Thursday, March 15, 2012

Detecting with the boys

So as I last mentioned we were taking the metal detector out to the farm for the boys to play with.
They met us at the driveway entrance,(in the dark) ..shuttering...waiting to ambush us I think!
They ran excitedly along side of the car, daring us to race with them. Did I mention these young men are a relative fourteen and eleven... Kids you just gotta love em. So after a brief interlude of showing them how to work it, HK dressed to the nines in slacks, dress shirt and loafers, goes out into the dark to metal detect in the muddies of the farm.( Uncle first, business man second) Fist stop the back yard... not sure if anything was found there. Next stop the old logging road... just what we need more holes in the road. They did find a large survey nail with flag still attached.according to HK you would think they found 'GOLD'. But I guess to them treasure is treasure.
Today, they are going to visit HK at work. They pondered about going in guns a blazing.. taken literally as these boys are all about cowboys and their stuff. Did I mention HK works for a branch of the DOJ.
Guns a blazing might not be such a good idea. They are really into all things detective, police, criminal , cowboys, western  all mixed up in a Gene Audrey kind of way etc.. and smarter then I can believe. They're great young men and I can't wait to see how they grow up. The oldest one CJ plays a guitar that will bring tears to your eyes when he plays a spiritual melody. The younger DJ , well he is all boy, love all things , does all things, not afraid to try anything new. I watched him get such a kick out of driving on the lap of his PoPO in the pickup truck down the driveway last summer; think Indy 500. Look at him go ! I heard tells about him at target practice yesterday, that boy could go through a round quicker then you could blink. I wish I could have seen that.! Yes, if you haven't noticed I'm a doting Aunt. These boys mean the world to me. So much fun to be around.
 No new pictures today. Just a thought to go on. "Cherish your family!"

-tnfrmgrl

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

March 14, 2012 Daffodils

So I read the greatest  story the other day on  wwwpioneerwoman.com , It was about a mischievous farm boy. And I thinking, you know I know a couple of little boys, like this. They just love to try anything out from climbing to the highest peak in our tobacco barn to fire cracking snake holes to panning for "GOLD" in our creek.
Ree mentioned an episode about cars keys being buried, I gotta say I laughed until I cried. especially since we are taking the metal detector out to our farm for a couple of young boys ( our nephews) to try out. I'm having nightmares about what they will hide and hopefully remember to dig back up.
If you haven't checked out this blog you really ought too. My dad of all people introduced me to it about a year ago. She tells some of the greatest stories... .

It is a beautiful Spring day here in the mid-south. The high is suppose to be around 82. Can you believe it for mid March. I was driving through a residential area this morning and was awed to see all the trees in bloom. Magnolias, Pear, Cherry, Red bud... I could go on. My daffodils have never been as pretty as this year. I think we needed a warm spring for them to come out in a blazing blooming glory of color. (I'm not even sure I planted all these types, but they sure are pretty.)
I counted twelve blooms on my gooseberry plant. Does that mean I'll get twelve berries? We only had one fruit on it last spring and the old rooster ate it. My blueberries are.. well they just are. I want them to grow but for some reason they are staying little. We planted them about two years ago had eight deer ate two, down to six and they are struggling. I planted them in a sunny location  but the soil had a lot of clay in it. Maybe that's the problem, even though we put good soil around them with fertilizer. i don't know.
This year we planted four American Plums, we have wild plums at the back of the farm but they don't produce fruit. we are lagging at getting the garden tilled.. It has been so wet, afraid we will get stuck if we try.. more rain on the way tonight. I did notice a kale plant that reseeded itself, so aleast I have some if not many fresh greens.



I leave you with a picture or three of my blazing blooming daffodils.
-tnfrmgrl

Monday, March 12, 2012

March 12, 2012 Color

If you have seen any of my clutch handbags, you know by now I do not have a problem implementing color into them. There is really not a color I don't like. I mention this because lately I have been receiving emails regarding using a single color in my crafts. Though the Green with envy clutch was not technically all green, it was done in shades of green with white eyelash yarn added in for a burst brightness.
I have noticed that the trends this year for spring tend to be a lot bolder in shades like pumpkin, canary, Kelly green, turquoise, deep reds... colors that I sometimes I attribute to late summer early fall. Seeing them in Spring is a little shocking. I'm not really a pastel kind of girl, I like them but , but it has to be the right shade to want to wear it in clothing. Do you know what I mean? Now pastel shade that come with a more Victorian era , like mauve's, deep lavenders I can get behind in accessories that is;or my clutch handbags, they I believe look great in these royal pastely colors. Is pastely a word? I don't know but I like it.

I am sitting here looking at my inspiration board. It is full of bold color and rich deep pastely colors, whether in fiber or painted on, ribbon, needle felted, sewn etc. Color is not an issue for me.
How about for you? Where does your inspiration come from? How do you incorporate it into your art?

-TNfrmgrl

According to spell check PASTELY is not a word... oh well I still like it. :)

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Part 2 : The Monster Mushrooms

I almost forgot to add this picture.
These were fairly young as they were still very white and no dark spotches. Couldn't get to them to pick any, due to the brushyness and briars.

March 1, .2012 Hiking the Hill (mountain)

Hiked to to top of our small mountain today with my mother-in-law.
Went for a walk yesterday and hiked to the top of it then. I can't believe 'ME' made it both days without falling on my backside. Yesterday was to see if I could do it on my own. Today we were slate hunting for the patio. To steep of a climb to bring any of it down that we did find. Now that the Glade has been bushwhacked it was a little easier to get to our starting point.( the step climb) For a mid fortyish and mid sixtyish women we did pretty good. We knee and hand climbed for the steepest part, only slide back down once I didn't have good footing and only slid a few feet. It was amazing! I think that's the best part of owning land is being able to walk & explore it and feel comfortable doing it.
this year ought to be a bumper crop of blackberries, cause we sure have a lot of them. The higher we went the more prickly they got. And the mushrooms on the old fallen trees were huge. I know you can eat them, but not sure on how to fix them so they would not be woody tasting.
All in all it was a great Sunday afternoon. We camp stove fixed  vegetable beef soup, there is nothing like eating outside on a spring day.

Here are some picture of our day on our mountain. I'll explain as I go.
                                                                My dog Chloe.
                                         Climbing up the mountain, by knee and hand method.
These two pictures are looking back down the mountain. Whatever were we thinking???
                            This next picture we thought kind of looked like an Eagles head . Do you see it?
A pretty little flower.

And lastly a Fox. This was the first we saw..haven't had any for a while as we had a coyote problem last year.


Fun day!

Oh, yeah our mountain is only at elevations of about 1500 feet at the highest ridge.
But to us it was a worthy climb. Glad to know we still Got It!!