the gray cat because there was a black and white one down by their house that was dead. I grabbed a towel and ran down the street to their house and there she was, Mambo. I fell to my knees, picked her up in my arm, held her tight to my chest and cried. She was dead. I walked home with her still holding her tight. I walked up the driveway and my husband was waiting for me, he knew it was Mambo. He opened his arms and held both of us. Mambo must have been caught in the drain pipes during the storm. With all that she had been through, Mambo really didn't deserve this kind of end. I thought it very unfair.

Mambo is buried in my flower beds on the side of my house. She has a marker that I painted, it tells her story, I laid it over her. She is surrounded by azalea bushes, a humming bird feeder, and assorted flowers, and all the shade a cat could want. I take Ruby over there every once in a while to see her, just to tell her we still love her.

You ask me where's Ruby? Well Ruby still comes over in the evening's. He eats, sits and takes a bath, then lays down, takes a little nap. I go out side about four different time a night to see him and love him. He skirts my leg's, he buts my head to love me back. I pick him upside down and he stretches for the ground as I slowly lower him to it. He loves me and I love him. It will break my heart when he stops coming.

Ruby is getting old, I can feel his back bone. I don't know if he will make it through this winter. Monday past I put a elastic collar around his neck with a note attached. I thought for sure his people would call me, but no one has. Thursday Ruby came to eat and he had the band around his waist so I know he probably had it caught on something and it ended up around him. I took it off and said to hell with it. I will not put him in harms way.

When Ruby dies I hope it's at my house, so I can buried him with Mambo. I think they would like to be together again, at least that's what I think.

A Sleeper For Andrew's First Birthday

This is a knitted jumper I just finished for Andrew's first birthday. He was born in January so thankfully it won't be to hot to wear. This was so easy to knit, I just knitted both sides at once on the same needle. We'll see if I can get a picture of him in it.

Spring time

It's spring time in South Carolina and I never can get use to it. I guess it's the Northern in me. Up North you actually have 4 seasons, but here on the coast you have 2 month of mild Winter. That is if your from the North, the Southerns think they will freeze to death. Winter is followed by 2 days of Spring then walla, right into Summer. Then another, well lets make it 2 weeks of Fall. But all kidding aside, South Carolina is a beautiful place to be. It does let me have some beautiful plants out side. In my blog I mention my favorite flower is a bougainvillea, well I'll show you what the plant looks like. Picture this, seeing this plant covering a wall of a house or a fence, much like Ivy will. Well in Hawaii it grows like that. The most breath taking thing I've ever seen. When it gets cooler I put my outside plants in the bathroom, in the garden tub. My husband doesn't much care for it. But it's good to see the tub in use.

Next we just planted a Magnolia tree in the front yard. I figure when I'm about 110 it'll be a nice size by then, being it's a slow growing tree. I think the tree will make it, not me. I just notice a bloom (only 1) so I took a picture of it. I can't wait for it to open, I'll take more picture's of it then.













Now I know this sounds silly, but not to me. When we moved to South Carolina I wanted to take a little of home with me, home being Michigan. In Michigan we have Lilacs bushes, hedges or trees, depending on how you let it grow. I, and I'm very proud of this have babied this bush for probably 13 years now. This is not the way this bush grows in Michigan. The Lilac is a fast growing bush. You can cut a small branch about a foot long and stick it in the ground and have a 6ft bushy bush in a year. I, for lack of better words, will call this a bunch of twigs, I'm sorry to say. But I love it anyway. Oh, and it smells so good!

Here's a native plant to the South, it's called a Century Plant. Some 30 years ago my husband was on vacation in Myrtle Beach and took a small century plant back to Michigan. Every year before winter I had to drag this plant into the house because a Michigan winter is known to kill any and everything. Now if you know anything about this plant you know that if you brush up against it, it doesn't act like any other plant. It doesn't give away with it's branches and let you pass. This devil plant will take whatever piece of skin that comes into contact with it and rip it right off you. I kid you not fore I have had this happen to me many times. I hated that plant in Michigan, but down in the South where they grow outside I've come to have a great respect for it. (It still wants to kill me) Word has it, it only blooms once every 100 years, so I'm sorry to say I won't be around for the show this plant puts on. I've heard a stalk grows from the middle and about 15 to 20 feet high, with a beautiful flower at the end of it. There is only one draw back to this, after it blooms the entire plant dies. This huge plant dies. It turns black and withers away, it's really quite sad and ugly. One of my neighbor's told me someone was walking by and said they thought it was going to bloom this year. I hope their wrong, because excuse me but I'm not THAT old!

Now I know these next 2 pictures aren't anything special, but they are pretty and I thought I'd take a couple of shots of them. The name escapes me right now but just look at them, nice.
Well, I guess that's about it for right now.

I've just learn the hummingbirds are back in town so I have to get the feeders ready. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to catch one with my camera.

A Secret Love!

There is another love I have, and is kept in my heart. Now there are many loves you can have. You can have love for your spouse, your children, parents, animals, you can even love inanimate objects. This secret love I talk about is like no other love I have ever had. I will say, this love is not shared back, and at first that hurt and I couldn't understand it. Much like the word no. The word no is foreign to me. But over time I have learned to except what life has dealt me. That by all means does not mean I can't still love this secret love. I don't think you have a say in matters of the heart. You either have these feeling or you don't. Just because someone or thing doesn't love you, it doesn't mean you can turn or shut off your feelings of love. Believe me I have tried, but to no avail. I'm afraid this love will be with me until I die. It will always live, like I said in my heart. It will always be in my memories, as long as they last. I feel very fortunate to have felt this love, I don't know if everyone gets to feel it in their life time. I am very lucky, and thankful I have.

Love,

Cindy

For Amari with love....

Here's something I've been working on and just finished. It's for my best friends grand baby for when he turns 1 year old. Turned out pretty good, even if I do say so myself! I can't wait to see him in this.

Something New.............

This picture was taken just a few short hours after Andrew was born. I arrived at the hospital about an hour after he made his entrance. Mother, Dad, and baby all well and doing fine. I was luck enough to be the first of their friends to hold him, and I can tell you what a thrill that was for me. I can't remember feeling this comfortable with a newborn baby in all my years, even with my own sisters. Andrew's mom and dad treat me like part of the family, and I feel more like a sister to his mother than a friend, so maybe that's it. There are three women in my life and counting me make four in our little group. All loving our pet's and making them our family because we four weren't lucky enough to have children, that is until Andrew. I can't tell you enough what a welcome surprise he is to all of us. How lucky can you get to have three extra Auntie's in your life? All of a sudden I feel like Auntie Mame. If you don't understand that last sentence, rent the movie. Anyway, there is a new love in my life, and his name is Andrew.

"At Knits End"

"At Knits End" is the name I've pick for my knitting shop I hope to have
one day. As you can see to the right I have post two of my piece's. Through out this blog I will post picture's of my own creations. This is another love of mine, knitting. There is something about the feel of the yarn, the smell the yarn gives off. So many different combination of stitches that you can use. To taking a plain pattern and using it like an artist would a canvas. And in the end the finished project, the self worth you get from finishing the piece to the satisfaction that you have made something beautiful, something you can ware, a garment you can call your own. My mother and my Aunt taught me to knit when I was six years old. I've knitted everything from doll clothing to adult wear, and let's not forget
our four legged friends, dog's and cat's. I've knitted for friends, for charity,
and make all of my own sweaters and my husband golf vest. I guess I was
just born to knit.

Angle in my life......

When this creature came into my life I had no idea he was for me, I thought he was my husbands angel. We had just lost a member of our little family and my husband fell into a deep depression. Long story short Jabber enters our life and pulls Donald out of his state of depression. Because he did that I called Jabber, Donald's Angel. We only had this special angel for 12 short years. I expected a life time, but in my heart I new a day would come when he would leave us. That day did come and I haven't been the same since. Jabber touch allot of people's lives and even animals, everyone loved him. He will live in our heart's forever. I love you Jab....wherever your next mission takes you, you have a piece of my heart with you!

Pontiac Solstice, very cool!

This is one of my favorite things. A Pontiac Solstice. I had an old ladies car and grew very tired of it. I'm surfing on the computer trying to look and compare every car that is appealing to me. My husband is in the living room, reading the newspaper. He said "I think you want to see this." And he was right, I went out the next day and put my name on a list to order this car. It took a year and a half to get it, but was very worth the wait. You know the commercial that says "when you turn your car on does it return the favor?" well it does, right down to my toes!