Loving Summer

What could speak more eloquently of summer than a fresh bouquet of

wild Sweet Peas and Queen Anne's Lace, picked from the wild grass of a vacant lot?

Even the walk and the "picking" was a summer adventure. It was a time to reflect and explore.

Queen Anne's Lace, exquisite beauty,
truly a work of art.

Another work of art is YOU. Yes, you dear sweet blog friends! Those of you who are so faithful to comment, email and call, I just want you to know how much I appreciate it and I do not take it for granted. So while I've been living all of the summer adventures our life has presented, you've been right there and I just want to give you this "Sweet Pea Bouquet" of friendship. You are special, an exquisite work of art like the "Queen Anne's Lace", beauty in each fragile petal!

Love, Rachel

One Step At A Time

Have you ever thought about
how inconvenient life would be without stairs?

No way to go up or come down without jumping, climbing a ladder or simply doing without! What would life be without stairs?

As crazy as it may sound, I'm thankful for stairs, yes...just plain ole' stairs. And in life...well...just one step at a time, will get me from point A to point B. I know that's not a hugely philosophical thought, just a reminder to myself for today, to be thankful for the step I'm on!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, ya'll!

Love, Rachel

I love paintings of children, or figurines depicting children...I've shown you some of them in previous blog postings. So when, through a series of events, this pair came into my possession, I have displayed them with pride. And I didn't even need to spray paint them white!! Imagine.

I think they are adorable. In the past when I've seen this pair, I thought it was a boy and a girl, a bust silhouette of Pinkie and Blue Boy, but hhhhmmmm, now I dunno. One of my sisters has a pair, maybe we could get them all together for a visit! Well, that was just a thought. And I'd just love to know what was going through the creative mind of the person who originally thought to sculpt an image and stop it right there...we'd seen enough. Maybe if I was the one with the hammer and chisel in hand pinging away at a piece of marble I'd understand, huh?

We're all a work in progress. Can't stop short!

Happy Tuesday!

Love, Rachel

It's No Secret

It's no secret. I'm pretty sure these are mushrooms of some kind. In our area people hunt for Morales (I have no idea if that is spelled correctly...maybe blogger does). That means they go on a mushroom hunt. I've never been on one, a mushroom hunt, that is. I should put that on my life list of things to remember to do. It sounds interesting...or fun...or is it both?
Anyway when the atmosphere and conditions are such that the Morales are thriving (I suppose that's how it happens...sounds good anyway) it's time for the morale hunters to do their job. Armed with a paper sack, hiking boots, a long bladed knife away they go in the cover of secrecy. Yes, secrecy, and I suppose they also are wearing a full line of clothing, however, I don't know, for absolute certain, if they take a paper sack and long bladed knife...my imagination just suggests to me that those would make the hunt more endurable and profitable.
Now back to the secrecy part...from what I understand these mushrooms grow in the wild. But the locations of the best mushroom patches are heavily guarded family secrets, passing from generation to generation. I have a friend who found a "NEW" patch. (Until a neighbor accused him of stealing THEIR mushrooms and the mushrooms were to be returned at once! How was he to know that the newly discovered patch was their quietly guarded generational secret?) Oh great joy! He was able to harvest 5 pounds of mushrooms. Just think of the fried feast. Yes, feast! You see, a Morale hunter batters and fries these mushrooms and eats them. I'm not sure if they share or not! I've never eaten them either. AND I have no idea what a Morales looks like, but just in case "these (in the photo above) are they", (probably bad grammar, but I wanted to say it that way anyway!!!) it is NO secret. I can tell you exactly where they are!

So now if you aren't totally confused by this whole story, I have just 3 questions for you?
...Did I make you hungry?
...Wanna take a woodland hike?
...Make a list of mushrooms to research?

And for some unknown reason, I think maybe I'm about to decide that these mushrooms creep me out. Well whatever you decide to do with your summer Monday, I hope it is happy.
Love, Rachel

P.S. I still don't know if I have spelled Morale correctly (I'm just totally in the dark about these amazing fungi) but if you're a mushroom hunter...you will be able to correct me...you know, oh, yes, I know you know! This has been so fun to write about...off to research!

Blessings and Love

This fabulous brick and stone edifice with magnificent stained glass windows is the home of a Church in our town. It is a half block from our "romantic porch". I took this photo from there. Each day at 10 AM, 12 Noon and 4 PM beautiful music comes from the bell tower. When I have an opportunity to hear the music, I stop and pause to see if I know the words to the tune they are playing. Many times after the last musical notes have floated to an inaudible vibration, the words continue to run through my mind tracing a path across my thoughts as I remember blessings and love.

This week the words playing and replaying were, "Oh God, our help in ages past...our strength in days to come."

Have a blessed and love fill day!

Rest, enjoy!

Love, Rachel

It's A Manx...cat that is!

Yesterday we saw this amazing creature sniffing around the spot where I put food out for stray animals...string animals as they seem to be called in our household. No, I don't know why "string". It appeared to be a cat with an incredibly interesting color, a long slender neck and large prominent ears AND no tail. See NO TAIL...isn't that interesting? We quickly gave it a tuna sandwich, though the "tuna" was actually chicken! Does that make sense? Oh well, never mind...now there you have the answer to the question in the post below. It is a stray Manx Cat.

Thanks for guessing along with me.

Love, Rachel

Yay! It's Saturday!

Take a guess. What is this? I'll be back later to see what you think! Have a fun Saturday!

Love, Rachel