A Grandson's First Birthday

Over the weekend, we celebrated our little grandson, 

Gavin's first birthday. 

Come inside his lovely home and join the fun, won't you? 

His Dad is a proud Marine veteran, 

and we want to thank him and all of our wonderful, 

self-sacrificing veterans for their devoted service

as we also celebrated Veteran's Day. 

Here's the birthday boy with his Uncle Dustin! 

xoxo

There was a charming harvest theme for the party. 

His very own cake. 

Yummy treats! 

And delicious refreshments. 

The potato soup was so good :)

(I had seconds)

A banner with photos for each month so far. 

My favorite photo is '6 months'. 

This year went by so fast........

Newborn photo with gift bags for the littlest guests. 

The house quickly filled up with family and friends

to celebrate this special day. 

Let's get this party started! 

Oh-oh! Somebody is not too happy with all the 

attention! 

We sang Happy Birthday, but he was a little unsure......

The banner reads, 'I'm one'  xx

He is a little suspicious of his cake. 

What is this thing?

He took the little marzipan pumpkins 

and defiantly threw them. 

It was too funny! 

Ooooh! That does taste good! 

But seconds later, more tears.....

Too many people watching this shy little guy. 

Gramma took him upstairs to wash up and 

get back into his clothes that were taken 

off so he could smash his cake. 

Happy again, playing the drum with sweet cousin Lily. 

Time to open presents with Mom and Lily

to assist. 

What's in here? 

New toys. 

A guitar to play when Daddy plays his! 

'Reading' the cards. 

xoxo

It was a wonderful day! 

Happy First Birthday little Gavin! 

We were so happy and blessed to share this special day with you!

xoxo

A Lovely Harvest

Hello, Dear Friends, I hope that you are 

having a lovely week, with a little sunshine 

to brighten your days. 

Our snow is melted and now we are having more

'normal' weather for November, 

a little sunshine, a little rain and some blustery winds. 

Before all this wet weather set in, 

I harvested some hydrangea blooms

and tansy from my gardens. 

The colors were especially lovely this year. 

This variety is 'Nikko Blue'.
They start out a beautiful shade of sky blue,
but turn amazing shades of chartreuse
 tinged with lavender by October.

I planted these many years ago as tiny 

cuttings and now I have a beautiful hedge. 

This variety (mop-head) are fussy about 

where they live. They can't take too much sun, 

and require steady moisture.

These live under tall trees and get mulched
every fall with fallen alder leaves. 

I love gathering them in large baskets 

and tubs to decorate with. 

Here they are in my bedroom. 

My son gifted me with this wonderful, 

galvanized, vintage tub for my birthday. 

This large vintage basket sits on top 

of my 1920's art deco armoire. 

The desk in the mirror was my dear Mother's 

Ethan Allen from the 1960's.

To gather hydrangeas for drying in baskets,
crumple newspaper to fill 3/4 of the basket
and insert the stems.

If you gather the hydrangeas late in the season
when the blooms feel like paper,
you can simply let them dry in place.

I keep this basket on the stair landing.

I keep a revolving gallery of flower paintings here.

I painted the small cabinet years ago
using petal and leaf shaped stamps
cut from kitchen sponges :)

Hydrangea wreaths are easy to make
out of a coat hanger, floral tape and wire.

I harvested a big basket of tansy, too.

The leaves are stripped off the stems.

I'll divide this into two baskets and let it dry.
I fluff it once or twice a day until it dries,
usually in about a week or two, then I will
store it in plastic tubs until I am ready to use it.

Here it is in full bloom earlier in the season.
This is a tall, lanky herb that will spread if
not contained. Here it has fallen from
 a heavy rain and is sprawled all over.

If it is clipped early in the season, it won't grow so tall.

The button flowers can be dried, also.

If you are interested in growing Tansy you
can purchase seeds Here.

A sketch I made in 2014 that shows the details.

This is a pungent herb that I use to make sachets to
repel moths.

I'll post a tutorial for the sachets in my next post!

Now it's just a harvest of leaves!

Whitey Bear likes to lie in my leaf piles :)
He refuses to move......

Is that a treat? 

I'll move for a treat!

^^

**

 >o< 

U

Kai is looking for squirrels.

Uh-oh little squirrel. You had better run!

xoxo

Today I am linking with:

Floral Passions - Floral Bliss

Won't you join the fun?