Sometimes spring speaks in silence

 

Spring!

It’s undeniably happening around here, there are signs everywhere.

Flashes of pink, shots of green, streaks of sunlight.  Today it’s more rain, but we know that March would go out like a lion.  And April is coming in with a passion.

Speaks

Everywhere I go, there is another sign, the super hot pink Magnolias near the veggie store are bursting with secrets, looking like pink elephant popcorn on a stick. 

The Boo is spooked by the merest whisper of wind, and runs with his tail up, pure joy in his motions. And yes, he is slightly lighter in his step, the diet is working.

Silence

That’s why sometimes it’s good to just be still for a moment.

And let spring speak to you.

Do you hear it?

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

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The first “real” days of spring

 

 

The first real warm days:

There is something almost sublime about those first “real” days of spring. Not the ones that are declared spring by the calendar, or the weather forecaster, but the first “real” ones.

The ones that gently slip your coat from your shoulders, and ease out the tension caused by all the winter cold.  The days when you can feel the sun on your skin.  That forgotten sensation, and scent of warmth that cannot be duplicated.

Those days when you start to recall with more then just far gone nostalgia, glimpses of summer picnics, leaves, green, and the texture of grass under your feet.

Winter Coats:

Days when you look at your winter coat hanging in the closet, and choose a lighter version, because you know for sure that you are not taking a chance when you do that.  But because you know that today, the winter coat will be too warm to wear, and soon it will be packed away.

Days when the very air is warmed by more then your breath, when the bird song carries further. When the promise of spring is not broken, but fulfilled.

Those are the first real days of spring.

Live them, and enjoy them. 

Because when they finally come to you, you fully deserve them.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

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He’s a meatball:

He’s a meatball the Vet declared, as he slammed Bootsie’s  case file down on the stainless steel examining table for emphasis.  “Oh really, what makes you think that?'” I wanted to retort.  My baby isn’t fat, he’s just...he’s just...

OK, he’s a teeny tiny bit overweight. For some reason the Boo wants to eat, and eat, and eat. And then he would like a second helping if you “meow” please.

I guess you could say that at 12 pounds, and a small frame he was at risk for developing diabetes when he starts to age. At least that’s what the vet threatened us with during the visit, and when he found out that Boo had gained another 500 grams...well that was the last straw.  My protesting that we had switched him to a low calorie canned fell on deaf ears.  “It’s not good enough, you are over feeding him.”  I made the choice to try the vet’s recommended brand, with some misgivings.

This is the solution?

We left with a much lighter pocket book, and a food that should assure the Boo of loosing those stubborn pounds. According to the “experts” on the net, he would dislike the food, pets tended to shy away from vet prescribed, and very expensive brand. I saw that as a positive, if we had to beg him to eat, it might make for a interesting turn of events.  Unhungry kitty, equalled weight loss.

Obviously not the solution

Following instructions I carefully mixed a little bit of the new dried cat food in with Boo's regular low cal brand.  He needed to be introduced to the new food carefully in order to stop any tummy troubles, and erupting...well you get the picture.

That night we were awakened by a odd scratching noise in the middle of the night. Our normally sleepy time kitty was wide awake, and full of the midnight munchies.  Standing on his hind legs and pawing at the cupboard door that held the new food, he was determined to chow down.

He begs for this new food, is always ravenous, and despite deworming, still wants to eat until his tummy is as round as a football. 

Advice needed

After a Doctors visit you are sent home with some instructions on the best way to loose weight.  Although we love our wonderful Vet, we have no other recommendation then cut his intake down to 1/2 can of moist, and 1/2 cup of dried, per day, Boo would like to have that per hour.  I have no idea what other cats eat, but isn’t that a little on the skinny side? Isn’t that the end result we are aiming for? I guess so, but.

We have tried many ways of distracting him, playing, petting, hugging, and other avenues to deter him from his relentless pursuit of begging for more food. Nothing works. He gets angry, meows ferociously, bats at our legs, bites, and follows us around underfoot all day long.

How do we tame the fat furry one? Or do we just give in and feed him as much as he wants?  Does that make me a bad kitty friend? I suppose so, but I am tired of being woken up at 4 am by a begging ball of black fluff.

Help me out here please, or at the very least tell me horror stories of your pet’s carnivorous appetites.

Oh, and the Boo would like to know if those bricks behind him make him look fat?

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

Spring hides in the curve of the crocus

 

Spring hides in the curve of the crocus, it quivers in the branches of the pussy willows as they move in the cool breeze. 

It lurks in the dried parchment husks covering the daffodils before they bloom.  Spring is released from the trumpets of the narcissi's as they open and immediately flits to the cherry blossoms to bestow a kiss.

Spring wades through the blue grape muscari, drinking nectar from their rounded cups. Spring waits for the perfect moment, and when the lilac first blooms it alights and set off a galaxy of fragrance.

Spring dances in the sunlight’s diamonds, water drops that coat the grass.  Catches a ride on the furry paws of the cats as they go on their morning rambles.

Spring dances in the flowers that bend towards the light.

Spring celebrates life.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

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Pssst, I’ve got a little crush

 

 

I don’t know why you read blogs, but I read them like books, I read them for inspiration, for enjoyment, and for the sheer pleasure of drifting away into another persons world. For the joy of friendship, those whom I have connected with and are no longer considered just a fellow blogger, but a friend.

Some make me laugh, some make me cry, and others make me think, wish, dream, hope, and create. 

There is nothing like the thrill of a new [to me] blogger that seems to speak to my heart.  Be it a decorating/crafter blogger, a photographic blogger, a travelling blogger, or a gardening blogger, when I find one that is inspiring me it’s almost like having a little crush.

Reading their first few posts gives me a thrill almost like drinking the first glass of lemonade on a hot summers day.  Or maybe it’s like meeting a new friend, one that you just know is destined to become an important part of your life.

It’s simply sublime when I open each new post, and feel a connection, a deep interest in their blog.

That’s what I mean by a blogger crush’s.

Reading the archives, getting a feel for who they are, it’s all good.  If you are curious whom I read, take a look at my sidebar, I am sure that you will find some new fav’s yourself. 

There are blogs from all walks of life, some are new, some are old friends, all are cherished.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

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And...if you are a reg, and you don’t see your name on the sidebar, let me know.  For some reason some of the blogs are not showing up. 

Big whoops on my part.

Jen

 

 

How to organize a spring clean up in your garden

 

• Sit in chair and look out of window at mess left after winter storm sigh...
• Sigh some more, read another seed catalogue.
• Think about cleaning up garden, think about sore muscles, and sore back...think about cleaning up garden another time.
• Think about article you read on stretching, get out of chair and stretch, sit down again quickly... you’ve hurt your back.

• Look for garden gloves carelessly thrown in cupboard last fall, realize that you have many, many singles, and no matching pairs.
• Know that Martha Stewart would have them all organized according to size, and color.
• Realize that you are not Martha Stewart,  go outside with one lime glove, and one hot pink glove, who cares what the neighbours think.
• Vow to be more organized with garden gloves next fall.
• Look for gardening tools carelessly thrown in cupboard last fall, fail to find anything even closely resembling a garden tool.
• Vow to be more organized with garden tools next fall.

• Using a child’s plastic toy shovel, start to carefully dig the mounds of leaves left by winter storms covering the new shoots of your precious perennials
• Give up digging carefully, and use child’s toy rake.  Destroy many new shoots of precious perennials. Oh well, plenty more were those came from.
• Realize you have just destroyed your $95.00 Peony. The one you never told your husband about yet.
• Sit in chair and look out window at messy garden.  Sigh.

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

And the winner is….

 

Whoa, what a day!

I had a photo shoot this morning, that ran longer then we thought.  A friend visiting with her two adorable little boys so I took lots of photos of them also. 

And then we got to pick a winner.

This time I got creative.  I jokingly told Bootsie to pick a winner from all of the little scraps of paper that had your names on them.

And funnily enough, he did.

He actually headed straight for one piece, and picked it up.

So undeniably that one was the winner.

Congrats to the fourwilkies!!!

You are the winner of the CSN $75.00 gift certificate.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

Baring it all in a giveaway

 

 

Have you ever noticed that the neighbours only drop by when the kitchen is a mess?  Or when you haven’t vacuumed for days, and it shows.

If you live in a condo, life is a little out there for all others to see, we bare all when we open our door to someone. They can see a lot more then just the entry hall. If they crane their necks just right, they can see my kitchen, my living room, and part of my bedroom. 

So it’s no wonder we always keep that corner of the bed tidy. 

I’m just kidding, we make the bed each morning. Really, we do.

So this Reno has been a little challenging to bear, as far as keeping it neat goes.

Having tools take up literally one quarter of our available living space for weeks, the dishwasher breaking, the kitchen sink drain breaking, and the sawdust coating everything has taken a bit.

I am wishing that we had some recessed lighting on dimmer switches that magically lowered when the front door was opened.

As the person standing at the door peers through the haze of smoke from the router, we could just let fly with a off handed remark, “oh yes we love romantic lighting, don’t you?”

So what if it’s only the pizza boy, and not the nosy neighbour.

So for this post, I thought I might show you some of the almost finished parts of the Reno, but I just couldn’t bare all.

So bear with me while I show you the shots that made it, the shinier fixtures, and the glossy countertops.  Not the water speckled mirrors, or the unfinished cupboards. See the pretty green fern, that’s called a bait and switch. So you don’t notice that I was too tired to make the sink really shine.

And send a great big shout out to my Sister for grouting all of those tiles.  Way to go, I owe you big time. 

Thanks so much, you did an amazing job!

I also have a new found respect for anyone who chooses to do this themselves, and blog about it.  How on earth do they ever get their kitchens clean enough to show the entire room?

Now for the really fun stuff...

CSN is generously giving one lucky blogger a $75.00 gift certificate.

See I made you read all of the above, but it was worth it.

And although they don’t require you to click on the link above, [see the recessed lighting link], I am sure they wouldn’t complain if you were to spend a few minutes looking there. 

I have found more then one item I could definitely use.

You could say I am willing to shed a little light on the situation.

To enter just leave a comment.

Draw date is on

Sunday, March 13 2011. 

Lucky thirteen!

Good luck to all.

And if you are wondering, the photos in order of appearance are:  1. The kitchen sink, and new counters,  2. The shower curtain, I used my photos framed on the wall, 3. A really odd cut out between the kitchen and the living room,  thank goodness we are not responsible for doing that! 4. The new bathroom sink, new medicine cabinet,  and new countertops.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

Thanks to everyone who entered, the contest is now closed.

 

I got the shot

 

I was out taking flower shots on one of our last sunny days before the week of monsoon rain that is coming, and I found some crocus blooming.

Now, I am kind of a “do not trespass” photographer, I have this sense of decorum drilled into me from childhood. Be nice, smile and great people you see on the street, and never, ever trespass on other peoples lawns.

And never ever walk in the flower beds, no matter what.  No matter if the absolute best clump of early spring blooming crocus is just a little too far in the bed to focus on. That’s certainly not a excuse to step into the beds uninvited. 

Never ever.

Anything you can shoot from the side walk is fair game, as long as you don’t step onto the front lawns without permission. That’s just how I work.

Too many years in the garden center watching as careless customers and swinging purses destroyed beautiful blooms. 

So to get these shots of the crocus, I had to be a little creative.  There was a clump of heather blooming too close to the crocus for the camera to focus.  So all 6 feet of me, [that’s a lot of photographer] had to crumple up at the edge of the bed, and gently swish back the heather.  Poking the camera into the heather, which by the way doesn’t hurt it at all, and aiming from the nicely warmed dirt up, I shot blind. 

That is I shot without being able to see where my camera was focusing.  And actually, I think that they turned out pretty good.

Hmmmm, maybe I am on to something, a snails eye view of flowers.

Tune in next time, I have another CSN giveaway coming up.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

 

Gardening is from the heart…

 

Once upon a time I wrote a blog post about how hurt I was when a friend reprimanded me for calling my over 200 plants in containers a garden.

“That’s not a garden,” she said.

I didn’t agree then, and I still don’t agree.

She might have had 5 acres of grass, with huge garden beds, compared to my stretch of patio, but I still consider mine a true garden.

To me, and obviously many others that garden, any small container can hold a garden.

What defines a garden?  What makes one a gardener?

Can we consider it a real garden when you walk not on the soil, but on concrete?  If you don’t water with a hose, but with a plastic can, is it still gardening? If you don’t own pruners are you still a gardener?

If it is only indoors, does that exclude it?

Does one cherished plant on a windowsill, in a city apartment make you a gardener if you so wish to call yourself one?

Yes, it does.

Gardening is from the heart. 

It is defined by your rules, your choices, and your circumstances.

And certainly not the whims of others.

So garden as you wish, be it a small pot, or a large lot.

For you are a gardener when you love plants in your heart.

And we would have it no other way.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

 

Simple ID’s for seed sowing

 

It’s almost time for some of us to start our seeds, some later, others earlier.

If you are like me, the joy of seeds is in the purchasing of the brilliantly colored packages, in seeing them sprout, not so much the actual planting, and waiting.

And somehow every year I managed to mix things up a little too much, moving a batch of seedlings from one tray to another, or mixing up the pots by accident.  There was the one time that Bootsie ran wild, and knocked off the seed pack from it’s bamboo skewer, and I couldn’t remember which was which.

When you live in close quarters, every inch counts, and I don’t have the luxury of spreading my seed pots out in different trays.

So I was happy to find a solution that worked very well for me.

Having lots of colored scrap paper, I created a master tag color for each type of seed.  Then every pot with that seed had the same color tag in it.  The tags lasted well into the growing season, in fact I had to remove them before planting.  After watering they don’t look so pristine, but who cares, the color is the key.

This is one of those “it’s so easy, why didn’t I think of this years ago” situations.  Give it a try, and let me know how it works for you.

No matter how many times the pots get shuffled around, the tags stay intact, just refer to the master sign, and you will always know which pot is which.

And it sure beats upside down seed packets on bamboo skewers.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams