Happy Caturday!

Hope everyone is having a great Saturday Caturday!

 We're headed over to see what inspiration awaits at Beverly's Pink Saturday...

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I've been trying to get Leo to pose for a "new and improved" version of him sitting

by my dad's vintage "Deco-inspired" Remington (from Daddy's college days at Mizzou)...

but he has other ideas...

Leo says,"I don't want to sit right next to Grandpa's typewriter just now, Ma

 (he got that "Ma" from his human sisters)

...maybe you'll get lucky tomorrow..."

We'll see.

Have a wonderful rest-of-the-weekend, all!

Love,

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Duck Tales

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Above, Muscovy Mama and Babies, Aquarella edit.

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I have a couple of Duck Tales for you this evening...

( I'm so glad I finally got my ducks in a row and got back to blogging!

 ...I couldn't resist.)

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See the baby Mallard above?



Well, it's not him...but it looks just like my little Duckie Doodle...



I was five years old or thereabouts,



and Grandma Collier's hens had hatched him...(I don't know where Grandma



got the duck egg)... Duckie Doodle followed me EVERYWHERE;



He swam in my little plastic "blow-up" pool (who ever said "inflatable" back then?)



and I pointed out spiders to him in the corners of Grandma's big front porch.



Yum.



DD and I were inseparable until he got big and the adults decided he would be



better off living in the big pond at our farm at Bloomfield.



That's a story for another day...



I loved Duckie Doodle.





(Photo credit RSPG.org.uk ~ Aquarella edit)





That's just my little Duck Tale, though.



Here's the really cute one...



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My friend Elaine's Duckie-Girls, Sundae (front)



and Shadow. Aren't they beautiful ladies?



They're Muscovy ducks...you can read more about the breed here.



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Doing girl-duck stuff...



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They are the Sister-Wives of Speedy, who you'll meet later.



And lookie!! Babies.....



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Aren't they adorable??



Sundae is being a good mommy and grooming one of her little fellows, it looks like...



Or maybe she's just eating a bug.



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Too, too cute...all that little black-and-yellow down...



Camouflage!



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 Lawrence and Sunny...



Growing up...getting feathers!



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Sundae looks like she can't believe how big her babies are getting...



Proud mommy!



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"Like a duck to water"...





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 Such a handsome teenager!



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And last but not least...(I had to save the best for last) ~



Speedy.



Just look at his Rhett Duckler "hair"!!



"Combed my hair in a pompadour

Like the rest of the Romeos wore

A permanent wave, yeah..."



Billy Joel, Keeping the Faith 





He is just so funny and handsome at the same time!



Thank you so much for allowing me to use your sweet Ducky-pics, Elaine!



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I owe Elaine another big "thank you", as I got these in the mail today...



Daylilies!



(Boxes in the mail are just the best "day-maker"!)



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I made room in my raised beds...



"Court Magician" and "Fortune Teller" on this side...



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And "Abiding Goddess" and "Sea Urchin"



(feeling at home, I hope, next to the ancient conch shell)



 on the opposite side...



Don't you absolutely love unique names of things??



I can't wait to see these in bloom next year...



So much of gardening is "next year", isn't it?



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That's all for now ~



Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!



Love,

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August 1st..."Rabbit, Rabbit"!

It's August, y'all...can you believe it?

 I just wanted to pop in for a minute and remind you to say "Rabbit, rabbit", if you haven't already! 

 (A little something from National Public Radio about that, if you're wondering...click here!)

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 One of my favorite things...








An Etude Magazine from August, 1945. (I have it framed.)



Click here to read more about The Etude...and here to see an interesting gallery of all the



 cover art ~ (I had a big box of Etudes that were my aunt's ~ I kept my favorites and



sold the rest really cheap...back before "vintage" was so popular!)



New post this evening (Friday)!



TGIF!



Love,

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What's on Your Nightstand?

As in books, I mean...What are you reading?

 (There's usually so much stuff on my nightstand  I have to scoot things over

 to find a place to charge my phone...) ~

Any good old-fashioned page-turning hold-in-your-hands books?

Or do you read on your tablet or phone or Kindle-thingy?

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I know they're not all the newest releases,

but here are mine for now...

I haven't started any of them, so I welcome "reviews"!

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The Time Traveler's Wife; Audrey Niffennegger

Little Altars Everywhere; Rebecca Wells

Proof of Heaven; Dr.Eben Alexander, M.D.

Andrew's Brain; E.L. Doctorow

Maud; Richard Lee Strout

~

"Maud" was actually released in 1939; a compilation of the diaries of Miss Maud Rittenhouse,

a young socialite in the 1880s in Cairo, Illinois...

My husband's family was from Cairo, and over the years I've heard this book

mentioned several times...this one or that one was a subject in the "Maud-Book"...

that scandalous book!

When researching The Cairo City Cemetery for my other blog, I came across

some of Miss Rittenhouse's family and decided I was going to track down a copy

of "The Book"... I found mine online through Alibris Books, a very fine seller.

So, now...I'll see what all the fuss is about.

Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I'm going to finish a Faerie-House commission and paint today,

but first I'm going to link my pink "Naked Lady" lilies (previous post)

 to Beverly's Pink Saturday...

Hop on over and see all the "pink", and wish Beverly a Happy Birthday!

Have a great day, everyone!

BTW, the "watercolor" edit of the photo of my nightstand is by JixiPix Software;

it's called Aquarella, and it's fun and user-friendly (if I can do it, it's very friendly)!

Love,

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A Few More Garden Babies...and some Naked Ladies, to Boot

Happy Thursday, Everyone!

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Yesterday afternoon I walked out to the herb garden

and there they were...

Naked Ladies!

They hadn't been there the day before, honest!

(Well, they probably actually were, but they are so unobtrusive, with no leaves and all...)

Do you have them in your yard? 

I can drive through the older neighborhoods here and see where they have popped up

all over the place now...I actually brought these from our "vintage" house in the

old section of town; they lived in pots for a time until I settled them into a corner of

the herb bed here, next to the Butterfly Bushes. 

Naked Ladies...

Magic Lilies...

Pop-Up Lilies...

Resurrection Lilies...

Another friend referred to them as "Pink Ladies"...

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Whatever you call them...(and what do you call them?)



they are lovely...such a beautiful clear pink, and so fragrant...



they are actually Amaryllis Belladonna,



native to South Africa.



Plantingflowerbulbs.com said this about them:



Named after a beautiful shepherdess in Greek mythology, Amaryllis means

'sparkling'...Belladonna means 'beautiful lady'.

Amaryllis belladonna has many common names. For example, in the United Kingdom

it is known as the Belladonna or Jersey Lily. In South Africa it is known as the March

Lily, and in the United States the flower is referred to as the Naked Lady.

Amaryllis belladonna has also been called St. Joseph's Staff in Portugal,

St. Rosalina in Sicily, and the Madonna Lily in Italy. In Spain, one might hear it

referred to as 'Meninas Para Escola', meaning 'girls going to school' because they

bloom at the beginning of the school year, when girls in pink uniforms begin attending classes.



You can read more about them here.



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Don't they just look magical?



Like Faeries should be perched on the petals sipping honeysuckle tea?



(I think they do smell a lot like honeysuckle.)



My friend Becky told me about a book called Passalong Plants by Steve Bender;



and I'm getting ready to order a copy (Amazon).



I love the old-fashioned plants and flowers...they truly are living heirlooms!



A friend once told me about an acquaintance; someone she didn't know well...



and she referred to her as a "Flower Friend"...



Someone in her neighborhood who had given her cuttings or had divided



and shared flowers with her...I think that would quickly evolve into



just "friend"...but "Flower Friend" is so sweet-sounding!



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Look at this little fellow!!



I was taking photos of the Naked Ladies and went over to sniff the



Butterfly Bushes...the honey-wine scent is so lovely...



and this moth (I thought he was a hummingbird for a second)



was having a feast, flying from blossom to blossom...



I couldn't get the best photo of him, as it was so windy...the gust kept buffeting



him this way and that, but he persevered!



Missouri Conservationist says it is a Snowberry Clearwing Moth...



in the Sphinx Moth family...and that it also



"looks like a bumblebee and flies like a hummingbird"



it does indeed!



You can read more about them here.



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A wall of green hearts!



These are my Moonflower (Ipomoea alba) vines...



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In just the past week they have begun to set buds on all the new tendrils...



I tried growing them once at our old house (very shady yard) a few years ago,



but I didn't get any flowers ~ just vines...so I'm very excited!



They are supposed to be exquisitely fragrant and the night-time "unfurlings" quite dramatic...



(you can search for "Moonflower Blooming" on Youtube);



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Future Moonflowers!



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"Second Family"



You can see the robins' nest used earlier this year right behind the current,



larger nest...evidently the first one just wasn't big enough to re-use!



(Actually it had already been used a second time the year, so maybe it



was just a little worse-for-wear...)





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"Come over, Dear..."



A Moonflower tendril reaches out and (and grabs) a Zinnia!



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Zinnia "Cherry Limeade"



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Zinnia "Envy"



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A TINY little White-Spotted Jumping Spider (cute!)



in his huge (relatively) Zinnia Mansion...



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Cypress Vines!!



(If I promised anyone seeds and didn't "deliver", please let me know!



I'm just so scattered at times!)



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A new hybrid??



No, one of my Balsam Flowers (Impatiens balsamina; another "passalong"~ type flower



 from seeds gifted by my friend Elaine ) being given a friendly hug by a Cypress Vine...



I think I need to break up this little budding (couldn't resist) romance!



I read this on the About.com site here.



"Before the ubiquitous impatiens of today, there were Balsam Flowers.

Victorians loved these Asian imports in the early 20th century, 

but the flowers' popularity waned as the interest in hybrid annuals grew after 

World War II. Today's gardeners are bringing this heirloom back to the seed rack

as they discover how easy and adaptable it is."





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Squeal!!



The Tuberoses will be opening soon!



(I know, way too excited...)



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This Turban Squash blossom reminds me of a sea-star...



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...And here's the baby Turban Squash!



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Look at this ruffly gourd-flower!



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A little gourd...a future Faerie house?



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These little ornamental gourds will also dry (in the oven) for crafting.



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A baby watermelon...



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Baby Okra!



Future Okra-Pod Vultures...or corn-mealed and fried, depending on who harvests them...





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Now, this is not in my yard, but it is growing in a field right down the street...



Cotton blossoms start out creamy white...



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Then they turn pink, and finally a dark rose, before the flower withers



and the cotton-boll starts developing...



Do they look familiar?



I knew that cotton and okra are related, but I just found out that they



are all members of the Mallow family (Malvaceae) which also



includes Hibiscus (including my Althea/Rose of Sharon) and Hollyhocks.



Interesting! You can read about it here...



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Just a couple more...these two of the Fur-Baby variety...



Above, Leo in the morning sun...



(He was quite shocked that I was up and taking photos at 6 a.m....)



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(Please ignore the "fluffy" underside of the chair...I will never be remembered



for my excellent house-keeping! ~ And that's fine by me.)



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And lastly, Mr. Cyrus...rolling in the sun!



Doesn't he have amazing whiskers??



That's all for now, folks! Have a wonderful evening!



(Linking "The Ladies" to Beverly's Pink Saturday!)



Love,

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