let them eat cake!

david and aiden
aiden and g-pa

this is deanne and pearl!

ellery and her tower of blocks.

she was so proud of it!

that's our girl we are so proud of you!aunt rachel and uncle eric

this is our oldest son david's son, aiden donovan. we celebrated his first birthday at marmee and & g-pa's house. of course there was cake and aiden seemed to love our homemade effort.

he enjoyed the cake for quite awhile.

then we opened presents with elle's help!

he seemed to enjoy that as well.

wearing his new bib.

we finger painted hand and foot prints.

it was messy fun!

aiden loved knocking over the block towers!

where it all takes root!

this is the packet that my sunflowers started in.

these beauties were my inspiration for my wildflower garden.
i just planted these. i could not wait for my veggie garden to be completely harvested to make room for the pumpkins so i put a load of dirt in an old wheelbarrow with a flat front tire and planted these seeds. i am hoping this works. i have little seedlings popping thru already.

i thought it might be interesting to show where all the plants start out. this is my potting shed and the potting bench just outside the shed. this is a part of the detached garage. all my plants and seeds pass through the shed either to be planted in pots or wait for the right timing to plant in the garden. i love having this
shed and my workhorse the bench. i just hose it off after planting. when i bought it , it was bright yellow (which i did not like) so i had it painted and distressed in a deep forest green. i keep all my supplies in the shed and bird seed for the feeders. as you can see a bird house and a bat house sit, waiting, on the bench until they find a permanent home.
my farm house is made to look old and has many antique doors and this antique door was added to the potting shed. it makes me smile everytime i walk thru it to do some gardening.
the door has numbers across the top and i can only imagine what it's original use was. i think that is one reason i love antiques so much because of the history they have and how many lives they have touched.

HAPPY FALL PLANTING!

sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy!

this is not a field of flowers but a single head of a sunflower.



these grey striped mamoth sunflowers have been my garden fascination this summer. they grew so fast that everyone in my family was interested in seeing them almost daily. they are all spent now and i am trying to harvest them for the seeds.


this one is sitting in a longaberger cake basket and overflowing quite a bit.




i brought them into my potting shed and realized just how mamoth they were. they towered overhead between 8 and 10 feet tall. so when we cut a few of the heads the other day and i held them in my hands with their weightiness and girth. i had to take pictures to show you just how big they had become.



i am most definitely going to save some seeds to plant next year.
we (dh and i) have decided to expand our garden to our acres in the back with more corn & more sunflowers .


i can't wait to share the seeds with my family and give some to the birds as well!

more garden wonders!

i can not get enough of this flower. it is about 6 feet tall now and it looks like my friend the hummingbird is taken with it as well.

i was able to capture this as the sun was coming up. this lovely humming bird decided to sit(seconds, mind you) awhile on a nearby branch.

this little fellow dragonfly looks a little worn but was enjoying sunning himself until i got too close.
there is something magical about an orange winged being flitting and fluttering about in ones garden. voila! he lit on a freshly watered wildflower. how wonderful!

i love coneflowers, they are big, lushious, reseed themselves, attract butterflies, bees, and when they go to seed they feed the goldfinch.

the single beauty of an unfurling flower! what more could one want to view.

dualing bees , i think the sunflowers face is big enough for the both of them.

wispy, purple, waving in the wind beauty that attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, this is a must have in the garden.

most unusual

these creatures recently took a turn about in my garden, too!

the one with the bug eyes seemed to be the leader at least part of the time.

but as soon as the yellow-haired one made a loud shreeking noise there was all kind of attention paid to the little one. running and scurrying around to seek what could stop the noise. they were quite affectionate with each other, too. anyone out there willing to identify these most unusual visitors? i would be very grateful to find out how to keep the little yellow-haired creature from making those horrid shreeking sounds.

the little one seemed quite

taken with my puppy.

newly planted lantana (only 50 cents)

my other garden visitors are very special to me!

happy fluttering and walking around

can you see me?













can you see me?




these are some recent visitors i have had the priviledge to observe. peeking through the greenery i found this lovely orange beauty on my favourite colour flower.








then this fellow was seen taking his place on the hammock. hey that is my resting place! oh he was just walking thru.













also this stunning yellow and black beauty came and lit on my wildflower!
how much fun is this and all from the comfort of my own garden!

victorian farm house-we call it home

let's ditch the plans we made

rest your lovely bones

and just stay home

catch a black and white matinee

spoon-fee these new daydreams

and just stay home

we'll eat your favourite pie

ice cream on the side

lie here a la mode

and just stay home!

exerpts from:

over the rhine

trumphet child