Sunday's Peace

Kickoff To Summer~

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend. Bring on summer~

Where Are The HoneyBees?

The other day, John mentioned that he hadn't seen any honeybees on our flowers. I started to watch for them. He was right. There aren't any bees on our flowers. Today, I was mowing the yard. We have a lot of white clover mixed in with the grass. It's in full bloom. No bees. Not one! It's so quiet and still without them.
I know that honeybees are having problems and this scares the crap out of me.

Until next time.....

Wordless Wednesday

Come Take a Peek

Shhhhhh! Be real quiet and try not to move. Come take a peek at some of Mother Nature's finest work. There are all kinds of nests on our property this time of year, here in middle Tennessee. They're either filled with eggs or baby birds. Here's a few nests that I discovered the other day.

The first one is a Robin's nest. It's in the middle of a Euonymous bush. I snapped that one quickly before the mama returned. They are very protective of their nests!

I found the second nest when I checked our bluebird box. Definitely not bluebirds. (Their eggs are blue). These brick red beauties belong to a pair of wrens, but I'm not sure what kind of wren. I do know that it's not a Carolina wren.

Number three is a tiny nest built in one of our smaller Foster Hollies. This nest sits about three feet off the ground. I need to go outside with my bird book to see what kind of birds these are. I'm thinking Chickadee.

Next is a Thrasher nest. It's in another one of our Euonymous shrubs. She was in the shrub and wouldn't leave, so I took a picture and quickly left.

Last up are a few fuzzy freshly hatched Red Finches. The nest is built in the variegated ivy that grows up a cedar post. I've been watching the couple fly in and out for a while now, but was unable to find the nest, until the other day. I'll be back with some baby pictures if I'm lucky enough to see these eggs after they hatch.
Until next time.....

Yo Crow~

Sorry guys, but this corn is for us. I hear that there's an entire field of corn down the road.

We've never had trouble with crows eating our corn seedlings, until this year. Hopefully, with the help of fence posts, baling twine, shepherd's hooks, blue plastic wind thingies, a black cat head with shiny green eyes and orange tape, the seedlings will grow strong and tall and the crows will lose interest.

Until next time.....

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday's Peace

Clematis in the rain.

Have a great week.

Until next time.....

Happy Birthday Althea

Back in 2003 on this day, I walked into a local shelter and brought Althea home. We were told that she was about 2-3 years old. Best eighty bucks I ever spent! Besides being super smart, well behaved and protective, she does a great job running my Etsy jewelry shop. Since we don't know her actual birthday or age, we chose May 14th; the day we brought her into our home.

With summer coming up, I know that many folks will be getting pets. Please consider checking out your local shelters and rescues. There are so many amazing animals, sitting in cages, waiting for a second chance.
xoxo

Wordless Wednesday

One Week Later

Through the flooding rains, the squash hills held on and survived. Seedlings never looked so good! Some of our onions didn't wash away and grew like weeds in a week's time.

The soil is dry enough to till and we're slowly replanting the garden. The lupines are in full bloom. So, so beautiful! Yesterday it rained for the first time since the flood. I held my breath. I don't know if I'll ever look at rain the same way again.

Bubbles

Sometimes I come across vintage beads that just make my heart skip a beat. These 'bubble' cabs are a good example. I saw them and fell in love. Bought four. One pair for me. One pair for you. Or you. The problem is: they come in different colors. AND they not only come in cabs, but they also come in beads. I'm a happy bead bum!

Until next time.....

Tennesee Flood Relief

This weekend I'm donating 50% of my sales in my Etsy jewelry shop to the American Red Cross for Tennessee Flood Relief. Ends at midnight CST on Sunday night.

You can also make a $10.00 donation via text message, text the word "RED CROSS" to 90999.

It's true what they say. You can see something like this on TV, but unless you see it in person, you just don't get how awful it is. Like I said in a previous post, we were some of the fortunate ones, with minimal damage. Hopefully we can raise some money to help those less fortunate.

Thanks y'all~

New Beginnings

Robin's egg and maple seed pod = the future.

Wordless Wednesday

Shining Faces

These pictures were taken last Friday. Perrenials are wonderful friends that come back year after year. They're strong and hardy and stubborn. And as of right now, they seem to be holding their own. I hope I'm lucky enough to hold onto them a little while longer. Time will tell.

Until next time.....

The Fortunate Ones

Saturday morning started out like a typical spring morning. After 3 solid days working in the gardens and yard, everything looked picture perfect. We stood out in the yard admiring our hard work. The grass was cut and the clippings were added to flower beds as a layer of mulch. The garden was turned. I planted our corn, cucumbers, squash, okra, beans, sunflowers and onions. Now all we needed was a little rain and a lotta sunshine.

But Mother Nature had other plans. It started raining later on that morning. And it rained. And rained. And rained. All day and most of the night. And then again on Sunday. I stood helplessly, watching my garden flood, wondering how much of my good garden soil was washing away.

This isn't the first time that we've had spring floods and watched the gardens flood, but this time was different.

We watched live news coverage. Middle Tn. was in the direct path of these pounding storms and tornadoes. Streets flooded. Interstates flooded. Rivers flooded. There are so many people without electricity right now. So many without homes.

Sure, I'm heartbroken that my garden was washed away, but we are some of the fortunate ones. If you know me at all, you 'know' how sad this is for me to see.

The sun is shining this morning. Birds are singing. It looks like a typical spring morning, but it's not. Out there, the rivers are flooded, homes are flooded or gone and some lives have been lost. It's going to be a long time before things are back to normal 'round here.

Stop and admire the beauty around you because tomorrow it may be gone.

xoxo