Let Me Sleep In !

 Zzzzzzzzzzzz.................

 ....zzzzz ?

Some of us aren't early-birds , please , please, pretty please ...let me sleep in !?!

Love Made Visible

 My husband made these dove & scroll adornments for many of the animal homes he has built for me over the years. This one is on the dove cage in the herb garden. He had already built me a large dove-cote, but he did this for me because he loves me.

 This dove scroll is on the goat house he built for me , and he really didn't even want goats.

 The dove cage in the herb garden. The white doves stand out so beautifully when all is green and the vine maples are in leaf. Stunning in the autumn when the vine maples are red and yellow. Now you can hardly see the white doves against the snow. Their cooing is comforting to me. Often they sound like they're laughing . Sometimes the wild doves will land in front of this cage, eat the seed my doves have scattered outside the wire, and they appear to be having a chat with one another.

 

 The white dove & scroll is on the large dove-cote we can see from the house. It is lit up inside so we can see it in the evening too. The brown scroll is part of the kiwi arbor my husband built in front of the dovecote. the kiwi began climbing it this past summer and we hope it will provide a shady arbor to sit under when it gets unbearably hot in July and August. The anticipation of fresh kiwi fruit is exciting too.

 The door to the dove-cote with the grape arbor my husband built in the foreground. The grapes did give us a lot of shade and fruit this past year , and this arbor mirrors the kiwi arbor.

Everywhere I look around our home, around Cedar Pond I see the hard work and love my husband puts into all he does here. I have always believed this saying to be true "Work is love made visible", and know my husband loves me very much !

Awakened By Silence

 I love the silence

 of snow here in our little world at Cedar Pond.

Awakened by quiet white silence and glittery powder on a Sunday morning. The silence of new snow.

Pink Tea-Cups For My Tea

 It is snowing outside . I am in between wool projects, my sheep have not yet begun to lamb. I need not leave the house except to feed the animals. I decided to get out all my lovely pink teacups , bake a  batch of sugar cookies using freshly gathered duck eggs & butter . Baked with pink sugar sprinkles , they look to me as tasty as they are ! Oh the fragrance of freshly baked sugar cookies , there is no artificial scent that matches it , though many try.

 Royal Grafton Bone China ~ made in England

I am linking with these ladies for Tea-Time Tuesday :

 

• Terri at Artful Affirmations *
• Martha at Martha's Favorites *
• Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage *
• Bernideen at Bernideen's tea time Blog *

Tea & Crafts With the Cats

I poured myself some tea to sip from my Gracie Chintz china cup while adding some finishing touches to a flock of little sheep . I had some help with my crafting.

Yes, after finishing some of the sheep I took them into my sun-room to photograph in natural light so I could post them for sale in my Etsy shop and look, peek-a-boo ! Miss Marple was supervising the whole procedure making sure none of the little sheep strayed from position. She is very good at whacking them around if they do. Sometimes she even helps them get away , to their detriment. Good thing there is a shepherd there to guard them. ( And I don't mean the little porcelain one. )

On the very same day I finished up a few wool needle-felted balls. I had help there too.

Blizzard personally checks each and every wool ball out by batting and rolling it around. If the ball has jingles in it he double and triple checks it , enjoying my game of seeking it out after he is done. You can see Blizzard is sitting next to a blue bin where the wee little sheep are placed for their protection after they are completed. I have learned the hard way NOT to leave the little sheep unattended if the cats are prowling the house.

Just minding her own business ? Hardly, she is supervising the terrarium projects I have going on...

...with some help from Blizzard. I'm not sure if they think the resin mouse in the terrarium is real, but I do know they'd love to sink their paws into the mosses . If you look closely at the window behind Miss Marple you can see the cats have thoroughly decorated the window with little nose prints, the higher row of prints being those of Blizzard. I suspect the terrarium will be thusly dotted soon.

And then there are my weaving projects. I completed 3 rugs last week all with plenty of help from Blizzard. He holds the loom down for me. At 16 plus pounds, he's very good at this.

"Cats can work out mathematically the exact place to sit that will cause the most inconvenience." Pam Brown  ~ But that being quoted, you can tell I love having my cats in, out, and round-about me. As I write this Blizzard is holding my husband down in the recliner , stretched full out on my husband's lap. They are taking their evening nap together. "Dogs have their days but cats have 365." Lillian Jackson Braun

I enjoy this teacup, one of a set of 4 rose-chintz patterns from Gracie China. It is not only beautiful, with it's rose patterns, but when I hold it up to the light it is slightly transparent. Also, this is a sturdy teacup , a quality I need when working around my cats who love to check out my dishes but pay them no mind if they decide to have a spat about who gets to sit closest to me. I have had to remember to place my teacups firmly toward the middle of the work table to spare them such disasters. We don't have too many broken dishes from the cats, I am the klutz, but several close calls taught me well.

I would like to mention a blog I love, written by a cat lover who also enjoys her tea time. Deb at  'Just Cats'* writes not only about her cats, but also about the cats she encounters in her cat-sitting business. She also has some very good tips and info regarding cat care, and some common problems people face with their cats & kittens. "The smallest feline is a masterpiece." Leonardo da Vinci

I am linking up once again with these ladies for Tea-Time Tuesday :

• Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage *
• Terri at Artful Affirmations *
• Martha at Martha's Favorites *
• Bernideen at Bernideen's Tea time Blog *

Terrariums ~ Part 2 ( An Inexpensive Pursuit )

 This is one of the terrariums I received from my husband for Christmas. I said in the last post I love terrariums, and I do. This is the terrarium I put together using inspiration and items from around Cedar Pond. The terrarium sits on a metal enamel ware tray. I gather lichens whenever the winds bring them down out of the trees onto our lawns and orchard. I put many of the lichens in front of the terrarium, on the tray, because I think each lichen is a small miracle unto itself. Have you ever closely examined the mosses and lichens so taken for granted ? Little intricate beauties, each seeming to hold it's own tiny world.

 The little resin mouse is one I have had for years. I place it in random areas of the house whenever the mood strikes, and my sweet little mouse has startled a few people over the years because he looks so real. I think he has finally found a permanent home in a terrarium. I placed a small battery powered votive candle in the terrarium to add some interest to it in the evening. You can see not only the moss I have gathered for the terrarium , but also 2 of the African Violets I planted in it. I have many African Violets. They thrive here because I ignore them, only watering them when the soil is dry. Since I have so many I put a few in the terrarium after some serious leaf pruning. I also put last March's shamrock plants in the terrarium and they have already grown and stretched themselves toward the sunlight.



 The Norfolk pine in this terrarium and the other one in this post were bought at the discount section of the local store after Christmas. There were many pots of the little pines decorated with Christmas balls, sparkles, and wrapping paper. They were under $2.00 each. Norfolk Pines are another plant / tree that thrives on neglect around here and for the price, a bargain ! I simply had to take off the well tied ornaments and plant it in the terrarium. Since the terrarium was a gift, the items collected were free from around our home and property, the only money spent was less than $2.00 for this terrarium

 These IKEA terrariums are not only pretty, but functional. They have little props to hold the lid open when needed. The terrarium got a little steamy when the sunshine poured in through the window so I opened the lid.

 This terrarium sits on my coffee table and I really do enjoy looking at it every day, many times. You can see the other terrarium in our living room on the sofa side table. ( left of sofa)

 The red plaid on the terrarium is a reflection of a blanket on an ottoman.

This terrarium is actually an outdoor candle holder I bought very cheaply at a Target sale a few years ago. I placed another of the Norfolk pines in this one, along with mosses, lichen -covered branches, and a small resin Big-Horned sheep figurine bought at a local wildlife park. If you  count the price of the pine and the resin animal ( can't count the price of the cheap candle-holder because it was one of those house-hold items I snatched for another use after years of being a candle-holder ) this terrarium cost me less than $4.00 The Norfolks don't need much humidity so a tightly lidded terrarium would not be a good thing unless it can be lifted like my IKEA terrarium. I have so many more glass containers to be turned into terrariums, and many others already holding small plantings under glass. The creative possibilities are endless for these little worlds and my mind is ever-thinking about them as I go about my days. How can anyone ever be bored when life has so much to offer, so many ways to be creative , and so many people to enjoy them with ? Goodness, you can even use a free-after-use glass peanut butter or pickle jar to make a terrarium. If you're even the slightest bit interested in terrariums , even if you've no money to spare for it, terrariums are possible. I say just be creative, use what's at hand, and JUST DO IT ! Happy planting.

Terrarium Inspired by Real Life

 I was given 2 terrariums for Christmas , thank-you Jim ! I restrained myself and asked for only two. I love terrariums and knew I would easily fill them with plants , moss, and whatever else struck my fancy to add to them. Ever since I can remember, glass containers of any kind with even a hint of greenery or a small wiggling creature contained within just drew me in and captivated my attention and inspired my imagination. They still do. As you can see ( above ) from my planting table where I have unused pots & outdoor stuff waiting for me to put to use, moss just crept in and made itself at home, as it is wont to do in the western part of the Pacific Northwest I call home. Moss is magical to me because it thrives in almost any indoor planting , and if it doesn't , I can go outside, grab some more and replace it. ( Did you know dried moss makes a great fire-starter for the woodstove ? )

 Here is a miniature garden I made almost 3 years ago with my granddaughters. I leave it outside all year and it sits by the fire-pit near the pond. The plants are getting so large I might need to replace them  in the spring. But look at the moss that moved in with the fallen leaves.

 Here is a birdhouse that sits on a very old Cedar stump overlooking the fire pit and surrounded by the branches of a young Cedar tree that has probably sprung up from the tree the stump used to be.

 I found this little mouse in the front yard. It was already dead, probably played to death by our resident mouser, Miss Marple . I don't know what kind of mouse this is, but it was a very cute mouse with extremely large pink ears and the most exquisite feet. Each dainty foot had such pretty toes and fine, almost invisible silver-white fur covered the legs. I could not get a picture of the face to do it justice, but for a mouse, it was a very pretty face. She ( for it was a she ) probably left behind a lot of little mice hungry for her milk , but what is that to a cat ?

My treasure hunt around Cedar Pond garnered me many little treasures and a lot of inspiration. I gathered moss, plants from outside, soil, rocks, a little resin mouse, my terrarium, and happily set about creating a terrarium . If you are interested in the finished result you will be able to see it in my next post.