The Many Colors Of My Day

My days are filled with the many colors of the rainbow.

 

Scraps of this and that turn into pretty little things I cherish.

My life is lit up each day by my blogging buddies. Love you!

Reading about new petals and plants to place in my gardens.

Take my world and shake it up and you get polka dot promises

 Treasures that evolve from nature's bounty

Warm quilts I've made by hand folded on the bed 

 Hours sitting outside and listening to the birds chirp

And each and every day ends with reading before sleep.

...A very good life indeed...

There's Sunshine On My Shoulders

We have abundant sunshine, hot temperatures, and not much else going on around these parts.

Let's stroll through the gardens and see what's what, shall we?

For those of you who are new to this place, I call these the corner fairy gardens.

Clyde's favorite scratch tree. We couldn't figure out what was making the horrid marks on our crepe myrtle trees. Yep, it's Clyde sharpening his claws.

This is Miss Abi. She thinks she runs things, by the way. Simply a delusion.

Mister Charlie Ross. The essence of pure sweetness and honey.

The pavilion we had built this year. It's pretty hot to enjoy it right now. But when it's a bit cooler, it's the perfect place for company or a good book.

The view from the very back of the yard. Obviously it isn't a big yard. But pretty good sized for a garden home yard.

I loved this contrast. Of course potato vines look good with most anything. The perfect backdrop.

The ginormous waterfall recently built for our little pond. Ten thousand pounds of stone.

I had almost nothing blooming out here yesterday. But these two waterlilies today made up for it. I hope you enjoyed your tour of the yard.

I Want A Bouquet, But There's Almost No Flowers

This morning I went out and cut some sprigs of this and that for an indoor bouquet. I have next to no flowers blooming, so I decided to go with what I had.

First I began with this arrangement of six open-mouthed bottles. Then I got my trusty rusty bucket and started looking about the gardens for likely candidates.

Why not sage? The leaves are pretty and it's fragrant. So I decided it would be an herb, leaf, and the occasional flower bouquet.

This is what I ended up with: Lavender, basil, sage, rosemary, one lone red geranium, lemon verbena, white purslane, hyacinth bean vine blooms, and a scattering of various purple plant cuttings, dusty miller, and the only blooming black-eyed susan in the garden.

I also switched up what was in my container tied with jute to my chairs. I had all sorts of pretties arranged in here earlier in the week. But for everyday use, I decided favorite magazines would be preferable. This way I can sip on coffee or iced tea and pull out old favorites and thumb through them. 

All while enjoying my "make do" bouquet. 

Welcome Wagon Friday August 6

It's that time of the week again. When I take my Welcome Wagon around Blog Land and find new blogs to send you to visit.
I've had Sharon from Plumrose Lane design a blog button to take along with you if you've been featured on this weekly event. It's just to the right on my sidebar. She has a delightful blog full of free images, tutorials and fun stuff. She did a bang up job on a new blog button for me as well.

Lilac Lane is Maura's blog. She lives in rural Kansas. Her blog is about their dream of finding a little rundown farmhouse and turning it into a cozy cottage. They spent three months in their camper while they worked fixing it up.

Birdie Blue is a blogger with four girls, a gardener, and a lover of all things pretty. You will find lots of vintage love here. Her blog is very reminiscent of the Cath Kidston colors so many of you love. 

Arbor House Lane is about a blogger lucky enough to build her dream home. She lives in a small suburb outside Buffalo. She loves all things white. You will be amazed to watch her work her magic on furniture!
So sit down with your favorite snack and take the Welcome Wagon to visit these creative women.

Biting The Bullet In The Long Hot Summer

It's not as though there's much to take pictures of out in my garden right now. The Sago Palms have all come back from being frozen to the ground. First time that's happened to me in over five years of living here.

Yesterday I planted as many sweet potato vine cuttings as I could find room for. The rest I put in a humongous yard bag and threw out in the garbage. Yes, there were that many.

The new honeysuckle vine I planted back in the spring has decided to reach up and latch onto the sun. Which sounds kind of poetic, doesn't it?

It's that point in the summer when you'd better get your watering chores done early, like as soon as it's light outside. Then settle in to do some crafts you've been putting off. Or get to reading that stack of books. In the air conditioned comfort of your home, if at all possible. 

Because it's going to get worse before it gets better. And around here that means October or thereabouts. 

What I will be doing is eating a good many Weight Watchers Giant Latte ice cream bars. Because Nola and I have put ourselves on the online Weight Watchers diet. Yep, we bit the bullet a few weeks ago.  And we'll keep right on biting it as we watch skinny people eating hot fudge sundaes and fried chicken with gravy. 

I called her today and said: "Have you bought any of those Giant Latte ice cream bars yet?" And she said: "Just got back from the grocery store with them." So I said: "Well, run to the freezer and grab one and take a bite, because that's what I'm doing right now. And they're mighty good." 

So there we were, two fifty-something women oohing and aahing over the phone. Over something so darned good it was hard to believe we had to use up only one point to enjoy it. I would have hated for anyone to be listening in to that carrying on. Because it was downright embarrassing, to tell you the honest truth. But when you're hungry and rationing out points like we are, food enters a whole new element in your line of reasoning.

I got inspired by Diane of Crafty Passions, who has managed to lose about 25 pounds. (You go, girl!) If she could do it being the caretaker to her mother-in-law, who has Alzheimers, bless her poor heart, then surely I could put some effort out. So we'll keep you posted. Hopefully with a lighter and brighter outlook on life.

 

I So Love Buttons And Old Muffin Tins

I have lots of uses for old vintage muffins tins. Or new ones for that matter. There are so many things you can utilize them for. Storage and decoration is at the top of my list. 
 

And baskets. Who doesn't love baskets? Storage galore. From reading material to pantry storage to bathroom soaps. Tons of uses. 

I particularly like to put candles in muffin tins. Get a platter out of the kitchen and scatter buttons around the muffin tin. Makes for a great display.

Make It Do Or Do Without

Sometimes happiness is a group of prized items tied to a chair. Filled with messages and blooms, and of course time. The most precious gift of all.

Sometimes it is just the sight of polka dots that remind you of a little dress you wore as a child. A thin material gathered at the waist. That whipped around your legs in the prairie wind.

Old sewing machines remind me of the sound of that old familiar treadle churning steadily in another place and time. My granny, long gray hair twisted and plaited and tied into a bun, sewing me dresses. I see the light from her glasses catching darts of the sunlight coming through the window. 

There were always quilts to warm my feet at night. Made out of necessity instead of luxury or needing something pretty. When pieces of the family wardrobe was salvaged and eventually put to another use.

Just as there were always round red pin cushions filled with hastily punched in pins, that held my dresses in place as they were hemmed. And seams ripped out and hemmed again to keep pace with my skinny GrOwInG legs.

Some days you look back and you're sad for the things you've lost. For what was or should have been.

And then on the heels of those memories come flickers of sweetness, quick as darting rays of sunlight. Pinned in place where such things are stored for safekeeping. As fleeting and hard to hold onto as fireflies in the darkness.