On the Road Friday ~ First Canoe Trip of 2014

Hello ~

We are on the road today.

We are heading out  to Lake  Knickerbocker, Wisconsin.

 A beautiful lake full of small inlets to explore.

I love to explore the inlets because that is where the birds, water animals and turtles are.

If you are very still on the water it is surprising how close you can get to many of the animals.

That is one of my favorite things to do canoeing.

 High Water!

The road down to the boat landing.

 Spring Beauty!

I love the trees anytime of the year.

Each season brings beauty to the trees.

 Life is a journey,

and love is what makes the journey

worthwhile.

Anonymous

We celebrate 17 years on the 31st.

  ♥

Thank you for coming along today.

Have a great weekend!

 

A Carpet of Trillium's

Trillium

Large - Flowered Trillium

Family: Lily

Flower: A single white flower wide, grows from a single stalk, 3 white, triangle-shaped, wavy-edged petals are set against 3 pointed, green, petal-like sepals, which look like green petals

Habitat: Rich moist, woodlands, deciduous woods

Along the road that I grew up on was an area that we would call the Carpet of Trillium's. The woods was thick with them, it was simply amazing.

I wanted to get a photo this weekend when we traveled back home. But this Carpet of Trillium's is also on Dead Man's Curve. The road was busy due to the holiday weekend.

Close your eyes and think this entire woods is full of Trillium's.

 

 

 

America's Ace of Aces ~ A special book review on Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day

America's Ace of Aces

Author:  General George C. Kenney

 

Major Richard Ira Bong was born in Poplar, Wisconsin.

 He was among 50 handpicked P-38 fighter pilots to assist American forces in Australia and New Guinea during WW2.

"My introduction to Dick Bong took place in July 1942 at my headquarters in San Francisco, where I was commanding the Fourth Air Force. The circumstances were a bit unusual, to say the least."  General George C. Kenney

So begins General George C. Kenney's personal story of America's Ace of Aces.

It is the story of our country's greatest fighter pilot, from an inauspicious beginning~while training, he was nearly court - martialed for flying under the Golden Gate Bridge in his P-38 Lightning plane~to his bravery and feats of heroism that ultimately earned him the title "Ace of Aces." When he died on August 6, 1945, while test-piloting the Air Force's first jet fighter, Major Dick Bong was just 24 years old.

To All Those Who Fought and Died, Worked and Waited...

...To Maintain Our Freedoms

Star-Spangled Banner

Star-Spangled Banner

And this be our motto:

"In God is our trust!"

And the star spangled banner

in triumph doth wave, 

O'er the land of the free,

and the home of the brave!

Francis Scott Key

Thank you to all of our Heroes!

God Bless You All! 

Hummingbird...from flower to flower he flies.

Hummingbird

A flash of harmless lightning,

A mist of rainbow dyes,

The burnished sunbeams brightening,

From flower to flower he flies.

John B. Tabb

 

Can you find the hummingbird?

"This is so good, thank you for the drink" 

 

Do you have a hummingbird feeder?
We received this fun one from my sister as a gift.
It looks like a Mason Jar.

To feed hummingbirds is very easy. Here is the recipe we use.

4 cups of water 
1 cup of sugar

Boil water, measure out 4 cups and add 1 cup of sugar. 
Stir sugar to dissolve nicely  for a sugar syrup.

 Let the sugar syrup cool.
Pour into your hummingbird feeder.
 

Sit back and enjoy!

May brings us armfuls of delight,
Bird-song, warm sun and gardens bright.

Tasha Tudor

 

In ♥ Love and Cow Poop

This funny brought back many fun memories for me. I will just say, I know how this guy feels. 

In eighth grade I was in love with the neighbor boy. He lived on a diary farm three and half miles down the road from me. One evening after chores I went along with my dad to go and visit. My dad was busy talking to his dad. I was busy looking at him. And he was busy looking at me. Our dad's decided to go for a walk through the barn. We followed along. We were walking down the barn aisle and one of the cows coughed. And guess what came flying out and landing all over me!! I felt sick. I was covered in HOT, STINKY, GREEN cow poop!! My heart ached as the neighbor boy laughed his head off. My dad and his dad were my knights in shinning armor. They took me in the milk house and sprayed me off. Wrapped me in a towel and we headed home.

How about you?

Have you been pooped on by an animal?

Thankfully, my eighth grade sweetheart never told anyone at school what happened.

Happy Monday!

Little Boys

 Little Boys

It seems so long ago.

My boys are growing up fast!

The past few weeks we have been doing some Spring Cleaning. I hear "Mom, we do not play with this anymore." "Mom, I think we can get rid of the sandbox, we only played in it when our little friends came over." "Mom, I think we are done with ..."

 Lake Superior

Camping at Herbster Wisconsin

This was one of our best camp trips. We had great weather, built so many sand castles, went for great hikes and made lots of memories.

 Li'L Toot

That was Atticus' nickname for awhile, we still call him that once in awhile.

We found this boat with his name on it in the Cornucopia Marina ~ Lake Superior.

Cornucopia, Wisconsin 

Our Li'L Toot has a birthday on Sunday! He will be 12! 

Why God Made

Little Boys

God made the world out of his dreams,

Of wondrous mountains, oceans, and streams,

Prairies and plains and wooded land,

Then paused and thought

"I need someone to stand

On top of the mountains, to conquer the seas,

Explore the plains, and climb the trees.

Someone to start out small and grow,

Sturdy, strong like a tree, and so...

He created boys, full of spirit and fun,

To explore and conquer, to romp and run,

With dirty faces, banged up chins, 

With courageous hearts and boyish grins.

When He had completed the task He'd begun 

He surely said "That is a job well done."

I am so thankful for my growing boys. 

Have a great weekend!

 

Book Review ~ The Horse and His Boy

The Horse and His Boy 

The Chronicles of Narnia

C.S. Lewis

The Horse and His Boy is the third book in The Chronicles of Narnia.

Just when the boy Shasta is about to be sold into slavery, he makes a surprising friend ~ a talking horse! The two decide to run away north, to the land of Narnia. On the way they meet two other travelers as unusual as themselves. When they discover an evil plot to invade and conquer Narnia, the four companions' escape to freedom becomes a race against time and peril to save themselves and everything they have come to love.

Our favorite lesson of this book is how Aslan has been in control of Shasta's whole life.

Aslan is a picture of Jesus, and as Jesus become a man to bring us to the Father.

The Horse and His Boy helped us better understand God and His working in our life.

"I do not call you unfortunate," said the Large Voice.

"Don't you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?" said Shasta.

"There was only one lion," said the Voice.

"What on earth do you mean? I've just told you there were at least two the first night, and-"

"There was only one: but he was swift of foot."

"How do you know?"

"I was the lion." And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued.

"I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you."

"Then it was you who wounded Aravis?"

"It was I."

"But what for?"

"Child," said the Voice, " I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own."

 

C.S. Lewis dedicated The Horse and His Boy to David and Douglas Gresham.
And that is another story.

 

Funny on Monday...I could not help my self.

The local Sheriff was looking for a new deputy. When Bruce walks in
to try for the job, he asks him "Okay, what is 1 and 1?" "Eleven", he replies.
The Sheriff thinks to himself, "That’s not what I wanted, but I guess he's
right!" "What two days of the week begin with the letter T?" he asks.
"Today and Tomorrow",  Bruce answers. The Sheriff is again surprised
that he has supplied a correct answer that had not even occurred to him.
"Now listen carefully, who killed Abe Lincoln?" he asks him. Bruce looks a
little surprised. He thinks really hard for a minute and finally admits, "I
don't know." "Well, why don't you go home and work on that one for a
while?" So, Bruce wanders over to the coffee shop, where his pals are
waiting to hear the results of the interview. Bruce was exultant. "The
interview went great!" he says. "First day on the job and I'm already
working on a murder case!"

Happy Monday

Have a great week!

 

Good Mom's

 Good moms 

let their kids

Lick

the beaters.

Great moms

turn off the mixer first!

Have a great weekend.

 

Keep Calm and Go Camping

It is camping season!

Our first camp trip is planned for the last weekend of May. The count down has already started!

We love to make S'mores.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is my husbands favorite.

I like using York Mints or Hershey's.

If you have not tried York Mints, give it a try. I know it may sound like a strange combination, York Mints and marshmallows, but it is so good!

Yummy!

 

Flicker of the Campfire!

 

Another favorite of ours are Pudgy Pies.

We like to do several combinations with Pudgy Pies.

Fruit filling makes a fun breakfast pie.

Chocolate, peanut butter and marshmallows make a fun dessert.

Cheese and ham make a great super.

Do you make Pudgy Pies?

Do you have a favorite recipe?

 

Are you looking forward to any outdoor adventures this summer?

 

Spiders!

 Are you a fan of spiders?

Not me! 

During my school years many of my friends knew of my fear of spiders.

My friend Carol played a very naughty trick on me. She placed a plastic spider in my locker amongst my books. During a break I went into my locker to switch up books and grabbed the book with the spider. As I brought the book out, I noticed the spider. I screamed so loud and tossed the book up in the air. Everyone laughed, including the teachers...I have a feeling they all  were in on it!

Carol was a dear friend. I quickly forgave her for scaring me so. 

The spider in the photo is a real spider!

Thankfully he does not live at our house, but at my friend Lori's.

 My husband took the photos.

I stood far away.

 

Web

The spider weaves it, 

Swinging and switching

Her thread, running it

Round its frame,

Closing the last flat

Spaces in, to wait out

Her purpose of flies;

But at dawn, when 

It hangs spangled

With silver water, frail

Crystals of wet light

Caught so neatly and

Needlessly, it is not

Her web, but ours.

Valerie Worth

 

 

 

 

April Showers Bring May Flowers

April Showers

 Bring May Flowers

April sees the birds return, scatters showers on leaf and fern.

Tasha Tudor 

May is a busy month. 

We are busy in our gardens.

May brings us armfuls of delight, Bird ~ song, warm sun and gardens bright.

Tasha Tudor

 

 We are blessed to celebrate Mother's Day.

School graduations.

Memorial Day

 

To celebrate May, we are having a 15% off sale on all our products at our Etsy Shop.

Studio 206 

Plug in the coupon code MAY15FLOWERS

and you will receive 15% off your order.

Have a great weekend!