Jill Ruth & Co.

The Tank Garden-An Unintentional Ode to Frank.

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Sat, 26 May 2012 22:32:00 +0000

See that nice new mulch? All out and spread around my tank garden by my son. :) It took two years to get that done, but here it is, done.

High Hope fulfilled.

One of the new planters in the garden, that I just planted this morning.

It's some kind of old feeder.

Grow and bloom little flowers!

This is an old galvanized pail with an annual baby's breath in it. I think this should be a perfect combination. Around here our plant selection is sooooo slim that I was happy to find this plant. I haven't seen annual baby's breath in a number of years. It used to be a standard one here. Does anyone know if it grows from seed easily? I should try it next year.

This is another new planter this year sitting at the end of a brick path my son made for me. We had some odds and ends bricks here...so in true form for this garden, the path ended when the bricks ran out.

We will try some plants in the bottom of the chicken waterer and in the bricks around it. We'll see how it works with very little soil.

On top of the chicken waterer, is some type of strainer I found to use as a planter. I put a wire vine and a sweet potato vine in it. I'll take another picture when they grow. :)

These two words make me smile.

Do you want to hear Frank Sinatra singing "Blue Skies"? Here is one recording, but, it's not live I'm afraid. I've always kind of liked Willie Nelson singing "Blue Skies".

I'm still tying to figure out what to do with my stones. I think some type of rustic easel to hold them. I also need to age them. Any thoughts or ideas? They will be in full sun so I don't know if growing moss on them would work.

I used a kit like this to make them that my sister gave to me many years ago. Hey, that's another high hope fulfilled. :)

Enjoy your weekend!!

A Thrifting We Went

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:10:00 +0000

My son and I went to buy some plants for the garden yesterday and got side tracked along the way....

I checked out a new consignment shop in a near by town and another thrift store that I just discovered in the last year.

Just some odds and ends here, but I was happy with them. I was especially excited to find the red bakelite handled chrome tray. I used to collect red bakelite.

I already had a setting of eight of these and now found a setting of 12 along with a platter!!

*Happy Dance * as they say.

AND, these too! This is a setting of 8 so now we can serve 28 people with coordinating dishes. Pretty!!!

This is my son's treasure that he bought at the antique store where I have a booth. He saw it last time we were there and over the past weeks decided he definitely wanted it if it was still there. It's a brass and copper fire extinguisher, VERY cool! I hope he decides he doesn't have room for it in his room. I'll find a place for it!

Now, to get the plants in the garden.

I'm late to the party but what the heck, I'll link up anyway. :)

Apron Thrift Girl and Thrift Share Monday

Her Library Adventure and Flea Market Finds

Can You Judge a Wine...

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:43:00 +0000

...by it's label?!?!

Ha! I did and I love this bottle! I have no idea if the wine was good or not. I bought it for using in an egg dish and had hopes of drinking the rest. I did taste it but I'm not a big wine drinker. However, the egg dish was great.

This label makes me laugh even though we don't have a cat.

Oh, yes, there were hopes of drinking the rest, but wow. wow. wow. "Life" has been coming at us. First, there is that sweet new grand baby to love and all that comes with the end of the school year and beginning of summer with kids home. But, there also has been unexpected house repairs. Big ones. Then hail. Big hail. A new water heater. Which of course means there were cold showers. And, the list goes on I'm afraid.

So, the rest of the wine was poured down the drain when I found it in the refrigerator that quit working.

But, the bottle will stay and will make me laugh in the face of dinner and home repairs!!

I've never watched Mad Men, but my guess this is in response to that show?

Gosh, I've missed blogging!

Just a Few Pictures :)

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:26:00 +0000

My daughter brought our new little grand daughter home for a visit and we spent the day taking pictures!

How fitting...

...an Easter baby in the dew filled grass.

I thought I'd share here a couple of the more vintage inspired photos.

She fits a doll bed, for now at least!

And, this is SO fun! The picture on the left is my daughter almost 22 years ago and the baby on the right, her daughter now. Can you believe the resemblance?!

Soon...back to regular blogging...

It Was A MOST Blessed Easter

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:26:00 +0000

Our new (and first) grand daughter arrived early Easter morning!!

The new mom (my oldest daughter) , the new grandma (ME!!!!) and the little bundle of Easter Blessings!!

Holy Week

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:25:00 +0000

When I made my concrete eggs, I made a concrete tea light holder too. And, I can't wait to make more! Maybe next week.

~ May you have a Blessed Holy Week ~

Saturday Digest

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:15:00 +0000

This is delicious...especially, when generously sprinkled on Baked Potato Soup. :)

I made concrete eggs using a Wilton egg cake mold I picked up at a garage sale.

I had to do some filing to smooth them down a bit before I glued the two pieces together. I think I may like these better. I may try again.

From this post, I know many of you share my joy in peat pots.

I can't remember what these were called, but I found them next to the peat pots at Earl May and they were 25 cents each and VERY cool. I also found them at Bomgaars for a little less, but not quite as sturdy as these.

They are about 4.5" across the top. They are sturdy enough to hold lighter weight treats or items.

What do you think? They could make great May Day baskets or small Easter baskets couldn't they?!

I could see filling one with seed packets and adorned paper and/or fabric flowers to give for a spring time gift.

They have such great texture!

~~Have a great weekend~~

Distractions While Watching Golf

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:01:00 +0000

My son had his first golf meet of the season yesterday and the weather was beautiful even though it was a bit windy.

I was hoping he wouldn't notice me laying on the ground taking pictures. (I had to desaturate the trees so you could see him better.)

I love golf. I love my son. BUT, watching golf can be a bit slow....so I took pictures of the neatest tree! Natural pom poms!!

The bark is coming off the tree and it is so neat. I don't know what kind of tree it is, or if the bark sloughing off is a sign of it dying or just unique to the tree. Anyone know?

My husband and I are very tall. :)

Auction Buys

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:08:00 +0000

**a pretty little stack of flour sacks**

with one pillow case masquerading as a flour sack, tricky one.

**sweet crocheted dress**

doll or little girl dress?

**two turquoise 5" crock bowls**

**yeah!**

could go in my tank garden but since I have one, albeit not white, I think I'll sell this one

**large silver ladle**

I would have gone to the auction just for this, it's going to be flattened, mounted on an aged board and be a Holy Water font in my sewing room!

I'm hope you all have a great week!

I'm linking up with Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl and Knick of Time's Vintage Style Linky Party.

Another Spring Mantel

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 03:48:00 +0000

This is a bit unconventional and it may kind of look like a store display, but I'm really enjoying the spring colors on our mantle. I bought a box of reader's digest books at a recent auction. I should probably say, another box of reader's digest books. :)

The covers are soooooo awesome!! I decided I just wanted to display them for awhile.

I picked up two of these frames at the same auction. They had some very common portraits in them. I popped out the old print and covered the cardboard backing pieces with burlap. Then I arranged some book flowers I made about a year ago and added some wire accents. A tutorial to make the book flowers can be found here. They are really fun and easy to make!

The arrangement was missing something and then I found this tutorial to make the origami butterflies. I was so excited because I knew the butterflies were just the touch the mantle needed. But, instead of inking the edges of the pages as Karen did, I used my daughters' water color paints to paint the butterflies shades of pastels to coordinate with the books.

It was up in the 80s today here in Nebraska! It will be interesting to see how the rest of our spring transpires. I hope there actually is one as I'm not ready for summer!!

I'm linking up with Donna at Funky Junk Interiors.

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:24:00 +0000

When I dismantled the gift I mentioned in my last post, I took a picture of the cool bark on the Kentucky Coffee Bean tree branches also in the oil can arrangement to show you. Since I was focused on the middle branch, I didn't even see this heart shape from a previous pruning until I saw the picture on the computer. I love these kinds of surprises!

Then, when I went to take a picture of the painted dried flowers, the spring wind was coming in the windows in the foyer. And, the curtains were blowing in the breeze. It was peaceful. :)

As I tried to capture the breeze on film, my youngest daughters started playing on the porch and I got this fun picture of them through my window.

One good thing leads to another. :)

A Gift That Keeps on Giving

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:52:00 +0000

My brother and sister in law brought me a fun gift for my birthday back in February. It's an old galvanized oil can filled with "winter dried" flowers, brances, and adorned with hearts and packages of seeds. Well I dismantled it yesterday in order to "spring" it up a bit. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it first. :(

Anyway, some of the dried flowers she put it there were little brown buttons that used to be Black Eyed Susans. Yesterday, I went to look in my garden to see if mine had "wintered" the same as hers.

Yes, they had! Isn't this a neat bunch of dried little buds?

Well, then I noticed that the Purple Cone flowers were awesome too! Problem was that I was in the mood for spring and these are much more fall and winter-ish.

So, I spray painted some. Just to see....and I liked it. The white ones are gorgeous, but very frosty and wintery looking.

But, the white blend well with the mint green and butter yellow of the others. I just used spray paint I had left over from other projects, so I count this project as free.

I decided for such perfectly cheap flowers, only tin cans would do to house them. I have posted about my love of tins cans before here and here.

Snippets of vintage fabric cut from rag balls really add a perfect touch!!

I've saved some of the dried flowers to paint next winter for a big arrangement of white dried flowers.

I thought I better post this before you, who are gardeners, get your flower beds cleaned out and perhaps miss these beauties. If you don't have some, maybe a neighbor or friend does who will let you grab them.

So my gift from my brother and sister in law not only brought me happiness that day, but it made me see my dead winter dried flowers in a new way and led to a very fun project!!

And, it should lead to more flowers with the seeds they gave me.

There's more the gift led to also, but this is enough for one post. :)

Have a great day!

Spring Mantel

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:25:00 +0000

Our mantle has been a bit bare since the Christmas decor came down. This may be just a touch of spring, but it's enough too make it feel fresh. Having the windows wide open here helps too!

I have two of these awesome metal baking pans and tried to sell one in my booth, but didn't have any takers. Rejection is sometimes a good thing. When I took my herb wreath down to hang up a Christmas wreath, I needed a place to store it. The square baking pan was handy (meaning I hadn't put it away) so I just laid the wreath in it to protect it. It ended up on a shelf for the past months. When I took it out to hang it up again, I realized that I really liked the wreath tucked in the square shape.

I added some of my dried yellow black eyed susans that were hanging in the laundry room for just another touch of yellow.

This is a picture of my two little gals from two summers ago. It's funny, but they really haven't changed much in looks except taller.

I used my new mad needle felting skills to felt myself a forsythia-like branch. (Seen also in the blog banner)

I had intended to make three branches, but my time ran out, so I was content with one. :)

This "spring" mantle could easily end up staying around for summer. :)

We've been in the upper 70s here, could be a bit tooooo warm for March!

I hope your week is moving along smoothly!

Very Cool Twig Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:50:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to stop at a moving sale in another town. Prices were a bit high for me and this is all I came away with, but it was worth the stop. For some reason I thought this was the neatest tree. (And, still do.)

I paid $2 for it and when I got it home, saw there was a goodwill sticker on the bottom that said $3. What was interesting was that this was owned by someone, donated to goodwill, bought by this person, then put up for sale and I ended up with it. Through that, all of the twigs were intact. I even got it home without breaking any of them.

Then two days later, I go to take it outside to shoot a picture and there is a broken twig and pecans are tucked all through it! It wasn't even my little girls, it was my 12 year old.

"Why did you stick the pecans in it?"

"Because I thought it would be fun."

Anyway....I can not figure out how it was made. Each and every branch is nailed in to the trunk. A little tiny nail was used in each branch in a spiral formation. No matter where you'd start, top or bottom, at some point you couldn't get a hammer or even your hand in there to get the nail in. I'm still studying it. My idea would be to use a hot glue gun. :)

I know it looks like a fall and winter tree but maybe I could add a couple of little birds and make it look like spring. Or just stick it away until fall and hope more branches don't get broken.

I'm linking up with Apron Thrift Girl and Thrift Share Monday.

The Baby Has Been Showered

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:00:00 +0000

We went to Lincoln Saturday for a baby shower for my daughter. It was at one of her friends' home. We had such a fun time.

She has the cutest baby bump.

My girls and me. :)

I just had to share this picture of my youngest two gals. My 5 y/o sitting in the middle (my niece is on the left) sat and ate two cupcakes while squinting at one foot and then the other, back and forth. She was in her own little world while the adults played a shower game. Then she came to me with her dress held up like an apron holding the cupcake crumbs. We just went outside to the porch to drop them. I actually took about 15 pictures of this scene. You've been spared.

I took some pictures of the diaper cake I made at home to show you. I made the three tiers using about 80 diapers. The Luvs diapers I bought were purple so that dictated the purple color theme. I used three embroidery hoops to tuck them into and hold them firm while I tied a string around them. Then I used wide white ribbon and narrow lace binding to wrap around each tier. I secured the ribbon with a low temp glue gun. It really worked well. I decided to offset the tiers to make room to set the "adornments".

I made the roses with long sleeved onesies and attached them with pearl headed corsage pins.

Replacing the shoe laces with ribbon really made these little shoes tie in with the color theme of the cake.

I tucked the original shoe laces in the toes of the shoes. The shoes are also attached with corsage pins.

I bought a bottle of baby bath because it was purple and tucked it in the top tier between the diapers. The white flower is on a baby headband that is just wrapped around the bottle of baby wash. Then two pacifiers are tied with ribbon and looped over the top of the bottle.

I used some ribbon flowers that I purchased just to add a little extra sparkle here and there on the cake.

I also thought you might like to see the corsage I made for her. I used pink Hersey kisses wrapped in tulle then attached the tulle to wire with floral tape.

I added sprigs of ribbon and sparkly ribbon roses.

Then also tied in some little plastic baby accents. We have a store in our little town that sells a lot of these party favor pieces so it was easy for me to come up with the supplies.

It's exciting times!

I May Be Hooked

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:21:00 +0000

I've been wanting to try my hand at felting for some time so when Lisa at Lil Fish Studios posted a tutorial on how to wet felt rocks, it was just the nudge I needed. Thanks again Lisa!

Not related to felting: You need to look at these adorable little dolls Lisa made too.

Here is the beginning of my felting projects. There are rocks that I wet felted according to Lisa's directions. It worked really well, but I think I'll look for smaller stones. Then I needle felted an egg and a bead. I found various tutorials and videos on the interweb to lead me in the needle felting. I'm sorry I'm not referencing any of them because I read a little here, watched a little there.

Well, after I made the bead, my son challenged me to make a square bead, a cube, if you will. Actually, I believe he was mocking me in my excitement about my new felting "skills".

So, I googled and yes there were a couple of square felted beads out there.

I gave it a shot, and it led to this necklace.

I actually made the cube by needle felting polyfil into the cube shape and then covering it with my wool roving. I first covered it with green and then little pieces of gray roving. I didn't know you could needle felt polyester, but that was another tidbit I learned online. I did it to save on my roving, but for such a small bead I probably won't do it again that way. The bottom bead is a round one made from the gray roving.

I have some jewelry making supplies on hand as I've been dabbling a bit in it. Now, I think I may have a direction of where I can go with it. Since I took these pictures yesterday, I felted a brooch, a bracelet, and a pendant. I'll show pictures next week.

I'll be ordering more roving and supplies! I'm just really enjoying this new venture.

I bought my roving from this Etsy shop, Wistyria.

***

This weekend is a baby shower for my daughter. The baby girl is due at the end of April!

***

The Truck That Isn't Anymore

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:07:00 +0000

****

This is the grain truck that I mentioned in my last post. They'll never know why it started on fire. Perhaps a rodent had chewed on wires. My husband had just parked it and went to the basement of the farm house to eat lunch. Had he not had a phone call from his brother that brought him up out of the basement for a better signal on the cell phone, it could have been much worse. The truck was parked right by the farm's two fuel tanks. He and his brother used the tractor to pull the burning truck away from the fuel barrels while they waited for the fire trucks to arrive.

The "couldas" :: could have ignited the fuel barrels, could have happened when parked for the night inside a shed, could have been full of grain,...

I don't see a lot of point in looking at the "couldas" except to see the blessings. Funny thing though, if the "couldas" would-a, we still would look to God and praise Him for being there with us. But, maybe through gritted teeth for awhile. :)

Today, very happy for what is.

Salute to Old Timer's Ingenuity

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:04:00 +0000

Sweetness! I went to an auction yesterday and was pretty happy with a couple of the things I brought home.

This table is quite sturdy and bonus! has a towel bar attached to it that I didn't even see when I bid on it. I know, so much for close inspection. :) Which is why I came home with this a few weeks ago. But, per your advice on that conundrum I am going to marry the cubbyhole piece to this table. So's the plan, anyway.

Biggest problem is where to put it and what color to paint it. If it were going in a potting shed, I'd leave it...hhmmmm....that is still an option. Just need the potting shed. :)

A big **SALute** goes out to the man who cut out these tin gallon cans to make his own drawers/bins. A woman could have made these, Rosie the Riveter comes to mind since they are full of rivets! I just love these cans.

I bought four of them and then had to let two go because the contents brought too much money. But, I knew the one regular auction goer who bought one of them and asked him if he'd sell me the container. He says, "You want the container?!" "You can just have it." I grinned big. The other fella who bought the sixth one...well, not too approachable.

These will probably end up in the barn at the work table doing just what they do best, holding screws, bolts, washers, etc.

The edges are a bit rough, but isn't the idea great? Do you think there would be any danger of a spark when you'd take a tin snip to these.? These gallon containers seem to be the ones filled with flammable contents. I think a person would want to really wash them out even before you started cutting. Then wash again. A grinder could sure smooth up the edges.

Now, what to do with all of these rivets?! I'm open to suggestions!

***

The farm's grain truck burned up last week just shortly after my husband parked it.I'll post a picture later this week of it. We are thanking God that it wasn't worse. Just the cab is gone and explosions were avoided!

***

I'm linking up with Apron Thrift Girl and Thrift Share Monday.

Saturday Digest

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:29:00 +0000

We had snow/hail with thunder yesterday. Really cool!

Another window seat project....more to follow.

This is the new "toy" I received for my birthday that I mentioned a few posts back. If you draw, you may love it! I'm using it for editing in Photoshop. Makes my brain work. :) and, hurt. :) That "old dog" adage comes to mind.

The products web page is here.

**I've ordered wool roving to try my hand at these. Oh my. So pretty. But even better still, these that Lisa sells. But, currently, sold out. :(

**We get faster internet service on Tuesday. ~~happy~~dance~~

**Wishing a wonderful weekend!!

Kid Friendly Lent Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:09:00 +0000

Ok, calling this a recipe is really a stretch. A big stretch. But, easy it is. Kid friendly it is. And, good it is.

I make these for the kids year round not just during Lent, but now seemed like a good time to share it.

Apple Cheesies

Ingredients:

tortilla shell

shredded cheese

apple.

I like the Monterrey/Colby Jack combo of cheese and also the Mexican blend of cheeses that is made by Kraft and Shurfresh (not taco flavored though). The sweeter apples are better.

The finer you chop the apple, the less likely it is to fall out of your tortilla shell. :)

Melt in the microwave until cheese is about half melted. Then roll up.

That's it. Served with some fresh vegetables and you have a pretty nice lunch.

We started making cheesies at home after the kids liked the cheesy burritos at Amigos. They weren't so keen on the beans that are in the Amigos version so we never put them in at home. Then one day when I was making cheesies for lunch and cutting up apples to serve with them, my little girl jokingly asked if I was going to put the apple in the cheesy. I realized that the warm apple would be quite good with the cheese and thanks to Audrey, Apple Cheesies were born.

Gourmet we're not. :) But picture grating your own imported cheese and making your own homemade tortillas and you can step it up a bit. LOL!

May your Lenten season be blessed!

Dreams of a Moonlight Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:25:00 +0000

As you plan your garden for this year, you might consider white.

When we first moved into our house one of my flower beds was deemed the "Moonlight Garden" and I had hopes and dreams of white flowers glowing at dusk and illuminated by the moon. Well, 15 years later, I still have the dream. :) The soil was poor, my attention to the bed has had a wee bit of competition, but I still plant white flowers in pots and enjoy those at dusk.

I took the photos in the two mosaics at dusk one night last summer. They are straight out of the camera with no editing, I think you can tell how they just pop at dusk and if you have bright moonlight, by the moon.

I have also found that light purple plants are gorgeous at dusk. I remember the bloom of the milkweed plant and Husker Red Penstemon being amazing as the sun went down.

This web page gives you a list of good plants to use in your moonlight garden

This link: a lot of information on moonlight gardens

This page: videos on a moonlight garden (scroll down)

I would really like to hear your experiences with moonlight gardening!

Linking up with Kathleen at Faded Charm for White Wednesday (on a Thursday)

Tea on Tuesday::Texture Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:50:00 +0000

It's been awhile since I've joined up with Kimmie for Tea and with Kim Klassen for Texture Tuesday. It's so fun to edit pictures of tea cups!

One of my daughter's gave me this Tazo Rest Rose Tea. It's so light and delicious!

The challenge for Texture Tuesday was to use the theme "happiness". Well, this tea from my daughter in this cup made me happy, so "happiness is a cup of tea in a vintage cup".

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!!

May you feel the love from above!

Kids' Valentine Project

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:44:00 +0000

We had a 4-H meeting last night and since we've been working on learning some simple stitches, I made up kits for them to practice at home. **With the help of my husband...since he's still non weight bearing on his foot...I told him cutting out cardboard hearts for his wife shows what a true man he is. :)

Supplies:
food boxes
craft punches
yarn in red and white (or color of choice)
large eyed needle
paper to label the hearts

I thought I'd share the idea if anyone has kids or step it up to fabric and a frame and make it your self.
**Cut out three hearts from paper board (food boxes with predominantly red and white colors)
**Pre punch the holes with a craft punch. We used a big one and a little one
**Use a blanket stitch, an overcast stitch, and a running stitch to stitch around the hearts. If you make big holes, you could just tape around the end of your red yarn and not use a needle.
**Type out labels in the font of your choice or hand letter them.
**Glue to the back side of a big panel cut from a food box.
**Punch holes around the "frame" and do a running stitch with yarn to complete the frame.
**Tie a string around the yarn in the back to hang it.

Links:
Blanket Stitch Tutorial:

http://stitchschool.blogspot.com/2009/12/blanket-stitch.html

Overcast Stitch:

http://diyfashion.about.com/od/easysewing/f/Overcast_Stitch.htm

Running Stitch:

http://www.holiday-crafts-and-creations.com/running-stitch.html

You can certainly step this up with more effort depending on the age of the kids.

I hope you have a nice weekend! I have a new gadget...a gift from my two of my kids for my birthday, so I'll be fiddling with it this weekend. More on it later when I have more to tell. :) I did capture my signature with it though.

Very Simple Hearts.

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:32:00 +0000

Inspired by a friend, who was inspired by Dottie Angel...I sewed some simple hearts on a string with my sewing machine.

The hearts are made from book pages. Sometimes simple is quite nice.

For previous heart/valentine posts:

Click here for the book heart garland tutorial and

here for wordle valentine cards

and for another Valentine's Day inspired garland, here.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Hello Blue Snow.

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:13:00 +0000

I caught my reflection this morning in our kitchen window. Warm and toasty inside superimposed on crisp and cold outside. The light from the door is our pantry light reflecting in the window and the horizontal spread of light is from our white countertop. We had about a foot of snow Friday night and although I'm not thrilled with scooping, it is beautiful.

I ran out late this afternoon and with just the last rays of sun, snapped a couple of pictures in the tank garden.

The white balance on my camera is not off. Everything was so blue. When my son and I were scooping yesterday, we noticed how you could see the most beautiful blue light in each crevice of snow. I should have taken the time to get my camera, it really was amazing.

One of the tea cup bird feeders with a little cap of snow.

The late afternoon sun is fleeting and deceptively warm looking, but so inviting.