Hay & Straw, and other random things…

My first randomness - a random mosaic including a few of my favorite things in the pie safe.

A favorite towel – a gift from a favorite young lady; Shamrock in a crock; Mama & baby donkey – treasures found by my dear mother at a recent antique show & sale (thanks Mom!); Grandma Winfree’s sugar “stove” (very precious to me); Hummel donkey & cart (my most favorite eBay find ever); yet another donkey with one of last summer’s hydrangeas; Greta Goose’s egg which was Pysanki-painted just beautifully by our very talented neighbor, Colleen.

Did everyone have a nice Easter? We had a dual celebration, also celebrating the Fiddler’s birthday on Sunday afternoon. I fixed a simple lunch on Easter called “Hay & Straw.” It’s a Taste of Home recipe, and you can find it here if you like. Very easy and delicious! And I love the name! It consists of julienned strips of ham, linguine, frozen peas, parmesan cheese, butter, whipping cream (I used half & half). I put it in the big slow cooker on buffet setting and it worked perfectly. Along with a salad, we were good to go. Or at least until later, when we all pigged out on an enormous white cake with heavenly frosting & ice cream.

I have big plans to do a Thursday Walkabout tomorrow. We have a few blooming trees now. We’re loving Spring, but it’s so overwhelming the amount of things that need to be done. Like… right now!  The only thing holding us back is all this rain, but that has allowed more time for Spring Cleaning. Speaking of which, back to work I go… the Purge continues!

Enjoy your day!

Early Birthday Gift & Thursday Walkabout

My sister and brother-in-law brought by an early birthday gift for me last night. They had rescued it from the barn on their new farm. I, of course, heartily accepted this wonderful gift. It’s something I’ve always wanted. 

The gift is an old church pew, about 8 foot long, and it will work perfectly on the Barn/Cottage porch.  Aside from cleaning, and minor repairs to the bottom of the end caps (slight rotting took place there from sitting in the barn for quite some time)…. I probably won’t change a thing about it right now. I like the primitive black paint and the wear shown on the seat.  A few throw pillows… and there ya have it, a nice spacious area to sit a spell with family & friends.

I was tired tonight but managed a lazy walk around the yard. Tonight we have ~
Rudbeckia, a Strange Cloud, Queen Anne’s Lace, Profusion Zinnias, Our Old Wagon load of Flowers, Endless Summer Hydrangea, Bent Wheel, Volunteer Sunflower.

I’m using Aluminum Sulfate on my Hydrangea to “blue” it up. The pink is very pretty, but to me, there is no flower more beautiful than a deep blue hydrangea. We’ll see what happens.

Hope your week is going well! Till next time…

Rainy Day Thoughts…

We have this sign on our back porch to greet visitors to Flat Creek:

We actually have a decorating theme on the back porch (most everything else is a big hodgepodge here right now). I call our BP theme the vintage lodge outdoorsy theme. If you can’t see the “activities list” on the sign (not the best picture), here it is:
*Bear Wrestling
*Skinny Dipping
*Coyote Calling!
*Frog Catching

S’mores nightly? At least weekly during the summer months – around our cowboy fire pit in the back yard. Do we bear wrestle? No, haven’t seen a bear in these parts as of yet, but we’ve heard rumors of course. Do we skinny dip? Not with the snapping turtles who reside in our ponds. Do we coyote call? Yes, Mr. W has been known to do that on occasion. Frog catching? Yes, on occasion (today would be the perfect day for that activity). It’s rainy again today, and in the upper 50’s. Summer will soon be here – we hope!

In the meantime, we’re still awaiting our barn builder to show up. This weather doesn’t help matters. I’m growing weary of waiting to post pictures of the building in progress, so I’ll preview it here while I wait (and wait and wait…). I promise to update this the very second those first new barn posts are in the ground. I hope it’s SOON. My patience is about worn thin.

The plan is a 30x50 metal building with an 8 foot porch across the front. It will be just a few steps from our back door. I know we’ll love the porch this summer – if we get it built by then (<sigh>.. can you tell just how impatient I’m getting?). There will be an 800 or 900 square foot living area within (“cottage”) – we’re still working on details on that part since we’ll be finishing the interior ourselves. The remainder of the building will be garage/workshop. Here’s a photo of what the new building should look similar to. Our building will be white with green roof and it will have a cupola in the center with a donkey weathervane (of course!). And along the far end there will be two garage doors.

Photo courtesy of National Barn

As time goes by (we hope in a couple of years), we plan to take down this old house with its poor old foundation & roof (in fact I’m listening to a drip from a leak in or around the chimney right now), & other problems too numerous to mention. At that time, we’ll move into the cottage portion while hopefully building a new home (possibly another pole barn style) in the place where the old house stands now.

Anyhoo… that be the plan, folks! Have a great remainder of the weekend.