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.

gorgeous flower tuesday

"Monte Blanc rose
Goats beard
Jackmanii clematis
Tuesday comes rolling around pretty fast these days. It's hotter than a witches tit today. I'd rather be sweating than freezing any day. Bill and i are getting ready for a road trip. We are headed to D.C. We are both big fans of the Smithsonian, so we can't wait to see all the cool stuff they have. We plan on antiquing the way down and back. We aren't into fancy hotels, Just safe and clean is all we need. I got on to hotwire and found a cheap hotel and booked it. But, later i read some reviews and someone wrote that it was a HOtel. So i canceled and found a better place through "Frommers" they never have steered us wrong. We will be heading out the 1st week of June. " Oh my god What were we thinking," it's the busiest weekend.
I 've been hauling all my plants outside. I have space in my house now. I was beginning to forget what that was like.
Bill is the biggest procrastinator. But, i finally got him in to get his glasses. He looks alittle like Michel Douglas in "Falling down". But, that's all good. He got them. Now, I'm working on the license renewal, It's 5 years, it expired and he has never gone to get it. I told him "No license ,No D.C. one down one to go.

gorgeous flower tuesday

well it's still Tues, so hear it is. An old shrub rose, in it 1 moment in glory. Short blooming time, but, worth it every year.

Plant fanatics unite

Wow, i found another plant nut through blogging. His blog is Plants are the strangest people. I found out he lives in my small town. We met because he is trying to start a business selling his plants. So i went to his home and was in awe of his place. I always knew i had a lot of plants but, he is the plant king. 800 plus i have no doubt. All healthy and beautiful plants too. I know with that many , it is a full time job. They have done a lot to the house and what a treat it would be to live there. I hauled home my 1st patch of plants from him. I'm really getting into succulents and he had a lot to choose from. Everything was all neat and clean. He prefers to use the plant's botanical name and i hope he doesn't think I'm a bum for not. I'm a plant slob. my place is kinda dirty, dead leaves that have fallen throughout the winter are still piled up in corners. At least till i can get them outside this spring. Then the spring cleaning begins. Thanks mark and good luck in your venture.

gorgeous flower tuesday

Here it is! My big beautiful rhododendron. It rained buckets all night. The rhoto is still looking good. It wasn't fazed by all the bad weather. I am so mad.I had 5 days off from work, i was going to get so much done. I had a list a mile long. But, instead i was laying on the couch with a big blanket. It was raining and cold and 40 mile an hour winds. Now that i have to go back tomorrow, the sun will start shining and it will be beautiful. ARRGGG!!
I was reading this morning about all the tornado's touching down in Kansas. Terrible!! Please may they all stay away from Lone Tree. It sure seems that all bad weather is extreme these days. Not just windy but, gail force winds. Not just rain but, Tornados that leaves a wide path of destruction. All the flooding everywhere. The oil. Oh, the oil. What will be the repercussions from that mess!! At least i can look out my window and see this beauty.

gorgeous flower tuesday

Maybe I'll start a new thing. Since i am so busy in the spring and summer. (not much time to post) I will post a beautiful flower every Tuesday. I'm starting with my favorite bloom. It here today and gone before i know it. The tree peony. It doesn't get more beautiful than this.

busy days

Emmy,
Peanut
Pickles, all enjoying the day outside
Scrapping old plaster off brick walls. tearing out floor, new floor joists are on the list.
Bill and i have been working on the building, between mushroom hunting and bicycling and working in the yard. I now have 2 yards to try and keep the weeds at bay. I get up every sunny day and put the poochies out in the yard. Then i try to figure out the plan of action for the day. I try to squeeze as much into one afternoon as possibly can. At least 1 hour or 2 hours of bike riding. 1 or 2 hours of yard work. Then work at the building till i have to go to work. If it's raining or 30 mile an hour winds i forget about all the above, just enjoying a lazy day.

begonia lamp finally finished

It took some time to finish, but here it is. I took about a month off from working on it. The colors in the picture aren't true. It's more yellow and green shades. It appears to be reds and pinks. Lamps are easy and fun to make. Here is a picture of my 1st lamp. Many years ago i pieced together this Tiffany "Poppy" lamp. It came out pretty cool for my first one. Next lamp... Tiffany "lotus flower."
This weekend turned out to be pretty crappy. Cold and rainy. Bring on the sun.

Things i like about spring

This is FATTY
Korean spice viburnum
Flowering crab apple
A row of flowering crabs
I love spring because of the intoxicating smells. Walk anywhere and and my nose is filled with the smell of lilacs and Korean spice viburnums, bridal wreath. It really is my favorite time of year. Everything is NEW.
Yesterday i was met with a very friendly cat in my yard. Skin and bones, She was friendly because she was desperate. Her face was all wet and she was really dirty and nasty looking but friendly. I tried to feed it and she tried to eat, but couldn't. Bill took one look at her and said "Oh Cathie, get that thing outta here. It's probably got distemper. I loaded her up in the car and to the the ic animal shelter i went. They said it's jaw was broken. Her face was wet because she had to put her whole face in a bowl of water to drink. The poor thing. I've never seen her around here before. But, they said they'd take care of her. Clean her up and see if they can help her. If not they may put her down. But, i figured either way , she's better off there than fending for herself.
We had a cat adopt us about 12 years ago. We call her "FATTY"
One day we saw a kitten on the top of bill (no longer working) truck. We discovered there were several kittens. Feral kittens, wild and scrappy. The mother was sweet as pie. We rounded up the kittens, Found homes. The mother, we decided we couldn't keep. Delivered her to a Friends farm about 4 miles away. She was back on our porch 2 days later. Well i guess if she wants to be here that bad she can stay. Took her in and had her spayed and she has been the best cat ever.

My Logee order arrived

I haven't ordered from "logee" for awhile. I was due. I will say that every plant was just like it was packed. Not a single leaf out of place. nothing broken off and still moist. The plants were beautiful. I ordered some begonias and a Alocasia "stingray" and a cool philodendron. i have some more on the way.

Back in the saddle

It took me a bit but, i finally hopped on the seat of my bike and took off. That's all it took to get me fired up again. I had to work the weekend and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. My friend Jennifer called and wanted me to ride to Iowa city with her. Damned i thought. I'd love to go. But, No, the hospital was calling me. How depressing. So i went on a 15 mile ride on Sunday and a 20 mile ride on Monday. I feel great. It sure beats going to the gym. Sun and fresh air. You can't beat it. I'm so glad Jen called. I'm happy she is getting into riding again. A bike buddy is a good thing to have. We will be able to ride together on weekends at least. We work different shifts.
I do love to ride solo also, NO radio, just the wind in my face and quiet. I solve all the worlds problems and blow off steam, while riding. I always hope no one sneaks up behind me. I'll be jabbering and holding 1-way conversations, cussing and yelling. But, i always feel so much better when I'm done.

Spring bulb pics

I always say that i'm planting more tulips but, it never happens. There is always to many other flowers on the list.

I can't help it. More stuff

Bills Orchard ladder collection.
Folk art "Tramp art" frame
Cool rug from Iran and "Peanut"

4 days off

I've had 4 glorious days off. I was working in my flower gardens and i went antiquing...Worked in the building, Walked and rode my bike. I know i haven't posted much lately, but, i am still here.
The spring bulbs are doing great. Better with the rain we just had. I 'm busy digging up day lilies, trying to keep them controlled (somewhat).
Bill and i went to see barb Of simply Iowa . bill bought another orchard ladder. A person can't have to many ladders. I added another linoleum floor cloth to the collection. I think it's going in the building. Found a cool folk art picture frame at "decorum", from mark in Iowa city. Artifacts in Iowa city had a beautiful floor size rug from Iran, it's about 40 years old. I hate to even put it down anywhere, it's so pretty.
The building is coming around slow but sure. Just opening it up and letting a cross breeze blow thru it, really helps. I'll be posting progress pictures soon.