Watercolor PERSONALIZED Note Cards – Set of 5
Truly a unique set of watercolor note cards you’ll love! Each note card and envelope is painted by hand by Linda Lewis. These can be personalized at no extra charge! Since these are painted especially for you, please allow approximately 2 weeks for delivery. FREE SHIPPING to contiguous U.S.
Use the link above to purchase this plaque. If it doesn’t work for some reason, please paste this URL in your browser –
Filed under Uncategorized
Quora
The Powerball drawing came and went last night at one minute before midnight for a prize of over $748 million. Surprisingly, I didn’t buy the winning ticket. There was one grand prize winner – in Massachusetts. Darn.
Now I eagerly await the PCH (Publisher’s Clearing House) drawing August 31st…..
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Dreams
The Secret Garden Giclee Print – Pinterest
“Once I saw a little bird
Come hop, hop, hop;
So I cried, “Little bird,
Will you stop, stop, stop?”
I was going to the window
To say, “How do you do?”
But he shook his little tail,
And far away he flew.”
Rufous Hummingbird – Mike Mitchell
(I don’t know the author of this little poem, but it has been fun for kids in schools and groups of all kinds for years and years, doing movements to go along with the poem)
Filed under favorite poems, Watercolors I Love
After reading my post yesterday about zinnias, my cousin (and beautiful friend) Murray Dennis sent me a poem she wrote, saying, “Just sending this as something sort of silly, some neighbors down the street also have zinnias and I wrote this for them . . . It goes along with a picture I took of their fence.”
I loved the poem, and asked her if I could share it. I found the best picture I could to go with it. –
_____________________
“Zinnias at the Fence” By Murray Dennis
“Petaled Riots of happy
color
Orange. . .Purple . . Yellow . . .Red
Growing . . .
flowing in abundance
from a dappled flower
bed
Sneaking . . . Peeking . . .
Through picket fences
Touching all the tender
senses
What a treat
For eager eyes.
A visual shout!
A quiet prize!”
Filed under Favorite People, favorite poems
Robin Flying – Pinterest
“Each morning on my window sill
A little robin sits.
He stays around for a while,
Then away he flits.”
SplodgePodge
“Is it me he comes to see,
(Perhaps he likes my company ?)
Or is it the piece of cake I leave,
That he pecks at gleefully.”
Vitec-painting.blogspot.com
“He makes me smile, it cheers me so
To watch him eat his fill.
To see him happily eating cake,
Dining, on my window sill.”
Copyright © Gary Smith | Year Posted 2017
Filed under favorite poems, Watercolors I Love
Last year I sprinkled some zinnia seeds around in my flower planters when it was really hot and my spring flowers were flagging. Nothing happened, and to be honest, I forgot about it.
This year the zinnias bloomed – volunteers all around the yard, in front of the planters, beside the planters, behind the planters…. It’s been a glorious summer awash in sweet, happy blooms. But – enough is enough and it had gotten to the point we couldn’t get down the sidewalk or around the yard without stepping on them or having the stems grab our legs as we tried to walk by.
Today I’m working on cleaning out, weeding, and pruning the three 8 foot planters that are between our driveway area and our front yard. I’ve already pulled 4 large gardening baskets full and I’m just getting started. (I told you that things had gotten out of hand with all the rain and sun we’ve had this summer. I wasn’t kidding.)
I pulled the zinnias that were outside the planters, bringing in some to enjoy for a few days.
I hate to get rid of anything blooming, so I brought in all that would fit in this vase and dumped the rest over the edge of the civilized part of our front yard. (We have over 8 acres of mostly woods. I’m hoping that the seeds from these will plant themselves and bloom next year along the front of the yard.)
It has been a real delight to have so many decide to bloom on their own this year.
I’ll probably try to do a couple more sessions this afternoon. It’ll probably take me a couple of days to get these three planters cleaned up. I lost most of the cloud cover, though, so it feels hot outside.
Filed under Gardening
Viral Sprint
We had rain overnight-into-this-morning that has cooled things off. It’s a nice day (77 degrees F.) and overcast now – perfect for me to play with my flowers. I have lots of flower planters, but I’m going to concentrate on three end-to-end 8 foot long brick planters that run between our driveway area and our front yard. They are totally overgrown with all the rain and sun we’ve had and need all kinds of attention.
We don’t have any errands to run and we wore ourselves out yesterday with projects, so today is a quiet day, with a reward at the end of a grilled steak and some salad. Ahhhhhhh!
I hope the weather is nice where you are, and that you’re able to get outside and enjoy it.
Happy Wednesday!
Filed under Arkansas, exercise, Gardening, Greenwood, Mother Nature
Tail and Fur
Yesterday we enjoyed a 90% solar eclipse. My husband came in a few minutes ago and said, “It looks like we’re having a REAL eclipse now.” I looked out the window and it was really DARK.
I thought a storm was imminent, so I rushed to take Amber out before the downpour – but it didn’t come. Things have lightened up a bit now, but we still have a 60% chance of rain the rest of the day and night. I think, once we get through today, we’ll have several days where we just have a chance of the normal pop-up showers of summer.
We might actually be able to schedule getting the ham radio tower pulled up by the crane people soon! I also look forward to being able to get my flower planters under control again. And NOW the rains have come…
cliparting.com
Filed under Mother Nature
Somehow, in my recent yoga efforts, I did too much of a good thing. I wasn’t careful enough, threw caution to the wind, and stretched as much as I possibly could – folding myself up into a paper airplane – messing up my back in the process. :0(
Cat Kabira, the teacher, STRESSES not to push yourself past what’s good for you at a given time. She asks you to do your best, but STRESSES, “if this is too much for you, don’t do it.” I didn’t listen, stretched beyond my comfort zone, and am now paying the price.
I’m having back spasms that are really cramping my style. (ha ha – pun) I can still function, but I’ll be in the middle of standing up and all of a sudden my back is clenching. It’s really annoying.
I’m doing a combination of pain meds, muscle creams, and the heat pad, and these are helping, but it amazes me how long it takes me to get back to what passes for ‘normal’ around here.
Today I’ll get on my mat and do SUPER careful stretches v-e-r-y slowly and see if I can get myself straightened out again.
Filed under exercise
Wren – Vitec
“Small bird take flight.
Open your wings, leave shelter behind.
Fear will ground you, riddle you weak.
Feel the winds, the rushing power in the breeze.
Allow the current to embrace you, ruffle your feathers as you chase the sun.
Free yourself from doubt.
Freedom is fluid.
Should I fall, how dreadful.
Should I be incapable of flight, my soul would rupture.
But should I soar, to touch the milky skyline, Oh how inspiring.
Even the smallest bird may take flight.”
___________________
copyright Whitney Hart Posted 2015
Wren – Pinterest
Filed under favorite poems, Watercolors I Love
Ever since we got a sprayer much like this one, my personality has changed. Instead of a reasonably sweet old lady, I have become a maniac. Armed with my sprayer and KillsAll weed killer, all I need is a day without rain and my killer instincts kick in.
I’ve mixed a total of 4 gallons of the stuff this morning (and this afternoon) and have sprayed the weed trees in the back where our good person-of-all-things, Foy Brown, was unable to get with his tractor and brush hog, and then around the outer perimeter of my raised bed square foot garden and under the planter boxes in there, plus under the shop propane tank. If we get another good day tomorrow, I’ll mix more and see what damage I can do.
I’m really happy with the KillsAll spray. (Thank you, Cathy) I can TELL where the spray has been effective the last time I sprayed. I can TELL I’m making progress and not wasting my time. Hooray!
I plan to keep at this until all is under reasonable control. I am the “Maniacal Weed Killer.” Hear me roar!
Filed under Gardening
“Hope is the thing with feathers”
by Emily Dickinson
___________________
Pin by Kortney Lopez on Tattoo Idea
‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
quiz.upsoci.com
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
robin – Pinterest
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
robin painting – Splodgepodge
Filed under favorite poems, Watercolors I Love
17 best Secret Garden – Pinterest
“If you catch a little bird
And you put it in a cage, feed it every day
Open the door, it’ll fly away
It’ll be gone, it’ll be gone
20 best watercolor birds – pinterest
On the wings of the wind
Fly on the wings of the wind
Acuarela Original Painting
Once I catch a little bird
And I taught her a song it was a silver song
Open the door and she was gone
She was gone, she was gone
Small Bird Tattoo on Belly
On the wings of the wind
Through on the wings of the wind
bloglovin.com
And she flew so high
Through alone in the sky
And was gone
European Robin – Wildlife Art by Jacqueline Tribble
Our freedom is like a bird
You can put it in a cage, it will fly away
Every time it flies away
High Heels and Diet Dr. Pepper
And it will fly so high
Through alone in the sky
And be gone”
Oriole – Mike Mitchell
Freedom Bird – song by The Cats
Filed under music, Watercolors I Love
I just looked up our temperatures today with the humidity and came up with a heat index of 114.
Guldehen Photography – Deviant Art
I just came in from checking on my husband out in the shop while walking our 5 month old lab puppy, Amber, for the 3rd time this morning. She jumped in the kiddie pool twice on this outing and then drank a LOT of water when we came in.
I’m hoping that I can catch a break on weather and do some weed spraying this evening. I’m supposed to watch for a time we have 48 hours without rain. Yeah. Right. Usually in Arkansas in August there would be NO problem – the grass should be brown and crunchy, the ground dry as dust, things dying even with our irrigation system going. This year has been a record on rainfall, I think . It’s certainly the rainiest July and August we remember, and we’ve lived on top of this ridge line for some 30 years.
So – I’m going to go with the flow and read more of my book in the comfort of A/C with a cup of coffee or maybe some iced tea this afternoon.
Hoping to assume my new alias, “Mad Weed Killer” tonight, I hope your Sunday is enjoyable.
Filed under Mother Nature
Zen to Zany
“We have SUCH a good life.”
My husband and I say this to each other several times a week. Things will never be perfect, and we irritate each other greatly from time to time, but mostly, things are GOOD.
_____________________
I spent a wonderful time typing to our son via a chat program. He’s across the world from us, doing his own thing, with a good friend and his wife, living and working in a way I really have difficulty getting my head around.
He used to be like me, nervous about traveling and all the details associated with it. Now he travels at the drop of a hat, arranges for Uber to take him where he needs to go otherwise, staying in AirBnB’s for one night, two weeks, a month, then picking up and moving elsewhere. He has computer clients in the U.S. and he and his partners work freelance.
He takes both Mandarin and Thai lessons, wanting to be able to speak to people where he is. He’s making good progress, though he always feels he still speaks ‘baby language,’ he can understand and many times respond now in their language. He can also write in the languages. He doesn’t do this for job opportunities. He does this out of respect for the country and its people.
I talked with him this morning about dreaming of winning the lottery. He said, “
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Favorite Pictures, Favorite Quotes
“Colorful Umbrellas” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
The Bad News is that we didn’t win the Powerball Lottery last night. It’s the first one we’ve both tickets for in a long time. It was up to $437 million, so we bought 5 tickets.
The Good News is that no one ELSE won the lottery last night, either. It’s gone up to $650 million now, and the drawing will be Wednesday night. Guess who will buy 5 more tickets!
The odds of me winning are something like 1 in 292 million, but one can hope…
Filed under Attitude, Dreams, Good Thoughts
Sweet puppy Amber is taking a very rare nap. Even though her eyes seem open, her legs are moving in dreams and she’s snoring lightly. She was very hyper this morning, teeing off Molly, our ‘old lady’ white dog, and the cats, Abby and Smoke, all in the space of a minute or two on bursting through the porch door after she ate.
When she wouldn’t settle with us in the office, after each of us played with her for a time, she ‘won a trip back to the porch’ for a few minutes. I let her in again and she was much better. Now I’m getting a reprieve that I know won’t last long. I’ll enjoy every second!
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
“Love & Hugs” Hand-painted Basket by Linda Lewis on ArtFire
One-of-a-kind hand-painted basket sends your “Love & Hugs” to anyone you choose – even yourself – when support is needed. The basket is approximately 6.5″ high; (12″ high when handle is included); 9″ wide; and 26″ in circumference. The basket has “Love & Hugs” in stamped letters on the front and back, accents of gold and copper paint with some glitter to give a nice amount of glow and texture to the basket, plus gold-wrapped “presents” tied on in various places. Almost like having a good friend with you! FREE SHIPPING to contiguous U.S.
Use the link above to purchase this plaque. If it doesn’t work for some reason, please paste this URL in your browser –
See all items by Linda Lewis on ArtFire
Filed under Uncategorized
Planet Natural
Today I processed the latest harvest of tomatoes. I froze some of them and harvested seeds from the rest.
Right now it looks like someone had a bad accident on paper towels on my counter in the kitchen. I’m in the process of trying to dry the seeds. I’m not sure how smart people do it, but I gathered them in a sieve and ran water over them, picking out the bits of tomato that were left and then blotted the blog of ‘stuff’ between paper towels. I’ll monitor them and get them out in the air as soon as possible to fully dry before trying to store them.
I’ll go out this evening and see if I can get more suckers to plant in water. I transplanted one sucker that had sprouted some tiny roots. I’m a beginner at all this, so this will be a fascinating, challenging process before I can get the hang of it.
I’m enjoying all the rain we’re getting, but it will be nice when I can simply crab about how hot it is, rather than having to dash out in the morning or evening between storms to try to get a bit done outside. I’m getting a list as long as my arm of what is waiting for me to do out there….
We were out walking Amber last night just before dark and saw this sky. I went in to get my camera because this is really unusual. These pics are taken pointing EAST. The last I heard, the sun RISES in the EAST and SETS in the WEST.
Anyhow, the sky was spectacular and I wanted to record it and share it with you.
Filed under Arkansas, Delightful Surprises, Greenwood, Mother Nature
This is a one-of-a-kind handcrafted plaque by Linda Lewis. The dimensions are 16″ tall by 15″ wide. The straw mat is painted with dark green, copper and gold metallic. The letters and hearts are made of wood. With its sentiment, “Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon,” it’s nice to hang in the kitchen, or anywhere in your home. FREE SHIPPING to contiguous U.S.
Use the link above to purchase this plaque. If it doesn’t work for some reason, please paste this URL in your browser –
See all Plaques and Signs by Linda Lewis on ArtFire
See all ArtFire items by Linda Lewis
Filed under Uncategorized
It’s the chicken and the egg question – we’re not sure if WE brought back the hot weather by putting this up on the mailbox on the 15th, or if it would have come anyway. If it’s our fault for the 95 degree weather plus a heat index making it feel like 106, we apologize. It’s always hot in Arkansas in the summer, and particularly in August. This year has been so wonky, though, with the grass staying green all summer, rather than turning brown and crunchy, that we got spoiled. It’s like a steam bath out there now. This is the back of the piece. I tried to blend the support bar into his feet.
Here’s the front. We thought this decoration wouldn’t be appropriate in that we’ve had so much rain, but that won’t be a problem much longer.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
Amber is making progress in getting us to do what she wants, but she gets truly frustrated with how very slow we are to learn.
For example, she wants to play Tug of War with her toys. She goes and gets a toy, brings it to her humans, and very clearly wants us to grab the other end – the other side – and fight with enthusiasm – in the end letting her win. She is letting us know lately how dumb we are. When she brings the toy, we won’t even TRY to take it out of her mouth. We ACT like we’re going to play, but the minute we meet resistance, we let go, over and over until she finally drops the toy into our laps in disgust. Just as she’s leaving, we throw the toy! The game is on again until the humans refuse to take their end of the toy. AND her humans get mad when teeth run into skin, yelling and running into the kitchen to wash the wounds off and wrap them with band-aids. Hummmmppph!
Her humans HAVE learned to arm themselves each morning, making SURE they have a pocketful of treats. Amber has taught us to give her treats in all parts of the ‘taking-care-o-business’ process, when she sits, when she comes, when she lies down, when she goes to her place…. all day long – finishing up with going into her crate. This takes a LOT of treats. We routinely get somewhere out in public, one pocket bulging with dog treats.
Amber realizes that getting her people trained will take time, patience, and lots and lots of effort. She’s encouraged that we’re better than we were when she first came to live with us in May.
She’s looking at me, distinctly saying, “Really? You want me to get up?”
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
Colorful fall leaves are hand painted over a purple background on this one-of-a-kind journal by Linda Lewis. The outside cover is linen type off white with nice texture. The inside has 100 blank pages for your thoughts, dreams, lists, memories – Dimensions of the journal are 3-3/4″ wide x 5-3/4″ long x 3/8″ thick. A great size to put in your purse, tote, glove compartment, school bag.
Use the link above to see more details or to purchase this OOAK journal. If the above link doesn’t work for you, here is the URL to paste into your browser –
Filed under Uncategorized
TheDhelseaFoundationsOfficalParentingBlog-WordPress.com
With the heat index, it feels like it’s 106 degrees F. here this afternoon. I came in dripping from just gathering the ripe tomatoes when we got home from Lunch Bunch and errands.
The tomato production has really slowed. We haven’t had anything but green ones for quite a while. Today, though, some had ripened. They aren’t as pretty as the previous ones, but they taste just as good. We’re coming to the end of the season now. I’m trying to get some tomato suckers started in the house that I can transfer to the greenhouse later, but it’s a challenge.
Filed under Arkansas, DIET!, Greenwood, Healthy Eating, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
When my husband came in from taking Amber out for a second time this morning, he handed me this nice hydrangea bloom. He hugged me and said, “I love you. Can I live with you forever?” And THAT, in a nutshell, is why we’ve been married 48 years and counting. :0)
This resonates with me and makes me laugh, but I don’t think this way anymore.
Today’s ‘yoge’ is “hips.”
I just finished getting a “Chicken with Creamy Orange Sauce” by Dana Carpender into the crock pot for dinner tonight. It’s amazing to me that we have never tried one of her low carb recipes we didn’t like. With her slow cooker recipes and her “15 Minute” low carb recipes, I have pretty much all I need to keep me on track. I also just got a low carb bread recipe book to use with a really odd-looking lime green silicone bread bowl thingie.
I have no clue whether this is actually useful or not, but I’ll give it a try and report back to you.
With rice for my husband (cauli-rice for me) and some salad, dinner is taken care of. When I finish this, I’ll make us some lunch.
MyFitnessPal.com is keeping me on track with my eating again. I keep being amazed at how far off I had gotten. I was making low carb meals, but was sabotaging my efforts with the portions, side dishes, and sugar-free stuff “I” was eating to be companionable with my husband. Now I’m being careful to stay under 1200 calories a day and under 40 grams of carbohydrates, plus move more.
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It’s encouraging that this 2nd round of the 8 sessions in the DVD set is a bit easier. I don’t kid myself that I’ll loosen up quickly, but I know that as long as I get on the mat every day with Cat Kabira, I’ll be working toward my goal. She has a very compassionate, encouraging manner that I find very appealing.
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One day at a time. The next weighing and measurement day is this coming Saturday. Hopefully I’ll be able to report a bit of progress.
Have a happy day!
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, Healthy Eating
creativeartworksblog 