Gardening and Such

My long weekend is almost over. It's been a good 5 days. I've accomplished a lot and played some too. I'm feeling stronger each day and am happy with my new medications. We've been ding a lot of outside cleanup around here. The yard has been mowed and trimmed and we even gave the old tractor tire a new coat of paint.

This is one of my favorite things about this yard. My mother-in-law "planted" this tire many years ago. Today the inside was weeded, turned and it had some fresh dirt added. Plus we gave the old tire a new coat of fresh paint. It looks so much better than it did. Mom would be pleased.
We dug up and re-planted the cauldron. Do you see that little cat peeking from behind? I like this picture because of that little statue. And of course the little angel offering water or seeds from her apron.

This is in the backyard. The area beneath the wash tubs still needs more weeding and a fresh layer of rock but it is looking much better. The rose bush was full of weeds and crowded by little trees that I did not want there (squirrels!). It's a pink and yellow rose I dug up from my grandfathers yard after he passed. Everyone said it would not grow. It has survived every year and I get many beautiful blooms from it all summer long. My gift from grandpa Zackie. The wash tub will soon be full of rose moss. So pretty!!


Hubby placed garfield in front of this potted plant. Isn't he cute there?

I pray you all had a safe holiday and will have a good start of the new short week. I wish to send a Big Thank You to all of our sevice men and women and their families. Your sacrifices are greatly appreciated. To my loved ones in heaven I send this message: I miss you and I love you; You are not forgotten!

Be Happy, Be Healthy, Be Safe,

Tess

P.S. I took my granddaughter to see the new Shrek movie today. It was wonderful. Do stay for the after credits. I so love happy endings.... :)

Each day comes bearing its gifts. Untie the ribbons.

~Ann Schabacker

Above: Our morning visitor - we don't often see these....Hubby took the pic as I just could not get the camera to focus this morning.

Below: Billie (younger daughter) has a hidden flower garden in bloom. It's between her apartment house and the neighbors. Her entrance is in the back and I usually just go straight to it. These were up further along the side of the house and the neighbors were out and spoke. In looking up and greeting them I seen my favorite color. I have Iris all over my yard, stalks are up but no blooms yet. I'm so glad I had my camera with me.


My grandmother called these "bearded ladies".

Be Happy, Be Healthy, Be Yourself,
Tess

January's Journal Challenge Day 18 - Pink

Happy, Happy Sunday,

It's warmer outside again today and I was thinking how much I am ready for Spring to come and then realized it's still only January. That brought about a boo hoo gasp.

I'm putting away some things, craft items and such, getting ready to have my granddaughter come over to spend the night. Schools here had a four day weekend. Must be nice! Anyway I like to take advantage of the occasional three day weekends I get to have my granddaughter spend the night. She can be a handful and as we never know what temperament she will have we must not have to work the next day. I've seen 2AM before with her as she just would not go to sleep. She's 9 now and doing so much better. Mom and dad limit her sweets now and her TV. She no longer has a TV in her room either. Trust me if you have a somewhat hyper child get rid of some of the electronic stuff and sugary things. It really does help. My granddaughter was experiencing anxiety over too much to do and what to play with next and can I have more candy, more candy please, cartoons now, more cartoons, I have to play with my barbies, where is my unicorn, I want to draw now, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm sad, tuck me in, you forgot to tuck me in, kissy my dolly......Get the picture?!! Putting here on a morning and bedtime routine and eliminating the TV and VCR from her room and convincing grandma (yes me) not to buy her every little thing has helped her a lot. Yes, I admit to being part of the problem. She's doing much better at home and in school now.

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For today's journal page I did a watercolor. I learned if you are going to use watercolor pencils you really should use watercolor paper. Obvious conclusion! So now I get to try it again on watercolor paper and then I have a question. Can watercolor be used on canvas if I make a collage background? I don't know if I could do this with acrylic paint as I really have no idea how to blend. I'm not sure if the watercolors blended right either. Besides, I found I have one color of pink acrylic paint and it is bright. I guess I could have used pink shades from magazine clippings and collage the flowers. Now that's a thought, I must write that down. Ok, I'm back. BTW, I am sure I've seen this flower configuration before but can't remember where, in a book or online. So I'm hoping I'm not hurting anyone by posting this picture.

~~~

I've really enjoyed this week and am ready to get to doing a few more ATC's and to read what Misty has in store for us for next week. Oh, and I can't wait to see who her winners are for the original artwork. I know my chances are slim as she has so many flowers and participants but you can't blame me for hoping with fingers crossed. I'd cross my toes too but that might hurt. I won't be too disappointed if I'm not picked as a winner because I have, and am, learning so much and that makes for a great start of a new year, don't you think?

If you haven;t seen it yest and have some time to browse go to Misty's Flickr group Art Everyday page and see all of the fun and wonderful journal pages being created all over the world. I've uploaded mine there too.

Enjoy!

Tess

Beautiful October Days

It's so hard to believe we are in the middle of October already. Days are blending together, so much to do...too much to do. Sometimes in order to take a deep breath and slow down we have to force it upon ourselves. I did just that over this past weekend. I picked up my granddaughter and kept her overnight. We had dinner together with grandpa and she played a while with Frankie, the new kitten. She was so pleased to see Frankie was doing ok. Then we read her homework assignment. A book entirely beyond her reading level but she did pretty good sounding out the words. A nice, quiet relaxing evening.

Sunday afternoon we went through McDonald's drive-thru and then took our lunch to a picnic bench at Homer's Pond. The sun was shining and the temp was in the 70's but it was windy. The wind made for an interesting lunch to say the least. We had to keep a hand or elbow on everything. The camera I brought along with a photo shoot in mind came in handy to hold down the napkins. It was very funny and I do love seeing and hearing her laughter. After lunch we went walking on the walking trail around the pond. She had so much fun finding odd places for me to photograph her. My little 9 year old granddaughter is not afraid of dirt or climbing at all, not one bit. She's not all tomboy mind you, but not all froo-froo either.

She found this boulder and had to climb it:

Then she hid behind a tree and peeked out at me:

This log was meant for sitting on:

"Don't worry grandma, I won't fall in."

This looked like a good place to rest and give grandma another big smile:


These were growing all over and she wanted to pick one. I convinced her not to but she insisted I had to take a picture, so I took two. I plan to print them for her so she can remember how beautiful Homer's Pond is during the cold winter months that are ahead of us.

If you haven't taken a nature walk with a child yet this fall do try to. It was amazing the things she seen that I had never noticed before. Our leaves aren't changing color as nicely as I would have liked yet, but I do enjoy the green!

The "naked ladies" Are Blooming

The Amaryllis bulbs are blooming outside my back door. These beautiful tall flowers are also known as Belladonna Lillie's or "naked ladies". The greenery sprouts up in February with no blooms and then dies off with the summer heat. Then in mid August they suddenly appear, tall and beautiful with no leaves or "dresses" one may say; thus the name "naked ladies". I love these beautiful flowers and wish they lasted longer than just a few weeks each August. When these bloom I know Fall is not far behind. You may view more of my Amaryllis photos by viewing my slideshow on Associated Contnet here:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/slideshow/6504/amaryllis_belladonna_lily_or.html?cat=32