Road Trip!

All our bags are packed and we're ready to go...

Taking a road trip back to Wisconsin, to be with

family and friends over the 4th of July!

(we haven't driven back "home" in over 20 years...)

Katie... are we getting too old for this?

A Picture Perfect Piffle!

Bibliophile arrived just minutes ago... and made himself 

quite at home on his stack of books, out back, on our patio!

He is one of Penny Baugh's perfect little "piffles"...

In a word: "Adorable!"

Penny graciously had a give-away about a week ago...

Please stop by her blog (Art Journey):

http://artjourney-penny.blogspot.com/

I'm Going Batty!

So... our VBS theme this year is "Cave Quest"

I bought a hard hat and a (very cool) headlamp

that fits over the hat...

All that was missing was... a bat!

He is one of the five-day "Bible Buddies" who are

part of the curriculum for the week...

His name is "Radar" (he's just too cute!)

I will attach him to the top of my hard hat, so he will be 

standing just above the flashing (red light) headlamp.

Too much fun... (and the kids, no doubt, will love him!)

He still needs a coat of Gesso... and then a wash of color!

Snake Mountain Revisited... Ten Years Later!

We just returned from spending five days with family, 

back in Vermont. Nestled in the Champlain Valley, 

Addison County, is the town of Addison.

This was our home for twenty years; 

as seen from the top of Snake Mountain.

Our youngest daughter (Emily) and I 

made the climb to the top (in one hour)... 

much to my surprise, 

as it has been ten years since we climbed it!

Along the journey, we kept finding red efts, 

these immature eastern spotted newts... 

wherever there was a little moisture and moss.

Abandoned?

I was saddened when a friend brought this (robin's?) nest over to 

our home, just the other day... He had found it on the ground, 

near his garage where it had been built, attached to the door frame.

In a word, he said: "Abandoned!"

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,

    along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;

I will turn the darkness into light before them

    and make the rough places smooth.

These are the things I will do;

    I will not abandon them."  

(Isaiah 42:16, NIV)

Who Has Time for Doll-Making?

Our Blue-Flag Iris are a bit sparse this year;

I did a rather radical "divide" and "thinning" last fall...

The Chinese Ground Orchid are just beginning to head...

(I moved them around too, last fall...)

Coral-Bell... it is a perennial favorite (pun intended!)

Ahhhh... Spiderwort; we have this "love-hate" thing going on!

So... back to the question: "Who has time for doll-making?"

(I love being in the gardens)

Be blessed... Daryle

Between the Showers... Some Photos!

I slipped outside early this evening with my camera, 

these photos are untouched, other than resizing...

Astilbe... emerging after days of (much needed) rain...

Star-of-Bethlehem... a bit of a nuisance 

because it pops up everywhere, every spring!

But lovely just the same...

 Violet Columbine... planted last season; after picking

them up in Lancaster County at an Amish roadside stand.

These are first year blossoms!

This charming Columbine was brought down from Vermont

ten years ago... and has settled happily on the 

northeast side of our home.