Why I will always love Iowa...

The old homesteads, though fallen to season's ravage, it never fails to bring imaginings of what life may have been like back in the day...

Mmmmm...good(?) food, when the Cheri-top drive-in opens for it's summer season...
sorry TOT, it's Ioway...

Bestest friends and travelers from afar(Minnesota)...
Hi Barb and Ki...

My soul sister lives here too...hi Cathie...can I come play at your house...

Summer storms, a sky like no other...

old...

old...

and old...

and of course...

...it's where Scratchy lives...
wanna chase the stick...

Some may call me crazy...

...perhaps for living in a lil' pink shack...but summer is what I live for, with flowers popping up all over, you never know quite where they'll be the next year...

I love that, a surprise in every package...
like Crackerjacks...huh Willow!!!

Well, my Black-eyed Susan are taking a liking to my back porch steps...cool huh...
Most would've definitely pulled the young tender shoots, but I thought...
WHY NOT...
This is the back side of the Chateau, the side that is constantly bombarded by the droll bickering of a 4-lane...I don't go back here much, except to plant more trees to hide me away from the masses...

...or to take pictures of the newly discovered plant life of my ever changing gardens...
ahhhhh...summer(nearly)...
live it to the fullest!

SHOPPING...

Just a few of my finds on my spree yesterday...had to go pick up this vanity, sooooo...you know I had to shop...it's the way it is you know!!!

OK...did I say SWEET...two adorable iron yard chairs, a great lamp and an oval frame...
did I say SWEET...

Don't ya just love this lil' cart thingy...
and the green watering can is perfect sitting on top...

New soap scents...
Sweet Orange Chili Peppers, Tuscan Olive and Cedarwood Amber...

...more watering cans...

I love this lil' pink table, with all the pink enamelware, it just screams atcha...

Cathie C...eat yer heart out...ha!

SUCCESS.....................!!!

Our grand opening was a total success, more than we could've asked for, we were busy all day and everyone loved the new digs...and they loved the large lavender chunks...
SIMPLY DIVINE!!!

I'm totally dragging in new stuff from all over the place...

One of the new scents, 'Apple Pucker'...totally Jolly Rancher and cool Iowa Hawkeye jars Piper makes...

I absolutely am having the hardest time leaving this sweet lil' piece at the store, don't know what it is about these lil' commodes, but they really rock in my world...

I'm totally loving this French frame, painted my fave grey and filled with an old piece of ticking and stenciling...sweet!

Ol' timey decals, don't ya just love 'um, wouldn't this be cute on a porch with garden stuff in it...

'Pimp My Ride'...
do you think mall security could catch me...love my old wheelchair!
something about STRANGE that rocks my boat...

Sweet lil' table, I'm so tempted to paint, but can't decide...white, black, grey, robin's egg blue...

Cool 'OLD' stuff, everywhere...

...and another scent that's really taking off...

'Cannabis Flower'

Who knew...

ShadowShot Sunday...Latticed Passage...

a child plays
in a crevice of me time
living in the
world of Alice
under a porch
of latticed dreams
princess' and pirates
portal passage
into realms of enactment
hidden away in
the rabbit hole
of my stage
I can be anything
sheltered in shadows
of self creation
I can play under
the porch
and morph myself slowly
into a scary world
of progress above
I can promise me
the lead role
in the blue sky
beckoning
through tunnels
of fearful youth lost
yes it's all but a
tale from under my porch
playing out scene
after scene
through latticed
portals as
I dance with
the rabbit in the
essay of me



s.wilson


This is the porch of my Grandparent's home, the one we later grew up in. My bro and I played for hours under the spidery floorboards, hiding from the meanies(mom and dad)when it was chore time.

As my brother restores the old relic, the old parts are given to me...naturally...so the old lattice is now guiding my vines at the Pink Chateau...where else!!!

Yes it's Shadow Shot Sunday...naturally!!!

Had a power surge this morning in the home(certainly not me)so it's been slow getting my computer to go back on line...but then, who's in a hurry...

Our big grand opening at the store today...so come on out and say 'HEY'!!!

I am so sad...

The Gulf of Mexico tragedy...
So tragic it's hard to comprehend...
who is at fault...
Rush Limbaugh says the Sierra Club and all of the tree-huggers are to blame because we won't allow drilling in the pristine areas of the Arctic tundras
and Sarah Palin's Alaska...

DUH!!!

My beautiful, ancient Mighty Muddy...
the majestic Mississippi River.
waters so polluted, I doubt that fish will ever be consumable again,
in my lifetime anyway.

We are now so focused on the gulf that we forget what man has done to the rest of our waterways...
disgusting rivers and streams once teaming with fish and wildlife, now littered with man's waste and pollution, chemical run-off from industrial wastes...
farm chemical run-off, factory farm run-off, human waste run-off.

This is an ash dump site, a scar of shame on a hillside not far from my home. Waste from a power plant negligently dumped on the landscape.
How clever, this site over-looks farm ground that has drainage ditches carved through it so more farm land can be put into production...is that the 'G-word' again...
GREED...
Well, the run-off from this power plant(clean coal), a toxic mercury laden slurry runs into the drainage ditch and to the shores of my Mississippi River...
and the EPA warns you of mercury lead poisoning from paint chips...
WHAT A JOKE!

The fact is, why are you blaming Obama...this travesty has been going on since the industrial revolution began, we are ALL at fault, the single biggest factor is GREED...it's all about the profits!

Each and every one of us pollutes this pristine planet on so many levels...
we waste and we consume!
Think about it...how big is your footprint on this planet
and what are you willing to do about it!

This is just a wake-up call America,
are you listening to the talk on the winds...

We humans, all are to blame...

Change is good...

Scratchy and I drive the back roads again, searching and searching...

Newly planted fields of corn and beans dot the Iowa landscape, as a new season begins again...

A rare glimpse of the lil' wild soul that lives under the porch...
do you think the terrier will ever accept this new prey as friend?
Can a cat-eater ever feel the softer side of life...

Thank the Gods that my heathen can't befriend this wild soul...OUCH!
Snapping turtles are not fuzzy friends...but
they share our world
and we respect!!!
(from afar)

As you can see, this wandering soul has changed the look of the blog, always curious and always unsettled, this Earthly wild child is constantly seeking new life in her world...
I want to dance and play like there's no tomorrow!

...as me and 'the heathen' travel our path together into life's unknown...
be a part of the change...

Charm...

I bought this old headboard to take to the new store...BUT...
I'm just having the hardest time parting with it.
I know if I stand it upright and attach it to the fence so it won't blow over and smash my flowers(again)...
that will be all she wrote...mine!!!
Argh...

My' starling tree' in full bloom...
actually a Catalpa tree.
I call it the starling tree because of the countless baby starlings raised in it
year after year.

After the storm for a full bloom catalpa...
delicate blossoms gather to carpet my lawn.

This is the poem and haiku I wrote last year for my starling friends...
even though you are pooping all over my truck,
I still call you friend!

You may click pic to enlarge if you're blind like me...
uh oh, my mind is working on overtime for some new projects for the shop...
don't cha just love it when that happens...

think haiku tree...heehee...

Let's tweak...

'Spanish Moss'
This is a scent I've had for quite some time, just not quite having the right time to make it, but I think the time is now...
I love Spanish moss, must be that allure of plantation life and Florida that I dream of...
so exotic!
It's a soft perfumey, powdery, with a bit of sandalwood kinda scent...
I love it!

And what a better place to display than on this newly painted parlor table...
isn't it just the cutest!!!

I think I'm well on my way to cluttering up this shop with my signature style of decorating...
The Queen of Cram...
however, not as good as Simply Iowa

YET...

but I learn constantly from Barb and her photos...
she just had a fabulous show that I was unable to attend this year, but check out her blog and you'll see what I mean!

Isn't this just the cutest lil' table I picked up at Amazing Grace in the Amanas...
thanks Sandy...I love it painted French Grey!

and of course, country...this is a style that I dearly love too, I'm just getting back into it, as this new shop has the perfect designs for it...

Piper is slowly getting her candle shelves full again with many new scents and is almost ready to start her wholesaling of them...so check back, we are working on that right now!

Gotta go make soap...
may it never end!