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Thursday, July 30, 2009

Flora of Yellowstone - Fertilizer Friday



















While we were in Yellowstone, I was in awe of the bright, beautiful colors of the numerous wildflowers that we saw. I hopped out of the car several times to get close-up pictures of these flowers. Nature does a great job of fertilizing her own, does she not?


Be sure and drop by Tootsie's to see the other Fertilizer Friday flora presented throughout blogland.



Sunday, July 26, 2009

Home Again!





Home again after a week of seeing the sights of South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. We saw absolutely beautiful country. The evening show at Mt. Rushmore was a moving patriotic show that was inspirational. The majesty of the sights throughout Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons was awesome to behold. Our country has so much to see and it is so beautiful to behold! It's always good to be home but sure am glad to be able to appreciate all that's out there in this great country!












Thursday, July 16, 2009

Summer Vacation, Here We Come!

Tomorrow we head out on vacation. First we travel where we've never been before - to see Mt. Rushmore and the sites around there.
On to Yellowstone to see sites we've seen before and lots of things we haven't seen before.

On our way home we travel through some of the most beautiful mountains in the USA, the Grand Tetons.
So today will be "hurry, hurry, hurry" so we can RELAX in the coming week!


Tuesday, July 14, 2009

2nd Time Around Table

This table is probably on its 6th or 7th time around. I found this table in my grandmother's chicken coop before I got married (over 40 years ago). She had used this in her home many years before that and it had been relagated to the chicken coop. I took it home and gave it a coat of avocado colored paint and antiqued it (do any of you remember that color??). In the 80's I tried to take the table back to the original wood but it couldn't happen without having it "dipped" so I didn't do that and instead painted it a dark forest green. My daughter was married in the early 90's and needed a kitchen table so she took it. It remained with her until about 6 years ago. It has been sitting up in a storage loft in our garage since then. I had DH haul it down and we painted it back to its original white and did some antiquing on it. It is now back on the sunporch for more years of use. It is indeed a sturdy little table with no broken legs or very big dings in it for its years and years of service. It's a precious treasure to me because of its history in my family.

Be sure to stop by A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words to see the other items having their 2nd...or 6th Time Around.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Thrifty Treasures

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is hosting Today's Thrifty Treasures. This is a place where you will find all sorts of sale items that people have picked-up to find new uses for in their own homes. I visited several sales this weekend only to think that most people are very proud of their junk and overprice it. I did find one garage sale that had great prices and I carted away alot of things - mostly for my backyard - my house is full to overflowing. Here are some of my finds:
A child's rake with just a tad of rust to give it "character" for $.25 (great price)!

A rusty wheelbarrow that will be filled with plants.

A bunch of seashells priced from $.10 each to $.50 (a starfish for $.50 - YEA!)

My favorite find - no markings on the bottom of it but I love it and I paid $4 for it.
Great garage saling this weekend!





Thursday, July 9, 2009

Fertilizer Friday and Flaunt Those Flowers

It is Fertilizer Friday over at Tootsie's and this week I'm participating for the first time. I've decided that I have the most blooms going on in my garden the end of June and first part of July.
My daylilies are putting on a show and I've got several different colors and sizes.

I thought this was a particularly good shot with the dew still on the petals. My son took these pictures with his new camera - still trying to get the best settings on the camera.


This is my mandevilla that I've had for 5 or 6 years. It's blooming its heart out now. I put it in the greenhouse every winter after I cut it back to the ground.

I thought this was a pretty great shot of a coneflower - and I have a million coneflowers blooming. Each year there are more - if one tried to grow them like that, you couldn't!
We have some water lilies that are blooming each day as well. Blogger is being very slow at uploading today so I'm going to call it quits for this week. Be sure and check Tootsie out. She is the "Queen" of growing gorgeous flowers.






Wednesday, July 8, 2009

July Ladies With Books

Last night we had our book club and Gail's choice for this month was Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I enjoyed the book. It is the pre-cursor to The DaVinci Code also by Dan Brown. We talked about the people who won't read this book because of it's conceived "anti-religion" viewpoint - and we all agreed - it's just a novel, for heaven's sake. It proposes some futuristic ideas in it - some of which are in existence already (anti-matter). I'm also intrigued with the ideas presented about the role of the Masons (of which my own father was one). I just found the book to be exciting and intriguing - "Inquiring minds want to know.....more." Now, I'm ready to see Tom Hanks in the movie. Is the story next to impossible - you bet - entertaining - you bet!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Finally - Metamorphosis Monday

This was the rickety old chair I bought at the church garage sale about 2 weeks ago. DH rebuilt the legs to make it a sturdy chair again. We painted it and made a new seat for it.

Here it is all fixed up with a toile covered seat. Notice I added a medallion in the center - I thought it needed that. Some people think that DH does everything - well, I did painting and recovering of the seat so I did take part in this chair's reincarnation. It will be used in various places all through my house. Click on the picture to see it close up. Thanks again to Phil!

Now, be sure to check in with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch to see the other changes that people envision in things that are cast-offs.

Finally Finished Birthday Gift

I haven't been blogging for a couple of weeks. I don't have a reason - I just wasn't motivated, I guess. I did want to show you my birthday present from my DH. He's very good at looking at some drawing I make and building whatever for me. This was what I called a "jelly cupboard". It'll never hold jelly but it will be on my sun porch holding books, games, and other things that we might use out there. He did a great job and it's just exactly what I wanted! My birthday was back in June and he did say he'd build it then but it took him until this week to finish it. Thanks, Phil!