Almost every single comment from last night’s blog post was “I loved the pictures of the flowers and the quilts and in one post I visited 3 states!” So how do you think I made that happen? With your help!!! The main reason this blog is loved is that readers participate by sending pictures of what interests them. It’s plain to see what we’re all interested in – gardening, quilting, homemaking and reading to just summarize my thoughts.
I’m writing this part of my post at 12:30, before I go out to mow. If YOU think these posts are fun, what are YOU going to do about it? 😊
10 pm
After a couple hours of mowing I started weeding the row of hollyhocks and hydrangeas. I made progress but didn’t finish. Getting on my replaced knees is rough – but bending from my waist to weed will break my back. Remember the card – you old lady, you old lady, you old lady, YOU! Hahahahahaha!!!!!! Tell me you didn’t sing it – I know you did because I did!
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My neighbor suggested I put cow manure on my strawberries. I tried it. I’m going to stick with whipped cream.
I too always enjoy the garden, quilt and pet shows. I’m busy packing every day. It’s been a full week of packing and am sick of it already. Three more weeks and we are moving out so I don’t have a choice. That’s my rant for the day. They called for rain on thursday and it clouded over so I was hopeful I wouldn’t have to water but it never rained. So watered my garden well yesterday. Though it would be easier to move straight into our new home I’m glad I will have a three week reprieve before the unpacking begins. All our stuff will either be in storage, at my mom’s with us, in our son’s garage or a neighbours. It will be hard leaving our neighbours who we’ve know for 15 years. They are like family. Our dogs are best buddies. But it’s only a 1/2 hr drive so we can visit or they can come out to see us. I am happy there is a chain link fenced area that I don’t have to worry about the dogs getting out. The horse fences need to have additional wire fencing added or the dogs can escape.
Teresa – I can’t imagine moving again in my lifetime! I’ve been here since 1979! It will take longer to find a place for everything in your new house than packing it all up – just try to think ahead to what you’ll enjoy this fall. Do I know your dogs? I just can’t remember them. And how about your horses? Or is it just that those fences are around an area where you could keep horses? Your dogs will miss their friends!
The fences are around the areas where the horses will be kept but if we want to let the dogs come down to the barn with us they could escape through those fences, so to be safe we will put wire around all the horse fencing. Eddy is our dog , he’s just about 4 and is a golden doodle. When our sons family moves in, Eddy won’t be too bored as they have two dogs-Tina a 1-1/2yr old Aussie shepherd and Spice who was rescued from a puppy mill, she is a standard poodle. The most loving, sweetest dog. My son doesn’t know how old she is, he’s had her four years so she could be 8. I will find pictures of all three and send them. Max is a rescue from Mexico that lives next door and is Eddys best friend.
Mary, I have to say I love hollyhocks. They remind me of growing up on the farm! Mother always had a bed of them by the kitchen door. We’ve had several heavy showers at the lake & of course both dogs didn’t want to go out & get their feet wet. These two are an absolute hoot! Preston, the one we’re watching has finally decided he loves playing with my Boots! And Boots loves to irritate him by sneaking up on him & either pull his ear or his fluffy tail. Good Night, & thanks for the blog about life, Mary!!
Alice – oh, how fun to watch those two boys play! You’ll never have to worry about them getting along, will you?
I do like hollyhocks. I had some growing around our windmill; they started out with white flowers and then turned pink. I have a bumper crop of Lilliput zinnias this year. I started too many seeds this spring. I do miss kneeling. After my knee replacement I was told not to run, jump, or kneel. A friend and I went to a quilt shop today. I found some fabrics for the Laura Heine class some of my quilt guild members are taking. It looks like an interesting process. Hope everyone had a good day.
Diane – if I was told not to do all those things (and I probably was) I couldn’t live here. My Laura Heine project got laid aside – I was not fond of the process.
My friend and I chose to do 16×20 quilts for the class. It looks like a lot of cutting. I’ll let you know how it is. We are doing the class in September. Not kneeling makes gardening a pain in the back!
I use a small stool to sit on when I’m doing a lot of weeding (better than the upturned bucket I started with) after I fell in April on my knee, here’s hoping I never need a replacement knee. My garden isn’t too bad but the rain keeps going around us, only had one good dousing in the last 3 weeks (Ontario Canada) but despite that the tomatoes have started and the basil (in pots) is doing fantastic.
Nothing wrong with me! I finally read the joke o’ the day and figured out all the references to whipped cream! Ooh, strawberries and whipped cream; doesn’t that sound refreshing.
Sorry folks, but I love hollyhocks. When we were first married, we moved into an upstairs apartment and were told we could use the garden spot that would normally go with the downstairs renter. It had hollyhocks along the north and south ends and tons of raspberry bushes. By the time we moved my husband had raised bumper crops of raspberries, strawberries, vegetables, and had the hollyhocks looking glorious, so they always bring back such wonderful summer memories. Ha…even our 2-year old daughter approved, strawberry smile and all.
I can identify with Pammie; lots of naps this week while recovering from surgery. Now if I only had a bowl of strawberries with real whipped cream! Yum. Kris in WI.
P.S. I sang the “You Old Lady” song out loud and even tried to yodel it. Had to glance around the room to be sure no one else was listening! Smile, it makes people wonder what you’ve been up to! Kris
Kris – and how is recovery going? I still love hollyhocks and a friend sent me a few seeds two years ago and this year they have exploded!! I’m going to put iron fence sections along the tall flowers to keep them standing and not falling over. Hope you’re doing ok, Kris!
I’m doing remarkable well, Mary. I have a post-op appointment on Thursday, and I expect I’ll get more information about the future then. I look like I’ve been through a battle, though. Several black and blue areas on my hips, three small laparoscopy incisions and one larger one, 4″ or so, on my belly. I think they used C-clamps to hold me in position! I have enough glue holding me together to build a model airplane! Home on Friday and only one night with the heavy-duty pain meds and not even Tylenol the last few days. I managed to finish one LWR quilt and have two more at the last row stage. Then I’ll need to cut and sew more blocks. I don’t think there is any hope of using up all the strings, strips, and scraps I’ve been given! What a dilemma, right? I need to put “cell phone ” at the top of my To Do List. It’s time to join the current century and then I can send pix of some of my favorite quilts and the lovely dandelion border around my mini flower garden. Thanks once again for hosting the blog. I’ll go back through and click the ads for you. Kris in WI
Kris – ooh, glad to hear the worst is behind you! Won’t we all have scraps forever? I have two good friends from church who don’t have cell phones either but I don’t know how you keep up with what’s going on without one! My friends don’t for sure.
My daughter planted hollyhocks right after they moved into their house. Her husband, while mowing the lawn, pulled them up thinking they were weeds. After that, she was very specific about what was planted where! BTW, I prefer whipped cream too LOL
Hollyhocks along a picket fence are the essence of a country farmhouse. Right? Just love that look. I will try to do better sending you photos. Everything I do has been so slow this summer. Our little corn patch is so pretty now with lots of tassels. Must send you that photo.
Have a great day, Mary and everyone.
Where do you send the photos? I have sent a few massages but not sure they are going through because I don’t think you have seen them. I have several I would like to send.
Carol – are you a long time blog reader? Do you read the blog via email or online? That makes a difference as to where you should leave a comment.
My address is shown on the home page:
maryehazel2020@gmail.com
I hope to see your photos
When I send them to the email you sent me, they are rejected and says the server can not find that email address. I look at you thru email on my iPad and then go over to the blog post to see comments. Not sure what I am doing wrong.
Carol – are they too big? I’ll ask the readers to help because I don’t know either.
Hollyhock lover here! At our former farm we had bunches but they got the rust fungus and I had to cut them all down each year. I just planted a row at our new place this summer – looking forward to blossoms next year. We are covered up with cucumbers, yellow squash is producing and tomatoes are finally starting to ripen. I dug up starts of ten day lilies and two iris for a friend from Tennessee who is visiting this morning. Fun to know that my flowers will be blooming down south next year. This afternoon, my husband and I will drive 90 miles to Peoria, IL so he can buy a used car he found online – one of his favorite hobbies is buying and selling used cars. While he is doing that, I will be visiting with my daughter and grands who live there and checking out her flowers. We had a nice rain last night so I didn’t have to do any watering this morning – yay!
You caught me. I did sing it. I love hollyhocks and used them at each end of my garden against the fence. The strawberry joke was one of the pad dum dump jokes. But worth a laugh in the morning.
BTW. The ad today was for Hike shoes and I can attest I LOVE mine. I am always barefoot but these I actually put on in the morning and leave them on. No I don’t get a commission but only thing to remember is the run SHORT. I wear a size 10 1/2 and I buy a 12 and I wear and EE width and these are roomy and like walking barefoot with padding. I wore them to my podiatrist and he said just don’t walk over glass but truthfully you would be ok.
So just wanted people to know how an ad on Mary’s sight is a good thing.
Angie – ok, what’s a pad dum dump joke? And HIKE shoes? Not for hiking I assume. Are they also called barefoot shoes? You mention going barefoot which I m guilty of – I only wear slides to go outside. I need another pedicure badly! If you’re talking about barefoot shoes then I have a pair and yes, they’re like going barefoot. And your podiatrist okayed them – amazing.
Laughter first thing in the morning is the best. Good joke. I just got back from the Maine Quilts Show…so worth the 4 hour drive. Three days with friends even better. I’m still recovering from Knee replacement.
Suzanne – you managed a quilt show after a recent knee replacement? How? And did you do the driving? Wow, I know I couldn’t have done either after a recent knee replacement.
I did not drive but it was a four hour trip with a few stops. The surgery was almost 3 months ago. The Maine show has many chairs to sit, they really cater to us older folks. And I sat a lot!
Suzanne – I’m glad you took it easy – quilt shows are exhausting!
Good morning! That cat in the barn is surely just “hanging” out! How can she lay up there! I’d much rather be in Pammie’s position! Lol
We had a fish fry yesterday for dinner. Had family from San Francisco who came last week for the wedding and my husband’s brother and nephew and his family. Great food and then played ping pong and board games.
Went out to check on my chickens early this morning and then spent time deadheading flowers in the garden. Have lots more to deadhead.
Going to my sewing room now to prepare my next quilt block in the needlepoint ‘stitch-along’ that I joined in January or February this year. I am keeping up and am happy about that!
Expecting some showers today but hope to go out on the lake to do some swimming and boating anyway.
Have a great day, everyone. 🌻
Sunflower – you’re packing a lot into one day!!
I also have 2 knee replacements. Are you saying that you do manage to kneel down on them? I can’t tolerate it — feels like kneeling on broken glass! It hurts my back to bend over, too, but I can tolerate that better than kneeling. I think I’m going to try using my gardening stool and sit to pull weeds — let’s see if I can get up off that!! I’m a little old lady, too!!
Susan – well, the grass was very spongy so I guess that helped. I have one of those kneeling pads that I forget to use. I admit it doesn’t feel the beat but my back is worse. At this age I guess pain is inevitable – you just have to pick which part of your body.
My mother too hated hollyhocks. We moved into a house, she pulled them up every spring and finally got them all gone. It was just a patch of hard earth. Looked so sad, but she only wanted yellow roses. So we had 2 bushes of them and that’s all in front of the house.
Ok – I will send pictures of my non-producing garden, my little old man dog and my favorite quilts. Tomorrow. Because I love seeing the same things that others send. Now it’s time for bed!
Christine – that’s the spirit! Thank you!!
Oh yes! Whipped cream is much better!! I laughed out loud. I’ll share that one with my dinner group.
Weeding is the pits…kills my back too.
I’m still chuckling about your joke! I can just picture it!
My husband and I are trying to “get our affairs in order” by finally setting up a trust. When you don’t have kids, it’s difficult to decide who gets what and how everything should be distributed. It’s much better to do it though instead of having the state of Oregon decide what happens after you’re gone or if you’re not able to manage it yourself. Heavy sigh….
Tina – I’ve had to do the same thing and it’s not easy. Every few months I start to think I should change something and that’s expensive. I wish I could give some of my favorite things to some young friends but I’m sure none of them want anything.
I hate hollyhocks!!!! Once you plant them, you can never get rid of them! I swear that their roots go to China. That’s my rant for tonight. Good night!
Martha – that’s ok! I know lots of people don’t like them but I think they look old fashioned and pretty.