I just can't believe....

 I just can't believe...

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  That I actually grew these flowers... 

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 and had enough to spare for the potting shed.

 I just can't believe...

that  I am laying bricks in 90 degree heat..

But I am.

  I just can't believe....

 I am blessed with  a loving husband, who BUILT this pergola...

 IN 90 Degree heat...

(I will show you how he built it next time around)

  I just can't believe..

 The Lord of the manor, captured this great photo! 

(it is not camera trickery)

I just can't believe...

 that the sales from  my first book book, built this beautiful barn, and that I have pumpkins and melons growing with zest right in front of it.

 We call it "the barn that Jack built", Hopalong Jack, that is.

  I can't believe..

I am still working on this illustration..but,

 It will be finished within 2 days.

 Believe it or not! 

 

 Happy June to you all!

 May it be simply...

 .

UNBELIEVABLE! 

( I still can't believe that I grew these flowers... gosh!)

Building a Cedar Grape Arbor, for next to nothing...

  

     The Lord of the Manor was on a mission. He donned his baseball cap and leather gloves. Armed only with  his sharpened  saw...  into the woods he went. A few hours later he began to drag them out of the hollow..one by one, long cedars  27 of them!!! What a man!

This is the little courtyard we build outside the Potting shed last autumn, using old, old bricks, brickbats and stone. It really needed a Pergola  overhead.

So now you know what those cedars are for. 

The grapes were sitting in their pots simply bursting at the seams and longing for a place to climb.

,.

              A few days later, they had it..  A wonderful rustic cedar arbor/ pergola.

Oh JOY!

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It has the Peabody boys stamp of approval.

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That's important, because, after all, the Peabody boys will undoubtedly perch atop the rafters to taste test all those divine grapes which will be POURING over the sides this summer! ( I planted 8 vines, yummy!)

 I think it will be quite beautiful once the greens start clambering up the poles and across the top.

It's very simple, but stout and rustic. Just what I like!

Of course, the Lord of the Manor did require my assistance, you know, holding hammers, measuring poles, filling his cup with ice, etc. etc.

I am indispensable. 

 

 Total cost: Under $20

(Nails and gas for the chain saw)

This project took 3 days, that includes the acquisition of all those logs.

AND he also built a raspberry trellis long enough to contain 12 raspberry canes!!!

 I had drawn this arbor months ago for my new book, it is on the copyright page..( I will be painting this soon)

It really belongs to Mamsey Bear.

 And she makes wonderful grape jam...

Just the right colors....

                 It took 3 trips to the Paint Store. The Lord of the Manor said "Green and Brown would be very nice colors". But the mistress of the manor said'" NO< it must be Green and Green". (She knows best she thinks, because she is an artist.)  Those 2 greens were supposed to be noticeably different shades from one another.... they weren't. Then the mistress went with green and copper..... that didn't look  so good either. Hmmm... maybe the Lord of the Manor had something there after all. Woodland Green and Timberline Brown. I guess sometimes the artist doesn't know as much as she thinks she does.

,

 The Lord of the Manor said "I told you so!"

BUT THAT"S OKAY, cuz

 Mamsey Bear loves it and It looks nice with this garden...

 And compliments the colors of the Mistress's Manor.....

  Whew! Now we can put the ladders away.

So put on your straw hat, walk up the brick path and meet us in the potting shed.

"I'll be there!"

Potting shed is filled to the brim!

 Who knew a little 10x12 building could hold so much stuff?

Stuff with which to pot little plants...

Stuff to put in windowsills and on walls....just because you like looking at it.

Stuff to fill a shabby old green cupboard, like colored glass bottles and jars to store itty, bitty seeds. Baskets and boxes to hold small garden tools and garden tags and water fixtures. Lots of drawers to fill with bags of "miracle grow" and flower food.... things you don't really want to look at because they aren't pretty...  And we like pretty!

WE also like things a little bit funny, like this olde thing.

A funny little stove that really works! Mamsey just might heat a pot of tea on this little stove.... but she will probably just bring a nice COLD cup of tea from the house.

 

And she can sit right here to enjoy it and browse through some of her favorite garden books.... Goodness, we already have company!

;

After being inspired,

  she can get to work....

The best kind of work...  work that starts with little seedings...

Even Lil Miz Mouse has her very own little flower pot with a tiny seedling...( she hopes it will grow into a very large pumpkin.) 

And hopefully those little seedlings will begin to grow....

into lovely full- fledged flowers.....

;

 For  everyone to enjoy!

 

The finished potting shed, how sweet it is!

A little bird told me that

     sometimes, waiting  a long time for a thing, makes it all the sweeter  when you finally get it. Early one Monday morning, out of the blue, the Busy Beavers pulled up in their old red pick-up truck ,pulling their old rusty flatbed filled with this:

  Fresh cut pine boards! To finish Mamsey Bears potting shed! OH BOY!

    It's been sitting in it's skeletoned frame for months and months., just waiting for some walls.

Busy Beavers went to work

 They put in 3 fine and dandy windows;

 Head Busy Beaver added a nice shelf beneath each one, he knew Mamsey would appreciate that.

  And they hung the beautiful bright red door from jolly old England.

They even finished off the top of the wisteria arbor that the lord of the Manor, kinda,sorta forgot to finish...... a long long time ago.

l

 

The shed can't be painted  for at least 2 months while the wood dries completely.

But the colors are all picked out: green, green and green.

 Little pots of Lavender sit in the window and bedding plants are ready to be placed in various containers,

and in old wheelbarrows and wagons.

 Loads and loads of goat and sheep compost ( otherwise known as poop) sit behind her potting shed just waiting to be turned into new and exciting gardens... which will grow beautiful blooms, which will attract hungrey little bees, which will produce lots of tasty honey which will give Mamsey lots of sweet muffins and pannie cakes which will cause Mamsey bear to put on mucho fat!

BZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!

The lord of the Manor PROMISES to erect a rustic cedar grape arbor ( cut from the cedars in the Hollow) which will attach to the tin red roof of the potting shed.

 Mamsey will grow luscious, fat grapes with which to make  jellies and jams and fruit salads!

"Indeed I will!"

 All that is needed is a nice cobblestone floor and then Mamsey can move in all her really neat stuff and such, ( she will show you the interior AFTER she does all her decorating)

      Mamsey has promised to let the mistress of the manor use her potting shed whenever she wishes..... and the Fuzzyfoot gardeners too.

 And so we shall!