MORE BEE MAGIC

I recently found an incredible blog Roses and Other Gardening Joys  that is fun to read, especially on the freezing nearing end of February.

When I first looked at it, I scrolled down and clicked on a photo of a muscari because..well they are just so pretty!

Remember this photo from last February?...our muscari are just peeking through the latest snow!

But HollyGarden's blog was about her grandfather's bees!  I must have read it 5 times!  Bees?  BEES!!!  They are just all around me all the time.  So I re-posted the story below (originally posted last summer) and made a photo show of the day Jason the Bee Man came to my house.  I don't know his last name and so he is saved in my phone as Jason the Bee Man.  I am so excited for us to finally get our yard soon so that Jason the Bee Man can bring me back a real domestic hive!

TRUST THE BEES

I'm gonna be here for you baby~~I'll be a man of my word~~Speak the language in a voice that you have never heard~~I wanna sleep with you forever~~And I wanna die in your arms~~In a cabin by a meadow where the wild bees swarm~~And I'm gonna love you like nobody loves you~~And I'll earn your trust making memories of usKeith Urban

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeXWkN_EHF4

When I was a little girl, I would walk or ride my bike by this house and think it was a rock castle and if I could live in it I would be a princess.

About 7 years ago, hubby called Mrs. H and told her we’d like to buy her house. She is a character and directly told him, "No…you can deal with my son when they carry me out of here in a pine box." And then said "Goodbye!"

Last week, hubby said to me "You will never believe who called me"…K H…his mother is moving in with him and would we be interested in purchasing her home.

Maybe she wasn’t so mad after all.

We left for a weekend visit and when we got home, there was a message to call and make arrangements to see the house.

That night I dreamed that we planted the back fence with lavender and had honeybees.

When I called the next morning, she invited us to come look that day around noon. She showed us all through the house, upstairs, downstairs…and as we were stepping out in the backyard, she warned us…

"Don’t go near the picnic table…there’s a beehive covered with wild bees."

That’s when I knew the house belonged to us...a very long time ago.

The bees for us go back a long way....certainly before the lyrics of the song.

When we were talking about needing a contract I said…don’t worry…trust the bees…they are better than any contract you could ever have.

NEARLY GREEN

Something about forcing bulbs makes a girl believe that spring is just around the corner

and that makes me feel like spring cleaning

I haven't lived in this house long enough to spring clean and besides we are about to begin Phase II of construction so that kind of cleaning will do me little good.  Much of the construction will be going on at a different place and so won't really affect us like what we were living in this time last year.

B's Granky gave us his buffet to match the china cabinet we purchased at his great grandmother's auction.

They kind of have an Asian influence to them.  Needs some green...do you agree?

The diamond beveled windows create the most lovely shadows on the wall--morning or night

This is a mirror not a painting.  The mirror captured the image of the painting on the adjacent wall

In the sunny kitchen window are some spirited daffodils that turn to the morning sun.  The frozen ground is such a contrast.  The bulbs give me a reason to believe someday soon I will be hosing off that drive on the hottest of summer days...in my bare feet! brrrr!

I'm really crazy about this whole burlap thing!

B gave me some orchids from Hawaii for Valentine Day

I hope this kale will make it through the winter after all...I have just the right place for it

New palm fronds...yay!  Something about forcing those bulbs!

mmmm....the fragrance of this purple hyacinth!

I purchased a blooming ginger plant in Hawaii....in honor of my new favorite martini..

the ginger martini...tasty!

My bff gave me this sweet little cedar for Christmas...I am so proud I have kept it alive and even growing!

Forcing bulbs...and taking photos of growing green...a good thing to do on a winter day with the high in the 20's.

It gives a girl belief!

THIS I KNOW

I can't be certain how many 5th and 6th graders wore this before me

but today it's mine

and so is he.

Yay!

KISSING TIME

Give me a kiss and to that kiss a score;

Then to that twenty; add a hundred more;

And thousand to that hundreds; so kiss on,

To make that thousand upon a million;

Treble that million; and when that is done,

Let's kiss afresh; as when we first begun.

Robert Herrick from To Anthea oh my Anthea

L.O.V.E.

It's half past kissing time and time to kiss again

The little fun I'm having with my scrabble game applies to everyone who would look out my kitchen window

One of the sweetest books I have ever read...

You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss,

A sigh is just a sigh;

The fundamental things apply

As time goes by.

THE SWEET ROOM

Last night I received a text from Coach Been.  It was a photo of Miss Mattie and her puppy in front of a roaring fire.  His message said, "Aren't I lucky?"

I told Miss Mattie this morning he was my #2 Valentine and responded to him that we were all very blessed to love each other.

In honor of Valentine's Day, here is a special look at Coach Been's new room at 822

It is filled with angels, nudes and suggestive reading because Betty needs a cousin.

Besides a few things I already had, this was a gift from a friend and became my inspiration for how I wanted this room to feel.  Soft~colors and otherwise.

This used to be in my bedroom.  I adore this precious face.  When I finally get a bedroom, it may go back there, but for now it is perfect in here.

I have not been able to come up with just the right headboard but this has some potential

Another angel that is here now but will be to die for where I have planned for her to finally be

ok... the other NUDES

from one of my favorite artists Kader Boly

a very old print that will soon have a better frame...I love this old print because it features both a nude and an angel

same here...I LOVE Cupid and sometimes I work for him when time and season allow

This vintage print is dreamy

and speaking of dreamy...these curtains remind me of a wedding dress and we have one beautiful wedding dress in our future!

remember I mentioned suggestive reading?

notice that precious pouting photo of Mattie when she was about 6

we hide this book under the top one on the nearby nightstand

When we first purchased 822, Mattie told me she loved this gold foil (from the 60's) wallpaper..so it became the focal wall in her room.  I can't quite get the bedding right..but this is here for now.  I am seeking old linens, lots of fluffy down, subtle colors and for sure that angel vibe!  Be looking for a photo that has these wings with Coach Been's face shopped in.

I'm thinking the angel wings will make a good replacement for a headboard until I can find one.

It has to be just the right thing for this room..and I have looked a lot of places!  Someday at some auction I will find an entire bedroom suite that has lots of soul.

Again..this bedding seems too "colorful" but up close it's pretty sweet

ribbons

birds

flowers 

and a gazebo in which to kiss

And speaking of soul...I think the way this photo turned out is just amazing!  The glass caught the morning sun reflection and it seems as though the angel's bow has fire.

What a precious little cupid waiting for instructions...I just love love!

PETS

Today I was laying awake waiting for the sun to come up and for some reason remembering our rabbit gone bad. Actually, it was Mattie's rabbit gone bad.  One day she came home with the cutest little bunny complete with all that goes with it and after a while that little bunny was much more like a puppy.  It would roam around the house and jump up in your lap for you to pet it.  It was so sweet and I really liked having it around.  Then we left for the weekend and when we came back, that rabbit was m.e.a.n.

So, as I was waiting for the sun to come up, I started thinking about maybe getting another bunny.  That made me start thinking about all the unusual pets we've had over the years.

Raising ostriches was a very strange time of my life.  It's hard for me to believe that at one point all I did was hatch chicks.

That's when I met a couple in Amarillo that were "rehabilitators".  I walked into their store one time and was met by a baby deer wearing a diaper.  They gave us Peanut and Poncho..two baby squirrels that had fallen out of their nest.  We raised them until they were old enough to release.  They were so precious and very tame.

Mixed in with the normal dogs and cats there was 

Billy the goat..he peed on my green chintz chair and that was the last of him.

A baby calf to feed with a bottle..I still can't believe I allowed these animals in my house..at least they weren't snakes!

A sweet little ferret that also roamed all over the house.  When we moved I found all kinds of things in the nooks and crannies of Miss Berry's house.

But who I miss the most is Lola and Mr. Cutie Pie...the loveliest pair of peacocks!

Lola was older than Mr. Cutie Pie and had a clutch or two of eggs.  They soon learned to fly and would roost in the giant pecan tree in the backyard.

It became apparent that they would have to move to the country when we would see them sitting on our neighbor's porches...by the door...waiting to be fed peanuts.  Several of the neighbors fed them on a regular basis.  One day I was in a hurry, driving home, behind a car and irritated that it was nearly stopped in the street...as the car went on by and I pulled into my own drive...I realized the car in front of me was waiting for a peacock to cross the street...yikes!

So...off to the country life.

Pets are interesting...oh yes...I forgot...how could I forget Bonito?

I walked into the house one day and B was cooking at the stove and this precious little bird was sitting on his shoulder while he was cooking.  He had a cage...he didn't actually live in this glass and silver dish...that was just B being funny.

hmmm...maybe we should consider another llama?  No wait...they spit...and come to think of it...never mind a pet consideration...they ALL POOP!

NAKED SNOW ANGELS

When is the last time you made a naked snow angel?

Yesterday I missed a perfectly good chance but would never consider doing this alone.  One might think you were kooky if you did it alone!

What makes a good chance?

For one...a good deep snow with huge beautiful flakes

next...a nice warm roasty toasty fire

big fluffy towels warming in the dryer

a hot shower ready and waiting (a hot tub would be even better)

ice cold salty dogs with fresh grapefruit

a fun guy to do this all with

and don't forget your camera but beware of the slippery slopes that might blur the image of your proof you actually created a naked snow angel.

No weenies allowed!

JACK

Yesterday my mother called to tell me that Jack would probably not make it through the night.

I wonder if he did?

Jack....was married to my grandmother's youngest sister Jo. Jack and Jo had Debbie who had long red hair and could play the piano.

When I went to church with my grandmother, I sat with Jack and Jo while my grandmother played.   She always had mints and Jack always had a wink.

Through my young eyes, they were very old.  Like 100.  Jack had wavy hair with brillcream and Jo had pointy glasses and red lips.

Today I realize they were not old at all..in fact younger than I am right now.  Today I  imagine they had a life.  A life that was fun and interesting and much more than I knew.

My mother told me that Jo had begun to forget and even called the police on Jack as an intruder in their home.  This is what the vow means "for better or worse".

Jack is 90.  If I live to be 90, that means I have about 36 more years of a fun and interesting life.  I would imagine that 6 year olds think I am about a 100.  I have pointy glasses when I read and red lips. B has nice hair and black shiny shoes.  I imagine 16 year olds think we are about 100.

When they get to be our age, they will understand that this is really the age life gets interesting.  Good friends, good food, good wine, travel and maybe a bit of wisdom from lessons learned along the way.

My sister, Jack's niece, just bought herself a sparkly lace dress.  I won't tell her age, but she has about 39 good years left for a fun and interesting life.  I would imagine 6 year olds would be surprised that someone 100 like her would even care about a dress to twirl in.

But she did.

And now I know...so did Jack and Jo.