When I’m supposed to be working

Yes this is what I’m doing instead of getting orders done,

cleaning the greenhouses,

 opening up boxes of merchandise

that I ordered in January….

and a multitude of things that I won’t keep listing.

You all have similar lists I’m sure….well maybe not exactly the same but lets just say lots to do.

Anyways this is what I do when I want to avoid working.

Photoshop!

I had this photo that I took last Fall after visiting a perennial nursery.

While driving home I stopped to visit with the cows on this farm.

Most of them ran the other way as soon as I came 

up to photograph them,

except this one.

The grass there must have been extra good in that spot:)

or she’s just more friendly.

It wasn’t a great photo.

so I thought I would try a texture layer from

Kim of Kim Klaussen’s Café

I did mask off some texture off of Bessie

(Image from Dawn of The Feather Nest)

Then after seeing this post

from Modern Prairie Girl

I decided I’d try something.

I know this looks like she’s sitting too close to Bessie

but I was trying out the idea and didn’t have time to hunt

for something better.

It still didn’t look right so I went back to unpacking.

An hour later I decided to add stronger texture layer

from Shadow House Creations.

I was this close to scrapping the whole thing.

but what’s one more layer going to hurt?

I need more practice and with a better image but for a quicky I’m happy with it.

What do you do when you need a break???

besides blogging : )

Relishing

These hydrangeas had been in my kitchen since late Summer

….or maybe it was Fall?

Now that I think of it I may have picked the last of the good ones

right before my niece came to visit last October.

I wanted to brighten up the house with a few blossoms from my own garden.

They had given me pleasure for a long time but now they

had faded too much from being in the sunlight in front on my 

kitchen window

and it was time to let them go.

The water was still in the bottle all murky and full of sediment.

As I dumped out the water and was about to throw them in the trash I noticed green shoots

and roots had developed.

It’s not uncommon for that to happen and we root hydrangeas all the time….

just not this way.

So I will keep them a little longer….

It made me realize that seemingly imperfect things are often what can give us the most pleasure.

I just noticed that when I wrote my watermark on the last photo I

typed my name wrong.

grren instead of green.

Opps

I guess I will relish in my imperfection!

Joining Texture Tuesday

with Kim Klassen

I wasn't going to post these photos after I really looked them
over.....just too washed out, kinda blah and I think I took them on a cloudy day.


Then I remembered the point I was trying to make.....
it's OK to be imperfect.




so there you go.....
smile

Wisteria are you from?

Last Friday as I was racing to the bank before they closed.

I wasn’t really racing….

just getting there with minutes to spare…..I do that all the time

they must love me: )

I drove by one of my favorite houses…..

I call it the Wisteria house…..

George had mentioned it looked more gorgeous then normal so I wanted to make a point to notice it.

I even went back to get my camera……..

thought you might like to see it too.

I hadn’t even realized what a wonderful gate they had with initials and all that crackly paint.

I guess it pays to get out of the car.

E B Y

and RWD

I wonder what the names stand for and why they are different?

……George doesn’t know who lives here either

…..and he wonders why I care

….I wonder too…but

I may actually know who lives here. Awhile back someone

told me that Mr. G ( don’t want to mention his real name…just in case)

had the most beautiful azaleas and rhodies

and that he had them all along the side of the driveway too.

( I didn’t take pictures of those)

I think this could be his house

but the initials don’t match

  

The azaleas are fantastic but the real star for me is the WISTERIA

                                   

I’ve always wanted a wisteria but you can’t plant them just anywhere.

They can be pretty aggressive growers and can overtake a small arbor.

I often talk customers out of buying them when I realize what kind of support they plan on using.

I can’t tell you how many people ask me how they can kill theirs: )

they’ve tried everything.

              

We had one root itself out of the pot and into the gravel in one of your greenhouses.

It made it’s way clear across one side but it never flowered. It really needed to go.

Later we chopped it down really hard and it flowered beautifully that season. I thought wow this is pretty cool I guess I can have a wisteria. I waited to see it again

the next year but George informed me that he had yanked it out and  killed it.

What??? I was really disappointed.

apparently you can kill them.

              

                    
   

       I played around with Kim Klassen Cafe textures on a few of these images…..

    using warmsun.

   Thanks Kim

      it was a rainy day today so that was an appropriate one to use.

       Rainy days gives me time to play so I’m not complaining.
The sun will shine again.

******

Prayers  and thoughts go out to the people of Missouri

in this latest crisis.