Round Barn

This is another barn I saw when I was at my daughter's last weekend.  This one is well kept and they had horses.  Sometime when I'm visiting her, I am going to spend a couple of days just photographing the barns of Carver County.

Linking to Barn Charm at Bluff Area Daily.  Please stop by and see barns from all over the world.

Have a great day!  Until next time.

Barb

Thrift Store Tabletop

This tabletop is done with all thrift store finds except for the silverware, sugar bowl, and creamer that were my grandmothers.  I have been practicing with my camera again and all photos are right out of the camera except one that I did a soft black and white effect in Picasa.   You can see here that we finally got a little snow and some sunshine.

I got the tall vase/pitcher, the flowers, and the bunnies at the Thrift Store yesterday.  The rest I have been picking up now and then.

 

The soft Black and White Effect.  How do you like it?

The white iron stone dishes I collected here and there until I have a whole set.  I put some dried rose petals in them just to give it some color.  The silverware was my Grandma's and it doesn't match.  The place mat is a tea towel and the napkin is a handkerchief; both from the thrift store.

I just love this pitcher and the roses.  It's hard to see but it is sitting on a silver tray.

Here are the sugar bowl and creamer that were my Grandmother's,  The little silver condiment holder with the salt and pepper shakers and vinegar and oil containers were from a garage sale.

 It looks like the little bunny is helping himself to the cookies.  The cookies are little wafers with caramel 
between and are good for dunking in coffee or tea.  They were a birthday gift from a friend.

 

 I love how the roses have little sparkles on them that look like dew drops.

Lots of sunshine streaming in on the table.  I am linking to Sunlit Sunday at My Little Home and Garden.

I'll also be linking to:

 The Newbie Party at Debbie Doo's

Table Top Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
What's It Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants
White Wednesday at Faded Charm
Home and Garden Thursday at Delightsome Life

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great week.

Until next time.

Barb

Teton Mountains and Fences

This week I'm linking to:

Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer

Wordless Wednesday

This or That Thursday  at Deb Duty Photography

Fridays Fences at Life According to Jan and Jer

Please stop by these blogs for some great photos!

Barb

Another Quilt Barn

While visiting my daughter near the Twin Cities this weekend, I found another barn with a quilt square.  So of course I had to take pictures to share with all you barn lovers.

 

Thanks for all your comments on my last barn picture.  I am linking up again to Barn Charm at Bluff Area Daily.

Have a great week.

Until next time.

Barb

Needing some sunshine and color

With the grey skies and brown landscape, I am needing some sunshine and color in my life.  What better than a bright yellow sunflower with the sun shining on it.

Taken at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum last summer

 

Linking to Sunlit Sunday at My Little Home and Garden

Have a great weekend everyone.  Until next time.

Barb

Michigan Barn

The pictures of this barn were taken somewhere in the middle of Michigan just off highway 94 as we were driving back from New Hampshire in October.

Linking to Barn Charm at Bluff Area Daily
and
Friday Fences at Life According To Jan and Jer

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day!

Barb

Rose bowl and playing with my camera

In my last post I told you about my fun day yesterday.  When I got home last night my corsage was pretty wilted but the rose didn't look too bad.  So I took the bouquet apart and floated the rose in a bowl with some of the fallen petals and baby breath.  I set it on the table and started playing with the Aperture on my camera.  I have never used that setting before.  Here are some of the pictures.  Don't asked me which pictures used which setting because I don't know.  All I know is that I like the way the pictures turned out.

The were all taken with different settings last night with only one table lamp on.  I am going to be practicing using the different settings on the camera instead of using auto all the time.  I have been reading the camera manual which isn't always easy to understand.  I purchased an e-book called "Improve Your Photography...How Budding Photographers Can Get Pro Results" by Jim Harmer.  The reviews said it was easy to understand and I agree.  But I will need lots of practice.

I'm linking to the Newbie Party at DebbieDoo's
and Table Top Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

I hope you have a great week and a Happy Valentines Day!

Thanks for stopping by.  See you next time.

Barb

Early Birthday and Valentines Celebration

Yesterday was a fun day as I celebrated an early birthday and Valentine's Day.  My daughter, Norma, and her friend, Randy, came Saturday night and spent the night.  Sunday we went to church.  When we got home they fixed a delicious brunch for me, my mom, my friend Eugene, and my daughter, Dawn. We had omelets, fruit,  cinnamon rolls, and mimosas.  I forgot to take pictures of the food.  They also gave me a beautiful corsage that I wore all day.  Forgot to take a picture of that as well.

We did get some pictures of the girls, mom, and me.  My mom is going to be 95 in March.  She's looking pretty good don't you think?

You can see my friend, Eugene, sleeping in the background.  He has Parkinson's Disease  and his health is declining.

Last evening, Eugene and I went to a Valentine's Dinner put on by the youth at our Church.  They did a beautiful job of decorating and the food was delicious. The kids were dressed in black pants and white shirts and were the servers.   The menu was spinach salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing, warm bread, raspberry ginger ale, lasagna and a vegetable medley, coffee, and either pecan or key lime cheesecake. I forgot my camera and tried taking some pictures with my cell phone.  Sorry for the poor quality as it was so dark.  I'm going to show a couple anyway so you can get the idea of the atmosphere.

All in all it was a very fun day.  I hope you have a fun Valentine's Day as well.


Thanks for stopping by.

Barb

Liebster Award

Last week I received the Liebster Award from Kaitlin at Not So Simple Housewife. Thank you Kaitlin!

She does it all, cook, clean, decorate, teach, among other things.  She also hosts a Linky Party called {Re}create Into Something New.  Please stop over and visit her great blog.

This award is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers, in the hopes that it will bring many new friends/followers.

Leibster is German and means 'dearest' or 'beloved' but it can also mean 'favorite'.  The idea of the Leibster award is to bring attention to blogs with less than 200 followers.  So, in the spirit of good fun I am passing this award on to five other bloggers.  Please stop by and visit them.

The Rules are:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

2. Reveal your five picks for the award and let them know.

3. Post the award on your blog.

4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogshare-other bloggers.

5. Finally and the best rule of all..........have fun and spread the love!


My 5 picks, in no particular order, are:


1.  Audrey at Timeless Treasures 
She does amazing things with junk timeless treasures.  Stop by her blog and see how she repurposed an old outdoor light fixture into a Cloche Terrarium.

2.  Carole at  Carole's Creative Corner
Carole lives in Australia and has wonderful photos and stories about her country.

3.  Poppy at Poppyjuice 
She gives you all kinds of tips on how to stretch your budget, from making popcorn in paper lunch bags to making your own dish scrubby.

4.  Lorna at Inspiration Overload
Lorna and her family recently moved from Arkansas to Ohio and is working at turning their new house into a home.


5.  Barb at The Nature Jotter
Barb is from Italy and a student of Biology.  She loves taking photos and traveling.


So please stop by these blogs, say hi, and follow them.  We all like to have new followers and get acquainted.

Have a great day.  Until next time,

Barb

Frosty Morning

Saturday morning I woke up to a beautiful frosted world.  We escaped the blizzard that hit Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa.

I decided to go to the Wheels Across the Prairie Museum at the edge of town and photograph the big red barn with the barn quilt.  The barn is the main museum, but there are many other old buildings there, plus as steam engine and some boxcars.

I love this little sign that was in one of the gardens.

 

I am supper busy this week so I will be back in a couple of days to visit and comment.  Have a great week.

I'm linking to Barn Charm at Bluff Area Daily

Barb

My Beanstalk Geranium

The other day it was sunny and 54 degrees here in Minnesota.  I was itching to get out in the garden.  But it's way to early for that.  So I decided I would take a slip from my geranium that was looking like Jack's Beanstalk.  At least doing that I would get my hands in dirt.  Here is a before look.

Look how tall that new growth is.

 

Here is what it looked like afterwards.  It's still big.

 

After cutting off the top part, I planted it in another pot.  I added some crushed up egg shells to the dirt.  I had read that gives the soil some rich protein.  We'll see if that helps get the new plant rooted.  So far it's looking good.  Here's what it looks like.

I've taken cuttings from plants before but never any this big.  I have a few ivy plants growing that I took cuttings from  my window boxes last fall.  They look pretty good so hopefully they survive and I can plant them in the window boxes this spring.

 

Later that day  I walked into the room where my geranium is and noticed it's shadow on the wall.  I just had to capture that.

Linking to Sunlit Sunday at My Little Home and Garden  Stop over and see what's going on and enjoy some sunshine.

I hope you are all having a good weekend!

Until next time,

Barb

PS. I've added a new way for you to follow after Google Friend Connect goes away.  It's called Linky Followers and I've put it on my sidebar. I hope you continue to follow along.