Spring Colors

Hi! Please enter, my dear friends.
Jewel, your hot chocolate is ready. 

Just as promised, spring has arrived. Life has returned to the garden. What colors do you see? Bright yellow, white and medium purple are everywhere at my place and probably in your neighborhood as well.

The star magnolia has been covered with large pussies all winter, but now the flowers have finally opened. Since the tree is about sixty feet from my library window, the flowers look like cotton balls. I still think the tree looks unattractive at this stage without its leaves. But, guess what I did. I picked a branch with partially opened buds and put it in a vase by the kitchen sink. Now, that's the way the star flower of the magnolia should be enjoyed.

Another white I see is the pieris bush. They are completely covered with the little Lily of the Valley flowers. Next will come the new growth in bright red leaves on this bush which is another phase of spring.

The yellow I see are daffodils and forsythia, both are so bright and vivid, I'm not sure which is the brightest. I keep my forsythia tightly pruned so that it is a thick bush. You have probably seen those that look wild and not maintained or unkempt. That is a little pet peeve of mine.

 I see lonely daffodils in a vacant field across the street where a walnut orchard once stood. I think it is time someone picked a few. I promise I'll leave most of them for the neighbors to enjoy.

    The purple are heather, daphne and miniature rhodys. No comments here except I love the scent of daphne. Do you? It is so sweet. I put a branch of daphne flowers in the vase with the star magnolia. Great combination!

      I have a book in my library called, “Color Me Beautiful”. God has certainly given us so many beautiful colors to enjoy. Enjoy your view today!

Juanita

God Bless America

Welcome!  Afternoon tea is being served.  If you prefer, I'll be glad to fix coffee.  My husband buys great (expensive) coffee from Caribou Coffee on-line. 

Plaid!  Our American flag was red and white plaid this morning.  I had never seen it hang this way .  The wind had flipped it over the angled pole once, producing a bias fold.  It was soaking wet, making it look sewn that way.  But you know what happened when the wind came up again.  It will always fly!  "God bless America!  Our home, sweet home."

 A flock of European starlings just landed center-stage.  I grabbed my bird book to verify their name.  Every library needs the "Field Guide to Birds by the Stokes"  This husband and wife team likes to study birds together.  The starlings in my yard do not stay long, probably two minutes at the most.  They come by the dozens, eat everything in sight, then on signal it seems, they immediately depart.  On their list of food is weed seeds and snails.  I wish they came more often for that meal.  Wouldn't it be great if they ate moss too?

I have a new email address:  folks7777@gmail.com

Let's talk again next week.
Juanita

Jets and Filberts

 I'm so pleased you came for a visit today!

The Willamette Valley has very cold, but sunny weather this morning. I just finished reading chapter nine and my china tea cup is empty. 

Do you ever watch a jet stream?  I have seen them many times, but never watched them. There's a difference, you know.  I'm watching one right now from my library window.  The jet is flying south, probably to California.  There is not the slightest breeze in my front yard, but it must be windy high in the sky because the white stream has floated east and is almost blown to pieces.  All that happened in about two minutes. 

Keep looking up or you will miss something important!

If I were looking out my library window sixteen years ago (no library then), right now I would see our filbert orchard in full bloom with their soft, yellow tassels.  That is the closest they came to having flowers.  I can forgive them for that because I love the nuts, especially the sweeter male nuts.  We had one hundred trees all around our house, but in due time, the harvesters, our kids and the neighbor kids, grew up and moved away.  

It was time for a change and my husband just happened to have a back hoe.  Imagine that!  The filbert orchard became firewood for our Fisher stove.  We created a  lovely garden with a six-foot tall waterfall, meandering creek, and a fish pond that I can  always enjoy from the library window.  

How are your blueberries bushes?  Ours are red with new growth.
Another promise of spring!

See you next week! 

A Note from the Past

My mother-in-law passed away more than thirteen years ago, and today she gave me a note. She was proficient at keeping records. It is my quiet time in the library, and as I was fixing our tea this morning, I decided to use loose tea. I remembered seeing a 'tea ball' that belong to Thelma, so I decided it was about time I used it. I knew right where it was – in the camel-shaped teapot. When I took off the lid of the ball, there was her note to me. She said her mother gave it to her in 1937, and it had made a lot of tea for many people. Her little message brought a smile to my face. I wish she and I could have tea together today, but instead, you and I can.

Yesterday was a wonderful, warm day! Instead of looking out the window at yard work that needed to be done, I was doing it. The row of Lavender has grass growing in it, so guess who is going to transplant them? My dear husband and Daisy dog helped me. Do you want me to bring you up to date on Daisy's diet? Maybe you do not, because it is gross! Daisy was eating stuff in the bark dust. Craig proceeded to tell me that Daisy just loved to eat it. No, it was not carrot peelings this time. He said it was deer droppings, but he said Daisy thought it was chocolate-covered raisins. See, I told you it was gross!

Who or what is a “bird watcher”? Is it someone who hides in the bushes with his binoculars and takes close-up pictures of birds? I am not a bird watcher, but I enjoy watching the birds fly in the air, hop around the lawn and eat worms. Right now there is not a bird in sight and I miss watching them. It is relaxing to watch the birds do their thing. It is surprising how thirty minutes can pass so quickly in five minutes. I call it a great way to waste time or to stall doing what is 'important' such as dusting.

The other day in my library, I read this in the book of Numbers:

"May the LORD bless you and protect you.

May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you.

May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace." (NLT)

See you next week!

Your friend,

Juanita

folks777@aol.com

Floats and Flowers

Tea time!   The water's boiling!  Speaking of hot water, we were at Belknap Springs this week.  The water was very hot, but a lovely place to visit especially when there are flowers to enjoy in the summer.
 

The weather man was correct this time. I woke up to snow on Thursday! How beautiful to watch the giant flakes drift down as I sat in the library, but I know it will not last long. It is getting brighter outside now, so maybe that is the end of the snow.  I was raised in snow country, but I prefer to watch it instead of be in it.

As the dried leaves fell off the Star Magnolia tree last fall, the flowers buds of the white spring flowers appeared immediately. I have enjoyed them all winter. The flower buds are covered with long hairs, but to me they look like giant pussies on a pussy willow tree. I can see this small tree from my library window. As I am relaxing in the library today, the buds look much bigger. It is not my favorite tree, but it speaks to me of the future. The flowers buds say, “Spring will come in spite of the seemingly long, cold winter.” It has been saying it every day this winter. Very encouraging!

This reminds me of all the promises of God that we have in the Bible. They are completely dependable just as spring follows winter. Keep your faith – the reward is great!

Just past this magnolia tree, I can see the bank of the meandering stream which empties into the fish pond. Just as some of us like to decorate our homes with art, I like to do the same in my garden. On this bank of the stream, I have placed the two large Japanese glass floats. They are the size of basketballs, so I can plainly see them from my library window. One is olive green, the other is bright aqua blue. You should see the blue one when the sun shines on it! In the summer, they are in the pond, floating around with the current.  I can barely see them from the library. When I took them out of the pond and cleaned them this winter, I decided to display the balls instead of storing them in the pump house. What a brilliant idea – now I can enjoy them all year. Can you guess where I put the five little ones for the winter? No, they are floating in the stone birdbath near the library #2 that I told you about last week.

The large olive green float mysteriously appeared in the pond about three years ago. We had put them all away for the winter and suddenly, there was one more floating around the pond. It was about a week later before our neighbor, Scott, said he wanted to give his float a new home. What a blessing!

So, what have you been inspired to do this winter? Please share with me on the 'comments' button or at folks777@aol.com.

See you next week!

Juanita

Brightness & Bunnies

Good morning!

If there was one thing I wish I could see from my big library window, it would be a direct view of our sun when it rises. What I can see is the colorful results in the scattered clouds above, but not the brilliant sun itself. Right now the sun has been “up” for a few hours and making an amazing picture in the front yard.

Let me explain. On the east side we have a row of ugly pine trees. I call them ugly because all the trimming I do will not improve their appearance. We have removed the lower branches, making it easier for my husband to mow under the trees. You should hear the noise when he mows in that area. It sounds like he is mowing rocks, but it is only little pine cones.

There are two advantages of these 20-foot, ugly trees. One, they make a tall privacy wall and two, the odd-shaped branches allow streaks of sunlight to fall across the lawn. I wish you could enjoy the scene with me now. There are long, black shadows on the lawn; but in other places the green lawn also glows with long, yellow stripes of sunlight. In the far background by the pond, the three white birch tree trunks are shining so very, very bright. It appears a spot light is on them. Right outside my library window, the red twig dogwood looks on fire because of the brightness of the sun. The effect isn't the same when the sun is high overhead.

Wow! What I just said would make good material for a sermon. Darkness, Son, Brightness, Sun.

My husband has always said he wished he had wild rabbits in our yard, but we know our dog wouldn't allow that very long. I wish you could have seen the two bunnies in the front yard last night. They were black and white with long, fluffy fur. We didn't get a second look because the mother rabbit and the bunnies hopped away very fast as soon as we saw them or they saw us, whatever happened first. I hope they come back again. It is strange to see rabbits after all the years we have lived here and never seen them before. Years ago we had a red fox with a long bushy tail living in the neighbor's barn. He wandered around our filbert orchard, but he only stayed for a couple weeks. That thought just reminded me of a lady in our church in the '50's who wore a 'dead' fox cape or stole. Poor fox! I guess I better not say that I have a mink jacket.

I hope you see something unusual this week that you can share with me.

Juanita

The Green Library

Welcome! Please come in.

Spending time in my library with the just-my-size red overstuffed chair, all my books neatly lined up on the shelves, and the brass overhead lamp is a pleasure indeed. Have I told you that I have another library? Where, you ask? Craig's greenhouse will make a great library. It has just now been designated as my second library. It is in the back yard, so it will give me a completely different view that I can share with you. I just love this idea! So when I'm there, I will tell you. It has four glass walls, heat lamps for freezing weather, and shelves for potted plants. Daisy and I just went outside for a tour of library #2. There are nine geranium plants still blooming, the tomato plants gave up the ghost, and the wild grass on the floor (ground) has dried up. Even though it is a sunny day, it is 32 F. degrees and no one would want to read in there today, but maybe I will in the early summer before it get too hot.

Oh, I just remembered that I have the perfect books to put in the Green Library. First, let me give you a warning. Never store old books in a shed or barn. They will smell very musty and you won't want them in your house. We have our smelly books that belonged to Grandma outside in the gazebo. Now I can put that bookcase in Craig's greenhouse. I wonder if I should ask him first?

One of those old musty books is, “The Furnace of Gold”, by Philip Verrill Mighels. It was written in 1909 and is an excellent romantic mystery book in the gold rush days. I'm so glad I didn't throw it away. I'm known for doing that from time to time. By the way, I just discovered you can read the complete book on-line for free.

Do you remember the old song, “What's Behind the Green Door?” Recently, I painted the door on the greenhouse a bright green color. That's appropriate, right? Now you know what's behind the green door - plants. I just thought of one thing I need in library #2. I need a chair and a foot stool. Our lawn furniture will work just fine in the greenhouse. It is a good thing Vic make the greenhouse as big as he did.

While I was in the mood of painting doors green and had the brush loaded with green paint, I found another door that needed painting. When the neighbors built their 70-foot barn wall down our east property line, they added a door to nowhere (like that bridge to nowhere), but without a doorknob. So, of course, that door had to be painted green also. Now when my friends ask what's behind that green door? I say, “I don't know because I can't open it.”

You already know about the White House; now you know about my Green Library.

I enjoyed your visit. See you next week...

Juanita

Circus Act

It is just a perfect day to stay indoors today and read my most favorite book in my library, the Bible. I looked up just in time to see a flock of geese flying somewhere. Not sure where, but they look determined to get there. This might be a good time to ask ourselves what are we determined to do this coming week and are we going to follow through with our plans? Reminds me of the Scripture, “Whatever you do, you must do all for the glory of God.” (NLT) They are in perfect formation with the point man leading the way. I’m glad they never stop at our pond. We only have room for the plastic yellow ducklings that keep the Koi and gold fish in good company.

I see a Steller’s jay bird is busy planting filbert trees again. Fourteen years ago, we cut down our filbert orchard, but those trees still come up in the most unwanted places, thanks to the jays and their habit of preparing for winter by burying filberts. But I do enjoy watching those busy blue birds from the library window. They are such a pretty bird. I love their beautiful bright blue feathers. If I were in charge, I would give them a different name like King Jay to compliment their pointed crown of feathers.

The word is out! The robins have just returned and are competing with the jays for lunch. The robins flap their wings fast when they fly, but have you noticed how the jay birds seem to sail or glide through the air effortlessly.

Oh my goodness!!! A brown tree squirrel is going crazy!! It is twisting, jumping, and rolling over and over like a dog. Wow, he is excited! Great back flips! Really! I hope he stays around my yard. That was a laugh-out-loud performance. Maybe he fell out of his tree and bumped his head. Whatever the reason, he was very entertaining. It is too late to get my camera. Come to think of it, I have seen this little guy before doing silly acts. He deserves a name. You have just been introduced to Charlie.

I better keep one eye on my book and one eye out the window because today has been very exciting already. I hope your day will be exciting also!

Thanks for the visit.  See you again next weekend.  I am having so much fun with these visits.  If you know anyone else who might like my style, invite them too.

Sleepytime Gal

Good morning!  It is strong tea time!

This is a hard morning to focus on anything because I am so sleepy! One morning a week, I rise way, way before dawn to attend Toastmasters International. It is worth every minute; it is fun and very challenging for me. But right now, sitting in my library, I cannot focus on my favorite book or the beautiful sights from my library window.

The warm sunshine is streaming through the black pine tree branches and making bright yellow streaks on the lawn. I see all this beauty and I still want to go back to bed. But from past experience, I know as soon as I lay my head on the pillow, I will start thinking. (My husband says I think too much.)  So instead, I will talk to you and enjoy your company. I see there is not one Steller's jay bird looking for breakfast this morning. I like to watch them hop.  There was one brown tree squirrel, but he, too, has disappeared. Probably going somewhere else to  play.  It is a real quiet world outside my window this morning. At times like this, it is good to remember, “Be still and know that I am God.” Quiet times are good. Visiting with old and new friends is good too. If you are thinking of someone right now, why not make a note and call them today? You will both be glad you did.

Spring is coming!  I see my yellow daffodils are up two inches!

Here's wishing you a quiet weekend.  I'm glad you stopped by for a visit.  See you next weekend!

The Greatest Flag

     The rain storm has passed once again and this morning there is a pleasant, balmy breeze. We have our American flag flying in the front yard and another one in the back yard. Today, I see it is flying so gracefully – not whipping in the wind and not wrapped around the pole, being soaking wet. I have seen it many times wrapped around the pole as tightly that I was sure it needed professional help and then the next minute it was unfurled and flying once again. I wish the problems of our country could be solved that easy. Lord, please give us a breeze today and blow away our problems.

     A yellow streak just ran by my library window. Dear Daisy Flower (full name) is racing Craig to the pond. Guess who won the race! The fish pond water has warmed up this week (unheard of forJanuary), so Craig is feeding the fish and Daisy is jumping up and down begging for fish food. Too bad she can't send some of that energy my way. When was the last time you jumped rope? Are you inspired to do it once again now?  I have one and I know just where it is hanging, out of sight.

     Last week we trimmed the lower branches off the tall, black pine tree that is directly in my view of the grotto. Now I can see so much more of that private section of my yard. I also see that the mirror needs to be washed. If I can see the 'fog' from here, it must really need to be cleaned. It is a huge, full-length mirror attached to the rock wall. Scott, our neighbor, is a tile installer and he hung it just perfect.  It gives a great illusion of a mysterious doorway to 'Never Never Land'.

             Can you find the mirror?  It has a rope across  it.

     Let your imagination run this week and tell me about it. I'll be back next Saturday.  Thanks for visiting with me today.

If you would like to send me a private comment, you can reach me at folks777@aol.com or just click on 'comment' below for all the world to see.

Juanita

Ducks and Moss

Welcome, my friend!  I'm so excited when you come for a visit. 

There are signs around town that say, “2010 – the Year of the Duck”. We Oregonians are certainly proud of the U of O ducks. Didn't they have a great season? 

But as I look out my library window now, I tend to say, “It is the Year of the Moss once again.” It seems there is moss on almost everything I see. It is on tree branches, dirt, cement, bricks,  bushes and most certainly the lawn. Remember the saying, “a rolling stone gathers no moss”? I bet that is not true in the Willamette Valley.

I wish you could see our long driveway now. It is 1/10 of a mile long and is bright lime green – the beautiful color of moss. The European hornbeam trees down both sides of the driveway are now void of any leaves. The yellow leaves lay on the ground. The naked branches and the green, moss-covered blacktop make a vivid contrast. The neighbor man across the street tells me people stop and take pictures of our driveway in the summer. The trees do make a beautiful scene. They are fifteen years old now and are almost holding hands with each other across the driveway. I wonder if those same people take pictures of our driveway in the winter. I take pictures summer and winter.

Someday I want to paint the seasons of the driveway. I'm not a trained artist, but I still love to paint. Before I start, I ask the Lord to help me create a picture I will enjoy. He is the Great Creator, so who is better to ask for help than Him? I have painted several pictures for my garden. Someday I'll tell you more about them.  Today, my friend Jody gave me an idea for a picture to go with my sun ~ a quarter moon!  I have just the place for it on the barn wall.  Now if spring would just hurry!

Let's talk next week...

Colored Lights

Good evening! Shall we go into the library? The picture above is an actual pen and ink drawing of my library by the famous artist, Roberta Schmidt. I'm blessed that she is my cousin. I'm relaxing in my big red library chair with a cup of Red Rose tea. I just saw the Christmas lights come on in the front yard. Christmas is past, but since I put them up so late this year, I'll keep the lights up for a couple more weeks. In fact, I just decided to keep the clear lights on the rose arbor lit all year. That will make a great entrance to the pond area in the evening, don't you think?

We have many trees, all shapes and sizes, in the front yard; but as they get taller every year, it is harder to decorate them. I can't reach the tops anymore, not even using the rack handle. So they end up looking like a multicolored Christmas bush instead of a Christmas tree.

Automatic timers are a wonderful invention. Now, if the electricians could just discover why one-half of the light strand goes out when there is just one fuse, I would be happy. Maybe they have, but haven't told me. I went against my “natural” instincts and bought one nine-foot and two seven-foot tall artificial Christmas trees for the lawn. They make a fine grouping and they look so pretty as they twinkle in the dark. I ignore the white plastic look in the daytime.

It is almost completely dark now and I can see the lamp post way in the distance. I call it my Narnia lamp post. The three white globes shed light on the big fish pond. I wonder if the koi are aware of the green Christmas lights wound around the post? Probably not, because today when I was visiting the pond, they were quietly hibernating on the bottom. The fish are not hungry now, because as the water temperature gets down to forty-eight degrees, they go into neutral and hardly move.

Walking around the lamp post with the green light string about twenty times can sure make a lady dizzy. I'm a blond too, sort of. Remember being a kid and trying to make yourself dizzy on purpose? We would twirl around and around, then fall down on the lawn and lay there until the sensation went away. Now I get dizzy just looking up while standing on my feet!

I enjoyed your visit! We'll talk again next week.

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