Tuesday Garden Party: Sun & Snow

Well the weather is behaving a little nicer today, but I guess it won't last and supposed to dip in temp again by later today.  It's a lovely sunny 22 degrees so around here it's a perfect day for a stroll around the back hill and fairy garden (not below zero today...yet - woo hoo!)

As you can see our bay is still quite frozen and under a layer of snow yet. The sun is shining so pretty through the tree branches and making such interesting shadows.

 

 

 

Lots of white yet, but it goes so nicely with that blue sky doesn't it?  Everything still sleeping underneath that snow. I can't wait until Spring wakes it all back up!!

 

 

 

Here's Felix. He's tucked in so snuggly under his blanket of snow. He watches over my daughter's fairy garden outside her bedroom window.

 

 

Here is Felix in a view through my daughter's bedroom window last Spring. Although we didn't really have Spring the past 2 years....just went from Winter right to Summer. Two years ago I remember lilacs still in bloom over our 4th of July celebrations as everything bloomed so late. The harsh winters really took a toll on our barberry bushes too and they just won't seem to come back. We're going to give this garden area and others around our house a whole new clean up and look this Spring (as it's sounds like we may actually have Spring this year!)

 

 

 

Back to the reality of our snow covered world though.

 

 

Sweet little Ruby loves it outside in every season!

 

 

 

The railings and the benches still have their pretty snow sleeves on too. I love that it almost looks like a ruffle pattern.

 

Dreaming on what's to come but enjoying the beauty of the now. Linking up for a Tuesday Garden Party.

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday Garden Party: Spring Layout

Feeling in that garden party mood today so linking with all the lovely gardeners at Tuesday Garden Party, even though it looks like this outside my window right now:

I know I should quit wishing for it to come so soon. I know where I live. I know the rules around here. The earliest we might get some tastes of Spring is later next month.  So I will "slow my roll" as they say and instead I enjoy gazing upon photos or scrapbook layouts of Spring time and flowers and dream of the garden and growing things.  First though, I'm also helping my cabin fever with some flowers in my kitchen window right now.  Here, please stop and smell the roses:

 

I think the pretty coral plant is a kalanchoe maybe? Not sure...

 

 

 

This was a fun layout to do because I love all the bright Springy colors and look at my mom-in-law's tulips - don't they look wonderful?

 

 

 

Here's the other side of the layout and I really love this one as I had this giant flower paper for a back-drop and it was so big and round that it inspired me to cut out all the photos of my daughter in circles to place inside the big circle.

Ah- love these pictures of her enjoying the springtime: blowing bubbles, riding her scooter, and just skipping along enjoying the beautiful outdoors. I love how on each page I have nice realistic 3-D daffodil flower stickers. And don't forget the sweet dragon fly sticker and his little path I drew as he's flying away.

 

I need to plant some new flowering shrubs this year - any input on a favorite that you like to grow in your garden??

 

 



Gardening with Grandpa

Today I'm thinking garden party! If only I could attend one for real. Sigh. We are still under a blanket of snow and they're predicting a few more inches before this day is done. But that doesn't mean we can't have green and growing things in our hearts and minds, right?? So I'm linking with Creative Country Mom's Tuesday Garden Party.

I've been trying to get back to more scrapbooking, as I keep getting side tracked by other fun projects. Not that it's a bad thing, but I still have a lot of catching up to do in my scrapbook world, so getting focused there again.

The other day I was looking through some of my things and remembered this layout I had done with my daughter and my Dad and step Mom doing some gardening together. I remember that Annie had been studying gardening in school and was becoming obsessed. My Dad was recently retired and had put together some nice raised beds and said that Annie should come over and help him do some planting.

I love the shots I got on this page with Annie digging the dirt. My Dad handing her some seeds to plant - so cute.  He was explaining things to her as they went and in the bottom round photo he was having her smell some fresh mint he already had coming up.

 

 

 

A lot of these shots were in the front of their house where my daughter was also helping my step Mom with her flowers. They all had such fun together that day!

 

 

I scrapbook a lot of the usual things in my albums: holidays, family events, trips etc. But some of my favorite layouts are the ones where it was just a moment captured that didn't have anything to do with something bigger. Just a memory of a perfect day forever preserved in photos in a special book.