The Problem Solver

My husband made me this kneeler.

 

 

He calls it the 'problem solver'! :)

It is so peaceful, hard not to be filled with awe and thanksgiving when kneeling at the cottage with a view!

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life~
Linking up with Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter for {pretty, happy, funny, real}-

Pretty
Since spring the hummingbirds have kept me busy filling 4 feeders. At times I could see about 20-25 hummers buzzing out my window. A few days I wore a bright pink almost red shirt and was afraid I would get zoomed :)
There are 3 flying around this feeder:

 They also enjoyed the Rose of Sharon

 and the hibiscus.

We read that the males migrate 1st, then the females and lastly the now grownup babies. They have really slowed down now so we are thinking at least the males have left.

Happy

Last week our sailor son became an officer. It was definitely an answer to one of the most prayed for prayers of my mother heart!

The Real part is that he was enlisted for 2 years before that and was deployed to the Persian Gulf on a ship that swept for mines.

 If that isn't real enough, our daughter-in-law started OT school thinking that our son would be back and forth between the Persian Gulf and the states for at least a couple of years giving her time to finish school. Thankfully he's not on the minesweeper anymore but she is halfway through school now and so once again they are apart. One is on the Atlantic coast, the other on the Pacific coast. Boo! Poor things have been apart more than they have been together in their year and 9 months of marriage. Once she finishes school though they will have the sweetest of marriages :) They may, before this is all over, have the record for the most honeymoons ;))

Funny

We throw fruit and veggie scraps in our garden skipping the composting step. We just let it compost right in the garden. Frequently we get plants from the seeds that were randomly tossed in. It's actually exciting to see what comes up that we didn't plan. At first we thought this

was going to be a kabocha winter squash, but it turned out to be a pumpkin.

Rosy Roses

I have been working on a needlepoint chair cover for a few months now. My chair has sorely needed a new cover I am sad to say since I bought it which was probably close to 20 years ago :s

 I guess motherhood has happened in the meantime. The lady I bought the chair from said it was where the cat slept. It was already rotten when I bought it and best I remember quite dusty. I don't seem to have as much time to work on the new cover as I would like. Slowly but surely though I am needlepointing my way through it.
One day I was needlepointing and realized the flowers and colors matched what I was wearing.

Rosy roses, definitely my favorite.

Vintage Fan

I found this fan in a closet at my grandmother's house. I knew right away it was a pinterest-y fan and that my daughter would love it.

 

She was moving from her little dollhouse carriage house into a bigger place in a few months. She said she wanted it but didn't have room for it until she moved. So in the meantime I put it in my bathroom and LOVED it! I always get so hot when I shower and get dressed and this was perfect. I would blow it right on me when drying my hair and sometimes, depending on how hot I was, while putting my make-up on. It was just what I needed :)

So in June this summer she moved to her new place. I sadly asked her if she was ready for the fan I promised her. She was...boo :(

So I kept my promise and gave it to her (I'm actually proud she has my grandmother's fan :). I sure did miss it though especially since it was very much in the heat of the summer here. I searched a few antique stores with no luck of finding another one. My grandmothers was in mint condition and I wanted one just like hers! I continued my search for a couple of months and then Doc B said why don't you just look on E-Bay. (I think he was afraid I might find some other 'have-to-haves' while in antique stores and shopping on E-Bay would keep my shopping limited to just a fan ;)

So I started the search engine and found this:

 

 

It is a little smaller than my grandmothers which actually is perfect for me. I am thrilled with my find and it is taking me right through our upper 90 degree weather!

Throwback Thursday~Gardening on the Farm

 

 

 

Small Space Gardening

We used to live on 160 acres out in the country. Our garden was about 2/3 of an acre, so pretty good sized. In addition to numerous vegetables, it included apple and peach trees and blueberry, blackberry and strawberry plants. It used to keep us very busy in the summer, not only the gardening but also canning and dehydrating. I was actually pretty happy when the first frost came :)
We have since moved to 10 acres, most of which are wooded. So this summer came the challenge of small space gardening. We did pretty well our first summer.

Our local coffee shop gets their coffee beans in large burlap bags. They were more than happy to give me a couple. Doc B used wire to make a basket stand for them. He placed the bags inside, filled them with good soil, and poked a few holes. Then we planted all around as well as the top. You can see we even had space for more.

My basil did better in this vertical garden than it ever did in the herb garden on the farm.

We also have this small space that already had great soil in it. It yielded quite a bit. This pic is from a couple of weeks ago. Last evening, Doc B tilled it and planted our fall garden.

We have mint growing in this barrel.

We also have rosemary growing in several pots.

Some were used for centerpieces.

  

When we moved here, there was already thyme growing in the cottage garden inside the picket fence.

There was also a tiny bit of lavender growing in the cottage garden inside the picket fence. Doc B planted a little more in a rock garden on the side of the ridge.

We hope one day to have a small fruit orchard on this hill.

You can see where Doc B has already started moving rocks for a rose garden. Slowly but surely...