Lovely Lavender

 This year's lavender harvest.  A lovely bunch.

 So many uses.  Since I use no chemicals in the garden it is also safe for food use.

 I love the fragrance, and just the thought that this beautiful harvest grew with no care or assistance is amazing.  Just pick the sunniest exposure and stand back.  All I really did was weed around the plants much later this spring than most years.( I have only two plants and one died back to a quarter of it's size last year.)

 I sat and gathered the stems into two bunches.  A long stemmed bunch and the shorter ones.

 I always try to imagine what it would be like to really harvest in a field of lavender. Heaven, I bet.

I save all the little bits for sachets and potpourri.

June is swiftly fading into July.  Get out there and enjoy every moment!

Beauty in the Neighborhood

Coming home from the store we stopped in an older section of our town.  Seems we drive by all the time but never stop to admire the old homes, old trees and beautiful gardens.  Look at this cottonwood!
Cottonwoods, always remind me of a trip I took to Colorado when I was 19.  We slept under the stars along the Colorado River under the protection of giant cottonwoods just like this beauty.

 Oh the stories this tree could tell.

 Another neighborhood, closer to ours.  Loved this rustic fence and climbing vine.  It is variegated and looks like a grapevine.  The pop of white flowers was the perfect accent.

 Looks like dappled light on these leaves.

 Just loved the mossy old fence.

My prize for the day, a little July 4th vignette for the table.  The lanterns, I just had to take apart and clean up, the runner still had the tag...Hand made for Lincoln's New Salem, (a recreation of the settlement where President Lincoln first lived in Illinois.)  ...the lanterns .50 each and the runner a dollar.  The bargains are now finding me!

A couple of events this weekend to check out for local girls.

A Flea Market Style Barn Sale
at Heritage Barn and Board
W2644 Loveland Rd. Elkhorn, WI
We loved their Christmas Sale.

Nellie's Barn Sale
10856 Branding Iron Ln. Roscoe, IL
Never been but looks like cool vintage stuff.

Saw this ad on Facebook...
Everything Homespun
5000 sq ft of fun!
2450 County Road O
Delevan WI 53115
We will remember this place when we go up to see Northwinds Perennial again.

We have no plans for the weekend except spending some time in the garden, there may be local a rummage sale... With gas $4 a gallon and up...there are no bargains when you spend a bundle to fill the gas tank, as much as we love a road trip. Oh, and a picnic dinner with a man who got soaked with me last weekend, that is if the weather cooperates!

Have a great weekend my friends.

One Woman's Trash

Stopping at a garage sale the next block over, because the sign said craft supplies...and you know I (don't) need craft supplies.  The sale was held by two women.  Their Mom recently moved to a smaller place leaving them to liquidate a lifetime of crafting.  There was so much, but the only thing I saw that I could justify buying were these two spools of cotton yarn.  Honey asked how much?  The first daughter said, one dollar each.  I almost did a happy dance.  My spool is way low, and two dollars would keep me in cotton till the winter.  We looked around a little then went up to the other daughter to pay.  I told her the price her sister quoted, she looked at me and said,  everything is half off!  Two spools for $1.  My sweetheart just laughed as I smiled all the way home!

Hope you find a treasure that makes you want to smile all day.
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy this beautiful day.

Hearts and Flowers

The first bloom on my endless summer hydrangea .  A sight to behold.

The rose mallow will bloom for a few weeks, each day opening new blooms in the softest pink.

My favorite pot this year.  The pink is anything soft, WOW!  I love to imagine how the pot will look as things fill in and  love when my vision for one comes to fruition.

 Powerfully pink portulaca.  Say that three times fast!

 The blue saliva...I mean white saliva.  This one spike is pure white.

Makes me so happy, it is the little things in life, agree?

Took a photo of the heart from dear Melanie.  I like it so much and it looks great in my kitchen.

 This little collection has exploded.  My SIL has added the board with the heart cut out and I just found the wood burned paddle, again with a heart.

Yes hearts and flowers, defined as "extreme sentimentality."  That's me to a tee.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for your friendship and kind comments. Enjoy this beautiful day.

First Weekend of Summer

 What a weekend.  Starting with a thrifting date with beautiful Melanie of Comfy House on Friday.  We always have a great time together, and our thrifting mojo seems to flow when we're together.  I found this awesome straw boater hat.

 It spoke to me of summer and barber shop quartets...Disneyland and Tom Hanks in that silly skit on SNL
when he is an animatronic in the tunnel of love.  Creepy and funny.  Anyhow at $4 I had to have it.

 My other small purchases paled in comparison to the gifts that Melanie gave me.  The picnic basket shown above, "Would I like it," Mel asked...YES!  I have more than a few but love em all.  Then some awesome gifts for my birthday, yes it is in February... ;-) We've been trying to get together for a long time.  Mel shared some great magazines, a couple of vintage pillowcases...oh I forgot to photograph the heart. A glass heart holding some vintage paper, so pretty. Probably because I hung it right up in my kitchen I liked it so much.

 Love the little woolen pillow...and some little journals.  So generous and kind.  We spent over 2 hours shopping and another 30 minutes talking in the parking lot.  I got sunburned, just half of my chest and face.  Didn't know it till hours later...Never a dull moment with Mel...Oh, the joy of blogging...New friends!

 These are perfect for a project.

 Melanie is a blessing indeed.

 Dad's beret, sweet p.'s ranger hat, sweethearts cane, Buscia's shawl and now my boater.

Saturday took us to Ravinia.  Garrison Keillor and a live broadcast of the Prairie Home Companion radio show.  The first thing was an announcement that the US Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Ravinia.  "You can leave, or you can stay."  (That should cover their butts if people die from being hit by lightning ;-)

 We had arrived early so we had a couple of relaxing hours until the first flash of lightning.

 Ravinia is always a good time, and in forty years of attending the Ravinia Festival, this was our first weather event...aka Monsoon.

 At first we thought we might luck out and miss it...

Then under the protection of a restaurant's eaves we watched as rivers formed, crazy people stayed under umbrellas and tarps and Ravinia got walloped.

Here Harry Volkman aka my sweetheart, kept us informed on radar activity.  All in all it was a very good time.  People were in a great mood, there were many laughs and the close proximity meant you were included in every one's conversation.  When the rain let up we waded into the grass to retrieve our soaking wet table and chairs, table cover and blanket.  That was the hardest part and the wettest.  Carrying all the rain soaked stuff back to the car where we listened to the last part of the broadcast on the car radio, ate our dinner and dessert.  We listened to NPR and laughed all the way home.

On a personal note our dear friends Jean and Tom delivered some gifts to my hubby for some help he gave them with their computer.  These two...what can I even say... are the kindest, most generous and craziest.
When I say that we are blessed, it is no joke.  Thanks to Jean and Tom...your friendship means the world to us!

Sunday we went to the little flea market with Brother Greg, SIL Elizabeth and my two little nieces. We got a late start and it was really hot.  The kids wilted first with my sweetheart not far behind.  We let Grandma and Grandpa shop while we cooled off in the car and listened to a scary story told by my little bird.  It involved a girl and a boy a jacket and a grave... She explained that the girl was a GHOST!  We sang some songs and Grandma came back to the car, without Grandpa.  (He left the house without his phone, go figure...)  I went to find my dear brother, it only took a minute since he was heading to the car to find us.  I told the girls I found Grandpa in the room with the lost children.  I said he was crying and then jumped into my arms when he saw me.  The little bird, now almost 6 believed me for a nano second, and then asked her grandpa..."Were you really in the room for lost children?"  A great time was had by all, especially eating snacks and drinks in the cool of Auntie Penny's house.

I need a rest from my weekend!
Another rainy day...thank goodness, I need the rest!

Enjoy this beautiful day.

Penny








 

Thursday

 Stopped at a light, the sky was churning.on Wednesday afternoon.  What seemed like a good idea to get out for a while turned into a mistake real quick.  It never really got that bad, but the skies did open up.  The trees all sighed, the plants were all watered.  The new rood sparkled and the rehung gutters worked like a champ. I didn't accomplish much, but some errands were run (big girl underwear sent to a small girl in NY!) and my guy and I found a punch for a little project I've been thinking about.

 I'm sure you've seen all the mason jar accessories in the craft stores and the Wally Mart.  Three lids with a hole for a straw for about $10, straws extra!  I didn't have anything big enough to punch a hole in the dozens of lids I already had.  Then we went to a Harbor Freight tool type store.  I couldn't purchase just the tool of the size I wanted, but the set was reasonably priced.  So today I set out to manufacture some lids for my recently purchased and so vintage canning jars.

 All I needed was to find my little anvil, a trip to the basement...there I found a dozen more lids left from a project where I made wire frogs for the tops of some mason jars a couple of years ago.

 If you don't have lids already at home, they are available at the local hardware.

 It took me a couple of really hard smacks with the hammer...

and the really hard surface of the lil' anvil to make the perfect hole.  I tried with a plastic cutting board, but it just wasn't hard enough.

 No one home today to hear all the noise...

 I even saved the tops of yesterday's cans of beans. ( Honey had a taste for chili.)  I've seen so many ornaments started with the tops of cans.

So the results.  So cute, and now I have a set of punches for all my crafting needs.  Silly how such a small accomplishment makes me so very happy!

Back to my crafting with a hammer...;-)

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy this beautiful day!

Penny

Back to the Garden

 Just a walk around the garden as the day began to cool.  We were at 93 degrees at just after 6 pm.   Still waiting for some rain, seems everyone around us has had some.

 The flower of the Rose Mallow...cousin of the Hollyhock.

 Milkweed.  I check frequently for signs of caterpillars.  I saw one Monarch butterfly last year, that's all.

 Not the year for roses.  My climber died back to the ground.  My pink climber out front, not a rose.

 Sweet buds on a volunteer out back.

 Lavender, hardy on the south facing side of the house.

 One of my favorite wreaths, refurbished last year.

 Hundreds of Annabelle hydrangeas ready to pop.

The hosta loved the winter, need to thin them in the fall.

The last few pansies, I hate to give up on them.

Working on getting things set right again on the deck and in the yard.  Gazing at the roof is my latest pass time.  Makes my sweetheart laugh.  Maybe I'm just doing it to hear that laugh...

Take care my friends, thanks for stopping by and enjoy this beautiful day.

Penny