The season of Red White and Blue

Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays!  It's the unofficial beginning of summer.

Backyard picnics and barbecues, flags flying all over town.

Time to change the spring decorations to summer decorations.

With Memorial Day, Flay Day and July 4th so close together there is lots of red, white and blue to enjoy.

The bow tie quilt, perfect for Memorial Day and Father's Day.

Love me some red fabric!  Hard to choose a favorite bow tie, but this one is in the running.

This star border will always be a favorite and quilted so beautifully by Susan, the long armed quilter.

Yes, the dishes are included in the change of decorations.

There was one uninvited guest for the Memorial Day kick off to summer--poison ivy.  Yes, I'm talking to you poison ivy!  

Red, white and blue--let the summer time of celebration begin!

Inspiration

Our local NPT station has been airing the Ken Burn's film about the Roosevelt's--Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor.  Of course, my love for history has had me glued to the screen.  Such a complex family, so many challenges, such a legacy.

One of Eleanor Roosevelt's remembered quotes is:  Do the thing you think you cannot do.  Like many in this busy, fast paced world/life, I have felt overwhelmed.  With a three day week end to enjoy, I am going to use Eleanor's quote to guide me and face some of the things (projects) I think I cannot do. 

My Love Affair with Flowers

Hydrangea's from Trader Joe's to brighten the mantel.

My Oak Leaf Hydrangea loaded with blooms.  My new secret weapon for hydrangea--Epson salt.  This plant never disappoints--it is beautiful in the spring with all the flower heads.  In the fall the flower heads turn a rusty cinnamon color and the birds feed on them in the winter.

Daffodils--they greet me each spring with their bring yellow flower heads.  A welcome sight after a long winter.

The smell of Sweet hyacinth's planted by the door waiting to greet me after a long day.

Iris, the poor man's orchid, such a beautiful hardy plant.

Pansies with their bright cheerful smile sometimes hardy enough to survive the long cold winter.

And then there are the peonies!

The daylilies will soon be blooming and the purple coneflower, the roses, the clematis, roses, lavender so many flowers to bring endless delight!

I have a serious love affair with flowers.

Gone Fishin

Mother's Peonies

These are peonies blooming in my Mother's garden.

The blooms are perfect!

There are hundreds of petals on each bloom!

Most years the plants are so laden with blooms, Mother has to stake the plant to keep the blooms from pulling the plant to the ground.

This is a peony from my garden.  I'm going to take the photos of the peonies from Mother's garden and show my peonies to give them inspiration.  

As the peonies usually bloom at Mother's Day I call them the Mother's Day flower.  Happy Mother's Day!

May Flowers

The peonies are blooming!  I have struggled with this plant for years.  Most years I have two blooms.  My Mothers have so many blooms she has to stake the plant to keep the blooms from pulling the plant to the ground. 

There are many buds on the plant and this may finally be the year when I am rewarded.  Epsom salt was spread around the plant when the foliage began to emerge--maybe this is the secret.  

The iris have been spectacular this year.  They look so delicate with their frilly ruffles and are such a hardy plant.

This one looks like the delicate pink Baby Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana was wearing when she made her first appearance.

This is a Dutch Iris, very different from the bearded Iris--must add more of this variety to the long border.

The purpose of this award is for bloggers to nominate fellow bloggers. In order to accept the award, the nominated blogger must follow these rules:

• thank the person who nominated you and link back 
• Share seven facts about yourself
• Nominate 10 other bloggers for the award.

Seven facts about myself:

I am a huge history lover and student.  On my blog, I often write about historical  events and places.  My love for history has helped me to learn many things about my family:  the good, the bad and the ugly/sad. 

Keeping with the history theme--Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather Johanna Martin Shultz and his family was one of the first families of Tennessee, settling at the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains in a community called Emert's Cove. 

My love for gardening was a gift from Grandmother Bessie and my love for quilting was a gift from Grandmother Rebecca. 

While I am not a good cook, I come from a family of great cook's:  Grandmother's, Mother, Aunt's, Cousins.  As a family, we have shared many delicious meals.  My Mother was the pie baker and her specialty is crème pies:  Chocolate, Lemon Meringue, Coconut and Butterscotch.  When the family would get together, it was common for Mother to bake five pies.  

 AppleJack and I met in June, had out first date in July and got married in October.  Yes, out families did think we had lost our minds but twenty eight years later, I think the relationship is holding up nicely. 

 I learned to cross stitch the winter of 1976-1977.  Snow, snow, ice, more snow, low temps, many missed days from work due to road conditions was the news story of the day during the winter of 1976-1977.   I learned to cross stitch to keep my mind occupied and to help pass the time during the long winter days. 

Growing up on a dairy farm, I was taught to drive a tractor at the tender age of five--an H Farmall McCormick.  There is always work to do on a farm and my Father and Grandmother believed everyone could contribute regardless of their age.

Margaret of http://daysofasamplerlover.blogspot.com/ nominated me for this award and she shared insightful thoughts about blogging.  There does seem to be a change toward Facebook and Instagram  with less interest in blogging.  For myself, blogging is a way for me to keep a journal, to share with others, to learn about others and from others.  There are projects in process, exciting finishes, road trips, family times, recipes, funny stories, challenging times in people's lives.  It is time consuming to take photos, edit the photos and write the blog.  In this fast paced world of instant everything there are still things in life worth making an effort--for me blogging is one of those things.

My nominations are:

http://needleandthread.blogspot.com
http://kearnelskorner.blogspot.com/
http://mhttp://thecopperfox.blogspot.com/
http://thecraftroom.blogspot.com/
http://threadsbooksandthings.blogspot.com/
http://thepaintedquilt.blogspot.com/
http://roguequilter.blogspot.com/
http://themiddlesister.blogspot.com/
http://porcupineneedle.blogspot.com/
http://thepatrioticquilter.blogspot.com/
 

Sulphur Dell

Sulphur Dell

Home of the Nashville Sounds

Nashville has a old/new baseball park and it comes with quiet a history!  Historians believe the first baseball game may have been played here in 1862, while Yankee soldiers occupied Nashville during the Civil War.  

For 78 years professional baseball was played at this site.  With the city dump smoldering nearby, fans inhaled the aroma of popcorn, peanuts and burning trash.  To add more interest, the Cumberland River would often flood from heavy spring rains and flood the field.  To all these aromas add the sulphur smell which smells something like rotten eggs.  

The ballpark was nicknamed Suffer Hell and the Dump.

In 2013 Mayor Dean announced the Nashville Sounds would be getting a new ballpark to be built on the site where baseball began--Sulphur Dell.

The scoreboard is a giant guitar--with a name like the Sounds and being in Music City would you have expected anything less?  It's actually pretty fun especially when the Sounds score.  Does anyone remember the bull scoreboard from the movie Bull Durham?

With summer on its way, AppleJack and I plan to enjoy some peanuts and crackerjacks at the old/new ballpark--Sulphur Dell.

Play ball!