My youngest grandbaby just turned eight months old. From the beginning, she has reminded me of her Dad – my baby. She has so many of his expressions as well as the strawberry blonde hair. She is so happy and smiles most of the time. I wish I lived closer so that I could see all these changes that are happening almost daily. Apparently, she is doing everything about a month early!
When I saw the picture below, all I could think was…be still, my heart!
And her Dad thirty-one years before…
Congratulations to my sweet friend Karen Leslie, the winner of my *Five Hundred & Fifty-Five Giveaway* whose number was chosen using Random.org – a random number generator (and skipping my comments of course).
Karen, please let me know which of the two terrific gardening/farming books you’d like to have and email me your home address. I will order it for you from Amazon and have it shipped directly to you!
Congratulations again and thanks for entering!
As published this morning in my Campbell Kids Farm blog…
I’d like to think that Spring is here. There is no rain in the forecast and the sun is shining. It is sixty-five degrees today and beautiful. The herb garden loves the sunshine. I must harvest the chives and oregano soon. The rosemary, thyme, savory, sage, marjoram and sweet basil are waiting patiently for more sunshine and higher temperatures. They’re thriving though and look delicious.
Click to enlarge photos…
- Flowers in the garden area…
- Sage in the herb garden…
- Oregano…just think of all those Italian dishes!
- One of the raised beds – all planted. Another bed is full of strawberries and another full of herbs.
There are lemons on the lemon tree actually turning yellow, but we were informed by a grower at the farmers market on Saturday to wait until the lemons are large – actually three times the size they are now! That will take patience. The macho logger tree farmer is busy at work adding an addition on to the greenhouse – a storage building. It will adjoin the wall on the rear of the greenhouse – 10′ x 10′ – and will not affect the sun coming into the greenhouse on the other 3 sides. He loves “building something” and this will definitely give us more storage. It will be vented appropriately.
- Lemons on the Meyer lemon tree…
The goats are in need of care: brushing, worming, hooves trimmed – and a good bath when the weather is warm but that will be a major challenge. For now, they are healthy and growing. Sharon has learned to use her horns to her advantage, although I still think Cindy is the “ring leader” who decides where and when they all move to a different place in the pasture. They all stay together regardless…
The chickens are in their peak production – giving us large, brown eggs by the basketfull! There are only so many dishes that I can prepare that call for eggs, and so we give away a lot! Last week, we accidentally opened a piece of mail belonging to our neighbor that had been inadvertently placed in our rural mailbox. We returned the opened bill with two cartons of 18 eggs. She thanked us, then quipped that we could have just paid the bill! 
We haven’t walked down to the canyon recently but I think it is time. I want to see if the wild irises are blooming yet. They are blooming on the farms further down in the valley below. Wild purple irises are such a sight to behold in full bloom and last such a short time. Not a blessing to be missed!
The beautiful wild irises from last year…
Hachiko…
If you’ve been reading my blog for any time at all, then you know I love puppies. I love dogs, period. When I married my husband three years ago, I started out negotiating for two yellow labs - Emma and Darby. My husband (AKA – the macho logger tree farmer) has his arguments for why we don’t have a dog: we travel, they shed, they’re too big, they chew, they whack you with their tails, they’d get ticks and fleas. Well, you get the picture. It’s bad enough I’m so far away from all my grandchildren, but to not have a dog is just insult to injury. *sniff*
Last night, I rented the movie Hachiko: A Dog’s Story, starring Richard Gere, Joan Allen and this amazing Akita dog, Haichi.
After supper, we’re in our chairs in front of the fireplace watching this wonderful movie, when I hear a little *sniff* from the other chair. The macho logger reaches for a tissue.
“You rented this on purpose,” he accuses.
“Well, no. I didn’t really. But is it working?” I hopefully ask.
“Yessss,” is the one word, drawn-out answer.
“Good”.
Since the movie is still playing, I make a quick run into the other room to find my superb pictorial puppy book, Legacy of the Puppy. I want to learn more about this Akita puppy.
“Where’d you get that book?” he asks.
“Oh, I’ve had it a while. Since I don’t have a puppy, I have to look at pictures”. (Insert grin and *sniff* here.)
He takes it from me and finds the Akita in the book. ”That’s a great dog,” he comments.
Next, he thumbs through the book, finds the Border Collie puppies, points to them and nods largely. Border Collies are the #1 most intelligent dog in the world. They’re also dogs who absolutely must have work to be happy.
I smile. I could definitely live with a Border Collie I say. I’ll teach her to fold clothes for me.
It’s 2010. I hope it isn’t three more years before I get one…
Hachi…I loved this dog!
I’m hoping that the excitement of having company this Summer will inspire, motivate and propel me to accomplish a task I’ve put off much too long now – about two years to be exact – the bedroom draperies! I have plenty of beautiful fabric in the perfect shade of blue to match the bedding that I love and we’ve had for two years. We’ve slowly put all the finishing touches on the bedroom – including an antique chair that we found at a garage sale this morning! I just happen to have two needlework “pictures” that I purchased at an antique store in Indiana two years ago that will be perfect – one for a new chair seat and one for a new pillow for the bed. We found three paintings for the bedroom at a local store that we love. The finials, wood knobs and long wooden rods were purchased long ago and are ready to hang the draperies – well, as soon as they’re installed. And, of course, as soon as I get busy and finish the drapes!
Hopefully, within the next few weeks, I can post some pictures of completely finished draperies! Unless one of you wants the job?!
(click to enlarge any photos)
The 22 yards of drapery fabric waiting not so patiently for me...
I love the wooden rods, balls and finials for the drapes.
New chair needlework...
Needlework for new pillow...
Close-up of seat back...
Accents in shades of blue...
It’s still cool and raining here. For now, a cool rain and dark clouds are okay with me. I know the DRY season will be here soon enough with months on end of NO rain and brown grass! For now, I’ll enjoy Spring and the emerald green grass…green as far as the eye can see.
We’re getting everything ready for company this Summer and we’re excited! In June, Jim’s mom will visit (she’s ninety and he’s flying to Arizona to escort her both here and the return trip). Jim’s older daughter and her family will visit while little Mason‘s great grandma is here. In July, my niece (two & a half years younger than I) and my sister-in-law of almost 40 years will visit. It’s going to be a fun, busy summer! There is so much to see here and we’re looking forward to sharing it.
As soon as it warms up enough (and quits raining) the front porch swing and the four rocking chairs need a fresh coat of paint. So many months of rain will do that. After I check the rocking chair pillows stored away, I may add some new ones. We’ll enjoy sitting on the front porch enjoying our coffee and juice – and the view – to go along with our conversation. I can’t wait!
The backyard stone patio was completed a couple of years ago and has had much too little use since then. I have pictured some Orvis Adirondack chairs (the white ones below) surrounding the firepit there, but at $298/chair +35 shipping + 5 months of mold causing rain…I just don’t see it. Especially since they’re heavy and there is no where to store them during the rainy season.
We drove into town this afternoon and checked out the Adirondack chairs at Home Depot (pic below). My son and his wife had them on the front porch and backyard stone patio in lovely, bright colors at their vintage home in Dallas. I liked them. They’re reasonably priced (cheap), come in assorted colors and they’re actually comfortable. They looked very nice with pillows in them. They are also light and stack easily for storage. I’d like to place 4 of these chairs around the firepit on the patio in the backyard. I’ll choose pillows that compliment the colors of the stonework.
The perfect place to sit around the firepit and roast marshmallows for Smores. I’ll look forward to that…
The stone patio below with the covered firepit and the fountain. You can also see that we had to resort to electric fencing to keep the deer out of the expensive photinia plants above the stone ledge! We kept replacing the plants and they kept saying thank you!
P.S. Don’t forget to scroll down a bit and enter the *555* giveaway! It ends on May 8th!
Yesterday, I posted my 555th post on this blog! It didn’t happen overnight, that’s for sure. Recently, I tried having it published for my family and it was actually “too many pages” for the publisher – 750 to be exact! I began this blog almost 4 years ago – on May 23, 2008. My reflections after having published 500 posts and links to some of my favorite posts are here.
Today, I’d like to celebrate almost 4 years and 555 posts with a GIVEAWAY of ONE of my favorite books – your choice of either of the two books below! Since I live on a tree farm complete with chickens, goats, a greenhouse and raised bed gardens, these books are helpful and great reads. I think you will enjoy them even you are only thinking about having a hobby farm or a backyard homestead!
To ENTER: simply leave a comment below and I will randomly choose a winner one week from today on May 8th and announce the winner then. At that time, you may choose your favorite of the two books below and I will order it for you and have it shipped directly to you. Thanks for sharing in this blogging journey with me! By the way, this giveaway is open to everyone – friends and family – readers near and far!
by Carol Eckarius 
OR
by Carleen Madigan
Such a dark haired, dark eyed beauty…my little Peruvian princess. I had given her a couple of her birthday presents early when I was in Kentucky for my visit (I’M not very good at waiting). The rest I left for her Mom and Dad to give her on her birthday yesterday. She called to tell me that she liked them and to say “thanks, Grandmommy”. She is a bundle of energy with a quick and ready smile…and a big heart. I watched her at gymnastics as she completed the perfect cartwheel and roundoff. Gymnastics is a good way to channel just a bit of that energy. She also skates and is very good at it. Thankfully, she wears her helmet!
She has a head full of dark THICK hair that usually stays in her way when she is trying to play…escaping the barette or whatever is holding it back. Ask her if you can “brush her hair” and the answer is usually “no” for she is too busy playing! One afternoon when that gorgeous hair was clearly in the way of her playing, I suggested that we play “beauty shop” and she could make an appointment for me to “fix” her hair. THAT idea she liked and I spent the next hour brushing and creating a hairstyle that would stay out of her beautiful face so she could play. We chatted and pretended she was my hairstyle client…and then we did just a bit of makeup. She thought that was fun! Granted, I’m not gifted at styling hair but I thought her hair looked great. She liked it!
Happy Birthday, sweet girl….
Enjoy a few scenes from our fun in the Dallas sun below…
All these many years later and I still remember climbing trees as a child. I also remember getting so high up in the tree that I wasn’t sure I could get down. On more than one occasion, I remember having to be “talked safely down” but that didn’t keep me from climbing again.
When I was in Kentucky visiting my older son and his family, my ten year old granddaughter (below) could often be found climbing in the one tree large enough to support her in their backyard. She would have loved the climbing tree in the Tietze Park in Dallas which her cousins (and I!) climbed during my visit this past week.
The “climbing tree” in Tietze Park. Dallas, Texas.
I have no idea what kind of tree this is…do you?
- I have to admit that it wasn’t as easy as it used to be and my twelve year old granddaughter had to help me down! It was still fun though…
