The Season of Flowers

Don't you just love Spring and then Summer when all the flowers just
come alive?! Our Heavenly Father sure knows how to put on a show!!

 I usually buy quite a few flowers, but this year I have cut
back because my old body just can't handle it all anymore.
I have been having pain in my arms and hands and that doesn't help either.
So it may become weed heaven around here this year. lol.


Isn't this color gorgeous!!??
This is one of the lilac trees that is growing in my yard. We purchased and planted this a
 few years ago and thank God it is still alive. We seem to have an issue with trees living that
we plant so I am counting my blessings. 

It seems to me that she blooms profusely about every other year and the years in between
it has a very few blooms. Do most lilacs do this or maybe just until they get established well?
I don't know, but I am thankful this is a good year.

This is one of my columbines. I also have one that is called:
Grandmothers Bonnet 
that looks exactly like a bonnet, but that one is not blooming yet.
I promise to share when it does.

We planted a small hydrangea plant in this spot that was sent by my sister and her family for Eden's
 funeral last year and now I have an angel and a stone to stand beside it. My daughter gifted the angel
stone to me and I think it is so pretty.  I hope the hydrangea lives! Sometimes I have plants
  that do wonderful for a couple years and for no reason they just don't come back.
 It is weird. Praying that this one survives!

Speaking of...please remember our family next Sunday. {May 21}. It will be one year on that date
since Eden went to heaven and it will be a hard day. I have some simple things planned such
as balloon release etc., but we miss her so very much and so wish she were here. In some ways
it seems like forever ago and others it seems like just yesterday.
She is our beautiful angel Eden Rain.

Isn't this handmade stump neat? I don't remember what the process is called, but I guess you
use rags to make it? Not sure, but I love it.

LOVE this container that my violas are planted in. I purchased this container with the plant in it
at a Spring Show and it is doing wonderful.

This is our second lilac tree/bush. Actually, I have two this color. Isn't it such a soft color?
 I just dug up "starts" from around another bush and replanted and they are doing every bit
as well as the large ones I purchase in a greenhouse.

Some pretty lilacs I brought inside a few weeks ago.
I just can't get enough of them!

What flowers are out at your house? Do you have a green thumb? I would
love to hear about it.
Until next time...Blessings!

Miss Kim Korean Lilacs

I am playing with lilacs today and I just love this variety.

It is called : Miss Kim Korean Lilac.
She blooms later than other lilacs and is a lacey type that is just gorgeous.

I love this container with three metal pockets and chalkboard on the front.

I will be redoing the chalkboard paint soon becasue the bottom pocket is looking bad.

Do any of you grow these? I would love to hear about yours.
They smell fantastic and it is perfect when we step outside the back door.
The perfume from these just fills the air with a wonderful scent.

If you want to look them up here is a link and here is one.
You can also google it and find more sites. This is supposed to be a dwarf,
but it isn't dwarf here. We have good ole' black Michigan soil and it is
wonderful!

I wish you could smell these...happy Wednesday!!
Blessings~

Spring Flowers

“Is the spring coming?" he said.
"What is it like?"..."It is the sun shining on the rain and
the rain falling on the sunshine...” 

-Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden




I can't believe that it has been a month since I posted.

Time flies when we are having fun right??

I have been a busy little beaver as I am sure you have as well.

I have been planting flowers, celebrating Mothers Day and then this past Saturday
 I had a garage sale that coincides with the ones at the lake a quarter of a mile south of us.
 A few years ago I figured out that I don't have to pay for any advertising at all that way
 and it brings TONS of people out. It was a good day.

My lilacs are on their way out and I hardly got any photos of them. I decided to pick a few
today even though they look a little dreary. It is COLD here today in Michigan! We
went from 84 degrees and muggy yesterday to a high of about 51 today. BRRR!
This weather just can't decide on what season it is! I hope it makes up its mind soon!

Aren't these blossoms just gorgeous? We visited my daughter and her family over Mothers Day weekend
and these blooms were on her tree. GORGEOUS!

This is one of my lilac trees a week or two ago. This is a lighter colored one than the
one in the first couple of photos. The fragrance on this one is outstanding!

I still find it hard to believe that I dug up a few starts of this tree at my sons home when they lived
up here.  When I got home I just put the shovel in the ground and plopped in the lilac start and this
is what she has turned into! AMAZING!!

{we have GREAT black soil on our property}

I have heard of people that coddled these starts adding the right amounts of soil and other amendments
to start these and had no luck. Actually, I have two of them growing now so I am a pretty happy
camper. 

One day a few weeks ago I took a drive and ended up taking a few photos of this tree at the local
college.
They are just loaded with blossoms every year and I just can't resist.

I hope you are having a wonderful Spring so far and that the weather is warm wherever
you live. Do you have pretty flowers and trees? I would love to hear about them!!
Blessings~

I love flowers in the Springtime...

Don't you just LOVE the Springtime and all the flowers bursting forth out of the not so long ago
frozen earth? I know I do!

This lilac bush is one that I photographed at the Hillsdale College Arboretum last week. I adore the
 color and daintiness of this strain. So many different colors of lilacs. I just can't get enough!

I added a postmark to this one

Have you ever seen this Columbine? Doesn't it really remind you of grandma's bonnet?
My bff gave me several starts of these and they are doing great.

Another one in a different color

My bff also gave me tons of these.
She said they are called Japanese Wind Flower...love them as they just dance in the wind!

Hubby and I walked back through the woods last week also
{he is still laid off so that gives us time to do things that we didn't have time for before}
The woods was just FILLED with Trillium! I adore these wildflowers as well.

This is a birdbath in one of my flower gardens. This one is in the front of the house.
I love to hear the trickling of water from my fountains.

I hope you had a great weekend and that blessings abound to each and every one of you
 in the week ahead.

I must get busy again...so many things to do and not enough hours, but I am
wearing myself out fast! I got a dilly of a sunburn yesterday, but it was well
worth it.
Happy Spring / Summer!!

Motherhood ...

Motherhood IS a glorious career...don't you think so?

 I know there are always the naysayers out there who don't think of
motherhood as a career, but boy is it ever! I remember expecting our first child who turned out
to be our one and only daughter. We headed for the hospital in the wee hours on a Sunday
morning and a little before 9 am we called my parents and told them that they were grandparents.
Of course they were overjoyed and this was just the beginning. Two more little ones eventually
came along...two sons with red hair! We were shocked when the first one had red hair, so even
more so when we had a second one with fiery red hair.  We sure adored these little people that
God had blessed us with. 

We loved each one of them the best way we knew how, even though we were NOT perfect parents.
We were beyond blessed to have very healthy children and we decided after three that our quiver
 was full...no more pitter patter of little feet at the Boothman household. This mama was very content
with her little family, living out on a dirt road in the country.

Kindergarten, elementary, jr. high, prom, dances, girlfriends, boyfriends, heartache,joy, tears,
laughter, secrets, college , weddings...

The days turned into months, the months into years, the years into decades and here we
are grandparents now to EIGHT. Eight amazing little bodies all full of life and each one
with their own unique personality.  I often wonder where the time has gone!!
It flew by so fast that is seemed just like a blip on the radar screen.

I know you young parents hear it so much until your eyes roll, but it really is true...
Cherish the times you have with your little ones now because before you know it
they will be going off to college , then getting married and you will hear the
pitter patter of little feet once again, but it will be the feet of  your precious little grands.

Yes, we are BLESSED beyond measure and I loved every minute{almost...lol} then
and I love it now. I certainly don't have the stamina I once had and it is good to ship those precious
little grands back home after they visit so I can catch my breath...but life is good!

Good times or bad times... each moment made us into the family we are today and I love it that we
love each other.

Wishing each and every one of my blogging pals the best Mothers Day ever!
Blink your eyes and it will be Mothers Day 2014 and we will start all over again. :)

Motherhood...my only gems...

"I look back on my childhood and thank the stars above.
For everything you gave me, but mostly for your love."

-Wayne F. Winters from Ode to Mom

There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one. 

Motherhood...my only gems

She came tonight as I sat alone, the girl I used to be...
and she gazed at me with her earnest eye and questioned reproachfully;

Have you forgotten the many plans and hopes that I had for you?
The career, the splendid fame, and all the wonderful things to do?
Where is the  mansion of stately height with all it's gardens rare?
The silken robes that I dreamed for you and the jewels in your hair?

And as she spoke, I was very sad for I wanted her pleased with me...
This slender girl from the shadowy past , the girl that I used to be.
So gently rising, I took her hand, and guided her up the stair
Where peacefully sleeping, my babies lay innocent, sweet, and fair.

And I told her that these are my only gems, and precious they are to me;
That silken robe is my motherhood of costly simplicity.
And my mansion of stately height is love, and the only career I know
Is serving each day in these sheltered walls for the dear ones who come and go.

And as I spoke to  my shadowy guest , she smiled through her tears at me,
And I saw that the woman that I am now, pleased the girl I used to be.

-Author Unknown


L.O.V.E. the poem above and it really pulls at my heartstrings.

Wishing all of you a wonderful Mothers day making memories
with the ones you love.

A day away in Shipshewana!

My bff and I hit the road bright and early last Saturday morning and headed out to
 Shipshewana, Indiana.
I was so looking forward to attending their antique and garden show on the lawn of
the antique mall.  I just knew it would be huge, amazing , etc...yea , well not so much!
It was not at all what I had anticipated.  There were maybe 12 vendors in all and in
my book that is not huge.  I have been to an antique show there once before and it
  WAS huge, so I don't know what happened this time around.

I picked out the flower above at a shop in downtown Shipshewana. They were giving
them away free in honor of the towns Mayfest. 

There was a neat garden vendor at the show and I purchased a few violas. This one is called,
 "Rebecca".
Isn't she amazing with her white petals tinged in purple? This flower is prized for it's compact
habit and tempting vanilla fragrance.

I also purchased a columbine that my bff said is called
 "Grandmothers bonnet"
...how neat is that name? Love it! Hope it does well for me.

I always purchase a few different varieties of basil. This one is called Pesto Basil.

This pretty viola is called
"Etain".
Large lemon yellow flowers accented with contrasting
lavender-purple edge and lightly scented.

Love my basil!

Rebecca peeking through. :)

I purchased these purple violas at Wally World a few weeks ago.

This is what my back porch entry looked like a couple weeks ago.  Now not so much.
The lilacs are done for and it is time to spruce it up again.

I A.D.O.R.E. rosemary and I can never have too much of it!

Love any chippy old doors that I find along with their old doorknobs intact.

I also purchased this huge white ceiling tile and these three posts in Shipshewana.   Thankful
that the day didn't turn out to be a total flop. We had a great time just being together as those
days are very few and far between anymore. Although I will say I was so tired by the time
we got home. I crashed and still haven't fully recovered. hee hee

I can't wait to go to the flea market there and the auction that they have every week.
It is always fun times to go to that part of Indiana and luckily for me it is only a little
over an hour away! Happy Wednesday everyone!!

{My get up and go has got up and went and I would really like it to come back home!}