Thrifted Treasures

A few weeks ago Bradley and I stopped in at the local Goodwill store and we found a couple of treasures.

First there was this stack of pretty glass bowls:

I just love the lacy look of the outer rim. They have no brandname or markings of any kind, and I have no idea if they’re old or not. I just really liked them, so at 99 cents each, they came home with me.

I have an internet friend, Rhonda, who recently began collecting old Pyrex mixing bowls and such, and I thought of her when I noticed these pieces:

A gravy boat with saucer, and what I assume to be a sugar bowl and creamer?

I don’t collect Pyrex, but again, these were 99 cents each, so I bought them. Maybe I should have said I don’t collect Pyrex… yet. :o)

Peony Season

In looking at past posts about the garden, there has been little mention of the peonies, one of my favorites. I’ve always loved their sweet smell and big, fat flowers. Mom always said the peonies should bloom by Memorial Day weekend. Some years that’s true, but I have had times when it was a week or more into June before we had flowers.

They always get beaten up by the wind, every year. They’re situated on the West side of our property, and not sheltered one bit. Doesn’t matter, they still give a show, every year.

These are especially meaningful to me because we dug them out of my mom’s yard the summer after she passed away.  They need to be divided, so we’ll dig them up this year and spread the love around to other parts of the yard. :o)

Yard Work

The first morning of the first day of our long Memorial Day weekend was spent out in the hot, hot sun with a chainsaw and the Bobcat as we eliminated a tree out front and a huge weigela bush out back.

The tree was a yew, and was planted by the front deck steps 13 years ago when it was a wee, tiny little thing. It was a memorial gift from a dear friend, given to me when my mom died. You can understand why I was reluctant to take it out, even with Greg telling me for the past few years that it was too big and needed to go.

It had gotten too tall for me to prune by myself, and was lopsided on two sides because of the branches I had to cut. See where the branches grew through the rails by the steps? 

Here you can see how the magnolia kept some of the top branches on one side from growing.

An objective look at the tree last week had me finally agreeing to take it out.

We started cutting off branches. Greg had borrowed his dad’s little electric chainsaw that was lightweight enough that I could use it with no problem, yet heavy duty enough to take care of a 13 year old tree. This was my first time to use a chainsaw, and while cutting tools and I have a checkered past, I’m happy to say I did not lose a limb while cutting down this tree. (Get it? “Lose a limb”? Heehee.)

It seriously took just a few minutes before that big yew was reduced to this:

Randy arrived with the kids so they could help clean up branches, and Greg recruited him to help pull out the stump with the Bobcat.

You can see how it was in there so deep and so tight that it lifted the back wheels off the ground. They decided to cut it off at ground level instead…

Around on the other side of the house, I asked Greg to remove this huge overgrown weigela.

I think we planted this about eight years ago? Maybe less, but there was a lot of dead branches inside and a couple of good-sized trees growing in the middle. Besides, we need the space for Bradley’s new swing.

We made short work of this one with the chainsaw, then Greg just used the Bobcat bucket to dig out the roots.

Doesn’t that look better? You can see the chainsaw on the bench – a handy little thing to have around!  Did you also notice the 20-ish year old Little Tykes picnic table? My dad gave that to my kids for Christmas when Jess was 2 or 3 years old. It went through daycare kids, several years at Head Start on the playground, and looks a little worn, but is still in great shape! Anyway, like I said, this will be the spot for Bradley’s new swing. (If you click on this photo and enlarge it, you’ll see the nail ball in front of the bench. Yeah, that’ll have to be moved if we have swings back there…)

So having things in your garden and then removing/replacing them are normal cycles, and as much as I hated removing that yew, I’ll choose to put something there that brings me joy. This way I’ll still have that warm feeling of remembering my mom when I look at that spot.

My Neighbor’s Blooms

My next door neighbor has a very beautiful flower garden in the back part of their property. A week ago Saturday, as I was going blind at the sewing machine, she tapped on the back door and invited me out to the garden for a bouquet of iris. I needed a break and what better place to spend it than in the flowers?

There must be a dozen+ varieties of iris blooming back there right now, different colors, but all of them ruffly and smelling like grape pop. She cut me an armload and I was able to make three vases full for our enjoyment in the house.

For several days, the house smelled florally and grapey whenever we walked by the flowers and stirred the air around them.

Thanks Donna, for being so kind and sharing your beautiful blooms!

How I Made the Playhouse

One day last winter when I was blog-reading, I came across this idea for a felt playhouse. It’s essentially a slipcover that fits over a table (I used a card table), with an opening to go inside. The one I saw in this blog was really cute and I started following links to see what other creative ideas were out there. I loved it so much and wondered who I knew who was the right age for one of these? Immediately my niece Taylor came to mind – there were several months before her third birthday so I’d have plenty of time to create.

A few Sunday afternoons were spent cutting, sewing, and stuffing the little things. Then everything was tucked away as other projects came along with a shorter deadline. A couple of weeks before the birthday party, I got things out again and prepared to finish up.

Large sheets of posterboard were used to make a pattern the exact size of what the finished side panels would be, then the felt was cut one inch larger on top and the sides for seam allowances. Before the panels were sewn together, each was embellished with whatever scene was going on it.

There is the front door (a panel that flips up over the top to stay open) with a mailbox and flowers in the grass. A small bluebird sits atop the mailbox, but he can go anywhere on any of the panels. There are some felt pieces of “mail”, too (no photos of those) – the flap opens to reveal an opening for mail delivery.

One side has a garden scene with a stalk of sweet corn (peaches and cream variety), a head of cabbage, some carrots, and a couple of radishes.

The next side has an apple tree that houses an owl. The apples can be picked and then put back on the tree.

The fourth side has a clothesline for Taylor to hang her doll clothes. I included real clothespins. The sun is shining in the corner.

My favorite little detail is the butterflies. I used my Cricut to cut out a couple of templates. Then the templates were cut apart with one part being the wings and the other the body. I cut two wings pieces from bright colored felt for each butterfly, then sewed them together in the middle with the black body.

I also love the owl. For his eyes, I used old black buttons, but did decide to ask Angela to take those off so there’s no chance that Reese will bite one off and choke.

 

The playhouse fit their card table perfectly (I’d emailed Angela for the dimensions, and it was the same as mine) and the kids dove right in to playing. Taylor loved it and Angela reports that the two girls have spent lots of time in it since the party.

Okay, so she’s cheesin’ pretty hard because I told her to smile big! :o)

Jess helped me fit the finished playhouse on the card table the night before the party, and said to me, “You know you’re making one for Bradley.” I already had plans to make one, but wasn’t sure about a theme. We’ve decided on a starry night/space/alien theme and have been planning the construction. Brad’s will hopefully be ready in time for Christmas, since it apparently takes me months to get one done. :o)

Words to Live By

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.   Mother Teresa

I’m linking to Notes from a Cottage Industry where you can find more Words to Live By…

Words to Live By

What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories.  ~George Eliot

I love the life we’ve built together over the last 29 years. Here’s to 29 more!

Little Diggers – May

Saturday was Little Diggers again! The morning began with clouds and a cool breeze, but by the time we got done, the sun was coming out.

The first thing the kids did was wander through the garden, checking out what they planted in April. There were mulched paths to walk on so they didn’t compact the soil where the plants were, nor did they step on any plants.

The markers reminded them of what they planted last time.

 

The bowling ball lady bugs keep watch over things when the kids are gone.

Wyatt posed with the orange bowling ball caterpillar. All of the bowling ball creatures have been named, but I only remember that one is “Brunswick”.

Time to get down to business. The kids were divided and one group planted head lettuces, the other group did kohlrabi. Here’s Garett putting his kohlrabi in the ground.

I’ve never eaten kohlrabi, but was told it tastes like turnips. We like turnips, so I may try some in my own garden this year.

While Garett did that, Grace and Wyatt were in a third group and helped with the big tomato plant. We all learned about taking the bottom leaves off the tomato plant and making the hole nice and deep. This encourages lots of root growth along the stem, making it strong and able to withstand the seemingly constant prairie winds.

Garett puts a bell pepper in the ground.

While they were at that end of the garden, they planted a little bed of zinnias.

Then they went to the far end of the garden and put in some giant pumpkin plants. These pumpkins should end up as big as some of the smaller kids who were there!

Now that the planting was finished it was time to pull radishes!

Wyatt tentatively tried a bite and said he liked it…

Grace ate a whole one with no hesitation…

Garett didn’t even want to pull them because he said he didn’t like them. When he was reassured that he didn’t have to eat them if he didn’t want to, he was fine. He did eventually decide to take a tiny bite. He said he liked it, but I’m not convinced that either of the boys really did.

Before we left, the kids checked out the goldfish in the pond that is in front of the store. They wanted to just stay there while I went to the greenhouse to look at plants.

Of course that wasn’t happening, so they came with me. They asked if they could have a packet of seeds to plant at home.

Garett chose morning glories, and the other two took sunflowers. I explained to them how the sunflowers would be eaten by the birds when they got big. The kids just seem to be fascinated by seeds and plants and the garden.

We look forward to next month when they’ll still be planting! Sweet corn and watermelon will go in the ground in June.  They’ll harvest more radishes and who knows what else will be ready? I did hear someone saying they would learn about pulling weeds…

Birthday Day!

Today is Greg’s birthday. We celebrated with the kids last night by having supper at Vincenzo’s in the Haymarket in Lincoln.

I pulled out the camera, much to my family’s dismay. Too bad for them, I don’t mind their dismay. :o) Unfortunately, I married Earl Hickey…

 

and birthed Earl Jr. …

whose sister birthed another little Earl…

Despite the eyes-closed photos, we had a wonderful meal and enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate Greg’s birthday together. There was veal parmigiana,  baked cannelloni filled with spinach and chicken, raviolis, and chicken fettuccine. This feast was preceded by an appetizer of crab/artichoke bruschetta (YUM!), and topped off with the sharing of a couple of orders of crème brulee.

Yesterday morning on the way to Little Diggers, I was telling the kids about Greg’s birthday coming up. Wyatt asked me how old Uncle Greg would be – I told him 51. He said, “Ohhhh, fifty – one…” Like it was so ancient. Then he asked me how old I was. I told him 48. “Oh, 48. That’s good!” Like I am so much better off than Uncle Greg… 

Happy Birthday Baby – wishing you many, many more!

Blooming Trees

This year the magnolia tree by the front deck bloomed a couple of weeks later than usual, but when it finally did, it was lovely. I say “was” because the flowers are pretty much gone already. Most of the blossoms turned brown so I suspect they got a little frosted, then the wind beat them up and took them away. It was pretty while it lasted. This photo was taken a week ago when the buds were just starting to bloom.

Out back, the ornamental cherry tree bloomed late last week. The butterflies love this tree. 

Today while Bradley and I were outside, the breeze would shower us with cherry blossoms. Made me smile.

It’s a Whole New World…

When your perspective becomes vertical rather than horizontal,

 

and then you discover the big window.

This is  Bradley’s new favorite spot now that he’s pulling himself up to stand and can see beyond the confines of the living room.

So many interesting things to discover!