His favorite thing to do lately

 is to sit and look out of the large window..... to watch 

the newest visitors who come to eat feed

or to get a drink of cool water on such hot days.

Sometimes, they like to just lie down in the shady grass........

sometimes they come to fill their cheeks full of grain ....

running off to store it in their nests.....and then come back for more

but most..........are very thirsty.......and line up along the watering tray

enjoying a cool drink

how much he loves to watch.........his tails slaps back and forth and his mouth quivers, making his whiskers shake. 

Today.......something bigger........and strange came to the watering tray.....

making everything else......leave..........

and making Taboo...........stand still......and stare..........

a raccoon......which never usually shows up until night just could not resist coming to tromp around in that cool water...........

he also decided he would check out the porch for food............

but this time..........he was greeted by Hobo.........who has now made this place his domain............

I was getting worried watching this............

but he looks up at me..........proud........as if to say.........

" I showed him!" 

Also.........my work has been published! I quilt is  on page 8 of this lovely magazine

Crazy Quilt Quarterly

Whether I like or not........... new visitosr have come to the farm

First this very sweet cat.  He was sitting on the back porch early one morning..........

I made the mistake of asking him if he was hungry..........he was.

I posted his picture on Facebook, 

no one has accepted him as their friend........as of yet.

I have named him..........Hobo

The next day, this young bird got trapped into our chimney and the next morning, it finally came out of the fireplace........tired and weak. I let it go outside.......and it flew away.

The next day after that,  a swarm of gigantic flying ants covered the whole grounds. This is their mating season. They have done this a few years ago and I do not like them being here. You cannot walk because they are all over the grounds. Thankfully in a couple of days, they left.

The cat........has not left

. He rolls all over the porch and makes it hard for me to resist rubbing his belly.......which he loves.  Although I don't really want another cat.......

the large rats that will not leave my car alone.......have suddenly disappeared and are no longer on my engine when I open the hood. 

My flowers have stopped being nibbled down...........

He follows right along side of Sophie and I on our walks.......

so incredibly sweet

He has proven himself to be a worthy " farm cat"

so..........I guess.........

 he will stay.

My greenhouse and my greenhouse gardens are looking pretty this time of year.

It's always full of rose moss, blooming in brilliant color

and budding in every container.

I love pincushion cactus and I have had this one for many years.

My Chrysanthemums are beautiful this year

and the roses are constantly blooming.

I had planted a large garden of zinnia, as you know, my favorite flower,

but we have had an explosion of rabbits this year. '

They mowed all of my sprouted Zinnia down.

Little Taboo is growing larger.......well........longer each day. He enjoys sitting with me during my stitching hours........sorting my thread.

Sophie.........sweet as always has welcomed all the cats into her domain.

As long as she is the only dog........she is happy.

I have a vintage recipe on my cooking blog by Ann Pillsbury 1950.

Just click onto link to visit

My Country Kitchen

So tell me..........what visitors have you had lately??

The Narcissus is a flower I have not yet tried to grow

but I hope to do so by planting the bulbs during the fall.......

maybe October.

Narcissus are daffodils.......which I have grown......

but I really want to try the white ones this year.

Narcissus are hardy and easy to grow. They like full or half day sun but do just as well in shady spots. 

In the middle of a project I am embroidering,  one of the flowers is

the Narcissus

I love to embroider flowers and insects, because the world of nature is full of amazing color.

For the folklore of this flower..........

Greek mythology tells us how narcissus plants came to be.

Echo was a mountain nymph who fell madly in love with a beautiful young man, Narcissus.

Narcissus was a vain youth and cared for nothing but his own beauty. He spent all his time looking at his own reflection in a pool of water and spurned Echo's love until she finally faded away, leaving nothing but her voice. The gods, angry with Narcissus because of his vanity, changed him into a flower who was destined always to sit by a pool nodding at his own reflection.

Similar versions of this myth occur in Rome, Arabia, Egypt, Spain, and Portugal.

For medicinal purposes........

Though Narcissus bulbs are poisonous, they have been used medicinally for centuries. A doctor named Galen was a surgeon at the school of gladiators in Rome. His favorite salve to "glue great wounds, cuts, and gashes" was the juice from the Narcissus bulbs. 

The bulbs are said to have been a standard bit of medication in the first-aid bags of Roman soldiers. European peasants would mix the juice with honey and apply it to cuts or swollen joints.  

The word Narcissus is from the Greek word narkeo, meaning "to be stupified," and this alludes to the poisonous properties of the plant.

The bulbs contain lycorcine which paralyzes the heart and numbs the nervous system. Scientists are testing chemicals from Narcissus bulbs as a possible treatment fro multiple sclerosis.

Narcissus is the Chinese symbol of good fortune and the emblem of winter. In Japan, it is the symbol of mirth and joyousness and emblem of formality. 

The love of Narcissus is ancient. 

Mohammed is said to have said, "Let him who hath two loaves sell one, and buy the flower of Narcissus: for bread is but food for the body, whereas Narcissus is food for the soul."

*** The folklore of this flower is from the book: 

Garden Flower Folklore by Laura C. Martin"