Pool flowers and a great idea!

I have really been doing alot of work on the flower gardens around our pool. It is a very large area that I had previously only had a few azaelas and small shrubs in. That would be because young kids were running all over the area and would step on any flowers I had planted.

Well this year I decided to make it more of a flower garden as Yngwie and his friends are teens and no longer chase each other all over the place. I was inspired by my neighbors flower garden and purchase several lillies in orange, yellow and a fuschia pink. I also planted some perenial verbana in purple and some dahlias in white. It is really shaping up and I will get a picture of it when everything is in bloom!

I always have a hard time remembering what I planted and use the plastic tags cards to write down the name of the plant. Problem is, it always wears off the plastic and they look so out of place amoung the plants. The metal ones are too costly. When I was watching "Gardening by the Yard" Saturday, Paul James gave a great tip for keeping your plants identified. Choose small flat stones, (and believe me we have a gazillion of them!) use a permanent marker and write the name of the plant on the stone. This looks so much better in the gardens than those white plastic id tags sticking up all over.

I hope everyone has a blessed day!

Linda

Show and Tell Friday!

Kelli over at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com is having Friday Show and Tell. So today I thought I would show you someone who is very dear to me. My Grandmother. I know I have already written about her before, but she is just so amazing I am going to do it again. The above picture was taken last Sunday on Mother's Day. Tell me, does that beautiful lady look 95 to you?

Grandma was born in Christiansburg Virginia, May 15, 1912. Her father was killed in a train accident in 1911, 5 months before she was born. He had gone to get the family a Christmas tree and was taking a shortcut over the railroad trestle. Nobody knows for sure why he couldn't get off the trestle before the train hit him, maybe his foot was caught, nobody knows.

Grandma had 3 older siblings. When she was 15 months old, her brothers and neighbors child was playing with gas and matches. Somehow she got gas spilled on her and when her brother lit a match, her dress caught fire. When the neighbor looked out her window and saw Grandma on fire she ran and put the fire out. All that was left of the dress was the binding around the neck. Dr.s did not think she would live. She was burned from her neck to her knees. She had to lay in a sheet that was stretched over the tops of four chairs so that air could circulate around her for almost a year. She proved the Dr.s wrong, and continued to improve though she had to learn to crawl and walk all over again.

When she was 20 she met and married my Grandfather. My Dad was born one year later. Her happiness was not to last however. When my Dad was only three my Grandfather went into business with his brothers, who were not the most savory men around. Soon after he began to drink heavily and not come home at night. Grandma found out he had been seeing another woman. Not only had he been seeing this woman, the woman was also pregnant with his child. (Which she aborted). My Grandmother did something that was practically unheard of in the 1930's. she filed for divorce. Later, my Grandmothers sister came to live with her and together they raised my Dad.

Ten years later she met the man that I always considered to be my Grandfater. He worked with her and after a year of dating they married. They moved to Giles county to a farm where they lived happily until 1991 when my Grandfater passed away. Then Grandma moved to Roanoke to live closer to us.

Grandma turned 95 years old this past Wednseday. I made her a card and told her if you were to look up the "perfect grandma" in the dictionary, her picture would be there. I love and adore her so much and have been so blessed to have her in my life.

Take a walk through my garden with me

I

I love flowers and flower gardening! I love the smell of freshly turned earth. I love the smell of aromatic herbs. I love the warm morning sun on my face. I could work outside all day long and not get bored. My grandmother had huge flower gardens when she lived in the country. She grew every kind of flower you can imagine and they were absolutely beautiful. I loved going out into the garden with her to water, deadhead, or transplant.

My roses have not done so well this year as I have some major black spot going on. I may just have to cut them back and start again. The rose in the photo is a "Hot Cocoa" rose. It is much darker than what the picture shows. When in bud it is almost brown. The tiger lillies are new to my garden this year and have been doing very well. I have the bright "Orange Pixies" and some fuschia colored Asiatic lillies that have not bloomed yet. I also have some very bright yellow ones.

While the cherry tree and pear tree were in bloom, we had a very heavy frost and I feared that it killed off the fruit. And it did some. But a few hardy cherries and pears have made it through and hopefully we will have cherry preserves this spring and pear preserves this fall.

Gardening is a great stress reliever for me. I am always so happy and blissful when I am out in the gardens. I don't even mind weeding. I hope all of you have a "happy" place where the stresses of life melt away when you spend time there.

Linda

What a beautiful week this has been weather wise! Yesterday was my Grandmothers birthday! She is 95 years young. I had planned to post her beautiful picture today but forgot to upload it this morning before I left for work. She is so amazing. She still lives in her own house, has a vegetable and flower garden, and goes to her missionary meetings every Wednesday and church every Sunday. She has been such a positive influence in my life. She's not afraid of doing new things, meeting new people, and looks for the silver lining in any of the dark clouds that come her way.

I had my grandma, mother in law, sister and her children down for lunch on Sunday for Mothers Day. We had a great time just hanging out together and watching the kids swim in the pool. It's a little chilly still but the kids insisted it was just right. Then we went down to the lake and watched my DS ride his "new to him" jet ski. My Grandma was so excited watching him and said if she was a little younger she would ride it! Speaking of Mothers Day, my dear husband and son bought me a small tiller. I was so excited! My old one died several weeks ago and was too old to have it repaired.

My Irises are blooming! They are my favorite flowers because they are so bold and showy. I have several different colors in my flower garden, which incidentally I worked on all week-end. I planted several day lillies, tiger lillies, and cala lillies along with a butterfly bush in a deep purple. I also transplated some of my hollyhocks and lambs ears. I also planted some coleus in the most beautiful copper color. They will look great in the fall with the mums.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed day!

Linda

Friday Show and Tell

Today I thought I would show you my husband's mistress!!! She is a little younger than I am, has most of her original parts and is his favorite color, blue.

Meet Miss Blue. She is a 1966 Chevrolet Corvette. Back when we were dating in the 1970's, he would always say one day he was going to own a corvette. Well that wish came true for him. He purchased this corvette 8 years ago from his brothers neighbor and it became a part of our family. He really doesn't drive it too much, mostly just to car shows and cruise in's.

Do you see the guitar in front of the car? My dear husband made that! He bought a "donor" electric guitar at a pawn shop and pulled the electronics from it. My son designed the shape of the guitar and helped with the construction. The knobs on the body are made to look like dash board knobs, the Chevrolet insignia is on the back, the trademark crossed flags are on the neck with "Corvette" inlaid in mother of pearl up the neck. Of course it is finished to match the color of the much adored Corvette!

This weekend is going to be a very busy one! Saturday night my son is participating in the high school talent show. He is playing "Voodoo Chile" by Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan on the guitar and his friend will accompany him on the drums. Sunday I will be having my Grandmother and Sister down for lunch!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a blessed Mothers Day!

Just Rambling

This is a photo of my very favorite Iris. I love the color purle and this deep purple with white flecks is so beautiful. I really like the white Iris too! I have some pink and yellow that haven't started to bloom yet but have lots of buds on them.

My sister and I have been talking about what we will do on Mothers Day.

Our mother died from leukemia when I was 16 and my sister was 11. Our mom was 37 years old. So we usually celebrate with our grandmother who will be 95 years old next week. I am planning on having them down to my house Sunday for spaghetti, salad, homemade rolls, and cherry cheesecake trifle. My Dad is out of town on Mothers Day but hopes to make it back in time to come for dinner.

Yesterday I went to see my adorable great neice, Mackenzie. She is two and when I told her I was coming to see her she said "Oh my doodness, I will bake a cake" I told her I loved cake and what kind was she going to make and she said "Pink of course". So yesterday I ate pretend pink cake and a plate of real cool whip to go with it. We had a very nice party.

Today marks the 27th year of me and my husbands wedded bliss! We were just babies when we got married 27 years ago, we were only 19 years old, but I knew that he was the one I wanted forever. If given the chance, I would do it all again. I would have liked to post a picture but I didn't have any that were not in a scrapbook. Our photographer was terrible. The photos are so dark you can't even tell who they are.

Have a great day everyone!

Roses!

My roses are finally blooming! I really like this coral colored one. I can't remember the name of this coral one. I also have one called hot chocolate which is cocoa colored, angel kisses, which is purple, an old fashioned burgundy colored one that I dug up in the woods around an old foundation just up the road from us. (with permission!), a Princess Diana that is pink, and a yellow one that is called Sunsprite.

I really love roses but mine get black spot so bad. I spray and remove diseased foliage but still have a problem with it. Does anyone have any suggestions that works for them to prevent and manage black spot? I will keep plodding along with my rose garden because the end result is so beautiful!

Hope everyone has a great afternoon.

Friday Show and Tell

It's Friday Show and Tell and I would like to show you one of my very favorite books. It is a very old book by Julia McNair Wright, called "The Complete Home".

I bought this book in a box with many cookbooks at an auction almost twenty years ago. It is falling apart and I usually keep a rubber back around it to keep it from losing it's pages.

The book was originally given to Miss Kate Cassell in 1896. There is no copyright date in the book. I have no idea if the persons in this book are fictional or real. It is narrated by "Aunt Sophronia" and the first page of the book says this:

"Aunt Sophronia lives in one of our inland towns. She is relative to many of the townspeople- The Oracle of all. Firmly intrenched in hr own opinions and more than self complacent, she is yet ready to give other people their due. Her ideas are broad and sound, and she is no doubt a great blessing to our community. An indefatigable diarist, she has for many years recorded the best of what he thinks and learns on her favorite subject - The Home- These journals being to voluminous and too full of private affairs to present to the public, she has at our earnest solicitation reproduced part of them topically and with a happy faculty in discussing her subject from the beginning."

I have read this book from cover to cover many times and love it more everytime I read it. It covers the subjects of Order in the Home, Economy in the home, Beauty of the Home, Hospitality, Methods of works, Attention to dress, Religion, Friendships, Mistress and Maid, and many more! In the back is a chapter of "Useful Information" like what to serve the sick, how to get rid of stains, etc.. I don't know if it has every been re-printed, if not it really should.

Thinking Summer today!

It's almost that time of year! The weather has been in the upper 80's for the last few days and I am thinking summer! Our family lives on Smith Mountain Lake. It is beautiful lake with 500 miles of shoreline and breathtaking view of surrounding mountains.

We love the water, especially "Yngwie" our DS who is 15. He absolutely loves to wakeboard. He learned two years ago and wants to go everyday when the weather gets warm. He has actually been begging us to take him now. Not happening as the water is far to cold.

At least 4 days per week, we will go out in the boat or jet ski's and enjoy the scenery or pull Yngwie and his friends on wakeboards, skiis, tubes, knee boards, etc.. I am thinking that I may learn to wakeboard this summer. I can water ski, but I'm not too sure my 46 year old bones will take to many falls on a wakeboard. We'll see.

Anyone else who can't wait?!

Weekend Fun!

This first pic is for Sharon. It's kind of dark, but I think you can see that it matches your vase. This teapot belonged to my great aunt Clara. It set on the shelf that separated the dining room from the hall. She gave it to me after I got married. Mine says McCoy on the bottom.

This weekend my DH, son and I put our cars into the car show for the Dogwood Festival. It was a beautiful day and there was a great turnout. They have a carnival, food vendors, craft shows, music, etc. followed by a parade. This festival dates back to the 1950's when the local high school sold dogwood trees to raise money from band uniforms. When the uniforms arrived they had a parade so everyone could see their new uniforms and they have held the parade ever since!

Yesterday I went out to the garden and much to my surprise my radishes were ready! These are french breakfast and cherry sparkler! I am really not all that fond of radishes but I love to see them grow! We give away alot of radishes!

Today during my lunch hour, I am going to the nursery and get my tomato and pepper plants. I love to garden.

I did not get any sewing done this week-end, but I did cut out a really cute rabbit that I hope to get finished this week.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Show and Tell Friday!

As I was typing my title, I was reminded that when I was little I used to have a "Show n Tell". You would put a film strip in the slot and put the record on and it would read a story and show picture on the screen. I loved that toy! I wonder what happened to it??? I found this pic on ebay.

Anyway, back to what I really brought for show and tell! I would like for you to meet three very good friends of mine. The first little lady in the pink victorian attire is "Phyllis Victoria". My darling husband bought her for me when we were first married. The lady we bought her from said maybe you can name her Phyllis, that was her name. I said of course, Phyllis was my mothers name too! She has been in our family for about 25 years now.

The second friend, in the red velvet, is very special to me. Her name is "Dorothy Stewart". Dorothy was given to my grandmother when she was in the second grade by her teacher whose name was Dorothy Stewart. Grandma kept her for decades and I never even knew she existed until my 16th Christmas and Dorothy Stewart was given to me for safe keeping.

The last little lady in cream, is "Alice Lee Shenk" I bought her at a auction sale about 20 years ago. At the same sale, I bought a silver calling card case and it had a card still in it that said "Miss Alice Lee Shenk". I also bought some silver sewing implements and the were engraved with ALS on them. So I thought it only fitting that she be name after her original owner.

Hope you enjoyed meeting my friends! I hope everyone has a joyful weekend!

Linda

Reflecting.

Are the irises blooming in your area? My mother in laws have bloomed but mine are still lurking. They are in the shade and are always a little after hers. This is a picture of last years. The iris is one of my favorite flowers. I love the size and shape of them, and they make a beautiful bouquet for the table. I love flowers and grow several different kinds. I inherited this love from my grandmother. I swear that lady could stick a toothpick in the ground and a redwood would grow! When she lived in the country, she had the most amazing flower gardens you have ever seen. Larkspur, cocks comb, dahlias, iris, chinese lanterns, and my favorite as a child, snapdragons. She would let me pull the blooms off some of the snapdragons and show me how to squeeze them so it would look like a dragon opening and closing it's mouth. This would fascinate me for hours, along with making hollyhock dolls, and necklaces of clover. She also showed my how to make what we called grass hopper catchers, made from non other than grasshopper weeds! Amazingly enough, these things along with making mud pies and cutting paper dolls from the Sears catalog would keep me entertained for weeks while I would visit her in the summer.

No TV, (she could only get one station and it was fuzzy) very little radio, (farm report), and no video games! I feel sorry for my son that he did not get to grow up with simple pleasures like that. He doesn't watch a great deal or tv or play video games all that often, but I wish he could have known what it was like to get up and go outside and play all day on hundreds of acres of land, and not worry that someone might abduct him at the bus stop, or offer him drugs, or any of the horrible things that people do to children now days. I know they happened then too, I guess we just didn't hear about it as much. But still, the biggest worry I had while at grandmas was, "I hope she doesn't have liver for supper"!

My grandmother asked me once to write down the things that I wanted her to leave me in her will. I wrote down her rock collection. Just rocks she picked up on the farm that looked like a bird, or bug or whatever and she kept them. When she asked me why just that I told her she had already given me the greatest gift of all. Time.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Linda

Another Dog and Purse

Back in January, I made my sister a stuffed dog and purse for her birthday. My niece (my sister's daughter) had a fit and wanted the exact same thing for her birthday. So this week-end I got both of them finished. I really love the black with hot pink polka dots! The dog is really not hard at all to make and I love watching him come together. My twin nephews say they want dogs for their birthday in August too. They want them made out of camo fabric. They will be so much fun to make!

When I was cleaning in the attic a couple of weeks ago (uhhh), I found a cross stitch that my sister had made back in 1986. Why I have it in my attic, I have no idea. Anyway, I showed it to her and she didn't want it so I made it into this small pillow for my niece. The picture didn't come out very well. The picture is either a beaver or a woodchuck, I can't really tell, but I used some Mary Engelbreit ( love her stuff) fabric to make the pillow.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Feeling like Summer

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous! Beautiful sunny and warm weather and cloudless skys. I spent most of my time outside, sweeping the porch and patios, buying hanging baskets for the front porch, working in the garden, pruning bushes, etc. Anything to not have to go inside. I took the picture of the butterfly yesterday. He looks like he posed for me! My radishes, lettuce, turnips and spinach are looking good so far. Only 2 out of 4 broccoli made it. I think some critters took care of the other two before I could get my fence "electified" again. The electric fence is the only way I am able to have a garden. The deer population in our area is huge!

Our cat "Midnight" and Chocolate Lab "Tori" were enjoying the warm weather too!

DH spend yesterday spiffing up my 1967 Camaro for a car show next weekend. DH bought this for me for Christmas several years ago. It is my dream car! DH has a 1966 Corvette that will get it's spit shine sometime this week.

The Dogwood Festival is being held in a neighboring town this weekend and we always take our cars for show. The festival is alot of fun. There is a carnival for the kids, every kind of music anyone would want to listen to, yummy food, craft shows, ending with a parade and the crowning of the Dogwood Queen.

I did get some sewing done, but didn't get any pictures yet, I will try and get them on this week because the dog I made my niece is soooooo cute.

Hope everyone has a great day.

VA Tech Day of Mourning

Today the nation has been asked to wear the colors of Virginia Tech in honor of the students and teachers who were killed by a deranged student. Everywhere I went during lunch today, 90% of everyone had on either orange and maroon or their VA Tech logo tee-shirts. It was wonderful to see the community pull together and gather strength from one another.

One of the students that was killed was from our area. His name was Henh Ly. He was a 20 year old student majoring in computer engineering. He was an exceptional student, having enough advanced placement credits from high school to begin VA Tech as a sophmore. A young man remembered by friends as always joking around, and loved by neighbors and classmates alike.

I know we are never supposed to question God when bad things happen to good people, but I think it is human nature to do so. WHY?????

At this point I am just relying on my faith and trying to keep in mind that those who were killed and had faith and had asked God into their hearts are now living with our Saviour.

I can not imagine losing my child, for any reason, but to lose a child from a senseless, random, violent act is something I can not fathom. My prayers are with the families of those who were killed.

Just Spring Ramblings

So much has happened since Easter Sunday, it is wearing me down. With the illnesses in our family and the tragedy at Virginia Tech, I find I am becoming obsessed with the news, searching for a reason someone would gun down innocent children. I have decided to step away from the news today and try to find some normalcy in the day.

This is a picture I took of our table Easter Sunday. The banner in the background was a free download from Allsorts blog.

I made the chocolate Corvette for my husband for Easter. He loves Corvettes! And for my son a chocolate guitar! They were surprisingly easy to do. I had only made very small chocolates in molds before and was somewhat intimidated with the larger molds, but I think they turned out pretty good.

Remember the peepers in my pond? Well look what I found this weekend! Gazillions of tadpoles are now happily swimming around! In a few more weeks we'll have tons on frogs jumping around.

Such a sad day.

I sit here in disbelief listening to the news about the shootings at Virginia Tech. I cannot even imagine the anguish that the parents of the students who were killed or injured are going through.

I can't fathom what goes through the mind of a gunman who opens fire on innocent people who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. From what we hear from the news, this was a case of his girlfriend being unfaithful. Now over 30 people are dead. I am really having a hard time with this. VA Tech is about a 30 minute drive from where I live. My son and I were up there last week during Easter break just looking around the town. I would never have imagined that one week later such a tragedy would strike.

This comes on the heels of other difficult news this past week. On Easter day, my stepmother had two strokes. She was taken to the hospital and they ran dozens of tests and determined she needed to exercise and eat better. She is recupperating nicely at home now, but it still worries me that another stroke could happen at any time.

My DH's best friend drove himself to the hospital last Thursday after feeling pains in his chest. He first went to his family Dr. who told him probably nothing to worry about. fortunately he didn't agree and went to the emergency room. He was admitted immediately. Testing found one of his coratic arteries 50% blocked and the other 99% blocked. He was just a few hours away from a heart attack. He had open heart surgery today and Dr.s say it went well and he should be 100% in a few months. Did I mention that he is only 44 and in very good shape?

On a happier note, I was visiting a friend Saturday and she was showing me the dress her daughter was wearing to Prom. The dress was originally made for my friend to wear to her Prom in 1981 by her mother. Her daughter decided that she wanted to wear the same dress. Of course, they made some alterations to bring it up to date. But, I think it is the most wonderful thing in the world for her daughter to want to wear it and it is absolutely gorgeous. Lavendar silk with a lavendar floral chiffon overlay.

Easter's Almost Here!

Just a few more days and Peter Cottontail will be hopping down the bunny trail! I love Easter! Last night I made easter eggs following the instructions athttp://marthastewartliving.com for the silk tie dyed eggs. This was so easy and they turned out great! Make sure you use silk ties, not polyester. I had one poly tie and the color did not transfer. Do you see the dice and playing cards on one of the eggs? Thats my favorite.

I also made some beet pickled eggs. This is a family tradition that has passed down at least 4 generations that I know of. Really easy just boil your eggs, pour off the juice in a quart of pickled beets, and heat to almost boiling. I add a little more vinegar and sugar. Pour the whole thing over the eggs in a jar. Wait at least 3-4 days before you eat these. I keep mine refrigerated, my dad doesn't, so whatever works for you.

I also make some Paska. This is Ukranian Easter Bread. I got this recipe from a wonderful blog called louvella at home. She has some beautiful pictures of hers. I did not ice mine, but they look better if they are. I got rave reviews from my family and co workers for this. It takes a little time, but almost everything is mixed in a blender!

I also made my nephews and Dad some decorated jars of candy. Starburst for the nephews and Sugar free candy for my diabetic Dad. I am all done except for the cooking of the meal on Easter Sunday. We are having Spiral sliced glazed ham, potato salad, baked beans, deviled eggs, broccoli casserole, macaroni and cheese, pickled beets, orange jello salad, strawberry shortcake and lemon pie! YUM!!!!

Gremlins!

My mother in law gave me this craft magazine along with many others when I first got married in 1980. At the time I wasn't very interested in the crafts in it so I put it away. Now 27 years later, I found them in the attic and LOVE some of the crafts in them.

Some of the fashions are hilarious! But I just loved some of the ads for crafts that you could send off for. I wish I could come across the patterns for them.

I decided to make what they called elves. I think they look more like gremlins. Now in 1967 they did not put full size patterns in the book. You were to take graph paper with 1 block equaling 1" and draw the pattern. Sorry! I am not that artistic. Thanks to modern technology I just stuck it on the copier and enlarged the pattern to the size I wanted. Not everything in the good old days was good!

Mine turned out a little different than the picture in the magazine. "Yngwie" has named them. The green one is "Les" and the purple one is "Paul" I like the green one best, he likes the purple one. Either way I think They turned out really cute.

I also made a skirt out of the same fabric that the green gremlin is make from and two more "wee bunnies". I decided that my neice and mother in law needed one too!

Speaking of my neice, she is coming down week after next so I can teach her to sew! She is 16 and want to learn to sew some purses and totes that she can sell to make money to help pay her car insurance and gas.

I hope everyone had a great week-end!