If the days go much faster, I may as well stay in bed because night comes so fast and I wonder what I got done and where did the day go?    It’s crazy.  We have been busy the past few weeks and every time I think I will write a blog post, something else takes my attention and another day is gone.  With grandson’s ball games and our granddaughter’s wedding shower we don’t lack for places to go.

Got to see one of this young man’s ball games.  The ball park was out in the boondocks. We drove and drove back roads and finally found it, then discovered there was a shorter way to it, but the drive was nice.  His team lost, but he did strike out all the batters in the inning he pitched except one who hit a homerun.   I love watching baseball because I understand it and I use to play it when I was a girl.  I was on a girls’ softball team one Summer and we traveled around to different towns and played.  It was so much fun and it was a great bunch of girls on the team.   I think we were pretty good if I remember right.

And we got to see this young man play soccer.  I understand soccer pretty well, but because we were sitting so far away, it was hard to tell who was who.  His team won their game.  Just wish the boys lived nearer so we could go to more games because I really love seeing them play.

One of my projects this Spring was to clean off my shop porch and make a small raised bed garden in front of it.  My porch had become the catch all for everything from garden supplies to David’s tools, to just junk so I want it all gone.

We took some steps from our old back deck to make the raised beds. Turned the steps upside down and there we had a raised bed.

An old chicken laying stand is used for a backdrop and to display a few flowers. I found the white chicken at an antique store a couple of weeks ago and I bought the metal chicken at Rural King last year. The little girl statue is named Sara after our daughter.

Since this picture was taken the leaf lettuce is almost ready to pick.  I love wilted lettuce made by cooking chopped onion and bacon together, stirring in some vinegar and brown sugar and pouring it over leaf lettuce. Yum.  Don’t have the measurements I use, just trial and error.

We have had this old grill sitting back by the dog pen for the last few years and every year I told David I wanted to do something with it, so this year I did.   Cleaned it up, sprayed it with spray paint and it makes a wonderful place to plant flowers and display them.   I’m really pleased with it, if I do say so myself.

Used some barn quilts I painted a few years back to hide the mess under the porch table.

Put this lavender in a maple syrup bucket.

I have lots of room in front of my shop to plant a lot more if I want to. Since it’s hazardous to anything I plant in the back yard with the puppies still chewing on everything, I am using what I can to plant what I can. Just this week they tore out an azalea I had just transplanted while digging for a mole, so I put the azalea in my kitchen garden which is fenced in.  I will have to show you that garden another time. I have been pulling wheel barrows full of weeds out of it. I haven’t been able to weed in there for the past few years and the Creeping Charley took over. Now Creeping Charlie is kind of pretty in its own way, but it tends to take over a flower bed and a lawn.  It just about kills me to weed now, but I’m determined to get that garden back in shape. I have discovered several Hibiscus that were overtaken with the weed, but now they have sunshine and just in the past couple of days they have grown taller. I also pulled out poison ivy and dug up a little tree that had taken up residence.

A few years back I planted some wildflower seeds from Wildflower Seeds Farm out of Fredericksburg, Texas.  We visited there a few years ago and it was amazing.  Anyway, the only flowers that keep coming back from that planting are these Dame’s Rocket.  And they have spread.  I’ve got potatoes planted in that old wash tub that doesn’t have a bottom.

 

Dame’s Rocket is so pretty. It crossed the drive and planted itself right by our walk up to our  front porch. We had to mow some down because it was taking over, but I love it.

Here it is by the front porch steps. I really wouldn’t care if it spread all over the yard. It seems to bloom forever and it’s self-seeding which are wonderful traits for a flower.

Just a few of the Iris I have in my gardens.  One day a complete stranger stopped and asked me if he could have a start of that bright orange Iris. I told him sure if he had anything he could trade me for it.  So a few days later that man brought me a small lilac bush and this year those lilacs were so beautiful and smelled heavenly and we already have transplanted another lilac bush from it and there is another sprout we are going to transplant.  So it’s fun to trade plants with people. I hope my flowers are doing as well for that man. And those orange Irises have spread to different parts of the garden and I haven’t touched them!

The snowball bush I thought had died last year put on quite a show although the flowers were smaller than usual.

And the small bush that we transplanted from the older bush really did well this year.  We got the original plant from David’s grandmother’s yard years and years ago.

You can make a planter out of anything. This is an old fertilizer spreader that’s seen better days.  Just a paint job and David put a board inside to hold the dirt and voila!  Flowers in bloom.

The peonies were absolutely gorgeous this year. My favorite flower. And here is art imitating life. I painted the picture last Winter and tried to imitate it with my own bottle and flower.

Funny what I can get up to with time on my hands!

Who doesn’t like peonies? If you don’t, I’m not sure about you!   They are so beautiful and many smell so good. Their only problem is they don’t last long enough in the Spring.  I’ve ordered nine more of them for planting this Fall.

If I were getting married again I would want a huge bouquet of peonies to carry down the aisle.

I love Spring skies. Pastels just like in the garden. Finally warmed up enough that I wasn’t chilled for a few days and then it got cold again and now it’s back to normal.

I have much more to write about, but I will end with two of the best things that have happened in the past month. My oldest son and his girlfriend finally decided to get married.  They have been together for eleven years and her son is like a son to my son(got that?)  So one day they just decided to get married without a ring or anything.  They bought a house together.

It’s in a beautiful division with houses that look old from the outside.  It’s very pretty on the inside also.

This is the happy couple and their son and dog, Annie who is so cute.

I think they all like each other and I officially have six grandchildren now.  The more, the merrier.

And speaking of weddings. Our oldest granddaughter is getting married in July just three days after our 53rd wedding anniversary.  A shower was held for her last Saturday.

There was lots of yummy food although this is the only thing I got a picture of.

This girl is not my granddaughter, but I’ve known her since she was a wee baby. She and her mother and I made quilts for the babies at Riley’s Children’s hospital. When she was first born she spent her first few weeks there because she was premature, but here she is now. The quilts were her senior project by the way and now she’s already graduated from college and is teaching English.

My granddaughter in glasses. She graduated from Purdue University in three years with honors, already has a job this Summer at the Children’s museum and she and her future husband have already bought a house.  She got straight A’s, by the way, but I’m not at all proud of her!!!

We all wrote questions for her to answer and also we wrote down when we first met her and she had to guess who wrote each note.  It was easy for her to guess mine as I’ve known her since she was born.

There were lots of laughs and some tears, but a good time was had by all.

I will end right here which is a good way to end. Bye.

 

 

 

 

Does it seem to you that this quarantine has gone on forever?   I’m sure our president has to be very careful about lifting it. Will the media attack him if even one person dies of the virus?  Or will people celebrate they are free to move around again and be out in society not fearing to be exposed?   It’s a difficult decision, but the quarantine has to be lifted sometime.  There will always be a virus around us and we cannot hide out from it forever.

Not to make light of it and  knowing many people were affected and some have died, this quarantine has not affected me very much. We went to the grocery yesterday and there were people walking around with masks and gloves on.  David and I were not wearing either and we were not concerned at all.  The grocery had some shelves that were empty, but most things I wanted were there so we are good for another month.  A friend of mine went to the same store today and actually had toilet paper taken from her cart when she wasn’t looking.  I don’t understand this toilet paper shortage at all.

It’s been nice having David home.  We are finding out we will not kill each other by being together for weeks on end.  He respects my need for privacy and time alone and I cook for him. It’s all worked out!

I told you we painted a bedroom and here are a few pictures after we put everything back into the room, minus a few things.

I absolutely love the color we painted the walls.

We folded some of the quilts on an old trunk.  We also refolded all the rest of my quilts and put them in another room. I must have at least one hundred.

This is David’s grandfather’s old rocker that my daddy stripped and refinished for me one Christmas long ago.  David’s grandpa would sit on his front porch and smoke a cigar every evening. When my mother and I would drive by his house at night, all we could see was the lit end of the cigar and mom would say, “There’s Mr. Henley, smoking his cigar.”  I didn’t know at the time I would be his granddaughter-in-law one day.  These are three quilts I’ve made.

I’ve still got to get some linen pillowcases and we just ordered a Victorian crystal chandelier and the room will be completed.

Can’t remember where we got this old chest of drawers. Probably an auction.

David learned his folding skills while working for Ralph Lauren. He’s folded so many clothes in the years he’s worked there so when I need things folded very neatly, I ask David.  I had a pile of tablecloths I’ve collected over the years and he folded them for me. I asked him to count them so I’d know how many I have.

Here they all are. He said I have one hundred tablecloths!   I had no idea.  I’m going to have to start getting rid of a few I think.  But doesn’t that pile look neat?  I would never be able to fold those so neatly.

When the days are warm ,we spend a lot of time on one of our porch swings and watch the world go by. Of course, not too much of the world is going by at this time because of the virus, but there are people still traveling the roads going some place.  We had an eighty degree day this week, but today it’s in the fifties and will freeze tonight.  While sitting on the swing on my shop front porch a few days ago we saw this…

Peeking through the trees across the road a big moon was glowing.

So David ran in and got the camera and we took some picture of the super moon. The Pink Moon or Planting Moon it is called.

I love the silhouettes of the branches across the moon’s face.

Then David took some close ups.

The moon is absolutely beautiful. They say we only have so many full moons in our lives. I’ve seen most of the ones I’m going to see, but I hope I have a few left.

Skipping along. David found an old fruit press we got a long time ago.  We had a few oranges so he made some juice. How many oranges does it take to make a glass of juice?

Quite a few. And with the juice and some zest I made the best orange chiffon cake with orange icing.  I didn’t get a picture of it, but suffice it to say it was delicious!  I’m going to make another one this week.

Can’t leave without showing the garden and how it’s springing to life.

The weeping cherry is about ready to blossom and the pink flowering almond is full of bloom.

More pink flowering almond beside the house.

The Azalea in full bloom.

We cut down dead foliage, but this space will soon be full of hydrangea and Indigo.

Redbud is everywhere in Indiana.  This one is in my front yard.

Last, but not least, is the crabapple. It doesn’t look like much now, but when it blooms it will be glorious.

Hope you are faring well during this season of  our lives.  Enjoy Spring Or Autumn, if that is what it is in your part of the world.  Wishing everyone a very blessed Easter.  He is risen!   Bye.