Welcome Home: Front Porch

The front porch and lawn is a work in progress - I evaluate it every now and then to see what can be added or what needs to be cleaned up to make it more welcoming.
One great addition to our walkway was this beautiful bench that husband made out of redwood logs.  Rustic yet comfortable and unique.  Looking forward to adding some plants and herbs around the bench  for a more natural look as well as a more sensory experience whilst sitting and visiting.

Getting Established

The weather has been just lovely here for almost a month - beautiful sunny days with just enough rain to get everything growing.  It has been wonderful to see our transplants from the move taking hold and growing in their new home ~

The strawberries are growing wonderfully, with so many new leaves and shoots.  Looking forward to watching the scrumptious fruit develop!

Lavendar and rosemary planted in front - it will soon fill this space physically and with its' heady fragrance.

The long neglected roses in front are growing and blooming - such a joy to watch each flower unfold.

Geraniums.  Somehow geraniums have become a symbol of home for me.  Many years ago when we volunteered at our county fair, we were able to take the donated plants after the fair was over.  Several geraniums came home with us.  What most endeared them to me is that they pretty much take care of themselves - they can withstand a lot of ignoring and with just a bit of care give you beautiful color and greenery.  Now they are a favorite of mine and this one was recently planted out by the mailbox, ready to announce to all that this place is a 'home.'

 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;  The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle (dove) is heard in our land;

Song of Solomon  2:11-12

Bits of Our Day

It was a beautiful day today, more like May than March, and we spent the afternoon outside working on some backyard projects.

Dear Son #3 built a gate for one of our garden areas, Dear Son #2 and I beefed up the chicken yard fence and then Son made a new gate for their yard, and daughter planted some new lettuce plants that have sprouted and are growing well ~


Over the fence I spied this very interesting overgrown lemon of the neighbor's tree -


- and loved to see that our pea plants are growing well. I can't wait for our first harvest!

Feeding Finches

I found this four-armed feeder on clearance at the pet store last week and quickly put it to good use. It was not long before our little goldfinches had told all of their friends and family to come along for the feast ~


If I could take a larger picture and blow it up - Oh!! There are finches on the tree to the left and the tree to the right all just waiting their turn to get at the feeders. The movement and the jostling and the beautiful birds and colors, and their size is all just wonderful to watch. We stop often during the day to look at out the window and smile.

The Lord is good ~

The Birds Are Back!

We very much enjoy bird watching from the convenience of our back door and have had bird feeders in the backyard for years. These little Lesser Goldfinches and American Goldfinches are a favorite. I just set this feeder out yesterday (after a time of rest and a break from the financial costs of buying feed - sorry finches!) and this morning they are back!


They are so fun to watch. There are so many of them that they are waiting on nearby fences and branches for their turn at the feeder, sometimes getting impatient and just swooping in to claim a spot and knocking someone else out in the process.


In years past we have literally had hundreds of birds in the trees and on the feeders, all in constant motion flying from tree to feeder to fence to nearby bush to get into position to fly back to feeder. I can tell that we're going to have to put another feeder out - let the games begin!

(i apologize for the blue photos, they were taken taken through the window so as not to disturb the birds :-)

Happy Tuesday

Some perfectly pink blooms for you from my Gerbera Daisy (one of my very favorite flowers because they just keep coming back and blooming again and again!)

It's Growing!

Our Garden is growing! On the left is our corn a few weeks ago, and on the right is our corn this morning!! Lovely tassels opening up getting ready to pollinate. Yay!

With the corn in the back, on the left is our cabbage taking shape with some tomatoes behind that (hidden behind huge cabbage leaves :-) , some of my variety pepper plants in front with the green bean plants in back. It's so exciting to go out each day and see the growth and the new blossoms! And speaking of new blossoms - look at this . . . .

Our newest squash blossom! Isn't it lovely?

Yep, it's a beautiful day in the garden!

Girl Finds Amazing Giant Dandelion!

Can you believe it?

This dandelion that daughter found in MY backyard yesterday is 19 inches long from base to tip!

I had NO idea that they could get that big.

Did you?

Oh, the Simple Pleasures

We took a holiday from school because of Dad's new job promotion and here is a photographic account of where the day has taken us.

We started off at JoAnn's for their sale . . . . .

. . and got some fabric to make a few things for my granddaughter (the adorable butterflies will be a dress with a pink band at the bottom and a matching hat with pink lining, the green floral will be a dress with matching hat, with the green stripe for the lining, and the blue will be a tiered skirt with the light blue as a tiered top! see patterns below) . . . .

. . . . and they had patterns on sale, too! I might have been able to resist but they were only 99 cents!! You know, of course, of my weakness.

And - while we were over at that side of town, we might as well stop in at a few of the thrift shops and see if there's anything new!

I was soooooo happy to find a lovely pitcher and large covered candy dish to add to my collection. What a treat! I was also able to find a small cruet with stopper, a tumbler, and a relish tray. All had for under $15 total!!

Then went home for lunch and chores.

Son is replanting some of our garden - cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplants, I think.

And daughter came outside to finish the little counted cross stitch she started yesterday.

It's so sweet -- both of her brothers have commented on what a great job she's doing. This is her first time doing counted cross stitch and after I helped her how to find the middle and count outward, she did the rest totally on her own. She's very pleased and ready to tackle something a little bigger!

Our dog-girl wanted a picture,too! She's a Corgi-mix that we were thrilled to find at the animal shelter last year as a second dog & companion for our little dog-boy, who is a Russell Terrier/Dachsund mix (another shelter find!)

That's it. The rest of the day will be spent ironing and in cleaning up my kitchen table - AGAIN!

A Camping We Did Go

Camping was great! We packed up the car and went to a nearby State Park for three days and nights of adventure/planned boredom. Which brings a thought to my mind - How come at home, the cry of "What is there to do?" is often heard. Yet these same children outdoors either find a million things to do or can sit quietly and read or play a game for an endless length of time. One of life's little mysteries, I guess.

We arrived, unloaded and set up the tent. Daughter promptly found a ladybug. Of Course. ;-)

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Dinner that night was our traditional Camping Chili Stew which cooked over the fire while the children played on a nearby hill. As night came, the wind picked up and the temperatures dropped. Thankfully we were snug-bugs in our new sleeping bags. We bought them on Sale a few months ago and are as pleased as can be with how comfy and warm they are! They're mummy sacks rated for 0 degrees. Wow! Get in and zip up and you're instantly warm, especially if you zip it all the way to the top! While these are great, I can forsee that during our later spring and summer camping excursions, the bags will simply be used as a sleeping pad with a simple sheet on top.

It was so chilly in the morning, that I had to practically force son outside to start the fire for breakfast. But soon bacon and pancakes were cooking and eaten!

After our dishes were cleaned up, the wind was still blowing and blowing. It was hard to get going, so we finally gave in and did the only reasonable thing we could do - got back in our sleeping bags!

Here son and I are snuggled up trying to stay warm. We had a lot of fun all bundled up while we played a Bible game called Choose Your Clues. There are 50 cards with three categories of Person, Place or Thing. Then there are 20 clues to help you guess what the Person, Place or Thing is. One I remember is for Person - the clue is "I have something in common with blue jeans." We all went, "Huh?" After the person was guessed, we looked up the Scripture reference mentioned. Do you want to know what Matthew has in common with blue jeans? Read Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:13-17, Luke 5:27-32.

After we finally warmed up, we explored for a bit, had our lunch, and found some bamboo which kept the children busy for hours. Grilled hamburgers for dinner and to bed again. It wasn't as cold the second night, but we really do need to think about getting a bigger tent. It was plenty big when we bought it 16 years ago. Husband, our angel and I fit in it perfectly! But now 2 sons/young men, daughter, myself, and all our supplies are a bit like sardines when bedtime is near. Definitely something on our wishlist!

On our last day, older son corraled his brother into a game of chess and that kept them busy most of the morning. Fishing was on the agenda for the afternoon. A nice, quiet spot was found and the gear all brought out. You know what I like about fishing? All of the children, under 16, can fish and fish (without a license) and I cannot help them! I don't have a license and California says if I'm holding a pole, I'm fishing. So, older son helps sister with her hook, but other than that, they do everything for themselves and I get to sit in a nice shady spot and crochet, and crochet, and crochet! I've been following the No-End-In-Sight-Ripple-Along for weeks now and wanting to join in. But I have three WIP's already and so don't want to add another. What to do? Finish my WIP's! I got quite a bit done on one of them the past few days. Of course I'll take a photo and post it when I get it done - in time to enter in the County Fair?

Anyway - back to fishing. After fishing for awhile with no luck, everyone was about ready to give up. Then . . . . he showed himself. Him. THE fish. He was about 12 inches long, at least, maybe a bit more. Swimming just under the surface. So temptingly close, yet so cunningly far. ;-) They tried, and tried, and tried for over an hour to catch him. Daughter actually caught a moth that was in the water and her brother put it on her hook for her so she could use it as bait for the big fellow. If they cast near, he splashed far right. If they cast to the right, he came and splashed right in front of them. It really was like he was purposely eluding them. They finally, reluctantly, admitted defeat. :-(

By that time, we were all ready for home. We packed up the car, and headed home for a smoke-free dinner, real shower, comfy beds, and surprised Dad, who's been working all week. We'll certainly be planning our next campout. Hopefully for someplace new, and hopefully for sometime soon.

Birds in the Backyard

We have bird feeders all over the backyard and love watching all of our little sparrows, Black-chinned and White Capped, and our House Finches, American Goldfinches, and Lesser Goldfinches, too! Scrub Jays and Mockingbirds mix things up a bit -- neither of them like to share much. Hummingbirds, especially the little Anna's Hummingbird, are a welcome site feeding on our flowers. (I've never had any success with a hummingibrd feeder but would really love to try again!) There are Mourning Doves that also stop by regularly to add to our enjoyment.



But every now and then a new visitor stops by and stirs things up a bit. The bird above is a Northern Flicker. We don't see him much - he eats bugs and not seed - but he'll show up on the lawn or under the trees about four or five times a year.

I don't have any pictures but last week we had a Yellow-Shafted Northern Flicker. He had a large black patch coming back off his beak, and the children said that when he opened his wings to fly, his underwings were yellow.



These are some of our finches - who have really increased in number since we bought these spiffy feeders!

We still have some of our old 'sock-type' feeders, but they prefer these and only the overflow of birds who don't want to wait their turn will go to the older socks now.

On an average day of feeding, there will be nearly 200 finches in the yard: the new feeders hold 42 and there are always some sitting on top waiting for a perch to open, there are sometimes up to 40 on the ground under the feeders cleaning up what may have been dropped or missed, a dozen or more on the older feeders, and an hundred or so sitting in the nearest tree. It is so relaxing and interesting to sit and watch them -- there is a constant stream from feeders to tree, tree to ground, tree to feeders.

Now the funny thing is that all of these lovely little birds that we feed and enjoy so much are in turn part of a food chain. And that it is an encouragement to see hawks or predatory birds at your feeding site because that means you have a good, regular supply of food!



We've been excited several times now by hawks visiting our yard. We'll be sitting at the table watching the birds (being distracted from schoolwork :-) and WHOOSH!! all of the birds are GONE! It is amazing!

The first time he hung around for a bit, going from the fence on one side of the yard to the other. Another time, there were no birds at all and we looked in the trees to see if they were up there - only to find this fellow sitting about midway up the tree just as calm as can be.

DS2 identified him as a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. As far as we can tell, he wasn't successful, unless he had already eaten his catch and was simply digesting when we noticed him. LOL!



The quiet observers to all of this are our three girls; from the top Dottie, Sammie, and Maya. No longer spring chickens, nor pullets, they are settling into their second year and provide us not only with semi-regular eggs, but a lesson in responsibility and companions for DD.

If you don't "Feed the Birds" a simple search on Google for bird feeding, or birds backyard should give you some information on birds for your area and what kinds of things they like to eat.

I would encourage you to give bird-feeding a try. It has been something that has enriched our family and enhanced our learning for years now -- and when we don't seem to make it out to see the birds, we always know that at least a few of them will come and see us!

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" Matthew 6:26

(Originally published @ henandchicks.typepad.com)