Living Room

Living Room
My Little Cottage

Monday, April 20, 2015

Simply Susie~Q (Story Number One)

Good morning, sweet cottage friends! As promised I will begin sharing my stories with you. I am hoping to post one story a week and am trying to do them in some semblance of chronological order from the time I was around three years old until the age of ten or so. They represent only a slice of my life as a child in the 1960s in small-town USA and I hope that they will be a blessing to you all in some small way.     

     Simply Susie~Q was a funny little girl who lived in a pretty green house nestled in a valley among the hills of West Virginia along with her beautiful mother, handsome daddy and her younger brother. She found joy in the simple, everyday events and moments in her world and found them to be most wondrous and magical. She and her mother and little brother shared many pleasant days together doing all sorts of fun things at home while their daddy was busy at work. 
     One day in the early summer when the leaves were very green on the BIG maple trees in their back yard, her mother spread a huge brown and red plaid blanket on the ground just beneath the trees and they had a picnic. Her mother had fixed them sandwiches, cheese, grapes and an orange cool-aid drink served in her favorite purple aluminum tumbler. Susie~Q was enchanted by the sounds of the birds singing among the branches of the trees. Her brother was still quite little and asleep on the blanket close to their mother.
     Mother (whom Susie~Q called "Mommy") was always full of surprises and had lots of fun things to share with her children. During their picnic that day she had fun showing her little daughter how to look for four-leaf-clovers among the clusters of clover in their yard and how to make a grass blade whistle between her thumbs. 
     After they had finished eating their lunch, Mommy mixed some green dish liquid with water in a bowl and they blew bubbles through an empty wooden thread spool! Susie~Q giggled as the bubbles floated off into the air on a gentle breeze. She was fascinated by the pretty bubbles and the way that they sparkled and reflected the light and the colors all around.
     It was truly a delightful afternoon and filled with lots of fun and sweet moments. Susie~Q couldn't wait for Daddy to get home from work so that she could tell him all about it!  

Thursday, April 16, 2015

New Adventures On The Way

Well, cottage buddies it has been a while since I have felt the urge to write on this good ol' blog. I have had a really hard time coming to terms with being an orphan with both of my parents and my sweet mother-in-law now departed from this earthly life. I am adjusting to it all a bit better now and want to get back to those things which bring JOY to my life in the here and now. I am reading lots of poetry books, drawing a little here and there and pondering the meaning of my existence. What does God have in mind for me. How can He use me? I love how He has made each of us so different and the way He uses each of us to His purpose in reaching others for that purpose. I am not getting out much due to my Fibromyalgia, we are still trying to get Caleb through his last two years of homeschooling and we are busy helping my daughter and her family get moved into my momma's house. But i can still encourage others by praying for them or sending them a word of cheer either by cards and notes or even on good old Facebook in the mornings. This all makes me very happy!
I have also been thinking and praying over posting a new series of stories based on my days as a child at home in the 1960s. There are so many sweet memories going through my head these days about life in my small town and in our pretty little ranch house back then. I have been writing a few of them down and have decided to start posting them here on my little slice of blog heaven. I will call the series "Simply Susie-Q" as Susie-Q is what my daddy and momma always called me. I am going to try and write one each week for you. I hope that God will use them to be a blessing to someone and make you smile a bit.
As for right now we are starting to see beautiful green on our mountains and the redbud trees are in full bloom. I am so very happy to see spring return at last!!! I sure hope that everyone is having a beautiful spring and enjoying all the blessings God has to offer you!

For now, Stay Cozy, 
Charlotte