The plastic ice cream cone filled with bubbles, costing only a dollar and smelling just like chocolate, was a perfect way to pass a warm late afternoon on the porch.  I held the cone and she held the ice cream with the bubble wand.  Together we filled the porch with beautiful, soft, every size bubbles.

Just watching her put her little heart and soul into such a fun adventure, made my day.  As I was sitting there helping her, it took me back to my childhood and the bubbles we blew back then.  I wondered when people first started blowing bubbles?   I learned upon a brief amount of research that;

~bubble blowers are among the oldest and most popular of children's toys.  Even when families had no money for toys, they could find a wire to twist into a circle and some soap for blowing bubbles.

~Around 1733, artis Jean Simeon Chardin painted Soap Bubbles, which depicted a young man leaning out a window and blowing a bubble with a pipe.

~The earliest patents for bubble blowers known date back to the 1920s.

~Blowers are truly part of our culture and today come in many unique and interesting containers.   This info came from http://bubbleblowers.com/history

Because the sun was brilliantly shining, the bubbles appeared to have many different colors.

Her little clenched fist is an indication of the seriousness with which she tackled this job.

All sizes of bubbles...our afternoon fun.  Enough excitement shared here today:)

A way to spend a free weekend afternoon...

Grocery store cans too pretty to throw away.

A creative way to recycle.

Empty contents of cans, wash inside, go outside and pick some available flowers and make some bouquets.  Why?  Just for fun and to see how it would look in the cans.  What do you think?

Cans with the beautiful red tomato labels and ...

...same can with label removed.  I added some rafia and it was ready to go.  I think these cans would make a fun centerpiece.  You could fill three of them and space them down the center of the table, or use one of the larger cans.  If you grow your own flowers, it is an inexpensive way to add color to your table.  Also, these cans would be perfect to fill, if you want take flowers on a visit to the hospital.

"Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful;  they are sunshine, food and medicine to the soul."   ~Luther Burbank

I think my mini petunias look good in this peach can.

Okay, you are probably wondering why anyone would spend any time on a weekend, filling empty cans with flowers?  I wondered that too as I was doing it.  It all originated when I picked up the cans of tomato paste at the grocery store last week and realized how much I liked the Hunt company's new labels. I can feel my daughter's rolling their eyes right now. 

Thanks for stopping by and joining in my fun:)

On a rainy Saturday morning, it seemed appropriate to share these pictures I received recently, from my photographer uncle.  He and his wife are visiting their newly married daughter and son-in-law in the beautiful state of Colorado.  The pictures were too spectacular to just store in my computer, so I decided to share some of them with you, if you have time today.

"Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder.  Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of Your universe...Each day enrapture me with Your marvelous things without number.  I do not ask to see the reason for it all; I ask only to share the wonder of it all."     ~Abraham Joshua Heschel

In light of all the daily life headlines and news bulletins, I find this captured natural beauty so refreshing.  What about you?

"Loving Creator, help me reawaken my childlike sense of wonder at the delights of Your world!"  ~Marilyn Morgan Helleberg

"Today is unique!  It has never occured before, and it will never be repeated.  At midnight it will end, quietly, suddenly, totally.  Forever.  But the hours between now and then are opportunities with eternal possibilities."    ~Charles R. Swindoll

Thank you dear uncle!  Enjoy your time in that exquisitely beautiful state! 
Thank you blogging friends for stopping by my little corner of the world.  Enjoy the gift of today!

This picture depicts peaceful relaxation.

This picture does not.

   ~picture taken when I was saying "goodbye" to my daughter today.  The little guy was trying to make a run for it.  Daily normal happenings in her life now.

When it is your turn to organize a Girl's Night Out for your family and you decide to host it on your porch.  When you find that...

...you don't have a table big enough.

...you don't have enough dishes to serve dinner to everyone.

...there are not many flowers blooming in your garden at the time.

...and you want to keep within the budget.

...what do you do?

I hesitate to share this with you, especially since grand and glorious tablescapes abound within blogland, but I decided to anyway.  Last evening they were here.  My mother, sisters and sister-in-laws, my daughter, and their daughters.  A few were unable to attend, but the ones that could, came.

Thanks to Walmart for the white paperplates, white and green paper napkins, plastic cups, and the faux real looking flowers that Better Homes and Gardens now has at Walmart.  I am certainly not promoting Walmart, but they did make my job feasible.

I took the flowers and made a simple, very simple bouquet using floral foam.  Don't you think the flowers look real?   I used a few extra flowers to tie around the napkins with thin green and pink polka dot ribbon.

 

I laid one green napkin on the white tablecover to add more color to the white tablecloth and white paper plates.  To extend my table, I added another old table.  Even though they weren't the same height, it worked.

My Mother's contribution was fresh tomatoes from the farm up the road.  They were a hit and disappeared quickly.  Ripe, red tomatoes add a special touch to every dinner.

How does one do seating arrangements, especially when one would love to sit beside everyone of the invited guests.  I numbered each plastic cup with numbers 1 - 12.  After all the guests arrived and the dinner was ready to be served, each guest chose a number from a glass bowl of numbers.  The number chosen told them where they would sit at the table.  It was a fun way to arrange seating, with the older and younger women mixed in with each other.  As always, there was never a break in the conversations.  Along with the tomatoes from the farm, the strawberries from the farm were included.  The dessert was the one I shared recently on a post, with angel food cake and strawberries.

We talked and laughed together until darkness sat in.  Treasured memories of a warm "almost" Summer evening on the porch.

My fun, simple, way of hosting a dinner for some very special people in my life.

Thanks to my sister and neice for most of these pictures.

We drove several hours to visit our daughter and granddaughter.  Our son-in-law was out of town on business.  It was certainly one of the most relaxing Saturdays that we have experienced for a long time.   Time on the porch enjoying coffee, baked oatmeal, a bowl of fresh fruit, and time to sit and talk together.  Four generations (granddaughter, her mother, me, and my mother)on one porch, with grandpa and Buster to keep order.

The day was a perfect one, with clear sunny skies and a soft breeze.  The pots on the porch were blooming, the birds were singing and we didn't have a schedule to keep.

The littlest one was learning to know her great-grandma.  For the first time in her life, they had time to be together for more than just a few minutes.  Both of them seemed to enjoy each other.

Even Buster was relaxed and happy to be a part of it all.

It was obvious though by the sounds coming from the nearby tree, that the Woodpecker was not relaxing.  He was busy working to finding insects for his lunch.  It was difficult to believe that one little bird could create such loud sounds. 

The little chipmuck was not relaxing either, but was busy scurrying everywhere on the grounds beside their porch. 

Time to sit, time to visit together, and time to experience nature's beauty...what could be better on a warm Saturday morning in June!

Thanks for stopping by today and sharing in our simple pleasures.

" Change" is everywhere and so much a part of our daily lives.  Sometimes it comes along gradually and at other times it comes on so suddenly that it catches one totally off guard.  Maybe it is my age, but it is so interesting the many changes I see taking place in life.  Funny thing is,  I clearly remember sitting and talking to my Grandma at her nursing home, about this very thing.  She would share a list of the many changes she experienced in her lifetime, and I would sit there listening, but not able to identify with what she was saying.  Now...I am seeing it for myself on many sides.  A simple, but visible sign of this very thing, took place in nature, on a recent Sunday evening.  We were on our way to a family event.  The evening weather was picture perfect.  The scenery was equally beautiful, on the quiet, country roads where we traveled.

We came to a very old metal bridge, on a narrow farm road.  It was a quaint, historic bridge and the scenery was  exceptional.  We stopped in the middle of the bridge (at my request) to take these pictures.  Truly, it was a most peaceful, relaxing moment.

The only noise heard was the rippling water and the birds singing.  I wanted to spend the next few hours just soaking it all in, the peace, quiet, and beauty.  Of course, that was not possible, but even now as I do this post, I remember clearly those moments.

I captured this picture on the floor of the metal bridge.  Rarely, does one have the privilege of driving over a bridge with an open floor, as this one had.   Upon arriving at our destination, we entered the church fellowship hall for a fun family event.  A few brief hours later, we walked out of the church to this scene.  What drastic weather changes in a brief amount of time.

How quickly everything had changed.  The ominious sky was lit only by the streaks of lightening.

Before I know it, I will be sitting in my rocker at the retirement home telling my dear granddaughters about all the many changes I have seen in my lifetime, and perhaps they too will roll their eyes.  Yes, what goes around does comes around.   Wishing each of you a good weekend!