Walk With Me ~ After the Storm

Now and then, I'll ask you to walk with me as I share photos and stories of life here on the Cumberland Plateau (also part of the Southern Appalachians). I live on the middle / east Tennessee line, just barely across the eastern time zone. Thankfully, we were spared from the tornadoes that ravaged the south yesterday and last night. We had localized flooding, lots of trees down and several power outages, but our homes and lives were spared. Others were not so blessed. Please remember all those families in your prayers. They will certainly need them in the days, weeks, and even months to come.

This morning, after all the rain, thunder, lightening, high winds, and sitting in the dark with only an oil lamp for light yesterday evening, we awoke to an absolutely beautiful day! The birds were singing, the sky was a gorgeous blue, and everything looked so fresh and clean! I got my little Canon Powershot A470 and walked around the yard to take a few photos.

First stop was to show you this weird stuff. Each spring it grows on the ancient cedars in our yard. It's actually called Cedar Apple Rust Gall. Although it's a fungus and bad news for fruit trees, it doesn't seem to harm the cedars.

These cedars are HUGE! When we moved here 20 years ago, I planted 1 little ivy plant at the base. It looked so pretty in magazines, rambling up the trees a bit... little did I know it would totally take over the tree! If you click on the photo, you can see the ivy nearly to the tip top! You can also see all the orange blobs on the branches.

Next stop was at the... ahem... overgrown flower bed that I was going to clean out this spring and never got around to it. Has that ever happened to you? Please tell me I'm not the only one. Thankfully, it's mostly overgrown with beebalm and other flowers and not weeds. I managed to point my lens down through the greenery and get a little shot of a trillium. Isn't it such a pretty color? I have some white ones in there, too, but I think they already bloomed.

The viburnum is blooming now and just beautiful! It's sure to be loaded with berries for the birds this fall.

And the irises... ahhh, they smell heavenly! Mama loved irises and always had them wherever we lived.

Even the wildflowers were opening up after all the rain, lifting their little petals toward the sky as if to thank their Creator for keeping them safe and for blessing them with a lovely day to bloom!

Perhaps we should take their lead and do the same, thanking God for sparing our lives, for giving us another day to share His goodness with others.

I just couldn't stop taking photos of the blooms. They looked ethereal with the sunlight shining through.

I have no idea what that extra flash in the sky is in the photo below...

After leaving the flowers, I made my way through the back yard and into the edge of the woods where the sunlight filtered down through the leaves...

Have you ever noticed that nothing in God's creation clashes? Here we are, always worried about which colors goes with which, and nothing clashes in nature! God must laugh at us sometimes... or a lot!

I enjoy quiet times outdoors. It's nice to walk along, admiring God's handiwork, and just talk to Him. Not in any hurry. Just talk, ask, and listen. He's always there, ready to listen and always with love.

This morning the little stream was making the sweetest melody as it slowly and delicately washed over stones and around the trunks of trees.

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

~*~

I hope you enjoyed the walk and will come back for another one soon.

Take Care & God Bless,

Lana

~*~

Withering Beauty Photo Shoot

A while back when I finally began to recouperate from that almost 5 week long illness (flu, bronchitis, lack of energy, etc.) that hit me so hard, I just had to get outside and walk around! I wanted to see the little buds that were popping out to happily announce the arrival spring.

As usual, I was drawn instead to the dried up, withered, cast down weeds and seed pods that remained in the garden.

Poor things, hardly anyone likes them... they are prickly, nearly void of color, and an eyesore in a garden or flower bed, and like any good gardener, I removed them... and brought them in the house!

They lay on a piece of cardboard in my workroom for a few weeks. I had intended to study, sketch, and use them for my willing watercolor subjects, but I kept forgetting to do that. I guess they got tired of waiting, because they started dropping their little black seeds everytime I'd bump the cardboard while looking for something nearby.

This morning the sun was shining through the French doors and windows and I remembered how pretty it looks shining through my old bottles when they are holding flowers on the windowsill.

So I gathered up some bottles, the withered weeds, some drooping tulips that I hadn't yet thrown out, and had an impromptu photo shoot! Just for fun, I added a few of my old pincushions for the last few shots.

After all that squatting, kneeling, and scooting around on the floor where I had the items sitting on the posterboard (that's my elaborate studio set-up), I know my knee will feel the effects later today. I was having so much fun (I hate to admit just how many photos I did take) that I forgot to be careful about not putting stress on my bad knee. Believe me, I remembered as soon as I put my weight on it but the damage was already done ~ again. I'll just just have to take it easy for a few days. I certainly have to be better by the weekend. That's when I hope to get my new-to-me DSLR Nikon camera and spend the day thrifting with my daughter, Jessica! :)

Thanks for dropping by today. I hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Take Care & God Bless,
Lana
~*~

p.s. Later this week I'll be hosting a wonderful giveaway, so come back to enter. :)

Rejoice!

... Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost.

Luke 15:6

Bits and Pieces

Not much else to share, just a few shots here and there of an owl painting I just finished. I'm making some ruched brown grosgrain ribbon trim to go around the canvas. You can't expect to traditionally frame a whimsical owl, can you? ;)

{click the photo for a larger view}

I'll share the finished product later this week.

Take Care and God Bless,
Lana
~*~

Faith and Prayers

My friend, Gina of The Shabby Chic Cottage, and her dad and family could use your prayers.
Please read her post here and leave her an encouraging comment if you could. Prayer works even when no one knows you have prayed for them, but knowing that people are praying gives us so much comfort in trying times.

Thank you.
Take Care and God Bless,
Lana
~*~

A Page A Day

Thanks for the blog comments and email messages I got about my A Page A Day endeavor! I'm still sketching and scribbling, not much else. It seems like when I am finally ready to sit down for the evening and sketch, my time is interrupted, or I am rushed and don't really have time to get out my watercolors and paint in my sketchbook as planned.

{click on the photo to see a larger view}

So, I'm showing you more black and white sketches and no color. Maybe next week I'll have something less boring to share. Owls, foxtails and dandelions seem to be on my mind a lot lately. :)

If you have sketches and doodles to share on your blog, flikr, etc. please leave a link in the comments.

Take care and God bless,
Lana
~*~

Junk Sale!

I've been gathering up more and more little treasures and craft supplies to offer on my website. Some are things I've had displayed in my home, but many are things I've had boxed up for quite some time, thinking I may use them again at a later date. The craft supplies are things I've accumulated over time but I have finally realized a girl can only do so much in a lifetime. :)

Just click this link to go to the Vintage section of Honeysuckle Lane and have fun shopping!

I'll be adding more items each Saturday evening for a while and removing items that have been there for a while.

Thanks for stopping by,

Lana

~*~

Gameboards

Diane Allison-Stroud gameboards

Don't you love the colors and graphics on antique and reproduction gameboards?

Diane Allison-Stroud gameboards drying outside her studio.

I only have one, a brown and black distressed gameboard purchased from an eBay seller years ago {seen in this post}, but I hope to acquire one {or more} from my friend, Diane Allison-Stroud in the near future.

Diane Allison-Stroud gameboard

Diane's are so detailed. You can tell by looking at them that she puts a lot of work into each and every one!
I love reading the story behind each piece that she designs.

Diane Allison-Stroud gameboard

This weekend she is having a webshow on her blog. She is "introducing 6 new reproduction game boards, bringing 1 out of retirement for a short time & 1 gee's bend "arcola" piece is available."

Diane Allison-Stroud gameboard

Please be sure to pay her a visit and tell her Lana sent you over. :)

Have fun shopping!

Lichen Love

This morning as the sun filtered through the trees, the moss and lichen on the little bird feeder came alive.
I just had to take some photos to share with you. I enjoy taking macro shots of tiny works of art found in nature. I can hardly wait until I get my new {to me} camera and purchase a macro lens for it!

Enjoy!

{click the photo to see a much larger view and to see more detail in the lichen}

Have a lovely day!
Lana
~*~

I spy on a springtime walk ...

... these pretty little things in my yard and (yet to be tilled) garden:

dandelions ~ i love them but my husband does his best to rid our yard of them!

flowering quince ~ brought from my mom and dad's place years ago. daddy didn't like to have to mow around these bushes because of the large thorns, and now, neither does my husband. mom and i loved them!

seed pods

hyacinth ~ smells heavenly!

lovely lichen

another interesting seed pod

fox tails ~ i love these too. i had a needlework design of them in an issue of create & decorate several years ago.

That's it for the springtime walk... hope you enjoyed it! :)

Take care and God bless,
Lana
~*~

A Page A Day

I was going to title this A Sketch A Day, but once I got started {sketching} it turned in to several on a page, so it's A Page A Day. Don't worry, I won't be posting every day about my goofy sketches, but I do hope to share them once a week with you.

 I was inspired to sketch regularly by the lovely and talented Alisa Burke. I stumbled upon her blog while searching for North Light craft book authors and immediately began reading her posts, going back month after month, catching up on all she had shared.

Alisa shares peeks inside her sketchbook every so often and the glimpses have been so inspiring to me!

I have loved working with watercolors for a few years now,

but I never found {or made} the time to paint on a regular basis. I want to start doing more watercolors and also get more practice just sketching and doodling.

So that's where A Page A Day comes in... which I began near the end of March. I did miss a few days while I was out of town ~ I forgot to pack my sketchbook and pens ~ but other than that, I am doing pretty good at remembering to sketch something... anything. Several of the pages are done later in the evening, when Roger and I are watching tv. Just the dining room light is on, barely illuminating my sketchbook in the living room, so my sketches don't look great, but I'm not trying to make them look great right now, just getting in practice.

I haven't even done any quick little watercoloring on them yet. So far, I've just used pens and colored pencils. I need to do some sketching earlier in the day, get out my watercolors, and paint a few of thescribbles and doodles.

Do any of you sketch, draw, paint, scribble or doodle on a regular basis? If you'd like to share a link to your blog or flickr pages, please feel free to do so in the comment section. I'd love to see what you have done! :)

Thanks for stopping by today.
Take care and God bless,
Lana
~*~