Five Years

Today I am thinking about Judson and Isaac and Laura and Kathy and 

Lori and Emma  and all the family across the miles. 

 Such a beautiful snow yesterday!  Much of it has melted already.  We're almost through February--comin' up on the homestretch towards spring!

Mostly Cloudy, High 45

Have you ventured out into the garden lately?  It's so wet out there!  And such a mess!  A big, wet, muddy, glorious mess :)

Book Review

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin was such a good story.  A little bit mystery, southern small town in the late 70s, terrific characters, an ending that was sad and surprising and a relief all at the same time.  Quick easy read that was interesting from the very first sentence.  Definitely recommend this one.

I just read Jeff Kass' book on Columbine.  I also read Dave Cullen's a while back.  Why both, I'm not sure, but I just felt like I should read them.  I often think about our volunteer experience after the NIU shooting.  It was three years ago this Valentine's Day.  I wonder how those kids, the faculty and  staff are doing, and of course, why. . .

Next on my list?  Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand.  It's #1 on the amazon list right now.   Let's see why everybody's reading that one!

New Collar Days

Lilla and G Dog have new collars!  They've been wearing the same old worn-out collars ever since they came to live with us.  Not that we haven't shopped for new collars before, we have.  All the big chain stores have the same old same old.  Some of our funky little gift shops have fun collars too, but they're almost always for little dogs.  So we found Gracie Lou Kangaroo on Etsy!  Pink camo for Lilla, blue for G Dog :)  Great service, very nice quality.  Thank You GLK!!

Birthday Boots

Betsy & her friend Rachel have the cutest boots!

Need a Consult Here

I made this one at Christmas, for my friend Tami whose favorite flower is bird-of-paradise.   I've had it hanging around ever since and I still can't decide.  Eric Buterbaugh would say it is a big hot mess.  I've photographed it over and over, tweaked it here and there,  tried it outside on the house to see how it looked from a distance,  and still I go back and forth.  Will she like it, or should I take it apart and start over?

Is it Spring Yet?

We have snow piled up everywhere!  

But there's a thaw on the way :-)

Second Cousins Betsy & Lucy

Aren't they beautiful?!?

Betsy LoVeD hanging out with Lucy!

Betsy!

My Little Kyle Boy :)

We're Home from the Monkey Party!

It was a wonderful visit with our little monkeys :)

Blizzard!

Mark & Lilla

shrub off the front porch

Snow Man  and his dogs :)

welcome sight

Happy Birthday Kyle!

 

Our little Kyle man is a whole year old today!  Happy happy birthday :)  

Our Kyle was a groundhog's day baby.  I hear that Phil, the official groundhog, did NoT see his shadow this morning, so maybe we'll have an early spring.  Sounds good right now as we are snowed in with the blizzard of 2011.  Mark has been snow-blowing for more than an hour already and I'm still not sure when we'll be able to get to work.  All county roads closed.  Huge drifts everywhere.  And the wind/cold is fierce.  Hope you're warm and dry and safe where you are.

Green & White

This morning, we had a sliver of sunshine; but now we're in the middle of an ice/snow storm.  Twelve to 18 inches predicted tomorrow.  The house is full of  fun green & white flowers from the bridal show. I took a jillion pictures there, and now I'm a little bleary-eyed from  all the cropping and readjusting.  Watch for the links to see more.   Hoping with all my flower friends that  the snow storms are  over and gone by Valentine's Day. 

Happy Birthday Betsy!

She's ThReE! today.  This many, as she's showing you here.  Rachel said she asked Betsy what she wanted for her birthday and she replied, "I want to make a wish and blow it out."

This little arrangement was made with Betsy in mind.  I found the container when I was taking classes at Richland and we were all still waiting for her to be born.  Three whole years.  Three really really really good years <3

Tuesday Flowers

There is a flower industry campaign that talks about using flowers to help cut down on clutter.  Their advice is to put some flowers in a place that usually collects clutter--like my nightstand here--and see if it helps to prevent further build up.  Well,  I do have to say that I haven't added anything else to the nightstand since I put the vase there, so it really works!  But please don't look on the floor below . . . 

Winter Monday

It's beautiful out there.  I read something somewhere that all this white makes every little bit of green seem so much greener.  So true. 

Wednesday Vase

Roses and alstro--one of my favorite combos . . .  So far keeping my resolution to keep flowers in the house--at least til spring when the garden starts blooming again.  

Sent off a couple of  seed orders.  Still need to order some sweet pea seeds.  I've been ordering from this company for years, but I just realized they have a flower shop too!   

Unfortunately my sweet pea harvest hasn't been so great the last couple of years.  This time I'm going to try winter sowing  on the back porch to get them going sooner.  I still remember PJ's September sweet peas.  How did she do that? 

And if this year's crop doesn't make, thank goodness I can call up one of my florist friends and order enough sweet peas to give me my annual fix :)

Is It Spring Yet?

I've been here before.  And swore I wouldn't do it again.  But here, I am--overwintering coleus that I just couldn't bear to lose when the frosts came.  Especially the Alabama Sunset in the back.  And if I was going to keep it, might as well throw a few more in there-- the maidenhair fern, the cyclamen, and  the orchid.   Why the orchid?  I don't know.  There's no way it will eVeR bloom again.   But here it is, being babied through the winter in a dark cold basement with only a few hours of artificial light a day.  So far, they don't look too bad, but it is such a mess!

and look at those scissors!  I call them my santa scissors cause they were under the Christmas tree.  And they cut through the toughest stems like butter :)  Okay, wish all these little plants luck.  Hope they make it through the winter.