Natural Designs Studio

This centerpiece was created at Natural Designs March Workshop with pressed flowers, feathers, and wooden eggs.  Eggs, green grass, and feathers are powerful symbols of spring.  The rye grass sprouts in days and becomes thick green in about ten days.

These little nests are great table favors or gifts for Sunday School students on Easter.
The nest is brown excelsior (packaging grass of Aspen bark) available at craft stores. The edible eggs are coconut and blackberry JELLY BEANS.  

These 'Bird's Nest Cookies' were rolled in toasted coconut before baking then filled with Peanut M & M's.  I served these cookies at the workshop along with herbal tea. The recipe was found on the bag of Peanut M & M's.  

Palm Sunday ~ Hosanna Sunday
Maundy Thursday ~ The Last Supper of Jesus Christ with Apostles
Good Friday ~ Crucifixion
Resurrection Sunday ~ Easter Sunday

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Lest I forget Gethsemane; Lest I forget Thine agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary.
Song by Jennie Evelyn Hussey


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I like lady bugs. They are good for the garden. And, if they would stay in the garden I would not have this topic of concern. Flies, bugs, and mice belong outdoors. To be in the house is not acceptable. For the past few weeks I have daily plucked the little ladies from my sunny windows, floors, and kitchen counters.  I use a pint jar with one inch of water to collect them.  A few minutes of daily maintenance can eliminate a lot of problems.  This is true in all areas of life. 


 

Lady Bug
 Lady Bug 
FLY AWAY HOME
 
You have worn out your welcome here!

 

"Every morning the Secret Garden revealed new miracles."
I was delighted to find this tiny iris in the garden.  I had forgotten about planting it.

This tulip leaf has the bulb shell still attached to it. 

Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands
through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.
- Aldo Leopold -

As the daylight fades the young frogs  begin  singing on the  banks  of  Saddler's Run.
The distant chorus sounds like tinkling sleigh bells.  They are especially loud tonight on this warm evening.

Metamorphosis
The male frogs (the size of a thumb nail) give the advertisement call while the females choose their mate by the quality of his call. Eggs hatch within two days to four weeks depending on the weather.  The tadpoles breathe with gills and swim using a tail. They lose their tail and develop lungs before leaving the pond as a frog. Transformation from tadpoles to young frogs occur within eight weeks.

It reminds me of a song "Bullfrogs and butterflies they've both been born again". Imagine leaving the mud puddles and cocoons as new creatures experiencing the freedoms of life. Oh to be born anew.......it is not the privilege of a few but the necessity of us all. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  ~  II Corinthians 5:17

The name "equinox" is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night) because around the equinox, the night and day, are approximately of equal lengths.

Equinox occurs in the spring (March) and in the autumn (September).  It does not occur for one day but for a brief moment during that date.

Time spent sharpening is time well spent. It wasn't until my thumb became sore that I thought to sharpen my tools. Next time, I won't wait as long.  Pruning the apple tree was less effort with the sharpened tools and the pain in my thumb was gone.

As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

A friendly discussion is as stimulating as the sparks that flywhen iron strikes iron.
Time spent sharpening is time well spent.

Oh, what a beautiful Mornin',  Oh, what a beautiful day, 
I've got a beautiful feelin', Everything's goin' my way.

This song (from the Broadway Musical "Oklahoma") kept playing in my head but I couldn't recall all the words.  I googled the title and enjoyed a beautiful recording by James Taylor.  It is a happy song that always lifts my spirit.  Come to think of it, I recall mother singing this song as she worked.  

Rain
The rain is raining all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson ~

Saddler's Creek is overflowing from the rains and melting snow.  The fields and meadows are standing with water. 

Tulips are pushing through the sod with the promise of blooms in a few weeks.  
Take a rake and do some 'chicken scratching' and discover the first signs of spring!

March 12 ~ In just two days the tulips grew several inches with the leaves turning bright green!