A Card For a Friend to Brighten Her Day ~ A Simple Thing

 I hope life is treating you 

kind on this Wednesday. 

Life is beautiful and wonderful

and difficult and we never know what a day will hold.

Celebrating each day with everything we have

on that day will make memories and

enrich even the simplest of times.

It could just be a small thing that will turn our head

or thrill our heart.

This morning when I took a walk,

the sky was SO blue!

I wanted to just stare at it and take in it's

simple beauty! And I was walking past my neighbors barn,

a frightened skunk scurried past. 

That was a surprise! A little thrill.

 I kept my eye on him as I

walked up the road. 

Haha...

Just to make sure that it wasn't following.

;)

My granddaughters

were here yesterday and they 

brought their new little friend.

Primrose, the kitten.

I had forgotten just how sweet it was to hold

a tiny, soft dear thing. Her purr was quiet and low.

They do love her so and she'll grow to love them, too.

****

This card that I made was for a friend who had

just been in car accident. Her car was totaled but she 

wasn't seriously injured. But the trauma was very real.

When I gave her the card with some flowers, I asked her 

how she was. She said fine and when I spoke of the accident

she hugged me and cried.

Such a small and simple gesture on my part but it 

"meant the world to her."

We never know how showing that we care might

bring a bit of cheer to someone.

It's the little things that sometimes add up

 to make an extraordinary day.

I used to look past those often times while

looking for more.

I'm learning~

Tonight we switch over to play our music at

The Foxfire. We'll be seeing some 

old friends and we're always

making new ones! Our hearts are ever

thankful for the opportunity

to sing and play.

I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Thank you so much for coming by. 

Hugs,

Tamara

There's A Story in This: A Sort of Faery Tale

Hello~

I hope you're having a lovely day. 

I wanted to share a tiny faery tale that evolved

from a picture of mine as I was writing this post.

The post took a totally different turn than I expected.

I guess it's good to follow your heart and be creative!

Anyway... 

I hope you enjoy what I wrote.

 And there are some
  photos around the house and with my family.

Some I have shared on IG. 
If you'd like to follow my life in photos, look for 

theshabbigypsy.

The Woodland Ball

Dried roses, glittery, shimmery wrapped gifts,

 seed lights and the slight flicker of a candle...

Oh! a mysterious key...

imagine what the occasion is and....

 where is the magical door?

Perhaps it opens up into an enchanted 

forest where the faeries

are preparing for the delightful Woodland Ball!

All the trees will be a bower of beauty and the tables 

will sparkle be lavishly arranged and 

overflowing with

the most delicious delicacies that you can imagine!

There will be the music of flutes and whistles and bodhrans

and harps.  

The sound will be ringing through the air.

The merriment will be heard throughout the forest and 

all will be welcome!

Put on your best gown of 

mossy green with braided vines

and cascades of flowers with a 

wreathe of posies about your head!

Please say that you'll meet me there!

It will be a grand time. 

It's time to celebrate.

Sweet Boo and Grandma share a birthday month.

Our birthdays both fall on a president's birthday.

 My daughters created a beautiful sideboard

with sparkles and tulle. 

And the cake was beautiful!

Thank you ever so much for coming by 

and going along with

my make believe!

Blessings,

Tamara 

XO

Signs of Spring... Big Horn Sheep And Loads of Blossoms

Hello. 

What a beautiful week it has been here in our mountains.

Spring has arrived and is in full swing!

 I have been 

doing so much cleaning up and watering. 

I have some transplanting, mulching and cutting back to do.

 It's been a joy to be out again.

The birds are building nests to welcome their 

new arrivals and our trees are leafing out.

The weather has been

perfect for spring picnics and it's time to start planting

and planning those special projects!

*****

I wanted to share some photos of some 

big horn sheep that I saw recently. 

Game and Fish re-located them to our 

area a couple of years ago.

They are pretty elusive so it's 

exciting when we get to see them!

They jump over these fences very easily.

Below are some photos of our Apricot tree and our 

Cherry tree in bloom. It's not unusual 

for us to get late snows or 

freezes here at 7500 feet. 

And the rest of spring takes it 

good time in showing up 

so these blossoms are treasured

when they make their appearance.

If we had no winter, spring would not be so pleasant. 

Anne Bradstreet

In my previous post, I mentioned

that I would tell a little more about 

the wind that we experience here. 

It's been a bit breezy here and there 

but not like 2 weeks ago when our 

little airport registered 75 MPH winds.

And that's normal. It gets worse too.

If you've ever watched Jeopardy, 

you might hear of Springerville.

We are famous! Haha. 

We have been listed as one of the windiest

(is that a word???) spots in the US.

I guess we all have to be known for something :(

During those heavy winds, we lost a large branch,

our basketball hoop blew over, we lost half of our chicken coop roof and our trampoline was lifted and went airborne across the yard, only to be stopped by our cherry tree! 

YIKES...

Our house creaks and moans with the wind.

I'm just very thankful that there was no serious damage.

The trampoline frame was damaged a little but Jeff 

was able to order the part and replace it

without too much trouble. 

He's so handy and good at taking care of

things around the house!

Somebody wants to see outside! 

I take him out occasionally 

to eat dandelion greens and binder weed.

He also likes fresh basil, lettuce, carrots and kale.

Yellow bell peppers and cilantro are his favorites.

And you REALLY don't want to know what else he eats ;)

And yes... it's that time of year again 

when Brutus poses as the garden cat.

I'm so happy to be blogging again and to be back in touch

with my old friends and making new ones.

I have some small projects that

I've been working on.  There are some cards that I've made that

I'll be sharing and some items that I've decorated instead of throwing them away.

Have a lovely Mother's Day weekend!

Do you have special plans?

We are spending it with some of our kids and grandkids.

Since life is so busy for our young moms, we are having

an ice cream bar complete with all of our favorite toppings.

For dinner, we will have appetizers and

popcorn and we'll be watching American Idol.

Our daughters also love music and they've gotten us into

watching it! It's something fun and a little more relaxing for

a restful Sunday evening.

Do you watch American Idol?

Who are you voting for?

My favorites are 

Maddie, Michael, Gabby, Catie and Caleb.

But they all have a lot of talent!

We'll see :)

Thank you for your visit. 

Hugs and Blessings to you!

Tamara

XX

Thrift Store Flowers for Spring

Happy May! 

Isn't it lovely to know that summer is on it's way?

And spring is coming to life all around us.

Though spring has it's joys it can be a little challenging here.

In the White Mountains,

it's usually a very windy time.

I'll share a little more about that soon.

So that makes it a good time to wander 

around in thrift stores

to see what treasures we can find.

And one that I bought is a lovely, embroidered picture.

It's always a treat to find something that

someone has taken the time to make by hand.

It's done on linen. 

There was a stain on it that I was able to 

dab with some shout and remove.

But the colors are so bright and cheerful...

I just thought it was so pretty!

And though you can't see it, it's framed very nicely.

Where flowers bloom, so does hope.

Lady Bird Johnson

I just wanted to pop in and say hello.

How is your week going?

I am enjoying a cloudy day here and resting up some.

It's Wednesday and for me that means 

playing music tonight!

We have made so many good friends and

enjoy meeting new ones each week.

I'll also be cleaning and project planning.

Have a blessed rest of your week and thank you

for coming by!

Tamara 

XOXO