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Happy Memorial Day

The flags of Granbury proudly waving in the breeze.

We are the home of the free because of the brave.  God bless America!

It has been a good day...

Alice had a baby this evening...

He is only about 30 minutes old.

But with a little nudging and coaxing, he stands on his wobbly, 

LONG legs and takes a few shakey steps

Mama leads he way, making him take those first big steps.

And they are off..

Here is a video of his first steps...

(it is a bit shakey, riding in the 4 wheeler)

Tess riding shot gun as usual..

It has been a good day!

xoxo

Cindy

Granbury Tornado

This is the only picture I have of the impending Tornado that ripped through my small Granbury town last week.

It started out as wishing for much needed rain.  I did not wish for a devastating EF-4 tornado.

My home, family and animals are fine.  5 miles from us is a different story...

6 people lost their lives, 100's of people lost their homes, many lost their beloved pets and livestock. Left with only what was on their backs.

It really looks like a bomb went off in this area.  Complete and utter chaos.  The homes were mostly Habitat for Humanity homes.  Homes that the owners put in countless hours of their own labor, homes that were built with love and compassion.   The homeowners took pride in their homes.

But there is a rainbow after the storm....

I can not even begin to tell you all the love, support, donations, caring that was immediately given to my town.   Complete strangers were offering rooms in their home, fields and barns for livestock, pet rescues scooping up animals to keep until the owners could claim them.   The churches opened their doors for shelter, restaurants gave away food to the victims, first responders and helpers.  So many volunteers lined up to help clean up, hand out water, comfort or just sit and hold their hands.  It was truly amazing.

Then Moore OK was hit.  even more devastation.   Again, complete strangers ran to the rescue.

I can truly say that with all the "bad" in the world, goodness, humanity, goodwill, compassion and mostly love wins out every time.

Hug your loved ones close, be grateful for the blessing you have and pray for the victims of Granbury and Moore..


xoxo
Cindy

(you can visit my facebook page www.facebook.com/fatcowstudio or www.facebook.com/cindycook for pictures and more information of this tornado.)

M.I.A.

I have been M.I.A. lately....

I haven't blogged regularly in months.



(Grandson, Colt)



No earth shattering news, health issues or life changing events taking place in my life.



(Grandson, Colt, checking cattle at the end of the day with the straw boss)



Just life. 

I am enjoying this nice spring Texas weather and all the blooming wildflowers.

Taking long walks with the dogs on cool evenings.   

(While it lasts!)

And being grateful at the end of the day.

I am just trying to have a less hectic life.  Somedays I do, somedays, well..forget about it!

I will get back to blogging and catching up on all of your blogs very soon, I promise!

xo

Cindy



time for a little beauty...

It has been a tough week.

Bombing, explosions, floods and fire

 My heart broke this week

But the outpouring of love, compassion and selflessness healed my heart.

Let us not forget all the beauty that surronds us.

The quiet, simple beauty.

The ones that are small, but together create a beautiful sight to behold.

Each one of us that passes through this world, is a delicate flower.

Just trying to bloom to our fullest and shine our faces towards the sun.

If we gather in strength, kindness and love, 

maybe, just maybe, our world won't be quite so scary

as it was this past week.

home

  

“Home is the nicest word there is.”
― Laura Ingalls Wilder

Peach blossom cuttings in my kitchen

My Trixie....

I had to say good bye to  my sweet 17 year old cat Trixie today.

She had kidney failure.

My heart is broken..

Trixie made me laugh everyday, warmed my heart with her constant purring.

Trixie and her best friend Tess were mostly inseparable.

She loved being on the farm, always checking out new places to nap or watch birds.

Trixie loved to be where I worked.  Always on the work table, sitting right on what ever I was working on.  Knocking off beads, coming dangerously close to the soldering iron, even lying on a piece of stain glass in progress.  My dad had a hard time keeping her off the piece he was working on, just had to give her a pat on the head and let her be.

Trixie loved being outside.

She would walk around the property with me on my nightly walks.  Running ahead with her tail stuck straight up the air, stopping and taking a nice roll in the dirt before joining me again.    Her favorite thing was to hide and jump out at Tess.  

Thank you Trixie, for giving me unconditional love and affection.

Listening to me when I didn't think I had a friend in the world.

Letting me dance around with you when I was on top of the world.

I will miss your sweet purring and tiny meows while you sat in my lap at night.

I am very blessed and grateful that you and I had time together on this earth.

I know we will reunite again someday.

Good night Trixie... I will miss you.

Spring

Alas!

Spring is almost here!

My favorite time of the year.

My spirit and faith is renewed

Tiny flowers are popping up

sending their blooms towards the sun.

Making us smile when we see the first spring flower..

Nature can not be duplicated, but can lend us inspiration

Sometimes, blooming once isn't enough.

(My Christmas cactus decided it wanted to

bloom again for Easter!)

Spring is just around the corner

and for that, I am grateful!

xoxo

Cindy

Old Grey Mare is having a giveaway!

Book of Organization GIVEAWAY

Z from the Old Grey Mare Blog is have a wonderful giveaway!

She was a guest artist in Where Women Create magazine and her mad organizational  skills gained her a section in

Book of Organization.

She is generously giving away a copy of this wonderful book!

Run over to her page for more information.

If you don't follow this lovely lady, you are missing out on one of the best blogs ever!  She is so talented, funny, loving and very inspirational!



Walking the fence line

There are chores that I love to do, like walking the fence line.

We walk the fence line looking for broken fences, fallen trees that may have snapped the wires,  posts that have been pushed over...just general upkeep.

But there is so much more to find than broken fences, it is a time to slow down a little bit and just walk the perimeter of the place.  Get reacquainted with the boundaries.

Walking the fence line can be associated with everyday life. 

We all have our boundaries, sometimes they need to be taken down,  sometimes they need to be reinforced.  Maybe just a little adjusting will do.

If we put up too many boundaries we miss the beauty that lies outside our perimeter.  We might miss an extraordinary event or place that we only dream of.

We might miss meeting new friends, neighbors and others with similar interests and loves.

If we don't tend to our boundaries and let them all fall to the ground, we run the risk of letting in things and people that can ruin our well tended intentions.  One that might turn our lives upside down and give us angst.

I have found while walking the fence line, that if a little patching is done to give our boundaries strength, yet can yield, it can stop the unwanted intruder, but give a right-a-way to beautiful creatures that may want to stop by.

It is always a good idea to check the fence line, to keep it in good repair.  Strengthen where needed, patch if necessary and even put in a gate that opens both ways.

So, I like to walk the fence line.  It gives me a good lesson on my own boundaries.

Hopefully my boundaries are strong enough to weather the storms and yielding enough to let the beautiful in.....

Have a lovely day!

xoxo

Cindy