A new language

I know that it's said you can't teach an old dog new tricks but I just refuse to believe it! For pete's sake, I learn new stuff every day. For example, I am learning a new language. Actually been learning it for a few years. I call it googlish. Each time I visit someone's blog I must enter a new word. I find it most amusing. That's better than being aggravated. I have even begun to understand some of this new googlish. Take this one:
phently - It could mean many things but looks like faintly to me. How about quatibil -
that one could be trickier. Could it mean gullible or another expletive expression for What? Another bill???

When I was a kid, my folks would speak pig latin at the dinner table. Quite infuriating to nosey 8 year olds. Well sir, we bloggers now have our own form of pig latin and no one will know our secret language but us. How about some whown dical tyang undepre ilicalim to go with your ssesl tohoo cedntes. Reati?

Betcha I could finally win a scrabble game with any given letter in my tray these days! Oh wait a minute! So that's how they come up with these words!

The Humble Arts April Edition is now Available!

Friends we have some talented artists on The Humble Arts. This month we have some crackerjack offerings that we sure would be humbled to have you take a peek at! Head on over to our site and if you don't already receive our monthly newsletter, be sure and sign up. We won't spam you!
Clicking herewill bring you there. Poof! It's magic!
Now here's a sneak peek at some of it:

Something fun

Hi folksies!
Another banner event; a few posts consecutively! Spring must be affecting more than my allergies!
I took a few pics this morning to share with my HARTS sisters of a project that I am working on. It is a scrappy string quilt. I am wanting to use up scraps that I have collected and this works perfectly as a means of getting rid of them. I was inpsired by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville - (the link is on my right panel for anyone interested in this fun and productive way of getting rid of scraps.) While this is not a new way of quilting, it is definintely a marvel for those of us who are scrambled in the brain. I love to see how the colors move together. I generally grab any random scrap from my box and that is what gets sewn next.


On the block above, I appliqued a flower for fun. I like having fun.

Of Tulip Trees, Magnolias and Poplars

I am so very excited. The tulip tree bud(s) are starting to really open. Now mind you, this is a wee bitty tree. It began life as a shoot off of a HUGE tree at my uncle's house in Yonkers, NY three years ago. That I even got it to root, much less LIVE and now grow, is amazing to this gal. Guess it likes the South!
It stands about 5 ft tall right now. This is the second year it has bloomed. I am thrilled.
For those who have asked, it is also known as a Japanese Magnolia.
Other trees, which are also called American Tulip trees are the Poplar. My granny always called them cup and saucers. That is what they look like when they bloom:


American Poplars are fairly common on our property. I love them for their blooms and fragrance. My allergies don't like them, along with all the other fauna I so enjoy. Zyrtec works well for me and hey! as an added bonus this week, the generic of it is on sale at Rite Aid. Yippee.
Poplars are nice trees. Just sort of prone to lightning strikes on my property for some reason.
They grow very fast. Which is why I am hoping that this tulip tree in the back will grow fast! Of course, considering I rooted it three years ago and it is currently 5 ft tall, I would say that it is fast growing.
Thanks for reading, folksies.

Today was a day for being lazy. I have certainly enjoyed the weather today - a wee bit of sun after several days of gloomy rain. I know, I know, April showers bring May flowers. To which I say humbug- I am ready for some sun with an occasional shower to help the flowers.


Calamity Kim is having a great giveaway! I loves this blog and if you haven't visited there, you really need to:

http://calamitykim.typepad.com/calamity_kim/2009/03/calamity-kims-apron-celebration-giveaway.html

Her work is always fun inspired.


Also, wanted to remind everyone that The Humble Arts will be updated on April 1st!

Sneek Peek

Here's a sneak peek at what I will be offering on the Humble Arts next week . . . shhhh!

The Truth about Annie . . .

Well, it's official. All my much heralded anticipation and excitement about Spring arriving - and it's sprung already!
I am the type of person that always walks with my head up with a smile on. I was always told that a smile is the best thing a person could wear. I was also taught to walk with a book on my head for practicing good posture; some things just stick. Of course, in the Spring, I walk around my garden with my head facing the earth and bending/stooping quite often looking for Annie. Sweet Annie that is. You see, the truth about Sweet Annie is that it is a weed. I don't say that loud enough to offend the sweet thing. But shhhhhh, weed she is. She never grows where sowed, I have learned. Instead, in her whimsical way, she grows wherever the wind or birds may leave her and that is generally where you don't want her to be.
Stealthily each spring I walk around much like a gardening Sherlock Holmes, stalking the Annie . . .
Today I have found some already peeking up. I am certain that as the days grow even warmer and the sun shines even brighter that I shall be rewarded with more.

After a few more warm days, I shall dig this up and transplant it where I want her to be. I won't wait for her to grow much more; she likes to stay put to grow gracefully and fragrantly.

So what is the truth about Annie? The truth is, I never know where she will grow, I am just glad that she visits me each year.

Here is what else is blooming in my yard today:

Quince

This Pussy Willow already has opened it's little paws. I started this tree from
a sprig five years ago. It is very happy!


My baby tulip tree! Yea! It is getting ready
to bloom! I can hardly wait.

Happy Spring Everyone!

Another Spring Is Coming Post . . .

Yesterday was another lovely day in my corner of the universe. The sun was shining brightly, birds were singing at dark thirty and the temps got close to 80. Almost too warm for an almost Spring day, but, I won't complain too loudly since last week we had snow.
As I am sitting here drinking my first cuppa strong black coffee, I began looking through some of my older posts. I started to get excited while looking at the dates of these posts. What excited me was the pictures I posted of my flowers and veggies starting. It reminded me that while I can't see them yet, they will be returning SOON.
Like these pretties from spring last year:

wild fragrant rose on my little yellow picket fence

echinecea in all it's glory

catmint, peonies and bouncing bet

my beloved black hollyhocks!

fragrant sweet annie

wild chicory (I loves me some weeds)

tansy

And oh, so many others waiting for the warmth of the sun to wake them up. Thank you Lord
for the renewal that Spring brings.

SPRING IS COMING! SPRING IS COMING! It has been a long, relentless winter - full of dreary, cold, wet, did I say dreary days?! Even the most cheerful Pollyanna as myself can get dull from dreary.
God is so good to give us birds that sing in the night, early morning and on dreary days. I have been watching the nests in my front hedge. There are three different nests. The parents have been busy. The nests are too high for me to peek into. And a few fledglings have already left! I never got to see what they were, shucks! I could here them from where I sit at my computer and their hungry cheep cheep cheeps made me so happy, it warmed up the cold, wet and dreariness inside.

Winter Wonderland?

We finally got snow. After months of missing the white fluff by miles, we got several inches of it. At my house it was just about 6 inches. I took a walk about the place early this morning and here is some of what I saw:





Folks around here get very giddy with snow fever. It is an all around good excuse to have a snow day. Whenever they hear it will snow, they buy up every loaf of bread and every ounce of milk they can. Wonder if that is how it is in snow belt states? I mean how much bread can you eat in one or two days?? While I love it and am certainly glad that I have gotten to see it this year, I am already knowing what the road conditions will be like the rest of this week. We just are not equipped for this much snow at one time. But gosh, ain't it purty???

March at The Humble Arts

Come on over and visit us! We have some great gift giving items all very reasonably priced!
Clicking here will bring you right to us! While you are there sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Music and Mom

I had to share this with you. I mean, who else would understand me the way you do? I cut my teeth on the music of the era of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Dylan, Dick Clark of American Bandstand, and matured listening to Led Zeppelin, Marshall Tucker, Lynyrd Skynyrd and you can figure all the rest. My Mom and I do not share the same taste in music. Well, I do appreciate Big Band music. That is my one concession and an occasional Perry Como or Patti Page ditty. Mom considers my taste in music rather obscene. It's a good thing she has never heard some of the heavy metal or punked out mess out there - she doesn't know what obscene is, right?
I love music. All forms of it are okay to me ~ even sounds I don't consider music are okay in doses ~ get the drift?

During the past year of taking care of Mom, I have been trying to wean her off of Lifetime Movies for Women and introduce her to some new stuff that is great. Like LOST, The Closer, Life on Mars, Monk and oh yes, some different music. That is the theme of this post.

I have a cd burner and Luscious makes me some great tunes to groove to while I am cleaning, sewing, cooking. The other evening as I was sewing down at the folks house, the song that is playing right now (I'm Yours by Jason Mraz) started to play. I love this song. It has a nice beat, easy to move to, and I'll give it a 10, Dick.

Mom had her eyes closed, so I assumed she was sleeping. I kept sewing. When the song ended, Mom opened her eyes and asked, "Can you play that song again?" Whoa Nellie, hold yer horses! Did I just hear my Mom ask to listen to one of my tunes again??? Sure! I can do that. After listening to it again, I asked her what she liked about it. Her reply and this is so classic Mom "What's not to like about it? It makes me want to move. It makes me feel like I did years ago when we were on vacation."

Music is a force that is really a deep subject. I don't have the time or the Einstein brain to figure it all out ~ let's just leave it at this: Mom and I have
found yet another common ground of mutual bliss. Luscious will be making her a CD of her own. I will be sure to put I'm Yours on it and Mack the Knife on it ~ after all, that is considered a real oldie these days; it is also such a happy little sounding song about murder. Think she's ready for Santeria yet? Dare me to not put it on? You'd lose!

Mid Week Thoughts

Okay, so it is Wednesday. The middle of the week already. While I wonder where the days go, I realize that I have accomplished more than I think.

Why it was only this past Sunday, the beginning of this new week, that Luscious and I finally took the Christmas Tree down! In all honesty, I didn't even notice it was still up until the end of January. All the rambling around taking care of the folks has left my house in total disrepair. My dear Luscious doesn't like clutter within his line of vision. Therefore, while I dash in and out, dumping stuff on the kitchen table, bedroom floor, bathroom floor, totes here, totes there, well, it can accumulate. Luscious is very good at being tidy. I am not (well, in my head I am a queen of clean orderliness). To keep his sanity, he picks up all my droppings and then deposits them in the spare bedroom that I slaved over getting clean for the Thanksgiving visit from Number 1 son. Am I making any sense so far. My brain is really rambling today.
So, all the things that I
(a) use
(b) need
(c) wear
are all in a pile of the floor and bed of the spare room. He can close the door and forget about it.

I have spent the better part of the past few months staying with my folks at night down the hill. Now and then, like this morning, I get to go looking for something that I KNOW I have but where in the dickens did I put it? Aha! The spare room.

I know it doesn't look like it but this mountain of mess is really clean. Luscious just doesn't know how to HANG my clothes up once they have been laundered and imagine my surprise finding my elfin gourdhead Santa sitting sentinel on top of a few totes of undies. I won't show you the floor. Trust me when I tell you that I had to stand on top of things to reach for a pair of clean jeans to wear today.

Which leads me to why I am writing this post . . .

I have the world's best hubby. It is written all over my face when I see him. I adore this man. It is evident in the butterflies I still get in my tummy after all these years when I see him come through the door or hear his voice on the phone. There are only a few things that I have requested of him through the years. They are:
(1) don't mess with my garden plans. There is always a method in the madness of my experimental layouts. He still has not learned this.
(2) Don't buy me clothes for gifts. This is because they NEVER fit. They are either too small for certain parts of my body (like my apple bottom) or too large for my sports bra clad uni-bosom.

This morning, as I plowed through the piles of clean clothes on the bed for a pair of jeans that I could not find, I did find an erstwhile Christmas gift. A new pair of jeans. In desperation, I grabbed them up and tried them on. Huzzah! A decent fit except for the length. I am a short gal. He is a tall guy. I never have to hem his pants because men's pants come in the length that is correct. Ladies pants however labeled are always too long for me. So . . . I have spent the remainder of my free time this morning trying to hem a pair of jeans and cutting off the 6 inches of excess.

Sigh.

Luscious will be thrilled to see me wear his gift. I am certain that it has been as forgotten as what else is behind the door of the spare room.

A Good Thing . . .

What is a P.I.F you ask? Well it's where you make a crafty gift for someone and in return they do the same for someone else. So would you like to P.I.F.................... Here's how it works.....

Just recently, I was chosen to participate in a P.I.F. Cathy Jackson of Hazleruthe's. Now it's my turn to Pay It Forward.

I will be choosing 5 people at random to send some little handmade gift to in the next 365 days. (A PIF's rules say 365 days, but I plan to do so in much shorter time!).

In return you have to post a PIF on your blog linking back to this PIF (You can even use my PIF banner above on your blog). and choose a minimum of 4 people--(more is ok too) to send a little handmade crafty gift to in 365 days from your PIF post. (and then they will do the same and so on and so forth til it travels round the world and involves hundreds of bloggers!). Your gift may be in the medium of your choice. Just please make sure it is something that is nice that you would like to receive.

If you would like to have a chance at receiving a PIF from me (and in turn PIFing others) within the next 365 days then please leave a comment on this post only between now and February 28th.

--I will draw names of 5 people and they will be my PIF members. I will email you to let you know if you have been chosen and I will need your name and snail mail addy,so I can you your PIF at an unknown time--the element of surprise!

You DO need to have an active blog in order to participate.

Please make sure that I can either reach you through your profile or leave me your email addy. Thank you!

Get ready......get set.......PIF!

Hope in a jar

About two weeks ago on a very bitterly cold day I went outside to get me a dose of hope.
I cut several forsythia frond (or yellow bells as we call them here) and put them in a old milk jug. I set them on a bright windowsill and waited.
This little ritual is performed each year by myself and countless others who long for the warmth of spring and the renewal that hope brings.

What, it's Groundhog Day??!!!!!

Where did January go? Oh yeah, most of you were frozen in! Here in my part of the South, it has been nothing but cold, cold, cold and rain, rain, rain! And enter February with a forecast for more cold rain this week. Sigh. It is too early as I write this to know if the groundhog will see his shadow. I don't need a show of hands to wonder how many are wanting an early spring.
Friends, I have sadly missed blogging. Many of my close personal friends know that I have become the primary caregiver for my wonderful parents. January 10, 2008, my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. After some surgery for the BC, radiation followed. Everything seemed fine until the CLL kicked in. Chemo was necessary and created a whole other series of problems known as side effects. Since the beginning of August 2008, my days have been filled with doctors, hospitals, emergency surgeries, nursing home rehab, and it has seemed like a never ending vicious cycle. My Dad needs surgery as well, which may be coming soon. I won't go into how I really feel about doctors and the elderly. I will say that I am privileged to be the child of these two dynamic folks. It is a joy to spend time with them. It has however, limited my time with friends, creating and playing with the 'puter.
I have learned that I am stronger than I knew and more than I ever wanted to be. I cannot imagine what it is like to be in their bodies. Their minds are sound - better than mine! LOL. Their bodies are just not co-operating. I wasn't going to write about any of this because while it may sound depressing, I have to admit that my Pollyanna nature is still in full force. I have at times been overwhelmed but love hopes all things, believes all things. God is good.
For those of my dearest ones who have prayed for us and accepted my silence, I thank you. Your prayers have been truly felt.
And for newer visitors, don't give up on me. I have a lot in my head to write about, create and share.
One thing I would like to share is that The Humble Arts February 2009 edition is open. All my dear sisters at HARTS took the month of January off to relax a bit after the flurry of the holidays. Please go over and take a peek at the wonderful goodies and eye candy that they are offering this month. I am tickled pink to be sharing the space with these wonderfully talented and caring, praying women!!
Here is a small sampling. Go for it!

The Year begins anew

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on
them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New
Year's Day.
~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

The Bloat after Thanksgiving

Hello my friends
Many of you have written me privately and wondered where in the world I have been.
This month has whizzed by without my permission! Mercy, I never did like roller coasters and these past few months have certainly felt like a carnival ride!

My oldest son came home for the Thanksgiving Holiday with his gal of the past few years. It was our first time to meet her. Thanksgiving evening, they announced their
engagement. The only ones surprised was them! They were surprised that none of us on the Hill were surprised. I believe that these two are well suited for each other.

I know, I know. I keep telling y'all I am a LOUSY photographer. Hard to take pics when I am busy with everything else. No one else has shared their photos with me yet.

Luscious put the Christmas Tree up and we are still decorating it. All the real food has been consumed and what is left is the sordid stuff that leaves my thighs quivering. Choclate Pie,
Brownies, Sugar Cookies, Pumpkin Cheesecake and oh my goodness - Ableskievers. We only make them at holiday time because they are like potato chips - can't eat just one.

I am working on the uploads for the Humble Arts for December. Will check in tomorrow morning and give everyone the heads up. Here is a sneek peek of what I will be offering:

All Hearts come to HARTS in November

Hello folksies
I am as errant as ever getting this updated. No excuse is really good enough, so, sneek a peek below at what the wonderfully talented artists have been creating for you at The Humble Arts
And while you are at it, if you haven't signed up to receive our monthly newsletter, be sure and sign up! When you do this month you will receive a Holiday Confections Cookbook that we've cooked up just to share with YOU!
See you there.

Remnants of my garden

Seems as if all of a sudden a few of my ertswhile bloomers have decided that they like this
cool fall weather and are sending out a bright little show for me. Above is my pineapple sage, I
wish the picture really showed it's brilliant red. I keep telling y'all I am not the best picture taker

A lone azalea bud

I love the color of this morning glory, tangled all up in the garlic chives. I have
plenty of chive seeds - can you tell??

And the sweetest little cosmos growing out from under this rock. Love this pic.

Now to wait for the rest of the leaves to fall. I have gotten lazy. I merely sweep them off the
walkways and wait for barren trees to signal time to chip them up for mulch.
Have a blessed day.

Why I love FALL

Where have all the Flowers gone?

I just LOVE this time of year. Leaves are beginning to change their clothes and some are shedding them as well, letting everyone know that there is something magical about this season. The picture above was taken on the way to my daughter's house, just a short 3 minutes from me.
The mornings have been cool - not downright cold - just cool and pleasant. Sweater mornings and quilty nights.
Spring colors remind me of a peacock with the brilliance of the color after a stark winter. Fall is a lady that is breathtaking as well in the subtleness of her beauty. My own backyard is just starting to make the change.
I still have morning glories blooming - the flower stalks are setting their seeds for next year and the sweet annie is drying nicely. The artmesia is also making it's tiny flowers that I love to clip, and in a few short months will decorate my Christmas Tree with. The tansy flowers have turned from brilliant yellow to autumn brown.
I have some mums that have begun to bloom with all the fire of fall.


I really need to take a drive to the Blue Ridge soon. I am certain it is peak right now. Sigh. I love the drive around the winding roads. With the cost of fuel, I may just wander my own back forty and take pictures this year. If I do, you know that I will share them with you.