GALENA....

We decided to get away for a few days and headed north to Galena, IL. I love to walk downtown and see all the little shops. We had not been there for a really long time. The three hour drive there is very scenic and we were curious how bad the flooding was from a dam breaking up further. The news said water went up 25 feet in an hour. There were some flooded fields, but the news said it went down as fast as it rose.

It was a beautiful day.

We ate at Benjamins and Alan decided to have a Raging Mary, a Bloody Mary with a garden on top! Yes, those are all marinated vegetables on top!

Lots of fun little shops line the street...

It was a good day! We were going to stay, then decided just to drive home. What a wonderful day trip!

MY PERCEPTION OF LIFE....

This is a writing I did on FaceBook today -

My Perception of Life....

Each morning you wake up...
YOU GET TO CHOOSE whether it is going to be a good day or a bad day.
YOU CHOOSE whether to be grateful for what you have or be disappointed in what you don't have.
YOU CHOOSE whether to help others or be blind to others' needs.
YOU CHOOSE whether to worry about what isn't going right or rejoice in what is.

YOU GET TO CHOOSE.....

IT IS ALL UP TO YOU!!!!

I CHOOSE GOD TO LEAD ME DOWN THE RIGHT PATH,
TO HELP OTHERS,
TO BE GRATEFUL AND REJOICE IN WHAT I HAVE ♥

WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE?

NEW STONE....

I have not accomplished much in a month and I am trying to get out of this funk. My creative juices were just dried up, nothing, nada.... So I needed to just push through it!
I had a few orders for stones from my greenhouse friends and thought now that it has been
2 1/2 months since I was done with work, better get going.


One was this marker for a furry family member.

I do love how it turned out. I am getting better about cutting numbers and letters.

It did take some time to figure out how much pressure I can put on glass
before it SNAPS!!!
Oh... I have had my share of that..... It usually doesn't break until I am just
a-l-m-o-s-t done, and about my last turn of a letter or number....

SNAP!!! AARRGGHH!!!

I have learned to have more than one copy of my design, so I can start over again quickly. Otherwise, it is back upstairs to the computer, find the pattern, make a copy....
to me that is such a waste of time....

So here are some pics of some letters in stones I have done.....










If anyone is interested in a design,,,, you can email me.... or leave a comment and I can contact you.
I have sent stones all over with excellent success. Start to finish is a month. That allows time for it to cure and get sealed.

I am by no means a professional at this. Imperfections are guaranteed. But I will not send out something that I am not pleased with and I have been known to make two stones because I was not pleased with the end results.

I don't know why I like doing this stuff so much.... I JUST DO!!!!

WREATH MAKING....

I went to the cemetery today to see if the flower forms were still there from my mother-in-law's funeral June 25th. This form, in the picture, had fresh flowers from my kids. My husband is an only child so our two children and their spouses are her only grandchildren.
We have a very small family actually on both sides.



I knew I had a few bunches of flowers and some ribbon. I cut the flowers so they were all singles, spread them around the form, attached them and pinned the ribbon around the form. I made a bow and wired it.

Mom always loved flowers, so I think this would please her just fine!

I will take it back tomorrow and hang it....

POTTERY...

I love pottery! Wheel thrown pieces.
It all started with going to The Beau Arts Fair in Davenport, IA one year.

There, I bought my first piece! This berry bowl...


I brought it home and used it everyday. I would leave it on the counter just to be able to look at it.

I was hooked!
So I got on Ebay and started looking for pieces.

There I found these bowls... loved them, bought them.




This artist I found next and bought several pieces from her. Her Ebay name is sissy422. I LOVE the colors she uses and she packs and mails everything with real loving care. Visit her sometime. She always has something new on her site.




This is kind of a signature color that sissy422 uses... This picture does not do it justice.


This artist no longer lists his work on Ebay, so I am glad I grabbed the two pieces I have when I did. I bake pies in this...




Oh, and you can go to Hobby Lobby and pick up some pretty little pieces too! These are my everyday plates for the time being. DH (dear hubby) and I are trying to alter our eating habits a bit so I went to using 8" plates for our meals. I think we tend to not eat as much using them (diet tip from someone, can't remember who!)



But when we eat salads, we use these plates.... big 12" plates for a BIG SALAD!!!




I do still have the Corelle from long ago in the cupboard and we do still use it. But it sure is fun to set a table with lots of color!

Beautiful Morning...

It is 6am, I have been up for a while and it is a beautiful morning, again, a new day. Going to the Farmers Market with one of my kids. I haven't done much since all the funeral stuff because I haven't felt like it. But today feels good, and I am ready to get out there. I WILL TAKE MY CAMERA. Pictures to come later...... to be continued.....

NOT VERY PRODUCTIVE....

I just can't seem to get myself going on projects yet. Maybe it is the rain, maybe it is the heat and humidity, maybe just the whole month, but I did manage to go out this morning and take some pics of the flowers that keep amazing me on a daily basis.

This little dwarf asiatic lily is a new addition this year. What a beautiful color.

We have been bombarded with rain for the past 5 weeks. Which has made it nice not to have to water, but everything is so overgrown. This is a space outside my back door that is just that,,,, overgrown. I can see I will be doing some thinning this fall.

And amoungst all those flowers, I found this. Is it a pumpkin, a gourd, I don't know, but will let it grow and see.

This lily is about 5 feet tall and absolutely beautiful. I put the hummingbird feeder at the back of it so I can take pictures from inside the house.

This was taken from a window right above this. Can you see the hummingbird on the right side of the feeder. I have about 15 frequent visitors and I love to watch them. I have 3 feeders just like this one and I am up to mixing 12 cups of sugar water a day! I never knew these little things can drink so much!!!

IT'S A NEW DAY, A NEW MONTH, A NEW BEGINNING

Balloon Flower

I HAVE been gone for a while, but I haven't forgotten my blog! It's time to get back at it. I want to thank all of you who sent well wishes and condolences my way...

I love you all ♥

newly planted hydrangea

I walked around the yard yesterday and just could not believe how crazy the weeds have grown in with the flowers. I feel like I blinked and the weeds took over. DH (dear hubby) literally mowed off the garden as I couldn't identify anything in it. A few tomato plants, pumpkins, gourds and of course, zuchinni were saved, but that's it!

So I thought I would share flower pictures with you....

new dwarf asiatic lilies

I think I will be weeding for quite some time....

oops..... remember the post on making the rhubarb leaf cast... well, back to the drawing board with it. I guess I didn't make the cement thick enough and next time I will reinforce it with chicken wire. This was that huge one 24" big.

Dang,,,,, stronger cement maybe....

a new favorite little zinnia, I have them as a border.

All the rain has made my hostas gigantic... this one is 4 feet wide...

Time for the phlox to bloom...

Hope your 4th of July weekend is spectacular !!!!!!