Sweet Herb Nosegay

This morning was beautiful and long sleeves felt good. I picked a little nosegay bouquet to bring in all of the loveliness and a little fragrance with it. A snip of hidcote lavender, common sage, lemon balm, globe amarraths, lamb's ears, lavender cotton, and butterfly bush. I snipped off a small piece of ornamental grass over the lambs ears to tie the little bundle together. No special tools or floral supplies needed.



I wish more people would include lavender cotton in their gardens. The leaves have a wonderful scent and the leaves are small and dainty. They do have little yellow button flowers in June. They also can be trimmed and formal in knot gardens.



These little bouquets make you feel so feminine. They are small and adorable. I ended up setting it in a small blue and white tea cup on the table. Did you pick any flowers from your garden today? I'd love to hear.

Cleaning up After Hurricane Irene

Last night the purring outside later turned to a soft roar. The sound was like someone had turned on all of the water faucets in the house. Our westie would growl every now and then mimicing the wind. He was a little restless pacing around the house.

This giant hickory tree (above) went down along the fenceline. It popped the metal gate high above it and knocked a fencepost down. What you see is the tree roots---just like Alice and wonderland disappeared down under. We were very fortunate to just have this one tree down. There were small branches scattered around the yard and fields. Our electricity held strong. As we were driving today we couldn't help but notice all the trees that could have went down and toppled the electrical lines. I will tell you this healthy looking hickory tree had a rotten center that we couldn't see, of course, until it was sawed off at the base. Good thing it went down during a storm when everyone was inside!

Hurricane Irene is Visiting Maryland

The sound of soft rain continues to drizzle. Sometimes it is so soft I think it has stopped until I look outside. 40,000 homes in Maryland are without electricity because of fallen trees. We are fortunate as ours is on and hope it stays on all night. If it does go off I might have to make campfire coffee in the morning. The huge fir and pine trees that give so much shade in the summer I now eye warily hoping they continue to stand tall and strong. The ash and sycamore trees have strewn some branches here and there. The maples are hanging in there. The lawn is such a dark green now more like the beginning of June.

I hope everyone closer to the eye of the storm is safe.

Surrealism & Frida Kahlo Art

A new painting/illustration of Frida Kahlo. Her self portraits were so severe sometimes that I like to paint her in a fun light showing her sense of humor and her love of animals and birds. This one is titled MY CAGE.

Peaches Say Sweet Summer

Hello! How is everyone? I have been busy and my computer crashed and burned. But then there is peaches. So sweet! I think they are my favorite fruit. Favorite at the moment. They are like golden sunshine balls filled with sweet tart sugar. I could sing praises all day for peaches.

I have enough to make some french tarts, peach and lemon jam and peach banana and soy milk smoothies with a pinch of honey. So delicious. This all sounds heavenly but I have lots of other things to do as well on the farm.