“Dancing Water” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Yellow Bush Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography
Georges Jules Ernest Binet-“Walking in the Forest” – via Dr. Cyril Thiaudiere, Ph.D-LinkedIn
Filed under Oil Paintings I Love
I love this time of year when things are blooming and making my spirits soar. Right now the roses are putting on a nice display. I will go out later today and prune them so they will put on another nice show later on.
The coral shade fades and then it is time to prune it off. My husband got me some really long suede gloves I use so I don’t get scratched the way I used to. A lady at a nursery in Fort Smith taught me how to prune the roses so they will bloom again. I will never be able to thank her enough.
Knock Out Rose bush
Rio Samba
Have a happy day!
Filed under Favorite Things, Gardening
Albert Einstein-life quotes-sayingimages.com
Today instead of formal exercising, I put on my ‘Weed Murderer” cap and went out to the garden. I’m doing a combination of pulling the weeds I can, weed whacking others, and then spraying weed killer to try to at least slow new growth. A little of this activity goes a long way. I do a bit at a time, then come in, rest, drink a bunch of water, and then go out again. My body is well aware that I have been moving by the end of the afternoon.
One thing that helps a lot is my “Gentle Yoga” stretches. I learned this from a DVD I ordered from Sixty and Me. The instructor’s name is Kat Kabira. She emphasizes taking things slowly, listening to your body, breathing into the poses. She doesn’t ask you to fold yourself into a paper airplane. She is very encouraging about whatever you can do. I can’t say enough about her.
Keep moving!
Filed under exercise, Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
And we welcome May 2020, appreciating Hamish and Trey of one of the firefighters in Australia and a sweet dog. I have to tell you that this donation to buy the calendar has been a source of much drooling by me each month. It’s only a detail that these gorgeous guys are probably young enough to be my son. I still have eyes and the heart of a young woman. :0)
So, HAPPY MAY to you.
Hopefully, this month will bring many improvements all over the world.
Stay safe.
Filed under Cause for Celebration, Delightful Surprises, giving
Elizabeth Murray
I love all kinds of plants. My parents didn’t do much with plants, preferring no maintenance over other priorities.
We live on top of a ridge line in Arkansas. The only ‘soil’ we have was brought up here by truck – enough so that we could have a small yard around the house. The rest of our approximately 8 acres is wooded.
Over the years my husband, son and I built 14 brick planters around the house. filling them with potting soil so that I could grow some flowers. Flowers lift my spirits. I can FEEL my heart filling and the concerns fading when I see some of my flowers doing well. I love adding perennials each year so there is less I NEED to do. Then I concentrate on annuals to dot into the planters, plus put into little planters around the yard, on the front porch, and on the deck each year. This year, because of the pandemic, I’m not planting any annuals, so I enjoy the perennials that defiantly and proudly spear up out of the planters and put on a lovely display regardless of the world around them.
I’m like a little kid at Christmas with my raised bed, square foot garden. I had never seen any food grow, and so I have learned a LOT about what NOT to do over the years, finally achieving some success over the past several years. I LOVE watching the plants lift their faces to the sun. I even enjoy weeding the ‘boxes’ of my garden, since the Mel’s Mix soil alternative makes it easy to weed. The fact that the boxes are at my chest level also makes it so I can do the job without bending over double or getting up and down off the ground. Today I’m starting work on weeding UNDER my garden boxes. That’s a bigger job, but the weeds are growing fast now. I need to get things under control as soon as I can.
My favorite sign in our yard is –
Amazon
My break is over now. It’s time for another session murdering weeds…
Filed under drawings, Niki Firmin - Pet Portraits
While most of our world remains in concern, fear, and lockdowns to various degrees, I look for things that give me hope that all will be better eventually. I find hope seeing our perennial flowers blooming, in spite of severe weather a couple of nights ago, oblivious to what else is happening in the world. They bloom their lovely hearts out, aware of only warmer temperatures sunshine, and water.
I hope that you, too, can find things that fill your heart with hope for the future.
Filed under Favorite Things, hope, Mother Nature
Email from Marsha Koenig
Email from Marsha Koenig
Email from Marsha Koenig
Email from Marsha Koenig
Email from Marsha Koenig
Filed under Art on Buildings
in an email from my friend Marsha
We have had a busy couple of days.
Yesterday severe weather was forecast, including rain, high winds, large hail, and flying hairballs to start around dark. I took old sheets out and covered up the veggie plants in my garden, plus my tomato plants, protecting them as much as possible. The bad weather came, with lots of lightning, wind, rain, etc. I didn’t know if we got the hail. This morning I uncovered everything, and we seem to have come through with no damage to my sweet veggies!
I’m doing several loads of laundry to change the dirty, dripping sheets into clean, dry sheets ready for the next time.
I am really relieved. If we have a quiet, nice day tomorrow, I’ll work on cutting down the weeds and then spraying weed killer UNDER my raised bed boxes, as well as around the perimeter. I’m not sure if we need more mulch to spread under the boxes. I’ll know more when I have the weeds under control.
I’ll also use the push-around weed whacker to clean up the area beside the garden. We have the lawn mowed after finally getting the new belt installed, but my husband didn’t have the time to mow around or beside the garden.
I took pics of our rose bushes before the storm. It’s a good thing, because ALL of them are bent clear over after all the wind and rain. I am going to try to find some things to prop them up while they try to recover.
A small sign of things starting to get back toward normal was that the company that sprays for bugs for us called and sent out Adolpho to spray the inside, plus around the outside of the house for everything – including elephants. When you live outside of town in a wooded area on top of a ridge line, one of the things you take seriously is the creepy, crawly things that will suddenly erupt without constant heavy duty spraying by professionals. We have Tri-Hill Pest Control, 1308 Zero St, Fort Smith, AR 72901, (479) 782-2847. Adolpho is the man who comes to help us. We can’t say enough about him.
Besides uncovering plants, washing sheets, and meeting the bug man, I have made us lunch and baked another loaf of keto bread. I can’t say enough about this recipe from MyKetoKitchen.com
I’ve tried a lot of recipes for bread, since that was the thing I had been missing the most. I wanted one loaf of bread that I could slice and eat instead of eyeing my husband’s roll with dinner. I wanted one that I could slice and put in the toaster while my husband had regular bread – and one that I might even be able to use for a sandwich, if I felt the urge, such as when we want a comfort dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and soup for dinner. I wanted the yeasty smell and taste of regular bread, as much as possible.
This one does all this. One loaf lasts me approximately a week. It doesn’t rise as much as regular bread, but it tastes good to me. I don’t feel deprived watching my husband eat regular breads – rolls, bagels, toast, sandwich bread, hot dog buns, etc. I will eventually branch out, trying other keto recipes for all of these various things, but this has really helped me in my efforts to stay on keto and lose the lard.
I hope that your day is full of hopeful things, too.
email from Marsha
email from Marsha
email from Marsha
email from Marsha
email from Marsha
Filed under Art on Buildings
Filed under Gary Wing
BeInspiredChannel.com
My Facebook page got hacked. Not only that, but I’ve had this for YEARS and I started it with a then-current email, so I cannot just change my password. They want to send the code to my old email address. There seems to be no way to reach anyone to help, so I am starting over with a new account, current information, etc.
If you get a friend request from me, it IS really me. I’m having to delete the old account. Please consider adding me to your list again.
Filed under character-building exercises
Elisabet Scott via NUSTBookClub.wordpress.com
I have always been a voracious reader. I am ALWAYS reading at least one book at any given time. I cannot imagine a life without being surrounded by lots and lots of books.
Lately, I’ve been re-reading some of my favorite Nora Roberts books. I work hard all day, doing chores and working in the yard more and more as the weather permits, and then spend some glorious time escaping into a well-loved book – like a pair of comfortable shoes – knowing it will turn out right in the end, loving the wonderful characters and their the conversations that touch my heart or make me laugh.
I’m also enjoying some of my art books. The talent of people will never cease to amaze me. I love to try to emulate the techniques they are trying to teach me. They put wonderful ideas in my head that I can try out in my art room – if I can make the time and still have energy. I so much enjoy pouring over the possibilities in these books!
I’m also trying out new recipes. I’m not imaginative on my own, so I’m delighted when I can find recipes that my husband says are, “YUMMY!” or requests that we have again. Today I will bake another loaf of keto bread for myself. My husband enjoys all kinds of regular bread, but I’m trying to get the lard off, so keto bread means a lot to me.
I am lucky to have more books than I can enjoy. They make me feel rich!
Filed under learning new things, Reading is FUNdamental
I love watching my fish check out the different decorations I put in their home each time I clean the aquarium. They don’t say much about the changes, but they wriggle harder and blow lots of bubbles, so I know they are interested. You can only see the white gold fish in this pic, unless you know that the orange curved ‘stripe’ on the right side of the tank is the orange one. He is about 4 inches long now. I like seeing the brightly lit tank, the sparkling clean water, the bubbles of the aerator, and the fish chasing each other. I talk to them – making bright conversation – but they don’t engage in spritely repartee. It’s a nice, quiet, appreciative relationship.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family, Housekeeping - Maintenance
email from Marsha Koenig
I have seen some of these before, but I LOVE the creativity and imagination of some wonderful people who transform what is ordinary into something extraordinary.
email from Marsha Koenig
email from Marsha Koenig
email from Marsha Koenig
email from Marsha Koenig
Filed under Art on Buildings
My husband and I just came back from running some quick errands. I can’t get him to wear a mask, so we keep our errands to an absolute minimum and move in and out of the store very quickly to avoid exposure as much as possible. I’m feeling grateful that Arkansas is one of the states that did not require a complete lockdown. Sometimes we can go through a drive-through or call and get curbside service at one of our favorite restaurants. We got a rotisserie chicken today, so I don’t even have to cook tonight. I’ll make a salad to go with it, using our head lettuce and spinach leaves from our own garden.
Several states are now in the process of trying to carefully reopen their economies. Arkansas is one. I’m interested to see how this works. I think that people will need to think for themselves about what is a safe situation. My husband and I are in the high risk group. so we will probably continue to do what we’re doing, avoiding exposure as much as we can until further notice. If we see something that we consider safe, or consider the risk worth it, we will expand to new things again.
I feel lucky that I can continue to plan my days here on top of our ridgeline, filling it with things I SHOULD do – like household chores and exercise – as well as FUN things, such as writing my blog and playing in my art room. It just doesn’t get much luckier than that.
So far friends and family have managed to avoid the virus, or have HAD it and don’t know it. I hope this continues.
I’m am hopeful that we can open our economy carefully, getting good people back to work, getting a start on putting our world back to normal.
natural life via 2 STAR art
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
via Jeff Jett – Linkedin
via Jeff Jett, LinkiedIn
via Jeff Jett, LinkedIn
Kanno Hisao with Maya Ansa and Yaeko Hishida
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography
Sena Runa – MyModernMet
strictlypaper
Wikipedia
Yulia Brodskaya-Proactive Creative
Filed under paper art
I went outside with trepidation a few minutes ago to see what was left after the wave after wave of hard storms we had yesterday and throughout the evening. I noticed hail hitting the dining area window a couple of times and feared my new tomato plants and veggie garden would be beaten to death. As you can see from the photo above, the tomato plants in this planter are fine! Hooray!!!!!
This is the second planter for tomatoes. This one is more sheltered than the other, but nothing will help when hail is coming down. I was really relieved to see all the sweet tomato plants are still doing well.
I walked to the other end of our property where our raised bed square foot garden is. I could tell the water came up high on the plants before draining out, but nothing seems to be broken or beaten down.
This shows you some of the head lettuce and the red onions.
A couple of spinach plants, but mainly head lettuce.
And the spinach. As you can see, the plants were almost covered with water and soil by the storm, but then the drainage did it’s job.
We seem to be due for more storms tomorrow, but we have dodged another bullet, and I’m grinning from ear to ear.
Our favorite rose bush is called Rio Samba. We have no clue what we’re doing on growing roses, but this one seems happy with us. We have three of these. You are looking at three photos of the same rose bush from different angles taken just a few minutes ago.
We love the fact that we have so many different colors on the same bush, depending on how long the rose has been blooming.
When it is a bud or very early bloom, the flower is bright yellow with a swash of coral. When it opens completely, it is still yellow, but has coral edges and the older petals start to turn a much milder coral.
When if is almost ready or ready to prune, the whole blossom is a sweet shade of coral.
There are few things that lift my spirits as much as visiting our rose bushes this time of the year. They give me hope that things will one day be back to normal, in the normal flow of nature.
Filed under Favorite Things, Gardening, hope, Mother Nature
Drindus-Instagram via Beautiful World
HazeIce Breamm-Instagram via Beautiful World
See_the_world_with_green_eyes- Instagram via Beautiful World
Sudarsan Pattnail-Twitter via Beautiful World
Filed under sand
My good friend Marsha Koenig sent me an email that made me laugh so many times I lost count. What a treasure these days! I had to share it with you –
You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.
— Alan, age 10-No person really decides before they grow up who they’re going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you’re stuck with.
— Kristen, age 102.WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then..
— Camille, age 10
3. HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.
— Derrick, age 8
4.WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
Both don’t want any more kids.
— Lori, age 8
5.WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
-Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.
— Lynnette, age 8-On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.
— Martin, age 10
6.WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
-The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn’t want to mess with that.
– – Curt, age 7
-The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It’s the right thing to do.
– – Howard, age 8
7. IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
It’s better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them.
— Anita, age 9
8.HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN’T GET MARRIED?
There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn’t there?
— Kelvin, age 8
And the #1 Favorite is…….
9.HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a dump truck.
— Ricky, age 10
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor
Garry Dano – I Love Elephants with Elephant Addict
How could anyone feel ‘down’ after seeing this sweet baby elephant?
We are having storms this morning. We have lost power once briefly and Internet once so far. Rain, wind, hail, and flying hair balls are predicted all day and into the evening. I am worried about my veggie plants and my tomato plants. Fingers crossed that we DON’T get the predicted hail.
I am thankful we have a warm, dry home. Usually we play ‘doggie doorman’ all day long, but both doggies are sound asleep as I type. Both cats are inside, too. And, of course, the gold fish are safe from harm.
We started a project last night of replacing the long board that is on the outer edge of our deck, trying to shore things up a bit. We got part of it accomplished, and planned to go to the local hardware store to get a replacement board today. So much for our plans. We will hope we can continue the fix tomorrow.
Meanwhile, we are trying to sell an old riding lawn mower. A man just called and is on his way out to see it – in the middle of this weather. I’m hoping that means that he really wants a mower and will be delighted that we can sell him one cheaply that works. Fingers crossed!
123RF.com
I finished the painting I started several days ago.
The weather has really thrown a wrench into our plans for the day, so I’m not sure what I’ll try to accomplish today.
I got two stars yesterday because I FINALLY did my elliptical trainer in the morning and my yoga in the afternoon. I will try to do that again today.
Penn Fitness Warehouse
Bored Panda
I could really tell yesterday that I had stiffened up in my yoga practice. I have to prove to myself over and over again that I really need to do this at least several times a week, if not every day. I’m a very slow, stubborn learner. Here’s hoping I earn my two stars today.
Please take care and stay safe.
This picture shows you the head lettuce leaves I harvested today. I had to wash each leaf carefully under running water, and it was easy to see that the hard rain had pretty much filled the squares high up on the plants faster than it could drain during the storm we had yesterday.
These are spinach leaves. I’ll use these in our salads, but I’m hoping that the plants will give me enough that I can freeze some for later. I’m looking forward to a nice, big salad tonight. Our weather is glorious today – sunny and 74 degrees. We did some freezer diving last night and will cook out tonight for the first time this season.
creativeartworksblog 