Tuesday, September 15, 2015

FAIR IS FAIR

Since we moved in to 822
Mr. PV had a vision

I rather like the way this looks, where the gravel meets the green grass,
but....

he had something else in mind all along



I have to admit these rock fences will be pretty cool with up and down lighting


so we made a fair trade
he gets his rock fences 

and he builds me a 
HUGE farm table





 lately I have been obsessed with 
bigger than Donald Trump HUGE farm tables



old porch posts from a house down the street
3 x 12 x 10 foot pine boards, some screws and 2 x 4

it's pretty amazing in all sincerity that Mr. PV and cute carpenter man
on a weekend
with a very small budget.....
can make it all happen

hoping the fence will have rock before October but I would never dream to ask


Tuesday, September 8, 2015

COOL

Mr. PV popped out with a good one


he said, and I could not agree more!!

COOL IS ALWAYS COOL


TRENDS


FOLLOW COOL 


Tuesday, August 25, 2015

NEW TO THE PARTY


As with Facebook, Pinterest and now Instagram, I am late to the party.

Are we all not beguiled by the lovely Anita at

for me, she and most of you as well,
are a source of inspiration with all the beautiful things you post
I love to look at pretty things!!!

so I asked my baby bo peep to clue me in on the fun
and it's like I couldn't get enough of the instagramming
and then I read the etiquette of it and it specifically states not to over gram on the instant

we ended summer with our annual learning vacation
spelunking through Southern New Mexico
with Betty

I'm pretty sure she's wishing for a road trip with Poppy and B

she keeps a notebook of our trips
this warning was given 30 miles from home...as we began!
thanks trooper Ed for not giving Mr. PV a ticket
and thank you Miss Betty for filling in the blanks

our first stop was Coach Been's house in Lubbock
they were gone on their own trip so this was a fun instagram surprise to them

it seems blue became the theme 
oh my the lovely colors of the magical enchanting 
New Mexico!!









If you could see how high this cliff was at the Blue Hole
you would be so proud that Miss Betty, 8, was brave enough to jump off of it

Tucumcari!  
The best Mexican food on the planet

New Mexico
we explored you for 8 days and still didn't discover you all

kind of like Instagram
so much more to learn!
like...how to add the gadget to the blog

as our summers come to an end and a new school year begins
I hope yours was the best summer ever and that your fall holds all the good things
we are feeling in the air these days







Wednesday, August 5, 2015

THE CUP WITHOUT A HANDLE



can you imagine???  I think you probably can relate to my friend Elizabeth at the 
Little Black Door 
when her 
Blue & White came crashing down

it made my mind go back in time to those days of broken stuff and a certain day 
when I had had just about 
E.N.O.U.G.H.
I actually threw that cup at the wall and scared the bajeebers out of Charles when I 
shouted 
"if you're going to break it Charles, then surely you can break it better than that!"

(he was 8...he was helping me by unloading the dishwasher...and broke yet...another treasure)
that night, when I looked in on his sweet little guy self, in peaceful sleep...I felt like such a horrible mother...did I actually throw a cup at the wall over his head???

I sat down, full of sorrow and wrote this poem...


The Cup Without a Handle


The picture frame had flowers
The cardinal had a crest
      The cup had a handle
  The broken trifle dish my best

   The topiary had roses
         Grown in my garden last year 
    The sofa was a handsome print
           But no one confessed to the tear

   The china baby had a head
With a bonnet of crochet lace
        One hundred dollars became nothing
             Especially without her face

     The carpet has only one stain
                   That’s significantly Orange Crush vomit
   The roller blade rut in the kitchen
           Has an iron imprint on it

   The lapis rabbit had two ears
  The dryer stores a dime
The cuckoo clock had two hands
     And once kept perfect time

      After years of collecting
             A passion becomes immense
      Yet with baby hands and clumsy feet
    It doesn’t make much sense

           This year’s vacation film
       Is in a camera without a winder
A chair without a leg
  Only serves as a reminder

That the trade of a treasure
Through different eyes I see
That nothing can compare
       To what only once will be….

     A giggle in the dark
A band aid on the knee
      A wet oatmeal kiss
A lullaby till three

A smile without a tooth
     A left foot in a right sandal
  A tree house on the ground
                And a cup without a handle

Now...here I am...all those years later...
I talked to Charles on the phone yesterday and he said to me
"mom, I gotta go...gotta situation here"
.... I heard a crash in the background as he hung up...his 2 year old had broken something...and I just had to laugh.

As I took these photos I realized 3 things

1.  Could I have not done a worse job glueing?

2.  Why did I save all the broken rabbits and not the rest?


3.  The hands that broke these treasures are a treasure to me...and I would not trade how they are today for all the world!

ooopsie...it's leg came off



Tuesday, July 28, 2015

BUTTERFLY RELEASE


 Baby Brother Ross

gets his college diploma

are you like Ross?
life got in the way of reaching your goals?
ups and downs and ins and outs
life happenings that put things on hold that don't seem important when life is happening

and then

there is a time and a place
and suddenly and easily
(NOT)
the goal is met

and so like at every normal graduation there is a celebration
where you have 

a Choctaw mother, a Navajo drummer and a bossy big sister
to bring it all to the real side

your celebration includes
Indian fry bread, a prayer drumming and a monarch butterfly release

whisper a wish, release the butterfly and know
that quirkiness in a family

is worth celebrating!

yay Rossie....you are what it is all about today...my butterfly wish?

for all your dreams to come true!!!








Wednesday, July 22, 2015

VENUS FLY TRAP


Lawdy!  

Mr. PV told me he got me a "surprise" the other day


clearly....this "surprise" was for HIM!

but for the record....I do that to him all the time...get "surprises" for him that are
clearly for me!


I have to laugh when I see his beaker of distilled water and his Granky's tweezers
he's like a mad boy scientist
catching bugs to feed it


Maybe you'd like to get a surprise like this too?




This is NOT my video..I found it on youtube...but it could be....sadly...it could be.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

THE ART OF CATCHING A SWARM

Since setting up the beehive, we have spent the entire late spring through summer
trying to lure a swarm of bees.

We are prepared!


even Miss Betty is ready to get in on the honey action

at the end of June....I gave up the lure and started trying to order a 
BEE PACKAGE
there were NONE to be found....
I just realized that bees have a season...
this is so they have time to ready a hive to feed the queen through the winter
If you want to order a bee package...name on a list in December for the next spring!!

I don't know how you feel about Facebook (I just do it for my HPO business)
but in this case it saved my day!

A friend who lives in the country posted she had this swarm located near a tank
 and needed it removed
most of the comments were about how to KILL IT!!!

NO! NO! NO!
can you believe Mr. PV canceled his golf game to help me catch it?

He gave me this antique bee smoker for my birthday last year
it still works!



It's really a one man job in a place so tight...
so I offered to document

the bees were so docile and busy building a hive they barely paid him any attention

really all he had to do was cut the very small beginnings of the comb and drop it in a box

making sure to capture the queen, the bees will stay with her...they only have interest in her

we wrap up the box, put it in the car and take it to town!

where our cute hive has been waiting patiently all summer

I added a bit of honey that I had saved from the wild hive at 822 when we first moved here


and Mr. PV...puts the bees in our hive



within a few short minutes...this jar of honey is gone!
(actually sugar water is recommended but this seemed to work)

I think they will like living here...
we do!


PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
if you come across bees....please don't kill them...you will be so surprised how many keepers there are around you to come get them and take them away....we need bees!