I'm too excited to sleep!!!

The photo above was taken for an ad for the store my daughter used to own. I didn't take it and I will have to find out the name of the person who did so I can give her credit. These are my grand-daughters Allena, Briana, and Lorin and the photo below is taken in my garden of their little sister Ella. I get to see Bri, Lorin, and Ella tomorrow. My other two are coming home with their dad in a couple of weeks. Did I already say how excited I am to see them.

I'm packing my bag tonight and leaving early in the morning to go to Boise. My daughter Season and her husband and my five grandchildren have been living in Maryland for the past three months. Beau had an internship to do there for his degree, so they decided it would be a great experience for the whole family to go. Season home schools, so there was nothing keeping them. Accept maybe a Gram and Gramps that have never been separated from the kids before. Anyway, Season flew home last night with three of the girls, so I have got to go. I can't wait to see them. They will be coming home with me to spend a few days. My daughter Ember is also coming home. They are all going to help me paint the gazebo and pergola. Aren't they great? I'll see all of you when I get back. I think I may have to take something tonight, because 'I'm too excited to sleep.'

Nesting...

I love the word nesting. The robins have been busy building nests in the garden. Some are just patching some of the existing ones from the previous few years. Very thrifty. I love to fluff and patch around my house in the spring also. I have so many projects I would like to do before the garden takes all my available time. There's some painting to do. Some building as well. We've decided to extend our pergola so we have more room for entertaining outside. Well, if truth be told, it's just one more place to decorate. And I do love to decorate. I'd decorate the inside of a birdhouse if I could fit through the hole. I love making things homey and pretty. My mother was a Nester. She could make any place lovely. Our home was always so inviting. I have such fond memories of the places we called home when I was growing up. We moved around quite often, but my mother made every place cozy even when she didn't have much to work with. She never had the attitude of just making do. She put a lot of work into keeping house and I'd like to think that rubbed off on me just a little. I'm a Nester, always fluffing and fussing around the house to make it the best it can be. Cozy and homey is my mantra. I have no desire to have a show house. Somebody else's idea of what my home should look like. I feel so much joy in making my house and garden a place my family loves to come to and spend time. Well friends, it's time to get back to fluffing and fussing. Maybe I'll even tackle that birdhouse sometime soon.

Morning mist and Mr. Darcy escapes!

The other morning when I got up and looked out my back door, I saw this mist rising from the earth, over my neighbors field. This field lies just behind a tiny pasture we have in the rear of our property. He plants it in barley every spring. I love to watch it from the time he seeds it to the time he harvests it. First, the little blades of grain appear and soon the whole field is the loveliest of green. It gets very tall and waves in the breeze. He has a pivot irrigation sprinkler on it, and when it comes near our property, I love the spray that reaches us when the wind blows. I go out when it's really warm and stand in the yard to feel the mist. The field then turns a lovely amber in the fall just before harvest. By the time he combines, the barley has turned a very light tan and has started to lay down because of the weight of the heads. I love to watch this process. This planting and harvesting. This picture of this early morning mist was an enchanting sight so early in the morning. The Earth is so alive and I'm grateful.

Now, for the second part of this post. Do you remember Mr. Darcy and Lizzy from a previous post? Well, I learned that you never take a birdcage outside to clean it, ever. Let me just say, that little bird is fast. Well as you know I live in the country, so he had a lot of room to spread out. First he landed on our tractor, then on the fence, then in the neighbors tree, then, and then, and then. I just kept trying to catch him, but to no avail. So I asked my neighbor if she had a net of some kind. She had a fishing net. The holes were a little big and this finch is very tiny. He finally flew across the road to where there is an empty river channel. I couldn't find him anywhere after that, so I figured he was gone forever. I went up and down the river with this fishing net. Well, this road is very busy with traffic and people seeing me walking by the river with this net must have been thinking, oh, poor June is losing it, there's no water in the river, let alone fish. I didn't know I was this attached to my Mr. Darcy. I haven't had him that long. I knew Lizzy was going to be really lonely until I could get her a new man. When I finally got back to the house, Hubs said, 'look out in that tree.' When I looked out the kitchen window, he was sitting in the tree just outside. Well, to make an already too long a story short, it took a little doing, but I finally caught him. He was so tuckered out, that he couldn't fly anymore. Now he is back home, snug in his cage with his Lizzie. And I learned that you never clean a cage full of birds outside.

What a difference a day makes...

Miss Maddie ready for the hunt

Some of small town Idaho residents

a hug for the Easter bunny

high five for the Easter bunny

Maddie Moo with her loot

I meant to post this yesterday but couldn't get back to my 'pecuter'( that's how my granddaughter used to say computer). The day was lovely, as is today. Happy Easter everyone. My daughter came to visit with my sweet little 4 yr old grandbaby yesterday and we went to the town Easter egg hunt. What an awesome time we had. Miss Maddie is pretty timid so she didn't get a lot of eggs, but she was delighted with the ones she did find. As I was walking into the park where it was held I had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for this little town I live in. There were cars lined up and down the street and it looked liked the whole town was out in force.(you can't really tell by the photo) There's approximately 530 people living here in the city limits and maybe 150 living in the out-lying areas. I love these people. All of them have impacted my life in some way. I love meeting new people and I was able to meet two lovely ladies at this event that I didn't think I'd met before. They were young Spanish speaking moms that were there enjoying the hunt with there little ones. We had the best visit. They told me that they were in school with my two older daughters. They were delightful and I was so glad that I had gotten out of my comfort zone today and approached them and introduced myself. I usually glob onto one or two of my friends to catch up on the latest news and am oblivious to others. These are my neighbors and they live just to the right (a few homes down the road) of me and yet I didn't even know it until today. I am so happy to know them now. Such a wonderful day to make a new friend or two. You've gotta love a small town Easter egg hunt.

Rainy days...

view out livingroom window


T.T. Rabbit pouting because he can't play outside.


I usually love rainy days, but for some reason, maybe because of the sad news with the storms in the south and the fires in Oklahoma and earthquake in Italy, it just seemed extra dismal today. Here in this part of Idaho we haven't gotten very much rainfall in the past several years, so we love it when it rains. The town I live in has very large mountains to the north of it and is desert to the south. And I do mean desert. Nothing but sage brush for miles. I always say I live on the edge of Heaven and Hell. The whole area to the north is so beautiful. The mountains are majestic. So to keep everything green and fill our reservoirs, it must rain. So I will not complain.(out loud anyway)

This is what I'm waiting for...

I have to admit that I'm getting really anxious for the garden to be in full bloom. I was able to go out for the first time and work in it yesterday. It was wonderful getting my hands dirty. When I get in the garden, I can totally lose track of time. Even though it's very physical it doesn't really seem like work to me. In the summer, I go out first thing every morning to see the changes that took place overnight in the garden. I just walk around feeling the foliage on the plants and the trees, or smelling whatever bloomed that morning. It's a calming ritual for me. I know all you gardeners and nature lovers know what I'm talking about. There's something about being close to the earth that causes us to connect more with our true selves. I feel the same way in the woods or on a walk down a dirt road in the country. It's spiritual. It's wonderful. And I'm thankful for the gift.

I risked my life for this!

This chair is my one and only 'Craig's List' purchase. My daughters were always talking about the great stuff that they saw there. Well being very computer shy, I had never gone to the site. One morning this past summer I decided to check it out for myself. Since my area has very little population, I looked under furniture in Boise, which is about 140 miles from where I live. It had been posted for sale for $75.00 at 11:00 a.m. and it was now 11:20. I knew I had to move fast. I was able to reach the young man selling it for his mother-in-law who had just moved in with them. He was so gracious when I told him how far away I lived, but that I just had to have it. He said he would consider it sold and gave me directions to their home. Well, I jumped right in the truck and headed to Boise. On the way there, my 'wife of a cop' brain took over and I thought, you are just going to show up at this guy's house to get this chair. What if he meets you at the door with a chainsaw or something. I had myself really worked up for awhile. But my desire for the chair was greater than my concern for life and limb. By the address I had, I knew it was a large subdivision so I was pretty sure someone would hear my screams. I decided to risk my daughters life as well (she lives in Boise) and picked her up to go with me. The people were delightful and helped us load and tie it down for the trip home. I can't believe my luck, I got a great chair and was able to live through it. (amazing, considering the speed I drove to get to it)Do you know, I've never been on 'Craig's List' since.