Wednesday, May 23, 2018

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




Friday, May 18, 2018

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

Thursday, May 10, 2018

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





Wednesday, May 2, 2018

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