Mystic Seaport Mastheads

I hope all of you had a good memorial day weekend! . We are coming up on summer hot weather although around here the weather keeps flip flopping! Sometimes hot, sometimes cool and rainy such as today thanks to that tropical storm that landed in northern Florida. So the start of summer time brings pictures of ocean, lakes, fun times! Last year when we were up in Connecticut we went to Mystic Seaport. It is an old historic village with boats, houses, gardens, more boats, but since we had never been in that area before it was on my to do list. One of the things I found interesting was all of the ship mastheads they had in one of the buildings.  They were all so interesting, and so I looked up why ships had them.  It turns out that the vikings used them on their ships to ward off evil spirits. Germany, Holland, and Belgium believed that fairies dwelt in the figure heads, protected them from the storms, and if the ship sank they guided the souls to the land of the dead. They were also used to indicate the name of the ship to non literate societies, and also to demonstrate the wealth of the ship's owner.  Although mastheads are not used as before; ships still carry badges or plaques that relate to the ship's name, role or coat of arms.  Wikipedia has more on it too which is where I got this information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we make it back up north again this year I would love to see more along the coastline, and a lot of the history that goes with it. I'll have more posts on this quaint village!

Happy Memorial Day

Wishing all of you a wonderful memorial day, and a big thank you to the men and women past and present who have made a lot of things possible.

 

New look for an old book

Ever wonder what to do with an old book? I saw this in an Asheville antique store a few years back.

 

The Story of Glass Gem Corn: Beauty, History, and Hope

I came across this article just recently.  I thought at first I was looking at some beautiful jewels until I read the article.  I hope you enjoy it !

The Story of Glass Gem Corn: Beauty, History, and Hope

Putting a photo together

I have this photo as wallpaper as I love geraniums, and it reminds me of our trip to visit family in Germany.  One day I was sitting in front of the computer, and I started noticing all the different things in the picture that I never really noticed before.  On this part of the photo is a rooster weather vane.

 

The front door has a little wreath, and on the steps flower pots along with a ceramic cat and duck.  So cute!

 

Two girl figurines in the back along with another ceramic cat.  Must like cats! I love the little living fence in the foreground, and one always needs a bird bath.  There is also a gazing ball.

 

Until I cropped this part I never even noticed the funny bird in the pot, the chickens in the background.

 

Quack, quack!

 

I love the blue and white canopy along with the blue bench.  What do I spy?  Why! A real live cat!

 

And here is the total picture.

 

I took this photo because of the geraniums which I love, but look at what the whole photo had to offer!  You never know what you might find.

My Blooming Roses & Other Things

It has grown even bigger this rose in the pot!  It is so happy there yet I still have to build a wall around the pot, and then cut the pot.  I won't even try to dig it up.

 

The colors change on it.  It starts out like this and then fades to a light pink.  The name is Pearl D'Ore, and old fashion rose.  They should call it Divine as that is how it smells!

 

This one in the foreground is my Ispahan rose. It only blooms once which is so sad since the fragrance is wonderful too.  I almost lost it when we moved way back when, but it is a tough one thank goodness.

 

My Duchess De Brandt I believe.  It was full of blooms this year, and it has gotten more buds on it too.

 

This one is a repeat bloomer also, but I don't remember the name.  Such a beautiful color though.

 

Love all the petals!

 

I don't know when I got started with all the pinks! I have always been a red, orange, yellow flower girl, but for some reason that has changed.  Must be old age!  I still have some beds that have those specific colors.

 

So we have had that early spring which means that I have been running around like a mad woman trying to get everything in the ground.  You wonder where I have been?  Well, this year we have added fences around all of my flower and vegetable beds to keep the chickens out.  From a distance you can barely see the fence, and we did the same to the other side of the garden house.

 

This is my teepee garden.  It has a variety of pole beans, two different kinds of cucumbers, tomatoes, and some type of squash that was in the compost pile that I added to this garden.  I had cardboard on this for over six months, and just started adding dirt, leaves, more dirt, etc..  I even took the wheel barrow up the hill umpteen times to get dirt from where the old chicken pen used to be.  Where I am standing I have another bed that has dahlias in it which I will be moving although I'm not sure if that will be this year or not.  I am planning on making it an herb bed.  Or maybe not.  In front of my garden house there is a spot which has shale rock (or so it feels like it!) that I may turn into a raised herb bed.

  We started this last year and have added more beds plus we put the fences up too.  I like these fences a lot better than what we had last year.  I have a variety of squash, hot peppers, eggplant, onions, beets, radishes, lettuces, peas, bell peppers, more tomatoes, rhubarb which I am surprised it is still living, and okra planted if it gets hot enough for it to come up.  In the middle are my blueberry bushes, blackberries, raspberries, whew!  Last year nothing did well.  I am hoping this year will be better

 

We used to have our garden up at the top near the road.  That is extremely busy now, and I don't think the soil is that great anymore.  So I started these beds, and with all the trees I have to put beds where I can find the sun!  I also have another bed with potatoes, more tomatoes, and strawberries.  I am hoping to be very busy this summer!  Of course it could all change again, and nothing will do well, however, I wasn't the only one last year so at least I know I didn't do anything wrong.

 

The other rose which needs constant cutting as it is right next to the sidewalk, and hubby says it attacks him.  We are training it to grow up the carport; too bad it doesn't bloom all summer, but it has lovely rose hips.  Now the rain has stopped again which is why I'm here in front of the computer instead of outside.  I am thankful for the rain as we need it bad.  Spoke too soon!  Here comes the rain again......hmmm, maybe I might just be able to take a nap, nah, I've never been a nap taker, I guess I'll go blog hopping!

Making Grandmother Happy

The end of last month had a lot of things blooming earlier than usual such as this white peony.  Oh how I love them!

 

These azaleas really took off this spring probably due to more rain.

 

A new clematis on a new arbor that holds a Lady Banks Rose

 

Another peony along with a knock out rose in the background. I prefer antique roses, but this one kind of snuck in!  We also had several loads of dirt brought in to level places out.  It is a never ending process around here with lots of work needing to be done.

 

So when my aunt called to say she was in South Carolina and then going up to my grandmother's house in North Carolina; she asked if I'd like to meet her in South Carolina to go to this gorgeous nursery.  I needed a nursery break so of course, yes!  First thing I saw was this yellow peony.  Oh how I drooled over it.  However, right now $80 for one plant is a little out of my price range.

 

We bought two of those pots off to the right for my grandmother.

I would love to have all of these around me!

 

Totally cute!

 

I am doing something similar to this very soon.

 

See the rocks made to look like owls?  And I didn't see it until this photo, but the little cherub to the left of the ever so cute chair is just calling my name.  It is saying how am I ever going to plant all of this?  

 

May not be this year, but yes sir you will see this in my garden one day.

 

Family of owls.

 

We could have stayed there a lot longer, and once when my aunts took my grandmother they stayed over half a day.  My grandmother loves flowers so much that she just can't stand not to be outside with them.  So I bought two chairs that would be sturdy enough for her.  She seems to be enjoying sitting there and looking!  We planted over 50 bulbs on the slope along with plants that we planted along the driveway that we picked up.

 

She doesn't look like she is going to be 95 in under six months does she?

 

What childhood memories this tree brings.  When I was little the trees in the background were not even there along with all the others that have grown so much you can't even see the mountain with the ranger station on it anymore.

 

So many blooming this year.

 

Yes, we made her happy!

 

 

My grandmother says she still sneaks outside to walk without anyone around so she can look at everything.  She really is not suppose to as she is not as steady as she once was a few years back. My dad says she will probably make a 100, and of course she will still be sneaking out to look at her flowers!