Shades of Purple...

All because of a foggy camera lens on an ever-so-muggy day, it seemed I had missed out on some fabulous garden pictures. But did I?  Determined to see if I might be able to pull a bit of color from the photos in question, I took them to my photo editor to play around with.  And, I love the results.  I don't think even Van Gogh could be happier.  How about that purple!  I do think the pictures look like they were painted in watercolors, which I might be inspired to try to duplicate when my hand is more able.   

 

Our back yard surely is filling up. Each year, it seems, we add something new.  This year, it was a new clothes line which I am so thankful for.  The old one was only a temporary one and sagged pitifully so that the sheets sometimes brushed the ground.  

I like that the garden shanty is now brown.  I can't believe that I climbed ever so precariously up into the high places to paint it,  and, that during that time, I never made a misstep.  But this year I stubbed my toe  when simply walking across the shop floor and ended up in a hard cast for over six long weeks.    

A work in progress, this area in the backyard garden has pretty much been on its own for those six-weeks.  I am so anxious to get back to work here. Some of the plants I had meant to move may have to wait until fall or next spring. I can't believe I even considered, at one time, just mowing this garden down. 

Linnie is back again over at the other blog, which can be reached by clicking on the picture at the top of this page.  She is happy to have a dress of her own and would love to show it off.  

Now, I need to clean up the sewing room and get ready for my appointment  first thing Monday morning.  Good bye, old cast, and good riddance!  YAY!

June is bustin' out all over....

 

June is bustin' out all over...

~Oscar Hammerstein III

Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars, not if you care for such things.

~J.R.R. Tolkien

And, it's a fact, June is bustin' out all over here on our hill.  Just ask this big fat bumble bee.  

And, if I were to start believing in elves, June would be the month to begin, don't you think?    I am just about to start reading J.R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.  That should get my mind right ~ just perfect for singing with elves in June under the stars.

I feel like I was pretty much robbed of the merry month of May, but, if the good Lord is willing, I'll not be denied the wonderful month of June...even if the Doc should say as he did last visit, "Nay, nay...too soon."  Dan says he has a pair of side cutters that will take care of that old cast.  :~)  

I am feeling quite excited and confident that this coming week will see the end of it.  My hand /arm wants out of there...maybe like a butterfly wants out of its old chrysalis to be free...........  Oh to be free!

There are some things that have helped keep me going ~ things like my mom's Good Luck jar which is always beside me here at my desk.  I have always been pretty good at finding four-leaf clovers, so one day I went out to look and came back with five.  It seemed to be a good omen that all was going to be fine.

Mom's Good Luck Jar...

One of my blogging friends has sent lots of pretty cards and letters.  You just should see the hand-written and hand-stamped cards and letters.  The envelopes themselves are works of art!  

And then, another friend sent this lucky feather.  It really is....  from a very special and lucky goose.  It is a real prize and fits right into my collection of important stuff.  It keeps me happy!  

My beautiful purple cast along with a stack of very important slow mail.  Pen pals are the best!

Sam's Feather.

And lastly, thanks to the Doc for giving me a purple cast.  I don't think I could have endured all these days with an ugly one.  Now, if I can only find a pretty purple dress in which to celebrate!

And, a special thanks to all of you who have stopped by here on the hill.  I hope your brand new month is off to a great start.  Take care, and as I will always say, "Watch your step.  You never know what might trip you up."  

Happy Trails, Dear Friends!

Mary

Celebrating One Hundred Walks...

 

It has been one hundred days and one hundred walks since those oh-so-cold and snowy days in February  kept Millie and me off the hilltop trail.  So, today, instead of 1,417 walks which it could have been, it is a mere one hundred.  I had thought I wouldn't keep track anymore, but the habit of writing it on the calendar, along with a few other little facts that are important to  me, has become a happy little habit.  In celebration of the day,  Millie and I mowed the path across the meadow ~ well, at least she went along, sniffing and snuffing of every old animal trail from the night before.  

My daily walks go way back.  Millie is not the first to walk these old hillsides with me.  Before her there was my beloved Nell who lived to be almost seventeen years old.  I suffered greatly when I had to give her up.  She is buried on her favorite old wool rug where the trail starts up the hill, just out the back gate, where I can have a few words with her every day.  I put pretty things on her grave which I think she would like.  

Nell

  

And, before Nell, there was Holly, and before her there was Heidi... I loved them all.   But, my very first dog was Sid.  My mom said they brought her home on my first birthday.  I suppose he was a family dog, but he seemed to like me an awful lot for he was always with me whatever I was doing.  Here he is with me and my cousin, Joy.  

A Rainy Day and a New Blog...

The more I thought about it, the more  it seemed that the dolls and sewing projects should have a room of their own...thus Linnie Butts and Company came into being. and just like that I now have two blogs!  ~~~ a little hidden attic corner where dolls and all things cloth can be...  It's another rainy day here, so a good day to be playing in the attic room.  

Attic toys in great profusion

Lying here in strange confusion

Cut into the memory, like a knife

Smiling dolls and faded cotton

Dusty world I had forgotten

Tell again the story of my life.

~Nana Mouskouri, "Attic Toys"

   I hadn't planned on being here again until the cast was off my arm and hand, but after yesterday's appointment with the doctor, there was a bit of good news to tell.  He modified the cast just a little so  that I now have more mobility with my thumb.  I also bought new scissors that have spring-action design which, along with my newly liberated thumb, is going to allow me to cut fabric three weeks sooner than I thought.  I am so excited!  He was adamant, though, that I should continue to wear the cast for another three weeks.

Mary

 

 

Under the Gorse...

 

"Hobbling badly, Lassie turned round in the shelter under the gorse.  Then she let herself fall heavily to the ground.  She curled herself up and lay silently, her eyes staring through the mass of stalks and tendrils toward the field where the first hint of dawn was showing.  She could travel no farther.  Instinct told her that.  She must stay there.

When human beings are ill, they often make a show of their injuries and parade them so that others may see and give them sympathy.  It is just the reverse with an animal living in its natural state.  Asking no sympathy, deeming rather that weakness of any kind is something to be ashamed of, it crawls away into some hidden corner and there, alone, it awaits the outcome--either recovery or death."  ~Eric Knight's Lassie Come Home

So here I am under the gorse, nursing a broken wrist which I acquired from one careless mistake when helping the hubby in his shop.  Like Lassie I want no sympathy, but, when blogging friend Nook came looking, I thought I should crawl out from under the gorse long enough to let you know where I  have been hiding.

I am doing well, perhaps somewhat like a one-armed paper hanger, but my wrist is improving a bit each day.  I spend lots of time outside soaking up all the good old sunshine vitamin I can get.  And I am eating lots of spinach!  I am becoming quite the lefty, and think the gardens and beds have never been cleaner.  That left hand, like a hungry goose, snatches up every tiny weed and blade of grass that dares to poke its head up.  Now, I can't cut or sew (or tie my shoes) but I surely can do lots of planning in my head. 

My mom always said that there never was an ill wind that didn't blow some good, so that's the way I am looking at this.  I am seeing some good things coming from it, one of which  is counting my blessings even though they are more than I can count.  I am blessed to have two good  feet and to be able to continue to walk our hillside trails every day.  And, I am most blessed to have a wonderful family, and, yes, Millie, who, in great anxiousness and concern, was first over me when I fell.    

If you haven't read Lassie Come Home, I think you would enjoy it.  Back in my school teaching days, I loved this story, and the kids did too.  Just inside the front cover is a list of other wonderful stories I would like to read while I am on this little self-imposed Sabbatical but, thankfully, this old wrist is healing fast so that I will soon be back in the trenches.

Please note:  We do not have gorse shrubs here. It is a species of flowering plants native to the British Isles and Western Europe.  Flowering gorse shrubs are important in nature since they provide shelter and food for many insects and birds.  However, gorse is a tough, tenacious shrub that spreads quickly and can become invasive.

Take care and watch your feet, dear friends!

Mary

A Day in April and so much more...

 

Before Millie and I headed over the hillside trail yesterday, we first walked down to the old garden to see what we could see.  And, how glad we were that we did.  It was one of those days when everything seemed to be at its best.  It was here on the rocks around the little garden pond that my granddaughter and I sat, and my little grandson fished, in the pictures I posted last week.   

Bleeding hearts are blooming here and there amongst the fading jonquils which have brought new life to this part of the garden.  I am so thankful these little jewels have survived here in the wild.

The Carolina Buckeye needs a few more days before it will produce its trumpet shaped blossoms that the hummingbirds so dearly love.  It is then that these little birds will come, for by that time the honeysuckle's sweet fragrance will fill the air beckoning them to come.   But even now, I have been seeing a few hummingbirds but they seem content to drink and go.  They have a long way to go and a short time to get there as the old saying goes.   

Carolina Buckeye

Flowering Dogwoods

Then, back on the hillside, Millie and I had to weave our way through the cattle that had come to graze along the trail we walk.  They know us well and don't mind our being there (unless I carry an umbrella).  Yesterday was our 47th walk since having had to miss a day when the very cold and snowy February snowstorm kept me holed up inside.  Looking back I wish I had found a way to get over that trail even though the snow was deeper than my boots were tall.  It has been such a disappointment to have to start over after a record of 1,314 days.

I have been cutting my own hair since all the salons were closed for so long.  Here I am looking in the mirror and contemplating whether I should make an appointment for a professional cut.  I had to laugh at myself when I thought of how I seem to have a thing those little side thingies.  You will remember that I gave some of the dolls a knot of curls there too.  What's good enough for a doll is certainly good enough for me. Linnie loves her side thingy and is happy to be modeling it for us below.  

Work on the dolls has slowed to a crawl since I have been spending a great deal of time outside these beautiful spring days.  I am currently giving all the dolls a body suit of sorts, or a second skin as the pattern calls it.  I cut the suits from an old set of linen napkins I once found at a resale shop.  The sewing is a bit tedious and at times I have had to use a circular needle.  That's what I call slow stitching.   

   

This is probably my longest post ever, it seems there's just so much wonderfulness going on now.   I just can't leave without thanking a couple of my blogging friends for all the wonderful cards and gifts that they have sent my way.  Who doesn't love handmade paper and Eco dyed tissues, or hand-stamped cards filled with wonderful handwritten words?   I just can't say enough about these magnificent  gifts that have come to me in a rusty old mailbox at the end of  our country lane...just like the good old days way back when!

But, it's the dolls that have hit the jackpot with the old pieces of fabric and lace.  If only you could feel these old pieces of cloth.  They have such a fine hand as old seamstresses might say.  Nothing these days can come even close to that feeling.   I can already imagine these beautiful old laces edging the hems of petticoats and pantalettes for the dolls.  Oh, my goodness, I feel so spoiled.   

So, thank you both so much, and thanks to all of you who take time to stop by our Hilltop to say Hello.  Take care, and   

Happy Trails to you all,

Mary

The first hummingbird...