A sister, a true friend of the soul...

The darling yellow cottage of a dear, dear friend...

You can walk all 'round the grounds and find the most beautifully groomed Victorian gardens in the lil' village of Lone Tree, don't ya just love the name of the town...

A close-up of the porch, with it's aqua porch posts, that harbor the multitude of flora, that partner Bill, dreads dragging in for the winter...

Cathie collects Victorian pillow covers, isn't it grand in front of one of her lampshade creations...

One of Cathie's peacock windows and a lampshade this talented artist has created and a part of her collection of plaster busts that adorn the home in every corner.

This is Grandma...poke in a quarter and she will read your fortune. For all of you familiar with the Iowa City area back in the day, 'Things and Things', was one of those early head shops that had all the coolest hippy, up-beat stuff for our day. Cool clothes and shoes, incense, candles and just plain cool stuff, everybody went there...ahhh the days...but when they closed the doors, Cathie and bill snatched this piece and she now rests in their parlor, how cool is this!


The love of the Victorians is everywhere in her parlor...click for close-ups of a bird's eye view...

A true sister of the soul, Cathie and I share the love of 'the strange', we both love stuffed frog bands, I sold her my collection and she found this awesome old jewelry display, which was a perfect display piece for the boys in the band...our creation of lampshades brought these two ol' hippies together many years ago, as she found me in my first shop, we became instant fast friends...

Then there's Cecil, sorry the picture is a little blurry, but this big bird crowns a newel post at the entrance to her solarium and is one of my earlier taxidermy pieces that I mounted for Cathie. We both love the look of the chickens, although I have sold all of mine...some day, they will roam the grounds of the pink chateau...and chicken dinners will be served again...

Sorry Cecil...

I love you girl!!!

There is no clean coal...in my world...

Pristine...in my world...

Demon on the wing...I awoke to the drone of this killer flight, as it dumped wave after wave of toxins on the fields across the street...the sad thing is, there are Mexican workers in the fields as they spray...again, the aquifer is under this trash...farmers, WAKE UP!!!

The view of the demon from the top of the bluff, this is the front of the dump site...and what a perfect view of the dragon!

This is the dump site that our local power plant uses to leave it's toxic waste in our hood...it's a few miles from my house as the crow flies...a sad scar on a beautiful bluff.

If you think this stuff is not harmful to the environment, think again...shall we talk mercury poisoning...and they worry about asbestos and kids chewing on lead paint...this drains into our aquifer...

A ray of sunshine
will you be a lasting friend
are your days numbered

Shadow Shot Sunday...The Gift

Arise
see the new day
be hopeful for the 'morrow

believe
in the promise
that the good life is upon you

share
in the air
that we all breath is the same air

hope
that we can be
brethren and family in the same house

Peace
and the knowledge
to protect and to love and to give of

harmony
it can be real
and it will grow and will prosper

love
and the gift of
and the knowing of a friend...


s.wilson



Thanks Mary Kate for the beautiful medallion that hangs from my French parrot candle, treasures that will never leave my home...this is the view from my couch every morning, as the sun rises to greet me...yeah, I'm sleeping on the couch for the duration of the heat wave, keeping the upstairs closed off to conserve energy...ya do what ya gotta do in an old house...then I reflect on what it was like back in the day when we didn't have air conditioning...can you remember...

But with the greed of the energy companies, who can afford to run it...and the guilt of running it, because of the global temperature changes...such is the world today...
BUT...
we have a good thing and it's called Shadow Shot Sunday, it's in Australia, where it's Sunday, please check out the simple things in life...a shadow...who knew...

Garden time at Sister's Garden...

Ahhhhhh...thanks, I needed that girls...it always does the heart good to go to Sisters', as we have all come to call Sister's Garden. Talking to a good customer yesterday, he said he needed a 'Sisters' fix' the other day...how true, nobody puts together a look quite like it...

As many of us have our own personal styles of decorating our shops, it has always amazed me how Barb has always pulled off 'the look'...the yard, the porches, the courtyard, they all scream seasons...and summer is the most favorite season of all...enjoy...I sure did!

Sister's Garden and Bloom

A thing for shacks...

Am I in Florida...somebody wake me, I must be dreaming...it is so hot and humid this morning, now all I need is the call of the Sandhill Crane and the setting would be perfect...

This photo I took on a drive while still living there...this is so me! What is it about shacks, is it the patina of the weathered woods, the little porches added on here and there,
the history that must've been foretold behind these ragged walls...what...?

All I know is I love to take pictures of them, however, living in Florida for 3 years, I saw wildlife and bugs that would make your skin crawl...and have seen my fearless terrier cringe at what moves in the dark.

So for now, I'll take the shacks of Iowa, crawling with weeds and grasses and years of weather changes, snows and unbearable heat, 'cause this is my home and my heart...

Heartland living at it's finest, once long ago...home sweet home...

To rise....

To rise with the wrens and be thankful for the bounty and the simple life...

To rise with the sun and grains of grass to feed the plenty...

To rise with the faith in a country and the people who keep it sound...

To rise and share space with the God in every man...
with the Buddha in every man...
and the faith
in sun...

Home Tweet Home...

We all love decorating our fancy homes, it's no different for our feathered friends. Since allowing my bluegrass to go to seed and the prairie grasses to take over, I have never seen so many birds as I have this year. The yard is full of birdsong...

Little fledglings taking first flights, moms and pops guarding offspring from predatory cats, hoards of bugs being chased and consumed...a natural order of things.

I remember a few years back, before I started letting my yard go back to Nature, I was sitting on the porch with binoculars in hand and was wondering why there were no birds...anywhere...it was totally silent. That's when I decided to non-conform and start to zero-scape my yard.

However, I do mow right around my house, to slow Scratchy's grass mold allergies and grass fire hazard, but the rest of the 6 acres is natural. But that doesn't mean 'no work', you are constantly pulling noxious weeds and tree seedlings, that's a must or you'll have nothing but a weed patch.

But the natural prairie soon takes over and the wildlife returns and all is good at 'The Pink Chateau'...

First day of summer...

I begin the watch, as the storm picks up momentum to the Northwest of me, that's up by Kalona, where Sister's Garden is.

Another storm forms South of the first storm as the sun begins to set...

Storms converge to make fabulous sky scape of hidden danger, as the first of the tornado watches are issued...

I haven't heard back from anyone yet, nor have I heard of anything major, in spite of a tornado that was spotted on the ground, heading for Kalona and Lone Tree, where my good buds live...my fingers and toes are crossed, as this storm was producing severe lightning, quite the lightning storm from my windows, but it never did reach us...yayyy...

NEXT...let the summer games begin...my bag is packed and ready for the trip to the basement...welcome to tornado alley...

To Honor Kings...

King of the hill...

rebel without a cause...

FRUITLOOP...!

and kind and gentle carpenter that gave life to this wild, dreamer child...

...and a very special Step-pops, that has kept my mother happy through all the years(no easy task) and help make my dream of Florida come true...

A special day to honor the 'Pops' in our lives...be well and happy on your special day...

I love you!!!

Shadow Shot Sunday...I am Summer's Child...

I am geraniums
and gliders in the backyard
and blue skies of promise
and good future.

I am bare feet
and pony tails in the heat of the day
and Bermuda shorts and tank tops
and the promise of play.

I am screened porches
and lace curtains on the breeze
white sheets on clotheslines
and the new scented day.

I am dew drops on petals
and rainbows after the storm
I am puddles and dew worms
and fishing by the stream.

I am summer
and I'm warm and I'm beautiful
I am constant and fruitful
and my playful promise unfurls.

I am a child
I am summer
I am sunshine
and s'mores...


Shadow Shot Sunday...where is the time rushing off to...soon it will be July and summer in full force...head on down to Australia where it's winter...how weird is that...why can't it be summer all year long???
Thanks Tracy for this wonderful meme and all of our wonderful new friends...

I caved...

Thought we could use a little air conditioning this morning...I know, I know...so I caved last night about 2:30 in the morning...you remember those days as a kid when it was so hot you laid in your well-worn, seersucker jammies in front of the oscillating fan...remember the hum, as it lulled you to sleep, forcing you to cuddle up under the clean white sheets...ahh, those days are long gone, as we now have air-conditioning...a cold, stark atmosphere now settles over the rooms...

Well, the only reason I turn it on is for the heathen...it's been so cool at nights this year, that Scratchy hasn't shed all of her winter undercoat yet...and we've had so much rain, that I'm sure the mold is starting in the grasses again, causing her allergies to flair.

So no more wandering the prairies in search of the terrorist voles in the land of the pink chateau...Scratchy is banned to the fenced yard, where the grass is mowed...but, as you can tell from the picture, she seems content...(spoiled)...

But my air conditioner is set at 80 and only comes on when the hot breezes come pouring through the ol' screen door, as the afternoon sun creeps 'round to my front porch...then the lace curtains are released to filter the rays and windows are shut to block out the heat...fans at the ready...bring it on Mother Nature...sorry Beulah and Tilda up in Michigan that are still in sweatshirts...

More rains today, as I watch my tomatoes get the same blight they got last year from the cold nights and too much moisture...new strategy next year...container tomatoes! But the beans and peas and strawberries are loving it!!!

Is it summer yet...