Gardening

What was last year a thistle patch among some overgrown junipers is finally starting to shape up as a flower garden thanks to mother nature's grace and some dear friends. My neighbor was kind enough to give me starts of several perennials and a couple of friends shared some of their bounty and I am totally pleased with the first year's accomplishments. I have also begun to terrace part of a very steep hillside and have planted some snow on the mountain which will, I hope, spread like wildfire to help hold the soil in place. After digging out around the pine trees, the scalloped stones were put to use in this effort.


The retaining wall is quite tall and behind it I have planted Virginia creeper, hoping that it will climb up over and cover it.

I spent part of this weekend helping my friend Sal re-do a black modern TV stand which was a yard sale purchase. She has such a cute little cottage and we applied crackle medium last evening and today sponged a beautiful light chocolate over it. I should have taken pictures as it appears that our efforts to convert it are going to be a success. We hope to finish tomorrow and I will post a picture.

One of my furkids gave me a few hours of worry this weekend. Hojo, the cat who has become a house kitty, much to his chagrin, escaped on Friday evening and the Mr. chased after him, but he was way too fast and it was dark. He didn't come for breakfast yesterday morn and I called all day long for him. My imagination just ran wild with the possible fate that he may have encountered. This neighborhood is entirely different from any he has know in his 12 years with us. I woke up today and he leisurely strolled up the stairs to greet me. The Mr. said he came in with the dogs after they went out at about 11 pm last night. (He was mighty hungry too I guess!).


This is a birdhouse I am putting a mosaic finish on. I now have it finished, except for grout and will post it then, and I hope to put it in my garden next spring. I am an embellisher. I love to embellish stuff which is evident in some of my needlework. It is difficult to know when to stop, but most of my birdhouses are adorned with cast off hinges, door knobs etc and each is completed with a key to the front door so I am anxious to get to that point on this abode.



















"Teach us delight in simple things." ~ Rudyard Kipling

Quilting madness

For over a year now, I have had in mind to start this red and white quilt. The block is "glorious nine patch" from a Fons & Porter pattern and as you can see, it stars out as a simple 9 patch, but after it is trimmed to the template, becomes much more complex. Between the blocks will be sewn an oval of small red print on a white background. Yes, yes, yes, I do have others in progress, but my mind works much faster than my hands (and my mouth). I had an employer tell me that one time. She said "Pat, your mind works too fast for your mouth...you cannot catch up." I always thought my mouth worked pretty fast, but evidently not. The other quilt that I am working on is in the process of hand applique, which I can take with me, in the car when I am traveling, at home when the squawk box is on or when I am camping. It is below and it will take me eons to get it ready for assembly. Soooo...while my mouth and hands are trying to catch up with my brain, I can keep my hands busy with the red and white quilt and my mouth needs no help staying busy. (The Mr. may testify to that.) My furkids keep me company while I am creating and are always in the way as is evident in the photo.














I posted this quilt ages ago when I started it, and slowly, I am getting the fused pattern pieces appliqued with a buttonhole stitch. Depending on the winter we have, I may get them done by spring.














Today, the Mr. got our first new window installed in the kitchen. All of our windows need to be replaced and we decided to save money and do them ourselves!! Ha, Ha! Just one of the many do-it-yourself projects we have embarked upon and except for trimming it up, it is beautiful. I can actually see out of the window!! (of course, we picked the easiest one to do first). This evening we had a beautiful rain and yesterday I spent the day with two of my good friends, Bonnie and Sal and we toured the Parade of Homes, had lunch and hit a couple of flea markets! What a great day! Also blessed with good neighbors, this evening I scored a couple of zucchini and planted some starts of Virginia Creeper, a gift from my dear neighbor next door. Thanks neighbor!

"The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The meaning of life is to give it away." ~ David Viscott

More summer fun!

As you can see, I am posting birdhouses and the lighthouse for Christmas. If everyone agrees in our little "chic"retreat group, we will be embarking on these rock covered birdhouses next summer. I do think that these were posted a couple of years ago, but cannot remember. These are really decorative, but I am sure that if they were made from shorter plastic pipe, that they might entice fowl of some sort. And if not, they do make wonderful gifts for the birdhouse collector or garden decorator. The only problem is that they are a little messy and the adhesive is a little "smelly" so they should be done in a well ventilated area such as a mountain retreat in the summer, with plenty of iced tea and good company. We will need to collect rocks, funnels, copper wire, heavy duty wire and some steel wool. (oops!, that is just for Barb) She is not a "birder" and doesn't want the messy fowl in her birdhouses so she puts steel wool in the holes.














This is not the best picture of the lighthouse, but I did want to post the finished project. Hopefully there will be enough sunlight on my porch this winter to keep the little solar light aglow during the holidays.


















The Mr. and I have been working on the front yard. We planted a purple plum and he has 3 of 4 rug junipers on our slope out front. There is such a hill on our front yard that we are struggling to determine how to plant. I terraced a small area this week and thanks to a good friend, was able to get some "snow on the mountain" to put in as ground cover. I also got 8 jars of jelly from her chokecherries. Yeah!!!

"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light." ~ Theodore Roethke

Summer fun!

The lovely little lighthouses with Christmas scenes are flower pots. Three of my friends and I were graciously invited to the cabins of a wonderful couple whom I have had the pleasure to know since they were married. This is a little piece of heaven and the smaller cabin in the foreground is where we made our "studio" while we were working on the project. I will post a closer picture of the pots later. The larger cabin, an A-frame, is 3 stories and can hardly be called a cabin. In it's semi-rustic setting among the aspen, and resting be a stream, we were wined and dined. Our hostess is a marvelous cook and although we had intended to provide our own meals, she insisted on cooking for us. What a delight!!! Our accommodations were most comfortable and we had all the modern conveniences of home. The Elk Mountain Hotel (I did not post a link here, but you can google it) which is famous for it's food and historic dance hall on springs during the first part of the century, is not far from the cabin. We were allowed to take our hostess to dinner there last evening and had a wonderful meal.














Hummingbirds greeted us every morning and 67 pounds of sugar were consumed last year by the little buggers. I have pictures and will post later. We went for morning walks, laughed until we could laugh no more, painted, and inhaled the wonderful fresh air and fragrances of the great outdoors. It truly was a relaxing few days. Our hostess is the daughter-in-law of one of my best friends. Suzie....thank you so very much !! (We hope you will invite us back!)

~"My friends have made the story of my life."~~Helen Keller

Off again!

Remains of an old cabin near North Spring Creek Lake, which we always trek into on our adventures while camping.

We had dear friends from Arizona visit us this week. They were here for a few days and we bid them goodbye this morning. On Friday, nearly 40 ex-employees of my old school district met at Snowy Mountain Lodge in the "Snowy Mountain Range" between Centennial and Saratoga for lunch. I do know that some of those there are still employed, but most are retired. What a wonderful afternoon and the Lodge staff members were most accommodating. In addition, the gals responsible for the gathering of people from around the state and outside the state need a big hand also. It was quite an undertaking!!

Tomorrow I am off for another "marvelous adventure", as the Mr. calls our trips. My friend, Pat from Colorado and my other two friends from Rawlins will meet at Elk Mountain and trek to a cabin, (house), (I haven't yet been there) near there to spend until Wed painting...not house painting. We are painting a scene on graduated flower pots which will be miniature lighthouses with solar lights on top. We have done this before, but these will be a little different. The countryside there is in the mountains and we are all looking forward to this get-away. The Elk Mt. Hotel also has a wonderful restaurant and that will be a treat indeed! Just a chic weekend and I will blog about it when I get back!!

"Happiness isn't getting what you want, it's wanting what you got." Garth Brooks

Summer?

Where is it going? Summer!!! Where was I when it happened? We went camping this past week for 4 nights and three glorious days in our ol' favorite camping spot with our ol' favorite friends. I do have pictures, but haven't had time to download and sort out. One of the things we did was hide a new geocache. We haven't had time to do many of those of late. Weather cooperated and the mosquitoes weren't bad, but the flies..I must be bait for them as I got so many bites and the little suckers didn't bother anyone else. S'mores by the fire...actually Girl Scout cookies and marshmallows, a little wine at night, a little cold beer in the shade, lots of good food and fresh fruit. Mike brought us grapes from his vines and we finally were able to finish them as snacks...yummy!! We watched the hummingbirds and their antics at the two feeders I filled. They are ornery little birds and selfish at the feeders. They are so funny to watch and so noisy when they dive bomb. All three days were pretty and we were able to take several nature walks. The Mr. didn't do any gold panning, and although we are in an area a few miles from the main road, it was a fairly busy spot so we may be scouting for another place to camp. The dogs got lots of exercise and loved snooping and romping. Spencer was a great little camper. We are expecting friends from Arizona tomorrow through Sunday, the fair is going on here and on Friday, I plan to meet with old school district co-workers for lunch in Centennial, and I think there is a quilt show on Saturday. On Monday, my buddy from Co and I will travel to Elk Mt. and be guests of my friend, Barb for a chic break for 3 days where we plan to paint and relax and eat of course. Where has my summer gone? I don't know but it has been a great one!! One of the best ever.

"Give a man a fish ad he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and you get rid of him for the whole weekend." ~ Zenna Schaffer