I'm linking up with Cindy for her Really Random Thursday.
Visit Live A Colorful Life for more random posts.
I'm happy I had a few minutes to put this together this week, because I sort of enjoy collecting little tidbits for Random Thursdays. :-)
The other day, I was commenting to someone about how much I suck at gardening. It's true. Everything I try to grow dies or doesn't do too well. Except roses and lavender. I seem to be able to grow those. My rose bush, which Sweet Pea gave me for Mother's day a couple years ago, sent up this beautiful, late fall rose. I went to take a photo of it in the morning. It was still a little dusky. I turned on the flash, and I took this photo. When I downloaded it to look at it, I was astounded to see the dew was still visible on the flower. I didn't even see it in real life! I like the photo. I love the color of the roses on this bush.
And my lavender plants are sending up new flowers, too. I need to figure out what to do for my lavender prior to winter. Anyone know? Do I cut it back? This is the first year I have tried to grow it. And it has done well.
Have you seen Tin Eye yet? It is soooo cool! I saw it on someone's blog the other day. (Sorry. I can't give credit, because I don't remember where.....)
http://labs.tineye.com/multicolr
Click the link above and follow the steps on the right-hand side. It will only take you about a minute. It's so cool! You can select color combinations, and it selects photos from the web that adhere to that color combination. I think it's pretty neat.....but it could be addictive!
And have you seen this video of a pig rescuing a baby goat? I think I saw it on Facebook one day. It's pretty heartwarming!
I was excited to pick up Issue 2 of Generation Q magazine, because....
A quilt designed by Victoria Findlay Wolfe (Bumble Beans), who I met at Market, and quilted by my friend Shelly Pagliai (Prairie Moon Quilts; she quilted Lincoln's Watch for me), appeared in the magazine.
Here's a little snippet of the quilt. I am so happy for Victoria, and I am just so proud of Shelly! Isn't it great?! I think Victoria did a great job on the design, and Shelly did a great job on the quilting!
The other day, Sweet Pea didn't have school. I didn't have to teach that day, so I worked at home and hung out with her. She emptied our bookshelf to go through and clean up her books. She found a Shel Silverstein book (his new one, Everything on It, which I think was published posthumously). She started reading quietly while I was getting some work done (thank you!). She read one of Shel Silverstein's poems called Happy New. Here is an exceprt:
Joe yelled Happy New Year!
The cow yelled Happy Moo Year!
The ghost yelled Happy Boo Year!
The skunk yelled Happy Peeyoo Year!
....
There were a bunch more. When she finished it, she said, "Hey, Mom. How about this one: The butt said Happy Toot Year!"
I laughed so hard! I said, "How about this one? The crayons said Happy Blue Year!"
It wasn't quite as funny. Oh well, I tried.
One day I received an email from someone (again, can't remember who), and this was under her signature line:
Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning, the devil says, "OH CRAP, SHE'S UP"!
I love that. Yes. I think I'll adopt that motto.
How about you? Let's go out and show some random kindness today, shall we?
Until next time,
That's a gorgeous color of rose. Thanks for being proud of me in the magazine -- They even spelled my name right! I'm afraid to try that Tin Eye thing. Addictive internet things really scare me . . . hahaha!
Posted by: Shelly | October 04, 2012 at 07:58 AM
LOL Your little Sweet Pea sounds like a hoot! That's cute.
I enjoyed the video of the pig rescuing the goat. Aren't animals precious?! I just love animals.
The rose is breathtaking. How cool is that to have a late bloom like that. Seeing the dew on it is neat too. I love fall displays of color. And lavender smells soooo good :)
Posted by: Sue | October 04, 2012 at 08:41 AM
Love this post. It made me smile! Thanks for the links. Yes, I have Tin Eye, thanks to you! I love those quotes from that book. Made me think of Mary Lou Weidman's cows. I could see one of them saying Happy Moo Year! At least you have lavender. I don't know what happened to mine, so I can't give you any help.
Posted by: carolld | October 04, 2012 at 08:43 AM
I love your post!
Trim the lavender back lightly after it's flowered - just cut off the old flower heads and neatly trim another inch or so of the young green growth. You're usually advised not to cut back too hard into the old (grey-brown) wood, but I have seen some sorry cases of pruning do really well:-)
Posted by: Catherine | October 04, 2012 at 08:55 AM
Your rose is so beautiful! They are an amazingly low maintenance plant so it's great to hear you've had such luck growing them. Fun random post!
Posted by: terriaw | October 04, 2012 at 09:32 AM
Gorgeous flowers, funny stories...and motivation to do kind things... thanks for the perfect really kind of random post!
Posted by: sherri | October 04, 2012 at 12:31 PM
miss you!!
Posted by: Brooke | October 04, 2012 at 06:44 PM
I don't do anything with my lavendar, but I did mulch it the first winter I had it. For your area check with the Extension office Master Gardeners. I learn so much from them. We are to get a hard freeze this weekend. :(
Jean in Iowa
Posted by: Jean Tanner | October 04, 2012 at 07:11 PM
You always have the best randoms. Your flower photo is gorgeous, that color thing is amazing, and the pig video is adorable! Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Thimbleanna | October 04, 2012 at 09:41 PM
Fabulous randomness. Your rose is beautiful and I love the picture of the lavendar! I hope I can find that magazine pretty soon. Yay for Shelly. I hope I can meet Victoria someday. Isn't she the one who originally started the retreat at Gruber's?
Posted by: liveacolorfullife | October 05, 2012 at 12:29 AM
Fabulous flower photos! I don't have any lavender, but I do have some similar plants. I don't cut anything back for winter. I do all my pruning in the spring. I cut stuff back the first winter we lived here and lost a bunch of stuff as a result. I haven't cut anything back since and haven't lost anything. My husband thinks it looks messy, but I like it. I call it "adding winter interest to the yard." By this point in the year I'm kind of ready to be done with gardening for a while anyway.
Posted by: Lynn | October 05, 2012 at 06:41 PM
Love the random posts, and I am all about passing on random kindness!
Posted by: Maggie Szafranski | October 06, 2012 at 07:07 AM
Such fun randomness! The Tin Eye is fascinating!
Posted by: jenclair | October 06, 2012 at 09:56 AM
Oh my gosh! What an exciting post!! First...congrats on even growing lavendar. I have tried..and failed..and tried..and failed. Lavendar is something I just can't grow. The GenQ info is AMAZING! Congras to your friends!! And what a fun day with you and your daughter. Thanks so much for the laugh!
Posted by: Cindy | October 06, 2012 at 10:21 AM
I almost missed the random Thursday blog - where have I been?!?! What a great rose picture, I love it when I take a picture and find out later that I captured something amazing in the process.
Posted by: Deb | October 09, 2012 at 11:53 AM
You DO have a green thumb after all!! LOL! The rose photo is a good one, and I always love lavender. We never cut ours back, and it does great the next year. I can't remember cutting back in the spring either for that matter. I like winter interest in the flower garden. Good job on your two plants! :)
Posted by: Deb | October 15, 2012 at 10:15 PM