The red, brown, cotton field road

is still just as hard packed as it was yesterday, before the rain last night, although the much needed moisture soaked the land well.

I have grown to love a cotton field road.................ever since...........way back.........when I was small and would travel with my parents to my grandparent's house. Their old white farm house sat in the middle of mesquite woods............just like my house today. That old cotton field road turned off from the paved county road and led anyone who turned onto it, up to Grandma and Grandpa's yard. It was where I learned how to take long, slow walks, with my aunts..........not caring about where the road led, but to enjoy the process of walking and the journey...........as I would listen to songs and stories told by my aunts................as I looked for a rock or a horned toad or two.

It was where I took my first motorcycle ride..........sitting on the seat behind my dear uncle, as he patiently drove us kids, back and forth, on that hard packed road.

It was a road that took my aunts and I to the crawdad creek way off into the woods and where I was amazed that by tying a piece of bacon on one end of a string and then pulling it out quickly when the string pulled at my hand,...........a strange red creature, with large pincher's, would come sailing out!
I really don't think any of my remaining aunts and uncles know just how much I loved that place, and my grandparents and all the aunts and uncles that came to visit there.

I don't think they know what an impression it left on me, to know that to live way out in the middle of nowhere with an old cotton field road running along side the property...........would be the only way I would want to live my life.

The only one who knew all of this, I know for sure.............was my husband..............patiently listening about this far away land..........just over the fields and way off the highway...............for almost 20 years...............if not every day................at least once a week......................while the loud traffic and sidewalk.............growled outside our little house in town.

And now, the cotton field road runs along our property...........on one side lies the cotton field...............on the other the thick mesquite woods that surround our home.................where just now, as I walk this hard packed road with Sophie.............a covey of quail are running ahead in front of us............looking for a spot to dart back into the woods..................and a dove is calling out to it's mate.

To me, when I see this cotton field road.............or remember the old one in my youth.............

it calls out to me and says

"your home".

Rosa Rugosa.................

sounds like something that Dr. Seuss named.......doesn't it? ..........

and it's not moss covered ........or 3 handled............{:

It's this very tired.........at this time.........rose plant that now has come to live in my garden...........
thanks to a couple of dear friends, Jane and Mary, who dug it up........hard work..........thank you Jane, and brought it home to me. In all of the years of my garden experience, I had never heard of this wonderful plant and am quite delighted to have it come live here on the grounds. It is now making itself at home in the flower garden that I have been working on in the past couple of years.
I have been adding various perennial plants to make a natural fence line to the garden. One long side of stock flower, the front entrance lined with Italian Jasmine, the front walk with a welcoming pink and yellow Lantana, the back with a crate of climbing roses...........and now this to fill in the gap between. If it does well............which my friends guarantee..............that even I and the harsh climate can not kill ...................I will as the years go by, transplant cuttings from it to add to the other long side............thus, completing my natural fence.

This is how it is supposed to look, if it decides to stay here.........(photo borrowed from a garden website). I was quite surprised...........after some research, that it is not an American beauty at all, but actually Asian. Here is the information on the sturdy and durable rose plant..............
It just shows, how different things can be when researched..

Rosa rugosa
"Hamanasu" redirects here. For the Japanese train service.
Rosa rugosa (rugosa rose, Japanese rose, or Ramanas rose) is a species of rose native to eastern Asia, in northeastern China, Japan, Korea, and southeastern Siberia, where it grows on the coast, often on sand dunes.
It is a suckering shrub, which develops new plants from the roots and forms dense thickets 1–1.50 m tall with stems densely covered in numerous short, straight thorns 3–10 mm long. The leaves are 8–15 cm long, pinnate with 5–9 leaflets, most often 7, each leaflet 3–4 cm long, with a distinctly corrugated (rugose, hence the species' name) surface. The flowers are pleasantly scented, dark pink to white, 6–9 cm across, with somewhat wrinkled petals; flowering is from summer to autumn (June to September in the northern hemisphere).
The hips are large, 2–3 cm diameter, and often shorter than their diameter, not elongated like most other rose hips; in late summer and early autumn the plants often bear fruit and flowers at the same time. The leaves typically turn bright yellow before falling in autumn.
Cultivation and uses
Rugosa rose is widely used as an ornamental plant. It has been introduced to numerous areas of Europe and North America. It has many common names, several of which refer to the fruit's resemblance to a tomato, including beach tomato or sea tomato; saltspray rose and beach rose are others.
The sweetly scented flowers are used to make pot-pourri in Japan and China where it has been cultivated for about a thousand years.
This species hybridisis readily with many other roses, and is valued by rose breeders for its considerable resistance to the diseases rose rust and rose black spot. It is also extremely tolerant of seaside salt spray and storms, commonly being the first shrub in from the coast. It is widely used in landscaping, being relatively tough and trouble-free. Needing little maintenance, it is suitable for planting in large numbers; its salt-tolerance makes it useful for planting beside roads which need deicing with salt regularly.
Numerous cultivars have been selected for garden use, with flower colour varying from white to dark red-purple, and with semi-double to double flowers where some or all of the stamens are replaced by extra petals. Popular examples include 'Fru Dagmar Hastrup' (pink, single), 'Pink Grootendorst' (pink, semi-double), 'Blanc Double de Coubert' (white, double) and the more common 'Roseraie de L’Haÿ' (pink, double), which is often used for its very successful rootstock and its ornamental rose hips.

Are any of you familiar with this plant. Do you like it? Do you have photos of it?
I would love to hear!

I awoke Sunday morning to the sound of the wind

roaring against the house. Making the large wash pan I nailed on the porch wall to clang and bang. The smell of dust was everywhere inside of the house. I look out of the window..............this is how our drive looked, when the wind was just beginning to build it's strength.

I opened the back door and the wind smashed it up against me, and the sand from the distant cotton field stung my face. Winds blew at 60 miles an hour here and across our dry area. This caused many problems along the way, for folks near and far. The blinding sand from all of the cotton fields caused a major pile up on the interstate. The interstate was then closed for hours. Because of the winds and the extreme dry conditions, high line wires sparked, and the heat from passing cars caused the dry areas to catch fire. Many folks had their acreage burned and some lost homes. The fire fighters were fighting one fire after another and not able to get to them all at the same time. I have grown to love this prickly, thorny, and windy place. However, when times as these come about............it causes my soul to be unrestful. Worry seems to be a constant companion at times like this for many Texans. We get our hope and our joy when storm clouds form on the horizon.....................a hopeful glimpse of much needed rain to come.

What are you going through at this time? Are you still digging out from the snow?

Are you also going through high winds and dry earth?

I would love to hear.

For the longest time

Abby has been sitting in the window,........................ quietly,

........................... motionless, looking at something. ................What can it be??

Is it the pretty primrose I have just potted and placed in the windowsill below her?

No...................

It's this speckled lovely that must have been fluttering about and finally came to rest on the outside wall.

I love the way it appears to have a long shaggy hairdo.........don't you?

So full of color when only yellow seems to be the brightest color it has.
Whoever thought that white and black spots would go well with black and white stripe legs??
God and mother nature are truly the artists!
I really need to take some lessons from them!
How about you?
Any color sprouting or fluttering around in your corner of the world?
I would love to hear!
*********Also, I have just posted a wonderful hearty soup on my cooking blog to warm you up from the winter chill! Click on this link and enjoy!

My Country Kitchen http://countrykitchenkat.blogspot.com/

The warm weather

has made every thing wake up from it's winter slumber.

The noisy flocks of birds that have migrated to and from the farm are almost too much for Salem to bear. He sits in the tree, motionless, hoping the birds are not smart enough to figure him out..............but as I know...........and he soon finds out............no bird to catch today!
In the far back corner of the hen house, lies a lonely little egg, cautiously watched by Maggie ,the speckled hen, who hopes that I have not found her secret spot.

Out in the greenhouse, the tulips have come to life and have started sprouting, unaware of the chilly weather we have just had. I wonder what color they will be...........

The bougainvillea is putting on new blooms and is stretching it's limbs throughout the greenhouse.

while out in the pond, a bullfrog has dug himself out of his hole and jumped into the cold water, making him a little slower that usual.

Out in the woods, the wind blows through the dry and crackled brush

as an empty nest hangs on to the thorn of a mesquite tree, waiting for life to once again call it home.

Spring won't be too far away now............I am ready!

Are you?

I love cookbooks..........

have I told you this before????????

I do!

I can sit and READ a cookbook just as if it were a romance novel! I have spent years collecting.............not just old ones,............but all and any. Many I have purchased either new, but the larger part being at library books sales..........a wonderful place to find them! I have been giving so many from friends, who no longer want them and who find them on their travels. I am truly grateful!!

I have a small section of vintage cookbooks,some old in years, but look as if they were never opened, some more tattered than the rest, but all full of the good old recipes that we all have grown up tasting.

This week instead of stitching or playing in the greenhouse, I set out to get my home in order............room by room. One of the things on my list was to get some more shelving for my new bunch of cookbooks, that found their way to my porch and into my heart.
Can you tell how much I love them? {:

I don't just collect and read, I also cook out of all of them. I go through them, mark the recipe I want to fix and after I have fixed it, I write notes as to how it was to fix,along with the date, who did or did not like it,.......and why.............. and whether or not, if I will fix it again.
I have gone back and found where I have written something years ago! It makes me smile. So if one were to say that I have an addiction.............it would be cookbooks...........sigh.

How about you? What do you like to collect?

Do you collect cookbooks like I do, or do you collect something totally different?

Do you have something vintage in your collection?

How does your item wind up in your collection? Do friends and family pass them along? or do you go on a massive search?

I would love to hear!

The snow has left

but Winter's icy breath still blows around the corners

of the house and through the dry grass of the prairie.
Her friend Jack Frost has been busy decorating the cars,

and the windows.

I am always in awe of this beautiful form of ice work!

Valentine's day is almost here!

What do you have planned? A basket full of sweets for your sweetie........maybe a nice romantic evening alone together by the fire?

Valentine's day stirs up images of sweet hearts with sweet sayings, ....................

Here is a simple and sweet design to stitch for the one dear to your heart. You can get the free pattern by visiting my embroidery blog, Yesteryear Embroideries. Here is the link..............

http://yesteryearembroideries.blogspot.com

and the image of rich and creamy chocolate!
For a rich, delicious dessert after that romantic meal, visit My Country Kitchen blog for the recipe. Here is the link..............

http://countrykitchenkat.blogspot.com

What is your favorite thing about Valentines day? The baskets filled with heart shaped candies?

The beautiful bouquets of flowers perhaps?

I would love to hear!

Have yourselves a sweet Valentine's Day!