Pink Blooms, Purple Blooms, and Life.

My gardens have been alive with purple and pink flowers.

Do you see that little pink poking up there?

It is one of my treasures, slow-growing but diligent to come up every year.

It is a hardy orchid.

I have had it for about 5 years now, 

and it finally has a baby next to it.

Bleeding hearts remind me of childhood days at a friend's house.

I loved her mother's bleeding hearts.

 

That rhododendron was one of the first things I planted when we moved here.

See it around the other side of the tree?

Hardy Gernaniums are a favorite because they seem to rebloom all summer.

These pink with black eyes are Patricia Geranium.

I recently read that although they share the name 'Geranium',

annual and hardy geraniums are not related.

Annual geraniums are actually Pelargoniums.

They don't look alike, but they share the same name:

just a curiosity.

These 'Brookside' geraniums grow large and full so that they actually look like a bush.

Planted with them is a patented specially bred Mountain Bluet.

It's blooms are spectacular.

Another purple that I noticed blooming is my Blue False Indigo.

They usually seem to bloom a bit later than this time, especially with how cool it has been this year,

but these are planted up by the barn where the heat radiates off the cement foundation.

Everything up there seems to be advanced.

The Russian sage up there is much larger than the one I have planted by the house.

I love the smell of crushed Russian sage on the hands.

There is lots of purple blooming in the front flower bed as well.

The dwarf wisteria vine stands tall on its trellis.

The salvia is always buzzing with bees.

These Pink Haze Siberian Iris seem to be much more prolific growers for me than the regular iris.

I think the clay content in our soil is not dry enough for regular iris,

but this one fills out so much, I am able to dig some out of it every year to sell at my plant sale.

Of course, the lilacs were grand this spring, too.

Some of the Miss Kim lilac even made it into the kitchen to lend their fragrance.

Apparently, somebody thought they would be good for more than just a bouquet.

Life with children:
giving new meaning to the garden bouquet vignette.


Linking up to these fun blog parties:

Joyfulhomemaking.com

Nominimalisthere

Raisinghomemakers.com

Firefliesandjellybeans.com 

Gnowfglins.com

Puppy Dog Tails and...Greek.

I was looking through pictures this evening.

In home-schooling right now, we are studying Archimedes in science;

in history we are studying life in early Greece,

Cyrus and Ptolemy,

Greek Mythology,

Greek alphabet, coins, city-states, governments;

in art, early Greek sculpture and pottery...

It's rather...

umm...

 if I say interesting, will you believe me?

Actually, I am getting much more out of it this time around,

compared to when I was my daughter's age, but for some reason when I sit down at night to write,

here,

my brain feels like it has turned into the empty blank screen I see.

"Thoughts?

Hello....

 thoughts in this head anywhere?"
and that is how it goes.

The massive amount of Greek knowledge must be taking it's toll.

Besides that, I've had my fingers occupied with working on pieces for my new blog.

How I enjoy doing artwork again!

It isn't Greek to me. 

(Yes, okay, I'll stop with the Greek.)

I know gardening season is just around the next sunshiney day,

so I'm feverishly attacking my list of "MUST-get-done"'s,

like some baby blankets for the new babies breaking onto the scene by various friends and relatives.

 (I love making this kind because it uses up a lot of miscellaneous yarn at the end of skeins

and they don't look like the typical baby blanket. Not that the typical baby blanket isn't sweet and adorable).

 Speaking of spring, my littlest child seems to think that because the sun is shining and there isn't any snow on the ground, shoes and coats are now optional

and toes are to be dipped in freshly thawed waters...

despite the frigid degrees.

Is there a glue to keep socks on?

So as I clicked through my pictures for a bright idea to surface,

I came across these from last summer.

Some pictures don't need words,

and these,

 

well...

 

these were enough for me.

I hope they cheer your day, too.

If not, you could always stop by and listen in on some Greek.

No?

Simple Ways: Stucco and Silver

I just mistook self-tanning cream
for hair conditioner.
I kept wondering why the tangles were not loosening from my wet hair.

Yes, it has been that sort of Monday:

Phone tag
(why is it people realize they need hay delivered on Mondays,
and need it NOW),
puppy disasters in the form of holes dug right outside the doorway
same place, same mud pit as last Friday,
as well as chewed up items that I will not mention but that made me gasp and then screech
which sent him running out the back door;
home-schooling frustrations regarding division
(and I thought I disliked division the first time around;
teaching it to a child who wants to skip as many steps as possible,
no matter how many times I reinforce that all steps are necessary,
well, let's just say 'challenging' is putting it mildly,
like calling a severed finger a hang nail that has gotten out of control);
cooking atrocities compounded by substituting wrong ingredients;
stepping in evidence that the chickens have been sneaking up on the porch again...

with my socked foot.


Yes, that sort of Monday.


I had great plans of posting a great story of a great lesson I had learned,
but I lost it somewhere,
I think between my toes.


So, rather than wax wordy about things that have been lost upon my tangled brain,
I will post a simple project,
in the hopes that simplicity will return to Tuesday,
(although that wind whipping outside just now sounds like it is a bit flustered by Monday as well.)



I had a little box,
nothing would it hold.

Actually, it was a cute little box I got at a yard sale or somewhere for a quarter or so.

I decided to use it as a sort of pedestal on my mantel for an old bird I found,
so I spray painted it with some silver spray paint,

and then mixed up some plaster of Paris into some white paint,

good and thick, mind you,

like mashed potatoes, or angel food cake frosting,

or something else unfood-like so I'll stop making myself hungry.

I taped a favorite stencil I had made from an image at the Graphics Fairy

and used on my living room cupboard.

I like to use Frog Tape for this because it holds VERY well,

but it doesn't pull up any of the paint with it.

I painted this thick as frosting paint onto the stencil

and carefully pulled it up,

wiping it after each use
before moving it around the box.

There were minor smears,

but perfection is not always worth the difficulty of attaining it on some things,

or so I tell myself.

It adds just a bit of different height to the mantel,
a sweet perch for the bird in her nest.


Perhaps I will fasten the troubles of Monday on her wings and let her fly away...

But now I'll go get some tea and sit by the woodstove and listen to the wind...

and ignore that puppy snoring on the couch,

and try to focus on the season,

realizing that many have faced annoyances and much greater frustrations,
a part of life for all of us on earth.


"And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea,
unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife,
 being great with child."

Luke 2: 4- 5

Yes, I have little to complain of...

and so I'll say,

'Goodnight.'



Linking up to:
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funkyjunkinteriors.net

Bedifferentactnormal.com 

Graphicsfairy
Nominimalisthere
Cedarhill-ranch.com
Todayscreativeblog.net

Getting the Perfect Kids' Picture.

We went out Saturday night to drive around looking at Christmas lights.

A favorite place we like to go to has a house back a lane

and these are some fun, Christmas light-lovin', fantasticly festive folks

who set up displays with lights, Christmas blow-up characters,

and old wooden painted characters of every kind.

They open their lane up to the public

and you can drive your car around the circle of their property,

enjoying and pointing out all of the scenes.

They add a few new pieces every year.

This year, we spotted the new pieces.

One was especially obvious and caused quite a stir in our vehicle.

Giggling.

Remarks.

Joking.

I am sure they knew the reactions from kids would be great.

We heard about it most of the ride home

and a few more times before bed.

The next day after church,

I wanted to take some Christmas pictures of the kids.

They were hungry.

 They were not enthused.

Selectively cooperative.

On the edge of grumpy.

Randomly obnoxious.

It was obvious that things were not getting better.

Trouble was moments away 

and I had to think of something to turn things around.

And so, in desperation, I resorted to Saturday night's

reckless humor:

"Okay, guys,

think of last night:

 Santa peeking out of the outhouse."

It certainly wasn't a professional choice of a photography decision...

so I guess I can expect coal in my stocking this year.


But that's okay.
I'll take the coal if I can have these pictures.


Linking up to:
Sugarbeecrafts.com
Theletteredcottage
Abowlfulloflemons.net
Homestoriesatoz.com
Wearethatfamily.com

Important Updates.

Update #1: My son seems to be growing up a bit too much lately.

Update # 2: We had some super surprises at the fair.

Do you see the robin picture on the wall?

Yes, that is a second place ribbon!

AND a second place on her crayon drawing of a little girl.

$6 in prizes made for one happy child.

I was pretty happy for her,

and surprised at my own prizes as well.

My adult and child white ponchos both placed,...

both the picture I painted for my Farmer

and the gourd Christmas ornament got 1st place,...

and my painted gourd and ketchup also won.

$25 in prizes made me pretty happy as well,

especially since I really didn't think I was going to win anything.

Of course, walking around the fair seeing everything is fun in itself...

but it's even better when Grandpa has to ride the dragon roller-coaster because

Levi was too short and had to have an adult ride with him.

I'll admit,
I was glad it was Grandpa who took the ride while I shot pictures.

Update # 3: since my wooden counter is my most viewed blog post

and it has been over a year now since we put it in,

I thought I'd update it's use.

I still love it

and it's still in great shape.

I do wish I had put about 2 more coats of the sealer on it.

I read later on another blog of somebody who put 5 coats on it

whereas I only put 2 or 3.

I will probably have to ad another coat or two in the coming years.

Update # 4:

Yard sale finds have put me into a painting frame of mind.

In other words, I now have filled 90% of the storage shed,
and my husband is not exactly thrilled with the imbalance of occupancy.

Finally

Update # 5:

We got a new kennel for Spot off of Craig's List.

I am so thankful for Craig's List.

I came down down the stairs to this the other day.

I'm thinking Spot will not be suffering from loneliness.
Count on kids to figure out how to get in and out of that thing
with the latch the way it is.

I just hope they don't lock me in there.

 

Linking up to:
homesteadrevival.blogspot.com 

Time-warp-wife.blogspot.com 

Themodestmomblog.com

Abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com 
 Cozylittlehouse.com: Tweak-it-Tuesday
Betweennapsontheporch.net 
Thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com: Make-it-pretty-Monday