Beautiful June!

One of the reasons I LOVE the month of June is because of the beautiful
peonies that make their appearance year after year.

Can you stand more photos of these gorgeous flowers?
I have noticed quite a few posts in
blog land of these beauties and I understand why.
Although their bloom time is short and the flowers fade fast, they are one of
the most gorgeous flowers E.V.E.R.

I have taken hundreds of photos of them in the past week or two.

Different shades of pink and thousands of tiny petals that unfurl at just the right time.

I watch my peony busy down at the other end of the property like a hawk and
I run out and cut the new ones that appear each day. I have to make them last
just as long as I possibly can.

This particular peony had this

ONE LONE FLOWER

on the bush.

I am sure by the time this post is over you will be on peony overload! ha!

I took photos inside and outside and every which way.

In tall vases and small vases and all colors of vases.

You have to admit that these are AMAZING flowers.

This particular day I was needing a vase and spied two giant Eiffel Tower mugs that my
daughter gave me for part of my birthday gift.

I grabbed one , added water and it was just perfect!

Peonies in the dining room too!

I do hope you enjoyed my peony tour. I can post pics forever, but I will give you a break. lol !!
Happy Wednesday!

Peonies...love/hate relationship

A big hello from Michigan to all my blogland friends!! I just want you to know that I am back up and running on a new computer!  It will take me awhile to get things all in place , but I am figuring it out as I go. I asked hubby to install my two favorite photo programs so I can at least do my photos and he was kind enough to do so. Between a new computer and my newly installed high speed, I think I have died and gone to heaven....seriously!! lol

I love peonies and I know that many of you do also, but my peony plants are not doing so well as of late, so I am in a love/hate relationship with them. I am lucky to have two or three blooms on a bush!! I don't know if it takes a few years for them to produce many flowers or what, but I am getting very impatient.  I am praying they do produce many more flowers in the years to come. Three peony bushes were planted on the property when we moved here over 32 years ago and they are still here , but they are way down at the other end of our land and sadly have been pretty neglected. {weeds grow up around etc.} I asked hubby last year and this year if he could at least just mow around them so I could have their blossoms in my home. He has obliged so I am hoping that they will start producing like they used to. I would move them, but I am scared that I would kill them. What do you think? Have any of you had experience moving peonies? I think they are pretty touchy, but maybe not ??   Any help would be appreciated. :)

I need to get busy now and get something else accomplished today. My kitchen is still in limbo. The wallpaper is not all hung and that means there is stuff all out of place and a ladder sitting right in the middle of the room, but I am hoping to get it done this week...or mostly done...or maybe dream of getting it done?? *smile*

Oh the joys of redecorating...:)

until next time ~

Peonies ~

"As for me and my house,

we will serve the Lord".

Joshua 24:25b

Christ is the head of this house

The unseen guest in every room.

These words are at the bottom of this beautiful photograph of peonies.

There is a story that goes along with this picture that hangs in my house. Seven years ago someone gave us $100 for our 25th wedding anniversary and we decided that we wanted to buy something special to remember the day.

We went shopping in the city and and I fell in love with this large picture that we found at a Christian bookstore so we purchased it.

Originally it had a silver frame ...very appropriate because it was for our

SILVER Anniversary~

I don't think we had it more than two weeks and I noticed that the mat was warping very bad inside the frame underneath the glass. So we returned it and another one was ordered to replace it. It took a good month or two to get a replacement in and when we picked it up I glanced at it {inside the wrapping and box} and it looked fine so we came home with it.

{mind you this bookstore is more than an hour away from home}

When we got home and unwrapped it all I was horrified to find that the frame was DARK GOLD and did not go well at all with the picture.

I was so bummed. Tried to get it fixed again, but they couldn't guarantee me the silver frame so I kept it as it was , but was never really happy with it. Within the last year or I thought ah ha...I shall paint the frame ivory to match the ivory in the picture. Love it so much better this way.

I know it isn't silver and looking at it now I think "silver"?? But you really had to see it. It did go perfect with it , but I am very happy now.

Blessings~

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow ~

My last lone peony from my garden...

Their stay is much too brief...here today and gone tomorrow~

Peonies

By Mary Oliver

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready

to break my heart

as the sun rises,

as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers.

and they open

pools of lace,

white and pink

and all day the black ants climb over them.

boring their deep and mysterious holes

into the curls,

craving the sweet sap,

taking it away

to their dark, underground cities,

and all day

under the shifty wind,

as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,

and tip their fragrance to the air,

and rise

their red stems holding

all that dampness and recklessness

gladly and lightly,

and there it is again

beauty the brave, the exemplary,

blazing open.

Do you love this world?

Do you cherish your humble and silky life?

Do you adore the green grass , with it's terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,

and softly,

and exclaiming of their dearness,

fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,

their eagerness

to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are

nothing, forever?

Blessings~