From the Archives

1. http://www.punambean.com/blog/?p=355 2.http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21687833 3. Helen G.C. Marsh Lambert (1888-1981) - The Queen of Hearts, 4. Blue Flowers

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Remember me talking about the overflowing piles of things that I've stuffed into my Google Notebooks? Well, the time has come to pull them out and share one or two with you. I just picked four random pictures (ones that did have direct links - whew! I always seem to lose the credits...)

1) Pretty, pretty wedding - especially the dress. 

2, 3) Don't you just love illustrations like these?? I like the colors and details - Monsieur Hedgehog's wallpaper and the little queen's striped robe. It's perfection!

4) Gorgeous photograph of cornflowers. Cornflowers, yes? They surely look cornflower blue!

WIld Things

I was delighted when an rare opportunity came up to tour a local native plant reserve with my fellow Master Gardeners. And since the tour landed on the very day of my birthday, how could I refuse?

The place was very lovely (the rock work especially). While being a reserve, part of the idea was to demonstrate how native plants can be used in our gardens.

Not that we all live at 5000+ feet.

(I always find myself drawn to the wild bits. Do you?)

Please Excuse My Absence

I've been off turning 21, tromping through un-wild woodlands, filling my head with literature and going to a very happy wedding.

Not a halfway bad way to spend a springtime.

I <3 May

I love the balmy mornings, 

the drowsy hum of bees, 

the soft rain landing 

on freshly unfurled leaves 

with a crisp pit-pat. 

I love the hint, 

the hope, 

the lure of a perfect summer 

whispered by crickets 

in a not-quite-navy dusk. 

I love that bowls of soup 

still grace the table, 

set with a promise 

of walking downtown 

for ice cream later. 

I love that the earth 

smells like poetry in May. 

And that people come alive 

to smell it, 

gardening gloves in hand.

(Being a May baby has nothing to do with it. ;) )

This Weekend

Our Eliza got adopted!!!!

PetSmart had an Adopt-a-Thon event and all the pups from the shelter/fosters got to come. Not a single one left without a home to go to. Not a single one. What a miracle! Several people had prayed for that morning to go well and because of them, it did. Little Miss Eliza has an awesome new family with new doggie siblings (and a kitty!) and I can study in peace. :)

Last Weekend

{Virginia Bluebell by Daddy}

Give me a quiet garret alone

Where I may sit for a few casual callers

And tell them casually, offhandedly

'This is where I dirty paper.'

Thus each poet prays and dreams

The eternal hobe asks for a quiet room

with a little paper he can dirty

with birds who sit where he tells 'em.

Carl Sandburg, Breathing Tokens, 1945

Last weekend, we went for a picnic at Connemara, the poet Carl Sandburg's home, now park. I hadn't been since Laura and I were little girls. I'd forgotten how much I like a little Sandburg in small doses.

A Short Tutorial for a Rainy Day

Is your summer unplanned? Do you need a family calendar to hang in a prominent place so that everyone remembers you're going hiking on the 12th?

Do you have some scrapbook paper lying around? A ribbon? A glue stick? A printer?

Then you can make a Rainy Day Calender!

Here's how:

Hang it on a tack and voila! How easy was that? 

I like the Eprintable calendar because they make it so easy to add a picture and verse/quote. There are loads of others out there to choose from. Just Google "free printable calendar".  There are so many ways that you could spice it up, too! Imagine collage, a touch of stitching...big hand-calligraphed names of the months.... (This plain Jane makes me content enough for now. :)

If you make one, let me know! I'd love to see what you come up with. :D

(Hehe...this is my first tutorial!)