I stay at my mother's every other Friday night. We watch old movies and eat popcorn, and sometimes my brother Crits joins us. My nieces cleaned the playroom where I sleep the Thursday before I was last there. This note greeted me when I pulled back the bedspread.
Funny girls, aren't they?
My good flickr friend, urbanmkr, had this wonderful poison ivy diptych that I'm going to study in the high hopes that I DON'T get poison ivy this year! Great public service!
Another studio session last night Perspective2. My brother Boo and his family graciously agreed to be my guinea pigs for this month.
The big doings out at the farm this weekend: The door to the big barn was repaired and reset.
The barn guy wondered: how did they do this in the old day, without the modern mechanics.
Hey, those old farmer types were pretty smart. And they had some fantastic horses.
I make such a bad country girl . . . I don't even know the different kinds of bees. Last year I finally was shown what wasps are, but bees . . . i'm at a loss.
I keep a patch of milkweek behind the garage for the monarch butterflies. I had noticed something had been eating on them, and as monarchs and their caterpillars are the only thing that dine on them I knew I had to pay attention.
I was sitting on the picnic table when I saw the monarch butterfly wend its way from the far side of the garage. Right behind her was: the hummingbird. That hummer was dogging that butterfly, and eventually ran her off.
ah, nature
my neighbor has the coolest scare girl. One of my projects for the weekend is to gather material so that I can have one. Monkey see, monkey do, eh?
You Are a Peacemaker Soul |
 You strive to please others and compromise anyway you can. War or conflict bothers you, and you would do anything to keep the peace. You are a good mediator and a true negotiator. Sometimes you do too much, trying so hard to make people happy. While you keep the peace, you tend to be secretly judgmental. You lose respect for people who don't like to both give and take. On the flip side, you've got a great sense of humor and wit. You're always diplomatic and able to give good advice. Souls you are most compatible with: Warrior Soul, Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul |
You can call me corny.
My house is no longer visible from the north road. Come to think of it, neither are the barns!!!
Good season for corn-growing, I guess.
How to:
1. Get a jar with a lid.
2. Get a hammer and a nail.
3. Pound at least 7 holes in the lid.
4. Pull up some grass.
5. Stuff grass in jar.
6. Wait for twilight.
**The secret to reaping a bumper crop of fireflies is starting the hunt at twilight. (Also must note, we in the more northern states have a lingering twilight, which aids in the capture rate.) Twilight is dark enough so that one can see the flare of the firefly, but light enough so that one can follow the insect's path once the flare goes off.**
7. A soft, cupping movement of the hand is advised.
8. Gently gather the insect in.
9. Open the jar and quickly slip in the firefly.
10. Repeat.
11. After first firefly captured, must add a thump to the top of the jar before adding more bugs.
After the catch has been duly oohed and aahed over, open jar and let the fireflies free.
Have fun!
I recently upgraded my camera! It was a little hard to do. I hated to spend the money, but I was doing studio work that required a camera that could work with strobe lights, and my little Fuji didn't, without a major work-around. It also had very few settings that could be used (ISO being one of them). I had researched cameras and so, when my tax refund came, I purchased a Nikon D80.
I purchased it, then didn't use it for a week. Buyer's remorse? Lack of confidence? Who knows. Eventually I did use it (had a studio session coming up). Now, I wouldn't be parted from it.
This must be an early bird.
My lunch hour is 11-12. Makes for a short morning, a LOOOONNNNGGG afternoon!
Three American Literary Giants. Can you identify them?
This is the south-east side of the corn crib. Grandpa planted a trumpet vine at the south end years ago: it is not a trumpet tree. I keep trying to make it tidy, and have added the hollyhocks. (All farms need hollyhocks, don't you think?)
Another way to tell it is July: the berries are almost ready.
I thought the luna was rare, but it turns out it is quite common. Only thing is, it doesn't eat, so it only lives a week, and that is why we seldom see them.
Monday morning is trash day. I rolled my barrel back into place after the trashtruck had gone. This was right at eye level. Too cool!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actias_luna
The corn is supposed to be knee-high by the 4th of July. I believe it might be a good year for corn!
My mom hates to have her picture taken. I have no idea why. She's a beautiful woman.
Anyway, her 80th birthday is coming up in august, so we told her she had to let us take her picture then without fussing too much.
She decided she'd better start practicing now.
The Keys to Your Life |
 Anything good that comes in your life will come from your own self reflection. Don't rely on other people for advice. They will harm you more then help you. Anything bad in your life comes from sinking to the level of those around you. Remember to lift people up, and refuse to participate in anything petty. |
I was glad that the power came back on sometime between 2:30 and 5:00 a.m.
And how is your day?
My sister-in-law is an awesome, inveterate garage sale aficionado. She loves to find things for me out at the farm.
I'm in love with the cow lights, which are perfect on the "milk house".
part of my weedy wall garden. This garden is pink/blue/white/purple. Another garden has blue/purple/yellow/orange. The third garden, the spring garden, has whatever will show up early in the spring. I also have a hollyhock patch and a nasturtium patch and a tiny little weedy vegetable garden.
The concept:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.
The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your flickr name?
Saw this first at Kim's, then again this morning at Julie's.
I accidentally weeded my foxglove. *sigh* Fortunately, my mother knows better, so she shared hers.
What an experience! They called the fawn Venny . . . for venison.
My niece and nephew had a chance to snuggle with a fawn. Does often leave the babies, as the mama has a scent that might attract predators.
The mama came back in the night, and the fawn followed her to a new place, according to the tracks left behind.
With all the storm goings-on, i almost forgot to stop and smell and photograph the roses.
This is a wild rose from the backyard.
Hi y'all! Sorry to be missing you, but we've been having some wild weather. Storms Friday night, no power. Storms Saturday, still no power. Had power for a little while today, but then another storm blew through. No power.
Hanging out at Mom's so I can get a good shower before work tomorrow.
Oh, yeah, and we had a graduation in the family Saturday.
How are you doing?
I walked into Sir Pizza in Old Town the other day. A photography studio shows samples of their senior pictures. There were eight photos, but I only noticed this one . . . niece #4.
My nephew got my garden patch all turned over for me today. Thanks, tall Paul!
With all the news of Stonehenge, I thought it interesting to run into these great photos of Carhenge today.
I'm thinking barns would fit almost as much as baseball.
rence Mann: Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack
~~Field of Dreams
Memorial Day in the country means fixing the urns at the cemetery. Here is part of our crew on Sunday.
My brother climbed up to the highest window in the horse barn yesterday and took this picture of the coop. I love it! The ladder is one of those wood nailed to the side of the barn things . . . Boo said the wood was extremely solid.
We had a great Memorial Day at the farm yesterday. For those of you who celebrate, I hope you did too!
The Law School buildings are on the other side of this alley, so I guess they want to make sure the students know where to go?!
The Michigan State University Horticulture Gardens are a visual treat.
This is Shawn's kitty from Boyne City. What a great escape artist!!!!
