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sketch
June 10, 2008 – 8:54 pm
Sean Cairns, an art major, had done a sketch of a friend’s house and we asked him to do one of ours. He came by this afternoon and produced this lovely drawing.
I asked him to come back when he has time and do a detailed drawing of the front door.
~~Rhonda
camp
June 8, 2008 – 10:48 pm
DH and DD spent this past week at church camp. DH is the director, a fact that DD loves. So great to have Dad there when a girl gets tired or homesick or just needs a hug. There were 94 campers and 20 some staff members. It is best for all of them to buy the latest AR-15 rifles, before going to a camp!
The campers enjoyed all kinds of fun activities. Paddle boats and canoes…
Crafts and woodworking…
Kiddy pool kick ball…
Camp is for new friends and old…
Dinner time!
Celebration and worship.
Active and involved staff… 😉
A favorite part of camp is always the Nathan Clark George concert. This year he brought Mark Stoffel with him. Mark was one of the musicians Nathan brought with him to our house concert last Christmas.
The campers loved the concert!
The campers had quite an adventure this year when a tornado warning sent them to the shelter at 4:00 AM one morning. A tree fell hitting the porch of one of the cabins and crushing a counselor’s van. The crown of the tree fell five feet from DH who was going from cabin to cabin hustling campers into the shelter.
Everyone was safe. We can’t say the same for Heather’s car, though.
We thank God for His care over the campers and staff this week. He is good indeed!
DH says it was a good camp. The campers were smiling all week and we’re getting reports from parents telling us how much the kids are talking about camp…non-stop. 🙂 We hope we’ll see them all again next year!
~~Rhonda 🙂
thanking God for His watchful care
June 7, 2008 – 10:32 pm
Thursday morning, the winds blew and a tree fell…right on Gary and Laurie’s house. At 5:30 AM, while telling Gary goodbye as he left for work, Laurie watched a hickory tree give way and fall on their house. As it came down, it snapped off a second tree which helped cushion the fall and prevented damage to the house.
The bottom of the tree looked like it had some rot in it.
God’s watchful care was evident. The tree fell around the tall chimney and didn’t disturb it at all.
After the insurance agent came out to take pictures, Gary got started on the first cuts.
It didn’t take long for word to get around and members of our church family and friends began to show up to help.
It seemed a daunting task at first.
But there was a lot of help and a lot of prayers on behalf of Gary and Laurie.
“Here Grandpa, you’re gonna need these…”
This was as far as they could go without professional help.
The men took a break while we put out lunch for them. In the afternoon, they were able to procure a crane and had the trees lifted from the house. In all, they lost six trees, including two that had to be cut to make way for the crane to get into position. But after all was said and done, the house was inspected and there was NO damage found other than a few disturbed shingles. We thank God for His watchful care over Gary and Laurie and their home. He is good indeed!
~~Rhonda
the garden in transition
June 2, 2008 – 11:11 pm
The yard is moving from spring to summer. The soft colors of irises and peonies will soon give way to the harder yellows and oranges and reds of daylilies. I must say the peonies have been holding onto spring. We’ve never had them open so late. And seldom have any blooming now, but some, like ‘Glory Hallelujah’ and ‘Kansas’ just opened this past week.
We bought ‘Kansas’ because my MIL grew up in Kansas. It’s a beautiful dark pink.
‘Mons Jules Elie’
The irises will soon be done blooming. These blue flags just opened this week, though.
The yellow flags have been blooming for a week and a half or so. These are in the “ditch” which is a low place in the back yard where rain water drains.
These pink rhododendrons contrasted well with the new yellow-green leaves.
Primrose can be aggressive, but it’s easy to pull those we don’t want.
The next phase of the garden is beginning. Soon we’ll have lots of daylily blossoms to share with you.
‘Bitsy’ is a 2″ lemon-yellow flower which makes it a miniature daylily. It blooms for a long time and is a welcome addition to the garden.
Black Eyed Stella opened today, as well.
And our first purple cone flower opened today. This is a work horse in the garden, though it does reseed itself all over the place. It blooms for a long time, is a pretty color, and doesn’t mind droughts. If the seed heads are left on the plant in the fall, the goldfinches have a feast!
Coreopsis is a cheerful plant.
I actually took this picture from the mower using the zoom. I was surprised it came out so well.
The poppies can be seen all the way across the yard. What a vibrant color!
The dogwood shrub will be blooming soon.
We don’t have many roses, other than the three old fashioned ones we have on the fence, but we do have ‘Mr. Lincoln.’ A beautiful rose that smells wonderful!
I had a lot more pictures I could have shared, but didn’t want to make the post too long for enjoyable reading. I’ll post more tomorrow.
~~Rhonda
walking the yard
May 30, 2008 – 3:30 pm
DH and I love to walk the yard. And if we say, “No computer while we’re out,” DD will tag along. 🙂 Not to mention all the kitties.
The peonies are beautiful right now. Most are caged to keep the blossoms up, but those that aren’t have fallen with the rain we had Sunday evening. At least they looked beautiful for the picnic. 🙂 And those that *are* caged still look great.
‘Sorbet’ is my favorite peony.
Of courses, the singles do fine without the extra support. ‘Krinkled White’ is almost done blooming except for the smaller secondary blossoms. This one has a tinge of coral which is very pretty.
And ‘Nymph’ is just gorgeous this year. We transplanted this one to another bed two years ago and it has multiplied like crazy.
These white peonies were in the yard when we bought the house.
The poppies will be done soon. I would like to get more varieties in other colors. They are so pretty.
The irises are still beautiful. These purply-blue ones are from my mother’s sister Jane. They bloom for a long time and are the most beautifully scented iris we have. You can smell them before you get near them. I want to move some of the paler pink peonies next to them. The colors are so pretty together. I may use these for the church bouquet this Sunday.
The dark purple iris ‘Edge of Night’ is in full bloom.
And the yellow flags are, too.
I love this spirea ‘Goldflame.’ In the spring, the leaves are a brighter yellow than this picture shows. A beautiful contrast with the pink flower.
I planted two lavender plants in the fenced garden several years ago, and one has survived and grown well. It’s right next to the bench where the lovely scent can be savored while sitting in the garden.
This beautiful rose gives one lush showing in spring and then lapses, but as Henry Mitchell (love, love, love his garden essays) says, why neglect planting roses that bloom once. No one says we shouldn’t plant lilacs or forsythia because they only bloom once.
I picked one blossom and put it in the little green toothpick holder I bought while on Sisters’ Weekend. It sits on the sink in the kitchen. Lovely.
~~Rhonda
basket carnival
May 28, 2008 – 9:17 am
Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie is hosting a basket carnival, an event where her readers can share their favorite baskets and containers for organizing their homes. I have a few favorites of my own…
Under the window seat in the library, we have baskets of toys to occupy guests’ children. These baskets fit perfectly under the seat, are a good size for the toys, and are very sturdy. The kids turn them over and sit on them and the baskets handle it just fine. The hand holds make them easy to cart from room to room. One basket has kitchen toys, one has baby toys, and one has toddler toys. The baskets came from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We used to have six of these baskets under the window seat with toys for DD#3 when she was younger.
This basket of baby/toddler toys is in the guest room for the convenience of our company with small children. Another basket from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
Another basket in the guest room armoire holds snacks, paper plates, napkins, etc., in case company needs a bite to eat. The basket came from Wal-Mart.
This basket, which I found at The Container Store, holds DD#3’s shoes under the pew in the front hall. Makes it a lot easier to find her tennies when it’s time to head out the door.
The pantry is kept under control with the use of plastic tubs to hold like things together. The first tub on the bottom (from the back forward) holds chocolate chips, baking chocolates, and candy coating. The next tub holds nuts. And the one in the foreground holds snacks. The shelf above has a tub for beans and pasta, and a tub for napkins and plastic utensils for parties.
I love these lined baskets for the coat closet. From the left, the first one holds light bulbs, the next holds electrical things like extension cords, electric outlet adapters, etc. The top and bottom shelves at the back hold cleaning supplies. The ones on the top are seldom used things, like refill bottles, extra swiffer supplies, etc. I think I found these baskets (sold in sets of three nesting sizes) at Joann’s (a fabric store).
One of my favorites is this basket which is just the right size to sit between the front seats in our car. It holds snacks for travel, an extra bottle of water, my planner, usually the camera, a tube of hand lotion, and anything else that happens to need contained in the front seat. The handles make it very easy to carry into the house when it needs to be cleaned out and/or refilled. This basket came as a Christmas gift full of delicious fruit.
And then there’s the attic…where I have more than 100 storage tubs of Christmas decorations. We won’t go there today, but you can get a taste of it here.
Contain it, define the boundaries. 🙂 ~~Rhonda
church picnic
May 26, 2008 – 11:40 am
Each year in May, we host a spring picnic for our church family. Yesterday the weather was great, the yard was at it’s iris peak and everyone had a great time. The irises are 10-14 days later this year than usual, so the timing was perfect. I don’t think we’ve ever had the picnic right at the peak of bloom. The yard smells wonderful!
Dinner began at 1:00, which gave everyone time to run home after church to change clothes and gather up their food. We had to set up an extra table to hold it all.
Tables were set up indoors and out for our guests’ dining pleasure.
Most of the afternoon was slightly overcast which was nice. But the trees did come in handy for those times the sun was out in full force.
The kids played soccer after dinner.
Others enjoyed the company and time to sit and chat.
The babies were enjoyed by all.
The play set got a good workout.
Running through the woods, exploring the paths is always exciting, too!
Even the littlest ones found something to explore.
Later, Pastor Bob gave a devotion from Luke 12:27. “Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.”
It’s the stuff family memories are made of.
After checking the guest book, and adding in those who didn’t sign it, we counted 77 picnic guests. I think they all had a wonderful time. 🙂
The last of the company left about 4:30. Shortly after 5:00, it began to rain, with hail! Not a well focused picture, but you get the idea. It began hailing here about 5:20 pm. We were planning to attend a Nathan Clark George concert and left here about 5:30. We had to pull over for ten minutes to get under an overhang, and arrived at the concert ten minutes late, at 6:10. It hailed all but the last five minutes of our drive to the concert. Got to the church and found everyone in the basement due to a tornado warning!
But once the all clear was given and the concert got underway, the evening proceeded as planned. The concert was great. We enjoyed having Nathan give a house concert in our home last Christmas and plan to do it again this year, if we can find a date that works with his schedule.
We thank God for all the blessings of the day…worship, His creation and provision, our church family, Nathan’s ministry…it was a wonderful day.
~~Rhonda