In the Garden {mid-July edition} . . .

Popping in to say hi and to share some photos with you.  Megan was sick all week.  She had some sort of virus with vomiting and a high fever.  It really knocked her on her butt.  She's feeling much better thankfully and went back to camp today.  I was concerned with a field trip they had scheduled to a local art center for today.  Not too sure if she would be okay with a lot of walking in the heat.  Everything turned out fine.  We received an email last night that they were postponing until August due to impending inclement weather.  It turned out to be on the cool side today, with rain on and off all day.  : )

We thought for sure this rhododendron bush was dead but it bloomed a few very pretty flowers last week.  Better late than never!!

I've spent most of this week inside.  It's been a very warm and humid week here so it hasn't been so bad.  You would think I'd get a lot accomplished around the house but it's difficult when you have a sick girl who wants her mama to sit with her on the couch.  : (  I've been getting such an itch to decorate the house.  Our plan was to have things painted after we moved in but, for one reason or another, that hasn't happened.  I've put off hanging some of the beautiful frames I've been collecting over the last couple of years that I've bought with the intention of filling them with some of my favorite photos.  I think it's time to do so.  The painting can wait some more if it has to.  

The lavender has really taken over this part of our garden.  It smells so pretty but I think we have to move some of it before Buddha gets swallowed up by it!!

Here's a photo of the lavender taken from farther back.  Things really need to be cut back and transplanted.  The family that owned our home before us really loved more greenery in the gardens then flowers.  I prefer more flowers but I don't like to just dig up greenery and throw it to the curb.  I'm going to sit down one day and draw a diagram of how I want things to look.  At least that will give me a good start.  : )

More lavender under the bird bath.

A lone rose on the rose bush.

Can you tell we have a pool and a young daughter??  : )

I was told this is a St. John's Wort bush.  Whatever it is, the honey bees LOVE it!!

Remember that grassy corner of the patio?  My honey did a great job of cleaning everything up last weekend.  : )

I've really been feeling the urge to be creative again.  I've been going thru lots of crafting supplies that I've collected thru the years.  I've been listing many of them in my Etsy shop but I've also been eyeing a few pretty papers and embellishments from when I was full blown into making greeting cards. 

I have a very strong belief in angels and spirit guides and years ago I bought a deck of cards by Sonia Choquette called "Ask Your Guides: Connecting to your Divine Support System."  It can be found here if you're interested.  Whenever I feel the need to, I'll usually pick three cards to see what messages I'm in need of hearing.  This morning I picked three cards and one of them was a card that pertained to . . . wait for it . . . feeling the need to be creative!!  So I guess that kinda seals the deal for me.  I've already cleared a space in my office/studio to pull things out and get busy.  I've been combing thru some of my many old issues of Somerset magazine to get some ideas.  I've pulled out some old baby cards that I think I'll use to create some gift tags.  I made a bunch of gift tags using vintage cards years back and they sold like hot cakes at a holiday craft fair where I was a vendor.  Surprisingly, most of the people that bought them were teenage girls.  One young girl came to my table and bought a few of them for Christmas gifts and then went back and showed her friends and soon my table was crowded with happy young girls oohing and aahing over my creations.  Go figure!!  Lol!!

Heading out to dinner now.  All three boys are away this weekend so me might just get some peace and quiet around here.  Although Meg is raring to go after being so sick so I think I have to take that back.  : )

Have a beautiful and peaceful weekend!!


~ Wendy  xo 

In the Garden This Week . . .

This week, we've seen the end of the azalea bushes and the beginnings of the rose bushes.  We've spotted a few different shades of red roses, a few different shades of pink roses and what we believe are going to be yellow roses.  The photo below shows one of our garden beds that is overgrown with lots of greenery but few flowers.  We're going to be home this weekend to work on cleaning much of that out.  I love the greenery but I love colorful flowers even more so we'll be balancing that bed out a bit.

We added a few things this week and took a few things out.  The back yard is starting to really come together.  The pool is still being worked on.  We think the previous owners just stuck the cover on the pool right before we did the walk thru in November and didn't even bother to vacuum the leaves out of it.  Jim had to find a bigger vacuum for the pool  that was able to handle A LOT of leaves.  He's taken seven large vacuum bags of leaves out so far and the deep end is still loaded with them.  Hopefully, this weekend it will finally be ready for swimming!!  

We found this little guy swimming on top of the pool cover last week.  We've found three others since.  I don't mind them.  As long as they don't hop into my house I'm fine!!!!  : )

Next, we're going to start working on the vegetable garden.  That will be a joint effort between my son, Connor, and I.  We're starting from scratch so we're going to keep it simple with a few tomato plants, some herbs, eggplant, peppers and I really want to plant string beans.  I have such great childhood memories of growing up next to my grandmother and sneaking into her gigantic garden and picking her string beans.  Pick 'em, wipe 'em on your shirt and pop 'em in your mouth.  Nothing like it!!!  : )


Happy Thursday ~ Wendy