Merry May

How has the merry month of May passed so quickly?  Perhaps it was all the chores outside preparing the garden beds, planting and cleaning up.  So much to do that there is little time to enjoy anything else.  Don't know the answer for that or maybe I do.  Hire a couple of gardeners or let it grow wild.  I know that answer to that.  I'll be crawling about the gardens before it's over.

"I found a strawberry blossom in a rock.  I uprooted it rashly and felt as if I had been committing an outrage, so I planted it again."   Dorothy Wordsworth

So me.

My New Bike

Got a new bike for Mother's Day.  Hope it will tear across the fields as I fear the main road at the end of the driveway may prove the death of me.  With cars whizzing by at 50 plus miles an hour, I dare not.

I am going to have my husband shoot a video of me trying some tricks on it to text to the kids and grandkids.  It ought to be funny - or not.  As long as I don't hit my head I'll be good to go.

Buddha's Hand

Well, I am tickled pink. This year is my first crop of Buddha's Hand.  

The oldest known citrus, (3000 years old) Buddha's Hand, has hardly any pulp and is mostly used candied.  Oh, does this plant smell wonderful.  Won't you please help me with tips on how to use candied citron?  Don't like fruitcake and hard pressed to come up with anything with candied fruit. Guess I could just eat it candied from the jar.

Paper Wallet

Isn't it funny how some things stay with you?  Around 20 plus years ago, I saw this young boy of about 10-12 years old.  He was standing in front of those coin machines that send a plastic ball with a toy inside for a quarter or so.  He pulled out a school lined paper wallet that he'd obviously made himself.  I found that so touching.

This pre-teen child was so cute.  He was morbidly obese for his age and his striped tee shirt rolled up over his tummy, but he didn't seem to mind; wasn't tugging at it or trying to pull it down.  He was very intent on counting his money to see how 'much' that little toy would cost him.  

I hope he grew up happy.  I hope he had enough money to afford a good life.  I hope he wasn't teased too much.  I hope he found love and is loved.

A Mother's Hands

I have this little tableau in the guest bedroom.  Little homemade dresses, costumes and such, made by  mothers of long ago.  The pink plaid flannel dress was one of several from the same material, but in different sizes.  It is the oldest.  The white cotton tissue thin dress with embroidered roses was going to go on my scarecrow but I just couldn't.  The little fringed velvet dance costume would probably fit a two year old.  It is precious.  I can't sew a straight line, but appreciate the time and love that went into them.  

Happiest day to all mothers out there.

Keep Out

I hesitate to show you my signage, but what the heck. I admit I'm eccentric; don't suffer fools gladly.  

At the entrance to our driveway (a quarter mile long that ends at our house) there is a POSTED, KEEP OUT sign.  A little farther, a no trespassing, hunting nor fishing sign. Most of our driveway is lined with trees and you can't see the house from the main road.  Even so, can you believe, all kinds of people (mostly the unsavory kind) drive up our driveway.  What?  Would you do that out in the country?

Here is what I did with the Halloween skeleton.

Still they come.  And, my little ankle biter, Sister, really does bite sometimes.

So down the fence row I made these signs, like a roadside attraction.

And still they come.  Not the kindly hard working farmers of olden days, but meth heads, hillbillies, those of the criminal ilk who've never worked a day in their life. If you've seen the movie, Winter's Bone, it could have been filmed around here. 

My Peaceable Hill Farm is my paradise.  It is my haven, my sanctuary from a cold, hard world.  I am very selective/protective of my farm and home and don't abide the uninvited.

It was meant to be tongue in cheek.

(But, I really kind of mean it).

Gardeneer

Found this Gardeneer at the flea market this weekend.  At only $20.00, I figured I would get at least that much enjoyment from it.  Must be from the 30's or 40's.  Doesn't take much to make me happy.