Another flower, and a bug

Our neighbor Ann pulled into the driveway yesterday and tooted the horn. No, she was not carrying a shoe box with a baby bunny this time, she had a flower cutting...

prettiest thing I've ever seen! This picture does not do it justice. Heavy clusters of dark red berries, and white blooms, both!! "I don't remember where I bought it or what it's called", she said. 

So, I've been on line looking and it looks like, "Cardinal Candy Viburnum". I've simply got to have one. Wonder if it is the wrong time of year to root a cutting??

Anyhow, I woke up this morning with puffy eyes...

from working inside the chicken house. What a mess. Cobwebs strung from one side to the other, full of feathers and dust. I went in with the broom and rake and fresh straw. 

The guineas watched from the grapevine posts, but chickens...

they are curious and nosy, and in the middle of everything. They scattered the clean hay as soon as it hit the floor.

Did you notice little Weetie standing guard just outside the fence? She will not leave my side, and I honestly think she would tackle a bear, trying to protect me.

Oh, and speaking of chickens...I had the big idea of turning them out. Out to eat grass and roam around the pond, and down the dirt path. But friends, these 20 chickens, within 30 minutes, tore up a year's worth of my hard work. They wandered nowhere! but scratched all the mulch and pine straw from under and around every shrub and flower bed in the yard. They left no stone unturned!  Poppy said, "told you so". "I knew you were making a mistake".

I was thinking, with the leaves falling and the grass dying from the dry weather, what harm could the hens do. Well, here they were just getting started.

Noticed none of the chickens ate this stinging worm from off the chicken house door...

a strange looking creature. Googled it and found out, this is a Banded Tussock moth, Halysidota tessellaris. 

Oh, have I mentioned that the NC State Fair opened last Thursday? Shelby and I are planning to be there when the gates open on Tuesday morning!! 

We so look forward to this day. It's been a whole year! You may remember how much I wanted to ride the hobby horses last year, but didn't. Well this year, Shelby and I are seriously going to ride...first thing, or right after we eat our first ear of corn dipped in butter. There will be pictures, if I can get up on one of the horses...and back down, without breaking something. 

Love,
Henny

There's always flowers and bugs

Dear friends,

I haven't written a post fit to read in a while now. Oh, there's plenty of stuff going on, in fact, the days simply fly, but I sit down at the computer and draw a blank.

If mama was still here, her advice to me would be, "oh,  just write anything. What difference does it make"?  She was sweet, that's for sure.

Anyhow, Eli, Weetie, and I just went for a walk, without Poppy. He has to work until 5:00 today. 

we walked to the garden...

not much left there but a few flowers and some bugs.  A Katydid. Don't you wonder how the Katydid got it's name?

and a bee

the spider on this zinnia hid behind a petal

this one looks like it was torn from a child's coloring book

the okra is still blooming though most the leaves are gone from the stems

and inside, a big black ant

Just googled, "how did the katydid get it's name" and learned it is because of how it's song sounds...like "katy did, katy didn't". 

I've heard those sounds at night all my life and did not know it was the song of the Katydid. You can hear it on youtube katydid sounds.

Well, it's time to light things up in the sewing room. If I hurry, I can sew for an hour anyway.

Thank you for putting up with me.

Love
Henny

Look very closly, as I did, down into this soft  little bunny's nest... 

and see the sweetest sleeping baby. There is only one baby bun bun, but it looks healthy. I love the tiny pink feet and wrinkled little neck. Yes, Penny finally has a baby.

Still no sign of "Wilder", the rabbit. There are lots of woods and lots of wild rabbits around, so maybe he has simply been too busy to stop by.

Aprons...again! I've been sewing and have a few to add to the little shop...

remember my try at making a ruffled apron? Turns out, it is my all time favorite.

It is just sort of guess work on my part, but I like how it looks and want to try another one.

and this...

flower print apron has been cut out and in my stack of stuff to finish for some time now.

glad to have it finished.

and this purple one...

This is one of those wrap-around aprons...

full coverage. Anyhow, that's it for the aprons.

There is a craft sale at a little church near here in November and I've been asked to be a vendor. 

We are finally getting some rain, but my goodness!! The heat and humidity has returned big time. It feels like the middle of July!


I will leave you with this... 

well, he asked for a cone of ice cream! :) Couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face. 

Thank you for visiting.

Love,
Henny

Outside again

It's awfully dry and dusty here on Henny Penny Lane...

with lots of leaves falling and not one sign of pretty fall colors. 

even these skimpy looking mums came back from last year. That was a surprise.

I've slacked off a little from my fall house cleaning. The weather turned cooler last Thursday and I simply can not stay inside...

instead, I have been in and out of the teeny tiny garden and the little greenhouse, cleaning and moving things around...

once the greenhouse is cleaned out, I love bringing lots of plants inside to make the little space warm and cozy feeling...lots more to bring in. I am just getting started.

Oh, but nothing makes me happier than bringing them all back out in the sunshine in early spring, after the cold winter months...

I like the corner filled with chocolate vines...

wouldn't you think there would be just hoards of folks stopping in to buy plants? Of course, if folks knew that I do this mostly for fun, and that the plants are priced at a dollar or two, maybe three, there would be hoards. :) I've given away a lot more plants than I've sold, and that is fun too. 

So, the garden is pretty bare now, except for a few flowers, and rose bushes...

Better get going. Walmart and groceries are on the list today. Forgive me if I haven't visited your blog in a few days. I will catch up again. Thank you for visiting me.

Wilder has not been back in four days now so that worries me. 

Love, 
Henny 

Just when you think you are getting ahead...

Yesterday, there was a little set back to my fall cleaning, Poppy was home all day! I should have stayed home instead of riding with him to Oxford to pick up the wall clock we had repaired. We then drove to Wake Forest and walked through Lowes, hoping to buy enough carpet for our two small bathrooms. Didn't have any luck with that. 

At Lowes, this couple greeted us at the front door. Her outfit looks like something I might like. :)

Do you ever have a day that, instead of accomplishing things, you only make more work for yourself? Yesterday was like that for us.  

Our late day walk with Eli...

after our walk around the pond, Eli, without his leash, likes to run on the dirt road and fight with Poppy. Well, he decided to check out the weeds on the far side of the ditch and guess what grew there?

Beggar's lice! Poor baby. These things were sticking to his feet and face and his tail was full of them. We couldn't help but laugh. Eli acted like someone had thrown a net over him, like he could not walk. It took some time to pick these sticky little seeds off him, and set him free.

It had been three days with no sign of Wilder. I was propped up at the kitchen sink, looking out the window, when who should hop by...

but Wilder. It's the bunny, I yelled to Poppy. Seeing him making it on his own, makes me happy.

and moving right along with nature,  we found a new tree growing on the property...

This is a possum haw, or deciduous holly. It reminds me of the holly trees here, except the leaves are not tough and sharp pointed. A pretty little tree with lots of red berries.

Better get busy. Poppy is home again today and here it is time for lunch. I might as well go search through the refrigerator. :)

Thank you for visiting.

Love,
Henny

The painted bathroom

Guess I'll go ahead and post about the painted bathroom and get that over with. You see, the color I had in mind was a bright white with just a hint, a hint! of pink. But colors change inside the cabin.

As soon as the paint touched the wall, it became light lavender. I added half a can of white to the paint which lightened it a little more. 

Why, back many years ago when we bought new carpet for the cabin, the color we picked out was the color of a fawn. It was a shock when one of the installers said something about the carpet being a mauve color. It's crazy! 

The new (thrift store) Toile shower curtain.

Our friend Nellie stopped by. When I mentioned to her that I was painting the bathroom light pink, she stuck her head in, looked around and said, "It looks like white to me". 

Funny, the bathroom is so small I can only show you a little at the time.

anyhow, it is a new coat of paint, and clean. 

that out of style border around the back of the sink was my idea. The old vinyl had come unglued in places and was stained. 

When we win the lottery, I am going straight out and buy a beautiful new vanity cabinet and mirror. Trouble is, you can't win the lottery if you don't play. Last time I stopped for gas, for the first time ever, I bought a three dollar scratch-off lottery card, went back to my car and scratched it off. I won three dollars. With that, I decided to hang on to my three dollars. 

It's about bedtime again. They sure roll around quick, don't they. Thank you, friends. 

Love,

Henny

Country Living

Don't know what struck me, but I am still in the throws of fall cleaning.  

Everything has been moved out of the little hall bathroom, the walls and woodwork cleaned and taped, and made ready to paint...brought the paint home yesterday, and plan to do that first thing this morning!

There were two basket sitting on top of the mirrored cabinet that held, probably every tiny seashell that Poppy and I have ever picked up on the beach. Talk about dust!! Anyhow, carrying the two baskets, plus a few more, outside to wash and let dry in the sun, I remembered my old "Country Living" magazine collection starting from the early 1980's.

Oh my goodness friends, I practically lived for each new issue. A regular feature was, "Simple Country Pleasures" written by Jo Northrop. Jo Northrop grew up on a farm in North Carolina. I remember once she wrote about cleaning and how she carried all the baskets down to the pond to wash them and leave them in the sun to dry.

If only I had a farm and a pond to wash baskets in, and a log cabin in the country! It was the early 80's. I was a secretary, living in a two bedroom apartment with two teenage daughters. Far from any kind of country living.

This issue, I just pulled from the stack, happened to be about the changing season, from summer to fall.

"Country Living" magazine was full of everything I dreamed about having. They featured log homes and...

look at these colors. This was 1985. Poppy would move out! Hey?? Just kidding.

I did get the log cabin, with the french doors, and a pond for washing baskets, and in the country. 

so...

here's the dull dreary bathroom I'm fixing to paint...

really dull, with everything moved out. :(

not a lot I can do in such a small room. As Poppy says, you have to back out to turn around. 

I'm getting busy now. Thank you for listening again.

Love,
Henny