Summer windchime!

A few posts ago, I indicated that I would be making a wind chime from pot lids and silverware. I finally got down to business and here it is. I opted not to use the large spoon, but will save it for another project. When the breezes blow, the silver pieces make a delicate little chime. Hanging outside my kitchen, it reflects my love for old things and I have re-purposed something!!! Thank you to my friend who brought hers to me to use as a model. With the dog days of summer upon us, we are taking every opportunity to work out of doors in the yard. A split-rail fence is now being constructed in the back yard and a small section, purely decorative, will find residence in the front of the house. We have planted numerous bushes and trees, mostly of the small, cheap, beg, borrow and steal type. (that's me--cheap, cheap or as I prefer, thrifty!) Usually with a lot of luck, we have success! We are looking forward to visits this summer from friends and family and perhaps a few day trips with the furkids and a picnic lunch or two. The weather has been wonderful and my flowers are in full bloom. I will be posting pics, but it is always difficult for me to get to the computer when mother nature is so kind!!!

The Amen! of nature is always a flower. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Summer

Feed me! Feed me! Look at those little babies waiting for more lunch. Mom and Dad are very diligent and when our weather was so wet, Mom kept the babies warm. There are 3 little hatchlings in the nest and the way they are starting to flap their wings, I hope they don't fall out.

The Mr. and I have been very busy, finishing the den flooring, planting...we put in a silver poplar, two barberries, two yucca, a Russian sage and a sand cherry.

These are the cakes I made and we delivered to Rawlins last week in the rain. The celebration was to be held out of doors in a beautiful yard, but alas, people crowded in doors. In spite of the weather, there were so many people who came to share in the celebration of 50 years of wedded bliss by one of my BFF and her wonderful husband. It was so good to see so many of our old friends and there were about twice as many as first estimated. Nearly 150 people came.
So with summer officially arriving in a few hours, and Father's day also on the horizon, it is finally beginning to seem that winter has given up.

Mom nature

Good ol' mother nature never ceases to amaze me. We have had such a long winter...and snow up until 3 weeks ago. Suddenly everything is blooming as if to catch up. We literally went from freezing to 80 degrees. The rhubarb above is from my mother's plants. I have carefully moved it to a new home whenever we moved for the last 30 years. I have shared it with others and left it in gardens to be nurtured by new occupants and always kept a piece for me. It is the best deep red rhubarb!! Like all gardeners, I watch for buds and cut them off so that the energy needed to produce is not wasted on flowers which go to seed. For some reason this plant has done nothing but try to bloom despite my efforts to encourage it to do otherwise. I discovered this pretty little flower hiding deep within the center of the plant. Since my lilacs for the most part froze...I was delighted to see how pretty this flower was. (I did however pluck it from it's mother plant shortly after I took the picture.) Below, is another of mother natures wonders. I found the plans for this robin box which we mounted on a dead aspen just outside our window last spring, but alas, it was too late for nesting I guess. I dutifully watched every day this spring for signs of a robin and when I was not looking, the Mr. informed me we had a nest. She has been sitting on eggs for a couple of weeks now and the male robin has begun to take his post on a branch above the nest when she leaves to feed or take a bath in the birdbath I provided for her.
We don't want to disturb her too much, so this picture was taken through our window and screen. But you can see what a wonderful view we will have of the babies when they hatch.

"Look deep, deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." ~ Albert Einstein