May Morning Walk

Good morning. 

Would you like to join me on a fine early morning walk?

Grab yourself a hot beverage of choice and a sweater, the morning air is chilly, and join me.



The robins are singing their sweet song of spring, they serenade us as we mosey along the garden path. 

Fresh iris’ have opened.



Nearly all take our breath away.  Each has a unique twist, some release a sweet perfume.



Their names even sound delicious, Boysenberry Truffle. 



A few yellows are adding contrast to the many shades of purple we have in the garden. Some garishly bright..



and some delicately subtle. 

A few roses have started to open, a bit early for us here on this mountain but welcome all the same.

Dream Weaver



A little darker and one that supposedly will do well in the shade.

Zepherine Droughn



Now we must walk on past the old straw bale raised bed, it has done its duty and now it is seeing new life.



Last year it held big fat Brandywine tomatoes and some Tromboline zucchini, which soon grew so lush it camouflaged the entire bed, and they were so delicious. 
 
Now the rich compost is being used to start new beds and heavily mulch others.  No waste here. 

Once past the straw we turn right, and what greets our eyes but a rather shabby looking chicken house…



Cecile Brunner is glamming it up with her abundance of blooms whose spicy scent greet you as you approach to collect the eggs. 

And a sweet surprise as we glance along one of the garden beds, planted with seeds.



A humble green bean shoot.  How such a small event can make your heart sing. 

There were a few popping up in this row, now to plant another. 

I hope you enjoyed our morning walk. 

Come join me again, we shall do another soon, very soon.   I promise.

The New Year

I promise I have not fallen off the face of the earth, it just seems like it.  I have been working long hours on the mountain cleaning vacation homes after everyone left from their holiday visit.  I came home every night too spent to do much more than eat my dinner, fix my lunch for the next day and make sure I had all my supplies ready to head back out the door the next morning.  Then I would take a hot bath and slide into bed, read a few emails, respond to orders placed on my website and do it all over again the next day.  I did package up a few signs for shipment during that time too.

It was cold.  But the sky was gorgeous, the snow covered trees stood out against the blue, blue sky.



It was a balmy 24 degrees as I fueled up and in the mere teens on the mountain. I was dressed for it but it was still cold.  We ride out to the houses on snow mobiles which can be kind of a hassle but fun too.



Because I have been so busy the set up of my greenhouse on the back deck has been delayed.  It is all put together but we still need to put down some plastic material to seal the floor then pave it with cement pavers and put up some clear plastic on the walls to help add some insulation. 

I had hoped to work on that today but I have fallen victim to the flu.  I have felt like trash for nearly a week but thought it mere fatigue but after a visit to the Dr today I was informed I was sick not just tired.  I have not had any other symptoms except a slight sore throat so that is why I did not realize I was more than tired.

Yesterday I did get to work on painting.  I am still adding to my new website

 and hope to have it ready for me to launch an extensive ad campaign to get it rolling.  Everything on it now is ready for purchase but I need more stock and I have some Personalized signs to add.

I definitely want to add more large art pieces,



More vintage farmhouse type signs



with a vintage fruit stand twist



and, of course, my stand by, covered in roses signs



I have had some comments from readers that were concerned I won’t continue my Learn to Paint series and I assure you I have more coming.  Next I had thought to do one on Sunflowers, then tulips and maybe some fruits and veggies.  Life just needs to settle a little then I can have some time to do that.  To do a quality tutorial (at least as good as I can get as I learn) it does take some time and concentration.

If you have not seen the series there is a tab in the navigation bar that will take you to what I have posted so far.

So now that I have updated you all somewhat I shall bid you adieu and take myself off to relax with a frivolous novel and hopefully with plenty of rest kick this flu bug. 

Until next time…

A Colorful Hand Painted Sign

My! what a week it has been.  I thought with the entrance of Fall and the cooler weather that things would slow down a bit but in that thinking I was in error.

I do have another painting lesson to add to our series but this week I was not able to get it done to my liking. 



I did manage to get a special order sign painted on Friday. It was a dark, rainy and chilly day but my studio was cozy and quiet.  A perfect retreat after a hectic week.  And I painted.



Today the sun shines with warmth, the chill that nipped at us yesterday is gone.  I took a walk in the garden to take photographs of the persistent blooms from summer.

I love this pink rose, I will print this shot and see if I can paint it, right down to the tiny water droplets on the petals.



Would you believe with all my rose painting I have yet to master painting the back of a rose?  I have tried and they never look right.  I will attempt it once again using this shot above for my model. 



I recently replaced the sad looking petunias in my window boxes with violas.  They will stay put all winter even under the snow then when the Spring sunshine warms them they will take off and become blooming fools. 

The window boxes sit on my deck rails and when I walk past all I smell is their sweet scent. 

I took plenty of shots of these too as I wish to paint from them.



The shading is so subtle and the whiskers so delicate it will take some practice, but I will do it. 



I have been watching some painting videos on You Tube lately.  Brazil seems to be big on fabric painting and there are some crazy lovely items that these ladies produce.

I think it has inspired me to try my hand again at fabric painting. 



I do enjoy painting my artful signs. Not just lettering, that is not fun for me but the colorful artistic signs are what float my boat.

I think maybe the table runners and pillow cases might be another avenue to enjoy my painting of flowers and romantic motifs. I have quite a few vintage linens that are considered cutters because of stains or holes so repurposing them into painted pillow covers or table runners may be the ticket. 

I have also dug back into my crochet basket, so many things I would like to do and only so much time. 

A familiar tune??



Fetilizer Friday 

Mid-September Garden on a crazy Monday

It has been a strange Monday.  First we woke at 3am and could not go back to sleep so at 4am we just gave up, got out of bed and headed for the coffee pot. 



I read emails and a few blogs while I sipped and waited for the sun to rise. 



I was starting on my third cup when I realized my desktop computer was going to revolt on me.  I restarted it many times until I finally got it to where I could back up what files were new enough that I knew they were not included in the last auto back up. 
Being faithful in backing up saved me a lot of headaches and work today!

Now I need to spend a few hours fixing it but not today.



I did manage to pick some ripe tomatoes and cook them down into sauce, it smelled so good it made me hungry for lasagna.
 


I let it cool and promptly slopped a good portion onto the floor as I tried to transfer a container to the freezer.  (sigh)



I nearly put my back out as I slid thru the slimy mess and my Birkenstocks will never be the same.  Yes, my feet were between the floor and the spilling sauce and I discovered it was not all that cool. 



I wiped up the mess and got the floor squeaky clean.

 I started dinner to discover the above mentioned sauce had overflowed while roasting in the oven, now as the oven preheated to cook our chipotle potato skins smoke billows out and sets off the alarm.



My husband no longer panics when the smoke alarm goes off, I tend to set it off quite regularly as I cook dinner. 



So what is a gal to do with such a day but toss in the towel, quit worrying about getting anything accomplished and head to the garden.



I dead head, gather seeds and tidy spent blooms.  The quiet tasks soothe the battered nerves.



I listen to the chink, chink, chink of falling pine cones as the squirrels snip them from the trees.  They shred them once they are on the ground to gather the nuts and stash them away for winter.  They have been very busy the past few weeks, it makes me wonder what kind of winter we shall have this year. 



My garden time brings me the peace I seek.  I check the chicks to be sure they are safe for the night and the hens are locked up tight before I head into the house.



Dusk falls early it seems. 

I have not forgotten my painting lessons.  Because of the aforementioned technical difficulties my next episode will only be slightly delayed but I promise I will post it soon. 



Just a preview. 

I hope you enjoyed my garden today and may it bring you a bit of peace on a crazy Monday.







Tootise Time