Spencer Blue

The little bundle of gray fluff is Spencer Blue. He is a rescue dog from the many that have been given new leases on life. Thanks to the kind souls like his "Mom" who has introduced us, these throw-away dogs are still with us. After we lost Murphy, the beagle, we all had an empty place in our hearts and home, even the cat I think. I won't go into the details now of his rescue home, but will at a later date. Our adoption is not yet final, but he has become attached to "Hildy" and is her shadow, a role which she has come to accept. He is a young dog, a "so called designer dog", Mini Assie/ Shih-Tzu mix I have been told. He was to be euthanized before being rescued. He is absolutely the sweetest dog, but spent the first year or so in a crate so never had a puppy life and he has not been socialized. We will work on that as well as teaching him to have a lot more fun. He seems to be very calm and slept with me last night. We took him for a ride today, which he loved! When he wasn't looking out the window, he was sleeping. I will continue to update as we have had him in our home only 24 hours.

The lamp is finished and hung. It was not as simple to hang and wire as we thought! IT NEVER IS! But it is really pretty and I am happy with it. I will post more pictures as I took a ton, trying to get it in it's best light.

Memorial Day

My son served his country when he joined the US Navy. The Mr. served his country when he served on an aircraft carrier in the US Navy during the Vietnam War. Three of his brothers also served at the same time. His father served during WWII and spent several hours in the water after his ship was hit. My father was not in the Military, but served as well as he worked in an aircraft plant and his brother served in the Army. My mother also worked in an aircraft plant. I was raised in an era where we all were taught that our country was in great danger of being part of that horrible war here as those in France, Germany and other countries were experiencing. It was a duty to serve and protect and all who served were honored in life and death on Memorial Day. One thing we always did was put flowers on the graves of those loved ones who had perished in war as well as those who died in peace. Children today don't necessarily live with that fear and don't have the respect for the great sacrifices made, to allow them the carefree lives they do live. Too much time has passed. I grew up with that fear and constant reminders of how precious my freedom was. My neighbor, a German immigrant, is a testimony of that fear as a child. I wish everyone could hear her story. My lovely hedge of lilacs above remind me that we picked these and carried them to the cemetery to put on the graves of those loved ones to be remembered. My mother always had lilacs and I have 4 different shades. Their sweet fragrance fills the spring air.

On another note....we finished the second teacup chandelier. It went significantly faster although not totally without problems. Failure was not an option and with the help of the Mr., we persevered. There is a third chandelier, just waiting for an incarnation and it will be just as beautiful!! We have had several days of drizzling rain and it has done wonders for our dry grasslands. The wheat farmers must be jumping for joy! I have a few veggies beginning to pop up through the soil and the weeds have flourished much to the Mr.'s dismay. He is a soldier with one goal in mind when he carries his weapon of destruction in the form of a sprayer and toxic concoction. Although the thistles which totally occupied our acreage last year flourished, they are beginning to cringe when they see him all geared up for war.

Happy Birthday!!!

Birthdays are a reminder of the fact that we are aging! Today is mine. But for me, it is always cause for celebration. I expect to age, but it isn't anything I worry about. Each wrinkle in this face is just another notch on life's journey. I don't ever remember telling my parents "Thank You" for bringing me into this world, however, I truly am thankful for all of the hardships and sacrifices they made and for the miracle of life I have been given. It has been a good one. The Mr. made the icing for the store bought angel food cake and I blew out the candles. (it took 3 tries) My celebration began on Sat when my friend Sal and I started out with coffee and then proceeded to purchase spring plants downtown at the Historic Cheyenne Depot. The master gardeners had a plant sale and it should have been a great experience, but we froze our butts off! After buying bedding plants, we decided to switch our shopping to indoors. We lunched at the Reata in the historic Plains Hotel...again her treat! It was a wonderful day as we spent it all doing chic stuff!! Today, the Mr.and I drove over to Laramie to meet friends from Saratoga for lunch and to celebrate Ginger's BD (15th) and mine again. The staff sang to us and treated us to birthday dessert! Weather today was spectacular and we drove back on a scenic route which was enjoyable to say the least! Everything is so green. Picking up the mail I had BD cards from my brother, both sisters, my son, my daughter, my granddaughter, another close friend and our financial investment agent. I got 4 calls today and one last night. Tomorrow, my other 3 close friends, 2 from Rawlins and one from Brighton will come here and we will go to lunch and do more chick stuff!!! Yeah!! I share birthdays this week with 7 people who have been important in my life's journey and I have a new sister-in-law who joins this group whom I have yet to meet. But I know that as a Taurus, she must be someone who will be an important addition to that continuing journey. My bedding plants are in and I planted some root veggies as well as tomatoes and squash. The chokecherry trees we planted are leafing out and life is good! Celebrate with me as another year has come and gone and I plan to have many more Birthdays!!

~~"Joy is your birthright.".....Leslie Santos

Glass and gardening

As promised the lamp shade...still a work in progress! If you look closely, you will see the two cross bars which will accommodate both the wiring and the hanger. There is still yet another brown border and a green border which will be on the top. I am still trying to locate the brass trim for the bottom perimeter, so it will be taking a little longer than I expected. Now the other exciting item is that the shredder/chipper arrived! All of the branches and juniper bushes and leaves and other debris which is piled in the back yard is now destined for a trip through this machine. The Mr. spent most of today with some of the larger stuff and it is evident that it will take some time to get the mulching done. However, after today, I am loving the results and cannot wait to start spreading it on the gardens. I did get a few veggies planted and a few flower seeds in and my buddy and I plan to spend tomorrow getting more plants. We have two really big plant sales...the local garden club has a sale at the Botanical Gardens and the Master Gardeners has one at the Historic Depot. In addition, there are several other plant sales happening. My birthday is this coming week and the Mr. is celebrating by letting me buy my plants. Easy for him and I get what I want. (Plus he promised to frost a cake for me.) We got our health fair results back and I had the best results ever!!! Good thing too as I have a lot of livin' to do!!

Gardening

Happy Mother's Day!! These lovely tulips pushed themselves through the earth and lay flattened by two severe snowstorms, all in a shaded area of my yard and bloomed for me in spite of their many obstacles. They will be rewarded by getting moved to a more appropriate spot in my garden. Who knows how long they have been there. And speaking of pushing; as mothers who have struggled to push through our pelvic bones those enormous heads of wiggling, crying, flesh and bone creatures we call children...I hope all mothers had a great day. But one need not give birth to be a mother and giving birth does not necessarily make one a mother. I am fortunate to have been blessed with two wonderful children and honestly, if I could have chosen two, I would have picked just them. In my immediate family we have women who are stepmothers, birth mothers and mothers who have adopted children....all Mothers!!. As mothers, we struggle to do the best with what skills we have been given and in retrospect, perhaps we have not always made the right decisions in mothering. But it was always our best at the time. I wonder if I was too strict, if I gave enough of my time to my children. As a working mothers, we get stretched pretty thin trying to juggle our time and obligations. I have small regrets, but all in all I must have done and "OK" job as I have two really great adult children of whom I am extremely proud!!

We spent the better part of the week working on the yard, getting blood work done at the health fair, working on the basement bath project and it is amazing that an entire week has passed since I sat down to do this. I got my birdbath out and the Mr. helped me get this robin box built so that we could attached it to this aspen "snag" in our yard. We have always had robins nesting in our yard and we have so many here in our pine trees and pulling worms from our newly tilled soil, that I am certain that a Mother robin will find this new abode to her liking. This is a view from our front porch and the aspen is at least 8 feet tall, so it is a pretty secluded area of our yard. The tulips are growing on the lower left against the retaining wall and totally shaded all day long. I am in the process of cleaning up this area and hope to put coral bells and hostas and bleeding hearts, maybe lily of the valley and a couple of Adirondack chairs eventually. It will be a great spot for tea and a book in the summer afternoons.














"Being a Mother means that your heart is no longer yours; it wanders wherever your children do."~~unknown

crafting/hobbies

As promised, lamp in progress! I have always been fascinated with designs by Frank Lloyd Wright. The arts & crafts movement came along when people were seeking a more natural, simple quest for furniture, architecture and design, and less of the ornateness and frills of the previous design era. Tiffany designs are much more floral and less geometric and of the lamps I have completed in the past, most have been influenced by the Tiffany style. The "prairie lamp" style was my inspiration for this design and by fashioning this myself, I was able to get the exact colors I wanted. The first picture shows the process of fitting the pieces which have been cut and ground to fit inside the design exactly so that both long sides are the same size. The second picture shows the pieces foiled and soldered. After all four sides are completed, they will be soldered together and reinforced with wire. The brown glass was the most difficult piece of glass to cut. It was horrible and thank goodness the pieces are small. It was a piece from my "stash", which I had not previously cut and it shattered, wouldn't break on the scored lines and was just plain ugly to work with. More to follow.