Joy in the common things...

My new book " One Thousand Gifts"  by Ann Voskamp arrived the other day.  I have also been on her website again and it is worth a visit.....I have to go back to hear the rest of her interview that she had explaining how she wrote One Thousand Gifts.  She challenges you to start making a list, a journal of things that  you are thankful for.  That gratitude and praise in the common things help you to see how truly blessed one is and that is a reason for JOY.

So I have started my list, in a pretty journal that my dear friend, Erin, gave me.

1. Evening walks on our land
2. The smell of rain
3. A hard working husband
4. Lilac bushes blooming in white, deep purple and light purple
5. A God who knows me by name.

What are you thankful for as we start a new season of this year?

We have the sweetest neigbhours, C and her husband D.  They have 2 adorable little girls that call me Auntie and CnD are great friends to my niece.  They were there for her through the toughest time in her life as her young husband was taken from this earth too early, they were there for her two little boys and they are still there for M as she has remarried and is excited about life again.  This simple bouquet was for C as she helped me last minute with getting some details done for Darrell's 50th birthday party!....Thank you ... Thank you!

"God give me hope for each day that springs,

God give me joy in the common things!"

Thomas Curtis Clark

We have lots of great places around the yard to set up picnics and tables to enjoy eating outside.

I have always admired the pictures of long harvest tables set up with friends and family around them.

We celebrated Darrell's 50th with the Medicine Hat Motz's, that had to be indoors as the wind was blowing like a hurricane that night.

We celebrated again with our small group from church, and the evening was beautiful as we enjoyed eating outdoors!

Linking up to Tablescape Thursday :

May 25, 1963  A pretty good day!  

Happy Birthday!!

Garden Shed Facelift

With spring and warmer weather here we are moving outside to take care of some yard work.  This is our first full summer on our new property.  We haven't had such big trees on a property before and that means lots of clean up and pruning, raking years of leaves piled in the shrubs, and general yard make over stuff!

We are making some slow and steady progress though.  Decided to start on seeing a smaller project through to the end...small goal and seeing it completed helps you keep on with the bigger jobs!

This little garden shed was in need of some new hinges, some planters, some garden accessories and a few days later,,,,I think it looks great!!

Here is the before picture:   

Add some red paint, charcoal trim, new handle and lock, pain the hinges and add some faux brick to the bottom and one mini facelift complete!!

These planters came with the property, I decided to move them beside the shed and hopefully the morning glories that I planted will make their way up the trellis.  I hauled sooo many rocks into our previous yard to make tree bed borders and flower beds.  This yard will only require 1 tree bed and this rock bed by the shed.  One problem is we don't have any rock piles on this quarter of land!!  Thankfully when we asked the neighbors, they said to help ourselves to some rock piles on their land.  I wanted a river rock size.  Called the landscape place in the city and they wanted $120/yard !! YIKES!  Then called a gravel place and they wanted $31/yard...that was a little bit better but was thankful that in the neighbors rock pile there were lots of the size that I wanted!  In fact, I have never seen a rock pile with small rocks like this in it!  Someone sure went to alot of work gather rocks!

Any suggestions on an annual plant that will be a good, fast growing climber on the trellis?  I am hoping that the morning glories will fill it in pretty good...but this year may be a trial and error year for plants and knowing what will work. 

This shows the shed almost complete, just had to add the faux brick on the bottom and I think it looks much better.  It took us a few loads to move everything from our Hanna farm to this one.  At times I think we looked the Beverly Hillbillies!  Darrell hangs onto a lot of things and had to bring most of it!  Thankful that he did though...we have used scraps of this and that, fence posts were hauled down, and lumber,,,,farmers never want to part with anything!  Some of which you will see in future posts!  Thanks, Darrell, for being the pack rat you are at times!!

Our friend, Rob, made this cute little wind chime out of old cutlery.  I think the perfect place to hang it is by this little garden shed that is thankful for its mini makeover!

Hoping you all have a great week end and thanks for stopping by to see what we have been up to in the country!!  

Linking to:

Show and Tell Friday

Flaunt it Friday

Share your Creativity

Love of Family and Home

Note Card Wednesday

Thanks to Pam for posting about Note Card Wednesday, another great way to enjoy everyones photography!


I enjoy shooting doors, windows, old buildings, so this group of pictures will be my first visit to Note Card Wednesday.  These pictures were taken in California, Banff, Italy and our little barn right in our own back yard!  enjoy!

I think a good title for this would be:

"When God closes a door, He opens a window"

Have a great day everyone and thanks for stopping by the country!

Linking to :

Note Card Wednesday

Simple Pleasures

I hope you have had a great week end.  Happy Belated Mother's Day to all you mommas out there.

The sun is starting to bring out spring time blossoms, the grass is green and the birds are singing!  I love livin in the country!  Just a quick post to take you to  Mosaic Monday.   I Hope you enjoy!

I have also come across a wonderful site  www.aholyexperience.com .  I look forward to checking it out and reading the book "One Thousand Gifts" 

Have a great week everyone!

Prairie Barns and Mosaic Monday

With moving to a new area of the province, I am looking forward to going on a new "Barn Charm" tour!  This little red barn is just a few miles from us at Echo Dale Park.  There is an interpretive pathway with buildings and some of the history of the area.  Nestled in the river valley, it is a great place to wander around on a nice afternoon.

The greenhouses are starting to get busy with people anxious to get plants for the summer.

I am thinking I will pick up some pansies today and get the deck looking a little more spring like!

Linking up to :

Mosaic Monday

Barn Charm

Spring...is almost here! and Happy Anniversary !

We have had a week of typical spring, prairie weather....sunshine, wind, rain, snow,,,,, I think Spring may finally have arrived in Southern Alberta.  The week end is suppose to be in the 20's, the grass is green, the flowers are starting to show up in the stores  :)  and it is time to get this yard into shape!!

It is going to be a busy week end....and hard to believe that a year ago we were getting ready for a wedding!!  Yikes !  The year has just flown by!  Wishing Kaleb and Jami a Happy Anniversary and many many more years together.    Stand Firm in your marriage, in your commitment to each other and in your walk with the God who knows you by name.

"Stand Firm"

They were a very handsome couple!! but I may be a little biased  :)

(Photos are from Epic Photography)

So glad to have you in the family Jami.

Have a great week end everyone!  and may it be springtime wherever this finds you !!