It's Spring!

Spring is here!  Spring is here!

Spring is that delicious time of year when the Earth renews its loveliness and reveals secrets once hidden in the frozen ground.  Let's celebrate!

I love the contrast of the riotous pink against the stark bare tree branches.


Magnolias are so glorious!

A robin delights in the day.

Flowers are medicine for the soul.

species tulip

redbuds!

Daffodils dance in the breeze! (12 second video)

Click to activate.

Spring audaciously revels in its glorious renewal!

My Blogging Business Artisans team on etsy hosts a new Challenge every month. The purpose is to encourage us to explore our creativity, to stretch our imaginations.  
Cynthia of Antiquity Travelers set forth the following Challenge for the month of March:

"Early Spring.  Since our friend Punxsutawney Phil said we'd have an early start to spring...let's celebrate!  and hope he is right (fingers crossed)."

(He WAS right!  at least where I live.)


QUESTION:  What inspires you to create?

© photos by me  all rights reserved 

Spring!

beautiful daffodil growing in my yard!

Wordless Wednesday/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy (+ a giveaway!)

 Mama to 5 Blessings

 A Southern Daydreamer






© photo by me     all rights reserved

Happy Valentine's Day!

(not necessarily romantic)  LINKS:
NPR  The Dark Origins of Valentine's Day
The Atlantic  America's Valentine Day spending 

art by E. Sablosky © 2016  all rights reserved  (We received this beautiful hand painted card from our talented neice!)

random cool things

COOKIES

Whooo doesn't like owls?!  (farmers, perhaps)
These super cute owl cookies made an appearance on the etsy blog in a story by Heather Baird.

source

Click this LINK to get the recipe and directions.  While you're there, discover a very cool Thanksgiving tradition in Heather's family.
(Did you know my hubby and I helped re-nest 3 baby barred owls a few years ago?  Re-nesting & Baby Owl #2 )  

NAMES

Want to know how popular your name (or kids' or friends' or...) was in the years from the 1880s to 2014?  Of course you do!   WARNING:  This is addicting!  Go directly to Baby Name Wizard Voyager and begin typing away!

NameVoyager: Explore baby names and name trends letter by letter

Baby Name >

 Both  Boys  Girls

Current rank:

Names starting with 'MARGARET' per million babies

per million births

source

(unfortunately, the graph is not showing up when the blog is posted)


Moose Roots (names) is another cool name search site that even includes last names. This site has links to the meaning and origins of names as well as lots of other data.  Go explore!  Moose Roots .com itself is a genealogy research site.    

draw like Picasso

picasso head --click on the CREATE button and "draw" a face.   Save it to the gallery.

source

just for fun!

Snowboarding Bird video

source

What cool random things have crossed your path recently?

other name links:
google search Moose Roots trendy names
trendiest baby names
15 trendy baby names
Do you know any small children with these trendy names?  I do!

all images © by the individual websites

sunset

photo by me © 2015 all rights reserved

Water

lovely sunset along the Washington state coast in the Olympic Peninsula
The "sticks" at the edge of the beach are actually tree trunks washed up on shore.  This is a very wild place!


Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny is so much fun!  This week our assignment is the letter "W."  Come see other submissions HERE and join in the fun!

photo by me © 2015  all rights reserved

Splendid Autumn II

my backyard

chrysanthemums

detail of forest floor from a hike in the mountains of North Carolina

ornamental kale

Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) caterpillar on rue plant in my front yard

"Patisserie" treat table next to the wedding cake shown on my blog post HERE.  This beautiful wedding was held outdoors at the groom's family home in late September.

a little more about Black Swallowtails:
general information with photos
What did they eat before non natives existed?

photos by me © 2012-2105 all rights reserved