“To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1
The Lifeguard stand at Lake Nummy, Belleplain State Forest.
Ocean City Boardwalk crowded with bikers, surreys, runners and people. The boardwalk has separate lanes marked out for all of the aforementioned categories.
Unfortunately, our favorite beach town, Strathmere, New Jersey, suffered terrible beach erosion this winter.
One of the best aspects of summer: camping, bicycling and barbecuing
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 This project was constructed on an ordinary notebook with pictures from an out-of-date Mary Engelbreit calendar.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!
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.
Prairie Bonnet Columbine – Unique version of columbines. These are much hardier than the aquilegia version of columbine.
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.
New Guinea Impatiens – These grow well in sun or shade…I love the color
. 
Allium – These are very reliable bulb plants and come back every year. As of now, they haven’t done any spreading or multiplying
. 
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
. 
Zinnias (dwarf) in hanging basket to lure hummingbirds
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
The boys have decided they are going to make a whole town. Oh my! They are so like me…one is never enough!
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.
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!
Loading icon
“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!
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
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.
The largest is the size of my fist, the smallest about the diameter of a dime.
A few of the urchins are bleached out by the sun. I’ll use these for future projects.
“For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside.” Job 23:11
Photograph of Dad and Mom on the July 4th float, Pitman, NJ. They were charter members of St. James Lutheran Church. The float was in honor of the church’s 50th anniversary.
Our family has been visited by sorrow; we lost my husband’s father during the first week of May. He lived a long and joy-filled life, he always found things to do, he bowled with other seniors three times a week at 89 years old and swing-danced weekly until just a short time ago. He started a successful business and left a legacy of a life well-lived behind him. He was married to our mother for over 65 years. He served our country in World War II. He touched others with his good spirit and generosity. I think what I admired most was his commitment to his family. When his time to go came, he quietly left the world to be with his God. Dad’s path and the life he lived led him home to heaven. A good man. I will miss him.
I’m going to start off by giving you the link to this terrific site. It’s free and you will become addicted to altering your digital photographs with the filters and effects it offers. The sites is called: Lunapic You can reach the site by clicking on the name.
I started with a picture of a hibiscus flower I took in Jamaica.
Here are some of the ways I played: Create a Border
Use stars for a border:
Create a unique dollar bill:
Design a Christmas ornament:
Put in some lightening streaks:
A filmstrip is a nice look:
Even a kaleidoscope is possible:
Pardon my cliche, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many creative ways to “doll-up” your pic. Give it a try!
We enjoyed this terrific bike trail that led along the river/bay. Cedar trees stood in a row like a line of sentinels guarding the pathway.
We stopped when we glimpsed fish jumping out of the water. You can just barely see the outline of the fish in the photo. It is spawning at the edge of the little peninsula of land jutting out into the water. The fish were quite large. A passerby told us he thought they might be Stripers. They appeared to be making nests in the shallows.
This enormous cedar tree was at the end of the trail. I thought it look magical, the root system had risen out of the ground creating a look of antiquity. I would love to know how old the cedar is. The lot it stands on is for sale, oh my, I would buy the whole lot just for the tree if I could. If you ever visit this area of southern New Jersey bring your bike and binoculars.
We camped last night and traveled on today to Heislerville, NJ, on the Delaware Bay. As we approached we were intrigued by an odd looking island of dead trees. As we drove closer we realized the strange growths on the tree limbs were actually nesting herons and egrets. I have never seen a sight quite like it in all the years of my life. There were bird-watchers along the road with large cameras and binoculars. It really was a spectacular sight.
Here is an example of one of the birds nesting on the island, a great white egret.
There were other birds in the vicinity too, some lovely swans, and smaller shore birds. Also, as always, the ever-present gulls and their raucous cries. The experience of the shore would not be complete for me without the sound of gulls in the air.
A path in life that often leads to joy for many people is having a pet. I have two cats…one a large, very large, Maine Coon Cat. The other, a golden/orange tabby, is named Hans. I want to keep them as healthy as possible through what I hope are very long lives. When the younger cat begin biting the leaves of my philodendrons I knew he might be craving greens. Philodendrons are a definite danger to animals. Ingesting them can poison their system.
Available alongside flower and vegetable seed packets at this time is oat grass, or as it is sometimes labeled, cat grass. I sowed the seed thickly in three four inch plastic pots. Covered with plastic wrap, it sprouted in a matter of days. I placed a pot alongside the cat’s dishes, and was pleased when they seemed to appreciate my efforts.
I consider the photo below evidence of a successful endeavor!
After the plant is nibbled down, I replace it with another pot and place the “mowed” grass in a sunny window to hopefully recover. Here is a link explaining the “science” behind a cats need for greens.
Today, before the morning had barely begun, I felt overwhelmingly stressed by circumstances completely out of my control…saying goodbye to a beloved member of our family…but suddenly a sense of beautiful peace descended upon me, and I knew, without a doubt, that somewhere, someone was at that very moment praying for me. It is a reminder to me to pray even more for others. God bless you all.
I love iris plants. I enjoy cutting each of the varieties I grow for beautiful vased arrangements in the house. Even the buds on an iris flower stalk are fascinating. Beginning as tightly furled points, they gradually open into rounded balloon shapes before bursting into a blossom that resembles a floral cathedral. I love to peer into the inner recesses of an iris flower. There is a sense of the spiritual for me as I gaze at the detail created by God. The light filtering through the outer petals into the inner chamber of the flower cannot be duplicated by anything manmade.
An iris is an easy flower to use in a floral arrangement. Cut near the base of the plant to remove the stalk. Unopened buds, just beginning to unfurl are the best choices for cutting. Recut to the length you want, trimming the stem on an angle, place in room temperature water. Iris can be combined with other flowers in floral arrangements. In the first photograph I have combined purple iris with yellow lamium. The iris will last for several days. When the first few blossoms wither, pull or cut away from the stem. The lower buds will then begin to open.
