Your Photograph, your Valentine Card

Let PicMonkey help you make a special Valentine Card 

PicMonkey has newly added features just in time for you to create your very special and original Valentine Card.



Same picture as above

 without the PicMonkey,  Monkey Business. 

It's fun, give it a whirl.  

Gina 

Lazy Chickens

It took our chickens longer to lay these eggs,

than the time it took for me to paint an order of Delft Tiles.

An order for a newly renovated bathroom.

Three eggs is all they laid in two days. 

We have a dozen hens, normally each hen will lay 2 eggs in three days.  

But they're on strike because it's so cold.

   A few questions to ponder while you have nothing better to do.

Are brown eggs more nutritious,

do they contain less cholesterol,

do you think that a hen house needs a rooster,

do you know the body temperature of a chicken,

which breed of chickens lay the most eggs,

which breed of chickens lay blue eggs,

why are grocery store eggs white,

what is a pullet egg,

what is a capon,
how many eggs does a chicken lay in a year,

And most importantly, do they taste better?


The fascinating truth about chickens will be told in a couple of days.

Have a happy week my dear 

Blogging Friends.

Gina 



Sunrise this morning

A pink Sunrise this morning.
Shining into the windows of our guest cottage. 

Does that mean it's going to snow some more? 

We would welcome it and so would the fields and fruit orchard.

The pink is starting to fade outside.

But not on the inside.


Have a great remainder of the week my dear 
Blogging Friends.

Gina 



Accentuate the Positive

All natural, no seeds, available all year,

easy to peel.

What's not to like, Kids love them. Cuties.

A very successful advertising campaign to get Kids to eat fresh fruit.  

Grownups like them too. 

Have a great weekend my dear 

Blogging Friends.

Gina 





Which do you prefer?

Gold or no Gold

If you have visited with me for a little while you know my preference for Gold.

Possibly, my early European training is to blame.

My house has many golden accents.

When spread out it's not quite so "gold."

A little gold is better than none?  

Or would you prefer no gold at all?

Like this?  

When I paint ceramics, the colors are fired to around 1800 degrees Fahrenheit (998 Celsius).

Gold is then added and fired again at a much lower temperature.

  

 Gold is very temperamental.  

I have a few extra plates with the wrong initials in my pantry.

Wishing you, my dear Blogging Friends,

lots of success in everything you do. 

Gina 

They could save a life

Two pieces of wood and a string.

And a sturdy nail into each end could save a life.

I love our pond... but not in winter.

See those footprints, they are heading straight for the thin ice.
  

Part of our pond never freezes, near the deep Spring where the water temperature is 65 degrees year round. 

After thinking long and hard we decided to lower the pond for the winter months. 

Large machinery and a friend with precise maneuvering skills made quick work of the task. 

He even cleaned out the ditches which carry the water to our fields.  

The water flowed so fast that many fish became stranded.  I gathered them into a bucket of water and carried them back to the Pond. 

An old farm Disk sat in one of the corners, getting in the way when harvesting our fields.  

Because the  equipment could only lift the Disk so far,

Our Friend backed up his big truck until it was level with the disk. He backed the truck into the machine (not the other way around) until it was swallowed up. 

When I asked him if he was going to use it as a "sculpture", on his farm, our Friend surprised me by saying that "he would see if he could make it work again". 
Not much is wasted in this small farm community.  

If you live near frozen waters you must have one of these in the ready.  Wear it around your neck and if you should fall through the ice, these handles can pull you up and on top of the ice.  

Just in case and nearby our pond, a boat for the open water, a rake to reach with and what could be a lifesaver...a simple string with two wooden handles. 

By opening the spillway, we lowered the pond by more than a foot.

Much safer.

 It was minus 16 degrees Fahrenheit (-26.67 degrees Celsius) last night.

Now only a small pool open for the ducks. 

And then there will be Spring and Summer

and Fall, when I love my Pond.

Have a great week my dear 
Blogging Friends.

Gina

Valentine's Day and Mother's Day coming soon

What to give to a special Friend? 

Maybe a fine, hand made Lace Handkerchief 

in perfect vintage condition.

One more beautiful than the next.

All available in my Etsy shop.

They all come in their individual little cotton gift bags.

 Keep one around for when you need a special gift.

A reminder of gentler times. 

Forgotten patterns of hand made Lace.

This may be the prettiest of them all.
Why not keep it for yourself.

in my Etsy shop.

Gina

Kiss me over the Garden Gate

Also known as

Love Lies Bleeding and
Kiss me over the Garden Gate.

What names for such an insignificant flower!

photo by cheap seeds

Seed Catalogs arriving.

Catalogs come earlier and earlier every year.

My kitchen garden, in front of barn, is under several feet of snow.

But I have flowers blooming.

In my little greenhouse which is heated by the sun.

Even a few lemons growing in my greenhouse.

Soon I will start a few seed beds for my special flowers and vegetables.

In the meantime there will be a few more serious snowstorms.

Not putting the cross country skis away yet.

Have a great week my dear 

Blogging Friends.

Gina