~ Shades of Gold ~

 Sunflowers.. in all their golden beauty.
Earlier in the year, of course, as the frost and fall season have made the sunflowers fade.

 Their cheerful faces ...

 rows and rows.

 Fading sunflower.
Seed heads. Plenty of sunflower seeds for next summer.

 The meadow.
A few weeks ago, as the sunflowers were fading. Golden sunset against the mountains.

 Golden sunrise.
Can you believe how vivid and gold the clouds are?! This picture is 100% real!
As we were driving to Phoenix this last Friday, the skies just lit up in gold colors that were almost unreal. Our daughter and I went to Phoenix to see the Bonnie Raitt concert.
Her gift to me for my birthday, this past Saturday.
We left so early, and it was still dark, but as we were going through the canyon the sunrise and the gold clouds were simply gorgeous!!

 On the road.
Golden Fall foliage through the canyons.

 Back home again.
The meadow is beautiful, with golden grasses, and golden leaves.
A few clouds hang on the mountains and foothills.
We feel so fortunate, and blessed that these are our daily views.

 The sunflower patch today.
Faded to dark amber~gold.
Most of the seeds that were left in the sunflower heads have provided a feast for the birds.
I already cut and dried all the seed heads that I wanted to save, in order to have plenty of seeds for next year.

 The faded sunflowers are still beautiful in their own, golden~amber, Fall~ish way.

Final shade of gold.
We've decided to leave most of the sunflower stalks up during the winter.
It will provide a bit of a windbreak, and place for the birds to rest.
And, I honestly think that they are still beautiful .

~Attitude of gratitude.
~ I'm so grateful for good and true friends.
~Feeling thankful for the simple things in life.
~Grateful for prayer.
~Feeling thankful for pumpkin bread. ... what a delicious seasonal treat. I'm so glad that we have pumpkins!
~Feeling thankful for Fall festivals, pumpkins a~plenty, and scents of cinnamon in the air.
~Grateful for my sweet husband, and that we had a great date night last night and went to see the Odyssey Dance Theaters production of Thriller. I'm grateful that we had the opportunity to do that!

~ All around the cottage ~

 All around the cottage, it's been blooms, birds and building fences.
All good things ~ all things that make my heart smile.

The hostas are thriving this summer. They were all gifts to me, from a gardening friend in Spring City.

Daisies and yellow buttercup, all abloom.
How I love the cheerful, sunny yellow buttercups.

We've had quite a few visitors to the bird feeder.
That little guy that the arrow is pointing to, we only saw once.  Does anyone know what kind of bird he is? His chest was such a dark rusty color, contrasting with the very blue of his head. I'd love to know what he is called.

Cute robin sitting on the shepherds hook.
My sweet husband just took down the feeder this past weekend. Now that the meadow is green and growing again, it will be good for the birds to forage for bugs. When it turns cold again, we'll put the feeder back out.

Not everyone thinks magpies are cute, but I kind~a do. I don't mind sharing a bit of bird seed with the magpies and the black birds.

 We've had storm, after storm. Rain showers almost daily.
You can see the mountain tops cloaked in a rainy mist.
I really can't explain why Mr. Farmer insists on running the wheel lines 24-7?! {the farm to the East of us}
Around Mill Hill Meadow, we've shut off the sprinkler system. The Lord has provided enough rain to water our lawns and gardens.

One thing that the rain has sort~a helped out with, is the ground has been softened and it makes digging fence posts much easier.
My sweet husband has gotten a big section of the fencing done.
It's turning out awesome, and the fence will be a perfect backdrop for future plant, shrubs, flowers, and herbs. I would like to grow some Virginia creeper along a few sections of fence as well.

 Something the rainy weather didn't help out with; the painting of the garden shed.
However, in between storms, the garden shed finally got done.
It turned out so cute!
Don't you just love that old Maytag?! Yep~~ that's the 1939 beaut. that my sweet husband rescued from the landfill. Poor thing.. it was destined to be smashed and left to rust. 
Happy to have it here at Mill Hill Meadow now!

 I could not love the sweet 1940's style shutters any more!!
My sweet husband built them for the garden shed.
Not a necessary feature, but one I simply adore, and I am so over the moon with how darling they are.
Simply darling.

~ Attitude of gratitude:
~ I am feeling thankful for everyday sweet and tender mercies.
A smile, a kind word, sunshine {when it's not raining} flowers blooming, a sit on the front porch.
Quiet reflective prayer, and thanksgiving for all my blessings.
~Grateful for Mill Hill Meadow.  This month marks 13 months since we moved here.
At the homestead, I was completely over ~whelmed. With all the property and outbuildings, there was never a spare minute. Lists, lists, and more lists, and demands on our time.
Here at Mill Hill Meadow, I am once again enjoying sweet summer time. I'm enjoying reading, and baking, taking long walks daily, crafting, decorating, organizing and keeping home.
Most of all, I am grateful to be happy.

                                ~~ A little summer~time wreath I made for the garden shed.~~

~Morning Has Broken~

 "Morning has broken, like the first morning.........

"Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day."

A few line from the Cat Steven's song : Morning has broken.
{Cat Steven's goes by a different name now..}

Each morning, I look out at the mountains to see the morning, and this song always comes to mind.
Every day is a new day!
Every day is a miracle, in and of itself!

Being solar powered, as I am, I love the sunbeams rising up over the mountain tops.
Promise of a new day.

Golden mornings. Even in the midst of winter, the new day feels like a warm hug.
Comforting, full of promise, and life, and happiness.

So, do a little happy dance this morning. It is a new day, and new week, and a brand new year.
Anything is possible!

Attitude of gratitude:
~Feeling grateful for new books, new music, and new sheets. How I love the feel of crisp new sheets, the smell of freshly printed words on the pages of a new book, and the beat of  new song playing!
~I'm grateful for daily blessings!! The beginning of a brand new day, a warm house, plenty to eat, warm water, and for flip flops! It's warm enough {un-seasonable so} that I wore flip flops to run errands yesterday. Hip hip hurray! There will be plenty of shoe wearing weather left in the new year, I am certain, but for today, I am grateful for a bit of flip flop wearing weather.

Little.

 Little red poppy.
Such a wonderful, surprise.
{ We brought a red poppy from the old homestead
 Grown by seed, and planted next to the barn.
 It never blossomed last year.
So far, it seems to be growing nicely here at the new house... but still no blossoms. }
One morning, much to my delight and surprise, there it was.... this one little red poppy.
Planted  by the previous owner.
 Such a little thing, but it makes me so happy.
I have great hopes that my transplanted poppy will continue to grow, and perhaps even bloom before the end of the summer. 
Should the transplanted poppy plant not make it, I feel quite happy that the little red poppy plant that was already here, will continue to grow and bloom.  
A token of welcome, this little red poppy.

 The moon was quite beautiful the night of the "Super Moon".

 It rose above the mountain, shining down on the meadow and neighboring farm.
Something so grand can make one feel small, and little. 
What a wonderful, beautiful world we live in!!

 Little booklet.
Does any one remember correspondence courses???
I found a little Poultry Farming Correspondence course booklet.
Just 10 little cents at a yard sale.  Copyrighted 1925. 

Just a little of my weekend here at the new house.
By the way, we are working on a name for our new house.
Homes should be named.
People name their children, pets, cars, etc.. etc...
Isn't fitting that our homes have names, since that is were we spend so much time. 
Making memories, keeping traditions old and new.
Feeding our families, and our spirits.
Yes, it's a little thing to name a house, but it's an important thing, I feel.


Attitude of gratitude :
~ I'm grateful we saw a little duck in the creek.  On our morning walk, we were rewarded with a 'quack-quack', 'quack-quack', and the beating of wings as the duck flew off the creek and into the sky.
~I'm grateful for a fun afternoon of playing 'Yatzee' with my family.  I love board games, and we laughed a lot.
~I'm grateful for rich, chocolaty cake on a Sunday evening. Perfect finish for a happy weekend.

~ Brand New Day ~

 Early morning.
What is that saying? "Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in morning, sailors take warning"?
The forecast is for monsoonal rain later today, or tomorrow.
Praying we get the rain.  It has been so dry, and so hot.  Rain would be most welcome.
The morning sky was simply beautiful.
 As you can see, the sun rays are beaming over the mountains and reflecting off the clouds.

 Soft pink-gold clouds across the meadow.
You can just make out the back of a near-by dairy farm.
Early mornings, the cows start mooing.  And, mooing. And mooing.
It's a good thing I don't mind it, and I'm not trying to sleep in.

 A stand of dead trees just a little bit to the west of the last picture.
I actually like the way they look. 

 We've had deer problems.
In all the country homes we've owned, we've managed to keep the deer out of the gardens.
Not so , with this house.
One night, I watered the tomatoes and flowers on the back patio.  Thinking how delicious those tomatoes would be in a week or so, once they ripened
Next morning, my sweet husband called to me in the house. 
He let me know that the deer had eaten every single one of my tomatoes, and munched down all my geraniums!!! Stinkers!!!

The deer didn't touch my poppies.  Suppose they dislike the fuzzy pods.
I mixed up some deer deterrent spray. A recipe I found on You-tube, and is supposed to be the spray that is used in the Kew Gardens in England.
Today is the second day since I sprayed the deer deterrent on my plants, and so far, so good.
I still have a few geraniums left, and one little teeny-tiny tomato.
The recipe for the spray is :  One egg yolk
                                              1 Tbsp. baking POWDER {not baking soda}
                                              4 Cups of water.
        Whisk together and spray plants to deter deer. Re-apply every 2 weeks.
I'll keep you all posted on how well this works.

Sweet little brick cottage, all decked out in flowers for summer.
We took a little road trip during my husbands little vacation from work.
We drove up to Midway, and Heber City. 
We went to Granny's drive-in and had the most delicious malt. If anyone from Utah has been to Granny's, you know what I'm talking about.  Delicious!
Also, in Midway we went to the Heber Valley cheese co.  We bought cheese with vanilla bean in, and cheese with rosemary and orange zest in.  Unique, and quite tasty combinations.
This little cottage is in Midway, and looked so sweet, I just had to add the picture to this post.
Love the fence, entry posts, and flowers. 

Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm grateful for summer time. Even when it's blazing hot, it still beats winter!!
~I'm grateful for such a wonderful, kind, giving husband. He's the best!!  He took me on a date to the drive-in movie, and bought me a pretty tasty hot dog.  Perfect date!!!

Between the mountains, and the meadows.

 Our new neighbors.
It's pretty awesome to have an elk farm next to us.
It's across the meadow, but we can sit on our patio, and watch the elk graze and move through the fields.
We have been told that when Fall comes, the elk start bugling. We've been told that it is quite an amazing thing to see and hear.

 There are a few that are starting to re-grow their antlers. You can just make out new antler growth on the elk in the far right of the photo; with his head down, drinking from the trough.

 The beautiful mountains are right above us!
Looking out my windows, I see the mountains and the meadows.

 Deer in the meadow.  Early mornings, and evenings, the deer graze in the meadows.

 

 This is the view from our kitchen windows.

We also have lots and lots of birds in the meadows.

In fact, there are a few that have previously made our front porch their nesting place.

I need to fix that.

I'm thinking an owl decoy will do the trick.  I'd like to keep the swallows from re-building a nest above our front door.

We have been so blessed, and every morning when I wake up and look out our windows, and see the elk, the deer, and the birds I get a little warm spot in my heart.  We are so blessed that we are able to live here. 

It's my favorite house ever.

Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm so grateful that I'm able to fall asleep to the crickets chirp and wake up to the songs of birds in the meadow.  Life doesn't get much better.
~I'm so grateful that Spencer was able to play the bagpipes at the graves of our loved ones that have passed on.  In the Manti cemetery, when he was done playing at the graves of my grandparents, a woman came up to us and thanked him from the bottom of her heart. She had lost her husband many, many years ago and was so touched by Spencer's playing of amazing grace.  She had lost her husband when he was just 29. 
~I'm grateful that my durn root canal is done, and guess I'll be getting a new crown later this week.