lauradodson::art + life

Twinkle, Twinkle...

I worked in the yard today.  I planted orange mums, took out all the pink, and ... drum roll, please ... bought twinkle lights for Jeff to hang. 

They're so sparkly and heart- warming.  I feel all warm fuzzy inside when they're lit.  I also broke out all the candles today.  It's fall, you know.  That means only one thing; the pyromaniac is back. 

We had some friends from church over tonight.  Earlier, I had set the table outside and dressed it.  I was beginning to worry it might be too warm once dinner was ready.  Thankfully, I was wrong.  Breezy, cool, sparkly, moonlit and candle lit night.  The boys ate inside and played XBOX.

Here's a dimly lit look at the mums.  I've decided to start saving all the empty jelly jars, etc. to use as candle holders outside.  They're perfect hurricane lamps.  The candles stayed lit all night.  I put some pebbles in the bottom to weigh them down and a tea light on top.  Voila!  I highly recommend this technique for when you need outdoor up-lighting. 

Tomorrow is the Lord's Day.  I am exhausted so I am headed to bed for some reading time.  Have a wonderful weekend.

Beautful Sunday Favorites

Made over in flickr.  Love that place.

Beautiful Sunday: Flickr Favorites 5.20.07

Beautiful Sunday: Happy Mother's Day!

My homemade card from Joshua.

He made this at school.  Purple is his favorite 'private' color.  Blue is his favorite 'public' color.  He really likes purple, though.  I tell him it's ok for him to like purple in public but he doesn't buy it.

He grew up on me, I guess.  When he was 4, his preschool colored turkeys for Thanksgiving and I picked his out of the crowd.  The only purple and black turkey there.

My homemade card from Caleb.

He used my very old zetti stamps to depict Jeff and I.  Heehee.  At least we love each other even if we look rather odd.

Caleb loves all of my art supplies, but mostly the stamps, the ink pens, and prismacolors.  He has a journal that is private but he lets me read it every so often.  He just finished writing a story using my stamps.  I'll ask if I can scan it.  If it is ok with him I'll put it in flickr and let you know.  He's a funny little guy.  :o)  It's about a boy named Caleb and The Queen of France.

If you're a Mom, Happy Mother's Day!

Beautiful Sunday

Isn't she gorgeous?  I think so.  I am trying to console myself by thinking positively...the rose bushes burst into bloom after the two severe storms we had here last week.  They smell delicious.  Not like those roses you buy at the store that have no fragrance, or worse are sprayed!! with fake fragrance. (Can you believe?!)  No.  She's an original beauty.  The silver lining in the cloud. 

The cloud is losing 70% of our tree in our backyard.  The tree is absolutely pitiful looking.  Her left over branches are all wonky and jutting out in all crazy directions from the major trimming Jeff had to do.  Four large branches either snapped and were hanging by bark threads, or split in two and splayed across our neighbors RV and our back fence.  Jeff got them in time before they did any damage to either.  However, now our yard is torn to bits due to the lift and tractor.  Oh.

Let's look at another rose, ok?  There. That's better.

This one here smelled scrumptious too. In this photo it looks brighter than it actually is.  It's a deeper red.  I guess my camera distorted the color somewhat. 

I hope your Sunday is Beautiful, too.  So far, ours has been.  We have been blessed beyond measure. Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good.  His love endures forever!

More Beautiful Sunday here.

**edit:  after seeing all the photos and video footage of Greenburg, KS...a lost tree is such a little thing.