Staycation

A staycation here is simply visiting nearby points of interest instead of taking an elaborate or expensive far away vacation.  It's a great way to explore things nearby that you were not aware of or had the time to discover.  This is what my DD1 and I did this week.  We drove to a town my daughter had explored with my dad and she showed me all the sights at the river park.  It was wonderful!  I had no idea the park existed even though the ballpark we play games at is in the front of the park!  This is what happens when you don't look around and explore you miss things!!!  I am so glad we went and had a really good time.  The town we went to is called Oswego Kansas.

We started by driving across the Neosho river.  Here you can see how high the drop off is to the river below.  The drop off is many layers of slate rock that crumbles and is scattered on the ground on the road you can see.

 After we came across the river we drove across this beautiful bridge. The stone work is wonderful and you don't see bridges or stonework like this anymore. We drove down the road along the river that  you see in the first picture where there is a vehicle parked and got a closer look at the water.

Afterward, we drove up the hill which is on top of the drop off to this stunning park.  The view was amazing and I was so surprised.  I had no idea it was here!  My DD is standing on the lookout platform looking out over the drop off to the area down below we had just been.

This is taken from the lookout  platform. To the right is the area where the first picture of the drop off was taken.  The small damn is pictured.

This is a sign about the park and it's history.

 This is a cut out representing an Osage Indian looking out across the valley on his horse.  The views are breathtaking looking out across the farmland and river valley.

This is a fish pond in the park. There were several goldfish swimming around.  The whole park was just wonderful and not pictured is a very nice sized swimming pool.  I am so glad we took the time to go exploring in our own backyard!  I hope you enjoyed our discovery and make time to explore in your backyard as well :)

Pot Holder Swap

I'm back a bit earlier than I thought :)

I was very surprised and delighted when I opened the mail box and discovered a parcel from Australia!!!  I immediately knew it was from my lovely swap partner and hurried inside to open it!  This is what she sent along with a lovely letter:

I feel so overwhelmed with gratitude.  Inside the package are two very nice and thick potholders, two Australian Christmas themed fabrics for my sewing and quilting, a precious koala bear from her DD and She even included an article by Rhonda Hetzel from Down to Earth.  If you have not yet visited Rhonda's blog I encourage you to do so.  The insight, encouragement, and information I have received from reading Rhonda's blog is absolutely wonderful and I appreciate her so very much for the time and effort she has put into encouraging others like myself on this wonderful path of simple living I cherish.  A special thanks to Rhonda for starting her blog and later the forum that has became such a valuable part of my life.  I have learned so much and met so many wonderful like minded friends.  What a blessing and fantastic opportunity this swap was to make a lovely friend across the globe!

These are the secret project I was working on that I couldn't share with you earlier just in case my swap partner dropped by my blog :)

In America a yellow rose's meaning is friendship, so I chose yellow for this pattern to send to her.  She has already received them along with a bar of handmade soap from a local soap maker and really liked her package.  Enjoy your day and the many friendships you make along the path of life!

Steamboat

Wow, what a weekend.  I am very glad to be back home and was extremely tired but very thankful that we had the opportunity to board the Steamboat and have a mini getaway for our Anniversary.  We had a very nice time.  What a beautiful way to celebrate.   I took a few picture of the boat and apologize in advance the lighting is not the best.  It was very difficult to get pictures and I am including a link to their webpage if you would like to read about this interesting boat.

This is the back windows over the paddle wheels.  We ate our dinner in this room and we really liked these stained glass panels depicting the surrounding scenery and the steam boat on the lake.

This is the inside of the boat.  As you can see the inside is set up as a dinner theater area.  You do not expect this when you see the boat from the outside.

 This is the moving paddle wheels at dusk.  We were allowed to walk around at our leisure after our dinner before the show started.  Our meal was not over until a little after dusk so it's a little dark here.  It was still quite beautiful and the cool misty spray from the water admittedly felt good since it was so hot!

The American flag flying proudly above the paddle wheels and it was just so beautiful!

Even though it is dark outside I really like this picture.  It was extremely hot during our trip and this is taken after leaving the ship.  You can see people still coming off the ship.  There was a nice breeze and the temperature was much cooler.  We just felt so calm and relaxed after a wonderful meal, show, and delightful cruise on the lake.  This is the link to the Branson Bell the steamboat we went on.  It has a wonderful history including as the captain explained to us, the ship was launched in 1995 the same year we were married!  How neat is that?  I will be back on Thursday with more pictures of something else entirely, I am going exploring!  Until then have a wonderful week :)

Happy Anniversary

Seventeen years ago two high school sweethearts were joined in marriage.  Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband!  Together we are a great team and I feel very blessed to have such a loving person to walk along this path of life with.

We will be taking a dinner cruise on an old fashioned steam boat in honor of our anniversary and I hope to post pictures of the ship when we return.  I think it will be fascinating and we are both looking forward to it.

Enjoy your weekend :)

Putting your Skills to Use

I would first like to extend a warm welcome to all of the readers from Rhonda's blog at Down to Earth.  I am so very glad that you have came here to read.  My sincere thanks to you Rhonda for posting a link to my blog from yours.  What an absolute honor and delight to welcome so many wonderful people here!

The other day when I posted about Billowing Laundry, I also had difficulty with my pin bag catching the breeze as well and shooting down the clothes line!  Several times I had to walk down the line, retrieve my bad, and start pinning again.  Finally a thought...why not pin the bag?  I had an aha moment which I wanted to share just in case someone else has this same problem.  I simply placed a pin to the side of the bag to stop it from traveling away in that direction.  Of course if the wind is coming from multiple directions you might need to pin both ways.  I was finally able to get back to the task at hand.

This is my  new pin bag, so new in fact it was too dark to take a proper photo outside on the line!  I have been busily sewing a roomier bag that can hold additional pins.  I have came to realize that several days when I am washing, the clothes aren't drying as quickly as the loads of wash are finishing, and I have a bit of laundry hanging up all at one time.  I need more pins but my old bag just did not have the capacity.  I will donate my old pin bag.  I looked online for some ideas and was amazed at the creativity!  I was really impressed and decided at a later date I might try my hand at another design.  For a hanger on the top to hold the weight I used a trouser hanger that  presses the bottom leg hem.  They are wooden and quite strong.  I decided to  round the bottom of the bag to soften the look a bit.  I love the colors of this one and it puts a smile on my face. I was able to put my sewing skills to use making something for our home that is both a joy and useful at the same time. 

 I am so very thankful that I was taught to sew.  It is a skill that has served me well for many years.  I think not only for my DD's, but their friends that are interested, it is so important to teach them as many household skills as possible.  In my opinion I feel that a whole generation seems to have skipped learning many of these skills and I think they are so vital and important.  I know if they have the desire and the opportunity they can in turn teach others and pass on the skills that I and many others use in our daily lives at home.  I also feel that if I at least introduce these skills to my DD's whether they have an interest or not at their young age, that at some point when they have their own homes they can recall me showing them and not be afraid to try something like a new recipe, sewing pattern, quilt, knitting, soaps and any number of other skills used daily in our home.  I of course hope that all of these things are second nature to them...however....I will only be a phone call away cheerfully willing to help :)  If you haven't already, I encourage and challenge you to use a skill in your own home it is so rewarding beyond the object created and I would love to hear a post back on what you accomplished.  It is encouraging to others and that is what it is all about :)

Following our own Road

After I posted yesterday about cleaning the file cabinet and the years of papers I came across I started thinking about our financial road in life.  There have definitely been times of lean and times of plenty in our lives and we all have times when we wish we had more.  When we were younger we were always so happy to have enough for what we needed.  Occasionally we had enough for wants as well and that always felt good.  It was unplanned but was welcomed.  As I looked over financial statements while shredding I wished that when we  were younger we had been more diligent in our finances.  I stack it up to immaturity, even so it's a shame that those lesson's weren't learned sooner so that saving money had been a bigger priority  all along.  I am thankful that we are on the right road now instead of living our whole lives never realizing there was a different way.  Now instead of being pleasantly surprised at times of plenty we save our money and plan for the things we want not making random purchases just because we have the money.  We use and implement a budget.  That is a far cry from our younger years.  I could see while reading our paperwork how smoothly our finances went when we were just learning to start saving and how unsteady they were when we slipped out of our healthy habit of watching our budget and sticking to it.

 Now  years later I feel so much more confident and relaxed knowing that we have chosen where we are going and taken control over our financial destination instead of leaving it to chance.  As we have matured we have realized that the small sacrifice of doing without something that is a want now, is nothing compared to going without a true need or having the funds for a need down the road.  Worrying about how to pay for something unexpected is behind us and laying awake wondering how to pay for that cost is also a thing of the past.  Living within our means even if it is far  more conservative than most is the road we have chosen and are comfortable with.  This road is far less popular and even sneered at by some but will get us where we are going and when we arrive at our destination we will have enjoyed the ride.  This road of living for our goal of being debt free uses as a couple team work, determination, creativity, and will have a return unparalleled to owing on all that we own.  I do not regret the road that we have chosen and only look forward to what is ahead.

Life is what we choose enjoy your journey and thank you so much for reading and your comments.  I sincerely enjoy reading the blogs of those that have joined here.  Thank you!

Life in the File Cabinet

I have been working steadily to catch up on laundry and have the last of it on the line drying.  It feels so good to be caught up.  When I am finished with a task I look around and see if there is anything else that I need to spend some extra time working on.  One task that needed my attention is the filing cabinet.  I have years of papers that needed sorting and disposed of.  A lot of the papers were irrrelevant and needed shredding as they had personal information on them.

A lot of the papers in the cabinet were older than ten years and as I sorted through the folders I was able to also go back in time to what we were doing in our lives at that time.  Both financially and physically.  I saw trends in our life when we were busy paying off debt and times when most if not all of our income was going toward remodeling a home.  I looked at the children's artwork and school papers and remembered what they were doing in school and the activities and certificates they received and I could see them proudly singing for a musical at school or receiving an award at their awards ceremony.  Our life was in that cabinet tucked away  here and there in different folders.  Above all was the common thread of family.  Everything was joined by our goals for our family and the work and effort to meet those goals and raise healthy happy children and to provide a nurturing and loving environment for our DD's.  Many goals have changed and evolved along the way as we are raising our DD's.  It was an interesting insight into our lives from the file cabinet.  I'm curious to see how our lives will change in the future.  I do know one thing, I will not be accumulating another ten years worth of papers in that cabinet!  Above all else, no matter what we are doing in our lives, no matter what our goal is, our family is the most important by far.

Billowing Laundry

I have spent a lot of time at the clothes line today.  Most of the time it looked like this!  The wind is amazing today.  I am very thankful that I have not had any laundry blow off the line and yes, it did dry much quicker with the wind and warm air.  DD1 and 2 have finally cleaned their rooms and they both  did an exceptional job.  It created a lot of laundry from clothes that were strewn about in their rooms.  I am a day away from being finished and that is such a wonderful feeling.

I have spent almost every waking moment when I'm not working on laundry knitting.  I have these and two more finished.  I am experimenting with various sizes to see what is most comfortable and works best in our kitchen.  I really like the variety of colors of dishcloths and especially love the way I enjoy seeing them in the kitchen on the side of the sink.  It is such a wonderful feeling to have something you made being used.  There is a deep satisfaction in producing or making items or supplies at home instead of purchasing them from the store.  I feel like I am not contributing to the commercial mass production and I am more in touch with my home.  It makes our home feel nurtured, loved, and a place you would like to spend time in because it is a haven.

This is a quick snapshot of the stained glass project I made earlier this spring in a stained glass class.  I enjoyed the class and making this project though I don't think I have a calling as a stained glass artist :)

Happy Father's Day

I want to send out wishes for a Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful fathers out there.  I have been so blessed to have an amazing husband who is a wonderful father to our daughters, and a fantastic dad who is an exceptional grandfather to our daughters.  These two amazing men have made such an impact in my life and I can't tell them enough how much I appreciate, care, and love them.  Enjoy your day celebrating the men that have made this day an honor to celebrate!

 Slice of Red Velvet Cake made for my DH and Dad for Fathers Day by DD1 and myself.

Cleaning with Gumption

Today I finally had a chance to clean with my home made cleanser called Gumption.

This was posted by a lovely member of the Down to Earth Forum I belong to.
Home Made Gumption
1c. baking soda
2tsp. glycerine
2 tsp. dish soap
several drops of essential oil

I combined clove oil in mine and stirred it up.  It's very dry after stirring it up and then I added water to the mix until it had the consistency of soft scrub.

I absolutely love this mixture and have used it on my kitchen sink which is stainless steel and it's so nice looking.  I used my new citrus cleaner first then followed with the gumption  while deep cleaning the bathroom today. Everything is gleaming and smells wonderful!

This is a beautiful Lilly that my husband and daughters gave to me for mothers day last year.  It has such a beautiful bloom I had to share it with you!

Sadly my experiment with rosemary floor cleaner met it's end.  I was going to use it in my bathroom to clean my floors and had it sitting in the window sill with the citrus cleaner which I used early by the way... the rosemary cleaner had mold spore's in it.  So in answer to my own question no it does not keep, not in the window sill any way.  I will have to make up a fresh batch when I would like to try it to use the following day.

I purchased some new cotton yarn for dishcloth's today and I'm very excited about making another new cloth.  While helping at the ball field concession stand for a few minutes this evening, I was happy to see a home made  knitted dishcloth!  The lady that I was working with told me how her mother has made her tons of them and she just loves them.  It really made me smile.  I plan on making my dishcloths small this time.  I am so used to a small sponge for washing dishes the size I made feels too big to me so I'm going smaller.

The roof of the shed now has tar paper in case we get some rain which is in the forecast.  It's partially sided so there is progress.  It is slow but that is ok with us.  We are not in a huge hurry and do not want to be stressed about it.  It feels good to not be stressed and still make progress.  Anxious to plant flowers though I must admit :)

Knitted Dishcloth

Last night I was determined to re-learn how to knit a dishcloth and looked up a couple of video's on U-Tube and watched them to relearn.  I started rather late and had to put it down reluctantly to go to bed.  I have to admit I was instantly hooked on knitting again and picked it up immediately when I woke up this morning.  I finished up my first attempt since re-learning this evening.  Not the most beautiful results but completely functional in my kitchen.

I hope to improve my skills enough to make some up for gifts along with several other home made items at Christmas. My first attempts at knitting a dishcloth had no edging, I like this design with edging on it. I am excited  to begin replacing store bought cloths for washing up in the kitchen.  I will use my bought dishcloths for dirtier jobs around the house.    Off to go start another :) 

Preparing Peaches

We have a very lovely neighbor that takes orders for peaches in the spring and picks them up from the orchard on his way home from visiting his children.  We are so very thankful for his kindness and have been so blessed with his generosity since we moved to this house.  Over the past several years I have gotten better at preserving the spring peaches.  I have made jam's, pies, and crisps.  They are all delicious!  I want to share with you how to prepare peaches for freezing.  The first year we got our peaches I had no idea how to prepare them to freeze and it took a few tries of trial and error to figure it out.  Hopefully this will save you some time :)  The amount I am working with started as a 1/2 bushel.  I made crisp out of the amount we received and we ate a few as well, the remainder I am preparing to freeze for pie's and crisp.  There is no right or wrong way this is my way use or adjust to whatever works for you :)

I turn the peach upside down or stem side down.  I use a serrated knife and start at the "point" of the peach. The actual bottom of the peach.  I scrape downward with the knife peeling the skin as I go.

I turn the peach as I continue scraping the peel off the peach.  I like to hold it over the "keep" bowl of sliced peaches because a ton of juice escapes the peach while peeling and I want to keep as much of that as possible.

When I get to the bottom or stem side of the peach I use the knife to cut off the skin and remove the stem at the same time tossing the skin into the dispose bowl.

While holding the peach in my hand I gently press the knife into the peach creating a slice until I can feel the peach pit or stone.  I continue doing this rotating the peach in my hand each time.  The slices do not have to be perfect.  I like to slice the peach thinly so that it easily cooks through when making pie  or crisp.

After I finish slicing the peach I simple place my thumbs on two slices and press my thumbs away from each other.  This begins the process of the slices separating from the peach stone or pit.  I continue this all the way around the peach.

When I get to the last few remaining slices I hold the peach stone or pit and grasp the remaining slices off releasing them and the stone from each other.  I throw the stone into the discard bowl as well.

When I am finished or my peach slice bowl is full I begin to fill freezer bags with the peaches.  I usually measure out eight cups of peaches and juice combined.  To make sure all the bags have about the same amount of juice I use a measuring cup and scoop down into the bowl getting some juice with each scoop.  Eight cups of peaches per bag is usually enough for a pie or crisp which is why I freeze this amount.  I was able to freeze four, eight cup bags this time and one three cup bag.  I also like to make peach crepe's so having a smaller amount in a bag is fine too :)  I hope this helps happy freezing.

A special thank you again to all the lovely visitors and those who have joined and commented on my blog.  I really enjoy writing and sharing things with all of you.  Have a wonderful day :)

Garden Shed Redo

This is the garden shed that we are working on.  My DD1 helped me remove the siding except the front side.  There is a fascia trim that is over the top of the siding that we had to remove to be able to remove the siding.  Then we discovered that the drip edge of the roof was over the fascia trim.  Fortunately we were given permission at the city dump to dispose of shingles so you guessed it.... we came home and ripped off the roof.  We are going to be able to recycle the drip edge.

This is later in the afternoon with all the siding and roofing removed.  As you can see in the background our neighbor decided he would work on his shed as well.  He and his wife made a bit of progress today as well.  It was a very hot day for working!  I was also able to introduce myself to our backyard neighbors so I am thankful for this workday as it gave me an opportunity to meet them!  I am so thankful to be getting this eye sore tidied up and looking proper.  I am very thankful that the wood underneath is in very good condition and just the outside layers need replaced.  Tomorrow I will be going to the home improvement center and buying the supplies to put it back together.  This evening I will be putting tar paper or felt paper on the wood sheeting on the roof to protect it against any rain.  We are expecting some rain this week so I will be working on this project through the week as I am able.  I am very thankful to my DD for all of her hard work!  When this is finished I will be painting it and the playhouse to match our home.

I finally figured out where this lovely volunteer sunflower came from!  I believe it is a bird seed swept off the porch from carrying seeds to the backyard feeders.  It is the only one at at the back door and so cheerful too!  And yes.... those are bowling balls :)  I am going to be doing a yard project with them later on and will post when about  it later.  Have a wonderful day :)

Busy as a Bee!

I have thought of you all so much the last couple of days and all the wonderful things I would like to share with you!  It has been amazingly busy here and I have been so exhausted I haven't posted.

My last post was my one hundredth post!  How exciting is that?!?!?!  That is a mini milestone for my blog.  Blogging is so much fun, when I started my blog I knew that I wanted to share with others about my life and was hoping to help others along the way.  I wasn't sure how I was going to go about it and not run out of things to say and share.  Well, I think I have that covered.  I love sharing with you about what I am learning and making and doing around our home.  I snap pictures as much as I can while we are working on things to share with you.  I find myself wishing I had my phone to take a quick picture when I don't have it because I see something I think would be wonderful for this blog.  I also enjoy reading back over what we have done here as a sort of online journal for my family.  It is such a wonderful way to document what is going on.  Life moves by so quickly!

These are 6x6" scrap blocks and to the left are 1 1/2x8 1/2" strips that are also scraps.  My quilt beehive group is doing an exchange of blocks each time we meet.  We each have a copy of a pattern using these blocks that we are working on individually at home. Some ladies are working as we exchange blocks and some are waiting until we are done at the end of the year exchanging blocks to start their quilts.  I have not started my quilt yet, I decided while laying them out tonight and enjoying how varied the different fabrics are that I would start mine now that I think I have enough to begin. Traditionally I am not a scrappy quilter but admittedly the longer I have quilted the more I am enjoying scrap quilting.  I like to have some sort of structure to it but I'm starting to enjoy it more and more.  This quilt I am especially looking forward to working on and using in our home because all the fabrics are from my special quilting friends and it makes it extra wonderful.

I also finished a beautiful set of quilted potholders this week for my exchange partner on the Down to Earth forum.  I really would love to show them to you but I know she reads here and I don't want to spoil her lovely surprise, but I will share them later and also the set I am eagerly awaiting from her.  Isn't that so exciting!  They will arrive sometime before fall from Australia.  What a treasure and such a unique way to form a friendship!

I don't have pictures of the outdoor project we are working on but hope to take a few tomorrow... Ugh a dirty job but well worth the time and effort!  Have a beautiful productive weekend :)

Citrus Cleaner

One of the forum members on Down to Earth Forum posted a wonderful recipe for citrus cleaner.  It is so simple to make and yet another way to clean our homes with one less commercial cleaner.  Take a jar and fill it 3/4 of the way full with white vinegar.  Then you take the outer skins of any citrus fruit, no pulp... a vegetable peeler works best for this, the pulp tends to turn brown says some of the ladies on the forum.  I used orange skins and put them in the vinegar for about a month giving the vinegar time to draw out all the wonderful oils in the skins.  Then  you discard the skins or compost them leaving wonderfully smelling cleanser that you combine 1/2 and 1/2 with either water or vinegar in a spray bottle  for cleaning your home.

The second jar you see is a Rosemary tea that I am trying that another forum member posted for cleaning your floors.  I have a lovely Rosemary plant that I cut about 8, 6-7" stems from and steeped them in 4 cups of water on the stove top.  Then I allowed them to sit overnight and poured this beautiful ruby red tea in a jar to use in my mop water.  Our forum member said it has wonderful cleaning properties and she uses about two cups in her mop water.  I am not sure how well or how long it keeps so I am experimenting.  This is the beautiful Rosemary I took the cutting from.

I used to have an herb garden but it didn't do very well.  Then I read to plant your herbs in among your flowers and I tried it with this Rosemary and an Oregano plant.  The Oregano didn't make it but the Rosemary is thriving.  I plan on tucking in more herbs this summer into the flower gardens.  It's very convenient for me to run outside and pick what I want to add to our dinner dish.

This photo I captured for fun.  I just love the way this turned out.  While visiting a friend I captured these wildflowers growing around an old truck in the pasture.  I love the contrast of the blue truck against the greens and yellows.

Thank you again to all who are visiting my blog and to those that have joined thank you as well.  I really enjoy writing and sharing things with you and I love visiting the blogs of those who join mine as well.  There are so many talented and wonderful people in this world!

Productive Sunday

I didn't end up having time to learn to till the garden...but I did get a chance to purchase some seeds! I also was able to empty this cluttered pantry and go through each food item and check it's expiration date and if we needed or would use it and get rid of the clutter.  Before on the right and after on the left.  The other way around would make more sense if I could get the pictures to cooperate. I looked through each item as I removed it from the shelves, then gave it a thorough cleaning and wiped down the shelves. I really inspect all packages and food containers carefully.  I do not want to have a rodent problem or bug problem.  Foods that I think would have a problem due to packaging I place in containers to keep safe.  I also attend to any food spills right away and keep this area as clean as possible.  It is such a relief when I open the pantry door in search of ingredients and it is so clean and organized!  I am glad that I had a chance to clean the pantry before going to the supermarket today.  It made my job easier knowing exactly what was in the pantry and knowing what I needed to purchase as I wrote out the meals I was panning on cooking over the next several weeks.

 

I believe in yesterday's post I said I would try and include a picture of the yard and gardens to be able to visualize what I was describing.  This picture is the bare spot that I am thinking of putting gravel in.  I would surround it with rocks or something on the grass side.  This is somewhat of a high traffic area because of the porch swing that you can barely see on the far right side of the picture that is attached to the tree.  I love to sit outside and listen to the fountain tucked away in the garden and enjoy my beautiful garden.

At one time there was a cedar shrub growing in front of the porch and we pulled it out and I put in the flower gardens, however the grass does not want to grow here because it is very acidic aside from the foot traffic.  We could lay sod but that would be bumpy due to the tree roots.  I believe I could effectively put gravel in and around the roots and try to keep the top of the gravel at the same height as the top of the roots to prevent tripping and falls.  That is my hope.  I am also hoping that it will really clean this area up I think it is very unsightly. 

This is the new flowerbed my husband and I are working on around the sapling.  This tree  was a seedling when we moved from the other house I discovered it among the flowers in the wheel barrow.  We transplanted it here and it has thrived every since.  Another reminder in my landscape to grow where I am planted!

Hidden Lily Pond

I want to take a moment and send a special welcome to those visitors that have been stopping by and reading each day.  I have noticed that there are more readers each day and I am so glad that you are here.  You are welcome to join my blog and say hello.  I love hearing from you, and reading the comments you leave.  I also enjoy visiting your blogs as well when you join.  Thank you so much for stopping by.

While traveling to the North part of the state today on a road I seldom travel.. I happened upon this gorgeous surprise!  I had forgotten about this Lily pond because we started taking a different route and haven't passed by here for several years.  I had to stop and my oldest daughter accompanied me as we walked back to take a picture in all its glory.  It is one of three on the entire drive that have wild Lily's growing in them this being by far the most stunning!

We postponed hauling gravel today until I could do more prep work under the tree.  I would like to dig out a bit of dirt from the roots and bare spots and use it as fill in a new flower bed first, then put gravel in that spot.  I will try to remember to post a picture of the area so you can visually see what on earth I'm talking about.
 I am making plans for a late garden.  Here the corn is up, and many plants are in bloom and I am talking about planting... crazy to some I know but I figure I can at least try and if it doesn't work fine, and if it does well I have produce!  There are several things I can plant this fall and all through the summer that are continuous seed so I should have something to show for it.  Tomorrow evening I will learn from my husband how to run the tiller and I will make a go of it.  I have decided that I will try and run this garden solo.  Yes I will ask for help when I need it and volunteers are always welcome...but if I put it in my head that I am solely responsible for maintaining and actually getting food from this garden then I will be more diligent about maintaining it.  I would like to start some compost bins as well but I'm going to work on one thing at a time.  Previously we have had a regular row garden but fight weeds and everything else constantly.  I think this year I will try putting in a couple of raised beds and gravel paths and see how it goes.  We have crabgrass so badly here it is almost impossible to keep it at bay and I think raised beds will help.  The gravel sounds bad but honestly if I can't make a go of this whole garden thing in the next few seasons I'm thinking about digging up the yard for a pool!  Yes, I'm fairly serious about it at least we will get some enjoyment from that space if we can't grow food!  So now you know why gravel doesn't bother me :)  Have a wonderful day!

Relaxation Time!

With my daughter and husbands help we have not only finished the garage but the house, and trimming in the yard as well.  She mowed the yard all by herself (with dad walking at her side to teach) on the lawn tractor.  I was so proud of her and she was so proud of herself that the lawn was all mowed and looked so nice because of her!  All the hard cleaning yielded a lot of misc. trash and a fair amount of  items to be recycled but  not enough to sit outside and have a sale with.  So instead we donated what we had to a community sale to benefit a family here in our town.  I loved this idea and it feels so good this morning to not be outside having a sale.  I commented to my husband that after all these years we must finally be working down all the stuff that we had accumulated.  We mostly had clothing that was outgrown and a few nick knacks and trinkets to donate.  In the trash admittedly were a lot of broken down boxes in preparation for a possible move.  Yes I really wanted to leave...  I no longer feel like this as posted a few days ago.  In fact yesterday we planted two gorgeous seedling Oak Tree's and I am so excited to watch them grow and provide shade for my family and possibly many years from now grandchildren who come and play and we can tell them about planting  those two trees and several others on our property that were baby seedlings.  When we purchased our property and home the lot was practically bare in the back with the exception of one shade tree thankfully planted to provide shade behind the house.  It was not very old but as it's grown I have been so thankful for it's shade.  In the front are two Sweet Gum tree's and they are excellent providers of shade.  We planted a gorgeous Flaming Maple in between them that has  grown into a fine tree.  My husband and I love tree's admittedly I am the biggest lover of trees between the two of us and would love to have an entire forest in our yard :)  Today my dad is coming over to help me finish hauling off the trash as my husband is diligently at work providing for our family.  I have asked for my dad's help to get a load of gravel with our truck and learn how to do this so I can go by myself next time.  I am going to put gravel down in an an area under a shade tree in the front to make a patio of sorts and will post pictures from this project.  I am very excited and hope to one day have gravel paths around the yard with many flower gardens and shade trees.  Enjoy your weekend and time with your family. 

Shhhh I shoud be sleeping...

I know I should be resting but am up reading contentedly on my favorite forum Down to Earth.  I am so touched, inspired, and amazed at how wonderful and helpful the forum is and how much I learn by reading.  I was absent from the forum for many months and feel so refreshed now that I have had the opportunity to re-connect.  What a wonderful community of like minded people.

Today it has been extremely cool for the end of May or Beginning of June and I am so thankful to not be running the air conditioner.  We have already had to run it our fair share and I was dreading having it on the entire summer.  This cool spell is a very welcome break.  I can only hope it continues.

This photo was taken just after a rain storm.  You can just see a faint rainbow stretching across the horizon.

We are slowly working on preparing for our sale this weekend.  As we are going through the rooms and area's within them I am sorting and straightening and organizing as we go.  It's a bit slower than just shuffling through things but I feel so relaxed because we are accomplishing quite a bit aside from de cluttering.  As the interior portion of the house is drawing to a close I have found that aside from clothes we don't have a lot of clutter, I really just needed the time to organize and straighten what we have.  Tomorrow however, we will tackle the garage and  this is the place that admittedly I toss items into that we don't need or want anymore.  I am planning on placing a container in the garage after our thorough clean tomorrow for donations and when it is full placing it in our vehicle to be dropped off.  This will keep the garage nice and tidy.

I am slowly feeling the positive energy and enthusiasm return as I work around the house.  It is such a good feeling.  Best wishes to you as you re-connect with your homes and work on your spring/summer cleanings or projects as well.