cup of tea

It was a beautiful Mother's Day here and basically a beautiful weekend all around.  At sewing circle on Saturday one of the ladies told me about a tea pot that she uses to steep her tea with, so she sent me the link to where she bought hers.  When it came, I just had to brew myself a cup of my favorite loose-leaf tea.  This little tea pot works so nice.

Then on Sunday at church all the moms were given a rose to take home and some potted flowers to plant at home.

I planted the potted annuals in my vintage ice cream maker that I bought at the Amish auction last May.  It was filled with flowers and they were just beautiful.  I need to get a few more flowers to put in the middle of the ice cream maker so it will be much fuller.

We have not had any rain since the rains we had in early spring, but today is cloud covered with some light rain, which really hasn't amounted to a whole lot.

In the meantime, while the rain tries to fall, I think I'll go brew myself another cup of tea :)

storm brewing

A storm was brewing in as I wrote this post early last evening.  The clouds were simply amazing as I looked up to the sky.  We have been having rain and it has really made everything green up around here, so different from last spring around here.

The lilac bush is starting to bloom, we thought we had lost it a couple of years ago and had to cut it all down.

It's so nice to smell the outdoors again with the rains and everything blooming, a few reasons why I love the four seasons.

life and death

We've had a sad week, we have lost 2 friends, one an 85 year old lady who was a person so full of life.  The small church was filled from corner to corner with people who wanted to say their last goodbyes to such a wonderful woman who was loved by all.  We've only known her since moving here but she took us under her wing and added us to her long list of folks who considered her not only a friend but family.

After getting back from the funeral I got a text that a very dear friend lost her oldest sister.  Two blows in one day.  Also gone is a beautiful lady who was taken way too young and whom everyone loved, and she loved them, family was everything to her and we were honored to be included among them.

They both are no longer in pain and have gone on to their heavenly home.

Looking out my window I see new life after death.  The peach, cherry and apple trees are in full bloom and the cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen to be enjoyed soon.

Peach Blossom

Cherry Blossom

Apple Blossom

Cherry Tomato

Most people don't like to talk about death, and I didn't always either, but it is life and I have tried to look for life after death and when I do that my heart heals from the sadness that comes when a dear loved one passes.

checking out the plants

I repotted all the plants I got from the local nursery, and they are looking really good.  I didn't go overboard with plants as I do have quite a few canned tomatoes and peppers from last year.  I wish you could buy plants individually instead of in a 4-cell pack, oh well sometimes one or two will die for whatever reason.  I put the seedlings in a cold frame since I don't have a greenhouse...yet.

When we moved here back in 2010 these rhubarb plants were here but have never been great producers.  I could occasionally make a pie but that would be about it.  Since adding animals to our homestead here we have an abundance of manure to finally put in our gardens. 

These rhubarb plants I started from seed a couple of springs ago and they are finally taking off, but upon inspecting them we noticed something has been eating the leaves.

The garlic is growing wonderfully, and I can't wait to be able to harvest it this summer.  I have soft neck and hard neck garlic and I prefer the hard neck, so I think I'll not plant any soft neck this fall.

My cousin moved to Arizona from Illinois and before she moved, she came out and gave me some plants from her home.  This forsythia bush was one of the many plants she brought out and for the first time in 6 years the forsythia bushes are blooming, a bit sparse but they are blooming.  We put them on the edge of our woods which she thought was a good spot.  My cousin has a green thumb and I mean green.  Our grandmother had one and I believe she got it from her.  I on the other hand have half a green thumb, and that's okay.

It's a bit cooler as I write this post, but we are supposed to be getting temps into the 60° range and I can't wait.

on our walk

I love walking down the lane as we call it, it's been a while since we walked this path, we were very surprised to see a lone round bale still in the field.

Along our walk we spied this berry plant growing, we both don't recall ever seeing this plant growing.  Our neighbor who usually mows the sides of the path hasn't mowed the path in a few years.  It has never been his job to do so, but he grows the hayfield above and has slowed down quite a bit and it was something that he liked to do.  Now I think since he's no longer mowing a lot of plants that would have been mowed down are now free to grow.

August is almost done, that is so hard to believe.  Where did the month, let alone the year go?

wildflowers

My walk the other day was pleasant, the temps were not too high.  On the corner of our property, I had planted some wild coneflowers and wild daylilies, and despite having the lack of rain this summer they grew pretty nice.

wild coneflowers

We took a walk the other day and our neighbor has wild coneflowers growing in her yard, so I just had to stop and take a picture.  I did plant some in our front ditches from a few wild coneflower seeds that I acquired, but I don't have near as many as my neighbor has growing here.

standing alone

In October I looked out across the alfalfa field and noticed this tree really stood out alone.  I grabbed my camera and snapped a shot.

wildflowers

Around here we pretty much find these along the sides of the road in the ditches or growing right along the fence lines.

looking upwards

Another shot of Queen Anne's Lace.

queen annes lace

I love seeing it in the fields and along the fence lines.