Prairie Smoke aka. Old Man Whiskers

I know, almost six months ago, on a wonderful Manitoba summer day! But it warms the soul on a day like today at the end of November, when the forecasted high is -17 Celsius (yes, that says minus), which equates to -2 Farenheit. Simply put, it's cold outside. So, I'm appreciating some summer beauty right about now. Hubby and I were driving through Bird's Hill Park and came across a very large field that was frosted with this off-hue of pink, so I asked him to stop. I have never seen this before and was quite taken with the endless beauty. The name of this little beauty if Prairie Smoke, altough often referred to as Old Man Whiskers.

Flower Love!

I came home from work today to discover that my Chinese Peonies are blooming in the front flower bed. They always bloom way ahead of the other varieties. Their foliage is almost dill-like in appearance.





And then when I peaked out my bedroom window, I saw that my other Chinese Peony (a different variety of) was in full bloom - all 10 of 11 buds all at once. What majesty! The foliage on this variety is also a dill-like in appearance. A girlfriend gave me a slip of this plant about three years ago. I thought it had just died off. But this spring, there it was. Someone told me some peonies only come up every two years. Did you ever hear of such a thing? I guess I'll have to wait till next year to see if it reappears.







And seeing I had my camera out and was tramping around the yard - here are some snaps of my white lilacs just coming into bloom. Dad gave me this tree about 18+ years ago and it has slowly been trying to grow into a fullsome bush. It now stands about 7' feet high and blooms beautifully. I cannot get enough of the fragrant smell of lilacs and these are heavenly.





And last, but not least, the end days of the apple blossoms. I love the peek-a-book bits of pink!

Morels

mo·rel (m-rl, mô-)n.
Any of various edible mushrooms of the genus Morchella and related genera, characterized by a brownish spongelike cap.

Have you ever eaten these scrumptious mushrooms? Have you ever picked these mushrooms? Growing up on the farm, there was always the annual morel picking adventures with the whole family. Not that we went very far to get them. About a mile and a half down our back road, and we would find outselves in a poplar stand of trees, each of us with our very own ice cream pail to try and fill. I loved picking mushrooms and I loved it even more if I could fill my pail before my brothers filled theirs. Just sayin! And lots and lots of ant hills; and we are talking big ant hills. I always steered away from them, cause they just plain scared me.

Last week, I went picking mushrooms twice. Once evening with my brother and his young duaghter. We found this many!









And then I went picking morels again with the same brother, but this time with our sister. Of my siblings, my sister is the consumate mushroom picker. She knows the spots! She knows when! She knows what to pick! I figured this second outing would surely see me walking out with a pailful of mushrooms. Just the three of us, down a random gravel road, tramping through a fabulous stand of poplars, looking for mushrooms! My luck though, no ant hills. Insert smile here. It has been so very many years since I went picking mushrooms. The exhileration of being out in the country and in the woods was surreal. I probably could have just found a rock to sit on and just stared into the wonder of nature all about me. But I kept busy ... looking for mushrooms. And looking was the keyword, cause obviously we found a stand of poplars where the mushrooms weren't gracing their beauty above the dead fall groundcover the leaves. Just now and then, and they were small.

My sister says the best way to pick them is when you find one, to squat yourself down and the survey the horizon over the nearby groundcover. Cause where there is one, there is nore. And she's right. Albeit, I don't remember my Dad teaching me that way back in the day. But then, again way back in the day I was littler, so I already was much cloer to ground level. Just sayin!

Between the three of us we found about a half an ice cream pail of morels, and gave them to the brother! He hadn't found not a one! He took them home, and for breakfast, made omelettes with some of the wild mushrooms. And then for supper, potatoes and mushrooms. I, ah hum, apparently did not get an invitation to share that supper! Insert, bobs head up and down here, thinking that's the last time I give him my mushrooms. Just kiddin!

After the rains this past week, it is nice to see the sun out again. And I am thinking that by Tuesday, if the sun persists, there will be indeed many, many more mushrooms to pick! Maybe I'll have to take a drive after work on day this coming week.

One things that was truly abundant, besides the poplar trees and dead leaves everywhere, was woodticks. I was fortunate to only have about two. But on both occasions, for whatever reason, the woodtick population gravitated to my brother. I have never seen so many woodticks on one person at a given time.

And as I close this post, I am chuckling ... a Ukrainian never divulges the mushroom picking spots. Someone asked me yesterday ... she was Ukrainian ... where did you go looking for morels. And to honor the centuries-old tradition of not divulging, I told her to find a back gravel road and a stand of poplar trees. Here's hoping she has more luck then I did!

More Bingo Cards / Wall Decor

On Saturday, at the scrapbooking crop, I made four more wall decor pieces, using old bingo cards as the base. The Betty Paige one has moved into my daughter's home. And the Moon one still needs a hanging mechanism.

Altered Accordion Album - Red Lake Crop - Class

Unfortunately, I don't have my two samples yet, as they are busy visiting out in the rural limits of Manitoba. Let's just say I am quite envious of them. This country girl has been an urbanite much, much longer than she was a rural farmgirl, but will always be a country girl at heart. So, to give you an idea of what the class is about, it will be an altered accordion album like the yellow album in the photos below, "except" we will be using KaiserCraft's new "Bundle Joy Collection". I am loving the pinks and blues that these papers come in. Kits will either be pink or blue.

Inchies Class - Red Lake, Ontario - May 10-11, 2013

For the benefit of those folks going to the Red Lake event, here are some pictures of the Inchies project I am going to be teaching. Forewarning, not all frames will be the same, and not all inchies will be the same. BUT, the finished project will be just as beautiful!

BINGO Cards

I never would have thought - well I know I didn't think of it - all those years ago in the country community hall, by my Mother's side, playing Bingo, that there would come a day I would take some old Bingo cards and create one-of-a-kind art pieces. My newest love in my sphere of creativity. I sat beside the wonderful Kim Newberg at a scrapbooking event this past weekend and she challenged me to do something with an old Bingo card. Cause she was already working on some of her own old Bingo cards. Three creations later, and I am very intrigued and pleased with this new venue of base for these projects. While I did use old clipart photos (thank you again Kim for having some on hand for me), you could easily tuck in a little photo of someone special. Now, to go get me some good quality players and a roll of wire!