Monthly Archives: May 2012

What I Love {Spin Cycle}

30 Wednesday May 2012

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To contrast with last week’s prompt over at Gretchen’s Spin Cycle, this week our prompt is “Things I love.” Of course, I love love love Ed, Lily and Emmy. (Can you tell?–I just read an Eloise book to the girls at bedtime, and Nanny always says things three times!)

This post is about simple things that make me happy, happy, happy!

I absolutely LOVE:

1. My sewing machine

When I was in high school, my mom tried to teach me how to sew. I think I started sewing a skirt, and I don’t think I liked the whole sewing thing. I never would have guessed that when I bought a sewing machine of my very own that I would fall in love with sewing. I haven’t sewn any clothes yet (it’s probably better that way) but I am having so much fun with my quilt blocks!

2. My yard

Working outside is something I love to do, but don’t take much time to actually do. Every summer, I resolve to spend more time in my yard and less time inside. But then, it gets hot and humid and the mosquitoes come out to play. This spring, I planted my flowers early (for me) since it was so warm. I’m determined to get out and garden more regularly this summer.

My Garden

3. My weeping willow tree

People have told me that they hate willow trees because they are messy and they are constantly dropping branches all over the yard. I, however, love willow trees. I have a faint memory of the old parsonage in Nebraska having a graceful weeping willow in the yard, and ever since then, weeping willows have been my favorite tree. We have a huge old willow in our back yard, and I just love love love the long green leaves and the branches swaying in the breeze.

View under the weeping willow tree

4. Figuring out a way to MAKE THINGS WORK

I have two topsy-turvy tomato planters that Ed bought me, but they are so heavy that they bent the shepherd’s crook I hung them from. I needed a much studier hanger…but didn’t have time to go look for one. So I looked around our garage and found a closet pole that Ed had replaced. I dug a hole, stuck it in behind the shepherd’s crook, and tied some twine around it. Voila! To my delight (and my neighbor’s dismay–it’s quite unattractive) my fix worked! I am bound and determined to have some home-grown tomatoes this year, even if it means buying them at a farmer’s market.

topsy-turvy tomato planters

closet pole fix--ugly but functional

5. Bubble wrap

You already love bubble wrap just as much as I do, but just watch this video of Emmy and you’ll love it even more!

I could just go on and on with things that I love, but then this post would be way too long and you wouldn’t love me any more. One more thing…I can’t help but love Gretchen, from Second Blooming, who keeps this thing known as the Spin Cycle spinning. Give her button below a click!

Second Blooming
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Remembering Memorial Day

28 Monday May 2012

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There was a little teeny tiny peony bush stranded under the magnolia tree on the east side of our house. It never grew very much, so last summer I finally transplanted it to a better place. This May, it has bloomed brilliantly in its new home.

My pretty pink peony bush

I love peonies. The buds are so nice and plump, and little ants love crawling all over their curves. When they finally bloom, peonies are an explosion of texture and color.

Peonies remind me of growing up in a small, rural town in the 70′s. The peonies would always be in bloom on Memorial Day, and my sister and I would go to the neighbor’s yard to cut the full, red blooms, wrap wet paper towels around the stems, and surround the paper towel with a plastic baggie. Then, my family would get in the car and drive out to the cemetery in the country. It was a beautiful cemetery, green and surrounded by trees. We would put the flowers and maybe a small flag on the graves of soldiers. My sister and I would run around the gravestones as people gathered for a Memorial Day service. Veterans wore their uniforms. I can still hear the gun salute echoing among the gravestones, as we remembered those who gave their lives for our country.

I wonder if there will be a gathering at the cemetery outside of that small town today. My family moved to the suburbs in the early 80′s, so I doubt my little brother and sister remember how we used to commemorate Memorial Day. Even though we will not be carrying flowers to the grave of a soldier, I will remember all those who fought for our freedom.

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