{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ February 22, 2015

It's time for this week's edition of {phfr}!

{Pretty}

After a mild, dry January, February has been comparatively cold and snowy.  The pond is frozen solid and there's been quite a bit of snow, though nothing like what the northeast has experienced.

February is the hardest month, don't you think?  Christmas is long over and winter has lost its appeal. Anything that reminds us that spring is on its way is welcome.  So when I saw these Valentine flowers on clearance for $2.24, I brought them home.  They are dianthus, which I've always grown outside in the summer, but they look great in this container I got for Christmas.  I may plant them outdoors when the weather warms up.  Dianthus will return the next year if the winter is not too harsh.

{Happy}

Speaking of spring and planting flowers, I'm trying my hand at growing impatiens from seed this year.  The yard has so many possibilities for gardening, but it could get expensive buying flowers from the nursery.  I planted a total of 54 little peat pots, and I think I can easily find places for them if they all do well. I was excited to see the first sprouts this week!

{Real}

Today is Dave's birthday, and we had a quiet celebration with just the three us~ just the way he likes it.  We had lunch out and later he opened his presents and had blueberry pie, his favorite.  (What is it with men and pie? Give them pie over cake any day!)  I was disappointed that one of the gifts I ordered for him, the 28th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, did not arrive on time.  So I wrote a note and wrapped it up.  He was happy to know that it's coming, but it's still too bad it didn't make it in time for his birthday!

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{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ February 15, 2014

Linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter . . .

{Pretty} and {Happy}

It's all {pretty} and {happy} this time!

Lots of sickness in the family this week.  First Dave, now Hannah.  Hopefully, I will be spared!  Dave managed enough energy and lucid thought to help me hang the new curtains in the entryway.  I don't know how many curtains he's hung for me over twenty-seven years of marriage (dozens, I'm sure!), but he always does it cheerfully.  He's gotten very good at it too!

The space is so small that I couldn't get a shot of the entire window.  I was standing as far away as I could!  The curtains are about six feet long.  All I did was sew up the top and bottom and left the selvages on the sides as they were.  Then I added some clips and there you have it!  The world's easiest curtains!  I'm pleased with the way the orangey-red in the fabric matches the door and also with the shot of color they give to this otherwise white space.  

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These are not Valentine's Day flowers.  Dave brought them to Hannah and me the day before because . . . ?  I don't really know why.  Maybe he read this post?  Nevertheless, they are much appreciated!  They are a welcome foretaste of spring, especially when a big snowstorm is headed our way.

Valentines' Day is not a big deal around here, nor has it ever been.  It's not that we are against romance, but it feels to us like something Hallmark and florists invented to sell their stuff.  I mean, very few people seem to realize anymore that it is actually Saint Valentine's Day, and it seems to us that a lot of thoughtful acts throughout the year make for a far better marriage than a grand annual gesture.  So we exchange a little candy (or in Dave's case, beef jerky) and that's it.  It's how we like it. :)

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Morning and evening light is the best, isn't it?  What isn't enhanced by being doused in the sparkling morning light or the mellow light of evening?  I can never decide which I like best.  I took these one bright, sunshiney morning.

Even the dishwasher is more appealing in the early morning light!

From My Commonplace Book

"You are indeed the heirs of a remarkable legacy~ a legacy that has passed into your hands after no little tumult and travail; a legacy that is the happy result of sacrificial human relations, no less than of stupendous human achievements; a legacy that demands of you a lifetime of vigilance and diligence so that you may in turn pass the fruits of Christian civilization on to succeeding generations.  This is the essence of the biblical view, the covenantal view, and the classical view of education.  This is the great legacy of truth which you are now the chief beneficiaries."~ Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch

"The world is a stage, and most of us are desperately unrehearsed."~ Oscar Wilde

"I have been feeling very much lately that cheerful insecurity is what our Lord asks of us."~ C.S. Lewis

"It is like walking up an escalator or swimming with the current~ to beget children, to love children, to encourage their growth, to ease their sufferings, and to suffer oneself with them even to our death . . . But the chilling truth is that industrialism brings on a paralyzing gluttony and greed in which the quality of life is quantified.  Paradoxically you cannot afford to have children in the affluent society.  The world has never been so rich and wretched as in these air-conditioned Edens where another child would sap the payments on the second car. . ."~ John Senior, The Death of Christian Culture

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ February 8, 2015

Joining Like Mother, Like Daughter (as is usual on a Sunday night).

{Pretty}

Want to see my new terrarium?

Ta-da!

I had a terrarium when I was a teenager, and when I saw some on the web recently-ish, I wanted another.  But naturally I didn't want to spend much money.  I managed to scrounge everything but the plants themselves, so I was pretty happy.  I found this glass container in the storeroom (it was my in-laws').  Perfect!  I had to try several stores before I found two different kinds of succulents~ I guess they are in high demand now~ for a total of $8.  There was (never used) aquarium gravel in the storeroom too.  That storeroom is a treasure trove!  I got some moss out of the yard, and also a big rock (which you can't see in the picture).  I always have potting soil on hand.  A piece fell off the big plant when I was handling it, so I found this little pot and the little dish it's sitting on in the~ where else?~ storeroom!

Is it a sign that I lack personal depth that doing little things like this disproportionately boosts my spirits during the most dreary month of the year?

The big rock from the yard and also a piece
of coral from~ you guessed it~ the storeroom!

{Happy}

February is a dreary month, except our family celebrates two birthdays.  First up was Hannah's, and it was a big one.  She turned 18!

Blurry picture, cute smile!

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For all the dire predictions that this winter was going to be like the last one, it has in reality been warm and decidedly, conspicuously non-snowy.  Granted, last year we were in northern Illinois and now we are in central Missouri, but predictions of direness were being made for here.  Behold the snow we received this week, which is indicative of the amount of snow we have received a total of three times so far:

Pretty ho-hum, but the birds were very active at the feeders.

{Funny}

The snow was Wednesday.  By Thursday it was melted, and by the weekend we had highs of 70.  Dave and I took advantage of the warm days to take a walk on the Katy Trail.  We weren't the only ones:

Minnie needed a little rest before she resumed looking for her owner.

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Thanks for visiting! 

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ February 1, 2015

Hello, everyone! Welcome to a new installment of {phfr}!

{Pretty} and {Happy}

This is the time of year I am most tempted to buy flowers.  From the violets and daffodils of April to the poinsettias of December, there is usually something floral going on in the yard, except in the case of the poinsettias, which I buy, of course.  I saved this year's amaryllis for January, but alas, it has bloomed its last.  I was flowerless.  That is, until I saw these little sweeties at Aldi for 99 cents.  At that price, I bought two.  They are heartening, aren't they?

Pink primrose in the plant room . . .

. . . and orangey-red on the kitchen windowsill.

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I'm making curtains for the entryway from this lovely, lovely fabric.  I went to Jo-Ann and narrowed the semi-finalists down to about six, and from there I chose three finalists, and this eventually emerged the winner.  It's "Spring Floral" from Legacy Studios.  I'm so happy with it, I bought more for the kitchen window.  The red/orange color matches the (quite intense) wall color.  I'll show you when I'm finished.

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