A Gathered Table Scape

Hello~

Today we are celebrating clouds and 

possible rain this week....

As well as our sweet

daughter's 31st birthday.

She and her older sister and I

went on a little outing

for dinner, shopping and a movie.

We went to see Oceans 8.

Oh my... 

What a fun chic flick.

We try to celebrate the entire week.

Life passes by so quickly and I believe

in being very purposeful.

And a cloudy day?

 It's like a holiday for us around here especially considering this drought.

To clarify...

Ours and surrounding counties have been declared

a disaster area and we are on severe

restrictions. We're not even permitted 

to mow our lawns because of sparks.

No smoking outside.

Anyway...

On to happier things :) and there

are always happy things!

Like birthdays and flowers blooming

and little butterflies flitting about.

And a table that is full of color, glittery sparkles

and fun surprises for little eyes to find.

This may have the appearance of Easter but it's

actually just for spring with some things that I just 

grabbed because kids light up

when they see it all!

You can see what I used...

The vintage bottles and salt and pepper shakers

were some of my favorites.

I so enjoy using ordinary things

for something other than it's

intended use.

What about you? 

What kind of treasures do you enjoy using

when you're creating? And it doesn't 

have to be decorating your table.

I hope you're doing well and

taking some time to keep yourself grounded

and in touch with you.

I read something this morning that

got me to thinking about what

we give ourselves permission for.

Do you give yourself a lot of grace?

We all need it.

I know all too well how to put 

myself in a box and to criticize 

what I do and how I do it. 

and even what I fail to do.

 Are you allowing yourself to be you and

even embracing who you are?

I am hopelessly devoted to

getting this right. Making room for my

real self. The one who makes mistakes

and is always learning. She's creative and

messy and sometimes loses her way.

There's growing and accepting and then

when I think I have it figured out,

I change! Can you relate to any of that?

One thing that I'm learning to do is to be more
open and honest with myself and others.

I am back after taking a very long break.

The clouds were so inviting and the temperatures

so forgiving that I wandered outside to

(more like raced before the sun came back out ;)

get some more of my plants in the ground.

And to do some more rock work

on the little wall that I'm building

in the the Gypsy Camp gardens.

I will share some pictures.

I have my eye on a couple of climbing roses

 in town and the Virginia 

Creeper wintered so well through

the drought and the cold that we are going to

plant a couple more to add some greenery.

We must whenever we can as we are

surrounded by white grasses (dead) and dirt!

We do have some
Juniper and Pinon 
trees that are very gracious
 to give us shade.

 I have planted several herbs in the past couple

of days. Annual and perennial.

And I found the most adorable

Dwarf English Boxwood. So far it's doing well.

Fingers crossed!

I also had to take some time to dust and clean

and get things in order. I do so enjoy a tidy home. With the season of playing outside, it takes a little more effort to keep up.

It's time to go rest up for this evening.

As we are playing music tonight at one of our favorite places. I get to play my new pink guitar that Jeff bought me for our Anniversary in April.

Eeep!! Doesn't a 

Shabbi Gypsy girl need a pink guitar?

I will share some pictures soon.

I do hope that

you have a lovely, lovely weekend creating and

enjoying just being you right where you are

and of course

celebrating the wonderful

fathers in your life.

Here's a fun quote for summer...

"LIFE IS SHORT.

TAKE THE TRIP,

BUY THE SHOES,

EAT THE CAKE!"

Blessings and hugs to you~

Tamara 

xoxo

A Project Begun. About Creativity and A Visit To Ohio .... Life as I Know it

I'm sitting at my desk working on this post 

and Sunny is on my lap.

If you aren't sure who that is, 

you can visit my previous post and see a picture.

He's my sweet, adorable and 

very pokey bearded dragon. 

haha...

AKA Sunny Boy or Dragon Boy.

He's just the sort of pet I wanted.

He's my little friend that will sit near quietly while 

I work on projects or writing;)

I worked outside some this morning, transplanting

and watering. 

I'm almost back to square one where my

  gypsy camp gardens are concerned.

I was pretty discouraged at 

first but it's slowly fading

and excitement is filling my 

heart as my vision grows.

 I read in Mary Reynolds' book,

The Garden Awakening, that

nature is more powerful than nurture.

I experienced that first hand this past year.

I poured my heart, soul (and money)

into gardening this past year only to 

meet with losing many plants. 

There's one thing that grew...

My frustration!

But all is not lost.

 I'm learning to persevere

and to use my creativity and I'm thankful for 

 the abundance of resources that are available.

More about that later.

I'm just getting over a cold, 

so getting a post done will be

perfect while I rest up after 

playing music last evening.

I just wish my house wasn't in

 such need of attention.

But life is so rich and full 

and I am very blessed.

*********

I have some photos to share of a 

project that I started

recently. I am a collector of all sorts of things.

My wheels get turning and 

I can't throw things away

sometimes! This time it's empty boxes.

Match boxes, candy boxes, a Royal Crown box, 

which was a Christmas gift from Jeff.

There's a wooden cigar box 

that someone gave me.

(Even my friends collect cool stuff for me. 

Bless their hearts!)

My table is quite scattered about with bits of 

fun as I think about what I want to use.

If you are the creative type, you know how that

works. But goodness... 

My table doesn't always look like

this. I have to tidy up between times that I sit and work.

I'm almost finished with all 

of them and I'll share soon.

Below is a photo of one that's finished.

It's my least favorite.

I love the paper but was less than 
satisfied with the way the 

leaves looked after I was done.

But creating is like that.

Do you ever feel that way with a

finished project? 

But we keep at it.
 That's the only way.

I read this and I can see how this could work against creativity. 

One of the worst enemies to 
creativity is self doubt.

I have also read that overthinking will squelch your creativity.

It's all a learning process so if you have an idea, just try to go with and not think 
or plan it too much!

And naturally, some projects need planning out. 

That's part of the learning, too.

Isn't it a peaceful place to be when you finally

come to learn that it doesn't have to perfect and there's

SO much room to grow?

**********

In March, it worked out for Jeff and I to visit our

daughter that recently flew from the nest.

Oh how we miss her and we 
had such good times visiting.

We took some lovely walks, 

played music together

and did some shopping. 

Ate out and had some good 

heart to heart talks.

HMMM....

 Let's take a poll!

Which one of us does she favor?

We had a fun time at Country Bits.

It has antiques, cards, handmade 
candies, and other goodies. 
SO much to look at with many different vendors and there are two levels with many 
rooms upstairs and down.

If you're ever in Cambridge, Ohio, 

you won't want to miss this place!

It's one of our favorite places.

It's also one of my favorite places to go junking.

It's quite dangerous! 

My daughter is the Queen of Sarcasm 
and she found these tiles. 
This was one of our favorites ;)

I took a drive one day. 

When I'm home, I can't help 
but to drive around on 

the dirt roads where I grew up. 
Do you ever do that?

It's so peaceful and while I'm driving, 
I think of the people that were in my life then and the experiences that I had. 

Sometimes, it makes me sad but I never

want to forget those special people and times 

that made me who I am today. 

I often long for those days.

Do you like to visit favorite
 places from your childhood?

I learned to drive on our Ford Tractor 

putting up hay.

I was 11 and my dad's first farm hand. 

I loved it.

 Then he bought a tractor with power steering 

and that was so much easier.

Before I got my license, I would 

drive it on this road to my 

friend's house. My parents didn't know...

for awhile that is. But my dad never said anything.

Country living is the best! 

Downtown Cambridge is still thriving and has some of the most beautiful buildings. It has some of the quaintest stores 

and specialty shops. 
This one is near Kennedy's Bakery

 where my daughter now works.

We had such a wonderful time. 

It was very hard to leave. I was so thankful for the time with my daughter and family but sometimes seeing them makes me miss 
them more. 

What do you think of  the new font? 
I think it looks pretty
but is it harder to read? 
I always want to keep my blog as reader 
friendly as possible. I used the largest font size so maybe that will help.

Thank you ever so much for coming by 

and following along with

my reminiscing.

Blessings,

Tamara 

XO