The new baby is hungry

The BLUEBIRD Babies that is..... not BLUEBERRY

Gotcha!!

I'm so glad my camera focused on the nest and not on the babies...them is some ugly babies out of focus I can't imagine what they would look like in focus. I'm thinking they are like hours old. I was so panicked looking in their house I only took one photo and then ran like hell when I seen them..... no wonder it's blurry. I'll wait a couple days and try it again, maybe they'll be a little cuter then.

Catmint and Blue Flax

Catmint is in the foreground and Blue Flax in the background.
Two of the many plants that are taking over the garden.

Pink Blossoms

The crab apple trees are so pretty right now, ours are finally getting big enough to enjoy.

Getting help

I am getting some help cleaning up this garden mess I have, thank you all very much. As you can see this is my front path that has plenty of "Hot Lips Turtle Head", "Snowdrop Anemone", "Obedient Plant", "Day lilies in lots of colors", "False Sunflower" and lots more that needs to be cleaned up so there is a path again. I have thinned the left side (new mulch) and have the right side to do yet. The rain has given the plants such a bright green color and I think they grew 4 inches since Monday.

I'll try to get photos of the other 5 gardens I have, those are just as bad if not worse than this. During one of my garden tours with my sisters a friendly gardener said to us "Don't get too many gardens that you can't take care of them". Silly lady..... that will never happen to me I love to weed and play in the garden all summer!! Oh boy did she know what she was talking about.

I don't have more than I can take care of but I do have lots of work to do ALL SUMMER LONG!!

We are good and May Color

We are getting so good at this decorating stuff. We all know what the other one is doing before they're even doing it. We finish each other's sentences and the out come is gorgeous. Our teamwork is fantastic and we love spending the time together doing something we enjoy.

I'm not a fan of the color blue but this is the third wedding we did in blues. There is something about blue and white that looks crisp and clean. I picked blue for my May color and I could not think of anything throughout these 3 weeks that was blue that would work for me until tonight. This is a polka dotted glass that I found at a second hand store for thirty nine cents and there were three of them..... gotta have them and take it from me, they look cool.

Crazy kids

Getting a good picture of my 3 crazy kids is next to impossible. The minute they get together they clown around. Since they make it totally impossible I collaged them together to show their true personalities.... gotta love em'

End of a long weekend

Today is the last day of our long weekend, it went by so fast with everything we had to do and everywhere we had to go but we still got lots done and could use another couple days.

The crab apple trees are so pretty right now, the setting sunlight was hitting these blossoms giving them a white outline and rich colors.

Happy Birthday Elly

Today my girl turns 6, it's hard to believe it's been six years since this surprise miracle entered our lives. Here she is with her 2 new wood dolls..... we used to have paper dolls, now they're made out of wood, you color them with markers, attach decals with glitter glue, and their clothes are magnets that attach at the belly button. What next?

Happy 6th Birthday Elly Girl, we love you.

Success

All those nights of crying and getting upset, all those nights of being able to do nothing other than homework, all those meetings with teachers and specialist, all those phone calls from school, all those testing days, all the tape recording, all the sleepless nights..... we cannot be more proud of this kid than we are right now.

Graduation Day

Today is a double graduation for us. Adam graduates tonight and Elly this afternoon. Adam is doing all the last week stuff at school, you can tell that's he's excited to be done with school. Elly is graduating for her entrance into 12 years of school and she is as excited as Adam.

Elly's program was so cute and what do you think the other graduate is doing at this time.... most teenagers would be hanging out with their friends, driving around looking for fun, doing their stuff but where was Adam???? At his niece's graduation program, he wouldn't of missed it. We are so proud of the young man he has become and so excited to watch the next phase of his life unfold. He's still living with us until fall when he goes to school so I have a few months to prepare but we are going to miss this kid!! Tears are falling already.

I have lots of graduation pictures but so little time. I'll try to get them up on the Hemmer Happening before the end of the weekend.

Girly Girl

Elly's birthday is Sunday and she's such a girly girl. Last year for her birthday I got her toenails polished and little flowers on them. This year she says to me "Grandma when am I getting my toenails polished" I didn't really think of doing that again this year but she had that sad puppy dog face so tonight I picked her up and we headed to the beauty shop for the start of her birthday present. After we were done she says "now Grandma can you buy me my high heels for my graduation tomorrow" What, Elly you can't wear high heels you will fall and you won't be able to run at recess. Well we went to the store and of course I told her I would buy her one outfit but not a dress, I got the sad eyes but we found three different choices to try on. She was in 7th heaven in that dressing room trying on clothes. She decided on one and then we were off to look at the flip flops since she already has the ones I bought her for Easter just about worn out. I walk through the isle and said "Elly I don't see any I like", she says "Grandma didn't you like those high heels back there". I tell her to show me and she points out a pair of flip flops with a itty bitty tiny heel on them. We try on a white pair with a flower by the toe and then a pink pair with big shiny jewels and of course she likes the big shiny jewels and wants them but her outfit is yellow so Grandma does what all grandmas would do...... I bought her both!!

Here's the new toe nail polish and with the white high heels. She's such a girly girl.

Can't decide

I can't decide which photo I liked best for today so just because it was a sunshiny warm day with 50 mph winds you get both.

This shot is what I had been planning for Lynn for a long time, she looks so cute, I think she's growing out of her clothes.




Lynn wanted a picture of her in a field. At first I didn't like the barn in the background but now I think it works with the whole country feeling.



Now do you know why I couldn't decide? If you want to see more check out Lynn's blog.

Tired momma

This little momma is getting tired. We had a really fun time taking our last blueberry photos. The next pictures I hope to take of this little girl should have a face and a name.
2 weeks from today, unless she's like her mommy and decides to come 3 weeks late.

Here she is SOOC



Just did a simple change to this photo....changed to a sepia tone and then erased to add the color back in the t-shirts and Lynn's cheek. It's so darn cute but the other 75+ are too.

Rascially Rabbits

You can play, you can run around with your brother, you can chase the birds, you can pretend that I can't see you...... but please little bunny stop eating my flowers!!!

I see you in there amongst my really nice looking Delphinium... no not tasty, I didn't say tasty!!

Yeah that's right you should be embarrassed and hide your eyes.


John wonders why I have been begging people to come dig what they want since I have way too many flowers but I won't share with a couple baby bunnies so do I have a deal for you. Come dig all the flowers you want and I'll even throw in a spunky little baby bunny.

I'm serious for the digging perennials, call me. Yesterday I threw 2 full wheelbarrows away and that's only in a 6' by 6' section, I have plenty more but hurry before mr and miss hungry get to them.

Blacky Midnight

If you lay under your fuchsia you can get pictures of the flowers. If you use your 50mm lens with an f stop of 1.8 you get awesome bokeh (out-of-focus points of light that appear as circles). This fuscia's name is "Blacky Midnight". I never buy a fuchsia but Blacky just sucked me in and I couldn't put him down, they're messy but I'll just have to pick up after him.

Please take me

So I've been suffering from a sore throat, sleepiness, weak, wanna cuddle on the couch illness for the last couple of days. I've been suffering through work and my nightly walks just because I know I need to. I'm not one to let anything get me down and keep me down so this stinkin sore throat is not gonna either. Did I mention that I feel like my throat is raw from coughing and me scratching it with my tongue, I am a long-time sufferer from allergies and I can twist my tongue around and scratch the inside of my throat... sounds gross huh, kinda gaggy even.

Well Friday night this illness got the best of me, I held down the couch sleeping from about 5:00pm until John basically carried me to bed, then I slept until 8AM waking up to a still raw throat and a very squeaky voice. I was ready to stay in the house all day and do nothing but sleep, like I didn't get enough of that already!!

This plan worked real well for most of the day until I got that phone call from my sisters that were going on a greenhouse road trip but as soon as they heard my voice they said "oh your sick, you won't want to go". Hummmm your right I shouldn't go, I should stay here and take care of myself. I should get better so I don't get the swine flu or lose my voice totally. I should stay home and sleep to keep my energy up so I'm not sick again next week, I shouldn't go out in the cold and visit those greenhouses and shop for fun plants.... nope your right I shouldn't go.

Are you crazy, your not going without me. I will lay in the backseat and sleep between stops, I'll suck on cough drops the entire day, I'll wear a scarf with my winter coat, I can't stay on the couch all afternoon, there's nothing on Home and Garden Channel, I promise I won't be crabby, I promise I won't want to go home early, I really, really want to go, I'm not really that sick, heck I think my throat doesn't even hurt anymore, I'm not sure why I slept for 15 hours but I'm better now, my voice always sounds like this you just haven't talked to me in along time.....I'll be good really I will, please take me!!!

And they did, they love me and I love them!

Lawn Care

It's time to mow the lawn again, John is a lawn guy and he stresses over how it looks all summer long. I'm allergic to cut grass so I usually avoid him totally when he mows or he gets it done before I get home. He gets full credit for keeping our lawn looking nice.

I remember when I was 8 or 9 we had to take turns mowing lawn and since there was so many of us and we only had a push mower we would make a line of kids and the first one would make a race track around the yard, coming back to the beginning and then the next kid would take a turn getting the race track circle smaller and smaller until the lawn was done. Can you imagine 9-10 kids sitting on the lawn in a row waiting for their turn with a push mower. John just cringes of the thought of the lawn being mowed in a race track. We also used to mow a kick ball diamond or football field in the grass, now that would throw John over the edge!! Good thing he enjoys this job, here he is mowing the lawn for the 2nd time already.

FYI - I didn't have my zoom lens on I had my little 50mm so he is really, really close to me, and my head is laying on the ground.... I was hoping he would stop.

Excuse me while I sneeze, ahhhhh-chooo

One happy kid

Today John and I gave Adam his graduation gift, I know it's a week early. When the girls graduated we gave them TV's, cell phones, professional curling irons and jewelry. All stuff that girls love, now boys are a different story, what can you get them that they will remember and now a days most kids have a TV and cell phone before they graduate from kindergarten. So we thought long and hard about what to get Adam and we decided on something that he has wanted for about 3 years now. I wasn't as eager as John was to purchase this but I cannot stand in front of something my son will treasure for his lifetime. This morning I wrote him a note to leave school early and meet me (address) at 2:00. I'm thinking he was a little scared but extremely excited, John got there about 20 minutes later and the first needle went in about 10 minutes after that. I gave him a kiss good-bye and went back to work, this was something his dad and him needed to do together.

Here he is showing off his gift, I had a hard time fitting him in the frame, even though his expression here doesn't show it he's busting at the seams.

Now before I show you the close up I have to tell you that this is something Adam has wanted but never talked about. He searched and searched on-line until he found what he wanted and then saved it as his wallpaper knowing that when he could afford to get it done, he would be ready. I asked him a couple times over the years why he wanted this and he would reply "because I do". He was only 5 when he cousin Jason died, Jason was his best friend. There are not many days that he does not think of him. We all know that Jason has been with Adam through all his tough times and during his fun times. He's guided him into a polite, humorous, very likable young adult and now Adam has Jason's memory close everyday.

No tears girls, if you could see how proud this kid is with his symbol of his love for Jason it would make you smile.

Here's a close up

Reflection

Bring the outside in

When we have cold windy days you have to bring the outside in. For years I hardly ever brought my flowers into the house, I think it was because of the kids and my allergies. My sister Starla brings new flowers in every Saturday and my Sister-in-law Jeannie always has flowers in her house, so about 2 years ago I decided to try it and see what happens, if one of us is miserable than I'll know not to bring that one in again. So far it's only Lilacs, Hibiscus and Peonies that make me sneeze uncontrollably so the rest of them are in the house. It's really fun to see what new vases I can find and where to put them.

SOOC

I don't have time to learn any new things on Photoshop so let me teach you one of my tricks that I do with almost every photo.

Open your photo in Photoshop Editor

Do your color adjustments or whatever else you want to do

Add a duplicate layer (Layer - Duplicate Layer)

Change the blending mode to Multiply (your photo will look too dark, don't worry we'll fix that)

Click the Rectangle Marquee Tool

Draw a rectangle inside your photo about .50" from the edges

Right click

Click on feather

Change pixels to 180 and click ok, or hit enter

hit the backspace key

Your photo now has the darker edges with the center being light. It adds a very slight drama and accent to the center of the photo. If you want the edges to be darker hit CTL J as many times as you like, that will repeat the process. Don't forget to flatten your images after you have the look that you want.

The same photo with my darkened edges. This simple trick gives the photo a little more dimension or life. Or is it just me?

Foggy Morning

This morning the cold air and the warm water made cool fog. On my way out the door I grabbed my camera just because every time I go by this pond on these mornings I wished that I would have brought it along. This is what I see on those foggy morning as the sun is just coming up.... and I have to go to work.

Someday I'm gonna take a vacation day, get up early and drive around with my camera. The perfect time of day to take photos is within 2 hours as the sun is coming up and again 2 hours as the sun is going down.

Try it sometime, take a photo as the sun is coming up and again at noon and see the difference in the colors. Then if you want to complete the cycle take the same photo again as the sun is going down, you'll be amazed at the difference in the colors of everything. The sky is bluer, the reflections are brighter, the trees are greener and there's just glow to the entire photo.

This morning was almost to late, the fog was lifting already. I'll have to throw the camera in the car more often, I might be late once in a while..... shhhhhh don't tell! wink, wink

Happy Mother's Day

It's so much fun to have children, they bring over lunch, do the dishes and bring me presents, but the best thing they bring me are grandchildren.

Ava

Ava came to visit us today, she was so unhappy that I had to take pictures of her crying, but you know me I like crying baby photos. She is so little, I'm used to the big ole' beast Garrett that she felt so tiny. She is 1 month old today and has the prettiest complexion ever.

Tree Peony

John bought me a Tree Peony for Mother's Day. It should be a really cool plant in a few years, it will grow to 5 foot wide and 54" tall with at least 100 flowers blooming at the same time. This one is deep purple, the gal at the nursery was upset that we were buying it, she wanted to watch it bloom. Now I just have to find the perfect spot to plant him.

Dinosaur

There's a dinosaur living near us. The neighbor found him while plowing the field, he roared so loudly that it shook our house. He is so old and has been living underground for so long that he's turned as hard as a rock. He huge, this is just his tail.

They dug a bigger hole today and put him further down in the ground so the farm equipment would hit him. I begged for them to transplant him into my flower bed but with his size and the hole that would be left in the field that wasn't possible. This would have put my sister Sharon in tears. Wash all that mud off and this would be a beautiful solid turquoise color, it brings a tear to my eye as well.

What a view

We took a 4 wheeler ride tonight to check out the rock pile status. The mud seems to be washed off and the rocks are so pretty. The view from this field is amazing, you would never know it by driving by, but you are up pretty high up. Here's our house from this view.

Of course rocks take center stage.... remember I'm a rock nut

Texture addiction

I am in love with textures on Photoshop Tuesday. I tried to make changes to this photo without using textures. I had my final draft ready and then I thought..... let me just see what a texture looks like on here, now I can't remove it. These girls are Lynn's friends from Oregon, they now live closer and drove here for Lynn's shower. We had the pleasure of spending Saturday afternoon with them so of course I have to take them on a mini photo shoot, last time it was their back sides now you get to see their faces.

SOOC

I brightened the photo, gave them a tan and removed "K's" stray hair from the hurricane winds we have here on the south pole. I then added a texture and darkened the edges and then lightened the center.

May Flowers

The May flowers are covering the woods. My nieces little girls followed me into the woods yesterday and we stepped on hundreds of may flowers to get there but when we turned around to head back the littlest one screams with glee and bends over to pick one of the flowers. She was so excited that she found a flower..... she was too cute and made me giggle. Tonight we went back to the woods to check for turkey so I took my camera to capture "K's" flower.

Blueberry Shower

Baby Girl Frey is getting more stuff. Here's the cute momma and her adorable cake.

Little Fire

Today we had a little fire down the road. The neighbors bobcat was on fire in the field so we all watched the excitement. Elly expressed to Adam that she couldn't believe a bobcat was on fire since they live in the wild. Adam tried to explain that it wasn't an animal bobcat but a tractor type bobcat. She says "no really, bobcats live in the wild!!" Adam says can someone please explain to her what's on fire? She turns and looks at us, puts her hand on her hip and says "Seriously, bobcats live in the wild". We giggled so hard at her, then she got mad and went in the house. Oh that kid cracks me up.


Here's two of the firetrucks that rescued the poor burning bobcat. By the time they got there the flames were all done and it was just black smoke.

Hurray, Hurray

the 1st of May, Outdoor .. screwing .. starts today. Once you hear this jingle you will never let the 1st of May pass by again without singing it.

Michelle bought me a yellow rose plant for my birthday and it's beautiful, I can't wait to put him outside and watch him bloom all summer long.