A lovely view...

As I sat in our church parking lot waiting for my husband (life with one vehicle...), I thought about what a pretty place this is. Upstate NY is really very pretty... not in a knock my socks off, dramatic way like so many California scenes are... but in a quiet, serene way. Fall is by far the best season here. My mother in law has often commented on the bare trees all around us in late fall and all winter. To her, they are elegant looking. When I see their silhouette against a clear blue sky, like I saw today, I tend to agree. I am not a photographer by any stretch of the imagination... but I do carry my camera everywhere because I'm a bit obsessed with taking pictures of my daughters (with kids this cute, I'm sure you can understand why!). I rolled my window down and took this shot... I'm sure it's all "wrong" but I love the sun shinning a crisp round glow through the trees, and I love the shadows across the asphalt. If you stand on top of Harts Hill, next to Harts Hill Baptist Church, every direction you look, you will see a similar sight. It's a lovely view. This is my window sill, the view that I enjoy several times a day, whenever I am working at the sink or counter top:

I was inspired to take of a picture to share with you all because I always look at the little mementos on my window sill and think "Man, what a beautiful view I have!" But then while taking this picture and considering the background, it for the first time occurred to me that (gasp!) I actually don't have a very nice view! My window... the one window out of all the windows in my house that I actually look out on a regular basis, is facing the side of our neighbor's house and backyard. Not exactly a sight one could sell tickets to see! The houses in our neighborhood are narrow and close together... so there is a 8 foot wide driveway separating us and this neighbor. But I still will share with you what I consider to be a "lovely view".

I am "anti-stuff". That is my term for my deep, strong desire to NOT have nick knacks and trinkets cluttering every surface in my house. I love to throw things away, or give them away, or any other means to get STUFF out of my house. I am not an overly sentimental person, and for a long time I wouldn't keep ANY tokens or souvenirs at all. I would ask myself "Does it have a function?" and if the answer was no, than the item was chucked! That would apply to cheesy giveaways at fairs to great grandmother's miniature tea cup collection. Well, my great grandma never did have such a collection, so no one get upset! It was a make believe example. My point is that I just don't like to hang onto things... they are just THINGS.

But the little tokens on my window sill are among the few to "make the cut" and have an honored position on my window sill! ;) Starting from left to right:

The handkerchief reads "Mother" and has a bundle of decorative old fashioned clothes pins resting on it. These were gifts from Cheryl Suddarth. Cheryl's daughter, Holly and I have been friends since we were 8 and 9 yrs. old! She was my maid of honor and one of the prettiest people on earth, inside and out. Their whole family was so generous and wonderful to me as a teenager and I'm sure I spent more time at their house than my own! Holly's mom, Cheryl is one of those rare people who loves everyone... no matter what. She'd do anything for anyone. She seems to always have one or two people in her life at all times that are having difficult times that she reaches out to. She invites them into her home and just loves them, feeds them delicious food, teaches them how to do something new and is just a friend. I was fortunate enough to one of those people a long time ago. Cheryl has a country style of decorating... every surface has a homemade do-dad of some sort, a handmade quilt over every arm rest on every chair or couch, dainty little flowers painted by Cheryl herself on every thing. It's just homey in every way. These country style little things are the only only country looking things I own but they make this house homey, don't you think? And most importantly, they remind me of Cheryl, and the scrawny awkward teenager girl that spent hours sitting at her kitchen table who grew up to me. Sometimes, those days seem like a past life... my life is so very different now. I feel like I somehow need to be reminded of where I came from, who I am deep inside regardless of geographical location and new roles in life, and who helped me along the way.

Clipped into those clothespins is a poem sent to me by Seth's Grandma McCoy. G'ma McCoy is as sharp and "with it" and I am, maybe more. She has a custom of sending a few of her old recipes in my birthday cards and one year, this was included:

Faith Always Has Work To Do

Thank God for dirty dishes, they have a story to tell-

While others may be hungry, we are eating very well!

With home, health and happiness, I shouldn't want to fuss-

By this great stack of evidence, God's been very good to us!

Next, is the blue wood wick candle, a birthday gift from my sister-in-law, Suzanne and her family. I love it and I love each of my sisters in law. It's so wonderful to have relatives that I not just related to but are my genuine friends. Sure makes things easier when you don't have to fake liking each other, huh?!

And lastly is that cute card featuring a couple of kiddos in love.... it's of-course from Seth. It's especially fun because I think those kiddies look similar to what Seth and I looked like as kids... him a toe headed blond and me silly and giggling.... okay that's still pretty much me! ;) I will not tell you what is written inside but I am blessed with a very romantically minded husband who lavishes so much attention on me, I'm a bit embarrassed by it! When we were dating and first began getting "serious"... you know... wink wink... (okay, I don't know what I'm winking about...), we were sitting in church with a good friend of mine. I left for a minute or two and while I was gone, he said to my friend, "Kayte is so pretty, right?" and my friend, being the Cheese Head that she was, prompted Seth to say that to ME... not just her. So unsuspecting me comes back to the pew and sits down. My friend occupies herself with counting specs on the tile floor and Seth leans in and goes into this 5 minute long speech about my beauty- Yada Yada Yada.... blah blah blah. I couldn't take it. What is one supposed to say after such a compliment? Um... thanks. You're cute too. That just seemed so lame. And I certainly wasn't about to go into a 5 minute long speech of my own... I'm not the Cheese Head here. Do you know what I mean by "Cheese Head?" A Cheese Head is a person who feels comfortable sitting in church with crowds of people everywhere around you and going into an exhortations of your love and affection and devotion. So at that tender precious moment with all of Seth's admiration right out there in the open, I said those three magical words that have never been forgotten: "Thanks Cheese Head". Seth accepted that as the term of endearment that is was and we moved on... much progress as been made on my part, I must say. After 5 yrs. of marriage added to the 3 years of dating, I am developing some Cheese Head tendencies of my own, and he has lost none of his original Cheese Headedness. This card if one of many that I receive often and for no particular reason. He receives some as well. but I guess husbands don't traditionally display their love notes on window sills, do they? That's fine by me. Wouldn't anyone to think I'm a Cheese Head or something.

So there is my lovely views today. I suppose it's just as everything is... the beauty of the view depends on what you linger your eyes on, right?