June - Perfect Young Summer!

What's one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier  months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that it's fresh young beauty will ever fade.

Gertrude Jekyll

Summer has definitely begun here in the mountains of North Carolina!  It went from spring to summer very quickly as a hot spell has come upon us.  The trees have blossomed out, my pumpkin, sunflower seeds and various flower seeds I planted have begun to grow, my hydrangea plant that was planted last summer is blooming for the first time!  Ah, summer, you are finally here!

Sweet Little Thing!

Ain't she a beauty!   

There is just something about a cow that tugs at my heartstrings!  I have never owned a cow, never been around them much, in fact their sheer size can be a little intimidating, but I love them nevertheless!

• The spots on a cow are like human fingerprints, with no two exactly alike.
• The design of Boston was aid out according to cow paths.
• An average cow lives up to 25 years.
• Cows can detect odors up to five miles away.

The friendly cow all red and white,

I love with all my heart;

She gives me cream with all her might,

To eat with apple-tart.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Memories of the Seashore!

And all the loveliest things there be, come simply, so it seems to me.

Edna St. Vincent Millary

To remind us of the wonderful time we had on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I made this cute little hanging  from a sardine can!  I included a little bottle of sand from the beach, shells we had found, a small piece of driftwood and a few extras on a map of the Outer Banks.  I had also spray painted the can with paint that was textured to look like sand, and added some piping around the can and for the hook!  Easy and fun memory project from our vacation!

Here Little Piggy!

This guy is just too cute for words!

Some amazing facts about pigs:

Many experts consider pigs to be more trainable than dogs or cats. Pigs are often considered by scientists as the most intelligent of animals. Pigs do not have functional sweat glands. Use water or mud to keep cool in hot climates. 

Pigs do not like to sit in the mud. In fact, they prefer the more clean than other animals. 
Mud used only as a coolant in the summers, also out of necessity. 
Mud also provides protection of pigs against flies and parasites, besides being used as a form of sunscreen, which protects the skin against sun

burn.

Cherished Things!

I adore old things!  Trying to picture the person using them, the history the item has been a part of, things once cherished that find their way to estate sales and flea markets to find another owner who will cherish and appreciate them!  I made the above wreath out of such once cherished items that I found at an estate sale - an old photograph, postcard, locket, boot lacer, hankerchief, buttons, silver spoon, tapestry coin purse,  a key that opens and unknown door, and various odds and ends.  Hope you enjoy them too!

Deep are these roots, inescapable, restorative.  I thought about how life had gone on, generation after generation.  Perhaps the past is really never gone, but always a part of the present.  Lingering there in the quietness, I gathered up the people, the places the little fragments of another time.  ~Helen Thames Raley