Garden Blogger's Muse Day, January 1, 2009

2009?

(taken in January 2008)

January
by John Updike

The days are short,
The sun a spark
Hung thin between
The dark and dark.

Fat snowy footsteps
Track the floor.
Milk bottles burst
Outside the door.

The river is
A frozen place
Held still beneath
The trees of lace.

The sky is low.
The wind is gray.
The radiator
Purrs all day.

January does contain its excitement! :-)
And to see other Muse Day posts, visit Carolyn Gail at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago.

Just a Quick Little Note...

Does this make you curious?
Click on the photo to see what I made for each
of our two families for Christmas!
:-)

Nothing Shady here! ;-)
Christmas Celebration #1
Christmas Celebration #2

ABC Reflections on Christmas 2008

My ABC "list poem."
The first things that came to mind...
Adoration
Beauty
Contentment
Determination
Ease
Faithfulness
(friendship - the above ornaments were given by a new friend!)
Gratitude
Humility
Intrepid (see "W")
Joy
Kindness
Latitude
(loquacious - a happy friendship memory)
Memories
Nestle
Opportunity
Plenty
Quiet
Response
Satisfaction
Thankfulness
Ubiquity
(Ubiquitous - have you ever wished you could be?)
Visits
Weather (we were "intrepid" travelers!) ;-)
eXcitement
Yearning
Zeal

Wishing You a Merry Christmas

Best wishes for a Wonderful (restful!) Christmas celebration and holiday season. May you be blessed with safe travel and the making of memories to warm the heart during the rest of this Winter season. :-)

from "Shady Gardener."

Gladsome Be?

The driving snow is like a mist,

I cannot see but quite –

The trees across the backyard,

Are finely dressed in white.

December’s gift, sight to behold,

I cannot get it right –

Am I gladsome, am I not?

As gusts whisk flakes in flight…

I then inspect from inside out,

My heart has reached its height –

The beauty-gift I love the most -

The arms of friends held tight.

So then I utter “Thank you”

To the One who offers bright;

Truth and beauty to absorb

And Self throughout the night.

by me ("Shady G")

December 9, 2008

Merry Christmas.
Looking forward to 2009. :-)

Christmas Angels

I invited friends here for our second Christmas Ornament making, pre-Christmas get together. The following is the result of two sessions: An evening session for gainfully employed friends (or those that couldn't come to the second gathering), and a day-time session for the others that could make it.

We had nice "sessions," even though the weather found a way to interfere! The purpose is not so much to make the ornament (although it's a fond reminder), as much as to have a fun time with friends.

Yes, Virginia, I have angels for friends! ;-)
(click on any photo to enlarge)

Friends are Angels

(Author Unknown)

Our friends are like angels
Who brighten our days
In all kinds of wonderful
Magical ways

Their thoughtfulness comes
As a gift from above
And we feel we're surrounded
By warm, caring love

Like upside-down rainbows
Their smiles bring the sun
And they fill ho-hum moments
With laughter and fun

Friends are like angels
Without any wings
Blessing our lives
With the most precious things.


More angels!

Angels We Have Heard on High

Angels we have heard on high,
Singing sweetly through the night,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their brave delight.
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why these songs of happy cheer?
What great brightness did you see?
What glad tiding did you hear? Refrain

Come to Bethlehem and see
Him whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee
Christ, the Lord, the new-born King. Refrain

See him in a manger laid
Whom the angels praise above;
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,
While we raise our hearts in love. Refrain

The rest of Wednesday's post shall be
somewhat Wordless.
(click photos to enlarge somewhat)
Have fun!

Nine inches for bodies; five inches for each wing.
(We seemed to prefer the wide, wired ribbon.)































Using the floral stem, we were able to make a "hole" for
the pipe cleaner... and the pipe cleaner should come out
the backside of the skirt.

December 16, 2008

This was yesterday's weather.
Today it is bright and sunny.
:-)




(You'll hear my dog snuffling...)

We have more snow in the forecast for Thursday.
We leave for Michigan Saturday.
We'll be celebrating the birthday of our granddaughter on Sunday (21st).
She turns 5!
And we get to celebrate Christmas with them all! Yea!
:-)

Christmas Blessings to you, as well!

Green Thumb Sunday and gallimaufry

Visit Tricia
As the Garden Grows
and join GTS!

My "Christmas Cacti" are still blooming! These cacti have been very entertaining for the past couple of months! In fact, my light pink one that bloomed in October is getting buds again! There aren't many, so I wonder if they will mature enough to blossom?

Gallimaufry:

We were on the road this afternoon, driving two hours one way and two hours back. At the onset, the temperature was 60 degrees F. By the time we reached our destination, the temperature had fallen to 29 degrees F. Not long after reaching home, around 5:00 P.M. or so, it began to sleet, rain and sleet some more. It's also Very Windy! It might have snowed... I haven't investigated. However, I'm counting this as snowfall #4 since the 29th of November. ;-)

"Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire, and Christmas treat."
from The Months
by Sara Coleridge

Have a great rest-of-the-day! :-)

Oh, I am so Proud!

I know this is my gardening blog.
I know that.
But, perhaps the two most beautiful "flowers in my garden"
are the two children I was privileged
to participate in raising!

My daughter is a professional calligrapher.
She recently was chosen to do the lettering
on the Nebraska state ornament
sent to the White House
for the Christmas Tree.


This is the article from the
Omaha World Herald.

Click here to see
each of the state ornaments.

Oh, I am so proud! :-)
SG

Thank you Patsi!

Did you notice this new logo?
I cannot do such a thing to a photograph...
but Patsi can! :-)

If you haven't yet visited Patsi at Garden Endeavors,
you should.
She has a lot going on over there,
plus she's a very nice, generous person.
You'd like her! :-)

Then, check out the Summer 2008 Inspiration meme on my right sidebar. You could inspire the rest of us by sharing what has inspired you!! Perhaps you've got plans for next year already!

Green Thumb Sunday

This is just a recent photo of my
kitchen windowsill African Violet. It's all I found that was blooming, after returning home today. (I visited my daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren in Omaha this weekend!)

Favorite Colors
by Jeff Moss

I asked Sue
She said blue.
I asked Ed
He said red.
I asked Eileen
She said green.
I asked Ray
He said gray.
I asked Jack
He said black.
I asked Lillian
She said vermilion.
I asked Dwight
He said white.
I asked Isolde
She said gold.
I asked Diane
She said tan.
I asked Othello
He said yello.
I asked Charlotte
She said scarlet.
I asked Bruce
He said puce.
I asked Binky
She said pink-y.
Asking your friends their favorite color,
Sometimes it's interesting and sometimes it's duller.

So... what's Your favorite color? ;-)

Join Green Thumb Sunday.

Sponsored by Tricia at As the Garden Grows!
When you post, please return to her site to let her know! :-)

Garden Blogger's Muse Day

First Snow

Snow makes whiteness where it falls.
The bushes look like popcorn balls.
and places where I always play,
Look like somewhere else today.

Marie Louise Allen

Join Carolyn Gail's Garden Bloggers' Muse Day! Post a poem on the first day of each month. Head for Sweet Home and Garden Chicago to look around.

Summer 2008 Inspiration - December Posting!

Your assignment for today, should you choose to accept it,

is to check out the gardeners
at Gardening Gone Wild!

Barbara W. Ellis, Saxon Holt, Nancy Ondra, Steve Silk and Fran Sorin host a wonderful meme entitled Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop. They invite people to post on a variety of monthly gardening topics including Water, Whimsy, Trellises, Decks and Porches, Stone, Color, Paths and Walkways, Containers. I'm a Johnny-come-lately, but I found that reading through the completed meme posting and comments, was FUN and very inspiring!

I participated only a couple of times... those resulting in the following posts on

Stone in the Garden


Front Yard Garden Design

and

Garden Whimsy.

I was keen on posting on walls and walkways,
as well as the water feature... maybe next year?
;-)

I hope they go through these topics again! There were times I wasn't "ready," times where I needed inspiration and encouragement and then there were subjects I cared only to read about.

I'm holding fast to two very inspiring subjects, as I look forward to 2009. These are the stone features and the paths and walkways. You have witnessed my struggle with trying to create my walkway this Fall in an earlier post. I have received inspiration from many gardeners and garden bloggers, but this meme put me into action. Even though I'm not finished, I will be!!!

The future backyard walkway!

Again, many thanks to each of you at Gardening Gone Wild for the challenges and inspiration you encouraged and set before me!

Now, fellow gardeners! How have you been inspired with regard to your landscape and/or hardscape? What have you done during 2008, OR what are you planning for 2009? Should you decide to join this meme, just create your own post this month. Then return to leave a comment and/or link to your site so we can ALL be inspired this Winter! :-)