Beauty in death

I took a bunch of pictures outside this morning in the warm sun before the next storm front moved in today, bringing more snow ... supposedly ... we'll see. I needed to capture for my photo library what some of the 'dead' plants look like, but started taking close-ups of the seed heads. I found some things still flowering. In this death cycle there is still beauty.







But in the picture process I decided to take pictures of all Monte's rock specimens he scattered around my garden walls this summer. I'm getting my pictures organized, getting more from Dawson's computer too, for Monte's parents to see, since we're visiting them and they so like pictures. I thought they'd get a kick out of seeing their son's playfulness. If I were to count all his rocks, there'd be a lot. I'm going to post some of the most pretty or unique. A green and black one is serpentinite, which he's mainly working with right now in his geologic endeavors.

Fruit Flies

Monte's been asking me questions - so I've been researching. He's been so tired of fruit flies and trying to attract them to get rid of them. I tell him every end of summer harvest brings fruit flies. This year's infestation came with peaches.

Question 1: "How can we trap them?"

Putting old fruit in a container and then trying to lid it and take them out, doesn't work. If you'll notice, they tend to walk around the rim of the container most of the time and once the lid comes close, they fly away. I had put a small bit of wine in a glass close by for him to see that some will go there and drown. But the BEST trap I found is to put plastic wrap tightly over a bowl with some fruit in it and poke fork holes. It's amazing how many get trapped in one day! and the sound when you get close is eerie! He empties it each day in the compost and starts over.

Question 2: "What's their life cycle? Are we just breeding them?"

Years ago when schooling the kids we did do a fruit fly experiment, but I forget the facts. I knew they have a short life span, but didn't think they grow overnight! I LOVE the internet! Diagrams, facts, tips, videos, virtual tours ... I took a movie with my little cannon elf. This is the first time trying to post my own movies! You'll notice the flies still walking the edge, so they never get back to the holes to fly out.



Some years I get soil gnats in my house plants which seem similar, but are another beast.

Thanksgiving in July!

I wasn't going to post right now, but am going to try and see if linking to Dawson's and other photos taken at our house yesterday will work from Facebook postings. A cold front is moving in today for the next few days so there's some plant thinnings I want to try and move right now hoping they'll take hold with the coolness and moisture. (I just checked the above links and I don't think you can view the pictures unless you sign into Facebook so eventually I'll post them to my photoblog.)

I'm calling it Thanksgiving in July because all the same people here yesterday have been here for several Thanksgivings together and friendships have grown and conversations are so lively!!!! Sarah's parents, John and Kerry are in town right now, so they drove up along with Travis and Sarah. Dawson's girlfriend Splarah came (she has to remain her nicknamed "Splarah" with all the Sarahs around, but then there's Karey me and the other mother Kerry - gets confusing!). And then our good friends from way back - the Johnsons came too. I grilled what we call "Dancing Chickens" (recipe)(picture) and made scalloped potatoes. The Johnson's brought a wonderful almond, orange, with greens salad. And the Swan-VanDusen group brought veggie dip makings and other appetizers. We ate, yakked, hiked, yakked and yakked, and ate, and laughed and laughed ...

I picked up baby Will and after everyone left, we just sat in the rocking chair in the stillness for a long time while Heather filled the dishwasher. Will was laughing and talking to the lamp above us.

Velveteen House Again

Once again our Velveteen House ... As I write, young people are outside around the campfire cooking their breakfast.

Dawson went camping this weekend at the annual Bow Jamboree. We used to always go to this since 1982, camping with hundreds of other archery hunting families - lots of courses of targets to shoot at and fun activities. Monte hasn't been archery hunting for several years - until more testing is done on whether wasting disease in elk and deer, like mad cow disease, can transfer to humans. For probably more than twenty years our main meat we ate was elk, with some deer, and an occasional antelope, moose and bear (and I've eaten rattlesnake, mormon crickets, and I can't remember if I've shared lion, raccoon, and coyote with friends who've eaten them).

The kids here are from our church youth group who were camping all weekend. The graduating seniors finished the trip here last night and will leave today. Camping? I guess they all slept in the bunk house last night. It didn't rain here (it sounds like west Denver got zapped last night with horrid hail, wind and rain that broke tons of trees, windows, roofs, and windsheilds - and snowplows for some hail removal). Lots of cloud and lightening movement that Dawson captured with his camera on a tripod. And I'm posting their campfire pic at one point when they said they were creating a volcano.

Lots of activity around here these summer days. Always friends of Dawson's around working (whom I cook for and pay). Like yesterday, I was weed-eating the lower fruit and asparagus garden (because of excess rain this year the grass and weeds are as tall as me!) and I'd like to finish today, unless it rains soon - it looks like it and is cool. Gary has been coming and cutting down giant dead trees with Dawson and fixing the campfire amphitheater since the old log seating was rotting. Aaron and Connor cleaned out the old ferret house (putting the large fish tanks in the bunk house) and they all had fun figuring out how to get it down to the old chicken coop. It's now attached to the front of the coop and the coop cleaned out and painted and shelves are being built. Gary and Dawson moved the fish tanks and stuff down there yesterday, so the bunk house got cleaned out (Dawson saw and caught a rat - I didn't think we have rats in the mountains). Dawson's welded some frisbee catchers for his frisbee golf course. Connor helps Dawson finish the rock work with his artistic ability (he's the one who's always playing the piano, as he did again this morning). Nick is occasionally here, as he is now, working on more meticulous carpentry jobs. Girls have come and gone too, eating here and playing games and watching movies. The woods junk has been cleaned up with loads taken to the dump and the old dog kennel torn down. Once the playhouse/Dawson's museum of Natural History is cleaned out - Monte's rocks and Dawson's bone, nest ... collections - I'll go through organizing all the yard tools in there. Monte's been slowly going through all his geology stuff in the garage and throwing a ton of stuff away. Then it'll feel like most everything is done around here - ready for the next season of life with Monte and me as empty-nesters. But then grandchildren - and we'll need to rebuild a swing/play area again and get another dump-truck load of sand.

Bill is back in Iraq. We were laughing about them both blowing on their soup together, so I took a picture. The picture of Will was taken at the airport as they hung out together till Bill boarded the plane. Baby Will is getting so vocal and rolling over. As I cleaned the ashes from the cookstove and swept the great room floor this morning I was thinking of us probably needing to redo the wood floor for the grandkids. Like when Heather and Will return for the holidays, he's going to be crawling, and our floor is splintering! All the years of raising kids and Dawson having a sand-table in the greenhouse and tracking dirt all over has worn the floor out. People love it, but little hands and knees crawling about will not, and I rarely walk barefoot.

"What is REAL?" asks the Velveteen Rabbit of the Skin Horse.
"Real isn't how you are made" (they were looking at all the fancy toys surrounding them in the nursery). "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?"
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful, "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up, or bit by bit?"
"...You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

We sure do have tons of great memories bouncing off our very loved worn Real Velveteen House walls!

Photos

Since it's raining I decided to look at photos from the 4th of July. I downloaded lots of pictures on my photoblog for you to peruse. So click and see.

Travis took the silly picture of me. I have another similar one Dawson took of me too. We used to throw these pictures away, but now I think they're fun. With the digital era it's more fun to take pictures without people having to 'pose' and be perfect (or somber as days of old pics).

Consuming Happenings

Some people have asked where I am? Well, I am currently sitting outside right now as I write/type looking out at my beautiful environment: what I've created and what's naturally surrounding us, i.e., lush (for now) meadows, evergreen woods and aspen grove. Lush because we've been getting lots of moisture. it's been cool, not quite summer yet. Cool? While most of you are experiencing close to 100 degree days, our highs have been close to 70 and nights around 40. Birds are a big piece of the scene for me. I'd be hearing them anyway, but I've created a wonderful habitat for them that they seem to love and frequent.

My landscape architecture schooling is finally getting to show it's results in my home setting and especially now having an electric fenced yard. Finally getting to see what plantings look like when not destroyed by critters - primarily elk! It's satisfying and relaxing now to see the elk outside my domain. See them relaxing too, bedded down in the lush meadow? Their antlers are in velvet right now and not fully grown. Antlers are the fastest growing ... (I forget - help Monte).

This is the busiest time of the year for me, that's why I've not been writing. I'm still planting. Mother nature has done weird twists with the extra moisture. And then us messing with mother nature ... Like the hot tub we put in this past winter. We bulldozed into the hill so it would be nestled into the hillside. Good thing Monte walled it in with a drainage tube and gravel, but the flower bed and rock work Dawson got ready for me around the tub area collapsed and is still oozing with a slow running stream. I guess better now than later with lots of stuff planted. It's so easy (and cheaper) to dream and order lots of bare-root plants in February and have them come in the mail. But what if mother nature butts in showing me I'm not in total control?! Some things survived sitting in their wrappings in the cold garage and finally got planted when the snow was finally gone and are now leafing out - so I know they are alive. And some things I had to pot and let sit in my greenhouse and are now sitting, still in pots, outside awaiting some areas to get finished for planting.

Other happenings? Company: after the nephews of one of the last posts we've had a Norwegian guest and then Monte's geology partner Stan, and of course, lots of Dawson's friends, and then Heather with Will are here. So more cleaning (more organizing - going thru stuff I've not looked at for years!) and cooking. Heather's in the guest room, so we moved a dresser in there and I cleaned out the closet (think about what that would mean sister dear!). I set up the laundry room as another guest room with our nice air-bed for other guests that'll be occasionally coming.

The garage is clean now with Dawson having made a workshop under Monte's office deck, so the treadmill could have a final resting place, out of the laundry room and into the garage. Dawson and friend Nick finished the house siding out back. Dawson and friends took down rotting dog kennel and cleared out the whole area to that side of the house (wood piles, etc), moving his old ferret house (housing his old large fish tanks, gerbil stuff, and my garden stuff) down to attach to the old chicken coop. The coop will never house chickens again and is being cleaned up for storage of a differing 'beast' - occasionally used junk. Dawson and friends have been hauling rocks and dirt to finish back landscaping. They've had to put down boards at times since the wheelbarrows would sink in mud made from the oozing hot tub hillside.

Heather's enjoying being here. She's using my laptop, since it's accesible, and maybe that keeps me from writing a post too - but no, not really, I'm just outside mostly, tho I am outside now, but writing a post. Having come from hot Texas it's a bit cool for her, but she's liking it better than the humid heat. Summer will come here too soon. We'll typically jump from Winter/Spring weather to Summer heat - which for us averages in the 80's-90's.

Dawson just came out having awakened and is opening out his tents to air and dry, telling me climbing Pikes Peak yesterday was the hardest climb him and his climbing friends have ever done. Why? Because of the snow still on the ground in places. Well duh, what did they expect this time of year?!! The mountains are still getting snow (we've come close still)!

So current life is getting used to the new patterns of summer activity and having a Grandbaby around. It's good he's not crawling around yet - that'll be a new house reorganization come the holidays when Heather plans to return again for a spell. (Oh a bird just scared me, landing on my laptop and scared himself!) So the new season of life? being Grandparents.

Awesome Dawson!

Today is Dawson's birthday. He's left the world of the teens, yet according to current culture he's not yet an adult. So he's a Betweeny!

I posted more pictures to my photoblog commemorating, celebrating Dawson! And I added some photos on Travis' birthdate, April 11, celebrating him. Since photoblog won't let us post more than 5 pictures a day now, I've stretched them out.

Dawson is finishing up his excellerated classes tomorrow, then done with this very hard semester May 11. He can't wait. We're proud of him. He's working so hard to be an honors student which pays his tuition. He's becoming good friends with his teachers and they love going for coffee with him and spending time with him and talking with him. He likes the teachers better than his fellow students, excepting the honors students. They're finishing up a pretty cool project due this Friday - lots of historic places - pasts and present - and eating in cool places.

But he's really up in the air as to his future. One teacher opened up to him many possibilities beyond a business major, taking his personality and giftings into consideration. So all of a sudden he's feeling in limbo ... and talking with tons of people about it.

Like I've said many times - it's going to be very interesting to see where Dawson ends up, for his life's work, or what's going to support his many interests, besides a family!

full moon

Dawson has an awesome lens on his camera that took pictures of the moon last night that look like what's seen thru a telescope!

1sts of Spring

I mentioned last year about our Firsts of Spring charts I used to always recreate every year. It's so ingrained that we all have eyes to see, without a chart. Sitting here, I just heard a flicker bird drumming his beak on our stove pipe. That's always a 'first' I look for - it's a mating thing.

I just walked around outside with my cup of breakfast tea looking for garden firsts. I'm seeing an inch of bulb greenery starting to poke through. No Glory of Snow, chionodoxa, in the grass yet. Yes, in the grass. I posted last fall about aerating my grass - I did it with a hand drill!! dropping the little bulbs in the holes (I had posted it on Facebook and my son Travis responded, "I hope you're not going to start cutting your grass with scissors!")

I had read about putting those flower bulbs in the grass, then there'd be a carpet of purple-blue first thing in the spring, and die back by the time to mow. I can't wait!

I need to walk around in the meadow and see if any wild crocus, pasque flowers, are up yet. That's another first. What else do we look for? The first robin and bluebird. In May the hummingbirds come and I love hearing them all summer, looking for the fiesty Rufous to show up early July. Hummingbirds leave Laborday weekend. We look for Aspen tree catkins, coming before the leaves. The kids would often run to me saying, "I smelled the first stink bug!"

Have you cleaned out your birdhouses? I told you to last month. Little bugs in old nests can kill this year's babies. We look for cow birds each spring, and the boys had permission to shoot them. I know that's not politically correct, but they are parasites (Audubon says, "promiscuous" - no pairing). They lay eggs in other bird nests and because their babies are bigger, growing faster, they starve out the other babies. Luckily we only have a couple that come around, my hope is, if the birdhouse hole size is specific to the bird, they usually can't get in. I do like their gurgling notes. Travis and me, and then Dawson and me, made lots of our birdhouses over the years.

Spring? I know it's not spring yet. I heard that Denver usually gets around 45" of snow each year, but only 18" this year. We are so dry, but we're probably not done yet. Unfortunately we often get dumped on in March - April (like 3 feet! Spring dumps melt fast, but not that one Christmas dump!). As the garden wise-guys I listen to on the radio have been saying, "don't let this beautiful spring-like weather we've been having fool you!" But with the warm weather predicted this week, I will go out and water again.

Monte and me already got a load of manure, the rancher filling both our trailer and the back of the pickup. That's the earliest we've ever gotten it. But with the nice weather ... and when I start needing it, we usually have snow and the ground around the manure pile is so mucky. So now we're prepared!

Dawson took the picture of my statue with snow on the back table in January when I was in Texas.

Photos

People have been begging me to post photos of my new (first) Grandbaby. On Facebook I had posted my status for a week as "Karey is; simply a 'state-of-being'" - sometimes feeling like a zombie or robot in what I was doing. I knew my time in Texas was soon to end and once that baby was born, we were so tired, I just had to keep plugging away at finishing things up, so Heather's year without Bill, alone with their baby, could go smoothly. I wanted her to be able to relax and enjoy life and little Will.

So now that I'm home ... after taking Monte to the airport today (he's in Sonoita, Arizona for the week), I took the time to post lots of pictures on my photoblog. So cruise thru the varying days to view a variety of photos.

Notice I said "first" above? While Heather and me were readying for another nursing time, my iPhone rang. Travis and Sarah were calling and asked, "Hey Mom, do you want to spend time with us like you're doing now, in 8 1/2 months?" "Oh ... is that how you're telling me you're going to have a baby?"

So I guess this is the year Monte and me are adding the names Grandpa and Grandma to 'who we are'!

My Pantry

I got a comment on my last post that made me go to Dawson's photoblog since I've not looked at it in a couple days, and there it is - My Pantry! So click on the above link to see it. His wide-angle lens took a couple great pics. View it in the slideshow format.

I just finished cooking up a batch of All-Purpose Basic Ground Meat Mix to freeze in six portions. When first married I had the Make-A-Mix cookbook in two books, now in one, and I got one for Travis and Sarah, and now Heather. That's where I'm getting ideas from. And I'm now going to start making a lasanga and will freeze the rest of it after we have some for supper tonight, along with the cheesecake I made, from my Hearth&Home cookbook (are you getting hungry?! ;^)

Heather has not had her baby. She's having contractions regularly tho ...

Pictures and Patience

Still no baby. Monte's here at Heather's home again, but leaving tomorrow. Since no baby yet, I'm probably going to be staying longer. I feel so fortunate to be able to stay longer. The only thing I really feel committed to, in returning to Evergreen, is starting seeds in my greenhouse for this years veggie garden, and flowers. If that's the main thing "calling" to me, I guess that shows one of my main loves in life. I'm able to read here (once I'm not so organizational focused) and knit (tho the main project I brought I've taken out several times - I'm at the point of thinking the pattern is wrong!). The weather's nice for outdoor activities, like walking, and we may get a garden going.

I posted some pictures on two days.

Velveteen House II

When there's a holiday, school break time, I am reminded of my original Velveteen House post, click here. Why? Though Dawson is still living at home while going to college, it's during these break times that our home gets more worn with wear. Like with the dialogue in the Velveteen Rabbit classic book, "by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby."

Dawson, Splarah and Conner, are currently eating jalepeno grilled cheese panini sandwiches and tomato soup they just made for themselves for lunch. They are sanding Dawson's new desk he's making in his bedroom. (He just painted his floor red, "to coordinate with the red in my ceiling!", which is red sponged over black, which him and Gary did probably a year ago, needing to re-drywall it.

Yesterday morning, walking into the kitchen, Dawson was making pancakes. Since I go into a nutrition talk when they bring home Bisquick, he was being witty, saying he was making them from scratch ... "I've already been out this morning gathering whole grains to grind, and squeezing chickens for eggs" ... Cute! ... I have to smile.

I never know who's sleeping here. Splarah and Lizzy have often been in the guest room and it's been a mix from Conner, Aaron, Caleb to Nick lately, sleeping scattered about (since Dawson's room is disastrously torn apart, with most everything in Heather's old room or the storage room next to Monte's office).

Young people were at the kitchen table drinking sparkling apple cider from goblets, and playing card games, when Monte and me got home from a party. We didn't know they'd be there since they were ice skating for New Year's Eve at Evergreen Lake. But since they were going skiing for the next two days, they decided to sleep here and leave from here.

And now that Dawson is learning to weld and forge metal, people want to participate and experience it too. So young people are wanting to hang out and play. 

House guests come and go. Like yesterday, a young couple we'd not seen for awhile were here for a bit. Everyone loves the well worn wood floor in our great room and don't think we should refinish it. Some people don't come out of the guest bathroom for awhile, cuz they're either reading or writing more graffiti on our chalkboard paint wall.

Ministering seems to come our way. This season of Monte's and my life is full of visiting young people and scientists wanting to hang out here. More memories for the walls of this Velveteen House to bounce off - memories full of stories. Like a plaque in our house says, "Home is where your story begins."

Photos

I posted more photos on my photoblog - of Christmas.

Dawson's new photo site

For those of you who occasionally look at my son Dawson's photoblog, he's moved to one that has better picture resolution because he's got a new camera:

dawsonswan.smugmug.com

Campfire

When we were in GreenBay, Monte's brother Mike told of this burning log thing they did at campfires, and Dawson was going to be having an event with the college group at our house - frisbee golf and then a campfire. So we emailed him pics and instructions and he did it and took pics.

Mike calls it a Tiki man. Dawson called it something else on his photoblog.

Scarecrows

I finished my scarecrows yesterday, and last evening was great lighting from the sunset, so I ran out and took pics. Dawson ran out, along with his pretty much finished cello, and took pics too, and posted them on his photoblog (I'm the one at the end silhouetted holding the cello in the sunset).

I just posted on Facebook that I "told Monte this is the best Fall ever"! And it has/is. The weather's been beautiful, I've seen my plants mature to their designed beauty without the elk and deer destroying them (The Joy of the Electric Fence, I ought to compose), and I've seen the color changes in New England, Wisconsin, and here.

Calendarwise today? - Hillary Clinton's birthday and Mahalia Jackson. I grew up listening to Mahalia Jackson since my mom liked her. When I hear Gospel and Christmas songs, I often hear Mahalia singing them and do a comparison.

My scarecrows will stay up all winter. I read that some people put them up in October and burn them November 5 on Guy Fawkes' day, which I'll post about on that day (another need-to-know event for literacy since it's mentioned in books and movies). The only thing that I'm remembering always happens when I have a scarecrow in a window's vision is that it catches me off guard for a bit, thinking someone's there.

Happenings

We are now in Fennimore, Wisconsin. Monte's youngest brother lives here in an old farmhouse they've refurbished. If we weren't flying, we'd be making apple cider and bringing a bunch home to freeze. Scott teaches in a tech school and designed and built an apple press.

Monte and Scott are currently muskee fishing but the weather's not cooperating, so they're quitting.

The couple days in New Hampshire (sparse internet connection), while the mad scientists, Norwegians, and an attorney were having meetings, Nill's wife Kathy took me to crafting and art places and we ate in historic buildings and walked around the campus of Dartmouth.

One place she took me was Woodstock. Are you thinking 'thee Woodstock'? Don't. New England has more than one Woodstock, and Concord, and Salem ... confusing!

Watching a potter, he asked me how I'm finding New England. I said, "I'm amazed at how old stuff is here". His response was, "ah, New England is Old, and yet I'm from the true Old England (across the pond)." We watched glass blowers too. I can imagine Dawson wanting to do this as well.

Dawson is home holding down the homestead. He's got a four day weekend ahead and is going to do more of his melting of metal. He wants to finish his metal cello he's doing for an honor's project in his music appreciation class. He finally posted the beginnings of his cello on his photoblog, so I'm posting some here. (I see he posted a bunch of pics from around our house - it shows me how his interests overflow from our lifestyle of 'sculpting' a home. I'm going to post our guest bathroom tub we sculpted years ago.)


I've been posting about the current calendar events with the Jewish calendar's High Holy Days which will culminate in a week with Succoth - the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths (our Thanksgiving came from the Pilgrims wanting to celebrate this Leviticus Festival as the 'New Israel', which they believed themselves to be).

Once we leave here tomorrow we'll be in Ogema for a week at Monte's parents and I don't know if we'll get internet connection, so I don't know when next I'll post.

Signs of Fall

Elk are bugling! It's a Fall thing we listen for. It's a 'rut' thing. Out of curiosity I looked up rut in my desktop dictionary: "an annual period of sexual activity in deer and some other animals, during which the males fight each other for access to the females" - that's it! That's what happens, sex education, from our windows' views. (Our houseguest was awakened last night by one bugling "by my window"!) 

The bulls bugle, beginning in late August, the females having hormone surges throughout Fall. They're trying to sound bigger than the other and see who can gather the largest harem. Sometimes we hear (and watch) the clashing of antlers, as they fight for supremacy. Then the rest of the year the big bulls are off in their all male fraternity clubs. (I might pull a picture from the internet Brian :-) (I don't have any pics in my computer photos, but I do think we have more pictures of elk than we have of our kids! I tease Monte.)

Like I posted last Spring, I used to make a Fall chart too, for the kids. Now it's just ingrained that we're aware of the Fall changes. Like the hummingbirds leave after Labor Day, and we look for the flocking of bluebirds or robins, as they're readying to leave for the winter. I always write the first frost on the calendar (last year's was Sept 3) - which we've not had yet this year, which is late (and very nice!). I love looking for the color changes. (We may see Wisconsin's and New England's colors this year!) I've got bear postings on my calendar too, like the time a bear had a well-rounded meal from our freezer!

Aha! I got the elk picture from Dawson's photoblog from last October that he titled "The Sacred Cows of Evergreen". I wish we could have captured pics of all the things we've seen in elk antlers: Christmas lights, hoses, clotheslines with dragging poles (that woke us one night!), our kid's big-wheel, and almost our dogs! We were awakened one night by the house shaking: the bull saw his reflection in our window and thought he'd 'fight' with it! It didn't break our "Hurd" window!! 

Excavation

As I said, tho buried in my last post, I need to be looking at my garden books planning my next landscaping project since Monte did more excavating last Sunday with our neighbor's bobcat.

I took pics this morning, so will post some of the current ones of the 'new look', and will post some of the current happenings. Like when Monte's brother visited ... when was that? ... We've had so much going on ... oh, they left a week ago. Monte's had some geologists here, with a charming couple from Canada - and they're gone right now on a geology field trip, with Monte and Stan leading again.

My sister-in-law wanted to try needlefelting and she's been wanting me to do a figure for her, and asked if I'd do her down-syndrome daughter Leah. So while I worked on a 'Leah' face, I led Chris through the process on her own creation. I will post my 'Leah' later. I'm done with her face, working from pictures I printed and looking at Leah playing on the floor, but need to add ears and wispy hair, then figure out how to do the body. I'm not wanting to do the entire body and am thinking of a metal frame, cover it with her dress and have her always clapping hands felted, coming out from the dress. But I'm posting Chris's first try - and a great creation I'll say (she's leaning against my felted sculpture I've posted before and I posted on my Facebook site). She wants to work on it more and do more.

I'm posting some pics of Trav and Sarah's garden we helped plant in their Ft Collins condo, and one of Travis and their dog Bea.

Next is our front yard with Dawson's awesome rock work and then the new dirt area. Dawson is outside now starting on new rock work in the new landscaping. When we get the tractor back he'll bring over some giant rocks and that'll have some sort of waterfall area.
This is what I really need to design. There's a picture of me in our dining room window taking a picture of my flower/herb pots and the new excavated area is behind me.

And you have to see Dawson's photoblog if you want to keep up on more of the happenings in our life.

Dawson's rock work

I said in my post last night I'd take a picture of the finished rock wall defining my east flower bed. And while walking around this morning looking at everything, I took a picture of my first hollyhock to bloom this year - I plant the heirloom black hollyhocks and save the seeds for future plantings.

I bought a new garden book I really like. It has a lot of practical upkeep gardening tips. She says to cut back hollyhocks right after all the flowers are done blooming and the plant will grow new side stocks to flower again in the season. I know this to be true, but hadn't thought of it as something for me to do each year with all my hollyhocks. I'm remembering how the plants do make new flower stocks after the elk have eaten the tops! (Loving my electric fence ;^) )

Think about it ... If the life cycle of a plant is to continue, then the final goal is to create seeds for new growth. So if the one time typical flowers get destroyed, then the plant is going to hurry to produce new flowers to go to seed. I learned this too with vegetables. We had a root cellar for years. The reason a lot of produce will keep well in a cold storage is because for most of them, they are created to spend the following year's growing season to produce seed.

Hmmm ... could a spiritual analogy be made from this? I love learning things!