Sunday Sundown

 Good evening from the Potting Shed.

This was my view watching the sun go down during 

evening chores.  So often I almost miss the  beauty 

and chase  after it trying  to get a good  shot before it dips behind the trees.  

You'd think you'd have a fair bit of time... but it leaves so quickly!

Then it's just gone... 

Speaking of "gone"-- 

Glady's Kravitz is gone too. 

I write that with a heavy heart and I know some 

will find that funny .. and that's okay.  ---they didn't know her.   

We got Gladys as a chicklet from Murray McMurray hatchery 7-8 years ago I think.. and she's the last of that whole batch.  

Her name was perfect for her because she was just  the snoopiest hen.  

I remember when we knocked the old barn down there she was right in our way 

standing around the rubble wanting to know what was going on.  

So many times she'd waddle into the greenhouse to visit me.  

I will really miss that.  Her beautiful green eggs too.  

Now she's buried  behind the chicken coop under the cedars.  

Goodbye sweet old hen.  

:( 

 As I finished burying her I  looked out and saw this.  

It was such a beautiful day.  

 We have new additions on the farm as well....

Five new bunbuns.  

I don't know where all the black comes from? 

The Momma was running free (she's orange) 

and the buck is orange too.  Unless a wild rabbit is the dad- 

but they don't look cottontailed at all.  Who knows?

I was glad I managed to catch the Momma and babies though.  

She had dug a hole underneath the rooster pen and had them in there!  

I was going to leave them  but the cats figured out how to 

crawl through the hole into the pen!  -That was almost a deeeee-saster.  

Cat and birds, and baby bunnies don't mix well.

So..  I finished the girl I was painting the other day

and wanted to add her into my book.  

 I had already tea stained and ironed vintage muslin and ironed it to 

freezer paper- cutting it to the size of a sheet of copy paper.. so

I ran it through my printer and now have her image on fabric.  

I tore it to fit my book but only clipped it in coz might do 

something different with it.  I'm thinking I'll stitch all my favorite 

antique lace pieces all over it and maybe some sari ribbon to zing it up.  

Time will tell... 

I also had this photo of my grandgirl in my phone.  

Last week she stuck that heart sticker on her nose and also put

hearts  all over our dog Francois.  So she had to be included on this page.  

I printed her on a sheet of vellum and wrote a love note to her under the photo. 

I liked what it said on the opposite page so much... -- it talks about giving her my treasures.

Wouldn't you know just last week she discovered my ginormous button jar and 

fell in love with all those buttons?!! Yeehaw!   So far she loves to dig in junk too.  

Take her out in the shed and she will pilfer through rusty crusty stuff and love every second.  

Oh I do hope she always sees the beauty in life.   

I sign off with a flower from my weekend with 

these words:

Small steps 

every day my dear.

This is a reminder to me- 

and maybe you as well?  

Until we meet again...

xoxo

A New Book, And Inspiration To Write

May 3rd,

Today I jumped into my second hand book The Vein of Gold. 

I enjoyed The Artist's way so much that I found this one by the same author

on Ebay. 

From time to time, I'll share how it's going. 

If you're on Goodreads; please friend me!  I'll be sharing my progress over there

and would love to see what you're reading as well. 

For this year's  reading challenge; I signed up for 15 books. 

Hope to get through more than that but fifteen felt fairly safe. 

In the book by Julia Cameron; the author encourages  writing

morning pages?  I got in the habit of that during the Artist Way.

Reading and writing are passions of mine. 

Got to thinking about that just today when my Gram came to mind.

I guess the older I get; the more and more of her I see in me?

She too loved to read and write.

 

 One year at Christmas time I gave her this little notebook. 

Then after her funeral  I was given  it back so today I decided to start filling it up.

Holding it ... I remembered  seeing it on her lap at the last birthday party

I was able  to be with her. 

There's  not a lot of writing in it but "some."

Pages have been torn out too. 

This page however got me.
It went hand in hand with my reading today.

I wonder if she started a guest list for her birthday party that I remember

this very book on her lap? 

Because Gram didn't waste things... she often  reused them. 

Here she scratched one thought off... and started another.  Like I do. 

She doodled around numbers... while she thought like I would have-

and still do. 

This is an insert I got ready for this month's morning pages. 

Morning pages are about writing whatever comes to your mind.

 Your grocery list, a guest list, what you're hungry for, if you're  mad at someone, or happy about something or if your feet hurt or ideas that spark.   You write the

"thoughts that enter your mind."  -- just like Gram wrote. 

Funny how that little handwritten scrawl of my Grandmothers inspired me so much today. 

It made me "want" to write and write with

wild abandon- like she did. 

Seeing Gram's notebook next to mine.. shakes me up inside.
She's still inspiring me to 

WRITE

With wild abandon,

xoxo

St Patrick's Day

Hey there friends,

It's been so long since I've written.  Sorta feels like I'm just

 typing into the wild blue yonder.  

So yall have something green on?

Can't say as I do.  No cabbage or green jello or any of that jazz on 

tonight's menu either.  

What an olde fuddyduddy huh?  

It feels sooo good however- especially  with these  shots of Spring upon us.

This week it's been up in the 80's at times but

here we are now looking at a weekend with a possible freeze in the forecast.

As of yesterday the Wisteria was close to leafing out; I hadn't checked it yet today.

The peonies... my "Mommas" peonies no less; are up and growin like weeds.

So there we go once again; that big fat dilemma.

Do I get my panties in a wad and do my level best to covering  everything

with old sheets, tarps, buckets, flower pots... milk jugs... ---yall know how it is!!!

Who else out there dotes and coddles her  beloved peonies?  

 I can't just "let" these succumb to frost.  I have to 

at least try to bundle them up and keep them warm.  

It's what any good PeonyMomma surely does???  

So I'll be tuning in to channel 5 to  see if  olde Garrett our weather man says, " bring those plants inside..."

If he does; .... well then  pots and buckets and tents of sheets  

will attest that indeed this gardener "tried."  

 Looking across the board I know alot of you have also been having

extra warm days.  Perhaps you too have been cleaning up your gardens and old sheds?

This door on our greenhouse has had peeling paint for over a year now so finally

got the gumption to scrape it off and give it a fresh coat of bark brown.  

Then set about cleaning the whole place.  Every winter it's quite a catch all,

so it felt really good to get some junk tossed,  and then spent hours with a shop vac suckin up 

mouse droppings,  dead bugs, leaves and mud dobber nests. 

 At the end of one day out there, I walked inside and 

the sunlight was shining through one window in the greenhouse 

right onto this Jesus painting again.  I've seen it happen a couple times

before but when you're standing there "seeing" it... well;

it's just pretty awesome.  

 Getting everything spruced up out here gave me  new inspiration to spend time

writing and painting in the greenhouse. 

 It's so peaceful to watch the birds at the feeders and birdbath 

and sketch or take pictures of visitors.  

 Got some  planning and daydreaming done too  in this  new Sparrow.  

Leather traveler's notebooks have  become a new passion of mine and 

this one is a big A5 size to jot down all my garden ideas and plantings. 

You can only have 15 characters stamped into the leather so had to leave off 

the "shabby." lol    

 One of my inserts is on favorite quotes.  

This is actually in a different book than the oldepottingshed book but

thought I'd share it in case one of you might be inspired to share one of 

your own favorite quotes here.  Feel free to share in the comments if you do!!

 Thought I'd share some more evidence that Spring is really here.

This is my Momma's redbud tree in all her glory.  

It's so beautiful and I often think of her planting that tree with her own hands.  

 Her pear tree is chock full as well.  

Sure hope the cold snap doesn't hurt it.  

 The last couple years a mockingbird has nested in these branches.

I saw one flying around when I took  photos and I wonder if she's the same one?

I'll be watching to see if I spot a new nest.  

The three donks are starting to shed their winter coats.  

There are little piles of grey hair under their favorite cedar branch rubs.  

 The green grass is really coming on now.  In fact;....

Last night; Myguy bought a new push mower since our  last one was 

on it's last leg.  

This afternoon I mowed  all around the potting shed and our fenced  dog yard.

Smelled so good.    

It's hard to hold off planting though.

I've learned the hard way in the past and well;

it's  still just too early. 

So for now; ... patience grows instead.  

Thanks for stopping by the shed ... your time and friendship is dear to me.  

Happy St. Patty's day!  

Leaon Mary

Will You Be My Valentine and Scripture Pictures

 Howdy friends,

How's your weekend going?

For the past couple weeks I've been making valentine's for a group I'm in.

It's been fun playing in pretty papers and ribbons.  

Sort of addicting too as it all  makes me want to keep making more.

 One of my favorite things to do is 

cut words from vintage books to personalize things for people.

Words are wonderful and funny phrases ... make it all the more fun.  

I couldn't help but dream of our new grand baby "in the making"  as I held

 "lots of sugar."  

In the south we say, "Gimme some sugar" when we want a kiss.  

Can't wait for our sweet grand to get big enough to gimme some sugar!  

-- he or she is already so loved.

And by the way, 

so 

are 

you!!  

 As these cards started stacking up, 

I thought of Mother Teresa's words. 

Do small things

with great love.

While it's not a scripture picture,

if you like it, feel free to use it.  

 Yesterday was my sweetheart and I's 

33rd anniversary and these are the pink roses he gave me.  

They too became a scripture picture.

Yes, I'm sharing them with you.  

Well speaking of sweetheart; he just walked in the door,

so I've gotta run.

Have a great weekend friends,

Love, Leaon Mary  

Thanksgiving Week

Hi friends,

I suppose many of you have turkeys thawing in your refrigerators about now-

and maybe one or two of you just read that and shrieked-

"Oh nooooo... I forgot to take the bird out!" 

It happens doesn't it?  There has been a time or two that come Wednesday night;

our bird would take periodic baths  in the sink trying to thaw out 

in time. lol  I think they tell ya not to do that but when you still

have a 28 pound turkey ice cube in your fridge, sometimes

desperate measures are called for.  

It's hard to believe come Friday begins the Christmas rush.

And while I say that; ... who am I kidding?

My inbox is already full of black friday starting early sales.

I still love looking through all those colorful ads in the newspaper though.  

I have fond memories too of that big thick Sears Roebuck Christmas wish book.  

Now those were some good ole days!

   

With the new year around the corner,

I've been getting my books ready for the 

documented life 

and faith projects.

Several years ago I bought a huge ... I mean HUGE ledger from the foundry

during Bargains Galore yard sales.  Who knew back then how much 

I'd be using and enjoying all those papers today?  

Several were added to ...

 these art journals for the new year.

This is a moleskine Planner I've readied  for Documented Faith. 

My friend made  the torn muslin ribbon and

stamped my name on it- so I stitched it onto one of the pages.  

I'm so excited for it all to start!  

 - Recently learned how to add watercolor papers and tags, ledger paper...

gelli papers... all kinds of things to the pages  with washi tape.  

Took some time but it was worth it!

 This one is the large Dylusions journal that I painted for

Documented Life.

May add to it as the year goes on... but it's enough for now.

The white feather on the bottom is waiting to have my one

word for 2015 added to it and anchor verse...--That is; 

when I know what they are.  

No clue yet.  

 My art journal pages have been changing alot. 

More than I ever imagined they would.  

  There's much joy...

in the play.

Before I sign off tonight, may I  share this sweet thing

with you....

She's a new addition to our family.  

--An Australian shepherd puppy.  

We still haven't decided on a name but there's still time-

We won't be picking her up until closer to Christmas.  

It's gonna be somethin having a tiny puppy in the house again!

Hope our other two handle it okay.  

Well I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving.

I'm giving thanks for all my family and friends. 

Til we meet again,

Lea