Creative Inside and Out

This week has come and gone very very fast. I am happy to say I have met my first weight loss goal of 10 lbs! This has been hard to acheive with all the good eating going on! Love summer time menus. The gals did fabulous with their math. We took in a movie and enjoyed crafting and building ( legos). Enjoying the slower pace and time to just be creative. Of course there is the usual cleaning and such. With the summer time being more relaxed I am giving the gals a chore of the day to accomplish and I myself am finding one heavy task each week ( such as woodwork on the stairs, hand scrubbing the hardwood floors ect)
 I have enjoyed crafting aprons. One is pictured below. I am using recycled clothing and cloth. Its a bit challenging but rewarding all the same. I do not use a patten but just cut away the usable fabric and go from there. The aprons will be for each lady in my Apples of Gold class. I just cannot say enough about this class! It has been such a joy each week to participate in. ( google it if you are interested in your own group )



Plaid and lace.

The garden held several surprises this week. We have had very hot weather and a few violent thunderstorms. So finding these is such good condition after the last storm was refreshing. I do not know what they are. I planted a bag of bulbs someone tossed a few years back and this is the result. This is the first year they have bloomed.

 Not such a good photo. The pink purple is vibrant and beautiful.

 Love the surprise of finding this among the roses.

 Beautiful new bud right after the storm.

 Sunflower bud. These were transplanted from the middle of the yard ( where the birds deposited the seeds) This looks to be a dark burgundy sunflower.

 Beautiful!

 I love the white roses and these are holding up beautifully.

 Remember the bike? Well here it is in the far corner of the shade garden where it's not as shady as the rest. The vines are morning glory and will be beautiful. We are constantly transplanting morning glories. They will grow anywhere. The trick is to keep them where you want them!

 The flowers in the basket will fill out and over flow.

 The shade garden from one side.

 The shade garden from the other side. See the bird feeder? Lots of activity going on but not able to get a photo yet of our visitors.

 We have lots of these in our garden.Each year the church decorates with Easter Lilies and then gives them away. We have quite a few and they are always very beautiful.

 The day lilies look a tad worse for wear this year. Early triple digit temps have done them in. They are not bright this year...sorta faded.

 Bugs being bugs.

 Dear Husband bought this beautiful plant.

 Sisko our dear dog doing what he loves most. You can see the brown grass...its been hot way too early this year.

 New plant this year. Boxwood Basil. It is growing fast and it smells wonderful. Has a strong flavor.

 Work in progress. Round two with our tin roof ( to get it done correctly)  Thankful for contractors who know what they are doing and care about the quality of their work.

One last shot of a hidden beauty!