Our Beautiful World Challenge

Hello Friends!

Over on the Our Beautiful World Blog the new word prompt challenge is GREEN!

It just so happens I snapped a few awesome photos that fit this challenge while on vacation a couple weeks ago and would love to share them with you today.

This beautiful green sunflower was among the various GREEN  glass sculptures at the Chihuly Garden & Glass in Seattle, Washington.

 

While walking through some of the outdoor gardens near the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington, I spotted the dew on these leaves and just had to snap a photo (via my phone).  Love the end result.

These next two photos were taken while walking through the rain forest on our way to the Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska.  This first plant is called Devil's Club and it is one of Alaska's poisonous plants.  You can also see the Hemlock in the background which is also poisonous.  Yikes ... need to be careful walking through this rain forest ... I was careful to stay on the path and use my zoom!  LOL

Absolutely beautiful foliage and moss walking through the rain forest.  

Isn't Mother Nature amazing!! 

I hope you've enjoyed my photos and I look forward to seeing what everyone shares for this challenge.  Each and every challenge at the Our Beautiful World Blog shares some AMAZING & BEAUTIFUL peeks into what a beautiful world we live in.  Come see for yourself!!

 Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Wishing you a fabulous day and even better week ahead!

Until next time and as always . . .

Our Beautiful World

Happy Sunday my friends!

First of all I'd like to start out by saying 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORGAN!

Our beautiful granddaughter turns 22 today ... seems like only yesterday when she was born!

Where does the time go??

Unfortunately she sick in bed with the flu that everyone seems to have these days with this crazy weather!  BUT, we are all planning to get together on Tuesday when the weather is actually supposed to be in the 60s (snow and 20s today) to celebrate with her!  Get better sweetie!

* * * * * * * * * * 

I don't have a card to share with you today ... but rather, something a little different!  

There is a website called OUR BEAUTIFUL WORLD and their 'challenge' is more about showcasing a THEME then you upload photos you have taken that fit that theme.  And, it's fascinating to see photos from all over the world and sometimes the unique interpretations too!

This week's theme is BLOOMS!  

The photos the design team have inspired us with are fabulous and I can't wait to see what other amazing photos of BLOOMS are entered.  With loving flowers as I do, I have several different photos that would fit this 'challenge' but the first one that popped into my head is a photo I took last spring when our 100+ year old crab apple was in bloom.  

It is SO OLD, SO BIG and SO GORGEOUS every spring!!

We had such a WET spring last year that his beautiful tree actually start having a lot of branches dieing off.  We were concerned so had a tree service come in for a diagnosis.

Turns out it had Fire Blight and we spent a lot of money to have it treated in hopes of saving this beauty!  Time will tell us if it took care of the problem and hopefully, she'll be in full bloomin' beauty again this spring!  Hubby and I both would sure hate to loose this fabulous tree!

 Here's another spring bloomer that I'm looking forward to seeing again this spring.  COLUMBINE

These self seeders have pretty much taken over the small bed below my living room windows.  As you see, they come in various colors (truth be told I only planted the purple ones!) ... Mother Nature took over from there!

And how about the beautiful color of this AZALEA.  

I don't have the best of luck with Azaleas, don't really have a good location for them, but this one seems to be pretty happy and this was it's second year.  We'll see how it does this year ... hopefully it has settled in and gets the proper lighting it requires.

Well that's it for me today!

The day is flying by (again) and I still have a long list of crafting items I had hoped to get completed today!

Take care ... 

Tell those around you how much you LOVE them ...

You never know when it might be your last chance!

Freshly Fallen Snow

Happy Sunday Afternoon Friends!

WOW this weekend has been cold, windy & very snowy!

Welcome to N.E. Ohio, U.S.A.

My goodness but Mother Nature is being cranky!

This is the view I had out my front door yesterday afternoon when I was considering heading outdoors to start clearing the driveway!  

Needless to say, I reconsidered and waited until it stopped.  

All well and good, but that meant I was out in the DARK 

snowblowing the driveway/sidewalks!  LOL

At the same time, here's a view out the back door.

Nope ... not any better out this way!   

Even the squirrels have all run for cover!

I saw the new challenge over at Our Beautiful World is FRESH ...

Trust me, it doesn't get much fresher than

a new blanket of snow!

I know I'm not the only one dealing with these temperatures and snow accumulations.  There have been record breaking temperatures,

snow fall and winds all over

the United States this year!

But for those of you who are dealing ... such as I,

hang in there ... Spring is on the way

(sooner or later)

Stay warm, Stay safe and do what I do ...

hide inside and play!

As always . . .

Our Beautiful World Challenge - October

Good Evening!

When I saw the new challenge over at Our Beautiful World, I couldn't help but think that what my day consisted of was one of the things that OCTOBER (their new challenge theme) meant to me ... and that is HOME CANNING!

DILL GREEN TOMATOES w/RED PEPPER & GARLIC

 Come late September, early October, the local growers and Farmer's Markets are filled with lots of wonderful homegrown vegetables and fruits.  And, if you live in the suburbs as I do now ... that's the way to go if you want to do some home canning but don't have the room (or permission) for a garden of your own.  (Sssshhh don't tell anyone, but I do sneak 3 or 4 tomato plants into my flower garden so the tomatoes used here are my own! LOL!)  There's nothing better in the cold of winter than some wonder home canned products that remind you of the warmer summer/fall seasons.

 

PICCALILLI

 

Nearly every year hubby & I 'put up' (technical term for canning, LOL) an old family recipe favorite called Piccalilli.  This year we only did one and half batches since the tomatoes weren't really as good or as readily available this year as they've been in years past. 

We also tried a couple of new recipes this year ...

Dill Green Tomatoes with Red Peppers and Garlic

and

Pickled Green Tomatoes with Red Peppers and Onions

We will see how those turn out and mark the recipe accordingly for future use.

I think it's time to get off my feet ... sit and watch the end of the football games with hubby and call it a night!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the fabulous challenge!  You will be so inspired and in awe of some the amazing photos from AROUND THE WORLD ... and the matching stories are awesome!

OUR BEAUTIFUL WORLD

Please stop back tomorrow when I'll have a new project & tutorial for the new October LINKY PARTY at Crafty Secrets.  

FALL ... beautiful Fall . . .

Happy 1st Day of Autumn!

Growing up in Western Pennsylvania and living in N.E. Ohio for the past several years, I have always enjoyed the changing of the seasons!  

 

Winter can be so pretty as you sit inside your warm, cozy home and watch the snow gently falling to cover everything with a clean blanket of white!

Spring is a breath of fresh air ... a time when you can open the windows, enjoy the breeze and witness your yard go from dingy winter brown to beautiful springtime green!

Summer is always wonderful with the warm, sunny days and flowers all a bloom.

But FALL can be the best of all!  

With the cooler temperatures, wonderful fresh garden vegetables and the amazing colors of the trees, how could you ask for more!

It was brought to my attention recently of a challenge blog called OUR BEAUTIFUL WORLD.  Wow! What an awesome site with beautiful photos and stories being shared.  This week's challenge is FALL and I instantly knew what photo I wanted to share.

 This is a maple tree in my daughter's front yard in Leetonia, Ohio.  

I took this photo back in 2005 but every year it looks JUST LIKE THIS ... just gorgeous. 

 I grew up on 25 acres ... covered with Oak, Maple & Dogwood trees.

 

In fact, my parents had to cut down enough trees to make a clearing to build our house.  They took them to a local saw mill where they were cut into boards that were then used to build the house! 

In case you are not familiar ... the red leaf in the photo is a Maple leaf in its fall color. The green leaf is an Oak and the photo below with the red berries is a Dogwood.

See that 'saw blade' peeking out from behind this dogwood branch.  Well THAT SCARY THING is the actual saw that my parents used to cut the logs that we burned in our wood fired furnace when I was a kid.  Summer time my dad spent hours in the woods cutting & clearing then come fall he would hook up this MONSTROSITY to our tractor that had a pullie belt & motor that created the power to make the blade go around fast enough to cut the logs into burnable size pieces.  Then we kids (3 girls) would help haul it back up to the house and stack it in the basement to get us through the winter.

My father has been passed for 20+ years now and the old saw still sits down in  what was our 'picnic area' and there was even a few years that Mom planted flowers around it in honor of my Dad.  Talk about hard work ... and yikes ... we're lucky no one ever got hurt with this thing!!  Nope ... there was no GUARD ... that saw blade was spinning fast & free and the platform table on the back is on wheels and that's where you laid the logs to pushed them into the saw blade to be cut.

Well ... I didn't mean to go on and on, but thanks for letting me share one of my Fall childhood memories with you today!  

God has certainly blessed us with so many wonderful & beautiful things!  Even this scary old saw blade which enabled my parents to keep our family warm through the cold, harsh winter months.

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!

As always ...