Tulips!

Oooooh...Aaaaah..., originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

Tulips are a sure sign of spring! This field of tulips is in Mt. Vernon, WA. We took a little trip up north for Easter to see the tulips! It's been so cold...so rainy...so unspringy this year that I had to go get a glimpse of spring to reassure myself that winter is truly over!
It was beautiful! It was colorful! It was heavenly! It looked like spring!
So, now I'm back home enjoying the tulips I bought...on my kitchen table...waiting for my cherry tree to bloom while it pours outside...thanking God for the hope of spring!

Fun Foto Friday

Thought we could use a fun photo today...amid all of the concern for Japan.  I don't know what this couple is looking at, but perhaps it's a look at the future...and a reminder of how tragedies are difficult in the moment and in the recovery...but someday, it will be sunny again...in time...and in the mean time, we pray and hope for those who are suffering.

Fun Foto Friday!

Oh!, originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

I love these photos! This little guy is so cute!
My daughter found these one day when we went to my favorite antique store. Little did I know, she is a vintage photo addict too! We looked through boxes and boxes of photos and laughed and laughed! Mixed in with the prim and proper cabinet photos and staged family photos by the Christmas tree, we found photos of people with real senses of humor. People who would break with tradition and decorum and ham it up for the camera! I bought several that were too good to leave behind. There's just something about someone elses' photos...perhaps I'm a little voyeuristic...yep, I'll bet that's it...

Wine Charms

Wine Charms, originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

Something new...pick-up line wine charms! I made them for my daughter for Valentine's day and I may add some to my shop soon!

Speckled...not blue.

Speckled..., originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

One of the ladies laid a beautiful speckled egg today...not blue. Speckled. I have been waiting, waiting, waiting for my Araucana hens to lay their blue eggs. The other day I ventured out to collect eggs and noticed Opal...one of the Araucanas...sort of hovering around where they all tend to lay in the coop. She was standing up but obviously pushing...I could tell she was going to lay an egg. I was SO EXCITED..."I'm going to get to witness the laying of my first blue egg!!!"...and a few seconds later...plop...out came a BROWN EGG! I was dumbfounded. So...apparently, even though my Araucanas LOOK like Araucanas and have all the characteristics of Araucanas (looks like a duck, acts like a duck), they don't have enough Araucana in them to lay blue eggs. That figures. I'm still holding out hope that Pearl will lay blue...but I'm not holding my breath.
Ah well...brown is beautiful...and speckled is divine.

Snowy Night...

Snowy Night..., originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

It seems I'll never get too old for the feeling of utter joy I feel when the flakes start to fly! I'm always checking the windows and turning on the porch light after dark to see if I can tell if it's still snowing! My daughter keeps asking me if I think there will be school tomorrow...I'm hoping not. I'd love to share a snow day with her.
What is it about snow? Is it because it's Christmassy? No, I don't think that's it...I think it's just beautiful...quiet...fun!

EGGS!

What the???, originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

I was feeding my chickens the other day, when something caught my eye UNDER the coop! An egg! Then as I reached under to collect it, I spied 4 more! Someone had been laying on the sly! Upon further investigation, I discovered it was Yvonne! She has since laid an egg a day...like clockwork! They're small, but the latest few have been slightly bigger.
I am trying to entice her to start laying them in the nest boxes INSIDE the coop but so far, no luck! If you have any ideas, please share them! I have a couple of golf balls in the boxes...replaced the white shavings with hay, added feathers...I may need to make them more cozy...perhaps I need to add some height to them to make them more private?We'll see how this goes...I may be crawling under the coop to retrieve eggs for a while.
She may make it hard to get them but Yvonne very willingly gives them up...she has actually been a bit more friendly since she started laying...she doesn't squawk when I pick her up and doesn't scurry away when I pet her as I tell her "Thank you" for her little gift.
Isn't it funny, sometimes, how the littlest things can bring us such JOY!?