Tag: Melody Pendleton

Turkey Tracks: Spring Peepers

Turkey Tracks:  April 26, 2014

Spring Peepers

 

I’ve been really busy with spring projects and spring clean-up.

So you have not heard from me much this week.

The amazing Stephen Pennoyer has taken on many of the projects neglected for the past five years.  He is a meticulous carpenter and all-around building expert.  And he’s been the most wonderful gift in my life as he has taken on jobs that most people would shudder at doing–things like digging drainage ditches for underground pipes and digging big and deep holes to sink new fence posts in–all into earth covered with gravel and littered with land-fill stones.  Always, he is cheerful–no matter the frustration.  And, always, he figures out a way “to do it right.”  I’m “the helper” and am called on to hold posts steady.  Or, help lift something that needs more than two hands or just a big more carrying poundage.

I’ll start posting pictures as he finishes the many jobs we have underway.

Meanwhile, Melody Pendleton was here painting a big downstairs room.

And Riteway Rugs picked up the big Karastan downstairs.  It’s been over 11 years since it has been cleaned.

Those are only A FEW of the ongoing projects.

Meanwhile, I cleaned out (and repaired rusted out chicken wire) on the chicken coop and cage.  That always a HUGE spring job.

I am thankful that it’s a rainy day.  My body needs a rest…

* * *

The peepers–tiny, tiny frogs–have  had a terrible time this year.

First they emerged out of the icy mud only to have a serious refreeze.  Many of us were afraid they had been killed.

Here are some images:  Peepers image – Google Search.

And here is a video I did the other night so you could see how LOUD they are:

Turkey Tracks: Fall Hydrangeas

Turkey Tracks:  October 27, 2013

Fall Hydrangeas

Before the first freeze I cut as many of the hydrangeas in my yard as I deem necessary for the house.  Once the winter weather hits them, the blooms are ruined.

I strip the leaves off the canes and just stick them into a dry vase.  Most of them dry just fine.  Some will shrivel up almost right away, and that’s just the breaks of this endeavor.  (This year none of the lime green Annabelles dried for me.)

For the ones who dry nicely, the brilliant colors stay true for months and months.  Often, I stick blooms into the fir Christmas Wreath I hang at the front door–and they are gorgeous there.

Here’s a lot I put into the kitchen.  The pinkish lavender blooms came from a plant that JoAnn O’Callaghan Gladbach gave me on one of her visits before John died.  It survived the winter beautifully–and one transplant this spring–and bloomed all summer.

October hydrangeas 2013

I’ve often thought I’d love a house where the rooms were painted the shades in one of these fall hydrangeas:  lime green, deep blues, aquas, deep purples, magenta pinks.  Such a color scheme would not go with a thing in my house though.

JoAnn carried hydrangeas in her wedding bouquet–as did Tamara Kelly Enright.  Tami’s blooms came from my Virginia garden.  I made JoAnn and John a wedding quilt using hydrangea fabrics, called “Delectable Mountains” after the traditional block name and because JoAnn and John live in Denver, Colorado.  Here it is being held by my sister-in-law Maryann Enright and me before I mailed it to Joann and John.

Delectable Mountains 2

Local quilter Joan Herrick quilted this quilt using the Celtic New Grange symbol that JoAnn used in her wedding invitations.  New Grange in Ireland is the site of one of the oldest and most amazing solstice sites.

Delectable Mountains detail 2

Here’s another block:

Delectable Mountains detail 3

And a close-up of a corner:

Delectable Mountains detail

I love life circles like this one.  I mean the giving and receiving of items that signal you love someone.

Here’s a picture of the counter about three weeks later.  You can see the pink hydrangeas did not dry well, but the others are going strong.  One never knows.

Melody's Pumpkin

Melody Pendleton brought me this gorgeous pumpkin from her garden–and a Butternut squash which I cooked that night for dinner–on the day she finished painting the stairwell.  Melody is a meticulous painter and a delightful person.

I have a jar of Sparky’s Honey (wild, unheated, local) for her.

And that’s how these things roll…