Love This Bookshelf!!!

Love, Love, Love this...

Happy Thanksgiving!

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; 

and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." 

~G.K. Chesterton~

 Happy Thanksgiving!!! O give thanks unto the Lord, 

for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever. 

Psalm 136:1

“Thanks to God for My Redeemer”

~August L. Storm~, 1891

Thanks for fair and pleasant springtime
Thanks for dark and stormy fall
Thanks for tears by now forgotten
Thanks for grace, Thy sovereign call

Thanks for roses by the wayside
Thanks for thorns their stems contain
Thanks for home and thanks for fireside
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain

Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure
Thanks for comfort in despair
Thanks for grace that none can measure
Thanks for love beyond compare
Thanks to God for my Redeemer
Thanks for all Thou dost provide
Thanks for blood poured out to save me
Thanks for wounded hands and side

Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered
Thanks for what Thou dost deny
Thanks for storms that I have weathered
Thanks for all Thou dost supply
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow
Thanks that Thou will all redeem
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow
Thanks through all eternity

HT:  A Hymn For Thanksgiving

The Real Pilgrim Story

Journey to Scrooby, A Thanksgiving Pilgrimage

Free Thanksgiving Printables:

Thanksgiving Cupcake Toppers

Blessed Thanksgiving Banner

Give Thanks Tags

Give Thanks Banner

Count Your Blessings Card

Notes of Thankfulness

Thanksgiving Printable Activity

Autumn is slipping away and I'm still back in July. With the time change, shorter days and the holidays just around the corner, I won't be able stay there much longer but harvesting my Calendula lets me play a bit longer. Yesterday I harvested Calendula seeds. Yes, I'm already making plans for my garden next Spring.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about harvesting some of my Calendula to learn how to make my own homemade infused Calendula oil with flowers and herbs from my garden. This is my first attempt. I want to use to oil to make my own salve/cream.

All that's needed to make Calendula Oil is: Calendula blossoms, clean jar with lid, scissors (optional) and Olive Oil (or oil of your choice: sunflower oil, almond oil--I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil because it's a pure plant oil and has a longer shelf life at room temperature). This experiment is the "Cold Infusion" method:

Step 1 Pick the new, just in their peak, clean blossoms in the morning AFTER the dew has evaporated and it isn't too warm. They're freshest then. Pinch off or cut off the stems so just the blossom tops remain.

Step 2 Put the blossoms in a clean, dry jar.

Step 3 Pour Olive Oil over the blossom so they are completely submerged. Securely tighten the lid, label and date, store in a warm place 4 to 6 weeks.

Now the waiting begins. They'll gradually shrink and release their wonderful antibacterial, anti-viral and antioxidant properties into the oil. Soon the oil will be ready for the next step.

A bit of History:

Linnaeus assigned a narrower limit to the expansion of its flowers, observing that they are open from nine in the morning till three in the afternoon. This regular expansion and closing of the flowers attracted early notice, and hence the plant acquired the names of solsequia and solis sponsa.

There is an allusion to this peculiarity in the poems of Rowley:
'The Mary-budde that shooteth (shutteth) with the light.'

the above from: A Modern Herbal 

Disclaimer: I am not a certified medical or herbalist professional of any kind and I am not qualified to give any one medical advice. My goal is merely sharing my interests and life; hoping it will perhaps inspire some one else in the beauty of the created natural world and the "Hidden Homemaking Arts" - not to consult any one on medical or herbal treatment.

One Of My Favorite Herbs: Calendula officinalis

October's Birth Flower is the Calendula (Pot Marigold or Poet's Marigold or Mary's Gold), one of my favorites. The name "calendula" comes from the Latin word kalendae, which means the day of the new moon. Our word "calendar" is a derivative. It's really cultivated as a herb and has antibacterial, anti-viral and antioxidant properties. It is also extremely high in A and C vitamins, carotenoids and natural flavonoids, natural iodine, carotene, and manganese, which promote skin cell regeneration. Dried petals are used for making creams, lotions, tinctures, teas and poultices and can help heal burns, cuts, rashes, chapped and/or dry skin and insect bites. But anyone having allergies to plants in the daisy or aster family, including chrysanthemums and ragweed, may also have allergic reactions to Calendula so it would not be good for them.

Right now I have some ready to use to make my own Calendula salve but more on that later. Calendula is one of the EASIEST plants I grow in my garden. It's very tolerant of poor soil and one of the greatest things is that it reseeds itself in the spring.

Even after a couple of hard frosts my Calendula (Orange Zinger and Red Splash) is still blooming. These are photos I took a few days ago in the garden. I have both orange and yellow. They're such sunny, cheerful flowers!

Inside, in a vase, for my windowsill:

". . . the Marigold that goes to bed wi’ th’ sun,
And with him rises weeping . . ."
~William Shakespeare~


Disclaimer: I am not a certified medical or herbalist professional of any kind and I am not qualified to give any one medical advice. My goal is merely sharing my interests and life; hoping it will perhaps inspire some one else in the beauty of the created natural world and the "Hidden Homemaking Arts" - not to consult any one on medical or herbal treatment.

The Pumpkin...

What moistens the lips, and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past like the rich pumpkin pie?

~John Greenleaf Whittier~ 

"The Pumpkin"

October Is The Month Of Painted Leaves...

"October is the month of painted leaves. 

Their rich glow now flashes around the world. 

As fruit and leaves, and the day itself acquire a bright 

tint just before they fall, so the year near its setting. 

October is its sunset sky. November the later twilight."
~Henry David Thoreau~

Summer Passes Into Autumn...

"That night was the turning point in the season. We had gone to bed in summer, and we awoke in autumn; for summer passes into autumn in some imaginable point of time like the turning of a leaf."
~Henry David Thoreau~

Not far from my home...

The Leaves Are Falling, Falling As If From Far Up...

The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up,

as if orchards were dying high in space.

Each leaf falls as if it were motioning "no."

And tonight the heavy earth is falling

away from all other stars in the loneliness.

We're all falling. This hand here is falling.

And look at the other one. It's in them all.

And yet there is Someone, whose hands

infinitely calm, holding up all this falling.

~Rainer Maria Rilke~

Sunlit Yellow Autumn Days....

Twilight Landscapes

Softly the evening came. The sun from the horizon
Like a magician extended his golden wand o’er the landscape;
Twinkling vapors arose; and sky and earth and forest
Seemed all on fire at the touch and melted and mingled together.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~
from Evangeline

 

Autumn - Winter Reading

Ok, my dear Bibliophile family/friends, here's my stack of books for my Autumn-Winter 2012-13 Reading. What are all of you reading? 

Autumn is continuing to be more colorful every day. My husband and I are enjoying our walks at our neighborhood part where there are beautiful Mums in my favorite color: YELLOW!!!

Catching Up & Some Art From Claudine Hellmuth's Online Class

I'm way behind but I wanted to post some of the art I did for Claudine Hellmuth's online composition class back in August. I really enjoyed her class and she is a wonderful teacher, very easy to talk with. She views each comment, art piece and gives her thoughts and ideas.

"Spring Is Here"

"You and Me"

"On the Alert for Spring"

"Spring Beauty"

"Awful Tired of Keeping Still"

"Sundry Persons"

My sis is doing better, I'm settling in at my new job and now I'm doing some Autumn cleaning, getting back to routine again. It's starting to be a beautiful Autumn in my area. Happy Autumn!

Autumn & Pumpkin Season Is Upon Us!!!

I haven't had any time to post or work on my art. My dear sis has been in the hospital with heart problems needing stints and pacemaker. So between helping her, my 82 year old mother and keeping up with my new job I have limited time. There are many difficult decisions ahead to make about my Sis and Mom's living arrangements, the possibility of moving them to a place closer to me, tons of work to help them move if that is necessary. The beautiful season of Autumn and pumpkins is upon us....changing again. I hope to return soon. :-)

Claudine Hellmuth's Online Composition Class Week 1

Last week I started Claudine Hellmuth's online composition class at Big Picture Class. It's my first online class and I am enjoying it very much. Claudine shares techniques for creating better composition in collage and art work. Her class includes printable transcripts, audio/video lessons, many wonderful images to download to experiment with and a message board to talk with her and the other participants. It's so fun to see all the other collages. Already I am looking at my art differently. I'm going back and looking at older pieces to see ways they could have been better too.

With starting my new job it's taking me a bit longer but I finally finished my "asymmetrical" collage homework for her class. I titled it "Tomato Preserves" - the photo of the lady is Claudine's but I had some images of tomatoes, canning jars, inventory sheet that worked well. I've been wanting to make a personal family recipe book so this may very well be the start of it or the cover.

"Tomato Preserves"

The New Direction Is ...

A new job! I start tomorrow with Orientation at 9:00a.m. After eleven months working at a large, well known, one-stop, retail company I'll be working for a smaller, more local (Meijer) but growing retail company, one that I have been trying to get in to for two years! My timing has been off, I'd get my app in just at the tail end when the positions had been filled but they hadn't taken the job off the online site. Around the first week of July I spoke with a couple of employees to find out they were hiring again, updated my application as soon as I got home, just at the right time. I went through my 3 interviews in 6 days, gave my 2 week notice with Aug 5th being my last day. So, once again, I am in transition and will be taking time to adjust to my new job.

On a different note, today I stopped at a thrift store and found a wonderful book, one of my favorite picture books from when my daughters were very young. Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World, A Giant Golden Book with a copyright of 1971. It isn't in the best of shape, the spine is missing but I couldn't pass it up and I know I won't let go of it. It's a keeper for our home library, even though my girls and I are long past the time for actually sitting down to read Richard Scarry's books! I love the illustrations ...

 

 

 

AND this week I am also starting Claudine Hellmuth's online composition class. Next week I'll be starting my personal history and word study again. Looking forward to some exciting events, my new direction!

Change Of Direction Again!

The past three weeks have been pleasantly eventful and once again passed by all too quickly. My life is taking another direction in just about five days. I haven't had much time for art, my etsy shop is on hold for a while, I've been doing a little bit of decluttering, AND my husband and I are discussing/making some re-arrangement of our retirement plans. The only thing more I can say for now is I'm still hibernating in my air conditioning except for the few days of cooler temps and limiting my time outdoors still in early morning to check on my garden. It's doing great. My Sunflowers have grown 10 to 12 feet high with the flowers just beginning to show. Some of those green heirloom Tomatoes are finally turning into beautiful, orange-red ripe Tomatoes!

I'm counting down the days! 5 days............ 

Evidence Of Garden Growth In 10 Days Time!

The garden has grown at a fantastic rate of speed with my watering and all this heat! This first picture was taken in the morning June 28th, the day before the storm went through. The Sunflowers along the West privacy fence are only a couple feet tall and below the middle wooden cross bar of the fence. The dwarf Sunflowers in the flower pots in bottom right of photo are barely noticeable among the Violas. The Tomatoes in the Circular Square Foot Garden are about even in height as the Sunflowers:

This picture below was taken just a few minutes ago, only ten days later. I haven't been able to sit out on my back patio until today. Finally there's a brief, bit of relief from the heat! The Sunflowers along the West privacy fence are around five to five and a half feet tall! The dwarf Sunflowers in the flower pots in bottom right of photo are about two feet tall towering over the Violas. The Tomatoes in the Circular Square Foot Garden are about four to five feet tall now:

How grows your garden?

Garden Is Surviving, First Harvest!

Even in this extreme heat and weather, my watering has helped my garden stay green and it is "growing" - surviving. Within a week's time since the storm passed through, the flowers that love this type of weather, like the Sunflowers, have grown 2-2 1/2 feet! So has my Cucumber.

The first blossoms on all my Tomato plants have grown into nice fruit that are starting to ripen and the plant itself continues to grow tall, almost 2 more feet BUT there aren't many more blossoms and I'm afraid if the heat doesn't change and get cooler they won't be able to set more fruit. I don't have any corn in my garden but the farmers in the area are having a difficult time with the hot, dry conditions. The corn has entered the pollination phase and if it doesn't get cooler soon it may not set enough pollen for effective pollination, which means no real crop.

This week in the garden, first harvest:

 

 

 

I'm With The Birds - Staying In The Shade (Air Conditioning)!!!

How things changed only one day after my post last Thursday June 28th! On Friday, the 29th, a severe thunderstorm, the DERECHO (bow echo) went through the area causing major damage and power outages. I did not make in to work. We were without power until late this past Tuesday night, July 3rd. The power company has been working non-stop since then and was close to having almost all the power restored when another storm came through again last night causing more power outages, for some who had just got their power back on that day. This is what my swing looked like after the storm - the seat is bent now with a slant to the left but we can still swing:

There are lots of trees down in our area, with over 500 trees city wide damaged or completely down. These are only a FEW of the trees a couple blocks away from us which contributed to our power outage.

Now, today we are experiencing the extreme, intense heat dome with the current temperature of 100 and moving on up with the *possible* 102-104 temp. A cloud cover may help keep it a couple degrees lower. I don't even want to talk "feels like" heat index because it's all way to hot for me. I get heat sickness and have not felt well/myself all week and we have air conditioning in the house and van. While there was a small bit of rain to the east of us we have had no rain in all of this. I'm continuing to water my vegetables and flowers but I'm not staying outside. I'm letting my hose and sprinkler do it. I'm with the birds, in the shade (air conditioning)!

Still Here In Scorching, Desert-like Drought Conditions!!!

Wow! Time has flown by, two and a half months! I've been busy at work, at my Mom's, and out in the back yard getting my flowers and garden started. BUT being out side in the day is coming to a halt while the scorching, desert-like drought is here. I'm only out in the early morning to check my plants and water them, then hibernating inside the rest of the day until time to go to work. Right now it is 106 degrees, feels like 112 degrees with the next week or more in the 90's still!

A peek into my backyard and garden. Over in what I call my "East" Garden, which I don't have a picture of right now, I have Sunflowers, Cosmos, Spider Plants, Marigolds, Forget-Me-Not, Calendula, Zinnias, Daisies, Poppies, Bachelor Buttons, Nasturtium, an Old Fashioned Garden mix and herbs all starting from seeds.

This year I'm experimenting with Square Foot Gardening in the Round - I have 15 Heirloom Tomato plants in the circle: 6 Berkeley Tie-die, 6 Solar Flare, 2 Green Zebra and 1 Box Car Willie. Along the "West" Garden privacy fence I have 4 Cherry/Grape Tomato plants: 1 each of  Snow White, Yellow Pear, Peacevine and Rosalita with 12 Mammoth Sunflowers AND my daughter's hanging Strawberry pots. I'm also experimenting with using Marigolds and Basil around my Tomatoes as pest control and companion planting.

Isn't this a gorgeous Tomato blossom in the picture below? It almost looks like a small Sunflower!

Gardening in desert, drought conditions is something I haven't done since 1988 so I'm hoping my Tomatoes and flowers make it through! How is your garden doing/growing in these conditions?

Little Fabric Houses

I've continued to work of fabric flowers and have lots of scrap left. I love to use up fabric scraps in other projects so I wanted to see what I could make with them -- sewn and glued on cardboard, similar to "inchies" but NOT exact inchie size:

"Little Fabric Houses"

Spring Beauties!

Spring is on my mind a lot, of course, especially the new, soft greens just appearing around the yard. They are the inspiration for my little "Spring Beauties" I've been working on. I used some of my old post cards and library rental cards for the background. They're displayed in my dining room right now.

 

 

 

 

"I am on the alert for the first signs of Spring"

~Henry David Thoreau~

A Giveaway!

My art friend Patty, from This My Blessed Life, is having a giveaway: "My Trash Your Treasure". To be entered in her giveaway, leave a comment at her blog about turning your last "trash" into a "treasure" then to get additional entries become a "follower" and/or post on your own blog. Simple as that!