A little bit of this, a little bit of that....

We do a lot of waiting in the Midwest.  We wait for spring, and then in the blink of an eye it swooshes right past us. Then we wait for summer to arrive, and once it finally shows up we pray for rain so crops can grow and gardens can green up.  Last summer was a drought and by mid-July I had basically given up on my flowers, but with all the rain we've had so far everything is green, albeit a bit soggy!  Prayers go out to my beautiful college roommate and her parents, waiting out the fires in Colorado to learn the fate of their home.  God bless the firefighters and other emergency personnel who risk their lives for others.

It was a full weekend--we had a chance to catch up with good friends after work on Friday and had a great time.  Saturday we drove north to visit my daughter and her fiance' and start confirming wedding plans.  That felt...surreal.  Nice, but definitely surreal.  Surely I'm not old enough for my little girl to be engaged?!  Sunday was spent enjoying my latest blooms in the garden, including some of my cheerful yellow Oriental lilies.

“The only Commandment I ever obeyed — 'Consider the Lilies.” 

(Emily Dickinson)

Hmm....seems I wasn't the only one enjoying my garden!

Here are my last few peonies before the big storms hit over the weekend.  I love, love, love peonies!!

I also love my antique blue mason jars!  My mother crocheted the beautiful doily.

I had fun playing with color effects on PicMonkey...here is one of my peonies all gussied up.

I also played with my charm squares for the quilt I'm trying to get up the nerve to start.  I never realized how difficult it is to come up with the perfect balance of colors and patterns to create a pleasing quilt top.  My perfectionism was kicking in big time!  This isn't the final layout--my husband had some great suggestions after I took this picture.  It was hard balancing the few dark red squares.  To be honest, I'm a little intimidated!

Here's a cheerful little poem by William Blake to start off our week--have a wonderful day!

 

The Lily

The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheep a threat'ning horn:
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.