making lemonaid out of lemons

deer are constantly a problem in my yard. along with them come nibbled plants galore and lyme disease (if you are unlucky-or just stick around here too long).
while surveying my yard this past weekend and again today i've discovered them eating my blooming sedum autum joy!

okay, bummer but at least they have been kind enough to leave me the flowers. so, i'm collecting them for some arrangements.

if you have a bowl, some tape and some similar flowers you can create a lovely little table arrangement.
tape a grid across the bowl, add water and flowers...


and there you have it!

Mosaic Monday~PS Water II

enjoy these beautiful water inspired images~with hopes to bring you through the week feeling cool and relaxed.


1. stars, 2. Blue Tulips, 3. Cloudwatching, 4. tea break, 5. coastkeh, 6. blue planet, 7. Handmade fabric flower brooch, 8. Café Glockenspiel III - Munich, 9. sparkly water

Mongtomery County Agricultural Fair

it's county fair time, through Aug. 17th and the weather couldn't be any better! i've been volunteering at the demo gardens run by the master gardeners in our county and i was there on Sunday during the parade. there were some darling kids (one fell asleep below in the window of the truck), a pink tractor and lots of 4H floats. in a time when kids seemingly grow up too quickly it was encouraging and fun to see so many kids participating in 4H events.


the demo gardens includes several different types of beds such as a "Bay Wise" garden bed, a Xeriscape bed, vegetables and a rain garden. we also bring in this "Salad table" designed by University of MD. it's quite a simple design and i plan to make one for use this fall. they are perfect for greens, peppers, radish, herbs and other shallow root plants.

i took a walk through the rabbit barn and almost brought this rex home with me! so sweet, so soft, someday!

enjoy the rest of these images which to me are the quintessential summer fair.





happy summer, enjoy what is left of it!

Project Spectrum ~Water

the beginning of august signaled the final element for project spectrum; water. water is an element that obviously we can not live without. i have this theory that since i was born in the tropics near water it has become a vital, essential element for me to feel healthy, whole and fulfilled in my life. perhaps it has something to do with the sign i was born under as well but never the less i am always more relaxed and happy when i spend time around or in water.

i keep various things around the house to remind me of water including my model ship, (built by my grandfather), shells and blue accents which especially lend themselves to summertime.

during the summer i always get to spend more time around water with visits to the beach, pools, some boating if i am lucky and an annual river tubing trip in August etc.

i am also incorporating the colors of water (blue, teal, purple, etc) into my art projects and reading a couple books (Fountainhead by Ayn Rand & Unnatural History of the Sea by Callum M. Roberts that relate to water in one way or another. spend the rest of the summer soaking up the cool, refreshing and vital life that water has to offer you.

Mosaic Mondays

1. Le tour Eiffel, 2. Honey , 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. candle, 6. Earthshine, 7. Millennium clouds, 8. C365 / 215 - Pincushion tops, 9. four, 10. Untitled, 11. Spring Pond Lattice Nuno, 12. Untitled

Monday's Mosaic Favorites

Pinks, Yellows and Blues signal springs arrival at last!

1. boots, 2. Needle Roll Ups, inside, 3. embrace, 4. goldfish, 5. paint by numbers, 6. little blooms, 7. paper flower, 8. Hard Candy Easter, 9. old Moxie bottle

PurpleCrocus=Vernal Equinox

Happy Spring, so glad it's finally here!

Many Moons Mosaic Monday

1. Crest, 2. PICT3528, 3. Bow, 4. misconception of time, 5. Washington Monument, 6. Green-Power, 7. round valley ridgetop, 8. PICT3503, 9. Impact

Monday Mosaics (Flavorful Fav's)

Monday Mosaics (Flavorful Fav's)
Originally uploaded by WeBees

The reoccuring colors (Brights-blues, yellows, purples) and theme of circles are present in these favorites chose for this weeks mosaic.

Mosaic Monday Favorites

Mosaic Monday Favorites
Originally uploaded by we98bees

This weeks Favorites. This week I am loving all things frosty, teal, purple & white with a few other beauties thrown in there.

Mosaic Mondays

Recent Favorites
Originally uploaded by we98bees

Okay, I know it's already Tuesday but I did create this Mosaic on Monday (yesterday). I will do my best to post a new mosaic of favorites from other Flickr users every Monday this year. Not a resolution but I do love to see how the things I've favorited come together in these mosaics, they are very inspiring!

Lake Como

Lake Como
Originally uploaded by we98bees

I am delighted to tell you that this photo I took on my trip to Italy has been selected for inclusion in the newly released fourth edition of the Schmap Milan Guide. Follow the link to the right to see the full Schmap Milan guide or others. It's a cool city guide that uses photos to hilight attractions of various cities.

January Monthly Scavenger Hunt

JANUARY 2008

1. Yard art
2. Exercise
3. Look what I’ve got
4. Low fat
5. In case of emergency
6. Footprints
7. You only live once
8. One number
9. U-turn
10. Askew
11. Restaurant menu
12. English Muffin
13. Humorous sign
14. Amen
15. Vacant
16. Inside my refrigerator
17. Notice
18. Fish
19. Useless
20. Negative

MSH 12.07 Mosaic Completed

MSH 12.07 Mosaic
Originally uploaded by we98bees

My second Monthly Scavenger Hunt is completed with the mosaic here. There were some tough ones this time like "furtive" along with some that were very fun like "merry", "horray" and "sleeping it off". I had many of the shots in my archives but had to go hunting for others such as "chocolate", "ice cream", "oil", "quote" and "turning it on".

Happy Birthday to my Dear Husband

I just wanted to make a quick shout out to my wonderful Husband! He has finally caught up with me! Big Hugs to him!

Brookside Gardens

Last Saturday PM we went to Brookside Gardens for the "Winter Garden Walk". This spectacular holiday lights show in the garden was so much fun, especially since we went with family and kids! We had great weather and were the last ones to leave because we were just having so much fun and taking our time looking at all the wonderful decorations. They have a welder that makes many of their features and most of the flowers like the sunflower below are made by taping bundles of lights together to create all sorts of different things.




This was the best part, the huge rainbow could be seen from almost any part of the garden, then as you walked under it they had a branch lit up like lightening and thunder booming along with the beautiful clouds and rain. The whole thing was magical and made me feel childlike.

First Snow

Coneflower with Ice

Coneflower with Ice
Originally uploaded by we98bees

Our first snow was on Wednesday which at our house ended up being about 4 inches. It seemed like fall just ended (hasn't yet technically) and we had about 6 glorious weeks of fall foliage color. Now, the snow has come and the garden is hibernating for winter but a few things haven't quite died back yet. I loved this Coneflower with the ice.

Christmas In Progress

Hot chocolate which will go with Tea bags in these mugs


Forcing Paperwhites (or as my husband calls them the "pee pee flower")


Scarf in Progress


Cards (inspired by these) in Progress

Flickr~MSH 11.07

MSH 11.07
Originally uploaded by we98bees

I've had my eye on this group on flickr and have been tempted to join for several months now. Okay, so today I broke down and did it. I was intimidated by some of the strange/offbeat subjects for the scavenger hunts but decided I'd give it a try. Being the last day of the November hunt I went ahead and managed to pull together all 20 from existing photo's in my pool! The fun is in having to find out about those strange subjects and use your creativity to find things that relate. For example Photo # 3 (from top left) was "Brotherhood of Man" which I found out was a Brit Pop band who had a popular song called "Save your Kisses for me" & I posted a picture of my brother trying to get a kiss. It was a bit of a stretch but that's how the game goes. The more relevant and unique your photo's are the higher your photo's are scored but personally I don't care about that portion of it. I just find it amusing to look at your photo's in a different way and to have "assignments" to go out and photograph things if you don't have them in your existing photo pool. I'll post my completed Mosaics when completed each month.