- The girls recently went on a treasure hunting expedition up the creek. This is my favorite piece they found. The Deer Hunter said he thought it was probably hand forged—that’s why I like it. I just love thinking about the hands who created it so long ago. You can go here to see the rest of the finds.
2. Our temps have been on the chilly side, but the abundant rain and little bit of sunshine we’ve had has really made the plants pop up. I love it when the vegetables seem to grow inches over night and each walk around the garden shows something new like the wee beans poking their heads out of the earth.
3. When I was first married I was obsessed with having pretty flowers around the house. Most of the ones I acquired came from Granny and my aunts. After we started growing food on a larger scale I sort of let the flowers go by the wayside. Last summer I was able to bring a few of them back and this year I hope to have flowers every where!
4. Family friend Wayde Powell told us about The French Family channel on YouTube. Boy I’m glad he did. Outstanding music and so fun to watch—they exude happiness. Best I can tell the family is from Australia but now live in the US. You can listen to them here.
5. A robin built its nest on one of Granny’s downspouts. She said “I was sitting on the porch and kept hearing something and finally figured out it was a bird building a nest, just slapping pine needles and mud on as fast as it could.” A few days later she asked me if she could borrow Matt’s binoculars. She’s been watching the nest every day. The momma and daddy robin have worked hard to hatch out three baby birds. Granny talks about them to anyone who’ll stand still long enough to listen 🙂
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A pair of robins nested on a wreath that hung on our front porch. Their clutch of three eggs hatched and our grandchildren were fascinated to watch their progress. That’s fine I suppose. The kids are too short, aged 3 and 6, to help clean up the mess the ‘cute little birdies’ left behind on the wall. I had no idea that robins could suffer from Montezuma’s Revenge without ever having been in Mexico. The wreath is going to be retired and I doubt that I’ll find a way to hang it inside the garbage can.
We had 2 birds to build their nest above our swing on our side porch. Today my daughter and I found a blue egg just laying in the garden.
Tipper, I remember when you were gathering flowers to plant. Everywhere you went you collected more plants to bring home for your yard. Now they are big enough for you to reap the rewards of all those plants you so lovingly fetched home and planted! Between the gardens and the flowers your yard is a wonderland of delights visual, culinary and olfactory!
What about tactile? And gustatory?
4. Thanks for turning me on to The French Family! He’s from Tasmania which is part of Australia. She is Maori from New Zealand. They now live in Henderson Tennessee. He is pretty good on the guitar. She is probably the best singer overall I’ve ever heard. The young man is bound high places mark my words! The little girl too! I’ve been listening to them all day.
You girls may already watch him on you tube but if you don’t I think you would enjoy Brad Martin on Green Mountain Metal Detecting. He hunts old homesites in the mountains of Vermont.
Treasure hunting is what I do all the time. Easy to do in the outdoors when one has enough interests. Your list is a good start; artifacts, flowers, bird nests, vegetable plants plus rocks and rich pine and decorative wood and animals and mushrooms and bugs and …. Just never can tell what you might find.
I found what I believe is a cardinal’s nest out back in the Oregon grape bushes. But I think something has happened to her because yesterday in the rain she was not on the nest and it was chilly.
I love the bird nest on the porch. When I see nests built like that, I remember the line from J.M. Barrie…. In Peter Pan he wrote ….DO YOU KNOW WHY SWALLOWS BUILD IN THE EAVES OF HOUSES ?…..IT IS TO LISTEN TO THE STORIES
Kat-thank you for sharing that quote-I LOVE it 🙂
Last summer I mowed our farm fields over and over to try to eradicate the mugwort that is everywhere. A couple fellas asked if they could go prospecting with their metal detectors. They came up with 5 small musket balls. They explained to me that the spherical ones had missed their targets but the one with the flattened side had hit the mark. I held it in my hand and wondered what the target had been- game, foe or an Esopus Indian who lived on Indian Hill across the creek. I was transported back in time/ in my mind anyway. I find Dutch clay tobacco pipes in the dirt from some time after 1664 and the flats along the creek have given up a treasure trove of Indian artifacts now in a local museum.
The more stuff the girls dug up, I’m leaning toward the idea that horse came to his demise at that hill. Those metal shards seemed to be remnants of horse attire to me. I know old trash sites yield many treasures like bottles. I know where there is an Indian Burial Ground but I will take that info to my grave to be sure. I’m so glad God sent Granny a family of birds to watch! I have cats so my bird nesting is never going to occur. And remember Jesus said “ Oh Jerusalem how I’ve wanted to gather you as a bird gathers it’s young under its wings but you were not willing.” Birds are sweet and loyal and I think my spirit is like a bird on its wing – flitting, diving, soaring, searching, just being in the moment…..man could learn a lot from a bird…. one winter I saw a juvenile bald eagle standing in my yard eating a bird. He was fluffy and about as tall as my thigh. His face was regal and beautiful and that prey was draped in his beak ever so powerfully and graceful. And then he was gone. I do see bald and gold eagles here on occasion. What a sight!!! It did snow here yesterday but only about half an hour—- crazy HAARP….
Fascinating! Thanks for taking us with you treasure hunting, girls!
I have a metal detector like the girls but I need to experiment more with it. I took it down south to some of our land and it kept beeping all over the place. As I dug down, I realized there was iron ore rocks all over. Next time I will try a different area. It was really interesting to go exploring with the girls. I thought the one piece found by the half horse shoe was either a piece of bridle and bit or maybe a cinch that goes under the belly of the horse and holds the saddle on the horse – just guessing. I had a horse when I was about 19 and thinking back over 50 years ago, I remember putting the bridle and bit in my horses mouth and up over her head. I think the piece you found was too large and would maybe be more likely to have come off the saddle. I sure love that little creek you meander over. It is beautiful!
I love to metal detect, I love to observe birds and I love flowers. We have nests everywhere! One year we found a nest of bird eggs under the hood of our son’s truck.
Welcome back, Tipper. Continued to enjoy your stories of finding old family scrap up on the mountainside. Also happy to hear that you’re back to enjoying the flowers. Many of our flowers have come from neighbors and friends and even from the roadsides. The ones that come with a story are the best. And I also remember from days long ago how people would discard bottles and tin cans in a gully out back and then how a heavy rain could wash them down the hill to become embedded into a creek bank somewhere. My favorite piece that those young women found was the piece that might have been hand forged. Country folks did a lot of that out of necessity . The small “crown” perfume bottle that the girls found is a real treasure. Keep the good stories coming. You just cannot pluck stories like these from thin air.