Mulchy's Magnificent Iris

Spring colors

Visit to the exotics

I was at my friend's farm the other day and had the chance to wander around and take a few pics of the exotic birds and animals they raise. I don't know what all these birds are. I do know I'm not fond of having emu's follow me around everywhere and I do know the white peacock was even more spectacular in person.

Bouquet

Just cute

Poppy Bud

This photo was taken on 4/29 which seems really early for poppies to have big ol' fat buds like this. Usually they bloom with the spirea right around memorial day weekend. I'm going to have to watch these and see if they bloom extra early. There are three big buds, the rest seem to be coming along more slowly.

Pretty Pink

Buddy's

Those of you who have known me for awhile will remember our old dog Buddy. When he passed on, I buried him beside my pickup. Any time I came home from work, he was there to greet me before I even had the door open, so that's where I had the man with the back hoe dig his grave and I've turned it into a flower bed. I always plant purple petunias on it and I've finally gotten purple tulips growning fairly well on it. It was not great soil to work with!

PS! Don't anybody tell my daughter her picture turned up in my blog!

All done blooming

These tulips and hyacinths may be all done blooming, but the cool weather has kept them so lush and green!

Lemon Balm

I planted lots of lemon balm last year because I never have any luck getting it to survive the winter. I thought if I planted lots, I'd at least get a plant or two that survived. Well, of course, it ALL survived and it's growing like crazy.

More Apricot

Not bad pictures considering the way the wind was blowing them around.

"Apricot Beauty"

Just getting ready to open. I always take a lot of these to work with me to put on the tables. Customers tend to ask, "are they real?" The blossoms when fully open can be as much as 4-5" tall!

Happy, happy, happy!

You are my sunshine

Bee Been Here?

Three Musketeers

White

Up close and personal

Finally!!!!

I finally got time to post the first tulips of the season. Wish I could remember, or find where I wrote down what these are called.

Berry, berry Good!

I've been trying to eat more fruit lately. Trouble is, I don't really like fruit very much, so I've been trying to come up with great ways to fix it to sort of disguise the fact that I'm eating fruit. I had some frozen blackberries in the freezer, and part of a bag of mixed berries, so I decided to make a cobbler the other day.

I used my peach cobbler recipe that I got off the internet or tv somewhere a few years back. Like all tasty recipes it starts with a stick of butter. Melt that while the oven is preheating.

Mix together about a cup of flour and sugar and some cinnamon and a little baking powder. In the peach cobbler recipe, you use the syrup off the canned peaches for liquid to make the batter. I just used milk for this. Pour it all on top of the melted butter.

Hmmm, get the pictures out of order. See it fresh and warm out of the oven....

And then see the frozen berries dumped in on top of the batter and butter.

A close up of that yummy juicy goodness.

Mmmmmm.

Happy Valentine's Day

In spite of it being Valentine's day, spring is nowhere in sight. Spring does not seem to be just around the corner, and in fact this is what it's doing at our house today.

Church was cancelled due to the fact that the pastor could not get here, and the street to the church was pretty well drifted shut anyway. So, with nothing better to do today, I finished my knitting project. I got a pattern for a lacy scarf off the internet and it took me forever to get it figured out, but finally I have a scarf for a friend who's been wanting one. And it's even pretty Valentine pink. I have yet to figure out why this very loosely knitted thing won't lay flat, but I think it's very pretty curled into itself the way it is.

Happy Feet

Warm wool socks that actually fit, AND fit inside my shoes. Yep, my feet are indeed happy. Hope I have enough yarn to make another pair.

Adding Some Color

I don't like January very much. It's almost always cold and gray. Everything outdoors is either brown or snow covered. The pretty Christmas decorations have been taken down and put away and the house looks so drab. My kitchen is the room I spend the most time in and it has very poor natural lighting and frankly, the electric lighting isn't that great either. It's all just dull in the winter.

Last week, Jenn over at The Thrift Shop Romantic (sorry, I have NO clue how to post a link.)
had a great post about the little things that bring joy to our lives and make a house a home. Her post inspired me to add a little more color and joy to my kitchen. Things that make me smile when I see them.





Since it was time to give my houseplants a little TLC, I thought why not put them in prettier pots? I went to town for potting soil and discovered that NOBODY in town carries flower pots this time of year. So I took the same old plastic ones and gave them funky new paint jobs. And... the best part is, it's way cheaper than buying new planters!

Then I was trying to come up with clever ways to use some of my pyrex collection. This bowl was the perfect size for my coffee filters and looks great alongside my coffee mug. Now I smile every time I open the cupboard door.

And this corner which is dark and drab beyond belief brightened up a bit with some lime green candles and a stack of brighter colored cookbooks.

Socks in Progress

We've had blizzards and sub-zero weather and all sorts of things to keep a body indoors in the last few weeks. I've managed to finish up quite a few projects, and I've finally gotten to haul out my sock yarn that's been sitting here, patiently awaiting use, for at least six months.

I started knitting socks last winter. What can I say? I'm hooked! I knitted a pair of top down socks from a pattern I got for Christmas. They were a disaster that fit my husband about right. So I went to the good ol' internet and found a pattern for toe-up socks and I quickly realized that is THE way to make socks. I made two pair out of worsted weight yarn. They are perfect for running around the house, but too heavy to fit into my shoes. So, this summer I ordered some sock yarn that was on sale. At the same time I also ordered some lovely cotton yarn to make a prayer shawl and for some reason I felt compelled to knit for a good cause before I knit my socks.

But finally, the day arrived! Just let me say, these are going to be the softest most awesome socks and I really hope I got enough yarn for 2 pair.