A couple of things this morning...
I meant to say thank you to Richard Piper for following my blog. Thank you Richard!
and...yesterday after a few folks had read my post, I noticed that I had spelled heel, hill, when talking about Madison's wedge heel shoes. It was funny because of the memories that brought back.
It was 1960 and my friends, Mary, Audrey, Loretta, Hilda, and I were bumping along in the school bus on those back country roads, headed home after school. None of us lived really close to each other.
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Audrey, Hilda
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Mary, Audrey, Loretta
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We were all seniors and excited over our upcoming trip to Washington DC. The long ride home gave us a chance to make a list of things to pack for the trip. As we each finished our list we passed it to the the others to read. Well, the girls started laughing at my list! Why? Because I had written down "hills". I meant heels. So, after all these years, I've done it again. :)
That's me on the right with a pretty dumb look. If I remember correctly, I was trying to look sexy. I wanted to be a movie star, you know. :) Mary and I were climbing the stairs in the Washington monument.
I just read on line that there are 897 steps to the Washington monument and that the steps were closed for walking up in 1971. Humm, guess I was lucky.
This was going to be a gardening post but it can wait until tomorrow. I've been in the garden this morning and it is hot and humid. We may get thunderstorms later...
Love,
Henny
It's me, Henny, home again, and as mama used to say, "I don't know which way to turn!"
The little vacation was wonderful! Time spent with my daughter and granddaughter was wonderful! Not having to cook for three days was wonderful!
and here's another wonderful! I got to meet a very special blogging friend, Dianna, from the blog forgiven. It was so exciting! Let me tell you, she is as sweet and friendly, and sincere in person as she is on her blog. We didn't have enough time, so our visit was way too short. I'm hoping to go back one day and we can maybe have lunch together. At least we got to meet. Thank you Dianna for waiting in the heat and humidity for us. Andee got a picture of Dianna and me...for my blog, but, of course, my eyes were closed and my mouth was open, so I'm not posting that one.
Back home at Andee's, this is Madison's kitty cat, Percy...
he is adorable...big old thing! He's a tad overweight and has a crooked little mouth, and doesn't seem to care who holds him.
here, it's Andee supporting all that weight.
On our little trip, we stopped at a place called Coopers Rock. Oh my, it was breathtaking! Yes, that is my granddaughter Madison walking down the steep side of that rock in wedge hill oops! heel shoes. I was scared to death she would turn her ankle or fall!
my nerves were shot! We got out of there without a scratch. :) I am truly a world traveler, can you tell? Call me mama!
Okay, this is my post! Hopefully, I will be back soon. Can't wait to show you how the teeny tiny garden is growing. Now I am off to read some really good posts...yours!
Love,
Henny
Oh, that first picture, that's my dream home. I snapped it along the way...seems like it was western Maryland maybe. We had driven through lots of rain and thunderstorms, and I love the way the clouds dipped down over that beautiful farm.
I'm leaving...on a jet plane! Not really, but I am leaving at noon today in my 1998 Toyota Corolla. Going north to Virginia to see my daughter Andee. Then Andee and I are going to see my granddaughter Madison at her college.
Poppy will be here alone with just the animals to keep him company. I've pointed out where the groceries are kept, and where he will find a spoon and fork. :) Hopefully, he won't starve before I can get back on Sunday.
Good gosh!! Be sure to tell him where you keep the cat food!
My biggest worry is having to cross that long Monitor-Merrimack Bridge and tunnel in Virginia...
Bridges and tunnels scare me and this one gives me goosebumps just looking at the picture!
Okay, hope to be back soon.
Love,
Henny
Dear friends,
I do so appreciate all the nice comments, and ideas, and suggestions for the playhouse.
Sharon, suggested checking Craigslist free stuff several times a day for fence panels. First time I checked, there they were...free fence panels, but someone had just beat me to them.
You all had encouraging words and good suggestions...and I am using them all! Thank you!
When the playhouse is finished and the little pot bellied stove arrives, you can all come for tea.
So, here's the other worst gardening mistake ever made...
Just this past fall, I cleaned out the Iris bed, digging out all the irises and pulling out the weeds. Then brought buckets of black rich soil from behind the chicken lot and re-set the Iris.
Have you ever seen such a mess in your life! That rich soil was full of weed seeds that had also washed down the hill, and boy have they thrived being out in the sun light!
So, this fall, I plan to dig everything out again and fill the bed with store bought potting soil and composted cow manure. I make more work for myself!!
I build a pretty shabby looking wattle fence, but you would be surprised at how strong it feels. It surely will support the half-runner beans,
and a look too at the three tee pees. I know, real gardeners will probably get a good laugh, but hey, it was hot work sawing down these tall tangled saplings from the woods.
The soil in the teeny tiny garden gets darker and richer every year...this summer I can thank Robert and Kristine for the big bags of horse manure they gave us.
Better get busy. It's daylight now. The guineas are flying down from the tall cedar tree, and I can hear the rooster crowing from inside the hen house...addling all the hens.
Thank you for your friendship.
Love,
Henny
Way back in May of 1996, dear friends, I clipped this little picture from a Better Homes and Gardens Magazine...
This was the playhouse I wanted. Just a simple little corner, enclosed with a couple of wooden fence panels or even latticework might do, and that old fashioned wood stove! As daughter Lynn would say, "be still my heart"!!
But wait! It's not too late, is it? Look again at the playhouse, if you don't mind...
can you picture the fence panels installed there behind the potting bench, then...
ending somewhere back behind the old green washing machine tub, turning the corner and installing another fence panel, enclosing the playhouse. A little wood stove would fit in there somewhere.
Just this week, messing around up at the greenhouse, neighbor Ann pulled over to speak. After telling her my plan, she asked, do you want some latticework? Fred just put up new, under our porch and he is taking the old to the landfill. Seriously!! Ann?? Wait a minute, she said, I'll be right back. In five minutes she was back with a stack of latticework pieces...new pieces, left over pieces.
So now I have a totally new reason for lying awake at night; planning and dreaming and all night long figuring out how to put up pieces of latticework to make a wall. :(
I've searched Craigslist for old wooden fence panels, but so far, nothing. It would cost way too much to buy new wooden fence panels. Good Gosh!!
Okay, need to get busy this morning. There are herbs ready to plant, and okra seed for a row in the garden, and much to my surprise, the seeds I saved from those tiny pretty little red, orange, and gold peppers, from the grocery store, germinated and are big enough to put in the garden. Besides all this, I've got lots of standing and staring to do up at the long-legged tower.
Any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated. I've been chopping down more saplings and small trees. A tall, neatly built wattle fence behind the playhouse would be nice.
Thank you! Hope to be back here soon!
Love,
Henny
"Hey! any more corn in that bucket? and hurry up, the duck is headed this way"
This rooster! He follows me around like a dog. When our neighbor Ann stops by and toots the car horn, he goes out with me to meet her and stands there while we talk.
I finished another apron, such as it is...
by far, not my best work. But then, maybe I feel this way because of the trouble. Why, I had to call Simplicity to get a couple of questions answered to finish this apron. It will go in the teeny tiny shop, maybe at a reduced price. :)
remember the 1940's Vintage apron pattern I bought recently, and used to make the heart shaped apron?
this one
and this
well this newest apron is View C on that same pattern...
don't know why this has been such a hard pattern for me to follow. Of course, you've heard me say before, I am definitely not a talented gifted seamstress...for me it's work, following these printed instructions and sewing! Sure is fun work though!
Oh my, I cannot linger here long. My "to do" list is simply overwhelming. Showing the list to Poppy this morning as he walked out the door, he said, good grief, you need to get started...this was 5:25 am.
and here comes the duck...
bye! Be back soon.
Love,
Henny
P.S. I had started to reply to some comments on my last post and after a couple, the computer would not open the reply box when I clicked on it, so I gave up. Never had that happen before. Been several little things like that lately???
We got that shower of rain we needed. It started Saturday evening and stopped this morning.. Five inches it measured, in all!
Stepping stones don't help much in weather like this.
These are the stepping stones in dry weather..
I tried making this little video of the rain water that comes rushing in...
our little rickety pier. Imagine wandering out there to sit.
and this little side foot bridge that crosses the ditch that drains into the pond, was almost under water. Duck Duck says this is his kind of weather! Notice how far out in the water the iris are now?
there were puddles everywhere!
but after the sun came out and dried things out a bit, we went for that much needed walk...
Eli said he just wanted to soak up a little of that good feeling sunshine.
that big rose bush with the tiny pink boutonniere roses is in bloom.
Anyhow, we needed this rain. The garden perked right up and all the beans have come through the ground.
Shortly after the rain ended, I put on my old rubber boots and sloshed up to the garden to have a look.
Okay, I need to sew tonight and here it is 9:00. Thank you all and I shall return.
Love,
Henny
Somebody's old teddy bear needs washing.
