Sunday, July 6, 2014

Celebrating Summer

 Dear Friends,

It's been a peaceful Sunday at home. I had a few hours to myself (with Hyrum) while Mr. Graham took the children to his father's house for dinner, and it was lovely just meditating on the many blessings of life.

Our lone hollyhock is finally blooming; hopefully it will have lots of babies, and come back year after year like the ones we had in Idaho!


 I put together this bouquet of all-white flowers for the pulpit at church. I try to have fresh flowers at church every week, since I love the spirit they bring. All these flowers were blooming next to each other, so I thought I would just put them "as is" in the vase. They are are froth of Philadelphia fleabane, Hedge Parsley, and Queen Anne's Lace.


Our hostas are putting out their blooms, which are the perfect mixture of purple and white.


My yarrow plants started blooming while we were gone, and they've grown quite tall! My mother had lots of tall yellow yarrow she didn't want, so I brought lots of it home to dry. Dr. John R. Christopher taught that washing one's hair three times a week with yarrow tea would bring back one's natural color after it goes gray, so I thought I would try an experiment with it since there are "silver threads among the gold." I'll have to let you know how it goes!


 This cardinal family regularly partakes of the seeds we faithfully put out for them each day. The father (whom we dubbed "Cardinal Bentfeather") is molting at present, and looks rather like a reverse turkey buzzard!


Hyrum is loving being back home again, where he can be a dirty little pig and not get called "Mud" by Grandma. :)





                                                 ~Henry James
May you be richly blessed as you begin this new week.

Love,

Marqueta


8 comments:

  1. How lovely the flowers are! And those chubby, muddy hands. THAT is what children need more of. My Grandmother (bless her!) always said one had to eat a peck of dirt before they die... which is why she allowed mud pies at her house sprinkled with mimosa flowers!

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  2. Beautiful flowers surround your birdsong cottage. Holly hocks are a favorite of mine. I dont have any planted at this time though. Your little looks as happy as a lark. Blessings to all of you

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  3. Ooooooo! The Hollyhocks are WONDERFUL!!! Like the prettiest ballerina Tu Tus!
    Hyrum has something in common with all those wonderful blooms... dirt and that's a good thing :-D
    (if it's good enough for flowers it must be good enough for little ones)! Hee
    Blessings and HUGS, Linnie

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  4. Oh Marqueta...just looking at him brings a smile to my face :0) My hollyhocks are babies yet... m.

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  5. Happy summer, Marqueta! Your flowers are beautiful and little Hyrum is such a lovely mud mixture! :-)

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  6. What beautiful surroundings, Marqueta.. I love Queen Ann's Lace. And what an adorable child... Thank you for sharing these lovely photos.
    blessings,
    Penny

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  7. Marqueta, I love your bouquet wrapped in gingham, and your Hollyhock, the statuesque queen of the cottage garden!

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  8. What a beautiful bouquet. =) Just lovely. Blessings and Sunshine, Valerie

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