NEW YEARS EVE WALK IN THE WOODS

Hello friends!  When I looked out my window this morning there was a light fog and I was compelled to take a little New Years Eve walk in the woods. 

 The area where the fog gathers used to be a solid, deep and beautiful forest.  It was a sad day when I saw the trees falling one by one. The only positive thing that came out of it was that it scared the deer so badly that they stayed away from my garden for two years. But alas! It didn't last forever and the last two years they've returned and dined on my tulips and impatience and hosta! 

Nature is slowly reclaiming the once totally naked ground. It's not very pretty, as a matter of fact it's full of brambles and undergrowth so thick you can't walk through it - well, the deer don't seem to have a problem.

But from my vantage point, there is a kind of beauty in the fog.

I saw a lot of moss covered limbs.

 I think they're so beautiful.

This brings back sweet memories of sweet youngsters whose imaginations knew no bounds...a few boards left from a once beloved tree house. Oh the fun that was had among the branches.  It was a Jaws boat, it was a Star Wars ship, it was a Ghostbusters hideout.   

Beautiful Lichen and Moss abounds in the woods. 

And look at what is peeking through the leaves in the garden!!!  Hyacinths are already thinking of Spring, and so am I!

Happy New Years! I hope you have a safe celebration.  I pray 2012 will be a good year for one and all.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, PART II

How ya doin?  I"m enjoying these final days off from work.  I've been busy looking at pictures of my garden and making my plans.  I always do this, but very few times have I ever actually done the plans.  I  have good intentions, it just seems days move into weeks, into months...you can see where this is going!

 Okay, so now for the bad.  Here it is...A large spot in this bed that has NEVER been good.  I planted lillies here once but they petered out, I tried Phlox, but they became too spindly, I tried daisy's last year and only got two blooms, and they spent their life laying on the ground.  I had daylillies here, but they were poor performers. I'm sure it's the amount of  shade, but honestly, it seems like it gets as much as anywhere else.  I just can't figure out why nothing grows well here.

The other bad is that I need to do some companion planting so that there is more interest in the garden when these fabulous white lillies (shown in the photo below) are in bloom.  I seem to ALWAYS be forgetting to duplicate throughout the garden.  There are wonderful Lollipop Lillies in the left garden that  bloom at the same time.    I moved two bulbs to the area on the right TODAY (it was almost 60 degrees today!). I would like to find more of the white lillies and plant them in two other places on the right.

Another bad is that big empty pot on the left and urn in the garden on the right.  I am a terrible procrastinator!  But 2011 was the worst.  In my defense, my husband had knee replacement surgery in April and then I hurt my knee in May (I had it fixed in October). I just couldn't give the garden the TLC it needed and deserved!  I certainly hope I get the pots planted in early Spring this year!  And I need to make a pledge (I'll make it to you!!) to WATER, WATER, WATER!!!  I live in Georgia.  It's HOT.  It's DRY.  I believe a lot of my problems might be solved with a regular watering routine.  So here....I PROMISE, TO DO MY DUTY TO MY GARDEN IN THE YEAR 2012.  I PROMISE TO WATER IT FAITHFULLY, EVEN IF I DON'T FEEL LIKE IT.  I PROMISE TO DEADHEAD.  I PROMISE TO FERTILIZE. I PROMISE TO ENRICH THE SOIL( I ACTUALLY ALWAYS DO THIS - YEAH ME!), I PROMISE TO PHOTOGRAPH IT EVERY DAY (I HAVE VERY FEW PICTURES FOR LAST YEAR!).

Okay, you heard it here, now keep me in line!

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

The good, the bad and the ugly of my 2011 garden

My garden and I have a love/hate relationship.  I love it and it hates the neglect I visit on it.

I thought I would revisit the garden at the end of this year and think about what was good, what was bad, and what was really ugly, in hopes of having a better garden in 2012.

Let us start with the good. To see the good,  it helps to have tunnel vision, blocking out all the bad :)

I didn't do much for early spring, but I had a few pretty pots.  I used to plant a lot of tulips, but the deer love them and I got tired of feeding them!

Here is the good with the bad...pretty pots (Good), weeds, dirt (Bad)

Here is an area that is always beautiful.  The coreopsis is a non stop bloomer from early July until late September, even into Ocotber.  The purple balloon flower looks really pretty and comes into bloom at the same time.  I wish it bloomed longer, but sometimes I  buy an annual version  that is just coming in to bloom as the perennial one is on its last hurrah. I just keep it in it's nursery pot and plop it in the area.

The urn adds to the handsomeness of this area, I think. I was particulary happy with the caladium (though it did lose a lot of it's color with all the shade), and the Creeping Jenny.  I should have trimmed the Jenny more  to keep it full. It still looks good here, but later in the year it got very straggly.

.

Mid summer I added this little blue Juniper and the white Caladiums with the pink veins.  I LOVE them.  These plants look so pretty with the marigolds and the light pink impatience.I also added the little shrub.  It adds a nice textural difference. Our summer was hot and dry and the Juniper, Caladium and that purple plant in the background never even noticed!

 The bold pink double impatience adds a great pop of color that enhances the caladium.  

I had some pretty summer pots.  This one looked great all year.  The Pentas bloomed non stop and didn't suffer at all from the heat.

An arborvitae, begonia and two house plants that looked wonderful all year.

Well, that's it for the good.  Tomorrow I'll bring the bad.  I've enjoyed seeing the garden and am hoping these posts will help me to see what worked and what didn't.  I hope you enjoyed a little summer during the  dark winter days! Please come back tomorrow for Part II!

I'm also linking to Gypsy Mama for a fun post about "missed entries", drop by and enter your favorite unread post.

Christmas Memories

Christmas Eve started off with a beautiful sky, full of pillowy clouds.  I got these pictures on our way to breakfast, a family tradition that remains one of our favorites.  We gather our children (and sometimes their friends) and head to a local restaurant for breakfast.  For some reason, this simple outing is one that we all hold dear. For two weeks prior, my husband and daughter "auditioned" breakfasts until they found The One.

After breakfast we usually visit a few favorite shops.  I can always count on a few stocking stuffers, this year I found  Darth Maul and Boba Fet,  figurines which were sure to delight. 

Dinner was a late affair, at least for us - son and son-in-law didn't get off work until 8:00.  But I thought the table was especially pretty this year.

First up is a little cup of fruit - grapefruit and orange sections. Followed by spaghetti and french bread.

Christmas morning breakfast saw a change in table decor.

The Cook.

It was such a lovely day.  And after all the excitement, it was so nice to relax and enjoy the rest of the day.  

I hope you had a lovely Christmas.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

All ready!

My buffet is holding all the things I'll need for my table tomorrow.

I did a "test" table today, and all is well.

  I love this beautiful deer I picked up at Stein Mart

this week.  He is perfect for my Christmas Eve dinner.

I set a fancy table, but the meal will be my children's

favorite...spaghetti, nothing fancy there! I gave up

trying to fix anything fancy.  No

sense going to all that trouble if no one is happy but

me!

This year's theme is Gold

I'm using pretty gold leaves and sparkly Christmas balls from Michael's. 

I bought my dishes from Macy's many years ago.  I think they are so pretty, My best friend gave me the salad plates for Christmas one year.  She gave me 4.  They are beautiful and I wanted to buy 4 more, but they never sold these particular ones again.  This year my sweet son found two on Ebay and bought them for my birthday.  Finally this year I will be able to serve on 6 of them!  Each plate has a pretty instrument. I think this one is a violin, or maybe a guitar.

This one is cymbals and a drum and trumpet.

This is the dinner plate.  

The chargers are an early Christmas present from my daughter.  These were found at Stein Mart.  I think they are lovely!

My dear Mother's silver, Rose Point by Wallace.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas.  I would like to

leave you with a little humorous Christmas story from my

past...

My darling, sweet Aunt Nell was a Country Girl, and she

kept the superstitious Country Ways all her life

(sadly,she died last year).  She was my favorite Aunt,

but boy did she scare easy.  She believed in ghosts, and

aliens and all kinds of supernatural things.  So here is

how it went down:

Rrrrring,Rrrrring.

Dad: "Hello"

Auntie:  Bubba, did you hear the news?

Dad: "No, but Merry Christmas, Nell, it's Christmas Eve"

Auntie:  Oh, Lord save us!

Dad: "WHAT'S WRONG!!! NELLIE MAE, WHAT'S WRONG????

Auntie:  "It's all over the news!! There's an

unidentified flying object approaching Atlanta.  It came

from the North."

Dad:..........????.... :)  "Nell!!....THAT'S SANTA!!!"

Auntie:  "Oh!........sheepishly..."Never mind".

So here's to a lovely Christmas shared by you and your loved ones, and may the Space Aliens pass us by  as we celebrate the birth of our Lord!

CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE

Merry Christmas to you, I hope you are tieing the last ribbons on your packages and buying your last little stocking stuffers.  I am excited to  finally be at my last day of school tomorrow, the Christmas parties were today, which is seriously one of the worst days of the year for us in the office.

Here's a little Christmas cheer to brighten your day...

These are some vintage balls I've had for about 30 years.  They are very worn, but I like to think they are wearing their scratches and worn spots from being so well loved.  They are in a little compote wall arrangement  that previously was my sweet Mother's.  Don't you love to use the home decor items that your Mother treasured in her young married life?  She used to fill it with Magnolia leaves.  I miss her so much.  It's difficult for me to have the family get-together with my Dad, brothers and sister with Mom not there.  She's been gone for 4 years, but she had Alzheimers so was actually "gone" much longer it seems.

I hope you're having a lovely Tuesday.  I'm always so amazed by the talent out in Blogland.  You guys are truly awesome! So many wonderful decorators and crafters.  I'm almost in Inspiration Overload :)

Mosaic Monday

Hello everyone! I am so excited to show you the fantastic wreath I won from the delightful Holly at  Down To Earth Style! I was her 100th follower and became the lucky recipient of this wonderful handmade burlap wreath.  I have a black door and dark green house and the wreath looks fantastic!

It looks wonderful against the black door.  We are just finishing up painting the front porch and this wreath is just the touch it needs, and I really think I can leave it up all year.  I think the green and black has kind of a country look, which is the perfect backdrop for the wreath.  I can't wait to get the porch all back together and put a little vignette under the window. I might put my vintage school desk there.   I'm really excited to get moving on the clean up now; unfortunately, the door needs another coat of paint, but I couldn't wait to hang the wreath and didn't even try to hide the messy painting stuff that's collected there.

Thank you so much Holly for this wonderful prize.  It's looking great in it's new home and I promise to take good care of it!

Be sure to visit Holly's blog, she has a really great tutorial on making a moss covered star today.

I'm joining Mosaic Monday at Little Red House.
Happy Monday to you!

Flashback Friday

Merry Christmas to you! I hope you are enjoying the season.  From my trip around Blogland it appears you are much better at getting ready than I am!  I have my tree and....well, just my tree.  I put garland on the mantle and   lit it up...drats! Only half lit up.  Now I've got to take it all down and figure it out. Well, thank goodness it's Friday, hopefully I can get some stuff done.

But lets move on to less stressful times.  I give you a picture of Christmas long past:

I'm the one playing school.  My blackboard was probably my favorite gift from Santa.  

I love, love, loved to play school, and of course I made my three brothers be my pupils.  And I made them dumb, too, just so I could mark all over their "papers" with my red pencil (shows how old I am, teachers used the half blue, half red pencils to grade papers). I love to look closely at the photo to see what I can notice.  Maybe I got a cash register, too? If I did I was too enamored of my blackboard to remember. I love the little brother in front in the gown...he had cried and carried-on so much over my grandmother making my sister and I a new nightgown that she went right home and made him one.  He proudly wore it all winter.  My sister in the background  got a jewelry box that had a twirling ballerina when you opened the lid.  Lots of fun stuff that Christmas.  Such bittersweet memories, I miss my mother so much this time of year.  She loved Christmas and having her family over to celebrate.  Hope you're having a great Friday.  Thanks for stopping by and sharing a moment in the past.  

Shopping and Such

I took yesterday off from work to try to finish up my Christmas shopping.  It was a festive outing, the shops all decked out and Christmas music playing.  The weather cooperated, too.  A pretty blue sky and mild temperatures meant I wasn't weighted down with coat and scarf.  My husband and I spent some time shopping together but....

He is recently retired and has been spending his time bell ringing....

  He has such a heart for God.  I am blessed to be married to someone who cares so deeply about people.  

2 Chronicles 16:9
  For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.                


Happy Thursday to you.  We're almost there!!

WIP - Another Crazy Quilt Square

Today I have another Crazy Quilt square to share with you today.  This is becoming such a long project.  I'm not always in the mood, but when I am I really enjoy it.  It's kind of messy - like me.  Thread everywhere, buttons, beads, needles (really have to be careful when you have a bunch of needles around, ya know?)  I'm forever walking around with thread hanging off of me, pieces floating down like fall leaves.  Little puddles here and there.  I'm sure Don hates to see the STUFF come out, knowing it will be a few weeks of Crazy Quilting Madness before the mood fades and I move on to something else.

Here is the whole block.  Lots of jewel tones.

This is the bottom right corner:

This little corner purple corner has herringbone with green beads added, fly stitch with some silk ribbon flowers, buttonhole wheels, french knots, woven webs and some detached chain.The little blue section has half buttonhole wheel with some vintage and new buttons and silver bugle beads.

Purple corner here has fly stitch with a little teddy bear button and other vintage and new buttons.  The reddish piece at the bottom is detached fly stitch with oyster stitch. The yellow section has long armed buttonhole with bugle beads. The lavender little triangle has detached chain in a rayon ribbon thread with some beads and a button

This green piece has crooked chain with detached chain and beads and a snake-y chain stitch with beads placed here and there.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you like the quilt!  Happy Wednesday to you.

Mosaic Monday

Don't they come around too often?  Mondays just seem to pop up way before I'm ready!  I've been enjoying all the Christmas cheer around blogland, but it makes me feel soooo behind!  I have my tree up and a few things on my mantle and that's it.  I'm not sure what is going on with me this year.  Hopefully I'll get more done this week.

Today I'm joining Mosaic Monday with a little something from my tree- a few of my favorite ornaments. Especially the little red and white candy cane that says Bubba.  It was made for my Dad.  He doesn't put up a tree so I asked if I could have it.  I always remember the excitement of putting "the Bubba" on the tree.

I do love my ornaments.  The Uncle Sam is from the year the Gulf War started.  My son's favorite Star Wars ornament is also loved.  Years of memories in these ornaments, but my daughters are now residing on her tree.  I will take some pictures of some of her favorites another day.  She has the greatest ones that my mother made.  When Mom passed away they were the only thing my daughter wanted.

Hope you've had a great Monday.  I am participating in Mosaic Monday at The Little Red House. I hope you'll stop by to see some fun mosaics!

Flashback Friday

Are you as glad as I am that Friday is here?  And even better...it's Friday evening, ahhhhh..  Christmas is getting ever closer with each passing day and I'm still trying to get in the groove.  Oh well, some years are just like that.
F:or Flashback Friday I thought I would showcase a few TV shows I loved in the 60's. Lets see if any one remembers these Coolest of Cool shows: How about...

 HULLABALOO! 

 I wanted to be a dancer on that show.  I loved the boots and the skirts and the sweaters..I think they're doing the "Pony". I was awesome doing the Pony!

Another super- awesome music show...

SHINDIG!

Everyone in the 60's loved...

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

Here's a good one...

DARK SHADOWS

Oh Barnabus, you crazy vampire!

We'd never miss this one...

BATMAN

POW/ ZAP/CRACK...

We watched Batman together as a family.  My dad loved it.

Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane! Have a great weekend.