Heaven is a Place on Earth: Update

A few weeks ago, I posted about St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Iola, Kansas. Now that the finishing touches are in place, I thought you would enjoy seeing the result:


View from the back of the church:







View from the middle of the church--are those green new hangings that I see? Very nice...







The pretty new pulpit that came all the way from the state of New York:

View from the front of the church looking toward the back:

And the piece de resistance, the newly painted altar with actual gold leaf applied by hand on the accents:

A toast to the people of St. Timothy's for their hard work and dedication. The result is a light, bright space with understated elegance that will welcome you (and hopefully others) each week. I can't wait to see it in person the next time I am there.

Burning Down the House, Part I and an update on Sleeping Snakes

You read correctly, gentle readers, that I have a Sleeping Snakes update. As I was preparing for the contractors to do some work on my house by cleaning out the laundry room, I found this:



I choose to believe that this skin belongs to the snake that I removed previously. End of discussion.

The following are some photos of the improvements that the contractors are making to the house and once I work my magic this weekend, I'll be posting before and after (and sometimes "during") images of what's been happening around here.

The new white aluminum covering my fascia to keep carpenter bees away:




A detail of the fascia--I think the contrast will look really nice when they are finished.





Supplies.

New door and framing supplies. The door is installed, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the photo ;-)

New paneling installed on the east wall of the laundry room. This will be painted shortly--don't worry.

North wall paneling--detail of how they cut away from the logs:

View of whole wall--the left side is actually a single smooth cut. The light and logs are making it look choppy, but don't worry dad.

Poor McKenna has been displaced. Her room used to go here, under the window in the laundry room, but this week it has been moved to the guest bedroom. Even though this has been the case for three days, she keeps looking for her room in the laundry room and then she looks sad when it is missing.

Pig City

As anyone who has ever been to Spain knows, the Spanish are quite fond of pork. While I have no problem with this in general, sometimes they go a little too far. A warning, gentle readers, that the following images may be somewhat disturbing. Proceed at your own risk.

A dear friend of mine took these pictures of the window of a restaurant on a recent trip to Spain and was kind enough to share them with me and give me permission to publish them on my blog for your viewing (dis)pleasure.

Lady Pig and Baby Pigs:




Gentleman Pig:

Wild Thing

I came home tonight to find this lounging around in my yard:



I don't have a lot of experience with bunnies, but this is something I have never seen before. Kind of cute, even. From a distance.

Coming soon: some special hometown recipes that you are sure to love...

Hello

Is it me you're looking for? I can see it in your eyes...you are finally gonna try...to sell me some of your old nasty crap...

Whoa, gentle readers, sorry about that. I got a little caught up in my Lionel Ritchie moment. Without further ado, here are some highlights from my weekly penny saver that I couldn't resist sharing with you.

For the do-it-yourselfer:

Or is it "due-it-yourselfer"? I can never remember.


Anyone up for some Disney merchandise?

I guess some people really do spell things the way they say them...

And the best one yet--anyone remember when Kramer decided that he would only eat these kinds of eggs?

This reminds me of a kid for whom I used to babysit who loved to sing "Home on the Range," but he didn't know the correct words, so he sang "Home, home on deranged...where the deer and the andelope played...where seldom is heard and the scurrying word...and the skies are not cloudy all days..."

I'm not even going to get into the punctuation and capitalization issues displayed in these advertisements.

Do They Know It's Christmas?

It isn't too early to start thinking about your Christmas shopping. In fact, I recently received a catalog full of fabulous Christmas gift possibilities and I wanted to share a few of the most outstanding examples with you.

If you are shopping for someone who is a football fan and a gardener, you might be interested in this:

For those on your list who like rustic decor, one of these sculptures is sure to be a hit:

A gift for the thirsty football fan:

This is a great idea for a member of the NRA with a new cabin to decorate. You could even split this collection into two parts and give your loved one some for Christmas and some for his or her birthday.

The outdoorsman who has been good this year would be thrilled to receive any one of these dynamic items:






Give someone a gift that keeps on giving all winter long--a set of flannel sheets with wild animals on them. There's nothing like waking up to an image of a bear or a fish. The bear option is also quite lovely.

Buy it for yourself or for a friend--heck, buy one of these for everyone you know! You could leave this out all winter long in case you forget the names of your family members.

For those whose tastes lean toward Western decor, there are many fine gift choices to be found on this page:

I'll bet I know someone who would love to outfit her Steelermobile with these items--hint, hint darling daughter!

For the family oriented person with a taste for wild animals--this would be a great gift to pair with the flannel sheets for someone that you really love.

Finally, I think everyone should get these for Halloween--I prefer the eyes, but the others are okay, too: