Photo Blogging Challenge (May 2017) - Look up - Himself

Himself was inspired by the theme for this month, Look Up, had some great shots.  Actually, he took a ton of excellent photos that I have been enjoying as backgrounds on my monitors. 

Harriet was a young wife who died in the mid 1800s at the age of fifteen.  Her tombstone collapsed recently in a local cemetery containing many old graves including those of Revolutionary War veterans.  Harriet was looking-up at a bouquet of daffodils earlier this month which someone planted near her grave.  I’ll be looking-up the local cemetery caretakers to see if we can raise up her headstone.

It seems every time we looked up this spring, down came the raindrops.  One of our redwood trees caught a few drops before they could reach the ground.

Various pollen seeds challenged the raindrops for supremacy of the skies this year.  Here’s a dandelion that did about all it could to contribute to the aerial combat.

A retired farmer recently donated his land to our county park system.  This is one tree in the many acres of trees which we now enjoy thanks to his generosity.

We’re looking up from the bottom of our favorite sledding hill.  It is deceptively peaceful on a quiet spring morning.  A few winters ago we terrified a cousin’s daughter from Florida with her first sled ride down the back of the beast.    

To see more, visit A 'lil Hoohaa

AMDG

Photo Blogging Challenge (May 2017) - Look up - Me

When I saw the topic, Look Up, I had every intention of taking a lot of photos throughout the month.  The full moon was beautiful.  Birds have been very active and I have seen some interesting ones, including a Pileated Woodpecker and a Great Blue Heron.  But, of course, I didn't have my camera when I saw all of these. 

The Hairy Beast was itching for a second walk last evening, and what he wants he gets.  On the way out I grabbed the camera and just started snapping.  Given that we just celebrated The Ascension of the Lord this past weekend, the clouds made me think of one of the readings at Mass.

When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, "Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven."

Acts 1:9-11

To see more, visit A 'lil Hoohaa

AMDG

And Then There Were None

Three nests.  Nine eggs.  Two babies. 

 

 

One raccoon. 

 

No birds!

 

  😢   

 

A couple of weeks ago, I found the nest of a pair of Mourning Doves in one of the bushes I was about to chop down.  It was wrecked and the two white eggs smashed on the ground. 

Last Saturday night or Sunday morning a raccoon found the Robin's nest in the Blue Spruce and had himself a meal.  We discovered that the eggs were missing later in the day when we noticed that the mama bird was nowhere to be found. 

 

Since two of the Cardinal eggs had hatched in Alberta Spruce, we were particularly worried.  Himself went out after dark, looking for the offending creature.  He happened upon it and scared it away.  Tuesday evening I borrowed the rodent trap from my dad, hoping to catch the beast.

 

For a couple of days it stayed away.  We hoped we were in the clear.  The baby birds' eyes opened, they were getting feathers and were very vocal when it came to feeding time. 

 

Then on Friday morning, first thing after I got up, I went to check the nest.

 

And found it on the ground.  Empty.

 

If anyone ever tries to tell you that raccoons have some, any, even one, redeeming qualities, don't believe them.  It's a lie.

 

 

AMDG

WIP (#6) - Bushes and Birds

WIPs lately have moved from inside to out.  Over the last couple of years I have been redoing the landscaping in the front of the house.  Shrubs that were supposed to be slow growing and small (2-3 feet) grew well past six and seven feet.

I started cutting down and digging out the last of the Gold Thread Cypress and Yews.  I still have a few more to do, but a mama Robin and a mama Cardinal also have their own WIPs in two of the bushes!  Thankfully Himself found the well hidden Robin's nest before I chopped that bush, ironically called a Bird's Nest Blue Spruce.

Robin's nest

Mama Cardinal 

AMDG

Photo Blogging Challenge (April 2017) - Color

When I saw this month's theme, Color, I loved it immediately.  I knew right away what I wanted to shoot, all the spring flowers and plants.  But, when we got blasted earlier in the month, I wondered if there was going to be anything left.  Not to worry.  We had a lot of damage to trees and shrubs from the storm, but the plants made it through unscathed.

We have Narcissus in a couple of gardens.  These, in the grass garden, are still doing well.

The Redbud tree on the front lawn is the best it has ever been.  I think it has got to be my favorite of all the spring flowering trees.

These tulips survived the deer, who thought a couple other plants in this garden made a tasty meal. They were drooping in yesterday's long rain.

One of my WIPs this spring is re-landscaping the front of the house.  Our new Japanese Lace Leaf Maple was delivered on Friday.  Now it just needs to dry up so I can plant it.

Just after we moved into our house thirteen years ago, Mom gave Himself  a small clump of flowers from her garden that he liked, Myosotis.  What started out as a small plant only about two inches in diameter, has now spread all over the yard.  The garden where it was first planted glows in blue this time of year.  The common name of this plant, Forget-Me-Nots, is appropriate today.  This would have been Mom's 76th birthday.  

To see more, visit A 'lil Hoohaa

AMDG

April Fools?

This would be pretty, if it wasn't in April.  Is it some kind of joke??

AMDG

WIP (#5) - Getting Organized

One of my projects this winter was to organize, and cull where appropriate, all my sewing supplies.  Everything is the basement and I would head down there for an hour or two at a time.   Lots of patterns, material, and magazines are headed to our garage sale this spring.  The rest was sorted, boxed, and labeled.  Well, everything except for the thread.  That was a big mess.

 

I needed a way to get at least some organization to it all.  We had a bunch of containers that the Hairy Beast's treats came in.  I cleaned them out, removed the labels, and covered them with some appropriate fabric - spools of thread.

 

Six tubs containing thread sorted by color now sit on the new-to-me heavy duty wire shelves I snagged from work.   We're closing down part of the office and the shelves were either going to be thrown out or given away.  So who better to give them to than me? 

 

 

To have a little fun I made  one of the cloth baskets from Faith and Fabric to hold the soon to be sorted jars of buttons.  And, yes, those are buttons on that lining material. 

 

I've been doing the Happy Dance now that this project is almost done.  Am I the only one that finds neat and organized to be calm and peaceful? 

 

AMDG

For Granted or Gratitude?

Just after I got to work yesterday, I went into our break room to make a cup of tea.  When I came back to my office I found that an envelope and silk rose had been left on my desk. 

 

The envelope contained a thank you card signed by my coworker, Linda, and her daughter, Olivia.  The only note inside, written in marker, again said thank you.  For what, I wondered. 

When I asked Linda about it, she said it was "just because" and "for being you."  I've promised to teach Olivia how to sew and she was excited to share with me the flower she made out of fabric. 

“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take

things for granted or take them with gratitude.”

—G. K. Chesterton

Sometimes the best lessons we get in life are taught by ten year olds and long dead writers.  Don't take things, especially people, for granted.  Be thankful.  Let them know.  Pass it on.

I am really looking forward to those sewing lessons! 

  

AMDG

WIP (#4) - It's Coming Together

I was able to get the squares put together.  I just love how it looks.  I have a few other projects that are time sensitive, so this is going to get put away for a little while. 

AMDG

WIP (#3) - How Many Quilts?

Three.  I have three quilts in process at the moment.  That's not too many, is it? 

 

One is set to go to the shop to be quilted.  That's the one I can't show you yet. 

 

One has been pushed aside so that I can work on the other two.

 

Then, there's this one.  Boy is the Irish Chain quilt a fun pattern!  Really.  It looks complicated but it's not.  In two evenings I had almost all of the block B's done.

 

Block B - sewn strips



Block B - strips cut

 

Block B

 

preview

 Someday I may actually write about something other than quilting.  We'll see.
 

 

AMDG