Photography Fun

This is one of my favorite pictures from my archives. I made the flower arrangement with a variety of flowers from my garden and placed them in a pretty silver bowl that I found at a garage sale.

I enjoy taking my photographs and putting Bible verses or quotes on them and creating cards to give to family and friends; I also have several of them enlarged and framed in my home.

I am enjoying the cooler weather that we've had these last two days! It has been a warmer than usual August here in Indiana and the lower temperatures are so refreshing. It is nice to have the windows open again. With the cooler temperatures my thoughts are on all of the projects that need to be completed inside and out in a few short months. Enough thinking, I guess I had better get off the computer and start painting!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Bless this Nest

I have been busy the last several weeks painting and redecorating the master bedroom. Early this summer I found a new picture frame, still in the packaging, at a garage sale for a couple of dollars. I love photography and seldom pass up reasonably priced frames at garage sales. This particular frame was one that held six 4x6 pictures. I have a plant shelf down the entire length of a long wall in the master bedroom that is very difficult to decorate.

Several months earlier I had a gift card to Kohl's and bought the "Bless this Nest" vinyl wall art. With the name Robin, I am fond of all things bird related and have bird cages, nests, and bird pictures and decor all over my home. I had not used the vinyl because I wasn't sure where to put it. As I was contemplating what to put on the plant ledge, I remembered both the vinyl and the frame. A perfect decorating solution for my tight budget!

I'm not sure that this even needs an explanation, but just in case anyone else is interested in this project, here is how I did it. I opened the frame and removed the mat for the six 4x6 prints, and attached the burlap to the piece of cardboard that came with the frame, stretching it and securing it with tape on the back. Then I put the frame back together and placed the vinyl wall art directly on the glass. That's it!

This was a very quick and easy project and only cost me a couple of dollars!

Linking to:

Wordless Wednesday

Milkweed Bugs

If you grow milkweed, more than likely you have seen this orange-red and black insect. It is the milkweed bug. Milkweed bugs feed on the pods and seeds of milkweed. They are harmless and can be good for controlling milkweed overpopulation in the home garden. The downside to that is that they damage and cause deformity to the seed pods preventing collection of seeds for those who would like to grow more milkweed.

They have a lifespan of about one month and during that time the female can lay up to 2000 eggs. Like ladybugs, they do not go through complete metamorphosis; they go through a series of molts. You can see the varying instar stages in the collage above.

This year they were prolific in my garden and were treated as pests. They were either smashed or collected in a bucket of soapy water. Not to worry, there are still plenty there to control my milkweed population!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I am thankful for the rain this morning. The flowers were drooping and the grass was just about dead. I am looking forward to some cooler weather! We have had the opposite summer compared to last year. Instead of the cool rainy weather, we have had a very hot and dry summer with twenty-eight days of temperatures in the 90's. I don't think we even hit 90 last summer.

Thank you all for your kind comments and the welcome back!

Back in the Saddle

These aren't exactly beautiful pictures of butterflies but I wanted to show that you can attract a variety of butterflies by providing fruit for them.

Hackberry butterfly- (First time to see this one in the garden!)

Each time I cut a melon I place the rinds outside. The butterflies flock to it! The flies do too, but I try not to think about that.


I think this is a Viceroy

I found this blue plastic tray with a stand for $2.00 at a garage sale early this summer. I bought it with this specific thing in mind. It has worked just like I had hoped that it would!

Red Spotted Purple

Last year was cool and rainy, I think I may have seen five butterflies all summer long. This year has been hot and I have seen more species in my garden than ever before. I think the watermelon has helped attract them to the garden, especially the red spotted purple. They love it!

Question Mark

I apologize for my lengthy absence. I just needed some time to process all of the changes in my life. Losing my mother was such a shock. Sadly sometimes these things tend to bring about the worst in people, so there have been some challenges regarding extended family as well. I was not expecting to deal so soon with greed and malicious behavior. It is very sad and incredibly hurtful.

It is time to move on and try to enjoy my life and my own precious family again.

Monarch

I have also had frustrating computer issues. My desktop computer has been in the shop twice and it needs to go back again. Thankfully it is still under warranty. The laptop I use now is frustrating because it skips letters and without warning it erases large sections of script and pictures. I just have not felt like doing battle with it and Blogger to post. Hopefully, now that I am in a better frame of mind, I can get back in the saddle and post more regularly.

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and encouraging comments for me during this very difficult time in my life. I've missed you all!