I was intrigued when this new book came into the library . I put my name on it to read it first . I am so glad I did . What a book ! I just loved it . Mary Ann arrived in the United States from Germany at the age of 16 . She began her new life as a young nanny for a minister 's two children . After marrying a field hand , she gave birth to six young daughters . Then her husband died of TB . Four of her daughters were taken from her and put on the Orphan Train by the local Trustee . Her own journey , with two babies , takes her through the dirt roads of Gibson County to her friend 's house in Buckskin . She began her search for the other four girls while she worked as a caretaker for an alcoholic woman . The girls , who had little knowledge of their early life , began their own search for their birth mother after hearing the delirious musings of one of the girls as she was suffering from influenza . They separately find their original home , finally uniting with Mary Ann . There is trauma , tragedy , and pathos in this story of a little German girl whose journey takes her from Pforzheim , Germany to Southern Indiana in search of a better life . Her courage and fortitude give hope to all who journey with her on this eventful trip . And I started a new series . I seem to be into quilts lately . Not only did I read this book , but I was reading a magazine article about antique quilts . Hmm . . . . I think it 's time to wash my quilts and pack them away for the summer . Now I just need a nice warm day to hang them on the line in the back yard . In the meantime , read this book . It 's wonderful . When Sarah McClure and her husband , Matt , move to the small town of Waterford , Pennsylvania , to get a fresh start , Sarah struggles to find a fulfilling job . Disheartened by failed interviews , she reluctantly accepts a temporary position at Elm Creek Manor helping seventy - five - year - old Sylvia Compson prepare her family estate for sale after the recent death of Sylvia 's estranged sister . As part of her compensation , Sarah is taught how to quilt by this reclusive , cantankerous master quilter . During their lessons , Mrs . Compson slowly opens up to Sarah , sharing powerful , devastating stories of her life as a young woman on the World War II home front . Hearing tales of how Mrs . Compson 's family was torn apart by tragedy , jealousy , and betrayal , Sarah is forced to confront uncomfortable truths about her own family - - truths that she has denied for far too long . As the friendship between the two women deepens , Mrs . Compson confides that although she would love to remain at her beloved family estate , Elm Creek Manor exists as a constant , unbearable reminder of her role in her family 's misfortune . For Sarah , there can be no greater reward than teaching Mrs . Copmpson to forgive herself for her past mistakes , restoring life and joy to her cherished home . The construction on the house next door continues . The stucco people have been here on Sunday , Monday and yesterday . They did a beautiful job with the top coat . I thought it looked great . But yesterday they put a gray colored coat on top . I think I liked the tan better , but the gray is OK too . It 's hard to see with all the scaffolding . When it comes down , I will go across the street and get a really good picture for you . It is supposed to go up for sale on Friday . A couple of friends from church are looking for a place to live and it would be cool for one of them to move in next door . I would know there wouldn 't be any big drinking / drugging parties going on . They finished the back of our house on Monday also . It is beautiful . So much nicer than anything I could have imagined . When I have time to get out there I will show you how it turned out . The guys were so good . They cleaned up , swept the patio , put the furniture back , and even hung up the clothesline for me again ! Kathy P . S . Hop on over to my cooking blog " Cooking for my friends " today . I have a really good recipe for olive oil cake . You can click on the link on the right hand side of this page . The saga of the house next door continues . On Friday while I was home from work sick , there was a lot of banging going on . When I looked out they were putting up plywood over fiberglass insulation . Later in the afternoon there was a knock on the door . The owner of the building company was there . He said he had talked to Joe about siding the back of our house and was I still interested . Was I ? Of course ! Joe had told me that they offered to do our house at cost because we had been so nice and kind to them . We had been looking into it , had gotten an estimate , and were in the process of saving up enough money to get it done . Here we were being offered to have the job done at less than half of what the estimate was . So the builder and I went out to the back yard , looked at the job , discussed what was going to be done and I made arrangements to pay him . So yesterday morning when I got up there were the guys . They had cleared off the patio and were getting to work . Such nice guys and it turns out that one of them goes to the Fishtown Library and we know a lot of the same people . Our house really needed to have new siding . We actually had some holes in the wall but were trying to hold out because we couldn 't afford it . I consider this new siding to be a gift from God . There is just no other way it could have happened . The owner , Peter , took me inside the house next door and let me see all the work they had done . It 's beautiful . The kitchen is all new and so is the bathroom . They painted everything and redid all the hardwood floors . Wow ! I told them when we are ready to get the bathroom done we are going to call them . I got a lot done today . I even got to make Snickerdoodle cookies for Fellowship Time at church . They turned out good too . I try to bring the snack once a month on the last weekend . Joe and I were able to get to church last night for the evening service . It turns out that Natasha , Joe and I were the only adults that showed up . We had two new kids , though , who had their lesson with Cherie along with our three regular kids . So I guess that was four adults . It was funny that when it was time for the kids to go to the Sunday School room , Miss A walked over to the kids and told them in no uncertain terms , " Well , come on ! " Baby talk , of course , but they all got the message . We had to laugh . I got to run the power point again . I really like doing that . It 's a shame that there weren 't more people there because Pastor Justin 's message was tremendous ! I am planning on going again this morning so I will get to hear it again . And I know there will be more people in that service . This is not going to be like one of my usual posts . I came across these two videos that I think are just wonderful . And funny . Please watch them . They are a few minutes each , but well worth your time . And if you do watch them , let me know what you think . This has been such a busy week that I haven 't had time to post anything . It isn 't that I 've forgotten about you , dear readers . I 've been visiting your blogs when I 've gotten a chance . I hope this post will make up for things with picture overload . Uh . . . maybe not . Anyway , on Monday we celebrated Diane and Tom 's birthdays at work . I went at lunch time and got a cake and cards at ShopRite . Diane 's birthday was on the 1st and with everything going on with Joe I completely forgot about it . So I wanted to get a cute belated birthday card for her . Could I find one ? Of course not . Finally one of the employees helped me . There was one card in the entire store , so I got it . It wasn 't what I wanted , but it had to do . Bob was on the desk and he wanted to sing to them , so I hopped on to replace him . As a result I didn 't get a picture of the whole cake , but here 's the cake after it was cut . I tried to get a marble cake because Diane likes yellow and Tom likes chocolate . Well , there was a little chocolate in it but not much . Not much of a marble as far as I was concerned . But it was good and everyone liked it . On Tuesday we had a fantastic Ladies ' Bible Study . We are going through the book of Daniel and this week did chapter 5 - - the handwriting on the wall . I always put little pictures at the bottom of the study sheet they get . I found a picture of God 's hand writing on the wall and I couldn 't put it on because it just freaked me out . I 'm not usually like that , but I could just imagine it . So instead they got a picture of the ruins of King Nebuchadnezzar 's palace . Much safer . Joe has been doing so much better and all his injuries are healing nicely . But on Wednesday his tremors returned and he wasn 't able to get to church that night to lead his Bible study . He sent me in his place . I was really not prepared because I teach the little ones on Wednesday . So I could have had everyone coloring pictures of the Garden of Eden and making snakes out of play dough , but that was about it . It turned out that we just shared our thoughts with each other and had a time of prayer . The little girls were bothering us during the prayer time because they kept running in from the classroom to ask questions or show us things , so while the others were praying I took them to their room and we read them some books and we went over our memory verse . They were making pictures of princesses and made one that they said was me . They put my eyes in my forehead because I am short and this way I can see over the other people . Ha , ha , ha ! They are so creative and funny ! On Tuesday Diane went home sick . On Wednesday Clarissa was sick , but wouldn 't go home . She called out sick on Thursday , though . Today it 's my turn . My stomach is queasy and my head is pounding . Boss is not too happy with us this week , but it must just be making its rounds . Better sick here at home than at work . Monday starts another week . So for your Friday View this week I am going to show you the work going on next door . Remember I told you about all the pounding going on inside as they gutted and remodeled the place ? Well they sided the back of the house and it looks beautiful . Now they are getting the front ready for stucco . Or so they told me . This was taken in my car 's mirror so everything is backwards . But I wanted to show the three layers on the house . The original is the wooden siding . Then there 's a layer of asphalt that looks like brick and a layer of asphalt that is gray ( the way I 've always seen it . ) More of the scaffolding . The guys are really nice and pleasant . They cleaned up the mess they made on our sidewalk . I move my car if I am home so it doesn 't get damaged and they have more room to work . They are hard at work today . I am hoping to take more pictures when they leave . I don 't want them to think I am taking shots of them . More to come ! It 's back ! It 's time for " The Sunday Garden " posts to start again for the spring , summer and fall . Let 's face it , there really isn 't much to show you in the winter except for brown grass or tons of snow . The chives are back . Wow are they ever ! And I see some thyme there too . I have to get out there and weed and fix up the fairy garden . There is a lot of work to do in the yard . Too much ! But that 's always how it is at the beginning of the season . It was 82 degrees out yesterday and just beautiful ! I loved being out there . Today it is cooler but still a lovely day . I 'm so glad spring is finally here ! Thursday was our annual All Staff Day at work . We all have to go to the main branch and spend all day in lectures and workshops . Most everyone hates it . It is very boring . We would rather just be in our own branch doing our own job . But it 's one of those mandatory things that you just have to put up with . We started with breakfast . I had a muffin and a couple of slices of cantaloupe . I really wanted a bottle of water to drink but there was none . So I got a cup of tea . Then we went to the first series of lectures . It was pretty interesting . Several different groups told about different things happening at the library . It lasted about an hour or so . Then there was a break and we went to the first workshop . Diane and I decided to stick together the whole day and take the same workshops . There were about 20 different choices . We chose Cooking for a Healthy Heart . It was pretty interesting . Mostly we learned about how to read ingredient labels and what the different terms meant . Some things I knew , but a lot I didn 't so I did learn something . Next came lunch . I was supposed to get a dairy free meal but they forgot to get one for me . I saw the list and there was one other person and me for dairy free . But the lady behind the table said they had never shown up . So she gave me a gluten free lunch because it had no dairy in it . Well , folks , I don 't mean to criticize a free lunch , but it was pretty bad . The roll of the sandwich was nice , but there was turkey which was so dry I had trouble eating it and a slice of tomato . There was also a bag of chips and an apple . I can 't eat raw apples and really didn 't want the chips . So after eating half of the sandwich , I just gave up . There were so many people there and not enough tables so Diane and I sat on the steps with my boss and ate . We watched the library band which was so loud you couldn 't hear yourself think ( but they were good ! ) and then the line dancing . Everyone was invited to join in , but I wasn 't going out there . This year 's video isn 't up on youtube yet , but here 's last year 's . You can get the idea . Again , it was very entertaining . Next it was time to go to our second workshop . We didn 't know what to take and went back and forth on which one to go to . We had sat down at a table in one of the rooms on the first floor and we were so tired we decided to just stay there for the Conflict Resolution workshop . I 'm glad we did because it was really good , interesting and fun . We even got to talk with the presenter afterwards for awhile and he gave us his personal take on some things . Fortunately we just missed rush hour . It was starting , but we made it with just a little bit of a delay . I hate sitting on I - 95 for an hour when it 's only a 15 minute drive otherwise . So even though I wasn 't looking forward to the day , it wasn 't all that bad . I did love seeing all my friends . That was the best part . I am thinking that this will be my last one since I am expecting to retire before April next year , but who knows ? No one knows the future . Joe finally went for a CT scan on his head on Wednesday . He still is not feeling well from his falls and it is almost two weeks . I left work early to be able to take him . When I got home I helped him get ready and then we took off . We had to stop at his doctor 's office first because he couldn 't find his prescription . I had never been to the hospital where he had to have the test done , so I asked at the doctor 's office how to get there . They told me , but I still got lost . I was in the wrong lane and when we saw the hospital on the right , I had to turn left ! It didn 't help that there was a lot of construction and I couldn 't get where I wanted to go . I finally got to one of the several buildings . I left Joe in the car and went in . There was a long hallway and a lot of shut doors to offices . I finally found an open door and asked the lady behind the desk where I was supposed to be . Of course I was in the wrong building . But she gave me excellent directions how to get to the correct one . We were 15 minutes late getting there , but they still took Joe . And it didn 't take very long at all . Less than 5 minutes for the test . Most of the time we were there was spent filling out paperwork ! So we should find out the results either today or Monday . We are praying and hoping there is nothing wrong . I know it would give Joe some peace of mind . I found out on Thursday that apparently after I left there was a big blowup at work between boss man and one of my co - workers . I am going to try to nip in the bud any future problems by taking on even more of his job . I have told each of my employees to come to me with problems , not him . Oh , boy . I don 't know what they are going to do when I retire . So much more to tell you , but I must end . I am falling asleep writing this and want to get a couple more hours sleep before getting up for work . At least it 's the last day this week . I saw this in our local paper today and got a kick out of it . I thought I would share it with you . I 'm probably dating myself by saying it reminded me of my childhood . Hope you enjoy it . Some parents NEVER owned their own house , never wore Levis , never set foot on a golf course , never traveled out of the country or had a credit card . In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card . The card was good only at Sears Roebuck . Or maybe it was Sears & Roebuck . Either way , there is no Roebuck anymore . Maybe he died . I was 19 before I tasted my first pizza . It was called " pizza pie . " When I bit into it , I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off , swung down , plastered itself against my chin and burned that , too . It 's still the best pizza I ever had . I never had a telephone in my room . The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line . Before you could dial , you had to listen and make sure some people you didn 't know weren 't already using the line . All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers . My brother delivered a newspaper six days a week . It cost 7 cents a paper , of which he got to keep 2 cents . He had to get up at 6 : 00 a . m . every morning . On Saturday , he had to collect the 42 cents from his customers . His favorite customers were the ones who gave him 50 cents and toldhim to keep the change . His least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day . Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut . At least , they did in the movies . There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing , without profanity or violence or most anything offensive . The weather has been just so beautiful this weekend . I was so glad I had both days off from work . I think the winter is finally over . I shouldn 't say that too loudly or tomorrow I will have to get my heavy coat out again . There 's a little chill in the air , but the sun is shining and the flowers are beginning to poke their heads out of the ground . Saturday I had planned to attack the kitchen - - scrub it all down . What did I do ? I slept . I slept and slept and slept . Almost all day . I know I am really tired . But I think this week did me in with all of Joe 's falls . He finally went to the doctor on Friday and she looked at all his bruises and scrapes . She agrees his toe is broken and thinks he has a concussion . There is not much anyone can do except let him heal at this point . She also changed one of his medications that she thought was too strong and he is doing much better these last few days . I took Joe with me to choir practice on Saturday . It 's been changed to 5 : 30 p . m . We didn 't have time to eat first , but had some of the snacks we had there to tide us over . I made brownies and they turned out so good . After practice I went to pick up our friend Dottie for the next big change at church . We now have Saturday evening church service ! Many people say they cannot make the Sunday morning service because of work or other commitments . So there is now a contemporary Saturday evening service . Joe has problems in the morning and often cannot go to church so this is perfect for him . No one knew how it would go and so we were really happy when 14 people showed up . That 's a good start for a service that was announced just a week ago and has had no advertising . We expect it to grow as time goes on . It was very laid back and had more of the newer music . I really liked it . When we got home we decided to call out for Chinese food . Instead of getting our usual , I did my version of a dim sum . I went through the appetizers and we picked four to order . We got egg rolls , spring rolls , teriyaki beef sticks and steamed dumplings . It cost about the same as if we had ordered an entree and we were full when we finished eating everything . It was fun to do it that way and we decided we would do it again next week . I really went back and forth on whether to go to church this morning or not . I knew it would be the same message , but there were some references I didn 't get last night because I couldn 't write that fast and also I really wanted to hear the message again . It seemed that God was speaking to me about something last night and I wanted to know if I got the same thing out of it again this morning . ( I did but in a different way . ) I left Joe sleeping and went to church . I was glad I did . You see different people at the Sunday morning service . It was not as contemporary as the Saturday evening - - a little more standard and that was good too . Again , today I was going to attack the kitchen but got sidetracked talking on the phone , watching TV , going on the internet and making out my food shopping list . * sigh * There was so much I wanted to accomplish this weekend and the only thing I could cross off of my list was paying my bills ! Well , that 's something . Oh wait ! I also finally finished my editing job . It was a much bigger job than I expected it to be . I am so glad to have that off my shoulders . And George is so happy to get his book ! Tomorrow is back to work . Friday was such a horrible day that I don 't even want to go back . I 'm tired of being yelled at and criticized all the time . I wish I could just go in and hand in my resignation . But since that isn 't possible just yet , I will try to make the best of it . Hopefully tomorrow will be better . I 'm praying it is anyway . I 'm trying to be an example to those I work with of how a follower of Christ acts . But it 's so hard sometimes . know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives . We are no longer slaves to sin . 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin . 8 And since we died with Christ , we know we will also live with him . 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead , and he will never die again . Death no longer has any power over him . 10 When he died , he died once to break the power of sin . But now that he lives , he lives for the glory of God . 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus . Here is the long awaited Hope Philly Choir followed by our Easter message by Pastor Justin . I see many ways to improve myself and do better next time . But it was all done to the glory of God and there is no improving on that ! Yes , you are right . I am late posting this late and there was no reading list for February . That 's because I was reading one book the entire month and didn 't finish it until the middle of March . That 's what happens when you don 't have time to read . The book that held me up was . . . I 'm loving these Scottish New England mysteries . The stories are interesting and I usually can 't figure them out till I 'm almost done . I guess I like mysteries because it 's like a game trying to figure out " who dun it " . This wasn 't a difficult book , I just didn 't have time to read ! For the past two years , Emma has been caring for her ailing mother , but after her mother 's death , Emma is at a loss . Her well - meaning sister and brother - in - law have their own plans for Emma 's future and the property she shares with her elderly grandmother . Emma knows God will provide , but is this what He wants ? Adam 's return reawakens feelings Emma had buried for so long . Both of them are older now , and both have reached turning points in their lives . Adam 's feelings for Emma are stronger than ever , but will he be able to convince her to give their love a second chance ? This is one of the most exciting books I have ever read . It started off a little slow , but by the time I reached the middle of the book I didn 't want to stop . Especially the unexpected ending . I can 't wait to read the rest of this series . Over 20 years ago I discovered Marion Chesney and read just about everything she wrote . Everything I could get my hands on at the library anyway . And it 's been about 20 years since I read any of her books . I thought I would read one " for old times sake " and discovered that I still like her writing . This is the sixth of a six book series , but was the only one of the series that the library had . But you know , I still remembered some of the previous stories . Now that 's a good author ! On Monday night Joe had another fall in our dining room . I couldn 't get him up . He was finally able to roll over and crawl to the piano and pull himself up . Wednesday I went to work and met the new guy who was transferred to our branch . He has been with the library for four years as a part time employee and was just made full time . He seems nice and I think will fit in just fine . He needs some training , though . I don 't know what they taught him at the other place , but in four years he should know more than he actually does . I have been coming home at lunch time each day to check on Joe . I was going to just run an errand yesterday , but when I called to check on him , he asked me to come home because he wasn 't feeling well . He finally called the doctor and got an appointment for today . I can 't get off from work today because I am training three people . So our friend Carole is going to take him . I told her that if he would fall she is NOT to try to get him up , but to get help . He is a dead weight and she is old enough to be my . . . well , my older sister . I am coming home at lunch time to get him dressed and downstairs to wait for his ride . I hope the doctor will be able to help him . At least she will be able to treat his cuts , bruises and broken toes . Although there is not much you can do for a broken toe other than what I 've already done which is tape it to the toe next to it . I 've had enough broken toes to know that one . We didn 't get to Wednesday night Bible Study and Prayer Time . Pastor Justin emailed me that they didn 't have the study , but prayed anyway and mostly prayed for Joe and me . That means so much to us . I love my church family . Yesterday I saw my first robin of the season . Spring is really here ! So now it 's off to get ready for work . I have Saturday off , so this is the last day of the week for me . I will be glad to stay home tomorrow . I have the day planned and hope I will be able to stick to my plan . Hi , I 'm Kathy and I live in historic Philadelphia , PA . I 've been married for 10 years to Joe , my best friend . Being the oldest of 10 children I have lots of family and absolutely love it . I retired in January 2016 so I am finding my way through being a stay - at - home wife after spending 20 years working for a public library system . Come along with me as I explore my new role as a homemaker . It is never dull in my world .