Sunday Roundup

Good Morning! I thought I’d give you an update of stuff going on here at Happy Acres.

Thanks to all of you who emailed me for some of my Melissa lavender on my Lavender Shortbread Cookie post. I was amazed at the interest. Unfortunately I don’t have enough to go around to everyone, but will be sending some to Deb in New Hampshire, Jeannie in Texas, Judy in Georgia, Susan in Michigan, and Ann in Indiana. I originally was only going to send to three, but because of the response I just had to make it five! I’m anxious to see what they think of those cookies.

Have you noticed a few of my changes on this blog? If you look up at the top, most of the categories have drop down menus.

So if you want to look at some craft tutorials, just tap on that part of the menu and there will be a drop down menu for you to choose what types of crafts you want to look at. This also is for my recipes and craft product/book reviews. I’m still working on the soap category.

Then one of the neatest new things on my blog is the tab where you can send me a voice message. You don’t need a phone. You just follow the easy instructions. You don’t have to sign up for anything. Just record your message and send it to my email. Pretty neat. I’d love to hear from you.

I recently started taking a watercolor class, but had to quit due to another commitment on Thursday nights. Here was my first painting from that class. I used one of my Hana Heaven pictures for my subject. Donna is a great teacher. I hope to be able to take the next class she offers.

I was pretty excited since it was my very first serious stab at watercolor. More to come.

Then this week I received in the mail these lovely little buttons from Incomparable Buttons which are handmade “giving employment to women in South Africa.” I won these from a giveaway on buttonmad. They are so sweet and they came on a piece of recycled cardboard all of the way from Africa.

Something cool in the garden that I’m real excited about is our Jubilee roses, which are known for having large hips. This is our first year for these hips so we are looking forward to using them in tea and maybe even some jam. They are so pretty and about ready to harvest.

The sedums are especially pretty this time of the year. They are begging to be made into some type of art. The color is just unbelievable. I’m so glad I planted these out front.

I’ve been spending a lot of my time lately on the Ohio Valley Garden Conference. I am co-chairing this event with my friend and fellow master gardener Barbara. We’ve been working on this event for two years with most of our work over the last several months. It’s now getting to the point that we are really getting excited for the day to be here. I’ve planned and coordinated fundraisers and other events when I worked, but never this large of a project with just volunteers.  Once it is over (October 20) I’ll have more time to spend creating. I really enjoyed making the video tutorial a couple weeks ago. It reminded me of teaching which I miss. I will definitely make more videos in the future.

Also, I am so excited about a class I will be attending next weekend. Several months ago I thought it would be good break from conference planning to take a class. Here are some of my supplies.

I’m taking Sketching and Watercolor – Journal Style taught by Jane LaFazio. I am so excited!!

Meanwhile, to get warmed up for the class, I’ve been doing a little sketching while waiting for my PT (physical therapist) twice a week. I have a frozen shoulder from my fall at the LAX airport last January on our way to Hawaii. I started physical therapy in April, but had to quit in May when I was serving jury duty. I thought I was fine until a couple weeks ago. Anyway, I’ve been carrying this sketchbook with me which helps to pass the time while I’m waiting.

My sketches are pretty rough. I look forward to her class and learning and hopefully improving.

Oh, I’ve not yet introduced you to our new boy, Ace. He’s the best. I’ll be blogging about him next time. Thanks for dropping by and hope you’re having a great weekend.