Yellow rose

I'm not much for roses. They are too much work and I have trouble keeping them over the cold winter here in our area
But I do have a few shrub roses and they seem to thrive under my lack of attention. Even with all the dry weather we are having they bloom in profusion. I do have one rose and I would not do without that one.
In 1996 my family came over to Canada from Holland to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. It was a very hectic time. We were still in the dairy business and a week before they all arrived my husband had back surgery. But it all worked out very well.
Lois, a very good friend of mine opened her beautifull garden for a party.Everybody who

had met my parents over in Canada was invited.
Afterwards my parents wanted to give Lois a token of appreciation. When my dad went to the nursery to find a rose bush he stumbled across one with the name of "Friesland" Even with his lack of English, he could understand that word. My whole family has lived there for a long as we can remember. So my dad had to get this yellow rose.
The next day he went back and got one for me.I can still see him planting it, wearing his wooden shoes. He always kept a pair of wooden shoes here and they had to stand, ready for use in the garage.
This rose has survived the cold winters and my (at times)lack of care for 11 years now. This spring it looked like it had not survived, but I was wrong.
Right now it is in full bloom. Each time I pass and see the roses it remembers me of my father, who passed away over 2 years ago.
Lots of things going on right now, so applique sits on the back burner
I made some more orchids. This kind has a frilly lip. At first I had no clue how to approach it, but finally I decided to use shaded wired ribbon and that did the trick.

This time......tractors

According to Laurence you should do things at least once, so on Saturday we went on an "all day, all colored antique tractor run"
This meant ,that we saw other colored tractors than green and yellow. Chores were done by 7 and soon after Laurence left on his J.D 50. A friend drove the J.D 70. I decided to pass and take one of the wagons. My driving skills are not up to par. For my birthday I received a Nikon D40 camera and this was the time to try it out. 88 tractors and 5 wagons left the J.D. dealership in Elmira at 10.30 for a drive through the country side.
Permission had been asked of 17 farmers, most of them Old Order Mennonite to travel through their properties. On most farms we were greeted by the families, some sitting on the front porch to see the parade go by. We travelled along narrow lanes, went through barn yards and even had to drive through a barn, all cleaned up for the occasion.
I had a lot of fun taking pictures, over 200 in total. I would hop from a wagon, take pictures and take the next one.
Laurence was not so lucky. With all these old tractors the speed was too slow for him. To sit on a hot tractor on a hot day was a little too much. 2 police cruisers kept everybody safe on the roads. It was a long day and we did not get back to the dealership till after 6. By 8 we were home where the chores were still waiting. Will we do it again? We have to wait, because the organizers decided that they had enough. To get all the approvals from county and townships had been tough
What about all the pictures? Here are a few of them I'm still working on getting it all organized.

Potlucks, shaped notes and more

Another week with lots of hot, sunny weather. The shrub roses are in full bloom.All during the summer we will see a few roses, but right now they are at their peak. I started with one and I keep getting little shoots, so I keep planting them as I find room. My favorite peony is this pale pink one with a heavenly scent. I think it is a "Sarah Bernhardt" I received a small piece from my mother in law years ago and it has done well. Grandma had a bad fall just over a week ago. She did not break anything, but she had a lot of bruising and is in a lot of pain. On my last visit I took a few of these peonies along to cheer her up.

It has been a busy week-end. On Saturday I taught a workshop, pansies, to a group at Greenwood Quiltery. On my way home I had to stop at the party/potluck for the 15th anniversary of the Two Cylinder Club. As I have written before, my husband is a avid collector of anything John Deere. Just like other times the food was great. I did observe, that it seems that recipes only come family size, so needless to say that there was an over abundance of food.
On Sunday morning we attended a "shaped note" singing in the oldest stone Mennonite church in the area, build in 1840 and recently restored. We sang out of "Harmonica Sacra", a song book first published over 150 years ago. Each note has a shape, that's why the name. We sang in four part harmony with a song leader up front. As usual there were a lot of very good singers and I enjoyed it tremendously. We had to leave during the lunch hour (yes it was a whole day affair) to attend another potluck, this one a family reunion. And this one also had great food, so neatless to say that I better get walking.
With all this going on I did manage to finish my orchid, except for the roots. Still have not found the right color for the roots. I think I have changed my mind. I have 8 orchids drawn around the center, but this will be too busy, so I will do the one in the right hand corner and maybe stop then.

New look

Both Melissa, my friend who looks after this web site, and I decided that it was due for an update. So from highlighting a Waterloo County Farm we are going to a Japanese crane standing a sashiko water. I'm not able to do all this myself ,so I'm just doing what I'm told. Certain parts still have to have some changes, but as time allows, that will come.
I keep on plodding away with my orchids. The sashiko leaves on this one are done. I have to do the roots yet, but have not found the right color thread, a real light grey/green.
After looking all over on the Internet I found green overdyed cotton thread in the thickness and colors I needed. They arrived in 2 days, so no delay there.
The orchid flowers are kind of fiddly, but I hope to get one done a day. There are 8 different orchids, so....if I can get one done every 2 weeks, it should take me about 4 months.
The weather has been changeable the last few days, from hot to very cold. Last night there was even talk about frost, but that did not happen. I did not cover any of my plants. There are just too many.
What really seems to grow fast in this cooler weather is the grass. I will have to start mowing today again or hire some goats or sheep. So....on the machine we go