A big thank you!

Rose from the Pics & Pieces blog started off my fundraising efforts with my first donation! She is a good blogging friend to me, obviously. I'd like to do all of you a favor and suggest that head over to her blog and look at phenomenal photos and read a story. Pour a cup of coffee or tea and spend 5-10 minutes.

Maybe you'll hang out for awhile.

Rose's photos and memories are worthy of their own book and that's no exaggeration. If you grew up on a farm, in the country or visited a farm or visited the country, you'll relate to what she's writing.

While not every post has a memory, she writes in such a way that after I read her stories, I can imagine her leaning out the back screen door hollering my name to tell me it's supper time. And I grew up in the suburbs or in Army towns! Her stories make me think of mere moments from my childhood. The kind of moments that are partly images, mostly emotion.

Like the one Sunday afternoon I went home with a girl from church and we went to her grandmother's house. I had never seen a farm like that, played so hard or had such a Sunday dinner. I remember the way that day made me feel 30+ years ago. Rose reminds me of people I have known like friends of the family who had a funny story to tell or who dropped in for a visit over coffee at the kitchen table.

There's warmth and generosity about her that shines through her writing. I stumbled onto her blog one day when I hit the "next blog" link on someone else's blog. I've been reading her for years now.

Do yourself a favor. Read this post I've selected. I chose it because it is a combination of a little bit of the past, her incredible photos and a situation she had just encountered: buying clothespins. I totally heart this post for you. I think you'll enjoy it.