When we rely upon laws to enforce decent behavior, we end up spending our hard-earned money on attorneys. Rather than legal recourse, I’m on a mission to amp up my personal charm and collaborative kindness. Good manners are contagious.
Let’s get viral together.
Winnie Nielsen says: Little jewels of beautiful water. Now if we could only get some of that quenching the landscape of the desert southwest asap!
Nancy Coughlin says: Water- so very precious! It’s frustrating when pne tries to conserve and then sees others who are so wasteful and so blase.
Winnie Nielsen says: Iris Lane! Home of the Queen Bee we all love and enjoy!!
Nancy Coughlin says: What beautiful flowers! Why do they always look so much better in someone else’s yard?
Winnie Nielsen says: My Mom had purple iris planted in a small garden outside of our kitchen door. Love those deep colors!
MaryJane, is that the lovely “sweet lena iris” you sell on your website? Will more be available soon? My fellow gardening friend, Debby McKissic, ( who posts often here) has been waiting forever on backorder for hers.
MaryJane says: Yes, it is!!! Probably another week or so until they quit flowering and then we can begin to dig them. She should call my son, Brian, 888-750-6004 to make sure he’s on board with backorders.
thanks so much- I will pass that along to her, she will be delighted!
Rebecca Taylor says: Wow, that is beautiful!
Thanks so much for posting pictures!
Winnie Nielsen says: Interesting, but I have no idea what this is.
Ah, PEONIES , longest lived of most garden flowers, up to 100+ years ! And without ants they can’t bloom. I adore them and sadly had to leave mine at my previous house when I moved. They were old time ones from my garden mentor, Eva, who had plants 50+ years old.
for winnie winnie bo winnie, danny danny bo banny, banana fana fo fanny, fe fi fo manny, W-I-N-N-I-E
Winnie Nielsen says: Hahahahaha! What a DELIGHTFUL good morning greeting! I love this. Such a beautiful tulip center. Tulips had the original use of deep pink and purple to wow would be bees to come inside. And that lingo from the early 1960s… my sister and I used to play badminton in the backyard singing that jingle and putting in all the names of everyone we knew while laughing hysterically! Thank-you Mary Jane for such a wonderful surprise when I clicked on my computer this morning with coffee in hand! Whoop!!
connie says: Winnie, I enjoyed your Tulip today, it was my Good Morning Birthday flower!
MaryJane says: Is today your b-day?????
Winnie Nielsen says: In case Connie does not get back to you, yes, today was her birthday.
Karlyne says: I wanted to join in on the song, but I was laughing too hard. Happy Birthday, Winnie, or Unbirthday as the case may be!
Oh yes I remember that name game song ! They had just integrated our schools in Virginia, and my first Afro-American school friend could sing this the best and pretty much make fun of all those who were cruel to her. It was a very difficult time and she had the courage to made it all light and happy.
Winnie Nielsen says: Karlyne, it was Connie’s Birthday. Mine is in July but thanks for the early greeting!
Lisa, where in Virginia did you live? I was in second grade when the schools closed for a semester due to segregation. We offered our basement for a classroom for second graders and I remember what fun it was to go downstairs into this classroom. I was made to attend school up the street in another basement which turned out perfect because I met a little red headed girl with braids that became my best friend for many years!! Schools opened in January for the second semester so we were all sad to leave our basement classrooms. However, we loved being back where there were lots of swings and stuff on the playground!
The time of the song I was living in Falls church VA- 7th grade. I lived all over. Daddy worked for the Government. In Norfolk, in 5th-6th grade, I am not happy to say, I lived for a year with my not very open minded aunt. I attended a “White Academy”. Those were schools set up to avoid integration. Even I at that young age was horrified. I was brought up by my unprejudiced parents better than that, but had I no choice that year. People these days, especially those not from the south, have no idea how awful the whole system was.
Winnie Nielsen says: Tulips just make me feel happy! This particular color is stunning.
Wow Winnie, still love tulips after your tulipmania trip? I love them too.
Winnie Nielsen says: I have always loved tulips because they remind me of our yard growing up in Virginia. Our tulips were usually blooming around Easter and my mom successfully hid an egg or two in them for the annual Easer Sunday Family egg hunt in the yard. I will never tire of tulips!
connie says: Beautiful! and Winnie, you have seen their King and Queen!! LOL!!
Karlyne says: Those are seriously delicate- I thought they were wildflowers at first!
And I thought I hated ironing our way, with electric irons. How about putting in the ruffles and pleats with a sad iron? yes picturesque but no ,certainly don’t want to go back in time to that!
Karlyne says: Clever, but out of my league!
Rachael Bott says: Oh My Gosh! I want that!!!!! That would be interesting for sewing projects!
Joyce says: Now we can appreciate more deeply how our ancestors used their creativity.
The simple pleat was an engineering masterpiece. Dedication to their craft was
in every simple thing created. Beauty was simplicity in their day.
We have the world at our fingertips asking us to create .
Remember the gifts of the past given, weave them into the future.
We are the futures new ancestors. Leave a legacy of beauty and stories that are worthy of the images remembered by the next generation .
Winnie Nielsen says: Love this quaint sewing set up withe the vintage machine. It reminds me of my grandmother’s set up at the farm where they lived and we visited each summer.
Mary Jane, yesterday we visited the Keukenoff flower park that was full of tulips, hyacinth, daffodils and other bulbs in sweeping arrangements of colors and flower mixes. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen! Who knew that tulips came in so many colors, sizes, and types?? On the way to the park, we past by farms where there are huge swaths of colors of the various tulips. We learned all about tulip farming and growing at a small organic tulip farm where a young couple are making a living raising tulips . It was fascinating and beautiful. How about this trivia..? When the tulips are harvested for auction, the bulbs are cut off . Then a local sheep farmer comes and takes them all and spreads them in the fields for the sheep to eat. They love them!! So, the raising has to be organic because the bulb waste can be recycled as food for the local famers. Isn’t that cool? Apparently, flower growers do not use the bulbs but one time so they have a need to get rid of the bulbs when the flowers are picked.
oh Winnie what a flowery adventure you are having in Holland ( do they say that anymore?) Just wanted to tell you that you MUST READ ” Tulip Fever” by Deborah Moggach. A novel set in 17th century Amsterdam during the heady days of ” tulipmania”. Reads like a thriller and is as the jacket says: ” tart with suspense and unexpected revelations”. Or as the NYT said : ” Need a brief escape into a beautiful and faraway world? …Tulip Fever can offer that ” , and ” an artful novel in every sense of the word, deftly evokes Amsterdam’s vibrant atmosphere” . Just read it and enjoy !
Winnie Nielsen says: Who lays beautiful colored speckled eggs like these? Beautiful!
MaryJane says: Today’s nest and yesterday’s (handmade using mostly moss) were nests I made from treasures I found on my walks. But the bunny is real:) And the bedspring. The eggs are not.
Another sweet bird’s nest Easter arrangement. Are those real eggs? Or those new artful artificial ones?
MaryJane says: Artful, artificial. Today’s nest and yesterday’s (handmade using mostly moss) were nests I made from artful, REAL treasures I found on my walks. But the bunny is real:) And the bedspring.
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
You know it is summer when the yard is buzzing with these odd looking bugs. I always thought they were built like those early airplane designs with a couple of sets of wings to steady the craft. I think the dragon fly has a perfected design for wings . We had a pretty clumsy design and no wonder the planes couldn’t go very far or high.