TA DA the stained glass window is finally complete!!!

As most of you know I was making a stained glass window for Megan and Ken (my oldest daughter and her hubby). They asked me at Christmas time to make a window for the transom over their back door. I told them I would but I really procrastinated (Megan and Ken for that I am sorry!). Megan gave me a Celtic Knot bevel cluster she had made when she was in high school or college I can't remember. She wanted this bevel cluster in the middle of the window. The sun comes in through their transom and blocks their TV so hence the stained glass window to somewhat block the light. They wanted green glass, semi-opague white and the cluster. I designed the window and on Sunday they saw it all cut out for the very first time. Ken asked if they could have green diamonds where the white glass pieces came together. I told him it was a good thing he said something then because I hadn't soldered it yet. All afternoon and into the early evening I worked on completing the window. Tonight I put patina on the solder to give it a more antiqued look and then I polished it. It looks gorgeous if I must say so myself!! Here are some pictures of the window. I wish that I had finished it when it was lighter out but you get the idea!

Happy Father's Day!

Today I'm not able to be with my Dad, but I called him. He liked the card I sent him and the National Geographic Lewis and Clark Expedition DVD I bought him. I was glad just a few short weeks ago I spent a few days with my Dad. I have had some good times with my Dad and some really bad times with my Dad but right now we are having some really great times! Anyone can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a Dad!

John had a great Father's Day! Both girls and their husbands came over and made Brunch. We had fruit salad, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, English muffins and lemon coffee cake that I had made. Jenny and Kevin are taking John to a Knight's Baseball game next weekend and they gave him 2 golf shirts. Megan and Ken gave him a very large gift card to Amazon so he can buy more books for his Kindle. He loves to read so that was an absolutely perfect gift! We visited for quite some time and then unfortunately John had to leave for work at 12:10. This is the last weekend he will have to work, he got the hours he wanted at work now so he will have both weekend days off from now on-yippee!

I was going through some photos I have of all the Dad's in my life and I thought I would share them with you:


Here is my Dad taking his 81 yr. old tractor (one of the loves of his life) out for a drive! He was in his glory when that old tractor (he renovated the whole thing all by himself) started up and he took off down through the field with it!


Here is my Dad and Megan's wedding 2 yrs. ago. My Mom and Dad had just celebrated their 50th anniversary a week before Megan got married. My Dad wasn't well enough to go to Jenny's wedding. He has Lupus and it hadn't gone into remission yet.


Here is another special Dad in my life, John! He not only is the father of our children he's the love of my life! He's all dressed up in his tux because we were on our way to Megan's wedding! He's a great father to both of our girls! Love you!


Last but not least is a picture of my grandfather (my grandmother is in this picture too). This was taken at John and my wedding (8/11/79). We always called my grandfather Papa! He has been gone for 20 yrs. now and I miss him so much! He was so good to me and I loved him so much! What a wonderful Papa he was and a great human being to all people.

I have to say I have been very luck and extremely blessed to have these outstanding men in my life. Happy Father's Day to you 3 wonderful people (Papa I hope you can hear me in Heaven)!

Yellow Squash, New Red Potatoes and Green Beans!

The other day one of the owners of the company I work for brought in Yellow Squash and Green Beans from his garden. I love steamed yellow squash with a little butter, fresh ground pepper and some freshly ground sea salt. My grandmother used to cook garden fresh green beans with new red potatoes so I thought that would be perfect addition to our dinner the other night. Here are pictures of both (sorry they are a little dark my Photosmart is on the fritz right now!





I worked on Megan and Ken's stained glass window today. I would have gotten the whole window done today but I broke a piece of glass and I don't have any more! I was so mad at myself. Now I'll have to wait until Monday to get another piece!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

HappyBirthday to the Love of My Life!

It is the love of my life's birthday today! John turned 56 today! We will be having dinner at Firebirds, one of his favorite restaurants (and mine too!). We both were talking this morning about how time has flown by. It seems just like yesterday we were 25 and 20 and now we are 56 and 50! We are still madly in love with each other, even more so (if that is possible) than the day we met! 32 yrs. is a long time to be with someone but it really doesn't feel like it has been that long!

John is having lunch with a friend and then he will be golfing until I get home from work. I am so glad he has the day off and can do some "me"things today! Love you sweetie-enjoy your day!!

Knitting Group was wonderful

Last night I went to a knitting group in the little town of Mint Hill, NC. Well it isn't a tiny town, but not as big as Charlotte. There was alot of woman there knitting away when I arrived. It takes me about 1 hour to get there from work. It was well worth the ride though. This knitting group meeting in a yarn shop and they knit, chat, snack, swap patterns and just plain enjoy each others company! I will definitely be going back again on Tuesday! They meet every Tuesday and on 1 Sunday a month. With John working some nights this is a great way for me to get to know other knitters. I also bought a knitting book while I was there and I can't wait to start knitting one of the fancy lacy scarves and a sweater I have decided to knit and give as a Christmas gift!

Lovely Day at the World-Wide Knit-in With Jenny!

The Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Gastonia, NC was hosting a World-wide Knit-in today. It was from 12-4 today. Jenny came with me and we had an awesome time! We met lovely people, found out about alternative yarn, learned about Debbie Macomber having yarn produced under her name which will be for sale very shortly and saw some lovely flowers in the garden today. We also found time to have a late lunch at TG Fridays! When we got home I made 4 prs. of earrings for Jenny (she brought the supplies and I made them for her). We had an absolutely wonderful day even though it was so blasted hot and humid here!

Here are some pictures of our day (I can't believe I forgot to take some pics of people actually knitting!):


I love this picture of Jenny in the orchid conservatory.


There is a special program going on at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden called Come and Sit a Spell. There are benches made from all kinds of things all around the gardens. Jenny decided to sit on the bench made from Red Heart Cedar.


Some kids never grow up-LOL! Jenny decided she just had to run through this fountain! It cooled her off for a little bit-the heat and humidity was brutal today!


Brilliant red canna lilies were growing along the walkway.


I named this walkway Daylily Row-they were absolutely beautiful!


They have papayrus growing all along the waterway. I don't know why but it looked exceptional beautiful today! I told Jenny papayrus looks like Thing 1 and Things 2's hair in the Cat in the Hat!


This is a different variety of coneflower. It looked like a pink explosion but it was so beautiful!


Here is a yellow coneflower. I thought this was a very strange black-eyed Susan until I read the tag. They are a very cheerful plant! They make you smile when you look at them!


I just had to post a rose picture-they are so gorgeous!


We were getting ready to leave the Gardens and we took an outside path I had never taken before and I'm so glad we did. When we turned the corner, this was there! The plant piano!!


This is a dove on a statue that I have taken pictures of before. The light was hitting the dove just right so I decided to snap this picture.

That's the end of the tour! I had a wonderful, wonderful day! Thanks Jenny-you are definitely a special light in my life, love you!!

Here are some pictures of what's going on in my flower garden this week

Yesterday I took some pictures and posted my veggies I've grown and today I'm going to show you just a few of my flowers in the courtyard and on my front porch. I have to say I love heliotrope! The fragrance from that plant is just amazing! I love the color too! Here goes:


I opened the front door this morning to water my urns on the front porch and saw how beautiful the flowers in the middle courtyard have become. The homeowners association changed landscapers and they have done a fine job!


This is one of the two urns I have out front this year. I just planted coral and white colored double impatients and the creeping jenny is from last year. I just trimmed it and I think it still looks wonderful. I did change the soil in the urns too.


This is one of my two heliotrope plants. I love the fragrance from this plant! I stumbled upon this plant when I lived in NJ and it has been the great addition to my garden!


Here is my red tomato in the background of the heliotrope. I love the red contrasting with the purple!


My ivy is doing great this year! I snapped this pic after I had just watered all the plants in the courtyard. I love when leaves have water on them.


This year I made up another urn for the courtyard. I put a New Guinea impatient plant in with some large Lamb's Ear and I love the contrast of the dusty gray against the dark foliage of the impatient. I think this combo is a winner!

Here are my two prize hostas-Avocado and Guacamole! They are really spectacular this year.






My coneflower just started blooming. There is only 1 little blossom out now but I have about 20 other buds on there. I love these plants because they attract the butterflies.


Last but not least is my antique wrought iron hanger on my fence. I have dianthus and petunias in there and the color of the petunias is just brillant and velvet-like this year.

Well I hope you've enjoyed the tour! I hope y'all don't get too tired of my plant pictures, but plants are such a huge part of my life and always will be! Have a good one!