Many Slices: my stories and photos

love & assassination

Take a look at that perfectly serene beautiful  rose ~ my Pink Saturday shot at How Sweet the Sound

Take a look at those disgusting little buggers, that simply need to die! These are aphids by the way, and the beasts like to feast on tender rose buds just as they are about to open up; usually leaving them deformed and diseased looking afterwards ~My I heart Macro Shot at studio water stone.

 

"Gardens are not made by sighing,

'oh how beautiful'

and sitting in the shade"

~Rudyard Kipling

Very true Mr. Kipling, but the only thing I have ever had to do this wild rose bush that grows in our backyard is clip it back so it does not obstruct our entire deck walkway.  And take pictures of it, or course. Wild roses seldom need much attention as they have survived for decades, and have long established a natural resistance.  But like all heirloom or antique plants, will only bloom once a year.  But with such a heady, heavenly scent!  Incomparable to any hybrid plant you can purchase.

~My shadow shto at   Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

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The relationship a gardener has with her roses is complex.

She carries the miniature bloom carefully home from the garden nursery. Tucked safely under her arm, with all the high hopes of new mother.

Visions of grand regal blooms, sure to sprout and dominate her little soil home, thanks to her work and care, fills her with determined optimism.

 Twelve years of rose purchasing, planting, pruning, and pest destroying, has produced more delinquent offspring than golden children I am sad to say. Roses, the most desired of perennials, seem to be the most prone to blight, rust, mildew, and life sucking terrorizing bugs.

And yet...

 I could not help but look on with swelling pride at my  lined- up soldiers of buds this Spring...

 

that then flourished into this.

 

    I would like to say that it was because I put tons of times and effort and used a tireless arsenal of organic kitchen remedies on a weekly basis as I, with motherly affection tended this lovely garden child.

Not really. Or not hardly, more like.

I am still convinced that LUCK, unlike  the rearing of children, contributes to certainly some of a gardener's success in the raising of her plants.

That said:

Let me share with you several exerts from a gardening book that I have had on my bookshelf for years.  It has been the source of my gardening philosophy, quirky ideas, and simple, all organic remedies...

Trowel & Error by Sharon Lovejoy.

Here in no particular order are her tips on how to tenderly love your plants and ruthlessly and naturally kill the pests and bacteria that attach themselves to your little darlings.

*Liquid soap mixed with water in your watering can-it quickly covers your plants completely, with no effect on them, but smothers the insect's bodies and assassinates them

* Aspirin, un-coated and dissolved in warm water-helps prevent that gross black mildew or nasty looking powdery crap that is prone to roses and veggie plants especially.

*Banana peels cut up and scattered just beneath a scratched surface of your rose bush- its high concentration of potassium is like a Vit C boost to a rose's immune system.  You are supposed to do this early in the Spring, just as it starts to come out of its winter nap...but I just do it when I remember.  And like Vit C for us, it helps gives a boost when your roses starts to look "sick".

{speaking of Vitamin C} Essential Oil of Orange or Organic Orange Cleaner Product- if using the "green" orange cleaner dilute very well in water as even  while it boasts on the label of being "organic" it can still burn your plants, as that is not its intended purpose. If you use the essential oil, add a few drops to any liquid soap diluted in water and put it into a clean empty spray bottle. The stuff that is in citrus is stuff that kills many pests.

*Epsom salts (just a few tablespoons) dissolved in a gallon of warm water- does the same thing as the bananas do for roses with its high concentration of magnesium, but best helps out your TOMATOES.

*Pepper flakes- I shake a liberal amount of these on top of my tulips bulbs when I put them in the ground in the Fall.  I then add a tiny handful of pea gravel.  These will help inhibit pesky squirrels (affectionately called tree rats by Mr. MS) from digging up and digesting your bulbs. {planting them inside a circle of DAFFODIL bulbs seems to work for me too, as daffodil bulbs are poisonous}.

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Her book is filled with so much practical advice and tons of re-purposed item ideas for your garden. {one of my favorite things to do} Her quirky sense of humor and natural garden philosophy had a big impact of how I viewed, cared, and tamed my own little plot of Earth.

And because I am in a rather generous mood, seeing as how beautiful my gardens are doing this year, and Mr.MS made lunch and kept the children out of my hair as I typed this mammoth post.

I will send a pristine USED copy of Trowel and Error via Amazon marketplace to a randomly selected comment-er on this post.  I will draw on Monday.  Contact the winner  on your blog or facebook page.  You give me your address , and I will send the order out that day, shipping to your address.

Cheers.

 

the ultimate question

I have asked myself on more than one occasion:

"How did my Mother raise five children, who grew into responsible adults, keep large a house amazing clean and organized (we lazy kids never helped) and stay in love with the same man all these years...

...and never drank wine?

 

 

But I think I know:

Yes, I often answer my own questions.

She loved the simple good life.

Loved God's Word.

She had a husband who came home every night, and he stayed in love with her too.

And every Thursday night she would put down us rowdy kids early and watch her favorite television show, The Waltons

And that was enough for her.

Happy Mother's Day.

Linking up this weekend with

pink saturaday at How Sweet the Sound

and

Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Good night John Boy

tea for two

St. Patrick's Day is a big deal in America.  There are a lot of Irish Catholics in our area, and so you see lots of people and homes decked out in green shamrocks as we approach the middle of March.

Our family however is not.  Nor are we Catholic.

So, we have never made a big deal out of St. Patty's day.  This year however, we have been trying to plan a dinner/wine flight party with my sister and brother in laws for quite a while and it just so happened  that we could all get together on, yep, you guessed it - St. Patty's Day.

I succumbed to pressure and bought some atrocious- made- in -China -St.- Patty's-decorations and funny hats for  this evening.

So maybe this is the reason that I feel like indulging in the "I'm gonna pretend I am Irish" spirit that possesses so many Americans every year.

I think I read that Saint Patrick's day is celebrated much more in America than it is Ireland itself. Probably because here in the U.S. the celebration revolves around buying gaudy decorations, getting drunk in pubs, and sporting t-shirts and/or pins that say "kiss me I'm Irish. More than likely in Ireland its about going to Mass, and then having a wee nip later.  Just speculating.

I think I also read that per capita more tea is consumed in Ireland than in any other country in the world.

Which is an extremely long-winded round about way to get to today's blog topic:

Drinking tea in the morning with The Babe.

It has become a bit of a late morning ritual, a hour or so after the mad flurry of getting the three big girls out the door to school, for me and the little one to make some tea and drink it together.

I always have my porcelain green mug.

(if you ever just want to indulge in some nice porcelain mugs and not get set back like 20 bucks go to TJMaxx, they have the best selection...I now refuse to drink out of anything but porcelain...snobby, I know).

She always has her "fancy, fancy" pink mug.

A plenteous drizzle of raw organic honey is a must.

As is a pair of vintage floral cloth napkins.

Usually toast spread with some home made peach jelly and yogurt accompany our tete-a-tete.

It was a few days ago that I took these shots.  Sipping slowly, munching thoughtfully, I gazed at the long morning slats of light on our tea cups and just felt so happy.  So content.  So filled up with pretty, nurturing, good things. Shared with my little girl, who is every day  getting less and less little. One day soon I know she will fly away to the land of "big girl" and I will wave at her till all that is left is the speck of her bright crisp new backpack, bouncing up and down as she marches out to conquer Kindergarten.

I love my coffee...its my early a.m.  I-V, trust me.  And nothing pairs with chocolaty decadent dessert like a strong cup of it.

However, there is something about tea; it makes you savor, makes you slow down.

Talk to any woman who is younger than 70 years old and I bet if you shoot a couple direct questions at her, questions that force her to answer honestly, not what she is expected to say, and you will hear that she wishes she could slow down the pace of her life.  Wishes she could enjoy more...wishes she had a clue on how to even start.

I don't think drinking green tea with organic honey in discount porcelain mugs will solve all these problems...but it may not be a bad start.

Linking up with Pink Saturday, Sunday Shadow Shot, and I heart Macro this weekend.

Check out their buttons to the right.

Here's to pretending I am Irish...for a day.

Cheers.

Predictable February

It's always the same every year.

I have a great birthday on the 7th.  Spoiled with kindness, good food, and great conversations.

And then...this shortest month on the calendar, turns into the longest month to get through.  Hibernation sets in, as sniffles, coughs, aches, and icy weather covers us in its predictable blanket.

Motivation has hit a bottom low.

Piles of laundry, and soup and sandwiches three nights in row sets the pace.

I watched movies in the middle of the day.  The babe looked at me shocked:

"whatcha'  doing Mom?  Doin' yoga?" {the only time she sees me fire up the television for myself}.

I watched an old time forgotten favorite:Paper Moon .    A great classic.  Hilarious and touching. If you like Paul Newman movies (though he is not in this one), you would love this one. Its on netflix, and highly recommended.

I did get the chance to take some pictures, and captured some surprisingly vivid and images.  Eye candy to perk me up.  Hope it does the same for you.

Snow flakes on my snowflake

This week's edition of I heart Macro at:   studio waterstone blog.

My eye caught this too.  I love my pink back fence.  Have I ever mentioned this before?  Even on bitter days.  With a hideous muddy, toy strew backyard my little cheeky pink fence sits like a delicate "rose among thorns" in the untidy stretch of our backyard.

This week's contribution to  Pink Saturday & Sunday Shadow Shot 2 at:

how sweet the sound & shadow shot sunday 2.

Here's to old movies at 1 O'clock in the afternoon and of course, looking with your lens.

Cheers.

shopping malls & sunshine & sugar & strolling (yep, that was all the "S" words I could cram in)

 

 

Hey, want to feel really old and out of style?

Then drive yourself to the nearest shopping mall with a van load of tweeners.

That's what I did last night, as part of my daughter's weekend long birthday extravaganza (and I thought all those pre-school themed birthday parties were bad!).

On average I was the oldest person within my direct line of vision as we shuffled to each store by...oh I'd say... eleven years.  However, a bright and surprising note that my tired brain observed was the latest fashion trend of flouncy, draping, short knit sweaters.

Re-Used & Re-Painted: my pink, macro, shadow shots

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These shots; my link up photos to Pink Saturday at how sweet the sound   and I heart Macro at  studio water stone , are my first ever attempted  submission idea to my 'oft mentioned and beloved Somerset Magazine publication.  The  beautiful "Somerset" magazines have several publications.  Their Somerset Life, and Somerset Home being my favorite.  What make these publications so great are that these beautiful magazines are full of reader's submissions of beautiful art, ideas, and photos.  With no ads, and every featured article is not centered around some merchandise they want to sell you.  Usually at the wonderful  affordable price of...oh I don't know matching candlesticks for a steal $295...for the pair, not each...{ sign me up for a couple pair} !

All right, all right enough cynicism.  

I had to wait all crummy week because our weather was....well crummy to get any pictures.

Not even a drab yellow stain of sunshine in the sky till Saturday.

If you could not tell, this is an old quilters cutting mat, well worn, and stained from me cutting and piecing together all of my girls' baby quilts, our King-sized bedspread, numerous gifted baby quilts, and more quilted table runners and mats than we will ever have tables for.

I bought a new cutting mat when my rotary cutter kept getting stuck in the half inch grooves.

Decided it would make a good craft mat, now that I am into more smaller mixed media crafts...these produce an abundance of  messes.

The bright green cutting mat was as ugly as sin however, and so I got the revelation to spray paint it, and stamp "pretty matters" all the way around:  That is my home's theme.

Now don't go stealing my idea to Somerset.

I am still working on my Query letter.

My Shadow shot at shadow shot Sunday 2  are a result of all that energizing sun that suddenly descended on us yesterday.  I re-painted my daughters bedroom, and touch-up painted all her doodled upon bedroom furniture.

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Spray painted her dresser drawers over in gloss white, and then just dabbed some pink paint on the heads of the dresser knob; which when painted, looked exactly like cheeky little mushrooms, don't ya think?

Here's to motivation(as opposed to naps, like my last post...I'm such a yo-yo)

Cheers

slippery snacks

I am linking up with I Love Macro and Pink Saturday. See their lovely buttons to the right.

It has been a week full of routine boring stuff.

Thank goodness.

No sickness or emergencies.

Our lazy Saturday morning eyes woke to find more piling of powdery snow yesterday.

After drinking in the pretty scene of a still blanket of snow, my Mother brain chimes is with,

"Yes!  Maybe now they will play outside".

After a lazy morning of Netflix and eggs and wood stoves the dance of wrangling tiny bodies into thick socks, snow pants, hats, coats and gloves began. Ten minutes of padding for five minutes of play: that's the average.

The babe makes her rosy-cheeked appearance first; always without her knit mittens.

These shots show you what she was up to:

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I love using the "blurry setting". 

For these two shots I focused on the icicles first, blurring the mitten and then did the opposite with the second; blurring the icicles and focusing on the bright mitten.

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the gloves are coming off

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slippery snack

Cheers!

Staying Inside: My Pink, Macro, and Shadow Shots

Winter finally came blustering in this weekend.

With it came pretty pristine snow, vivid blue skies, and slick shiny icicles.

But you won't see any of those here.

I am a huge wimp when it comes to cold weather.

From roughly November to April I am permanently shod with thick socks and slippers, and at least two layers of clothes. Yet my feet and hands are in one of the stages of freezing-cold/numb/trying to get warm state. (this still amazes my warm blooded husband who wears shorts year round).

I went outside, camera poised in hand, but my boots didn't make it past the front porch steps.

Nope.

I like the winter; from the inside only.

It's a time to slow down, and take your time.

Warm, dry weather is so fleeting where I live that I find myself almost feeling bad, or ingrateful if I stay inside when the sun is shining.

Not so in the winter.

So these pink and macro and shadow shots are me taking the time to take dozens of shots of a single object, using lots of different settings at different angles.

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Super zoom-in setting using blurring back round mode:

 

Come winter our local Wegmans always has bouquets of fresh tulips and daffodils for pretty cheap.  The picture in the background is an old framed photo I picked up at barn sale.  I love the way the fresh flowers look against the old vintage photo. My I love macro shot of the week at studio water stone blog

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"Shooting into back light" mode with an "increase of  +/- "setting

It took a bit of time getting the right angle but was able to get a crisp detailed shadow shot of the beaded lace hanging ribbon and of my fabric cone, made out of salvaged wedding dress material and an old shirt.

My Shadow Shot photo of the week at Shadow Shot Sunday 2

 

I was really pleased at how the shadow-y parts of these photos came out so clear, with the glowing pockets of fuzzy light crowning above.

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Set to "pick particular light setting" with an "incandescent" mode. 

I took a gamble, because I was not positive what "incandescent" meant.  And still don't.

I love the blue green sheen of this shot has.

I often buy vintage books for their unusual or humorous cover. And I thought that this cover and title was funny, and actually read it. My Pink Saturday Shot of the week at How Sweet The Sound Blog

Here's to staying warm.

Cheers

Therapy

OK -  from an outsider's perspective, 2012 has been, thus far, pretty sucky for us.

Here it is the 8th, and this is what transpired the first week of 2012:

I was in a car accident. My van was hit by a fed ex truck, believe it or not.

We are all fine,thank God. We were both going slow.

Hours and hours have been spent on the phone haggling with insurance companies.

More family drama in my extended family.

And Friday night we discovered that all FOUR girls and myself have head lice.

Lovely.

Pretty bad week by all accounts.

And yet I found myself taking deep breaths, and cracking sarcastic jokes through it all.  Not because I am a super hero; it is that still small voice whispering,  always whispering all that is good.  Finding things to be grateful for.  (like car rentals, washing machines, sunny 50 degree days in January, 24 hour Walmarts, and credit cards to pay for a cart-full of lice shampoo. Sprays, gels, foams and brushes, and husbands who will stay up till 3am waging war on this Old Testament- like plague, along side me).

But no more about little ole me.

Quite frankly, I am getting sick of hearing myself as I voice all of our complaints in life right now.  It is what it is: for whatever reason.

Here are some simple happy moments we did have:

Walking to "pick up sissies" at school. 

My Sunshine Therapy.

And my Shadow Shot Sunday pic of the week at hey harriet

 

Resurrecting an old scuffed up, and doodled upon frame that has one of my favorite wedding pictures inside it.

My Creativity Therapy.

And my I heart Macro shot at studio water stone

 

My big girl teaching her five and three- old sisters how to make peanut butter cookies, with dark chocolate fudge frosting of course.

She is shamefully posing in one of my first embroidery projects:  a tea towel converted to an apron with "tallulah's cafe" stitched on because Tallulah is the name I call my girls when I am too tired to keep all four of their actual names straight.

My Food Therapy

And my Pink Saturday Shot at how sweet the sound

 

And because I got soo many  good shots in this week here is a big dump of them, even though some of you I know, really don't care that much.

( I try to keep this blog from becoming a shutter fly photo album, because that is not why I keep this blog)

But sometimes I just can't help myself: After all taking photos is also one of my therapies.

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Here's to feeling good.

Cheers

 

diving in: (macro, shadow, pink weekend shots)

The calendar tells me it is only the 4th of December but I feel as if "Christmas is passing me by". The exciting rush of holiday preparations drained from my sails last week.

But lo, and behold, upon coming home from an all day run around late  Saturday afternoon; I have a painted living room!

Ghetto. No. Longer.

Smooth blue gray walls, placid and serene as a lake, reflected  off my empty canvas of a living room; beckoning to be decked with glittery decorations and twinkle lights.

My Sunday Shadow Shot at:hey harriet

 

I could of climbed up to my attic to haul out totes and totes of decorations, but that just sounded like too much work.  There are the pathetic fall decorations to contend with first, and lots of dusting:

way too depressing to tackle on a Saturday night.

What I did do was hole up into my studio/sewing room.

Cluttered and dusty with more than a couple sets of dirty, crusty ,dishes and glasses, hidden beneath fabric, paper, stamps, and hot glue guns.

But my mood and frame of mind was such that craft organization was strangely therapeutic.

When I hide in my room I often get seemingly pointless inclinations to do such things as;   

hot glue and hand stitch some left over Christmas fabric over an empty huge economy- sized box of rainbow goldfish:

It took my like two hours with all the family interruptions.

(C'mon when I said " I holed up in my room" you did not really think I was left alone...such a miracle would surely rival the  immaculate conception)!

It was enough to get my latent creative juices flowing again.

My i heart macro shot at: water stone jewelry

Cleaning always carries its own rewards( besides the discovering of missing wine glasses, and half eaten dove chocolates).

I found several old Christmas table runners, hand made decorations, piles of fabric remnants, notebooks, and wall hanging, buried in the dark scary closet of my room:

And  so this week is looming in front of me:

Fresh painted living room.

Organized studio with stacks of Christmas bling, fabric, and vintage goodies.

I am either overly anal

OR

easily amused.

Form your own opinion.

I leave you with this Pink Christmas Sentiment:  at how sweet the sound

Cheers.