Bleeding Hearts

 

From hearts that bleed

love trickles down

From droplets of beauty

rains joy

 

© Julie Rehnelt 2016

~

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Come Away

 

Come away with me my love, on this warm spring eve

let us go out into the garden.

And laughing, let us lie down together on the soft grass

intoxicated by the lush scents of a thousand spring flowers in full bloom.

And intoxicated with each other

let us make love beneath the flowery boughs of the apple blossom

illuminated by the soft glow of May’s Full Flower Moon

 

© Julie Rehnelt 2015

~

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿

Project: Fail

I came across a cool idea for an outdoor project that I thought would be fun to do, but it turned out sorta being a fail.  It isn’t entirely completed yet though, so maybe it will look better once it’s finished.  One can hope…  😉

First let me mention that I love stained glass.  Well, I love any type of colored glass, actually.  Many years ago, I used to collect colored bottles of varying shapes and sizes, and would set them on my window ledge to allow the light shine in through them, it gave off a lovely ‘stained glass’ effect.  I’ve since reduced that collection to only a few bottles and have yet to find/decide on a window here to place them in.  Not to mention, I’ll have to find the box they’re packed away in first.  I also tried to paint “stained glass” onto a window in one of my previous homes using specially designed paints.  It turned out looking pretty cool, wish I had a picture of it to show.  Hmmm… maybe I shall dig through some old photo albums later and see if I have any photos to share, but for now I’m going to continue on with my story…  Anyway, this latest project has nothing to do with either of those two things I just mentioned, or stained glass, I only mentioned them because it has to do with colored glass.  Well, with marbles, to be exact.  And I think I may have lost a few of my marbles working on it.  😉

Those of you who have been here with me for a while, know that in the summer months, I spend a lot of time in my garden and on the patio ~ it’s my little happy place.  ❤   Well, along the end of the patio, there is a small section of wood privacy fencing dividing our yard from the neighbors, that I thought would be perfect for this project to add a bit of whimsy and extra fun to my little happy place.

The basic idea for the project is simple ~ you drill holes in random places in the fence and then put colored marbles in them.  Easy peasy, right?  Turns out… not so much…

The main reason I call it a “fail” is because as I was drilling, the wood splintered and it looks terrible.  I think the fact that the fence is stained really makes the splitting more noticeable, so I plan to touch it up with a bit of stain, hopefully that will help hide it somewhat.  The other reason I call it a fail is because the marbles I used don’t really give it the effect I was hoping for, they may be made of glass, but it’s not really the right kind of glass.  Also, even though it’s the sunny south side that shines through, the sun is higher in the sky during the summer, so the marbles don’t catch the light quite right.  I guess I could go out there in the winter when the sun is lower in the sky to look at them, but rather than freezing my butt off, and trudging through several feet of snow, I think I’ll just find a nice window (in the cozy indoors) to set my colored bottles in.  Of course… I’ll have to find them first.  😉

 

But even though it ended up not turning out how I imagined it, it’s still more festive than a plain, ordinary fence.  Here’s the portion of fence with the marbles I’ve put in so far…

It’s hard to really see the various colors of the marbles, and I couldn’t get a decent close up shot, but this one shows them a little more…

And this one shows the splitting that happened when I drilled the hole…

This isn’t the worst one of the bunch, and you don’t even want to see what the other side of the fence looks like.  But I’ll have to wait and see, hopefully it’ll look better once I touch it up with the stain.  *crosses fingers*

 

My tiny garden is looking quite happy though, and I’m so very pleased with how well everything is doing!  I’ll share some photos with you in a future post.  Until then… hope you have a wonderful day, and may all your projects turn out just as lovely as you imagined.  Or even better!   😀

~

✿~Peace & Love~✿

All Good Things Must Come to an End…

One of those “things” being my garden.

I’ve never really liked that saying, and I don’t even believe it to be true.  Although, I suppose I must concede that there is a beginning as well as an end to all things.  Did I basically just contradict myself there?  Haha!  Oh well, I can say whatever I want.  Okay, let me rephrase… I don’t want to believe that all good things must come to an end.  😉

The entire growing season has been so weird this year, and it’s been hard to plan anything.  It’s November 4th and I’ve still got things growing out there, but with the temps continually dropping and the threat of snow in the forecast for this week, I figured I better get out there and put all of my garden stuff to bed for the winter.

But it’s hard when there’s still life happening out there.  Mainly, it’s my herbs that are still thriving.  They’re so lovely and aromatic, I hate the thought of yanking them out before their time.  I’ve got most of them growing in pots and so I got to thinking maybe I would bring them inside and try to keep them alive over the winter.  I’ve never done that before so it will be an experiment.  I like experiments.  Mwahahaha!  Besides what is there to lose, they would have died out in the cold anyway, at least this way I’m giving them a fighting chance.

There aren’t a lot of suitable spaces inside the house for bringing in a bunch of plants, but I cleared off a ledge along the basement stairway that may work out.  There’s a south facing window that brings in a lot of light, though not direct sunlight, but I don’t think they need direct sunlight when wintering them over.  I actually have no clue about that really, because I must confess that I haven’t read up on it.  At all.  Guess I should do that.  😉

Anyway, yesterday I brought in several of my pots and set them along that ledge.  I may also put up some sort of temporary makeshift shelving too, if I’m feeling particularly industrious later on.  But doing this has got me thinking that if I am able to winter them over and they do happen to survive, I may want to set up something more permanent for this type of thing in the future.

It has also got me thinking that I may need to invest in some more houseplants to enjoy during the winter.  I have a few, but not enough of them to satisfy my need for being around the lush green and growing things.  Oddly, although I have a green thumb in gardening, when it comes to houseplants… not so much, I often inadvertently kill them.  I’m not sure why that is.  Maybe I won’t be able to keep my herbs alive after all…

But here’s hoping!  😀

I was outside for hours yesterday tending to things in and around my garden.  It was supposed to be nice out, but it got super windy as the day went on, and that wind was blustery and cold.  {{{brrrr}}}

I gave all the plants I was bringing inside a good shaving.  I really hope I didn’t over-do it, they all look so sad now.  😦

My lemon thyme…

It’s such a sad looking little spud, but I’m going to use its fresh clippings to try out a recipe I found online for lemon thyme bars.  I love lemon!

~

And here’s my sad looking chocolate mint…

I’m going to dry the clippings from this and use them for tea.  I’m also going to dry the clippings I snipped from my peppermint and spearmint plants to use for tea as well.  I do love me some mint tea!  ♥

~

Speaking of what I love… I also snipped two of my lavender plants to bring inside, the wonderful aroma was pure bliss!  I really hope they survive.  Gosh I wish lavender would grow as a perennial here…

If this project works out, I maybe consider growing all of my herbs in pots so that I can bring them inside over the winter.  Just look at how lovely the oregano that I planted inside my vegetable garden area still is…

I considered digging this up yesterday and putting it into a pot so that I could bring it inside too, but I thought that would stress the poor thing out so much that it would be a lost cause anyway.  Besides that ledge in the basement will only fit so many pots as it is at the moment without any shelves.

~

I also don’t have enough room to bring in this berries and cream mint that I planted in with my peas…

But I may go out there and snip some of it so I can dry it out for yet more tea.  😉

~

That is, if I can get out there before it snows.  I’m really not ready for snow…

And neither are the trees.  As of the other day when I snapped this photo, you can see that there’s still lots of colorful leaves on the trees…

Although they may have blown off now with that wind we had yesterday.

~

I guess all good things really must come to an end, whether I want to believe it or not.  But you know what?  Life is a endless circle, and so with every ending comes a new beginning.  And with that new beginning, there will most certainly be more “good things” to enjoy.   And I really do believe that.  😀

Peace & love…

✿~Gardening is my therapy~✿

Garden Update

We’ve had a few pretty chilly days here recently, a clear indication that the green and growing things are coming to an end, but my tiny garden is still hanging in there.  Here’s a little update…

My peppers are doing fan-freaking-tastic and producing away like champs! Keeping life spicy.  😉

  ~

And although my yellow bell peppers are not turning yellow, I’ve still been enjoying them green, and there are tons of them of them out there!

~

I’m sure nothing will come from them at this point in the season, but my tomato plants are still flowering…

~

I harvested one of my last two remaining celery bundles the other day, and even though they’re a bit spindly and a little more bitter than I’d like them to be, we chopped some up and put it in a salad and it tasted great!

~

Oh, and my little red strawberry pot ~ still doing its thing! ♥

Is it just me, or are strawberries one of the most delightful and cheerful little fruits?!  😀

~

My herbs are all doing really well.  I’ve let most of them go to bloom now, and my pineapple sage is so pretty…

~

  Other things are blooming out there too, like the hydrangea I bought for my mom this past spring.  I have yet to put it in the ground though, because it got too hot too quickly outside for planting, so I left it in its pot until fall.  Well, it’s most definitely fall now, so I better get it planted before it snows.  October is not unheard of for having snowfall here in Minnesota, and with the weird weather we’ve had this year, it could snow tomorrow.  But lets not go there just yet, lets stay in the moment and enjoy the beautiful blooming things at present.  Look at this gorgeous color…

It will be interesting to see what the color does once I get it in the ground because this particular variety changes color depending on how acidic or alkaline the soil is.

Just look at how the spent blooms become a completely different color…

Still quite lovely, in my opinion.

~

The bees are still busy out there gathering nectar like their lives depend on it.  Which I suppose they actually do.  😉  I snapped this photo of our dog Teddy when he took some time to “stop and smell the roses” er um I mean marigolds, and we were afraid the bumble bee who was there might sting his little nose, but thankfully it didn’t.  So cute, looks like they’re saying hello…

♥

And not only the bees, but the tiny hoverflies are busy out there too, I captured this one visiting my Alyssum that I have in a pot on the patio…

~

The squirrels are busy as well.  I’ve seen this little guy scurrying around all over the place, digging frantically in search of buried treasure.

And then munching on his treasures amidst the branches of my tree…

Aside from a few instances, I’m so glad the squirrels haven’t been a problem in my garden this year.  Although, they did completely obliterate my sunflowers as they began producing seeds, but for some reason I didn’t really mind.  Hey, as long as they leave my veggies alone.

😉

Speaking of leaving, let me leave you with this…

Pumpkin!  ♥  I adore pumpkins!

  ~

✿~Gardening is my therapy~✿

Peace and love…

And pumpkins!  😉

Worn

Spent and worn, tattered and torn

her beauty fades with the autumn morn

© Julie Rehnelt 2013

~

A Leaf With Legs

On the quiet evenings of late summer, you can hear their urgent calls

beckoning a lover for the night as the darkness falls.

© Julie Rehnelt 2013

~

I love listening to the sounds of nature at night.  When I lived out in the country I fell asleep each night to the serenade of frogs singing, in the trees, in our pond, such a peaceful lullaby.  But being back here living in the inner city, I don’t often hear those gentle sounds at night, instead I hear traffic, people, loud music booming with a heavy bass…  It’s a whole different vibe.  But I’m learning to adjust.  And when I’m feeling particularly nostalgic for those peaceful country sounds, I set the sound machine that I have next to my bed to “summer night” which seems to do the trick.

Lately, when I go outside in the evenings with my daughter so she can let her dog out for his last potty duty (doodie hah!), we have been hearing the sound of a certain insect.  Out in the country, all the insect sounds at night tend to sorta run together, so we weren’t sure which insect this sound was coming from.

Then the other day we were cleaning out the garage in preparation for a garage sale (that is a year overdue!), we saw this “leaf” moving amidst the plants out on the patio…

Seriously look at it, it looks just like a leaf!  Hence my title “A Leaf With Legs.”  Can you see it?  What great camouflage!

I love it that even in our busyness of cleaning out the garage, the wonder of nature still managed to catch our attention.  ♥

~

I Googled it, and discovered it’s a Katydid.  And then I went on YouTube and looked up what Katydid’s sound like and sure enough that was the sound we’ve been hearing out there.  Fun to finally find out who was responsible for it…

Here’s what they sound like…

Not the prettiest sound, I know ~ especially not for falling asleep to.  And it certainly wouldn’t attract me if I was looking for a potential mate, but then again… I’m not a bug.   😉

~

And here’s a video that tells a little bit more about them…

I’ve said it before, but nature is so cool me!

~

And here’s one more video.  I subscribe to this user on YouTube and it was fun to find that he had a Katydid video.  There’s some foul language in it, so be aware, but I find it hilarious.  Maybe I have a weird sense of humor…

“Mm there is no such creature, dragons, dragons don’t exist, they’re not real.”

But leaves with legs are!  😉

~

And they’re pretty cool…

~