On a Pedestal

Several years ago, my friend Maripat gave me this leaf shaped basin.  Recently, I found this fois bois pedestal at a thrift shop for ten dollars.  When I saw the pedestal I knew I was seeing a perfect fit for my basin. 

A Closer Look

I love my varigated Chinese Lantern with bright red lanterns.

In the morning light it is easier to see how I bent the piano wire for the Morning Glories to vine around.

Sweet Things



Randy made new flower boxes last year.  I finally got around to adding the decoration.



The ornaments are made of wooden heart cut outs and odd bits of metal I've collected.



This is my new door trellis.  The the striking piano guts were perviously here.  Although you can't see them well the piano strings were salvaged and used as supports for the climbing vines, which is morning glories. 




I've had this table a long while. I rushed to paint it so I could put my coffee cup on it while I read on the porch swing.



I got out the door I made last year and the grandkids helped put piano strings on it.  I collected the tiller wheels last year and just got around to painting them.

Not on Sabatical

 The cold winter allowed the pond behind my brother's house to freeze in time for Christmas.  It was a lot of fun to hang out on.

 Winter is museum season, but it wasn't until March that we made it to the Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor. 

 This is my new grand puppy Griffin.  He is very good looking. 

These are the sweet things I gathered together for Valorie's May Basket. 

Where have I been?  I've been busy keeping my head above water.  I got a substitute teaching job that came with miraculous timing.  Sadly (maybe) the job didn't turn into anything long term.  This time I thought I had landed a dream job as a "called worker" and had found my "calling."  But they wanted someone who would move to Toledo.  It was up for consideration, but they never extended me a call so that I could prayerfully deliberate.   They extended a call to a young mom/wife who recently lost her job.    God Bless her.

I'm currently unemployed (again) and beginning to get anxious about finding work.  But for now I am taking time to get rid of many of my possessions.  The dirt and clutter is paralyzing my hope and trust.  Just tidying up main floor and clearing away the grime opened up some creative pathways.   

Another Foggy Morning

Apple Sauce Using a Squeezo

 I made apple sauce with my friend Shelly.  She has a second hand Squeezo church memebers bought for her at Shipshawana.  The Squeezo is a wonderful machine that seprates the skin and seeds from the apple pulp.

The most difficult task was cutting the apples into fourths, and removing the stems and blossom ends. Also, these apples needed a little more work to remove bruises.

 The same church member that bought Shelly the Squeezo also carved her a plunger made from a maple branch.  The end of the plunger is beautifully stained by the apple juices.  It is a real treasure from the heart of a wonderful man.

I got twenty six jars of sauce.  I feel so rich!  The apples were organic!  They came from yet another church member.  There were Granny Smith, Macantosh, and (we think) Ida Reds.  The sauce is sugar free and has a pretty pink tinge.  

It has been a remarkable year for tree fruit.  I'm sorry I missed out on canning peaches and pears.  The March warm stretch and subsequent frost to blossoms in 2012, was nature's way of pruning for vigorous growth in 2013.  Prosperity!

I asked for an early prayer of thanksgiving for God's blessing of this years harvest.  My pastor was happy to give that prayer. 

Things I See

                                                           The Venus of Tomato'

                       "Commit to the Mitt" eat Michigan local produce (fingerly potatoes).

                              Blue Eyed Pig at Albers Apple Orchard. Could it be a changling?

                                         A happy bird house and feeder painted by Sonija.

                                    Flying Steve and recovering the hoop house after the hail.

Disapproving Papa

Spiders Art Colony

These photos were taken on our way to the farm one hazy moring.  I consider this sight a "consolation" veiwing.  The first time I saw this patch of webs clearly was in September.  Just as Evelyn and I were coming up to the farm with entered a thick cloud of fog; the dew was heavy and with the sunlight at the right angle and degree of brightness the typically invisable webs were now visable.  The event was startling, eerie, and beautiful.  I didn't stop to take a photo and I regretted it because it seemed like we would never be able to see the webs in such beautiful and rare conditions again.

Finally, one morning, the webs were visable again.  Evelyn popped a few photos for me.  The webs are made by common garden spiders (the big black and yellow type).