Birthday gifts and such

So this morning, my birthday morning, I was home alone for awhile and as I was chatting away on the phone I decided to go out and get some more flag pics. I walked outside, in my pj's and thank the Good Lord I had a robe on because when the dogs started to come out, I quickly but gently shut the door and the latch fell down and it locked. YUP. Locked. We live in an old house, 1940's cape, and it's probably the original lock and door. So, I'm outside with a camera in pj's. I decided at my age...who cares....well I do, that's who. I've no bra on after all....just sayin....So as I'm talking to my friend and tell her what happened I said, "my only saving grace might be that we let the dogs out this morning in the back yard, and we were probably too lazy to close the door." Well thank the Good Lord and all that is holy because the back door was unlocked. I just had to walk in the dewey wet grass barefoot but at least I didn't have to call a parent.

Then when I got in and downloaded the dang pics, they're backwards. Whatev....I'm 53 now so I suppose I'll be doing stupid stuff like this.

My Mom MADE THIS for me for my birthday. It's a hand towel but I'm going to hang it on a curtain rod in a small window in our new house. It'll be SO CUTE. I just love it.

And the Scribe made this cool dishcloth for me which I said, "I will not use because it's too cute." I'm going to pin it to a purse.

Hmmmm, now that I think about it, I got a dish rag and a dish towel for my b-day...Is it a sign?

And remember that scarf on RJ's blog a couple of days ago. I WAS THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!!! WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

I'm so blessed.

Cindy Bee

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today is my birthday and I got lots of fun summer stuff to show ya, but right now I have other things going on....so stay tuned. Might be a lot of little fun posts rather than one long one.

And let me just say - if you are an American - get your flag up and start flying it. On your house

and on your blog. You can borrow this pic if you want. It's mine.

Be proud.

Cindy Bee

Cutie Patootie!

Last week I went to Hilltop Farm (our new house/land-see button to the right). Whenever I go there I usually walk out to the bee yard (apiary) first thing. It's just what I do.

I noticed something different and at first I thought it was a statue, until it started jumping and playing around. A fawn! I quickly but quietly did the real-fast high-step (you know what I mean?) back to my car to get my camera, and the apple core I had thrown in the yard.

When I returned he started running towards me! I was standing in the middle of the driveway. He was either charging me, or didn't see me! Suddenly, right at the edge of the drive way, he stopped, and looked up. Neither of us moved. I imagine his heart was pounding as hard as mine! When I took this picture, he took off, stopped about half way out there, and started playing again. I will not bore you with the dozen pictures I took.

Later on, I was giving Reality Jane a tour of our outpost (campsite) when she heard something in the woods.

The little guy watching us as he stood in the woods.

I did not get a picture of him, but I thought I'd show you a picture of the campsite.

It's where my niece and I camped a couple of weeks ago, for about an hour and a half! Read about it here.

Cindy Bee

Last stop!

The last stop was Benedict's Nursery in Nappanee, IN

This is a family owned business and they specialize in Hypertufa troughs, Sand beds, and Alpine plants.

Now this is a fairy garden!

Close ups...

She had smaller fairy gardens as well, in the hypertufa troughs

And I loved this. It looks like a 'sea' garden in a tackle box.

Itty bitty hypertufa troughs and itty bitty plants.

The owner gave us the 'recipe' for hypertufa troughs which sounds harder than it is, according to her. I think she gives classes though.

It was a long day but there you have it. An entire list of garden places to visit in Northern Indiana. If you are planning a trip that way, I would recommend ordering the travel guide from Amish Country.org and check out www.amishacres.com

Benedict's Nursery

5623 W 1300 N

Nappannee, IN 46550

574-773-2254

This bus trip was through Imperial Travel out of Lafayette, IN. And no I don't get any kick-back from any of this. I just wanted to share my garden trip with you!

Cindy Bee

Bus Trip Stops 4 & 5

Next stop...Lunch! We had lunch at Prairie Trail Herb Farm. My Sister and I used to come to this farm for Herbal Slumber Parties. The owner had a deal with some B&B owners nearby, but I asked about them and she said they are now private residences.

I love herb farms. They are my favorite kind of garden centers.

When we sat down for lunch they had little scones and smoothies waiting for us on the tables.

The napkin rings were made out of clear shower curtain hangers. I would probably have wrapped the ribbon around the entire ring, but it was still very crafty. The bright colorful napkins shows through the rings.

And I loved all the plants in the tea pots and sugar bowls and such.

For lunch we had chicken salad and fruit, and a choice of raspberry bread pudding or rhubarb crisp with ice cream. .

Herb gardeners tend to make gardens up in themes, such as tea gardens (I could have used some of this chamomile last night)

fairy gardens, and wheelbarrow gardens(?). I think that was more for display. But it's fun to use herbs for theme gardens.

And here is why I like herb farms so well. You get tons and tons

of plant choices. Many I've never even heard of.

After spending a couple of hours at Prairie Trail, we went to The Calender Garden at DeFries Gardens. This was a private residence for years, owned by John DeFries and his wife, Elisabeth. When he passed away, she donated the property and farmhouse to the Elkhart County Parks. The Calendar Garden is funded by her and the landscape designer is Jon Cutrell. This was taken right out of a brochure, as you can probably tell.

This place was absolutely stunning.

Enter here...

The garden is laid out in a circle, with four quadrants in the center representing Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. The circular path around the quadrants are made of brick, and every few bricks are stamped with a date.

When you find your birthday, and look at that quadrant, you can see what is blooming at that time of year.

A very cool thing you can do is stand on your birthday, and see what is blooming during that season.

This was the best view to get pics of the garden.

See the pedestal with the white ball in the corner of the pic (not the one up close) Those are moved every year to the date where there is going to be a full moon. I didn't know that until I read the pamphlet.

They have a beautiful greenhouse in the winter quadrant.

A water feature in the direct center of the garden.

Another wheelbarrow garden!

The outside circle around the garden is mostly Indiana native plants. I love to see different colors and textures of green planted together.

I could go on and on with the pictures of this garden as I took tons. But this post is long and I need to get busy. I have comments to reply to, a house to build, bees to check on, and a class reunion to attend tonight with my husband. If all goes well, the two hives I have in town will be moving to the country Monday evening.

Contact info

Prairie Trail Herb Farm

PrairieTrailFarm.com

574-642-3555

She also has an e-mail newsletter you can get on and she offers a lot of classes.

The Calendar Garden is part of the parks department in Elkhart County. For the park contact info

www.elkhartcountyparks.org

Elkhart County Parks

211 W. Lincoln Avenue

Goshen, IN 46526

574-535-6458

for more pics (and probably much better pics) go to

www.flickr.com/photos/46211765@N04

DeFries Garden is located at 17477 C. R. 46 1.25 miles east of New Paris, IN.

Cindy Bee