Burning questions...

I can honestly say that this hasn't been the best day I've ever had.  I don't think that I've done much, or anything, to embrace my spirit or passion.  I must rectify this as soon as possible, for too many days without passion are just too many days spent alone. 

How about you?

Simplicity again...

 "to find the air

and the water exhilarating;

to be refreshed by a morning walk,

 to be thrilled by the stars at night...

 to be elated by a bird's song

 or a wildflower in spring...

these are the rewards 

of a simple life"

Burroughs

Simplicity is...

...a blue ball jar and some fresh weeds flowers from the yard...

Monday's **snap**...

...got drool?!

June gloom...

...well, it's official.  June has been dubbed 'June doom Gloom,' even the weather man says so.  I've also heard 'the spring that wasn't,' 'spring where are you,' hey it's summer somewhere.'  Yeah, there is plenty to go around.  Now we are moving on to the official start of summer, which is July 4th here.  If you have any outdoor events do not plan them in June...period.

My garden is sorely lacking.  Several weeks ago I planted many, many flower seeds in my cutting garden.  As I have stated before, I have never tried growing flowers from seed except Nasturtiums.  So I planted, and planted, and hoped and wished and waited and waited some more.  Want to take a peek?

here's my only peony and it is far from opening...

and here...here is my most expensive wonderful 'Knock-out' rose that got a good beating yesterday when storm after storm blew through here.  Poor thing needs medical attention.  We won't even look out at the veggie patch, and blueberries...gone baby gone.

~

As you can see there is some sunshine here and there today.  I'm hoping to convince it to hang around for awhile...then I'll have something new to complain about!  How does your garden grow?

We all want to change the world...

...manners.  When I was growing up, way back when, manners were a very important part of our upbringing.  It was taught in school, there were books about it, articles in magazines and even a Miss Manners column in the newspaper.  A "Dear Abby" of the manners world where people would write in and ask questions about how to handle those rowdy relatives or what fork to use for each course.

In our home manners were as important, if not more than, as our religious beliefs.  Bad manners simply would not be tolerated...what would the neighbors think after all?  Besides the don't talk with your mouth full, and take your hat off in the house, and of course our p's  and q's I distinctly remember;  "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all."  In our home this seemed to be more of a do as I say not as I do exercise in futility.  My mother not being one to censor herself.

The last few days, indeed weeks, have been difficult ones over here.  I have been having problems with ongoing health issues and new health issues and to top it off, people in my life who would do well to learn some manners.  So, in my effort to not put any more ugliness into the world I am going to shuuush myself and try to remember/focus on these wise words.

On this day...

...I had a completely different post in mind for today but then realized that it's Fathers Day.  I can't just let that pass by.

For all of you who are Blessed enough to still have your Father in your life, on this earth.  Call him,  tell him you love him and if you have the chance give him a hug and a kiss.  Let him know how special he is, how much he means to you, what a great dad he is/was.  If mine were here I would take every opportunity, every single day, to tell him just how much he means to me, to my siblings, my husband, our children...we all miss you 'dad,' 'daddy,' 'pop.'

To my husband; thank you for being just the best.  Our children are so Blessed to have you as their father but more importantly they have you as a dad, in every way you are the light of their lives.  They know they can count on you any time, that you will always listen and make their days special.  I pretty much hit the jackpot with you!

To my brother,  I know that there is so much going on in your life right now and it doesn't seem that it will ever be better but you are a great dad.  You have a beautiful girl whom we adore.  I know your time with each other is very special and I know you often think of our dad and pass those wonderful memories and qualities along to your girl.  That one has yours and dads sense of humour!

To my son, on your first father's day...I get tears and my heart swells with pride when I see you with your daughter.  When you told me she was here there was a joy in your heart that I have never seen before.  You are gentle, and kind, and loving and that sweet punkin' has you wrapped around her little finger already!  You make us so proud.

To all of you Fathers out there...happy day.  Now go hug your kids!

Fragility...

...as I was putting this post together in my mind I couldn't decide if I wanted to use the title of 'fragility,' or 'frailty.'  After a quick look at the online dictionary I decided  on Fragility.  This is, after all, a post about life, love and loss.   

Fragility: easily broken or destroyed., delicacy of construction. frail.

How easily those definitions apply to our lives.

The day after Easter my hubs found a perfect, blue, robin's egg on top of a fence-post in our backyard.  I thought he was joking and assumed it was a Cadbury while expecting that he would pop it in his mouth and eat it.  As it turned out he hadn't touched it at all...just saw it on the fence-post and left it there.  How could it have possibly fallen from a nest, that we couldn't find, and land on the fence-post with such utter grace and precision to have not broken.

Several days later, after a windy rainy night, I noticed something laying on the driveway.  I was hesitant to go out and see what it was as it looked, to me, like a dead animal...perhaps a small possum.  After my horror with the possum a few years ago I decided to leave it there for the hubs...again.  When he came home he informed me that there was a bird's nest on the driveway and that it looked as if it had been dragged out of the tree.  There was no sign of the birds or the babies/eggs.

All of this was happening as the rest of the country and the world were dealing with tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunami, wildfires, and on and on.  I just couldn't help thinking of the fragility of life.  One moment we are living out lives and the next there is a swath of death and destruction.  Overwhelming on all accounts.

I brought the nest into the house, after spraying it with a sealer, and put the little egg in the nest as a reunion of sorts.  Every time I look at it I am reminded of the fragility of each and every moment...
stop for just a second today and remember how incredibly blessed we are in this time, this moment, this place.

Happy Monday friends..;j

Again with the yellow tags...

...if you read yesterdays post then you will not be surprised to know that immediately after purchasing the plant stand I ran right back into the store and spent the next 30minutes looking for yellow tags!

And my timing could not have been better:

 this rusty crusty planter looks much better after a quick coat of white spray paint, then I lined it with moss and planted a few fuchsias.  I've not had luck with fuchsias in the past but I'm hoping they like their new home right outside the back door.

 And here we have another rusty-crusty-metal-thingy that looks much better after a quick spray and a little bird house on top.  This is out in my new 'cutting' garden.  (those are not weeds by the way!)

 A cute little wooden wheelbarrow (upside down for some reason)  I'm not going to paint this one since I like it's worn look.  Not sure what I will put in it or if I will just leave it.  Ideas?

And finally, this little garden faerie.  I'm not sure what she really is but she seems quite content to sit in the potted pansies that happen to be sitting on the infamous orange chair...the $3. chair.

All of these items were originally priced from $3.99 ~ $5.99 and I got them all for $.99 each.  I will be looking out for yellow tag Sundays next time we go out of town. 

This concludes our yellow-tag foray

finally.

Follow the yellow tag...

***before I get started I want to say that I have been having major issues with posting and commenting lately.  I'm losing posts before I can save them, I'm having posts show up when they are not scheduled to and I can't sign in most days.  I spent 45 minutes trying to leave a Happy Birthday comment last night and ended up turning the computer off and going to sleep.  So please just know that I am here and I'm trying to get around and visit all of you and I'm hoping this will be corrected soon.***I also have no control over the spacing, the font and the font size...so sorry~***



...a few weeks ago, after a post Mother's Day get together at the in-laws, we were driving home when I noticed a 'new' thrift store.  I don't usually peruse the shoppes out of town but I was still in the "searching for backyard/garden kitsch" mode and so we stopped in for a look-see.

I wandered around a bit and came upon this little nugget: 



 It looked to be in pretty good shape but it was hard to really tell as it was being used as a repository for artificial flowers and greenery.  It was also hanging up on the wall barely out of reach, so, in order to check it out and find the price I had to yank gently remove it from it's hook, and discreetly remove all the floral pieces.  Eventually, I found the price tag...a small yellow sticker...$4.99.  Well, hmmmm, o.k.

When I got to the counter, much to my surprise, I was informed that all yellow tags were .99 cents today.  Yay, for me.   I brought that baby home, gave her a coat of white spray paint using my new and wonderful sprayer handle gadget, and when it was all nice and dry moved it over to the patio and plopped my Knockout rose in it.

I also went back into the store and did a little more shopping...yellow tags, Oh yeah! I'm getting over my aversion to yellow.

My obsession...