APRIL SHOWERS!

April showers bring May flowers!  Let that please be the truth!  It is raining here, a good steady soaking rain which anything growing in my yard is going to need because the soil in the flowerbeds around my house is bone dry - or it was yesterday!

I did get on my knees for about a couple of hours yesterday, working in the south facing rose garden.  I have six roses that have black rot, and I think they are gone - but I have left them for now.  I admit I know very little about growing roses, so if anyone has anything to share on this matter - please do.

Then I moved over to the other rose bushes in an adjacent bed.  These have fared much better, but then they are still well buried in quack at the roots. I spent an hour clearing the quack away from yet one more rose bush, and as you can see there is hope for this one, at least.  

 I am making progress, just have this quack left and then I will have completed this bed.

This is back-breaking and time-taking work.  On most of the bed I just dug it out with a garden fork, but here in the roses I have to pull and clean it by hand.  The quack root system is entwined with the roses and it is tedious work.  That one rose bush took almost an hour to clean around.

I have to say, even though I dislike quack with a passion - I do enjoy being out there on my hands and knees on a warm spring day, digging in the earth, finding treasures like the tiniest snake skull, listening to the Gold Finches and the Robins singing for all the world to hear, and talking to the plants.

Oh the things I tell them!

In yesterday's case there were apologies given, and promises made.  I am one who believes that plants respond to communication through speech.  I have heard so many people say that I can grow anything, or that I have a green thumb - not true at all folks.

A lot of the time I am the most ignorant of gardeners - but what I lack in knowledge, I make up for in love of the beauty that I might be encouraging; patience - which isn't always easy; and speech - I always talk to my plants - whether they be indoors or outside in the garden.

If there be a secret to growing things - that would be mine!

I can hear the rain pounding on the roof now - so I guess it is safe to say the rain has changed to a downpour.  Don't really need that much water - but it is what it is.  Spring IS here, and I have proof...

Tomato's, Rhubarb, Tulips, and I think Echinacea that was just a root when I found it tangled in some quack I pulled a few weeks ago - I knew the root was something other than quack, but didn't know what it might be until I potted it and it grew to a leaf I could recognize -  now I know....  A perennial saved!  Wonder what colour it will be when it grows up?

I also have lavender, Rosemary and Lemon Balm growing in pots - and ginger, from that little nub that started all on it's own...

So let the rains come - then let the grass grow green and tall, and the flowers stretch to the sun and produce beautiful blooms... and leave the dandelions of spring for our bees - they need this first food of spring - some wildflowers waving in the wind wouldn't hurt them either -

NOTE TO SELF, COMING RIGHT UP!

These sure have been busy days for me.  I have completed all the painting in the basement family room and surrounding areas, and now I am just in the process of decorating, hanging pictures and adding personal touches that speak my name.  

I have spent very little time in the family room since we have been in this house, but now it will be an area that will be wonderful to spend time in and entertain friends and family in.  I look forward to that!

Our basement is a weird space, there are several areas that could be used for many interesting things besides the family room itself...I painted these areas as well...now I just need to decide what purpose they will take.

Yesterday was so warm outside so Gary and I emptied out the shed to get it ready to be moved.  We fixed the broken BBQ, which has been taking up idle space in the shed since we have moved here, and I marked off the new location for the shed so there will be no questions needed when the time comes to move it!

I really wanted to spend some time on my knees in my flower gardens, but I had an upset tummy, so instead I painted the breezeway between the house and the garage....yes this too will be decorated into a " space"!

I did manage a walk around the flower gardens and I am alarmed to see black rot on most of the rose bushes.  I am heading out there soon to investigate further.  All the bushes were in very bad shape and I did cut them back last season in hopes to get them to come back from the root better.  I have new soil arriving next week to add to these beds so maybe if I work hard enough and give them the love and care they have been missing for years, I can coax them back to health!

We are expecting heavy rains over the next few days, but after that sunny warm weather.  I have mapped out my gardening plan for the next 6 weeks or so, and if I can accomplish half of what I mean to do...i most likely will walking with the aid of a cane, or in traction!

I am kidding, of course....I hope!  But are a lot of changes going to happen on our property this year... The challenge for me will be to keep in mind, that it might not all get done as quickly as I want it too.  I have a very bad habit of pushing myself to exhaustion until something is completed.

I will try to remember that I am retired and have time to enjoy my tasks and just enjoy who I am and where I am...

Did I tell you, that I applied for a job, and have an interview next Monday?

Another note to self, coming right up!

WHAT A WEEKEND!

We had a crazy weekend.  The craziness started on Friday morning, when I went into the bathroom to wash my hands.   When I shut the tap off, all of a sudden the pipes in the sink and toilet started shaking and pounding and making a horrible noise - and the water wasn't even on.

Gary rushed in and turned the water line off coming into the bathroom and then turned it back on again, and everything seemed fine - until he went downstairs.

I don't know what made him go into the closet in the spare room where the water meter is, but I am so very happy he did - a main pipe had burst and water was shooting everywhere.

We put a call into the plumber - (who think we need to put on speed dial - we have called him so much of late)-he came and replaced the pipe, flushed out the system, and all was fixed.

Saturday morning we got up early - I was on a mission to finish painting the basement family room and get that all put back together again before nice weather hits - and when I went into the bathroom - there was no water.

About an hour later there was a trickle, so I quickly washed my hair and had a bath and just as I was finishing the water went out again.

This was the big weekend in our town.  The Maple Syrup Festival was going on in venues all over town, and also at the Country Club across the highway and a little up the mountain.  When we called the emergency number for the Municipality we were told that there was a major water main break, and the whole town was without water.

We were without water all day until just before supper time.

And then there was the Snow!  We had the second and maybe even the third and fourth Alberta Clipper pass through here since late last week, and the strong gusty winds to go with it.  Thankfully most of the snow melted as it hit the ground.  Except the stuff that fell overnight last night.  We woke up to bright sunshine this morning - and everything covered in white!

And it's cold out there too,  This is more February weather, than April!  So much for the idea of spring!

I have plenty of inside work, so I went back to my painting project in the basement family room - it is looking pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.  I can't wait to decorate that space, and hopefully, finally, we will be inclined to sit a spell in our cozy pretty room!

I also found a few minutes to make a Doily Doll.  I had seen one on Pinterest awhile ago and saved it to my doll board, and then forgot about it.  I was browsing through there on Saturday morning, saw it again, and decided to make one of my own.  First I had to crochet a doily - which I did...

Here is my first little Doily Doll.  There are a couple of things I might do differently the next time, but for a first effort, I think I can be pleased with her.

Saturday marked a full month without my Molly.  I realized that I have not gone for a walk since she has been gone.  Today I am starting back on my walks - gonna take my camera along to talk to as I walk - or maybe I will just talk to myself ( wouldn't be the first time).  Molly would want me to get walking - we enjoyed our walking time together so much - but it has become the one thing I have avoided since she has been gone.  I might have to wear those snow boots - but I will be walking today.

So time to get this day started!  Have a good one!

THE TRAIN HAS STOPPED!

SO - there must be a brilliant saying somewhere about intentions - I know there is, I have heard it - but don't care to remember it at the moment.

For starters, I am looking out my window from my desk upstairs in my attic, and I need sunglasses.  The bright white SNOW is glaring me in the face from the sun room roof, right outside my window.  Do you recall my post last week about working so hard in the garden and loving every minute of it?

Just a memory now...

This is such a let down, on so many levels.  We were supposed to have our 6 pine trees removed yesterday - and the big old crocked cement step to the back door as well.  The young fella was bringing me 2 yards of top soil, and he was going to remove all the soil from the area where the pine trees were and put nice new soil from his property on it for me.  I was even going to try and sweet-talk him into moving my shed the few feet I need it to be moved.

No wonder I am in a funk!

Here I sit staring at a glaring bright white roof, and I have no blinds to pull.  Gonna have to get Gary to put the mini blinds back up on this window.

"ACH"!  Is all I have to say!  That is a direct quote from my Auntie Annie - Bless her Soul, she always made me chuckle when she did that!

So because I was in a complete funk, and flat- out refused to put on my snow boots, I didn't go to the Re-opening of the Uniques and Antiques shop yesterday.  So There!  I showed em all, and spent the majority of my day wallowing in my self-pity on Pinterest!

I did sort my material scraps into piles according to colour, and they are all neatly ready waiting on the little bed in the nook in case I should get the itch to make more mug rugs!

This morning I got out of bed at 7am, had breakfast and headed up to my studio.  I have been doing all the hand stitched embroidery on the mug rugs that were waiting, so now I have 7 ready to be quilted, which I will do just as soon as I post this piece.

What got me going?

There is nothing that gets me out of a funk quicker than hearing that a friend is having difficulty in some way.  This particular friend is a fellow craft buddy and doll collector, who suffers severe back pain.  I want to do something special for her, so where else would I head - but to the studio!

I am just realizing that perhaps I have discovered one of the reasons that I have always been able to weather things so well - I worked in the medical field for over 40 years - I saw people worse off than myself every day... it kept me focused, not on myself - but on others.  This might also be the reason I enjoy my time playing for the residents at the nursing home here so much - I am focused on their happiness - not my own.

This past month, I have only focused on my own self - my grief over loosing my precious Molly  - which was major to me, but I haven't weathered this loss well at all - because my thoughts have been on myself.

So - note to self - Focus more on others, and less on myself...GOT IT!

And I know just the right place to start!

STOP THE TRAIN - I NEED TO GET OFF!

I have been avoiding my craft room since Easter weekend.  Not sure why that is, but I go up there, turn on the lights, walk around in a daze, turn off the lights and head downstairs.

I think it might have something to do with having too many projects started and not finished.  This is my flaw.  I start something, and while I am doing that, my mind is on two or three more of a different variation of what I started, and then my mind adds different ideas - expands and expands until I am way beyond what I originally started.

This is what has happened to the applique quilt projects that I had started.  I started with one small wall hanging for my main floor guest room - then I discovered mug rugs - I started with one free pattern and from there went to many many more patterns of my own that I designed from colouring books.  I have at least 14 cut out and piled on my cutting table - 7 or eight that need a little embroidery, and 3 ready to be quilted.

And fabric on every surface of my upstairs craft area... so much so - that I am repelled by it all!

So my mind switches to primitive work.  Primitive sheep, primitive signs, primitive everything!  I go to Pinterest - and it begins anew...

Oh boy oh boy - I am my own worst enemy!

What to do?

Well for starters I have to clean up fabric everywhere, and put it away.  Then maybe I should go back to January's stitching projects which are in a cabinet in the sun room on the main floor.

Good plan - I am going to go back to January and work my way forward...

Trouble is the first next nice spring day - and I will be outside again and forget all about any kind of indoor projects.

But first - I have to check out the newly re-opened Uniques and Antiques shop in town - today!  The owner has been posting pictures of her inventory on her Face Book page all week... yup  - gonna go there today.

Then I will go back to January... or not!

REPURPOSE FRIDAY FOR KIDS!

Happy April Fool's Day!  If you play a joke on someone today - make it a nice one!

I want to continue with the Repurpose Friday Posts this week, and this week I am focusing my finds on Repurposing ideas that can be done by and with children.

So many of my friends have grandchildren that love to do crafts - so this was my inspiration today.

But first I want to show you the horrendous quack roots I was struggling with a day or so ago.  My aches still have not disappeared, thanks to this lot.  I am happy to say that after I finish cleaning one more large flower bed, I should have rid all the gardens on the property of this nuisance - at least for the time being.  I am not naive enough to believe they will stay gone, but I won't be letting them take control of my garden as was the case here before we moved in.

So, now on to RePurpose Friday for the kids.  Hope there is something here that all the Mom's and Grandparents can use to while away a rainy afternoon with the kids - and have something hand-made to treasure for days to come.

Here we go....

I

I love these sun catchers, simply made with only three things - in fact if I can find the clear Elmers Glue, I am making some of these for my own garden.  These would be perfect for Mother's Day.
http://www.hometalk.com/12096627/diy-sun-catchers-yogurt-lid-easy



Next up  -Adorable planters made from Pop bottles.  Adults would have to cut the bottles, but the kids could do the rest... adorable!

http://hative.com/fun-and-creative-container-gardening-ideas/?utm_content=bufferb9869&utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest.com&utm_campaign=buffer


Here's another item for Mom or Grandma's Garden made from things you can find around the house, except maybe the wood slice - but I am sure that Grandmas everywhere could be creative and use something else as a substitute for the wood slice if they didn't have one lying around.  Another adorable project!

http://www.houseofhawthornes.com/diy-wood-slice-owl/



This super project could be so much fun - dollar store frames would be perfect for this one.

http://buggyandbuddy.com/crafts-for-kids-homemade-bird-feeders-using-frames/






Some markers, some old CD's and some string - Voila!  So pretty!












http://happyhooligans.ca/colourful-cd-sun-catchers/




And last but not least - Every Mom or Grandma needs some of these in her kitchen - you never know when you will need to clamp aside a curtain - or better yet - these would make a great bookmark...





















http://www.frugalfanatic.com/caterpillar-clothes-pin-craft-tutorial/#_a5y_p=786296


HAVE FUN CRAFTING WITH YOUR LITTLES -

and remember -


The smile on your face is the light in the window
That tells people that you are home.

-unknown

QUACK, QUACK, QUACK!

We had another beautiful day here yesterday - you will never guess where I spent it!

Of course you will - I was outside again for most of the day.

I decided to tackle one of the large south-facing flower beds that I have yet to work.  This bed has at least 6 rose bushes in it, all were in deplorable condition last fall, so I cut them all back -  quite severely actually.  Surrounding the roses is quack - so thickly entwined in the roots of the roses that I decided spring when the soil was softer, would be a better time to try and remove it - so I left it.  There was also a perennial of some sort that resembles an evergreen bush that had completely gone wild.  So this was my project for the day.

I dug out all the evergreen, which also was in half of the large planter which runs the full length on the front of the house.   Then I started on the quack.

Oh my aching shoulders and arms this morning!  The roots of the quack were at least 12 inches down and I was pulling up huge mats of it once I dug deep enough.

But happy to say, I now have a beautifully clean and worked south facing flower bed that is just waiting for new varieties to come and live there.  The roses are not looking very happy but I will leave them alone and let them enjoy the freedom of quack tangling their roots for awhile.

I was working so hard, not really paying attention to the world around me, when something landed on the ground beside me and grabbed one of the big juicy earthworms that I had dug up.  I was so excited to see a Robin that I am afraid I let out a screech and scared the poor fellow away.

But I made up for it by hanging a bunch of string and yarn on the plum tree, and cutting some fine twigs and leaving them on the park bench.  Hope  he accepts my apology!

Then I started to listen, they were making such a racket - all the birds.  Finch were singing with gusto, the Robins were having some sort of convention in the fir tree that we are having removed, and a Hawk was circling and either he or an owl was screeching.   What pure delight!  Birdsong on a beautiful March morning!

Of course this morning there is a bit of overnight snow back on the ground, but it is March after all.

Who can be sad about a bit of snow when Robins are singing in the trees out your window!

I will leave you with a little verse from my Mom's "Apples of Gold" book.  This was in the section entitled Joy.

It is easy to be pleasant

When life flows by like a song.

But the man worth while is one who will smile,

When everything goes dead wrong.

For the test of the heart is trouble,

And it always comes with the years,

And the smile that is worth the praises of earth

Is the smile that shines thru the tears.

-unknown