a blog about the garden of life and life in the garden
Today's steeples are once again from my archives...Yellow Medicine Lutheran Church in Hanley Falls, MN.
A tree interfered with most of my shots but at least it was a leafless one on a late October day. This one is worth showing because once again it is a twin steepler.
The sign out front said it was built in 1898 after the original was destroyed by fire.
Happy Sunday!
Today's view of the garden and pond makes it look like...
they will have to continue swimming circles in the garage for a while yet.
It has been in the upper 30's & low 40's for a week so the snowpack has really gone done - I would say a foot or more already. Today it is raining so that should speed things along as well so hopefully in a month the pond will be thawed out and running. Looking back at last year's photos the pond was cleaned out and the fish were in by April 18th and green was popping out all over - I can't wait!
I began this post with "this is what is left of my goldfish" - last year my goldfish population took a huge hit - first I was visited daily for a week by this guy in May...
and in June a family of these guys must have had their fill because by late summer we couldn't hardly spot any fish.
There are only 3 large fish left that were part of the 40+ I overwintered last year. All the others you see in the above photos are last year's offspring and 3 of the 5 fantails Nathan & Tammy gave me for Mother's Day.who am I kidding - this is what I really want after such a long winter!
I'm joining in with our hostess, Susan, A Southern Daydreamer, for Outdoor Wednesday again today. Please click HERE to see her 61st OW post along with the 80+ others participating.
Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Richmond, MN.
I have seen this steeple many times on the skyline as we head up Hwy 23 so one day a few weeks ago we left the highway to check it out. It was quite beautiful with the clock faces on all four sides of the steeple.
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Most of the objects in Pine Hollow are thrift store objects or homemade such as the red bridge at the bottom of this photo.
I never really liked the paint job on the gazebo and the red bridge was lacking something so last week I remodeled them as well as a birdhouse by covering them with stones.
The paint brushes are back out for this week's projects, a fairy house and a bird feeder.
As most women know - the way your hair looks can put you in a bad mood (as in a bad hair day) or it can lift your spirits and define you as elegant, no-fuss or playful. The bluejays above and below are modeling the "classic" crest - the everyday look we associate with bluejays which can also be quite elegant looking.
For a more "serious" look this one models a slicked back style...
and this one is modeling the "I just wanna have fun" spiked look.
The attention seeker usually chooses a look you can't miss like this wild mohawk...
or if you are a little mischievous or overly dramatic...
the "Bart Simpson" look might be the one to make your day.
Which look are you going with today?
Other than the usual backyard birds I have not had any opportunities to spot much else in the way of wildlife lately. I was thrilled to finally see some deer on Saturday - only wish I could have gotten some better shots.
The smaller of the two was easily spooked when we stopped the truck...
but at least one posed for me.
30 degrees today - WHOO-HOOO! We actually had some melting of snow in the sunshine...I am so ready for spring :)
Wishing a wonderful day filled with love and joy to my beautiful daughter-in-law, Tammy! I chose pink as a color to highlight because...
Happy Birthday Tammy - we love you!
When my views outside the front and back doors today (and for the last three months) look like this... 
and this - one can only "think spring" inside.
I've been thinking spring in the warmth of my home for the last couple of weeks by looking online for seeds & plants and working on a few garden projects in the basement. In my visits to other gardens and blogs, I keep an annual "wish list" of plants I want to add to my own gardens. Below is Lamb's Tail Joey, a plant I saw several times last summer at Munsinger gardens and fell in love with.
In the same garden, I spotted these Amaranthus Red Towers and loved the electic look as well as I knew they would be bird magnets as the amaranthus love lies bleeding is.
In this post by my blogging friend, Bonnie, at Flower Bed, I loved these mumsy marigolds. She told me she got them through Park Seeds so last week I went online and ordered them in yellow, gold and orange. While browsing their site, I found they had the lamb's tail joey and the amaranthus towers and many other flowers I fell in love with so before I knew it my order reached 24 packs of seeds! They arrived this week and I was very surprised to learn in reading the origin of the seeds only 2 of the 24 came from the USA. The seeds of Lamb's Tail Joey, a plant native to Australia came from Germany, the seeds of the Amaranthus Towers came from Holland and the Mumsy Marigolds are a product of France. 
The tally of the 24 was 2 from Germany, 1 from Japan, 11 from Holland, 4 from France, 4 from England and the 2 from the USA, cleome sparkler bush and Van Gogh sunflowers. By the way, do they really think pasting a sticker saying "packed for 2010" on top of the printed "packed for 2009" will make me believe them?
Did you notice the table the seeds were sitting on? Another friend, Debbie from Mountain Breaths, goes to the annual MacKenzie-Childs barn sale and shows us many of the beautiful pieces she as seen there as well as purchased in this POST. Looking at the MacKenzie-Childs website I spied this cute little table for $3,200.00. It must be popular as it is currently on backorder - here is my almost free little version from an old piano bench and two cans of paint (though I just noticed it looks like I forgot the polka dot corners). It will find a home in the garden next summer.
I have had these 2 little chairs that some garden angels are having a conversation on for many years but decided they needed some freshening up as well...
another little M-C makeover as long as I had the black and white paint out.
The drop cloth is out so I have plans for some birdhouses, feeders and a few new additions and makeovers to Pixie Hollow. By the time I get done with everything...spring should finally be here!
It is always such a joy to spot eagles close to home which until the last couple of years was a very rare site. Yesterday, we were able to spot the one above taking off at a nearby lake and Jeff took the photos below last week as one sat on the railroad tracks right alongside the highway near our hometown. He has since seen it twice flying over the highway - we assume looking for roadkill.
Not great shots in either mosaic but still wonderful memories!
Since I am late with my Steeple Sunday post I give you not one but two steeples...
St. Margaret's Catholic Church, Lake Henry, MN.
I love the double steeples but only one housed a bell.
Hope your Sunday was a good one!
