A Bright Sunny Day

I love the Oklahoma sky on a day like this!

Windowsill Bouquet

Roses in my brown teapot.

The Hollis Table

Maybe you'd like to learn more about the Hollis Family and one way is to see our table, to hear some of the stories told there, to see some of the faces that appear around the table and what is served on that table.

Grandson Kyle

We are a family that eats at the dining room table. Sure, there are times when we eat with our plates in our laps while we watch the fire or times when we eat at our kitchen table, but there are many meals, lots of laughter and friendship, family, and much happiness that goes with our daily sit down breakfast, lunch or dinner meals.

Grandson Stewart showing out!

Every week for a while now, I have been featuring a guest or family member at our table. Today you can see several photos for a real scrapbook view.

Friend Kyle Collins

Miss Jessica Best, a special friend.

Grand-girl Emma enjoying Blueberry popsicle.

Grandson Daniel with his birthday cake.

Another special friend Matthew Vogt and son Alton with his buddy Zachary Collins.

The Hollis Table

Here's Daniel, Audra's second son, listening to us sing Happy Birthday. 

We celebrated his fifth birthday with chocolate cake and ice cream this week here at Grandma's table.
Watch the slideshow, Dan.
It's for you, since you wish that you could fly.

Windowsill Bouquet on a Rainy Morning

 Nothing cheers a rainy day like a bouquet of roses. These white tea roses bloom on a bush outside my family room window. They are touched with a sprinkle of pink, almost too light to see.

Signs of Home

Signs are everywhere, even in the country. In small towns and along country roads, signs point our way and letter our worlds. Have you seen these signs? Can you tell where I live? 

Some irresponsible person shot this sign full of holes that have rusted, still I like this one. It is a good landmark. This sign is three miles from my house along Highway 16.

This old farm is located along a gravel road about nine miles northwest of my home. Seeing the way it has grown up, I think no one lives there anymore. A old house or barn is hidden back in the tangle.

This sign points west of highway 52. Margaret loves the horse statue because it reminds her of a horse she owned and named Princess. Many of the cattle and horse ranches in my part of Oklahoma have signs like this one with animal figures adorning them.

This sign shows how a gravel road running from highway 75 to highway 52 

cannot be traveled during the rainy spring.

Watson Ranch is about eight miles west and a mile south of our house.

 Have you seen this sign? Do you know where I live yet? 

I always wonder who painted the ivy on this sign for Liberty Church. 

Do you know?

AHHHHH

Always a beautiful piece of prairie to pass by, this field is unfenced and ready for dove hunters. 

The lopsided, hand-lettered sign is along Highway 52 west of my home.

These two signs are giveaway clues. One is on a store 14 miles from my house. The other is 12 miles. 

Haven't you seen these signs?

This sign is missing a few letters, but it stills shows that people here love baseball!

This sign is out front of a small green frame house, built on the southeast corner of a cattle ranch. 

I love the name of this place: Clearview Ranch. It is a good name because a person can see 

for miles across the prairie here. 

I pass this sign when I go into town.  

One word gives a clue to my home place. Howard.

My front yard. Have you seen it? The driveway,the gate, the lone redbud tree?
This place is referred to by the neighbors as the Howard Farm.

There are signs even in the peaceful countryside far from trains, traffic jams, and city lights. I love living in the country with room to breathe and space to roam, and a view of the vast blue sky. This is home.

When God saved humanity through Noah and the ark, he told Noah that a rainbow was a sign 

of his promise to man. (See Genesis 9:13-16).

Later, God sent his son Jesus to earth. In Luke 2: 11-12,  He says "This shall be a sign to you; You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." Those two great signs are more important to us than all the signs we will encounter in this world, because to find Jesus and to find the promise of life

is to find home.

Cats and Catbirds

This cat loves to sleep on the porch swing where she can watch the birds come and go to the feeders and dream of catching one for supper.

Another favorite hangout is inside a cozy birdcage that was stored in the garage. The door latch was broken and the cats started taking turns sleeping inside. We call them our catbirds.

This black and white kitten came to live on our farm when Margaret moved and couldn't take her along. 

She is a beautiful cat.

Another Windowsill Bouquet

Flowers for Sale

Beautiful trays of plants were sold at the Azalea Festival in Muskogee, Oklahoma this spring. After winter the flowers are such a refreshing sight. Coleus comes in many varieties. It was one of my mother-in-laws favorite plants.

Impatiens, petunias, moss rose and so many of the brightest and most loved summer plants can be purchased at farmer's markets during April.

I bought two new white azaleas and a purple azalea to plant between my pink and red varieties. It should look like this when it all blooms next spring.

The Hollis Table

Summer's here with the first hot weather visit  to Grandma's house

complete with popsicles. 

 Sweet Emma Irene enjoyed this blueberry blue treat

 and finished with a tongue bluer than her eyes.