juneSCENE IN OUR GARDEN: holidays

Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

The Scoop

For The Scoop on our first official outing of 2018

go to my OTHER blog HERE...

And Happy New Year!

A Winter Walk

A near-perfect day for a housewalk

through this lovely neighborhood.

Carolers sang.

Christmas colors and decor abounded.

Behind this door - wonderful refreshments

and artwork created by artists in the neighborhood.

I didn't feel quite as free to take photographs of the interiors

but trust me when I say they were every bit as charming as the exteriors!

Most years, we have opted for the evening walk,

but this year I attended The Messiah and so we waited for this afternoon's edition.

As it turned out, it was a fine alternative!

The Williams Woodland Holiday Tour is one of our favorite activities

of the Christmas season.

Other People's Houses

Just a few outdoor scenes from the beautiful Williams-Woodland

Annual Christmas Housewalk...

This event is always a highlight of our year,

and this year was no exception.

Temperatures were cold and dropping

but didn't diminish our enjoyment!

On the way home, I asked Gary to stop the car

so I could take this picture of Jehl's Barn.

It was a fitting climax to our night.

We drove into our driveway to the sight of our own house and shed

illumined by the simple spotlights we are using this year

instead of the old little white lights...

Good Night, Moon!

Merry Christmas!

I had the dream for some time but had been too lazy to search

out a "proper" branch.

Imagine my happiness to find THIS perfect one

lying across an evergreen tree--

apparently deposited by the wind in a most convenient place for me!

I placed it in a tree holder I found recently at a thrift store.

Now it stands on our front porch decked sparingly with a few thrifted ornaments.

Even the "berries" seem suited for the season!

Merry Christmas, my Gardening Friends!

Oh Christmas Tree II

I saw this in a magazine at Barnes & Noble this evening.

I'd sure like to try it!

(Haven't done the previous one yet though...)

Oh Christmas Tree

I think I need to go "harvest" a "tree" !

How cool is this?!?

It Takes a VILLAGE to Make a WREATH

Cut from one of the two small bed springs...

...we've determined it takes 14 of the individual springs (which will eventually be welded together)...

...to create an outdoor Christmas wreath.

It will take a village to complete this wreath!

the donor of the springs

the cutter of the springs

the connector of the springs

the welder of the springs

and

the decorator of the springs

Here We Come a'Caroling....

We've had these carolers for years! They were either purchased at a garage sale or thrift store. I can't remember. I think they look charming in the corner of our front porch this year.

When I saw it marked "fifty cents" at the thrift store this afternoon, I thought it might fit here! Sure enough. It fits perfectly in the old wooden planter that stands on its end beside our front door.

By Day and By Night

I saw this artificial plant discarded by a trash bin as I drove in the country two days ago. My husband graciously stopped to pick it up and returned it to our front porch. Yesterday I strung a $.74 string of orange lights (reduced in price after Halloween). I am pleased with the look and pleased with the cost.

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony. William Henry Channing 1810-1884

Irises come in many forms, shapes, colors and sizes and the sword-like foliage is attractive when the plant is not in bloom. The genus Iris is a large genus of bulbous and rhizomatous perennials.

The Iris was named after the goddess of the rainbow because of its many colors.
A flower on the Sphinx is considered to be an Iris, and another appears on a bas-relief of the 18th Egyptian dynasty.
Pliny also knew the Iris and praised its medicinal virtues.
The Iris was also a favourite flower of the Moslems, who took it to Spain after their conquest in the 8th century.

Bought at a local plant sale, Spring of 2009 Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium; syn. Chrysanthemum parthenium (L.) Pers., Pyrethrum parthenium Sm.) is a traditional medicinal herb which is found in many old gardens, and is also occasionally grown for ornament. The plant grows into a small bush up to around 18 inches high, with citrus-scented leaves and is covered by flowers reminiscent of daisies. It spreads rapidly, and they will cover a wide area after a few years. It is also commonly seen in the literature by its synonyms, Chrysanthemum parthenium (L.) Bernh. and Pyrethrum parthenium (L.) Sm.

I'D PICK MORE DAISIES
If I could live my life again
I'd be a little lazy
I'd stop this rushing to and fro
And stop and pick more daisies
Through all the lovely summer months
Though days be clear or hazy
No more to fret over tasks undone,
I'd stop to pick a daisy
Not so important what I did
This fact time now discloses
While running through life's garden green
I'd stop to smell the roses
If I could hold my little ones
The children in my care
I'd scold them less and love them more
With so much love to share
If I could pass this way again
Though folks might think I'm crazy
I'd work and worry less, but I'd
Take time to pick a daisy
The rush of life has passed me by
Now I have leisure hours
But time has taken such a toll
It's too late to pick the flowers.

Mildred F. Rowe

MEASURE YOUR HEALTH...by your sympathy with morning and spring. If there is no response in you to the awakening of nature, if the prospect of an early morning walk does not banish sleep, if the warble of the first bluebird does not thrill you--know that the morning and the spring of your life are past. Thus may you feel your pulse. (Thoreau)

"God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on the trees and flowers and clouds and stars." (Martin Luther)

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

The soul of a child is the loveliest flower
That grows in the garden of God
It's climb is from weakness to knowledge and power,
To the sky from the clay to the clod.
To beauty and sweetness it grows under care
Neglected, 'tis ragged and wild.
'Tis a plant that is tender, but wondrously rare,
The sweet wistfull soul of a child.

Be tender, O Gardener, and give it it's share
Of moisture, of warmth and of light,
And let it not lack for th painstaking care
To protect it from frost and from blight.
A glad day will come when it's bloom shall unfold,
It will seem that an angel has smiled,
Reflecting a beauty and sweetness untold
In the sensitive soul of a child.

...Author Unknown

Thy Word is like a garden, Lord,
With flowers bright and fair;
And every one who seeks may pluck
A lovely cluster there.
Thy Word is like a deep, deep mine,
And jewels rich and rare
Are hidden in its mighty depths
For every searcher there.

Thy Word is like a starry host:
A thousand rays of light
Are seen to guard the traveler,
And make his pathway bright.
Thy Word is like an armory,
Where soldiers may repair,
And find, for life's long battle-day,
All needful weapons there.

Oh, may I love Thy precious Word,
May I explore the mine,
May I its fragrant flowers glen,
May light upon me shine!
Oh, may I find my armor there!
Thy Word my trusty sword,
I'll learn to fight with every foe
The battle of the Lord.

(Edwin Hodder, Thy Word Is Like a Garden, Lord)

juneSCENE IN OUR GARDEN