An Overdue Chat

 

“But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.” 

~ Habakkuk 2:20

(Loved studying the book of Habakkuk in my ladies’ Bible study recently!)

Good Monday morning! I am popping in to say hello, but without a myriad of excuses for my lingering absence. Let's just say that I am still slow . . . still enduring . . . and still finding God to be faithful. 

Autumn is tiptoeing in and I am ready. My friend Barbara and I celebrated our end-of-August birthdays a few weeks ago with (iced) PSL's. I clipped several bunches of limelight hydrangeas wearing their autumn blush and I have placed them in crocks and pitchers around the house. Ron and I spent an afternoon driving all over the county for the "right" color of mums. Bekah has begun her new job as an instructional assistant at a Christian school. Now I am waiting for the temperatures to feel more autumnal to match our activities. I am ready to make soup, wear a sweater, and take a fall foliage drive. 

It is hard to believe, but it has now been over a year since Ron retired! It has been a year for learning to balance work and projects and service with rest and quiet pursuits. He has several projects on his fall to-so list, and then he will take a break from projects for the holidays. 

One of my own projects is clearing off and reorganizing my library shelves. When I finished homeschooling in 2019, I was not ready to get rid of any books. Seven years later, I am somewhat ready, so I am going with that. Bekah has put aside some books for her future children. I have passed along some to my other children who are all homeschooling themselves. I have offered some to friends. And I am donating some to a local thrift store that benefits the homeless community. I am approximately halfway, so I need to keep on keeping on. 

What do you have on your want-to-do or need-to-do lists for autumn? 

I will try to visit you, my blogging friends, over the next few days! (I hope that the Blogger Dashboard will behave and show me your posts. It has been a little glitchy of late!) 

I hope you're having a lovely September! 

Gathering the Moments | May 2026

May was a month of beauty, celebration, and accomplishment! 

Bekah's college chorale presented its spring concert. 

It was a delightful evening of beautiful and moving music. 
Bek was a little sad that, as a college senior, this would be her last one.

Friends and family fans!

Why wait for summer? 

We fit in a little sleepover with these local grands, Macie (10) and Judah (7).

Our ladies' Bible study continued its way through the book of Hebrews.

This particular May morning was made a little sweeter by Cindy's luscious homemade caramel bread.

Barbara and I took a day trip through a few local towns: enjoying the scenery, antiquing, sipping coffee, sharing hearts, investing in friendship. 

A cluster of roses, a gift from a dear friend's garden.

The welcome gift of a quiet afternoon.

Mother's Day . . . minus the people. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Here are my pretty flowers from Ryan and his family, and the strawberry pie we had for dessert, but no photos of the beautiful faces around the table.

We spent several May evenings on the new patio, relaxing, enjoying our coffee, and listening to the birds. The Merlin app helps us to identify what we're hearing. On a recent evening, we heard the American Robin, House Finch, Northern Mockingbird, House Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, and Fish Crow, all from our small urban backyard. 

 🎊🎊 HIGLIGHT OF MAY 🎊🎊
Bekah graduated summa cum laude

with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature

and a minor in Music!

May projects included reworking some landscaping 

and building new rails for the back steps (work still in progress).

Bekah was the pianist and an honorary bridesmaid for her friends' wedding, a very happy occasion!

May was indeed a month of beauty, celebration and accomplishment! 

It was also full of hard things.
(And while I generally dislike cryptic posts, I must remain silent for now about the things that have made life hard.)
Yes, life has been hard lately. But there were also moments like this, seemingly small, but actually a gift from God to my aching heart. One morning while Ron was vacuuming (bless him), I heard him singing "This Is the Day that the Lord Has Made' (the old Scott Wesley Brown version) and my heart was lifted up above my troubles. 

I am thankful for the LORD's faithfulness, 

through the joys and through the hard things! 

Slow Decorating in the Sunroom

It has been nearly four years since we enclosed our screen porch and made it a sunroom. (I can hardly believe that it has been that long!)

We have loved having this room and we have used it so much. It has been a place for morning coffee, parties, overflow space for celebrations, most of our evening meals, Bible studies, buffet set-up, dessert serving, conversations. 

Although we loved it when it was fresh and new . . . 

. . . over these past four years, we have made a few changes, collected a few pieces, and tweaked little by little. 

We added blinds. (You can read about those  ~ here ~.)

We made an "Ice Cream" sign to hang over the doorway, a nod to Ron's love for making (and eating) homemade ice cream. He collects antique ice cream scoops and always seems to have a number of vintage ice cream freezers too, but that's another story. :)

We have collected some small family treasures and antique goodies, some of which rotate seasonally.  I have had the sailboat since we finished the room, but last year I coffee-stained the sails to tone it down a bit and I like it better. 

From the start, I knew that I would eventually want to have a sofa in the sunroom - a place get comfy or even take a short nap. We had bought the wicker set at a second-hand shop when we first moved into our house. We have gotten our money's worth out of it and it still looks good. But I wanted the sunroom to feel more like a "room" than a porch, and I knew a sofa would accomplish that. 

I have been looking (mostly on Facebook Marketplace) for just the right thing for four years! These were my criteria: 

• white or off-white
• removable slipcovers, for ease in washing
• excellent condition
• photographed in a clean, orderly room (because that's a clue to how clean a piece of upholstered furniture will be) 
• within 100 miles
• a "good" price

With those criteria, you can imagine why it took me so long to find what I wanted! I must say, though, that I did not shop Marketplace every day. I looked when I thought about it which means that during busy seasons I didn't look frequently.  But soon after we returned from our southern trip (and brought back a Windsor chair!), I came across a listing for just the right thing! 

Waiting paid off! This loveseat was in perfect condition. It is quite comfortable and, yes, good for a short nap. 

Serendipitously, Target released an "Americana Geo" collection a few weeks ago and I snagged this throw for just $25.00. Doesn't it look like an antique coverlet? I won't leave it draped on the loveseat because it may fade in this sunny room, so now I am looking for a sturdy basket to keep the throw out of the sun, but handy for use. 

We had to replace one of the little side tables because it was too big. I found this one on Facebook Marketplace for only $25 and a little drive. 

Slow decorating is what I love.  I enjoy collecting things over time and looking for just the right pieces as a room evolves and becomes personal.

What I Brought Home (Besides a Full Heart)

When I told you about our recent trip south to visit our daughter Kati and her family, I told you that we returned home with full hearts, and indeed we did. But we also brought home a few physical treasures. 

I had been keeping my eye out for coral as I shopped in antique stores. This piece called my name and I had some birthday money tucked aside for a special piece. I think I surprised Ron with my choice; he didn't think it looked like my usual style, but he trusted my opinion. I plan to use it as part of my summer mantel. For now, it is atop the cabinet in my sunroom. 

We also brought home a small trove of pottery made by our son-in-law Andrew. Making pottery is one of his hobbies and he is quite good at it! They brought out a couple of boxes of pieces that they were not using and let us take whatever we wished to have. 

I bought a small potted (faux) geranium.

I picked up some beverage napkins, of course. (If you're a longtime reader, you know that I always have a stash of napkins.) I love the pomegranate ones and have tucked them away for next winter when I need a pop of color. The botanical berries will probably show up on my Bible study table soon. Life's simple pleasures. :)

(I also purchased some wool acorns and a few fall stems, but those have already been put away.)

And last, but not least, we brought home a lovely Windsor chair that Andrew had purchased shortly before he and Kati got married. When they moved to their new house three years ago, they did not have a good place for the chair so they asked us if we'd like to have it. They have been keeping it in their barn since then, but we were able to bring it home with us on this trip! 

We have a great place for it, along with something else that we purchased on Marketplace since we have been back home. 

I'll tell you about that in my next post! 

House Project Goals for 2026

 
In this post, I told you about the projects we were able to complete in 2025. 

And these are the projects that we're planning for 2026. 

Goal #1: 
Wall/electrical mini projects 
If there is a large indoor project in a year's plans, we try to begin that project in January so that we can make progress while spending more time inside. This year, however, there was no large indoor project so we gathered some mini projects to take us through the winter months. 

• Remove phone jacks (two in the living room, one in the kitchen, one in a bedroom) and patch wall.
  
• Replace some light switches with white ones; replace switch plates with wooden ones.
• Replace two three-toggle switch plates with wooden ones.
• Lower an outlet in the kitchen.
• Add an outlet for charging hand-held vacuum in small closet.

Goal #2: 
Paint linen closet
You can tell that we have accomplished many of our major house goals, because our indoor projects this year seem small-ish. The linen closet has not been painted since we moved in; it remains the shade of green that was once in the living room and dining room (you can catch a peek ~ here ~). We are going to paint the inside white.  

Goal #3: 
Install exhaust fan in main/guest bathroom
I'm not sure why this has never been done, but this is the year.  

Goal #4: 
Replace the rails at back door
A few years ago, we refreshed the outside of our house. One of the things we did was replace the wrought iron rails on the front stoop with Chippendale rails. This year, Ron plans to build Chippendale rails on the back stoop. 

Goal #5: 
Put an outlet on the patio
Ron would like to have an outdoor outlet on the patio . . . for a lamp, or his electric ice cream freezer, or ?? 

Goal #6: 
Build Chippendale surround for HVAC unit
What? I thought we were doing a "top 5." Well, yes, but we tacked another one on this year's priority list. While Ron is building Chippendale rails for the back stoop, we thought it would be a good time to make a matching surround for our HVAC unit. It will create a much prettier view from the street. 

So those are our goals for the year. A few have already been completed! We'll keep moving ahead, doing what we can while remaining flexible, making our house a home. 

Do you have any house projects in mind for the coming year? I'd love to hear about them! 

House Projects Completed | 2025

It was a big year for house projects! 

At the beginning of each year, Ron and I sit down with pencil and paper and discuss the house projects that we'd like to accomplish in the coming year. We actually list everything that we would like to do in the future (that list is long!) and then choose a top five for the current year. 

This is flexible.  If we finish the top five, we can choose something else. If one of the five doesn't happen for some reason or another, we can substitute . . . or just not accomplish it all. Sometimes there may be a bit of time in which we can fit a smaller project so we'll go ahead and do that. Or sometimes our priorities change during the year. The main thing is that we keep moving forward with our vision and keep chipping away at our goals. 

Here were our top five house-y goals for 2025!
(Spoiler alert: One of them did not get done.) 

Goal #1: 
Gut Pink Bathroom ✅

I'm not sure why we listed this one as a separate project, because we certainly wouldn't gut a space without the intention of making something new out of it, but we did indeed gut that bathroom. A part of me hated to eliminate this little half bath because it was quite handy when we had guests. But we have guests several weeks out of the year, and we do laundry 52 weeks out of the year. That fact made the decision clear. 

There was still a bit of demo to go in this photo, but I missed taking one of the completely gutted room. 

Goal #2
Convert Pink Bathroom to Laundry Closet ✅

Ron began the pink bathroom demo in mid January, and by the end of April, we were doing laundry!

In that time, he removed a window (and patched the siding outside), ran plumbing for the washer, put in a 220 outlet for the dryer, hung all new drywall, finished it, and painted it. We had the man who tiled our master bathroom lay the tile floor of the laundry closet. 

(Disclaimer: The space is small and tight, and my photography skills are not the best, so my photos are a bit distorted and the colors are not true.)

Ron installed this overhead light. 

We found a narrow rolling cart at HomeGoods on which to put laundry supplies.

I put my old floor cloth  down for a little color. 

Since we had removed the half bath that was so helpful for company, we decided to add peg racks in the laundry closet for guests to hang towels, cosmetic bags, etc.  (All of the bathrooms in our house are small, so the overflow storage is helpful.) 

We have a laundry area in our basement, but having a laundry closet on the main floor is game-changing. I love having this easily accessible space, and so does Bekah (who loathes the camel crickets in our basement). This new laundry space is tiny, but it has all that we need. 

Goal #3
Build a Patio ✅ 

This project was something that Ron really wanted to do! It has been on our list for several years, but 2025 was the year that it made the top 5. The previous year, we had had the back steps into the sunroom extended (to accommodate the double French doors that we had put in the sunroom), so that meant that we could go ahead with laying a patio. 

Ron relocated  some plants, we selected and ordered our bricks, and the work began! 

After the last brick was laid on the patio, Ron laid a brick sidewalk leading to the driveway. 

We chose some furniture for the patio, a teak table and chairs and a couple of benches, and we planted a boxwood hedge around the border.

Goal #4
Paint living room, dining room, hallway, and basement stairway ✅

We painted the living room, dining room, and hallway the first year that we moved into Pineapple House (the basement stairway came later). I chose a neutral color, Linen White by Olde Century Colors, and it was a good choice while we made changes to the house and slowly filled it with things that we loved. A stronger color would have been limiting. But nine years later, we were ready to go bolder and we painted it all Copley Gray by Benjamin Moore. No regrets! We love the moodiness of the color . . . and its colonial-ness too! :)

Ron picked up his paintbrush as soon as he retired and got to work in the living room. We had hoped to have it finished by the end of September when we were having guests, and we made that deadline. 

The painting continued in October as Ron and I (mostly Ron) painted the dining room . . . 

and then the hallway with its seven doors! 

By the end of October, the basement stairwell was also painted, and the job was done!  

Goal#5
Paint Bekah's closet 

This project was the smallest on the list, but it didn't get done. In fact, when we made our 2026 list, Bekah said that she really didn't want it done this year either so we will defer it to another time. 

It is hard for me to believe, but we will have lived in Pineapple House for ten years this spring! We have made many changes, some big, some small. We are running out of big projects (that's good!), but we have a top five selected for this year. I'll tell you about our 2026 list soon.