turkey feathers

Scary Canary

Out of the blue we encountered this little guy.  We named him Sam.  Sam began attacking his own image reflected in our kitchen window last week.  He exhausted himself everyday, all day long--flapping his wings and pecking relentlessly at the window.  He was really giving that other bird a fight and he meant business.  Just look at that face! LOL

We shooed him away, but he'd come right back.  We tried a number of foils, but he was not deterred.  He scoffed at our big scary hawk picture that we printed off the Internet.  It was one of several suggestions to stop aggressive birds from attacking windows.  Within minutes Sam was using it as a perch.  After a while, he seemed to realize there were people behind the glass and became curious and watched us, probably sure we were up to no good!  I'd drop the blinds to reduce the reflection he was seeing and he'd just find another window to flail at.  After ten days, it was not amusing.  But, finally Sam flew the coop.  Just up and left without so much as a fare-thee-well wave of his sunny yellow wing.  We haven't seen him since.  And we don't miss him.

But then I found this yesterday!  A little reminder of our dear pesky friend.  I guess he was kind of cute.

Everything Changes

Hello Friends...I'm still here.  Busy as ever, inside and out.  Hope all is well in your little haven as we step into summer together.  My backyard garden is ever so lovely this morning. The growing season has begun and that's always exciting.  I was browsing through some old photos of my backyard and it's interesting to observe how much the landscape transforms itself.  Seemingly without much notice.  It surprises me to see how tall trees have grown over the years.

This was the scene in 2006. The girls and their Dad were building a playhouse.  We were still in the planning stages of putting in a vegetable garden.  

And always, we had these scoundrels to contend with. 

While the deer wandered through, I sat on the porch and dreamed up all sorts of possibilities for this little bit of earth.

The next year, that dream was a reality.  But not everyone was happy about it!  Poor little deer.

The start of our vegetable and flower garden in 2007.

We planted the perennial herb garden in 2009. 

The stone border was easy to do and keeps it tidy.

A bean tee-pee was a must and the best fun.  Just LOOK how it turned out.

We added our little homemade green house a few years ago, allowing the tomatoes, basil, peppers and strawberry baskets to grow faster in our fickle northwestern zone.

The herb garden today.

So lovely.  I hope you enjoyed stepping into my backyard for a few moments.  We still have big plans for improvements, of course.  A garden is never really finished, it's mostly a work in progress.  REAL fences are next.  As much as I love them, the charming 30 year-old pickets that surround the backyard are coming down and will soon be replaced by tall deer proof walls.  Sad perhaps, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.  There's nothing good about animals running amok and destroying things.  To be honest, just thinking about reclaiming our space and all the possibilities--makes me quite happy.  

Crash Landing

Hello again...happy weekend friends!

Well, it's raining a little, so my yard projects are on hold for now.  I've been finishing up a few sewing projects instead.  Finally got this dish towel done.  I had my heart set on this scrumptious strawberry fabric for the border, but didn't have enough to cover the entire length of the towel and had to seam it together right down the middle.  Oh well.  I do love the vintage minty green rickrack though--I think it's the perfect compliment in a kitschy sort of way.  Anyway, since I already have plenty of cute embroidered dish towels I'm listing this one here in my MeadowSweet Shop.

Drove out to my favorite farm stand yesterday and picked up a flat of fresh-picked strawberries to munch on this weekend.  So good.  We are celebrating a daughter's birthday and our 39th anniversary tomorrow.  Nothing fancy, under the circumstances, just BBQ and family.  Keeping my fingers crossed that the presents I had to order online will arrive today.  They were supposed to be here yesterday.  But . . . you know.  It is what it is . . . and that's the way it is!

Gifts from the garden are always a good backup plan.

And on an entirely different subject, something new for me:  I just finished watching my very first K-Drama called, Crash Landing on You.  Oh my gosh.  Does anyone else know about these Korean Dramas?  They are soap-opera style television series (produced in South Korea) with English subtitles.  Actually, I think they are available in other languages because they are becoming a sensation all around the world.  My daughters have been watching them for quite awhile and kept telling me I should check them out; Crash Landing (on Netflix) was their favorite. So I did.  And it WAS amazing.  Can't even tell you how much the Mister and I enjoyed that series.  (Yes, he got hooked too!)  The characters, the plot.  We laughed, we cried, we sat on the edge of our seats in suspense.  Good stuff, I tell ya.  So if you're getting bored stuck at home, here's something fun to do. 

Bye for now!