Our Yellow Headed Visitors

When we first moved to our country home, I saw one of these beautiful

fellows sitting on a fence in our backyard.  I thought that perhaps someone's pet bird had escaped and flew out this way.  That afternoon, there was a large group of these birds enjoying the water from a mud puddle. After research, I learned that they are the Yellow-headed blackbirds.  That was 23 years ago and they still arrive here each year in early spring.  Their vibrant color and loud chatter bring such joy! They will only be here for about 3 weeks and then they fly away.  Are you having wild visitors at this time of year in your backyard?

Wildflowers across the grounds are starting to bloom as is the devil's claw cactus in my collection.

I tilled the ground and have planted a variety of flower seed.........I hope to show you a large colorful garden of blossoms by this summer. What are you having to bloom in your backyard?

 I had a dear friend, who had an antique store out at her country house.  She would not allow grass to grow on her yard, instead, it was filled with beautiful blossoming flowers of every kind.  She had a really good green thumb and it seemed everything she planted, flourished.  She grew lovely California poppies.....some in red, some in orange. What is your favorite flower to grow?

I have planted poppy seeds year after year, but not one has sprouted for me.  So the only way at this time to enjoy poppies, is to let my needle bring them to life.

The late afternoon sun made the sky have a lovely rose color the other day

and a golden glow shown through the windows, giving a wonderful light to the rooms of the house. I love the time of day when the sun has an effect like this. What is  your favorite time of day......and why?

"Thirty days hath September,"

      Every person can remember;

      But to know when Easter comes

      Puzzles even scholars some.

When March the twenty-first is past

      Just watch the silvery moon,

      And when you see it full and round,

      Know Easter'll be here soon.

After the moon has reached its full,

      Then Easter will be here,

      On the very Sunday after,

      In each and every year.

And if it hap on Sunday

      The moon should reach its height,

      The Sunday following this event

      Will be the Easter bright.

Boston Transcript, 1895

Wishing you a very blessed and happy Easter holiday!

 

 

My Mother's Wild Rosebush

Hello to spring......although she blew in with 65 mph winds and thick blinding dirt.

Although we are used to this in Texas especially at the start of March........we do not enjoy it. The most scary and surprising of it all was the high strong winds.  We are in desperate need of rain, the fields are so dry and this is what causes such thick dirt to fly.

 I am working on a embroidered piece of what is known

as "slow stitching"  see Yesteryear Embroideries

and wanted to start with a rose motif because it brings the memory of  my mother and the wild red rosebush that she grew. 

The roses looked exactly like this and they had the most heavy beautiful fragrance. 

I know I have a photo of my mother and her rosebush but could not find it in time for this post.

My parents owned a little place on the annex of a local lake and we spent many a weekend there. After us children graduated and left home, my parents made this space their full time residence. 

When my parents first acquired this space, there were many abandoned , collapsing old houses across the road and down the road.  The first year they were there, my mother noticed a vibrant red rose bush, across the road, growing in front of a tumbled and collapsed old house. It was amazing that it was still growing and blooming after years of being by itself.  I went across with my mother and watched her dig the hard earth with a shovel , unearthing the rosebush.  She proudly carried it back to her space and planted it on the side of her house. At that time, the rosebush was about 3 ft tall and not very big around. My mother nurtured and tended to this rosebush and year after year, it grew taller and wider.  It grew almost like a large round thicket......tall and round.....at least over 6 ft high and about 4 ft. around..........full of red blooms with buzzing bees.

That was close to over 50 years ago......and the rosebush is still alive and living.   

 Other family now own the estate , after my mother's passing , and they now tend to the rosebush. 

I think the rosebush has managed to survive all of these years because of good care ( I think my mom and it had a very strong friendship).......... and good earth where it had been able to grow runners and keep going.  

It is amazing to me how some things can just stand the test of time .........something so frail in the Texas heat as this rosebush.  I am always reminded of my mother when I see images of wild red roses. 

Now tell me.......what reminds you of your mother.......or parents?  I would love to hear. 

 

Along comes March

 

February brought a mixture of extreme cold days and then sunny pleasant days. Now March is here and the trees at this time are still bare and in their winter sleep.  This is a good time for me to walk the woods and to really see nature's gifts that I would, in the summer season ,not be able to see.

I gather empty wasps nests from the bare trees. In summer they are full of buzzing wasps and not easy to see with all of the leaves surrounding them. 

I find the wasp amazing creatures.  They can build their homes with such precision.  

Each nest , to me, looks like a piece of art.

I keep a few nests stored in brown paper bags to decorate in wreaths or sprays

 

 With just a few, I decorated with beads and silk flowers.

Also making a small bead wasp to be on the nest.  These make unique and whimsical wall hangings. 

I could not resist the pretty pansies at the local nursery.

I really love the color orange.

Usually I choose the pansies in the colors of blue and pink. What is your favorite color??

This year I decided on the orange and yellow.  They look so cheery and full of warmth.

So tell me........what is sprouting up in your back yard?

I would love to hear.

January

 

A new calendar for the new year has taken its place on the wall and a new month of the new year is already at its end.........

where does the time manage to go?.....I wonder. I look back on the old year with gratitude and  with many wonderful memories....what fun this past year brought to us!

Already this new year for many, has started with tragic happenings and so much uncertainty. So many have lost their homes, their lives, their way of life, and happiness in the fires in California, so many are under a heavy blanket of harsh winter weather on the other side of the nation. So many are trying to find hope starting a new year while still recovering from tragic loss of last year. Then there are those who are unknown, who are facing their own personal crisis and uncertainty.

For all of you.....I extend my prayers and good wishes.

Winter , here, has been dry, very dry......too dry with  days of  sun, and nights with extreme cold, and then days of pleasant sun and warmth with nights not so frigid.  The trees in the woods are all grey and bare with their limbs twisting and reaching up to the sky, 

yet the prickly pear cactus......never withering, never succumbing to any kind of weather... my constant foe in land battle, is standing green and strong.  

As for resolutions.....I choose not to have them these days.  There are things...... the same things that I must do....many from last year in waiting....things that I hope to do to make things better along the grounds and to make things better in my life. When it comes to the outside work that needs to be done, it seems that I can work and work for weeks to get it done and the minute I turn my back, it returns to being wild again. I like to think it is Mother Nature reminding me of where I live and that I am only a steward living here.  I guess if I were to label anything from the list of things I need to do......I would like to call them "accomplishments" for if I am to ever get them completely finished.......that would certainly be an accomplishment!

I personally start this year with gratitude and contentment, with a hope of peace to stay with us throughout each day that comes.

So tell me........do you have resolutions?  Do  you have hopes or plans? I would love to hear.

Here's wishing you days full of what you are hoping for!

Wishing you a wonderful new year ahead!

 

Hello Winter ---Goodbye 2024

 

If ever I felt home-sick it was when returning home from a walk, on a chilly winter afternoon... 

Countess von Lauenbrück, "Life in a North-German Chateau," 1867

Winter has come and the end of the year is almost here.  I hope with the coming new year I will have many projects stitched and finished.  

Here's wishing  you a very merry Christmas and a very peaceful new year!

blessings, always, Kathleen