Hey, Remember Me?

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Ridiculous. Insane. Embarrassing. Just a few words to embrace the feelings I have about not blogging since May. Really? And I suppose I could write an entire blog post about why I haven't been around here, but nobody wants to read about THAT, so let's just take a tour around my garden today, shall we?  Check out my favorite bloomers at the moment - hydrangeas!

Thanks for hanging in! Hope you're having the time of your life this summer!  

xo

Veggies and the Bee's Knees

I'm going to put my gloves on and spend the day tomorrow turning the "weed patch" into the "veggie garden". My oh my am I late getting this together this year. Since January I've been nursing San Marzano and heirloom tomato seedlings and they are screaming to be put in the ground. And of course I can't do that without putting in basil, lettuces, herbs, peas and on and on and on. It's gonna be a busy but fun day!

Sometime in the afternoon, when the soil is turned over and the planting beds are ready, I'll be dropping some very special seeds in the ground - magic seeds - and I'm hoping I can convince you to join me and do the same. I'm participating in The Great Sunflower Project, one woman's attempt to learn more about the decline in the bee population and what effect it was having on our gardens. This one woman, Gretchen LeBuhn, had an idea, sent out 20 emails to see if she could get people to count bees in their gardens, and within 2 weeks the idea went viral and 15,000 people were on board. This year 100,000 have signed up to help.

It's fun and easy to help out – after you sign up and give them information on your garden (here), you plant Lemon Queen sunflower seeds (everyone gets the same variety so we know we are comparing apples to apples).  Then once your sunflower blooms, you watch your flower for 15 minutes and record the number of bees that visit. That’s it!  It’s easy and fun to see the variety of bees.  You can immediately compare your yard’s bees per hour to state and national averages and understand how well your bee community is doing.

If you would consider helping, that would be the bee's knees! 

(beautiful photo of glove above credited here)

I don't believe Martha embraces imperfection.

On Sunday while I was doing laundry I thought it would be fun to put out a little survey on poppies' Facebook page. I was curious to see how I measured up on this:  

Do you fold your fitted sheets in the style of 'A', or 'B'?

I have to tell you I was shocked at the responses (and I loved Kimi’s solution “I usually just wash them and put them back on the bed to avoid 'B'"). What really sent me all Fruit Loops was that anyone, much less half of you, could really start with a fitted sheet and end up with ‘A’ above. Oh dear. If any of you visit my little cottage, please do not look behind the doors of the vintage beach locker up in the bedroom!

I'm just in awe of you ‘A’ ladies, but for any of you ‘B’ gals who might like to channel your inner Martha (wink, wink, Cynthia), I found this. I think I’m just going to continue to hide my ball of sheets and remember that here at poppies we “embrace imperfection”.  ;-)

Earlier today I put together Tuesday’s Treasury on Etsy entitled “fresh laundry". As I gathered the pretty listings I was brought back to the times as a little girl my mom would hang our sheets and pj’s on the clothesline and the fresh Midwest breezes would leave them with the sweetest scent.

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I think I’m going to have to figure out a way to put a clothesline up in my little yard. I have a big tree to attach one end to, but if I use the most logical place to attach the other end, pj’s and pillowcases will slap anyone in the face who is sitting at the bistro table on the deck. I foresee a challenge.

Do you have a clothesline?

Don't Worry, Be Happy

A friend shared an article entitled 15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy on Facebook today. I assumed it was going to start by suggesting that you step away from the cell phone, social media, etc., and I rolled my eyes and almost passed on the notion of clicking and reading further. But I noticed that two of his friends thanked him for the link and shared it with others, so I was intrigued.


It's good simple advice, and I too want to share some of it. You can read the article in its entirety here. I've paired some of the points that resonate with me with photos from my Pinterest board Beauty in Nature.

Give up your need for control. Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you – situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better that will make you feel.

Give up your self-defeating self-talk. Oh my. How many people are hurting themselves because of their negative, polluted and repetitive self-defeating mindset? Don’t believe everything that your mind is telling you – especially if it’s negative and self-defeating. You are better than that. “The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.” Eckhart Tolle

Give up your limiting beliefs about what you can or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!

Give up your resistance to change. Change is good. Change will help you move from A to B. Change will help you make improvements in your life and also the lives of those around you. Follow your bliss, embrace change – don’t resist it.

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” Joseph Campbell

Give up your excuses. Send them packing and tell them they’re fired. You no longer need them. A lot of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use. Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our lives, we get stuck, lying to ourselves, using all kind of excuses – excuses that 99.9% of the time are not even real.

xo

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

"May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks. May your heart be as light as a song. May each day bring you bright, happy hours. That stay with you all the year long."

"The longest road out is the shortest road home."

"You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind."

"An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto one blade of grass to keep from falling off the earth."

"May you be half an hour in Heaven before the Devil knows you're dead."

Top o' the day to ya!

I've got Spring Fever, and I've got it bad.

1.  Me, enjoying The Inn at Mavericks, Half Moon Bay, CA

2.  Handsome surfer about to surf 40 ft waves, Mavericks, Half Moon Bay, CA

3.  Seabird, Cayucos Beach, CA

4.  Sunset from Pacific Avenue, Cayucos, CA

5.  Searching for sea glass, Cayucos, CA

6.  Mustard in bloom, Russian River Valley, CA

7.  Winetasting, Dry Creek Valley, CA

8.  New mascot at Artefact Design & Salvage, Sonoma, CA

9.  Best brick oven pizza I've ever had at Diavola, Geyserville, CA

10.  Great coffee and breakfast, Geyserville Mud, Geyserville, CA

11.  Treasure for sale at Artefact Design & Salvage, Sonoma, CA

12.  Great stuff at Vintage Home Collective, Geyserville, CA

Cat Got My Tongue?

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For the longest time now I've wanted to write, but something's up. I've got nothin. Nada. Zero. Zilch.


Today I submitted a Craigslist ad in 'Lost and Found' to see if anyone has found my voice.  So far I've had no replies.

I've retraced my steps and the only clue I've found is this:

It appears to be a screenshot taken on or about January 1, 2012.  Perhaps the pressure of eloquently writing some grand prose about the new year, new beginnings and all of that was too great and the voice went silent - maybe the voice just wasn't feeling it? Or, what if the voice had so much to say about the new year that it tried to get it all out at once and locked up? 

I have no doubt the voice will return soon. When it does, I think I'll give it all the space it needs. If it wants to whisper, I'll let it whisper.  And if it wants to roar, that'll be good, too.