Painting – WetCanvas Challenges

On By TimelessladyIn PaintingLeave a comment

This months Plant Parade challenge at WetCanvas Florals and Botanicals is the magnificent peony. Oh my! What gorgeous reference photographs Marionh has included with this month’s challenge. I have included two of the photographs here, courtesy of Mariohh and Maltman. There are many more reference photos to choose from and you are also able to use your own. The challenge is open to anyone, but if you wish to include your artwork in the challenge posts you must join WetCanvas. Joining Wetcanvas is free…give it a try. Here is the link to this months challenge: WetCanvas Plant Parade – June 2014

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In the WetCanvas Watercolor Studio Yorky (Doug) has chosen Clumber Church, in Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire, England, once part of Sherwood Forest, as June’s Challenge. You can see more posts and Yorky’s watercolor of this church at this link: Watercolor Studio Challenge – June 2014

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Pressed Flowers – Pressed Flower Farms Revisited

On By TimelessladyIn Pressed FlowersLeave a comment

These two past blog posts have been combined and reblogged. If you press flowers now is the time to consider creating a “Pressed Flower Farm.”

I love my gardens, and I love pressing flowers, within that statement lies my dilemma. If I pick from my gardens too extensively, I lose the appeal of their mass of colors. I’ve learned over the years to grow the flowers I press in separate containers in an out-of-the-way place. When I grow my pressed flowers this way I can lift the containers onto my potting bench for easy picking, and my gardens don’t begin to look like lush foliage without bloom. The flowers planted in containers also gather less soil on their petals in rainstorms or heavy winds. I buy most of my containers at the dollar store and fill them with inexpensive soil. They do great and having them all in one area saves time too.

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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!

People – Maya Angelou

On By TimelessladyIn People2 Comments

Maya Angelou

“I believe that each of us comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory.” Maya Angelou

A brilliant and admirable woman. Maya, you are now back with your Creator in  that land of glory…God bless.

Plants – African Violet/Stunted Growth Part II

On By TimelessladyIn Plants1 Comment

The stunted violet in yesterday’s post will never become an attractive plant again. What to do? Toss it and buy another, or attempt to start a new plant from a few of the healthier leaves. Since it is summertime, most of my houseplants are having a vacation on the outdoor porch. I have plenty of room on my indoor plant table so this is a perfect time to root some cuttings inside.

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First I will take a cutting with an inch or two of stem. While searching the Internet for good information on taking cuttings I came across a new garden site I hadn’t seen in the past. Take a look at this informative page: The Garden Helper/Cuttings

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I’ll let the leaf-cutting dry for a few hours to harden the end of the stem a bit. I’ll prepare a container of sand and loose potting soil, and make a hole with the end of a pencil. After dipping the cutting in honey I will place it in the dirt, firm the soil around the stem, and close the top to keep in the humidity. In about six weeks I should be able to see small leaflets forming at the base of the stem. I’ll update the progress in a month or two.

Plants – African Violet/Stunted Growth Part I

On By TimelessladyIn Plants8 Comments

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Two of my African Violets have stunted, misshapen leaves in the middle of the rosette. I have encountered the problem in the past, and often, I give up and throw the plant away. This time, I decided to start new plants from leaf cuttings, but first, I wanted assurance the leaves were not diseased or infested.

Plants with this type of stunted growth can be infested with spider mites. Oh my! I have battled these little pests on other plants. I inspected the violet in question with a magnifying glass but didn’t find any spider mites.

A few other possible causes:

Cool temperatures – Yes, we keep our house cool in the winter.

Too little light – Yes, I did move them to a window with very little afternoon sunshine.

Too much fertilizer – A possibility, but the problem would be caused by pre-fertilized African violet soil, not from anything I added. From now on, I’ll try to water from the top with a squirt bottle. Using this technique, I will avoid getting the leaves or crown of the violet wet, and salts and other toxins in the soil will be washed out of the bottom.

A normal violet below:
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Pheathers – Red-Bellied Woodpecker

On By TimelessladyIn PheathersLeave a comment

Our yard has been visited quite often this spring by a red-bellied woodpecker. We weren’t aware of him until he began singing. His warbling song is very unique. At first it almost sounded like a spooky laugh of some kind. I have had quite a few different woodpeckers and nuthatches at the suet feeder this year. I am going to keep it full through the summer since I have found a suet that is not supposed to melt. We’ll see….

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Flickr
Photo courtesy of Dawn Hornvolt
To view more pictures on Flickr or the photographs of Dawn Hornvolt please click on the links above.

Photographs – The Start of Summer

On By TimelessladyIn PhotographsLeave a comment

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“To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1

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The Lifeguard stand at Lake Nummy, Belleplain State Forest.

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Ocean City Boardwalk crowded with bikers, surreys, runners and people. The boardwalk has separate lanes marked out for all of the aforementioned categories.

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Unfortunately, our favorite beach town, Strathmere, New Jersey, suffered terrible beach erosion this winter.

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One of the best aspects of summer: camping, bicycling and barbecuing

Projects – Making it your own/Collaged Notebook

On By TimelessladyIn Projects3 Comments

mary e 2 I enjoy making ordinary items my own by adding embellishments, or in the case of paper products, creating a collage. This project was constructed on an ordinary notebook with pictures from an out-of-date Mary Engelbreit calendar. To create a personal notebook you will need: paper images, a glue stick, scissors and a background to use for making the collage. The project, start to finish, only took fifteen minutes. Cut out images, place on surface, move images around until you are pleased with the arrangement, apply glue stick, put into pre-determined place. Finished!

Happy gluing!

Phlowers & Plants – May Garden

On By TimelessladyIn PlantsLeave a comment

Growing in my garden this week: Columbine aquilegia – These are from packets that I purchased in Gettysburg in the spring. They are blooming, but I was hoping for more blooms and a larger diameter. I guess I will have to wait for next year.

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Prairie Bonnet Columbine – Unique version of columbines. These are much hardier than the aquilegia version of columbine.

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Chives – These blossoms are really giving my herb garden some pizazz right now. They are very reliable and return every year with wider girth and more flowers. Chives are a terrific garnish and also add a light onion taste to food.

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New Guinea Impatiens – These grow well in sun or shade…I love the color

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Allium – These are very reliable bulb plants and come back every year. As of now, they haven’t done any spreading or multiplying

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Torenia (Yellow Moon) – A Terrific plant that will bloom all summer for me. It can be grown in shade, but I have best luck in half sun/half shade

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Zinnias (dwarf) in hanging basket to lure hummingbirds

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Candy Corn Plant (Manettia luteorubra) – This is in a hanging basket and since I have brought it home from the nursery the tendrils have been twirling and twining all over the place. It seems very happy in sun with late afternoon shade. I’m plan to bring it inside in the Autumn and overwinter indoors. I’m hoping this plant will draw hummingbirds and butterflies. This is the first time I have found this plant in a hanging basket for outdoor growing conditions. This plant is also known as the Firecracker Plant.

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Blue Lagoon Rose Bush – Well, it does not quite appear to be blue or even lavender, but it is very, very pretty, so I guess it can stay in my garden. I love the name of the rose…a favorite movie of mine.

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There are many more plants and seeds sprouting, but they have not yet reached camera-worthy presentation. Thanks for looking at my garden with me today.

Problem-Solving – Broken and Vanishing Plants

On By TimelessladyIn Problem-SolvingLeave a comment

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It’s inevitable…I will lose a few plants to errant balls, foam noodle battles, rambunctious squirrels, or foraging chipmunks. This pot had two Roma tomato plants, but one was broken off by one of the above. 😦 I am betting on rambunctious squirrels.

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Happily for me one of last year’s problems, squirrels biting into ripe tomatoes, is the solution to this year’s broken tomato plant. In summers past, when I found a chewed tomato I often just picked it and let it drop beneath the plant in hopes the squirrels would eat from the easy pickings on the ground and leave my plants alone. This usually didn’t work, but it did deposit numerous seeds into the soil, and now I have sweet little volunteer seedlings growing everywhere. I will plant a few into the big pot and see if they will thrive. Most likely, it will be close to September before I will harvest tomatoes from these vines, but hey, I have plenty of other tomato plants, and I can wait on these babies. Hooray for volunteers!

Phaery Lore – Fairy House 2014

On By TimelessladyIn Phairy Lore2 Comments

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Last year my grandson created a fairy house out of natural and interesting items I had collected. This year we pulled out cartons of new treasures and he and his little brother created another house and a “school” for this year’s fairies. My grandson told me, “Nanny, try to find more interesting things.” I will do that…when I walk or ride my bike I will make sure I have a bag and bring home sticks and stones and pieces of moss for the fairy house building.

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The boys have decided they are going to make a whole town. Oh my! They are so like me…one is never enough!

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Plants – Potted Combinations

On By TimelessladyIn PlantsLeave a comment

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This is a newly planted combination of plants that I have chosen by browsing on Pinterest and other idea boards and sites. I love the look of the Persian Shield, Star Flowers and Sweet Potato Vines. As they grow they will be even lovelier.

Phavorites – Brown Thrasher

On By TimelessladyIn PhavoritesLeave a comment

I finally identified this amazing bird as a brown thrasher. A close relative of the mockingbird, he/she has been singing me beautiful songs throughout the day. Here is a short video of a brown thrasher’s beautiful singing. (Thank you to krab1110’s youtube channel)

I am at a loss as to why there are two images of the same youtube video…I’ve worked at getting one deleted to no avail. I guess this is just one of those times I am bamboozled by the html, and will have to let it stay “as is.” Apologies!

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Praise – Sacred Heart Singing

On By TimelessladyIn QuirkinessLeave a comment

“Sacred Harp singing (also “Shape-note singing” or, of the repertory, “Shape-note hymnody”) is a tradition of sacred choral music that flourished in the American South of the United States. The name is derived from The Sacred Harp, a ubiquitous and historically important book of Sacred Harp music.” Wikipedia

I love the sound of this type of singing. Some of my ancestors came from the south, I am sure many of them participated in this type of praise. This Sacred Harp video also includes beautiful and moving portraits of Native Americans. Enjoy!

Paths – Who We Really Are

On By TimelessladyIn Paths2 Comments

 

What might surprise many of you about me is that in my mid-fifties I grew to love many of the late Bob Marley’s songs. My husband would affirm the fact that I have said to him many times, “I think Bob Marley’s song “Three Little Birds,” is almost Biblical. This is my favorite of all his songs. When I am stressed, I sing the song to myself, usually out loud. I don’t care who hears me. When I play the CD both of my grandchildren, who are babies still, raise their arms to have Nanny lift them up and sway with them to and fro while the sweet music plays.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Matthew 6:25-27

You might also laugh a bit if you knew that at times I compose a self-portrait of myself in my mind…a pre-painting daydream, and I am in Jamaica, sitting in front of a little blue cottage with a lavender door, snapping a bowl of green beans. I’m wearing a long colorful skirt and bright top. My feet are bare and my hair is white and waving in crazy bends and dips all around my head. (If I don’t dry my hair it does exactly this…it is not white yet, but it is changing over in a hurry) There are goats nearby keeping the grass down. Chickens are running all over the yard, and of course there are lazy cats on the windowsills and at my feet. There might even be a little donkey in the picture. There is an amazing garden, full of flowers and vegetables, and most important, three little birds upon my doorstep. If you listen closely, beyond the sweet singing of the birds you can hear the soft waves of the ocean. Someday, even if I never live out the vision in actuality, I am hoping to paint my daydream, a little slice of who I would like to be.

So, a bit of a surprise perhaps about who the writer of this blog is in her heart. Here’s a little known fact about Bob Marley’s life:Bob Marley Converted to Christianity

Phascination – Sea Urchins

On By TimelessladyIn Phascination2 Comments

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We found some beautiful urchin shells while we vacationed in Jamaica. A few were discovered while snorkeling, most were found in the brack line of a beach. I was amazed the shells survived the surf.

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The largest is the size of my fist, the smallest about the diameter of a dime.

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A few of the urchins are bleached out by the sun. I’ll use these for future projects.