For The Beauty of the Earth

 As the days lengthen and the temperatures rise, the earth seems to come alive again.  Each day brings new things in the garden.  The bulbs planted last fall reward us with beautiful blooms, trees that look lifeless all winter suddenly come alive with color.

Each morning begins with song ~ beautiful melodies sung to us by the songbirds.

Every time I step outside I am in awe of the beauty unfolding all around me and I am reminded of a hymn.  As I wander through the garden the words to this hymn are playing in my head.

For the Beauty of the Earth

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flower,

Sun and moon and stars of light,

Lord of all, to thee we raise,

This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth, and friends above,

Pleasures pure and undefiled,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

For each perfect gift of thine,

to our race so freely given,

Graces human and divine,

Flowers of earth and buds of heaven,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

For thy Church which evermore

Lifteth holy hands above,

Offering up on every shore

Her pure sacrifice of love,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

Ever since I can remember this hymn has been one of my favorites.   In searching for the words, I learned that the lyrics were written in 1864 by Folliot S. Pierpoint.  The following information was taken from this website.

Folliot Sandford Pierpoint was taking a walk one late Spring day, in the lovely area surrounding his home in Bath, England. Overwhelmed with the beauty he saw, he sat down and wrote "For the Beauty of the Earth." Not only does Pierpoint thank God for His beautiful creation, but also for family, friends and other gifts God has bestowed upon us.

His list of blessings includes the natural beauty of earth and skies, the amazing creation called the "human being" and the gift of time. But some of his warmest words are used to thank God for the joy that family and friends—living and departed—have given, and continue to give to our lives.

~ Mom & I - Easter 2009 ~

As I prepare to celebrate Easter with my family, I remember the family members who will not be at our table this year and these particular words from a hymn written so many years ago hold particular significance:

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth, and friends above

May you find joy in the beauty of Springtime.

Busy as a Bunny

Oh me, oh my ... it's a busy time for we bunnies.  There is so much to be done now that Spring has sprung.

On warm, sunny days the garden is calling.

Of course, the sun isn't always shining in the springtime.  Good thing we keep our umbrellas and rain bonnets handy.

It's important to keep our pocketbooks handy too.  After all Easter is coming and we need Easter outfits, carrots, hams, carrots, chocolate bunnies, carrots and jelly beans.  There's shopping to be done.

And, of course, we want to keep the children happy.

There are eggs to be dyed.

Baskets to be filled.

And we certainly don't want to neglect our honey bunnies. 

Oh my goodness, it's time to hop to it.

But, before I do, I'll leave this little thought for you.

~ click to enlarge ~

Have a hoppy happy weekend.

Edited to add:  I am linking this post to the Vintage Easter Blog Hop over at Anything Goes Here.  Hop on over for more vintage easter fun. 

Saggy Socks and Other Fashion Mysteries

On a recent visit to the hair salon, I was listening to the salon owner talking about the tights she was wearing under her slacks.  She was raving about how comfortable and silky they felt.  She went on to say that they were the "George" brand at Walmart.  As I listened to the conversation I wondered if I would ever wear tights as I usually wear trouser socks with dress pants.

It seems my question was answered for me today.

When I left for work this morning this pair of socks was at my knee.  Every time I got up from my desk to go anywhere they were suddenly ankle socks.

While heating up my lunch and hoisting my socks, I was telling a co-worker about my little issue.  She said as she was laughing, "I'm sorry Kim, but it really is funny."  I had to admit she was right and then we were both laughing.

Now, I'm certainly no fashion maven, but I do think a sense of humor is a good thing to have when it comes to fashion after 50.

Recently my sister-in-law and I decided to go to Kohl's after eating lunch.  She said she could use some sandals and I said I could use a black purse as my current one is falling apart.  Neither of us particularly like clothes shopping anymore.  Not because we don't like cute clothes ~ more like it is such a process to figure out what looks age appropriate, stylish and hides the increasing flaws that seem to come with age. 

After choosing a boring (yawn) black purse, we decided to check out Spring fashions for ladies our age.  There were many trips to the fitting room where the things that looked perfect on the hanger looked a bit different on us, but we were laughing hysterically at the growing discard pile.

Finally we discovered one blouse that seemed to work.

Not too low cut, yet not too matronly.

One of our favorite features was where this band hit.  It fell beneath the tummy and kind of camouflaged the less than washboard abs.

After finding something that was fairly fashionable and covered the worst of the flaws I decided to ditch that boring black bag for something a bit more exciting for Spring.

And the way I look at it now is when you find something that works, stick with it.  Case in point ~ I bought the blue model too.

We may not be fashion plates, but we sure did laugh a lot that day.  We even had some of the sales clerks laughing along with us. 

Am I the only one who finds clothes shopping to be such a challenge at this age?  I'd love to hear your stories.  Where do you like to shop? 

A Change of Plans

~ Happy Spring ~

My visions of spending part of the week assembling a fun post for the first day of Spring changed when~

1. A hot water tank broke sending water through the bedroom ceiling ~ while hubby is on a business trip ~ and naturally occurs on a Sunday. 
2. Several days were taken up having various companies give estimates to replace water heater and repair damage to ceiling.
3. All day yesterday having many what seemed like a small army of workmen tromping up and down and in an out to fix the problems as a small dog yapped and yapped.
4. All day today cleaning up messes from yesterday's activity.

These are my excuses reasons for offering only one measly picture for this first day of spring.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.  By the way, can anybody tell me why builders put hot water heaters in attics?  As one repairman told me, they are like bombs waiting to go off.  He said I was lucky to be home when it happened.  Often people aren't and come home to major damage.  Anyhow, I'm not a builder, but it seems to me that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.

Although the post isn't as I wanted it, the thoughts are the same ~ Happy, Happy first day of Spring to all of you.

Baking Up an Easter Craft

I did a bit of baking yesterday.  It was so much fun rolling and cutting out these spring themed cookies.

But, I wouldn't recommend eating them unless you are partial to hard, salty cookies.

You see these aren't real cookies, they are Salt Dough Bowl Fillers.  The credit for this fun project goes to Colleen at And Baby Makes Five.  I recently stumbled upon her blog and fell in love with her bowl fillers.  She has made them for many different seasons & holidays and kindly provides tutorials on her sidebar.

I was the only one home yesterday.  No dinner deadlines or schedules to be kept, so I put on some music, lit a honeysuckle scented candle and started playing.

It was so fun, relaxing and I might even say it was down right therapeutic.

Soon it will be time to start my Easter decorating.  I think these will be fun to incorporate into the decor.

Thank you Colleen for this fun idea!!

The Beauty of an (almost) Spring Rain

~ Shamrocks ~

The first few days of this week were gorgeous here.  Sunny and in the low 70s.  I spent most of the day outside on Monday and felt like the kid that doesn't want to come in until the street lights come on.  So, on Wednesday and Thursday when the skies turned gray and the rain started to fall it was a bit of a let down.  Seems to be the way it works right after I wash my car ;-).

This morning as I took a little walk around the garden, I was amazed at the changes that had taken place in such a short time.  I bought the shamrock plant (above) for St. Patrick's Day several years ago.  Afterwards I planted it in the garden and it has been thriving ever since.  Soon it will be covered in beautiful little pink flowers.

Seeds planted in my vegetable garden are beginning to sprout.

Broccoli planted last fall is really taking off this week.

The daffodils should be opening any day now.  I can hardly wait.

The petite Tete a Tete daffodils were just green shoots on Tuesday and look at them now.

Earlier in the week I fertilized and deadheaded the pansies.  They were looking a bit bedraggled after the winter.  The combination of sun and rain has already worked it's magic in making them begin blooming once again.

Although days like this may not be as uplifting as bright sunny days, they play an important role in the garden and I'll try to remember that the next time I'm tempted to complain about the weather :-).

I'm off to walk with my little four legged friend.

Have a Happy Weekend and don't forget to Spring forward.  Yay ~ more daylight.

~ Counting Down ~

As the countdown to spring begins continues . . .

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a picnic on the patio after playing in the dirt while breathing in the sweet smell of Spring.

I'm also ready to cut the first daffodil bouquet of 2010, see a nest full of birdie eggs, snip some chives and go on a local garden walk.  Which, by the way, is where these beautiful photos came from.  A garden walk in Salisbury, NC a couple of years ago.  Do you ever go on garden walks in your area?  I love to take in the beauty of other people's gardens and get inspiration for new things to try in my own garden. 

Only 16 days to go (but who's counting)?

;-)

May happiness and joy find you this weekend.