Finally... *S*N*O*W*!!!

Now all of you northerners, don't laugh. We got 3" - 4" of snow, but we hadn't had any to speak of this season! I think I was as excited as all the kids that were hoping for a snow day.

There's a serene silence during a snowfall. Maybe all of nature is waiting and watching, watching as the snowflakes begin to fall, one by one, then by the thousands and even more, turning the ground to winter white.

The following morning, when the sun peeks through the trees, nature comes alive with birds singing, flitting here and there, squirrels chattering, thankful for the food they had gathered in the fall, and the blanket of snow glistening, sparkling, as if God has cast a handful of diamond dust from Heaven to bless our new morning with unspeakable beauty.

~*~

If you'd like to read a little story and see an interesting clip about my turkey, visit The Primitive Gathering blog here.

Another Year Older AND Wiser???

I think not, lol! Yesterday, on the 18th, I turned 41. I'm long past the desire for big celebrations ~ and to think of it, I never was one to want a big celebration. My husband and I went by the hair salon where my daughter works so she could fix my hair for my birthday. Afterwards, we drove about an hour to another town to spend the day mostly window shopping and to eat lunch. Among the stores were Goodwill, Tractor Supply, Lowes, and Wal-Mart. No biggies there, just the usual, but it was nice just spending time together. I didn't find a single thing at Goodwill. I'm trying to be very picky since I have all my craft supplies boxed up and no extra room whatsoever available in the house until we get my workroom finished. My husband found an item or two for Gypsy (our horse) at Tractor Supply and got a kick out of hearing them announce on the intercom that someone in the store needed help finding an invisible fence. Everyone in the store started laughing when that anouncement came through! At Lowes we looked at lighting choices for my workroom. I know the flourescent shop lights might be an obvious choice, but I want it to look like a room as far as most of the decor goes... not a workshop. I've narrowed down the choices to a few downlight chandeliers for the ceiling, and of course I love lamps so I'll have plenty of those as well, mostly vintage pieces.

After we were through shopping, we were going to eat lunch at Outback Steakhouse, since a friend had given us a gift card. Little did we know that Outback doesn't open till 4pm ~ we found that out when we pulled into the empty parking lot and read the HOURS sign on the door!!! How embarrassing! I felt so dumb.... it seems we've spent too many years going to McDonald's, Hardee's, Taco Bell, etc. with kids in tow. We drove around to all the other nice restaurants, but all the parking lots were full, and I mean FULL! We finally settled on Shoney's, only because the parking lot was 1/2 full. We went in, thinking we'd order the buffet and pick and choose all we wanted for lunch, only to be told "today is a holiday so we have breakfast on our buffet all day long" ~ my husband and I looked at each other and laughed. I asked our server if we could still order a steak dinner off the menu... "oh sure!" she said "but it will take a little longer than usual ~ my boss is cooking today and he doesn't usually cook" ~ we laughed even more then! Can you believe the luck we were having??? We ordered the ribeye dinner and it was good, but I told my husband that they were not as good as the steaks he grills at home. He has spoiled me with his grilling. We did order dessert, even though I was stuffed and shouldn't have. I got strawberry pie and he got apple crisp a la mode so we could share our desserts with each other. Yum!

I'll share a few Signs of Spring photos with you. I am still holding out hope for a big snow, but can't ignore the little crocuses and snowdrops that have popped in the last few days. Do you see the little honeybees in the crocuses and snowdrops?

There's also my flowering quince that I started from one of Mama's bushes several years ago, it's starting to bud out as well.

And yes, that silly turkey had to get in the photos as well. I didn't turn the chickens out of the pen that day and he followed me all over the yard playing peek-a-boo, silly boy!

A few friends of mine are having giveaways on their blogs.

Be sure to go by and visit sweet Lorraine and enter to win. She has the sweetest dolls!

And April is giving away a wonderful whimsical painting!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Take Care & God Bless,

Lana

of

Honeysuckle Lane

~*~

Lazy Cat & A Bird in the Hand...

Meet Sam...

he's about the best mouse catcher around...

Or so I'm told...

Soon as he's good and ready, he'll catch a mouse...

My Mom gave Sam to me a few years ago. She was over-run with cats and needed some help in finding homes for them. Mom lived in an out of the way area near an old bridge and people took advantage of the remoteness for years and dropped off their unwanted animals there. Mom and Daddy were never pet-poor! They gave away all that they could, but always had lots of cats and dogs. There was no local animal shelter or pound to speak of, and the one group in the area that was formed to help with this problem unfortunately usually found some reason why they couldn't come pick up the strays that were set off near her home.

Sam is a sweetie. He lives on our back porch and in the barn loft. Soon as he sees you coming he drops to the ground and starts talking to you and rolling over for his tummy to be scratched. He's an odd cat though.... he doesn't like gravy... and he lies beside his bowl and lets the chickens and wild birds eat his cat food. I suppose I have a lot of odd animals.... Sam won't eat gravy, the chickens like cat food, and my dog eats the chicken feed... and the turkey thinks he's a chicken, pecks on my front door when I don't let the chickens out of the pen, and he stands by the road and calls to the cars that drive by..... and you thought life in the country was boring, lol!

~*~

Three online markets have been updated with new offerings. Click on the links to view them.

I have Simply Spring Whimsy Cones at Simply Primitives,

Vintage Whimsies * Robin's Egg Blue Boxes at The Primitive Gathering,

and 3 of my A Bird in the Hand... pieces at TDIPT Mercantile.

Thanks for checking in today!

Don't forget to hug you cat today... or your dog.... or chicken... or horse.... or mule... or turkey.....

~*~

Happy Valentine's Day

from my heart to yours...

Birds, Bees, & Bunnies, Too!

That is the theme of a TDIPT group launch currently underway on eBay. For the auction, I made one of my Bird in Hand whimsical folk art pieces (two photos shown). A few years ago I had been thinking of old fashioned phrases to coordinate with my designs and when I thought of "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" I had to make my first Bird in Hand.... even if it was at midnight! I traced my hand on paper, drew a basic bird shape that I thought would be about the right size, and went from there. They may be used as a pincushion, or to just sit among your collections of birds, handmade whimsies, or bird nests. You may see my auction here ~ it ends Sunday night!

And be sure to visit Suzanne's auction. She has painted an early style silhouette of two sisters with a bird and a birdcage. As I have mentioned before, I have some of her artwork and she is a wonderful artist!

I haven't made any bees or bunnies for the ebay auction, so I thought I'd share a photo I took a few years ago of a bee and wisteria. I have taken lots and lots.... and lots of photos of flowers, bees, butterflies, birds, bark and moss.... the list goes on and on. I'll share some with you from time to time.

I don't have a photo of a live bunny, but this is a rabbit I designed and made last year. I was inspired by the lithographed fabric rabbits of the late 1800s. Mine is sewn, stuffed and handpainted. I'll have a few of these to offer later in Spring.

Have a blessed weekend!

~*~