new treasure

I picked up a cool new "Woolwork" piece from Barb from simply Iowa. I just can't pass up a beautiful work of art. The time it took to make these, is incredible. A lost art. This was usually done by the ladies to pass the hours away. It was popular around the 1800's through the 1900's. Now to find a place to put it.
I finally have decided to weed out some stuff to make room for more stuff. That's a big step!!!
Some things just don't do it for me any longer.
I just started watching "The amazing race". My sister loves it. She told me we would love it. She was right. We started with season one. What a hoot!! Bill and i said "WE can do that. If you love travel, watch it.

Gorgous flower tuesday/Jewel of the garden

This is my favorite time of year. The lilies are big and towering. The constant rain be have been getting has caused some to lean. They grew to fast and the stems aren't strong enough to support them. So, I've been staking. They need lots of full sun. That seems to be the only major requirement. My dad always had beautiful lilies and iris. So, i must have inherited my passion from him. When i say passion, i think i mean obsession. I'm a lily hoarder. I can't stop buying them.

Clivia Blooms

I've had this plant for 3 summers now. All kinds of new leaves every year. This year was the year. Worth all the waiting. It is beautiful.
This weather has been crazy. The wind and rain are an every week thing. When it's not raining, it's so humid it's hard to get motivated to do much of anything. Remember, no AC at our house. We do have a good circulation in the house. When the temps are 90 and up, good air circulation just doesn't cut it.
Bill finally got the roof on the building. YIPPEEE!!! So now the ripping out of the floor. Slow but sure.

Cool Hoya Bloom

I ordered this hoya from Logee catalog last year. Its a" hoya archboldiana" and look at the gorgeous bloom 1 year later. The vine is still pretty short but, bloomed regardless. I've never seen a hoya bloom like this one.

Annie

Take a look at this cool photograph, that we were lucky enough to get our hands on. "Hester" bills mom works for the "lone tree historic society." Someone she knew blew through town with this photo. Thinking it should go to the society. But, it wasn't lone tree history. Someone thought, we'll take it anyway. They chose not to keep it. Hence, how we happen to get it. It's one moment in time captured by a photographers camera.
When looking at this photo, it just looks like a woman in her Cotton dress and hat Barefoot, in a cemetery.
This is Annie Houseal. The lifelong resident of Stumptown.. A once booming railroad town. A stones throw from lone tree.
She ran the general store, live upstairs in her old brick building.
But her other job was "Gravedigger". She'd dig the hole when someone kicked and after the funeral she'd fill it back in and pat the dirt down with her feet. All this was done while wearing her dress and hat. That's all she had. She was the character of the area and the sole gravedigger. It's a pretty good sized cemetery. The building falling down around her and cats everywhere. She'd feed them all. But, she dug graves till someone had to dig hers. COOL picture don't you think? The population of Stumptown has now dwindled to 20 to 30. The building she once lived in is a chiropractic clinic.

Lush is lush

I leave for 9 days and come home to a full lush yard. Every plant is SOOO big and beautiful. I'm sad i missed my Japanese tree lilac in it's glory. I snapped a few pictures. The yellow Eremurus bungei are standing tall. I heard they were hard to grown, i haven't had much trouble so far. I'm ready to order a couple more colors. The goats beard is waning, but still a beautiful site.

Back from D.C.

I KNOW< I KNOW bill just could'nt resist!!!




Wow what a great trip! We found a great little hotel, it was close to everything and right on the metro. We parked the car for the whole time and just walked and took the metro every where. We were up at 8:00 and didn't get back till 8:00 or 9:00. We really saw alot of cool stuff and didn't fall into the tour group stuff. Every one was so nice. My 2 favorite museums were the natural history and the Native American Museum. The conservatory was very very cool. We ate at a different restaurant every day. The antiquing was a little high dollar but, pretty unbelievable stuff. I would definitely go again, we didn't see it all. The only thing i would do differently, I'd take Amtrak. The driving is nerve racking. It's a mad house. The "BELTWAY" gives me nightmares. I'd recommend staying at "The Americana" hotel in Crystal city. Only 90.00 a night and very comfortable and very clean. The best breakfasts. The metro will get you to the heart of it, in 12 min.