Winter Flowers

 A bouquet of tulips in February definitely helps to ward off the typical blahs of mid-winter. I recommend this for every family's table. The benefits outweigh the expense easily. 
    Choosing fresh flowers at our Hayward Wal-mart can take a minute. I think we must get the last of the supply up here and some of our flowers are looking pretty dismal by the time they are available to us. So I take my time to look them over carefully before buying. We got a full week out of these.
    

 Angelie had her first birthday last week. She is absolutely adorable and cute and pretty. That's the Marmee talking, of course! 
    She just started walking, but will rather crawl because it is faster in her rough and tumble world of two older brothers. I notice that Charlotte already is enjoying the rise of the feminine side of  the balance with their understanding between them. 
  

 We know that spring is coming. So the flower coffee table books are back and this time I am reading them. What's nicer than a smoothie on a sunshiny morning with a glossy paged book that is educational, inspirational, and pretty. 

 Last year's dried zinnia are still gracing the sills and shelves around here in March. I told you all about that last fall. We used silica gel beads and dried dozens of these beauties of lots of different color and sizes. In the end I had flowers to share. I was reading in Lisl's blog yesterday and saw in her pictures that she is using some of those flowers for her decor too. Drying flowers is rather rewarding, they can be used to beautify someone's world on the other side of the globe.   Lisl's Blog.

 For winter to already be waning puts me in a near panic. There are so many things to yet be accomplished before spring works begins. 
~ Bedroom remodel to finish.
~ A speech to prepare.
~ Indoor painting.
~ Writing projects.
~ This house is dirty and needs cleaning.
~ Take off the bathroom door and sand and re-varnish.
~ Paint the bathroom.
~ Get Brad ready to go to his first full time job in Nebraska.
~ 90th Birthday party for Mom Graber.
~ Taxes.

And now it is snowing! Delightful! Loving winter for as long as I can.

Daisies For You

The daises came blooming right on the end of the trillium again this summer. Daisies grow anywhere: ditches, fields, woods, pastures, and along the roads here in Northwoods Beach. They grow over the graves of good men, says legend, thus the expression "pushing daisies". They are hardly ever bothered by pests and are grown world wide now-a-days.

 

  Daisies show up as the symbol of purity on paintings and in weddings. Children make daisy chains and wear them. Lovers pull the petals saying, "she loves me, she loves me not", hopefully the last petal is a cinch with, "Yes, She Loves Me!"
How silly!



 


The word daisy is Greek for 'day's eye' named this because daisies open at dawn, so they say. I think that is probably a bit romantic. Who stands by the daisy patch to prove when they open up? And I have a feeling that once they have opened, they stay open all the nights through that they last. If anyone of you has witnessed the daisies opening at dawn, I will happily acquiesce.

Take the time to pick the daisies this weekend besides enjoying the 4th of July stuff. For those who maintain Mennonite heritage; I would inform you that Mennists were staunch Loyalists. When they came off the ships to the New World, they were asked to sign a document stating same. Just a point of interest on this day in America.

Summer Stone House Living

Amy gave the old root bound and beautiful hanging potted house plant a "hair cut" and couldn't bear to throw the lovely leaves away. So we decided to root them. The blue jars make perfect vases for the project.

I found these books at the used shop this week: Stones Into School by Greg Mortensen, It's More Than The Music by Bill Gaither, and Traveling Light by Max Lucado.  Reading all three at once.

Susan brought these two tiny cut glass vases last weekend. Aren't they just wonderful?

We have been gathering flowers of every kind. Abbey brings armloads of wild flowers to us whenever she comes to our house.

                                                                 Indian Paintbrush

            I had fun with this. Just dried roses and the three relative's wedding announcements. And Dan and Ruthie, too, of course. How are you doing, Dan's?

This one is for you, Amy. Abbey brought me that cute little hot plate.

 I went with Elv on errands in the wood. Found these pictures.

The husby cutting crookeds into sale-able lengths. 

 Did you know pink ribbons are useful for loggers? I think they didn't notice the color. Loggers wouldn't generally. I asked Elv why this ribbon. "Just a marker." Pretty, isn't it?

Berry Blossoms

Chives All A-bloom

The hosta is especially lush and beautiful this summer.

Come sit for a spell with us. We're enjoying the new patio. Hopefully you won't notice that the concrete walkway isn't done yet.  This is just one of our summer projects ahead of us.

Crex Meadows and Other Adventures

We went to the wild life refuge over by Granstburg last Sunday. Crex Meadows is home to thousands of birds. We saw a few of them including swans, ducks, eagles, osprey, sandhill cranes, and a lot of little birds. When we got home we spent considerable time looking at our pictures and trying to identify two of the little birds.

We arrived there with about 5 too few binoculars, and not enough batteries for the camera's we did have. Elv says that after this he's going to have a video camera along as well.

We were very impressed with the flowers this year. These are Canada Anemone. There are lupines, columbine, iris, roses, and a yellow flower that is awesomely beautiful that we haven't yet identified. At first we thought maybe the DNR had purposely planted them along the roads and that could be; but as far as I could see into the meadows and woods there were flowers.

Other adventures include having strawberries starting to ripen already and daises blooming in all the meadows and ditches. Since when do we have trillium and daises blooming at the same time?!
It's summer time in Hayward, as well. Town is full of tourists! Now I want to be charitable here since our little town depends on them for the health of our economy. But driving through Hayward is a challenge. Those of us who are not tourists know that to navigate through town in a timely and, might I add SAFE way, you must take the route with street lights. If you think that you can take a short-cut by turning onto Railroad Street to leave town when you're done at Wal-mart, you have another think coming! Now there are still a few new-comers who try this, so even though we take the lights to get our turn; we must remember the rookie Hayward tourist who thought he was going to beat the line of traffic and is now discovering to his mounting frustration that he will have to be fast and furious to get into the line of traffic. In other words, one should always be mindful of his wild decision at any moment to "just go"! Safe driving, everyone.

A Page Of The Big Project

    This is what a Make The Cut program can do for scrapbooking.  All those daises are programed by my computer then sent to the Cricut to cut.  MTC means that now we can cut any shape or font we find.

    Having taken on the project of scrapbooking every single picture we have of our lives has been just fun.  Jennifer termed it a "colossal job" when I emailed her asking for the year of their wedding. 

     You had a lovely home reception, Jennifer.  Everything was as near to perfect for you as can be: the lawn, your mother's flowers, and your dad's wonderful maintenance of the home place are all in evidence. 

Elv and the children's gifts to me for Mother's Day. I feel rather blessed and spoiled. The roses are awesome.

Time for Flowers

      Take the time to create something beautiful for someone today.  A coffee shop worker in Chiang Mai had time to decorate a simple cup of coffee for Lisl yesterday.

     It's the little flowers we strew in the paths of others that make life livable for both the giver and the receiver of them.    Have a good day.

To Walk The Talk

He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
I John 2:6

Here's how I know and how others can tell if I am abiding. Do I walk as He walked? He walked in truth...He never once misrepresented His Father. He also walked in compassion...He always had time and energy to minister to anyone at any level in any situation.
Obviously we can't BE Jesus, but we are to be LIKE Jesus.
I am so glad that we get to live this out one day at a time...one minute at a time. All my daily people encounters and private thoughts I may bring to Him to be measured and graced with His instruction and blessing.






It's Iris Blooming Time in Wisconsin. We have purple and a few yellow irises blooming on the north side of our house. It's a huge show back there where not many people can see them.

We took our canoe, some friends with their little boat with us, and floated down the Billy Boy Flowage Monday evening. There were white, blue, but mostly yellow irises (flags) all along the banks of the flowage. Most people miss this show, too. They bloom in June here on the flowage where only a few fisherman will ever see them.
Maybe there's a lesson in the faithful, beautiful iris for me. A good part of abiding has to be the willingness to bloom right where I am, not for who sees or appreciates it, but for my Creator.