SHOW and TELL FRIDAY- from plain to pretty

I finally remembered a picture I saw in a magazine last month, with a cute (and easy- has to be pretty quick or I'll never get it done!) idea to make a vase of flowers even more special. Just find some coordinating ribbon (I have a box of ribbon in my crap - er, I mean craft room), double-stick tape, and go to it. You can see from the pics that it is pretty easy.

Here is a closer look - easy-peasy. Can't remember which magazine I saw it in, though.

Oh, the yellow and white flowers on the right are from my garden, the purple and white is strictly fake-o-flowers.

Happy Show and Tell Friday! Head over to Kelli's blog, There is no place like home, to join in the fun.

Learning about Trees, part 2

Maybe I am just finding something everybody else already knows about, but that is one of the great things about the internet- information is easily available. I am trying to learn the difference between pines, spruces, firs, cedars, etc, etc. Once you start looking, there are all varieties of evergreens that I have not paid much attention to, previously! I found the Arbor Day Foundation website, http://www.arborday.org/trees/wtit/ which gives an easy tutorial about learning to identify trees. Then it helps you identify more trees! If you are as ignorant about trees as I am, it is a good, basic resource.

So, we have a lovely tree in the front that I thought was a blue spruce, but now I think it is a white fir, a tree that is recommended as better than a blue spruce for our area (central Utah), because it has few pest problems, is a Rocky Mountain native, and has a nearly perfect 'Christmas tree' shape.

White Fir -Abies concolor

These pictures are all from my BYU tree tour, our white fir is big, but not THIS big! Here is a closeup of the needles -

Eastern Redcedar -Juniperus virginiana

This columnar tree is not a cedar, but a juniper. Hmm, I wonder what difference that makes? At any rate, it is the tree used to make cedar chests! I snuck in behind the bushes and smelled the tree, and sure enough, it smells great.

These last two photos are of the Douglas Fir, another Rocky Mountain native, which is also popular as a Christmas tree.

Douglas Fir - Pseudotsuga menziesii
Another fir tree. Short needles seem to be characteristic of a fir, long needles of a pine - ? I thought the cones were cool -

Next time I talk about trees, I'll try and show you the two larches (?) I think I have in our yard.

Learning about Trees

On a recent visit to Brigham Young University's campus (for a lovely women's conference), I scouted out some trees via the university's tree tour. They have over 100 tree on their tour, and a small booklet (available at the bookstore) with pictures and map to help you find and identify the trees. You can see the online version at http://pws.byu.edu/tree_tour/, if you are interested. I didn't have time to see ALL the trees on the tour, but I did see about a dozen or so.

Dawn RedwoodMetasequoia glyptostroboides

Next time I am 'in the neighborhood', I'll try and see more. This first picture is of a Dawn Redwood, a tree that was thought to be extinct at one time. This specimen was planted in 1962, and is about 70' tall. It is one of the oldest Dawn Redwoods in North America. Here is a closeup of the needles coming out.

Ohio BuckeyeAesculus glauca

Being from Ohio, I thought this was a bit ironic. BYU has played OSU in football, occasionally. (Thought I don't believe BYU has ever won!).

European Larch-Larix decidua

This Larch was a tree I particularly wanted to see, because we have one in our yard, and I wanted to make sure I was correct in my identification. I do not know much about trees, and so I am always trying to learn more. The Larch and the Dawn Redwood are the only two 'evergreen' trees that are deciduous, if I am remembering my master gardening classes.

Bald Cypress -Taxodium distichum

This is the last tree I wanted to show today, we (I managed to drag people along!) got a big laugh out of the description, which explains how the tree trunk is 'strongly buttressed, especially in wet areas with cypress knees, occurring only near water.'

Here we see the Sassy One
demonstrating how buttressing works on a nearby tree trunk.

So now I am wondering, how many colleges/universitites also have 'tree tours'? If you know of any, please let me know in your comments!

Green Thumb Sunday- visiting Temple Square

We live about an hour away from Temple Square in Salt Lake City, UT. It is a place many people visit - I am not sure if it is lovelier in winter, decorated for Christmas with millions of lights and outdoor nativities, or in spring time when the flowers are at their absolute best. At any rate, our family recently visited temple square, and I thought I'd share a few highlights -

I love the pinks and blues of this tulip bed.

These hanging planters are amazing -

here is a closeup.

More tulips -

And a star magnolia. There's lots more to see, let me know if you've ever visited Temple Square!

Show and Tell Friday - eeekkk!

I am posting early because I'll be out of town for a few days. Head over to Kelli's blog, There is no Place Like Home, to see what else is going on!

So, today I want to show you a little 'treasure' my DH picked up at a garage sale, unbeknownst to me. He then hid this 'pet' in the yard, in one of our flower beds, amongst the Japanese blood grass, to see if he could startle me.

A bit of background, we do live in an area where snakes live - we see them rarely, and most of them are harmless, except for the rattlesnakes. I do try to watch my step in the yard, and have been startled before by one of the cats sneaking up on me. So- a few weeks after this alligator was hidden, I saw it - just the snout, peeking out from the grass- I could tell it was large- (about 2 1/2 feet long) - and knew we didn't have any lizard-y type of animal of this size in Utah. Just the same, it freaked me out, and I started backing away, and yelling for DH, who happened to be in the front yard. He says he knew right away what I was yelling about. Well, he got me good, this time. I have yet to get him back! Any ideas out there?

We decided our plastic pet should help celebrate Easter with us.

Garden Bloggers Muse Day - May 1st

May arrives at dawn and kneels in prayer.

Her dress of green rustles as she rises to meet this day.

Feeling the warm spring breeze on her cheeks,

She smiles as she dances to celebrate the end of winter.

(Her work clothes cast aside for the day)

May is my favorite month , my birthday month! The weather is (usually) great, and I can get outside and plant and enjoy the flowers. May first is my grandmother's birthday. She was born 1 May, 1904, and would be 104 if she was still alive. She loved to garden, too.
Go to Carolyn's blog, Sweet Home and Garden Chicago, to join in for Garden Bloggers Muse Day!

Show and Tell Friday - a graduation gift

Sometimes when I look back, I realize that remarkable things happened to me that I took for granted at the time. I grew up in a small town, graduated in a high school class of about 90 kids, and all the girls were given a small jewelry box as a gift from a local furniture store. Looking back, I am surprised by the business' generosity . I love my little box, and it is filled with keepsakes, some mine, some my DH's things. My hometown had a showroom for this furniture store, which was based in an even smaller town farther east of us.

Here is a closeup of the inside of the box - it reads " Lane presented by Roark Furniture Company, Laura, Ohio".

Our family moved into town when I was 14. I had always lived on a farm up to that point, and quickly learned to enjoy some of the benefits of small town life. There were certainly more kids to play with, and even though I was one of the oldest to play, I loved the street games we played - does anybody remember playing 'mud gutter' as a kid?

We rode our bikes to the library - I loved going to the library and getting a new book whenever I wanted.

You could go up the block to the furniture store (Roark's) and see if they had an empty refrigerator or stove box, which you could drag home to use for all sorts of things - a play house, mostly. I guess it seems juvenile to play at 14, but I remember enjoying all these new ways to play 'in town' that I had never been able to do before.

that's my show and tell, don't forget to visit Kelli's blog to see who else is in on the action this week!

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY grape hyacinths

I am so pleased every time I see something 'new' blooming in the yard. I know grape hyacinths aren't that special or unusual, but it is so nice to be out in the yard, enjoying the warm weather, and spot something that wasn't there the last time I looked. I didn't even see these bud, and I have bunches of them all over the yard! Some people don't like these because they can be invasive, but that has not been a problem in my yard.
At any rate, I hope everyone is enjoying spring. Happy GTS!

Show and Tell Friday- art from a friend

I have a dear friend, Dona, who died of cancer a few years ago. Before she died she mailed me this painting she did, and a lovely large vase, which I've shown before.

She loved to paint, and did mostly abstracts like this one. Sometimes when I look at a beautiful sunset, Iwonder if Dona has a job up in heaven painting clouds. This would be a job I know she would love to do!

Blogger and I are having trou ble loading the picture in.I'll show it tomorrow if not today. -obviously I finally got this to work !

Don't forget to go to Kelli's to see what everyone else is sharing today!

bargain purses -dare to be different!

I carry fairly big purses. I have a lot of 'stuff' I like to have with me. That said, I also hate to spend much on them, so I check the clearance racks for deals. I like to pay $6 or less for a new purse. It has been a while since I found any at that price, but wanted to show you some of my recent finds.
These two purses are identical in style, just different colors. One of the things that tickled me was the label, which says 'Dare to be Different'. I'm just sayin', here, but these don't look

very 'au courant' to me- they look like something a MAM (middle-aged Mom) would use. That said, I really do like them, and am looking forward to using them. Here is my last

find. I think I'll change over to this one right now. Dare to be different, I always say!

GARDEN BLOGGERS BLOOM DAY -April 2008

Things are still pretty sparse around here, but we do have some things blooming. I've already mentioned the violets, and the crocuses, but the pasque flowers are popping out-

The hyacinths are starting to bloom, we have several colors, but this light pink one is a current favorite of mine.

The daffodils have just begun to bloom-look closer-

you can see a little spider peeking out!

This daff is called 'gentle giant' or 'lion something a-jig' , I can't remember which-

This scilla always surprises me- I forget it is there until it blooms. It has a nice sweet fragrance.

Happy Bloom Day! Go see Carol at May Dreams Gardens to catch up on everyone's gardens!

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY Springtime in the Rockies

When it's springtime in the rockies -
the weather can change so fast,
that one minute it's sunny and the next there is hail!

Our weather today has been fabulous, with a high temp in the 50's, but the last two weeks have been very cloudy, with a few 'five minute storms' hitting us.

Things are starting to bloom here, which makes each trip to the yard exciting. I wanted to show you something that I am particularly happy about- the violets are blooming, and this year I have 3- yes - 3 different colors of wood violets. Last year I saw some white ones, and some pink ones (which I had never seen before!) at a friend's garden, and she was good enough to share some with me. I have been on the lookout for white violets for some time, so I was very pleased to get these starts.

The beautiful blue/violet ones are always lovely.

Here is my white violet:

and the pink! The pic doesn't do the color justice.


I've seen yellow wood violets in the wild, and would love to have some of them, too. Any other colors out there that I don't know about?

Show and Tell Friday - another find from Tai Pan Trading

It's Friday again, and time for Show and Tell. Head over to Kelli's blog to check out all the action!

I found this cute dish at Tai Pan trading. I am thinking it is a chain, but I don't know if it is nationwide, or not. I do know that it is too much fun to go and walk thru every aisle, and see what kind of great 'stuff' they have.

I have a particular weakness for glass dishes. I bought this last fall, and haven't used it yet. I need to come up with something fun to do with it, any suggestions? Best of all, it wasn't very expensive!

Happy Birthday to Gretchen!

Time flies by, there is no doubt about that.

It is hard to believe that Gretchen (my daughter) is 25 years old today!

Hmm, a quarter of a century old... what else do I think of when I think of quarters:

the obvious:

a quarter moon ---
maybe a quarter horse???

Happy Birthday, Gretchen!!!!

X O XO O XOX OX O with much love from your mom

Green Thumb Sunday - spring bulbs

Spring is slowly coming along here in Utah. I saw these chinodoxia out my kitchen window today!

The crocuses have been blooming for a few weeks.

Here is a closeup of these oh-so blue flowers -
Happy GTS!

Show and Tell Friday - Parsnips from last year's garden

Parsnips have always seemed like one of those old-fashioned veggies, like turnips. Who EATS parsnips, or turnips, or kohlrabi? Well, somehow we tried them. I think our youngest daughter somehow got us started on parsnips. We like them, and I really only put them in a pot roast.

At any rate, last year was our second year to grow them. (and I planted them too close together, and then didn't thin them properly or vigorously enough). But then I didn't get them all pulled in the fall, as much out of laziness as anything, I suppose. But I knew we could see if the parsnips and the carrots that were left in the ground would overwinter like 'the books' say they will.
On one of my ventures into the back yard bog (spring run-off and snow melt), I grabbed a gardening fork and checked the parsnips. Yup, they were still there, and so I decided it was time to see if they were any good. You can see they were a muddy mess in the first picture (above).

So I rinsed and scrubbed them off outside, and then brought them inside for a second cleaning.

They don't look too bad! Then on Sunday we made Pot Roast with them. Here's my recipe for the crockpot, but it is nothing remarkable:

Crockpot Pot Roast

1 2-4 lb beef pot roast, chuck roast or something similar

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, pureed

meat tenderizer, if desired

1 pkg. pot roast, beef stew, or onion soup mix

onions, chopped

garlic, minced

carrots, chopped

parsnips, chopped

potatoes, optional - or serve w/ mashed potatoes

I usually leave out the potatoes, otherwise there isn't enough room in my standard sized crock pot.
I put the meat in the crockpot about 9 a.m., and add the meat tenderizer, soup mix, and pour the tomatoes over the top. Cook on low for about 3 -4 hours.

About noon or 1 p.m., I take the meat out of the crock pot and add the veggies. Put the meat back on top. Let it cook another 4-5 hours on low, and it is done.

This is great as a stew the next day, add some more veggies and cut up the meat.

So, that is it- the pot roast was great, the parsnips delicious, if small, and I'll have to dig up those carrots soon!

Go to Kelli's blog, home of Show and Tell Friday, to see what everyone else is showing today!