When we first moved into our Iowa home two years ago, the back third of this 1.25 acre yard looked like a small forest with lots of tall trees…mostly skinny trees. At the base of the trees were ferns and weeds…so many tall weeds, a lot of them flowering! From a distance, it was rather pretty to me – kind of like a setting for a movie. However, you didn’t want to go back there because it was also home to mosquitos.
So my Master Gardener husband began the transformation by taking out weeds and dead, fallen trees. That let in sunlight and diminished a lot of the pesky mosquitos. Next, he decided to plant shade-loving plants around groupings of multiple trees to make what I called vignettes. The perennial plants include: Hostas, Coral Bells, Astilbe, Columbine, Coleus, Bleeding Heart and Brunnera. We began searching for and collecting items for the vignettes: an old hand plow and an antique water pump started the collection. At one of the art shows at the Des Moines Fairgrounds, we found tall handmade “wind spinners”. Eventually, the “vignettes” began to take shape. Unfortunately, these photos were taken after everything stopped blooming!
Somewhere along the process, Doug decided that he needed a tractor with a blade and other attachments. Once a farmboy, always a farmboy. He was so excited when he found his 1964 Ford tractor. He grew up on a farm with Ford tractors, so he feels right at home on this pretty blue one! Using his new farm equipment, he took out the weeds, leveled the ground and planted grass seed where weeds used to be. He also invested in a new shed (which, I think, would make a great art studio *wink*). Out voted on that idea but it’s a cute building. Now, he has to do some repair work on the old shed and paint it the same color as the new one. He loves his time outside working in the yard and I love the finished look!
Old shed on the left, new one on the right. See what I mean? It’s cute!
Doug searched through his old photos and found two priceless photos for me:
one of his dad on the family’s BLUE Ford tractor and one of Doug as an adorable towhead on an old tractor.
Timeless and priceless! As I said before, once a farmboy, always a farmboy. I love it!
It’s 59 degrees with a light rain today. I love days like this. I have a Crockpot and an Instant Pot (on the slow cooker setting) full of apple butter cooking. The house smells wonderful! There are two more large pots on the stove with apples cooking to make more apple butter. As you know, you start out with a large pot of sliced apples and they cook down…way down. As the apple butter cooks, it will simmer down to a spicy goodness. I still have to prepare the jars, fill them and process them. A lot of time and work, but the apple butter will taste so good on hot biscuits this winter! 
We are happily settled in our apartment in the Chicago neighborhood of Ravenswood. My youngest son and his family is a short 3 block walk away from our apartment. Tonight, we will be there for my birthday dinner. Quaint shops – and a Starbucks – are just a short walk away. Thanksgiving dinner was here in our small apartment- all eight of us. Doug and I cooked the ham, turkey and cranberry salad and everyone else brought the sides. My three and five year old granddaughters decided they would rather be at the “grown-up’s table”. We moved them there and everything was perfect.
ewest adventure??? We have leased an apartment in the neat little neighborhood of Ravenswood in Chicago!!! We will spend at least half-time there and half-time in Iowa until we’re just too old to travel and that should be a long time since the Mega Bus is always an option! We will actually be able to WALK a few short blocks to see these two precious granddaughters in the photos! With two sons and their families in Chicago, we think this is an awesome idea and we are so excited about it! Our new apartment is on a tree-lined street and in what is rated as “a walker’s paradise” – which simply means we will be a short walking distance to the train, Starbucks, many quaint little stores and restaurants. The apartment is in a vintage, gated U-shaped set of buildings that were built in the 1930’s I believe. We’ve purchased a few antiques for the apartment in keeping with the vintage theme. The buildings and lawn are well kept with trees and flowers. It’s just down the street from the mayor’s house so, hopefully, that’s a good thing. There is so much to see and do in Chicago – including a host of museums we’ve yet to visit. Most importantly, there will be more time with our big family in Chicago and we are thrilled about that!
