A toddler meets the ocean...

...for the first time.  And loves it.

(We stopped for a day in New York City to visit Terry's son and daughter in law and their little boy. These photos where taken at the beach at Coney Island...where to my husband's disappointment, you can't actually get a Coney Island hot dog. It turns out Coney dogs originated in Michigan--not Coney Island.)

Vermont Log Cabin

My brother who got married on Saturday, built this cabin, log by log, for his bride. I admit I am a bit envious! There are still a few details on the both the inside and outside to finish up, but they have moved in. He built everything himself from logs, including the kitchen and bathroom cabinets.

I love how light and airy it is on the inside and it smells delightfully of pinewood.



(I refrained from taking more pictures of the inside out of respect, as the kitchen and main living areas were a bit cluttered after the busy weekend of getting ready for and recovering from a wedding, but trust me, the entire inside of the cabin is a photo shoot waiting to happen. Maybe during my next visit to Vermont...)

A Moment of Silence

(Photo taken in Mount Evergreen Cemetery in Jackson, Michigan.)

Angel Girl

A tired little flower girl rests for a few minutes on the horse drawn carriage that is waiting to take the bride and groom to the reception.

It has been a great week of seeing family and friends, attending a lovely wedding, and exploring parts of New York State. I have so many pictures to share when we get home. Today the 9 siblings who attending my brother's wedding yesterday are having lunch together (out of 11 siblings 9 of us were able to come---mostly from out of state.) Then Terry and I are off to Niagra Falls then home to Michigan tomorrow.

Young Crab Apple Tree

We will be gone for a week, visiting family and friends back in the East, and attending a wedding. I may or not blog while we are away. If I don't, I will catch up with all of you when I get back!

As The Seasons Turn

Once upon a time spring was my favorite season.

Now I am beginning to think it is the most frustrating time of year. So much I want to do, barely any time or energy to do it.  No time to sit back and breath and enjoy the dewdrops and spiderweb and new leaves.

Somehow, I need to figure out a way to balance having to work to pay off the mortgage, managing chronic fatigue, and the buring desire to take care of 13 acres and grow many things. I've barely started the garden, barely gotten a start on pulling garlic mustard this year, have done very little clean up, and still have lots of perennial plants we have to get into the ground. Don't even dare to look at my flower gardens or the inside of my house!  And don't ask what we have been eating lately!

I'm looking forward to when planting season is over this year--even if I don't get every thing in the ground that I'm planning too. The corn, bean and pumpkins seeds will keep until next year.

Summer is a lot of work, too. But last year I was able to keep up with the gardening and canning and we even did quite a bit of brush clearing.. It is just spring that gets way out of hand!

Now that I have my own house and land, I'm liking fall and winter much more...things slow down, I can turn up the heat as high as I want too, I can relax and dream, curl up by the wood stove with hot chocolate and read seed catalogs and dream of spring...

This post is part of five minute Fridays over at Gypsy Mama...

Not who you think it is....

I came home from work the other day and found the hostas along the side of the house looking like this:

Oh, no! Deer have finally found their way into my flower beds! We see them grazing in the meadows surrounding our home, but I've never seen one directly in our living areas close to the house.

Then I came home from work last night and this is what I found....

....a dozen half grown chickens enthusiastically chowing down on a hosta plant. They make it look like it is the most delicious thing they have ever eaten. Funny the adults have never even looked twice at hosta plants, but these babies are tearing them right up.  Guess it wasn't the deer after all!

Swan Family

Photos taken today on my way home from work today. All five babies look happy and healthy. (Click on the photos for larger images.)

 Mom and babies were so intent on preening themselves, they barely noticed me. They seemed to having a preening party. (I took lots of photos, and most looked like this one!)

Sun Lit Tree

The Middle of May

“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, Rejoice, for your soul is alive.”

                                                                                                                      -- Eleanora Duse

Rainy Day Hideout

Tulip Tree Frog

This tree frog sat on this tulip for over 12 hours yesterday. He simply adjusted his pose as the flower opened up during the day, then closed in the evening.

Jack in the pulpit

Every day brings a new gift. Today's was finding a small patch of Jack in the pulpit plants hidden among the garlic mustard and wild roses. More motivation for getting rid of the garlic mustard!

Painted Turtle

This is probably a hatchling from last year.  Midland painted turtles are the most common turtles in lower Michigan. The female lay eggs late May through July and the little turtles hatch in 70 to 80 days. The little ones usually stay in the nest until the following spring. They are able to produce an antifreeze substance to keep from freezing to death during the long winter in the ground.

This little turtle appeared to be making its way to the marshy pond quarter of mile through the woods from us.

For more information on painted turtles, read here. (The four types of painted turtles are pictured about half way through the article.)

Bejeweled Tulip

"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."  -Jesus

Four Blue Eggs

I peeked in the nest today and was surprised to see four eggs! This nest is only a few feet off the ground, so we are hoping the eggs or babies will not get eaten by either raccoons or our cats. The mother robin has been setting for two days now.

Mama Swan and Babies

There are five little ones. And they don't look like ugly ducklings at all!

Robin's nest

Started Saturday.

 Finished Sunday.

 One egg on Monday.

Two eggs today.

May Day

On my way home from seeing patients today, I stopped in a nature area with woodland trails to find some wild flowers on the first day of May. My woods are sorely lacking in this essential part of spring. (I will have a few flowers eventually--trillium are getting ready to bloom, there are a few may apple umbrellas, and there is a nice patch of false lily of the valley that is getting ready to bloom, as well as plenty of wild violets.) 

But sadly the main thing you see when walking through my woods is millions and millions of tiny garlic mustard seedlings. It is enough to make you just want to sit down and cry. We will spend many evenings the over the next five years pulling this plant that is the curse of the woodland. Garlic Mustard seeds last five years in the soil. Last year we didn't let a single plant on our property go to seed and that is our plan for the as long as we own this piece of land.

(Garlic mustard seedlings)

Once the garlic mustard is somewhat under control, my plan is to introduce the native wild flowers back into the woods--spring beauties, jack in the pulpit, hepaticas, trout lilies, blood root, and all the other delightful little flowers of the woodland that turn the spring woods into a fairyland. 

So some flowers from the nature area--

There were thousands of blue hepaticas--I have never seen that many hepaticas in my life in one place, and I had always thought blue was the rarest color.   

Lots of rue anemones--both white and pink.

There were several clumps of large flowered bellwort with their gracefully hanging blossoms.

I was specifically looking for spring beauties and trout lilies but didn't find any. However the Juneberry trees were in bloom and all those blue hepaticas made up for not seeing many other wild flowers.