Lavender living...

The lavender is now blooming in the garden.

I wanted to make some lavender shortbread cookies, but having

never made shortbread with lavender before,

I made the mistake of using fresh lavender and instead of mixing it into 

the dough, I added it to the top of the cookies only.

Well...

you can't believe how the oil from the fresh lavender smoked up this kitchen!

But, my house never smelled more delicious.

For days!

The cookies were delicious!

Perfect with a bowl of ice cream.

 and speaking of bowls... 

The beautiful bowls were a birthday gift from my sweet face to face friend Sarah.

Such a pretty gift from a lovely friend!

Each bowl is a different neutral color starting with white and 

then to ivory, to cream and to a soft butter yellow.

I LOVE them!

I have been madly harvesting the lavender so I can use it in 

future projects.

I lost about nine of my plants to our cold winter this year, 

but I still had a huge harvest.

The floor of the studio is covered with cut lavender drying and that is just the first crop.

I used to bundle it and then hang it, but I just have too much now to do that with it,

so now I lay it on newspaper and let it dry.

After it dries, the hard work begins.

Taking it off the stem is a job I save for evenings while watching movies.

It's time consuming and  I do a lot of sneezing while doing it.

I have an allergy to one of my favorite plants to grow and craft with.
But I would never let a little thing like that stop me  : )

Thank goodness for Benadryl!

Summer is flying by w-a-a-a-y too fast for me!

Here it is....
already the Fourth of July!
Anyone who knows me well, knows that I live for Summertime.
I enjoy living in Idaho.
I love it because each season here is beautiful,
but Summer is my favorite season...hands down.

Here in the mountains of Idaho, I don't have the extreme heat that so many have to endure,

and my Summers only last from July to about the first of September.

We have a very short growing season and not a lot of heat, so I revel in every day of Summer.

Our Winters are L-O-N-G! and C-O-L-D!

(which makes for icy roads so that sometimes I can't even leave town)

and you remember I live in a town of only 500 people))

So this is why I live for Summer.

I pack it so tight that I hardly allow myself time to breathe.

I love working until dark in the garden.

I love the farmer's markets and antique markets held in nearby towns.

I love all the reunions and rodeos.

I love our tiny county fair in August.

I love the smell of the sheets that have hung out all day on the clothesline.

I love the sound of the farmer's sprinklers as they make their way across the alfalfa fields 

behind us and feeling the mist as they pass nearby.

I even love the sounds his hay baler makes in the middle of the night as he harvests his hay.

One of the many joys of living rural

: )

  
                              I love hooking up to our camper and exploring new places in our beautiful state
                                             or re-visiting some old favorites.

I love watching our horses munching away in the pastures.
I love how they shed their extra hair in Spring and put on their sleek Summer coats
that shine in the sunlight.

                I too love shedding all my warmer clothing and putting on my cotton tops, tees and skirts.

   

and I LOVE my flipflops!

I hope that each of you who live in the northern hemisphere are cramming all the things you 

love about Summer into your days too.

  ...and no matter where you live...sending you wishes for beautiful days ahead.

Pretty is as pretty does...

One of the reasons I love to garden so much is that you can plant a tiny little start of something

and when the conditions are right it will grow into a plant that year after year  rewards you

 with with beautiful blooms like these.

I am always amazed by the miracle of it all.

In February and March I can look out on the gardens and wonder again, 'how will 

it ever happen'.

How will these plants that disappear under the soil ever find their way back above 

ground to give me such pleasure as this?

The peony is one such plant.

Early in the Spring a mature peony sends up little red shoots that grow into 

a large attractive plant and then blesses the gardener with these 

gorgeous fragrant blossoms. 

So decadent and showy that it can only manage to do it once in a season.

Can you believe that there are actually gardeners out there that think they are too much of a show off

and won't even have them in their garden?

They have to be the gardeners that never cut flowers to bring indoors to enjoy!

Because yes...
the peony can make the garden look a little sad and ragged after a storm.

Their pretty heads drooping and dirty from the soil splashing up on their petals.

But sometimes they can look like this!

In my garden,
when the peonies start to bloom, there is NO chance for them to get droopy and dirty.

I cut them as soon as the bloom starts to open and fill 

container after container of this beautiful flower.

I leave very few on the bush for others to enjoy as they drive by,
but I do leave enough for color in the beds.
I'm stingy that way  : )

Just looking at them sitting so pretty lifts my spirits.

So year after year, as I watch the miracle unfold in the garden again,

I will be waiting for the peony to put on her show and be thankful

again for them and all of my plants that find the strength

to come out of their sleeping and bless this gardener.

I have several of my later peonies that have yet to bloom,

so this will be far from the end of them.

My Auten's Pride is coming on now and they are the most 

fragrant variety I have. 

I love them in the house!

Mom just gave me two of her many crocks

 and I knew exactly what I wanted to use the little one for.

It's actually quite large, but not nearly as large as the other one,

I'm still thinking of how I want to use the big one...

and it won't be for pickles.

I am an awful pickle maker : (

but I can grow things!

Thank you all  so much for letting me show off my flowers from the garden.
You are all so sweet to keep coming back to my blog and being so thoughtful.
I really appreciate you!