The photo above shows a happy kitty-cat having his chin scratched. Hans, the scared and frightened kitty featured in the post about removing pet urine stain and odor: Removing the Odor of Pet Urine, has completely adjusted without any further accidents. He is a joy to us. Sweet, calm and now a companion to our Maine Coon Cat, he has quickly become a beloved part of our household.
Hans
Tulips – 8×8
I love taking part in the WetCanvas Watercolor Studio Group Challenges. Each month a new reference photo is chosen, and then it is so interesting to see everyone’s interpretation. I am sometimes disappointed by my paintings, because…well…they look like mine! Other painters would know exactly what I mean by that. The longer I paint it seems the more firmly ingrained my style. No matter if I try new techniques…the watercolors shout out who painted them. I guess this can be considered a good thing, but I sure wish I could learn how to be looser and have a less heavy hand.
Check out all the beautiful paintings of the tulips at this link: WetCanvas March Challenge
The challenge does not close at the end of the month…try your hand at the tulips too.
The April challenge is proving harder for me…a landscape with beautiful rock formations in the foreground. You can see the reference photo here: WetCanvas April Challenge
Please pick up your watercolors and brushes and take part. It’s so much fun!
When your gas barbecue has grilled its last burger or steak, repurpose the lid into a fire pit. Enclose the lid within brick or another fireproof stone. Make sure the top is level and fits the circumference of the lid. It’s as easy as that. Sharpen a twig and get out your marshmallows and hot dogs. Happy Smores to You!
I have used the small card pictured above in previous posts. I am using it again because it so perfectly illustrates a recent instance of pure joy in my life. I have three grandsons who I watch a few days through the week. On my day to pick up the oldest grandson at school, I waited in line for him outside of the building, holding the eleven month old baby boy in my arms, while the middle grandson stood beside me.
Something startled the baby. He tightened his grip upon me, and laid his head against my neck. I felt such joy as he rested against me, trusting that I would protect him from harm. In the midst of the sweetness of the moment, the middle grandson looked up at me and said, “Nanny, I love you so much.” Could my heart have swelled any larger with the joy of it, you might think not, but when my oldest grandson exited through the doorway, and his eyes and expression kindled with love, yes, my heart almost burst with joy.
“He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.” [Isaiah 40:11]
In my relationship with Christ Jesus, I want to have the heart of these precious boys. I want to trust him, and know that he protects me from harm. I want to stay so close to him, he can gather me in his arms and carry me against his heart. I want to tell him that I love him so much…every day…more than once. I want to feel excitement and happiness…experience joy when I come into his presence. I want to always remember I am his child.
When I hang a new birdhouse in my yard it is often filled by a nesting wren. I love wrens. After one has claimed the new house for a home the air is soon filled with trills, chattering and even scolding sounds when I venture too near. A week or two ago as I cleaned last year’s birdhouse, I noticed the seams of the roof had warped and widened. I knew if I left it in place the wrens would have to deal with a very leaky roof.
Happily, my local craft store had a special on birdhouses, and since I have plenty of acrylic craft paint on hand, adding two new birdhouses to the yard only involved a few dollars and a bit of time.
I was happy to see the bottoms of the birdhouses were attached with screws rather than nails. The birdhouses should be cleaned out before the start of the nesting season.
I coated the birdhouses with primer. In the past I have used acrylics on the bare wood, but I had the primer on hand and wisely used that first. I was pleasantly surprised to find that by using primer I only needed one coat of the more expensive acrylic paint.
I finished the houses and hung them in place by using four screw eyes on the roof and doubled floral wire.
Most important for me was protecting the entry to the house from gnawing predators. This has been quite a problem for me in the past. I hammered in a ridge of heavy staples around the edge of the doorway. This should discourage the attempts of the most feisty of squirrels or chipmunks.
Update: April 24, 2013 – SUCCESS! This afternoon I heard the singing and trilling of a wren. Sure enough, when I investigated, all the “wren-talk” was sounding from the trumpet vine bush shown in the first photograph. I spied a wren perched atop the house with a small stick in her mouth…definitely nest-making material. O Happy Day! The new birdhouse will have a resident wren family.
If I am using the zest of any citrus fruit in a recipe I make sure I use an organic piece of fruit.
Often a single piece of organic citrus fruit is expensive. I’ve found it much more cost effective to buy bags of fruit. When I am lucky enough to come upon one of these good deals, I sometimes can’t use all the fruit before it begins to spot and go bad. A good alternative to wasting the money is to grate and freeze the citrus peel. After grating, I have found a good way to freeze the peel is in cupcake liners. Each peel yields about a tablespoon of zest, sometimes a bit more for a larger piece of fruit.
After the zest freezes, I fold over the sides of the liner, tape in the middle, label and store in a container or ziplock bag in the freezer.
I also freeze the juice from the fruit in ice cube trays. Each cube is about two tablespoons of fresh juice. Pop out when frozen and store in ziplock bags or freezerproof container.
I’ve grown so many of my plants from seed this year, I really have no inclination or need to purchase anything at all. That was my mindset until I saw these brilliant pink petunias at a local farm market I visit weekly. Oh my! How could I resist. To justify my purchase I decided they must be a table arrangement for at least a week or two. The four pack they are planted in fits perfectly into a ceramic pot I love.
I think the petunias look very happy filling in as a flower arrangement on the table. When the danger of frost is past I’ve decided they will be perfect inside a hanging basket.
This is a spider plant I have had for several years. I let the plant become potbound…this is key to the mother plant sending out shoots of plantlets, or as I call them, “babies.”
I have rooted many babies and now have other baskets of plants growing in the rafters of my basement, waiting for warmer weather to move out onto the patio.
Spider plants are more than just a pretty sight. They also are one of the top plants for filtering out impurities in the air you breathe. More information about houseplants that filter air can be found here: Houseplants That Filter the Air
I also have more “babies” rooting in containers and vases all over the house. They add a bit of green to the rooms they are in, they root quickly, and are soon ready to pot up. I have loved spider plants for as long as I have enjoyed and collected houseplants. Happy gardening!
I put together this floral arrangement a few days before Easter. It contains only one bunch of alstromeria, some pussy willow branches, some curly willow branches and a few pieces of beautiful foliage. It is lovely, and I have enjoyed it very much. Even better…it is still going strong, and the curly willow branches have leafed out.
Willow twigs will readily root in water or loose soil. I have used branches as trellises and had them regrow once more as they gave support to the vines. I might try to grow these and plant the resulting bushes in a back corner of the yard.
Alstromeria is one of the best flowers for long-lasting arrangements. I wonder how long I can keep this beautiful display alive.
Floral Tip: Remove the bottom leaves of the alstromeria stem. These leaves yellow and die long before the flowers are finished blooming. Your arrangement will last almost a week longer if these leaves are removed.
The geranium plants I overwintered in the cold garage are growing amazingly well under lights in my basement. Several of the leaves are full-sized in only three weeks of warmer temperatures and intense light. Hooray!
Original post and how-to found here: Geraniums Reborn
The coleus seeds I carefully sowed with a wet pencil tip have grown well, and have never experienced damping off disease.
How to sow small seeds without waste: Planting Small Seeds – Coleus
The tomatoes I sowed in recycled juice containers have also steadily grown in my back window. I thinned them out a week ago, and was able to save a few of the extra tomato seedlings in recycled coffee cans.
Check out the original post here: Hanging Tomato Gardens
SQUARE FOOT GARDEN
I had a lot of success last year with my square foot gardens. To conserve even more space, we have decided to build this year’s garden a bit larger than the recommended 4 x 4. It will stand in back of the two square foot gardens already in place. Yesterday, it warmed up a bit, and we headed out to pick up two bales of vermiculite, two bales of peat moss, and bags of compost, mushroom soil and aged horse manure. We also added some of my own compost to the mix. I can’t wait to water it, let it settle for a day or two, and begin to plant.
Here’s a link to the blog of Mel Bartholomew, the creator of the Square Foot Garden Method: Link to Mel Bartholomew’s Blog
I’ve had a few of my very late planted Autumn crops over-winter. Below is a picture of the parsley I was able to use all winter.
I’ve heard that if parsley goes to seed or develops a stalk the taste will become bitter. I’m going to leave these four plants I grew from seed in their square, and if, and until, they grow bitter tasting, they have a home in my square foot garden.
A few brussel sprout and broccoli plants also lived through our winter. I’ll give these hardy individuals a chance to bear fruit too. Here’s a link to my Square Foot Garden of 2012: Square Foot Gardens 2012
What does a “bucket list” mean? According to WikiAnswers: “A bucket list is a list of things such as activites that you are going to do before you die.”
I don’t have a bucket list, but if I did, going to an Easter Sunrise Service at Hart’s Methodist outdoor amphitheater would be on it. Happily, I have already fulfilled this wish, and not only fulfilled it once, I’ve been to Hart’s twice for their Easter Sunrise service.
Last week I felt the presence of the Lord as the sun lit the sky and peeped over the horizon and the Elk Neck River. It is a great way to worship and rejoice that JESUS CHRIST is our risen LORD and SAVIOR. I know this for certain! HALLELUJAH!
There is much in life that is not certain. Frightening situations and the unknown confront us all, but I have this blessed assurance to hold onto, and friend, so do you:
“Fear not, for I am with you,
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”Isaiah 41:10
Hart’s Methodist Church, Northeast, Maryland
Pink! Who doesn’t love it in it’s many hues? Lovely Lilies!
Artists and Crafters: Please feel free to make use of these photographs as reference for painting, projects, etc.
Anthirrium
Cymbidium Orchids
Cattleya Orchid
Hibiscus
Clivia
Artists and Crafters: Please feel free to make use of these photographs as reference for painting, projects, etc.
Bird of Paradise
Nasturium
I’m devoting my ravishing red category of flowers exclusively to anemones. (Windflowers) History and Information about growing anemones can be found here: Anemone Information and Culture
Artists and Crafters: Please feel free to make use of these photographs as reference for painting, projects, etc.
Greens can be the most glorious of colors. There is something soothing to the spirit of most of mankind when the sun lights up the greens of a canopy of foliage with beams of brilliant light.
I love this description of God’s throne found in the book of Revelation: “… A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.” Revelation 4:3
Artists and Crafters: Please feel free to make use of these photographs as reference for painting, projects, etc.
T’is the season to let your senses be filled with flowers of all kinds. Artists and Crafters are welcome to use these photographic images of flowers as reference photos.
Daffodils
Lilies
Orchid
Nasturtium
Gerbera Daisy
A blue mood can sometimes take hold after the joy of a holiday. Today I am giving into the blueness and delighting in the many shades of azure I was able to enjoy in the Longwood Gardens Conservatory on Sunday. What an array of tones we found there, from the sky blue of Forget-Me-Nots and Himalayan Poppies, through the deep purple-blue of Spring Pansies. These blues lift my spirit. I hope they lift yours too!
Artists and Crafters: Please feel free to make use of these photographs as reference for painting, projects, etc.
This beautiful blue poppy is almost spent, but in it’s last hours the petals are at their most beautiful as they become tinted with softest pink before dropping from the plant.
I thought this bed of blue flowers was incredibly lovely, a gorgeous mix of hydrangeas, cineraria and Himalayan poppies.
I am always entranced by the buds of the poppies too.
Who can resist smiling back at these joyful pansy faces?
Although the greens in this pressed flower composition have faded into brown, it is still a good example of how well the actual flowers and leaves hold up over time. This pressed flower picture was an entry in the Philadelphia Flower Show in the early 1990’s. The Category was “City of Brotherly Love,” and the piece was supposed to portray a quilt. Considering the span of time, near twenty years, I think it has held up very well.
Most foliage and greens will age to a tan or brown over time. Many flowers, however, will retain a good bit of color. The flowers above are: delphiniums (dark blue), verbena (maroon) and lobelia (light blue.) Many other flowers will hold onto their hues. A few of these that come to mind are buttercups, purple verbena and larkspur. I’ve also had good luck with spring bulbs, although their moisture content can be a problem and they do best using a microwaved book. Many of the techniques and tips I’ve learned can be found here:
Pressed Flower Tips and Techniques
It’s time to begin pressing emerging miniature pieces of foliage and tendrils. Wildflowers will soon be blooming too. Buttercups are one of the earliest and press very well. (Pinch out the hard center first) Happy Pressing!
