Indian Summer

Now that we've had a hard frost, with ice on the dog's water bowl, it is now officially Indian Summer here. These warm days are so refreshing, but the nights are not kind to my flowers.
Yesterday I gathered the last rose buds to dry along with the yellow tansy buttons. Today I went out to gather the blue delphiniums, too. This is it! The only gardening remaining is the clean up and planting some tulips.

I've saved flowers from my niece's wedding and the memorial services from my dad and Wally and made memory jars with the dried materials. Sometimes the container isn't quite full, so I add some of my own blossoms.

I joining Today's Flowers. Please click on the link or picture and enjoy visiting others with a love of flowers. Many thanks to the team that makes it possible. ♥♫

Tea Time Tuesday

Last Saturday I went to the Greeley Wesleyan Church Holiday Arts and Crafts Festival. There were over 60 artisans with temptations of all kinds.
In the first room we stopped and found delicious jams and jellies and the cutest spreaders. Everything was displayed beautifully ~ all the booths could have had professional designers setting wares out for the shoppers.

Sarah and I will enjoy using these when we serve our guests at our next tea time. We found her yellow teapot at a thrift shop several years ago still in the box. We love the color and unusual shape. I'll miss it whenever she has a larger kitchen and takes it to Denver!
The best part of all was visiting the Nativity Room. Church members and friends bring in family Nativity sets to remind everyone of the ultimate gift. There is a variety of styles and countries where they were made. I didn't think to bring my camera along and most likely wouldn't have been able to get good pictures in the darkened room. A flash would have disturbed the calm, serene feeling of the room.

"To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God"
John 1:12

I'm joining Sandi for Tea Time Tuesday. Visiting her and others is a blessing and so much fun! ♥♫

Fall Candy Can

I made Sarah one of the pop top candy cans so she could take it back to Denver this afternoon.
I added leaves and buttons to hers and more ribbons on the pull tab. She thought they'd be a good idea for Christmas, but I don't use that much canned food...so most likely this won't be in the stockings.

Tea Time Tuesday

When I have something to share I'm delighted to join Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage for her lovely Tuesdays.
When I got home after school today I went to the mailbox and found two packages waiting for me from Paper Back Swap members. I was looking forward to getting these because they are favorite themes for me. This is the best book club because it is free to join and the only cost is when you mail a book to another member.

The Tea Party Book is a sweet book for children and would make a nice gift book for Christmas. birthday, or just because. I'm keeping this one for myself as I plan to use it with two of my groups as we explore Mother Goose rhymes. And we'll have a tea party to celebrate our improvements in reading!

I collect hearts and angels and discovered that Jane Seymour had published another book. (Read about it in Angels on Earth). I had received her other book Open Hearts and went right to PBS to see if it was available. It's now mine!!

Here is something to read and ponder while you have tea today from Among Angels:

"You can't receive the gift of an angel with a closed heart.

If you didn't manifest living with an open heart,

you would close yourself off from those possibilities.

OPEN YOUR HEART!

Believe,

and you will RECEIVE."

Thank you, Sandi, for allowing me to join in today!

Trick or Treat

I don't like orange and I don't like Halloween. But I'll do almost anything for my mom. She has three trick-or-treaters that come visit on Halloween and she wants something to give them. The junk in the stores doesn't appeal to me and I'm the shopper, so I told her I'd make something for her.
I'd saved some cans that I opened on the bottom, washed, dried, and sprayed the tops for this project. Bought some candies, papers and a new punch. Filled the cans with candy and glued the bottom back on. There must be a better glue for this, but I just used what I found at home.
That little finger has never been trained to curl in--it was always out there when I took piano lessons and still has a mind of its own to this day!

Here's the new punch purchased with a 40% off coupon!! I always check my email for coupons for Michael's and Hobby Lobby before going to town. We don't get the fliers out here, but I do like a bargain.
Cut the papers and glued on trims and decided to add the scalloped circle to the lid.
I'm sure there are a lot of "extras" I could have put on, like fall leaves, buttons, pumpkins, etc. These will be OK and I'm happy with them.
Here's a much better tutorial that I found at Split Coast Stampers.

Purity

I've noticed that people join in more than one party, so I'm linking to Today's Flowers as well as Flowers on Saturday.

My mom had the most beautiful white delphiniums blooming early this past summer and I was unhappy that I didn't get any pictures of them. Until the first weekend in October...
The fall stems are not as large or plentiful, but I was able to remember my camera that weekend! My grandma also had delphiniums in the same garden many years ago.
They looked so pretty with the Russian Sage in the background. Perhaps I'll be able to get some plants this color next spring at our FFA greenhouse. I'm linking to Flowers on Saturday. Thanks for letting me join the parties. ♥♫

Sunday Delight

Three sweethearts came to see me late Sunday afternoon.
I wasn't expecting a surprise, but what a joy it was to see three of my favorite girls from the big city. The buttons on the overalls have the famous (to farming people) John Deere deer. Click to enlarge and see for yourself! ;-D
The four of us went to supper with Grandma, Grandpa, Zach (aka Santa), and my Ms. Sarah Josephine. ♥♫

P.S. You can see Santa at Grandma and Grandpa's if you click on his name.

Cosmos for Today's Flowers

As the nights cool off here in Colorado, a frost will soon take all the flowers from the garden.
However, the autumn sun was shining on these cosmos when I came home from town. They've never looked better than right now! The picture will enlarge if you click on it. This picture is for Jinny--love you! ♥

I'm joining the link to Today's Flowers. Thanks for the weekly party!

Flowers for Saturday

I'm joining Ewa for Flowers on Saturday.
This is my fall blossom on my delphinium. When the early summer plants go to seed, I leave them in the garden so they'll drop and have new plants come up. When that happens, I am doing a happy dance!
After our first fall frost we'll be having Indian Summer. Can't wait for the flies to die off!! Maybe a few grasshoppers will also die. I still have plenty of both. :-(

The average first frost date in Denver is Oct. 7, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen yet. ♥♫