On this Christmas Eve...

On this Christmas Eve
I want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas!!!

I am grateful for the birth of Jesus Christ, the babe in the manger,
my Redeemer and Savior of the world!

I wish for you all, whatever your beliefs, and however you celebrate,
Peace that comes to our hearts this time of year and Joy
that seems to still our troubles past.

  

A little shabby house I bought at a farm sale this spring that my husband moved to the 

back of the property to become a little bunk house, or playhouse.

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Let us all have Hope in our hearts through all of 2016 and make it 

a wonderful year for those we love!

Wishing all of you a Magical Christmastime!!!

Branching out for Christmas

I'm finally getting around to posting my Christmas decorating for 2015.

If you remember, I kept it very simple last year with fir trees and greens,
but this year I wanted to do the aspen trees again that I did the year before.

We have hundreds of them on our 40 acre place in Fishcreek.
We are always having to thin them out of the fence lines, and so it's nice to be
able to use the ones we cut down.

I did a very simple mantle in the living room

I did make a mistake when I put the little grove in front of the windows...

it makes it impossible to photograph  and have it appear as pretty as it is

when you are in the room, but you will get the idea.

There are actually six trees, but I couldn't get a very good photo of them this

week because of the stormy weather making the house so dark.

I have missed blogging, and hope that I can get back into the swing of it again.
It was a rough summer and fall here at the Stocking house due to illness, so I wasn't able
to be on the computer very much.
I had vertigo so bad that I wasn't able to do much of anything for months.
I would be good for a few days and then it would hit and I would be sick again.
I had visited two doctors locally, before going to Boise and seeing a specialist who
put me through a few tests to rule out the more common reasons for vertigo and found that
because of the congestion in my head from my summer and fall allergies, the pressure
in my ears was all that it was. He put me on a couple of different meds
to treat them and I have felt great since I saw him the first part of October.

Once I got my life back :)))) I could see how far I had fallen behind athome and got to
work putting my very neglected garden to bed and cleaning this poor house.

So I am happy to say that I feel as though I could actually now spend some time
blogging again. I have really missed visiting all of my favorite people and places
and hope to catch up soon.

I do have more Christmas to share, but this post is a little heavy on photos,
so I will post again soon.
 

finally a little Autumn in the garden...but first...

Yes, it is finally really fall here.
In fact, today it snowed a little bit just to let us know it could.
The warm weather stayed on forever and some days in October we even used
our air conditioner because it got so warm in the house.

Not today!
I have the wood stove burning and outside there is a skiff of snow on the grass
and on the trees and shrubs because most still have their leaves.

I did get a few photos of the fall colors in the garden the other day and
I will share some later in this post.

but first---
I wanted to share more photos of the late garden roses on our front porch,
as I did a little staging on the old garden table and in the swing.
I took these in late September or early October.

I really like the color of the architectural piece from an old column
with the Morden Blush and one of my late blooming garden phlox.
I wish I could have seen the house that this piece came from because
the color seems so unlikely for a house.I guess it could be from a place of business
or something else entirely.
 It has to be original because it has flaked
off in many places and there isn't any paint beneath it.

 The Morden Blush rose in the fall is much prettier than summer and keeps it's color longer

than in hot weather. I love this rose ! ! ! 

 now for the early autumn colors here

Don't you just wish you could bottle this Autumn light 

so you could enjoy it anytime you want ? ? ? 

 Nothing as beautiful as the slant of light that fall brings with it.

The hydrangeas have turned for another year and after the snow today, 

they will be done for, but I will remember how pretty they were. 

 

the roses are covered in hips this year

I really do need to get serious and get the leaves raked before the 

snow comes and means it.

I'm pretty sure it's only teasing us today, so I think I have time

to still get out there. 

When the trees decide it's time to let loose of the leaves, 

I'll be a busy girl.

Some of you may know that Idaho (especially the area in which I live) 

has been in a serious drought and we will take all 

the moisture we can get, 

even if it means I don't get all my fall chores done  : ))

I hope wherever you live in the world, that you are loving 

the season you are in and because I feel so grateful

to live in a place where we do have four distinct seasons, I have 

worked hard to overcome my dislike for winter. 

I think I'm doing pretty good at embracing it.

It may never be my favorite, 

but I will embrace!

the garden's last hurrah

It may be some of the garden's last blooms, but certainly not it's last hurrah.
The garden is just starting to turn it's fall colors, so I
thought I had better post these photos I took in the garden about two weeks ago.

For the most part, the roses are done and the phlox have finished, and
the only thing left blooming are the hydrangeas.
I guess there are a few lavender out blooming, but with everything turning
their beautiful fall colors, I seem to look past the blooms to the loveliness
of the leaves on the shrubs and the ones covering the grass.

I did however, want to post these photos of my banged up rusty bucket
of blooms.

I also will be posting more roses on the porch that I took the day after
these were taken, but it will have to be the next post, because
this one is already packed with photos.

When I was done with the blooms in the house,
I took them out to the perfect drying rack in the garden.
We have had perfect days for drying flowers outside and this orchard ladder
sits under the birch trees and keeps the blooms from fading in the sun.

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I love the House Hybrids scabiosa that are blooming
sporadically in the beds still.

one of my favorite plants to have in the beds

one of the varieties of phlox that bloom late

Thank you all for your visits and the wonderful comments you leave.
I love sharing the 'garden goodness' with you all.

~~~sending hugs~~~