It's Been Fun

Three years ago I discovered
the wonderful land of

 "Blog".

 It was love at first visit.

It didn't take long for me to 

figure out how things worked

and before I knew it I was

considering starting

a Blog of my own.

I didn't have a clue what I 

was going to write about

but I did love taking pictures

and so I 'bit the bullet'

and jumped in.

 I had no idea what to expect. 

Nothing prepared me for the

excitement of seeing that 

first comment.

Many of you have the quote

"I LIVE FOR COMMENTS"

on your blogs...

it didn't take me long to 

realize how true that was.

One of the wonderful things 

Blogging has done for me

is to help me become 

a better photographer.

Funny how your view

of the world around you 

changes when you 

see it through your

"Bloggers eyes".

Subjects...details

light...shadows

FOCUS

all became much more

important to me.

And then of course I entered

the wonderful world of

Photoshop...Picmonkey

and all the rest.

Yes Blogging taught me

many things that I can use

in life outside "Blogland".

Most importantly though

Blogging opened

a whole new world of

creativity and kinship. 

 It's been wonderful

getting to know many of you

and seeing what your 

life is like in your corner 

of the world.
 

Life however needs to be lived.

I have been struggling with this

for quite some time.

Since the beginning of the year

I have felt as though Blogging

has been taking over my life.

 I'm not a multi-tasker.

I wish I was!

But I'm not.

And so I have made 

the decision to quit my Blog

and get on with life.

It was a tough decision

but I feel good about it...

relieved.

 

I will miss your sweet comments.

I will miss seeing your new

posts in my sidebar every day

but I will be visiting you

and commenting 

on your wonderful

Blogs

when I can. 

I will keep my 

 Lilac Lane Cottage

on Blogger for the time being.

I wish you all the best.

It's been fun.

Thank you everyone.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PS
Some of you may have noticed that my pictures
lately are stamped with 
Kisiwa Creek Photography
instead of Lilac Lane Cottage. 
I just wanted you to know that I do not have another Blog.
I did start a practice Blog with this name and I even
made a stamp for my photo's if I actually went ahead with it.
I then proceeded to hit a wrong button and loose my
Lilac Lane Cottage Photoshop brushes and never
found the time to make more. 
To add to my frustration once I made the practice Blog
everything I published on Lilac Lane Cottage and every comment
I have made on other's Blogs have shown up as
Maura @ Kisiwa Creek Photography.
I'm sorry for the confusion.

So
now if you see a comment
on your Blog from 
Maura @ Kisiwa Creek Photography...
you'll know it's me :)
XO
 
 

 

 

Summer Reading

I hope you are all enjoying

the summer!

I'm enjoying my "Blogging Break"

and getting things caught up 

around the farm

inside and out and I'm even 

getting time to do some reading.

 :)

Here's a book I just finished that I thought

some of you might enjoy...

it's called 

Heart To Heart / Hand In Paw

by 

Peggy Frezon 

This is a wonderful true story 

about an animal loving woman in her 40's

(Peggy's mother)

who moves to the woods of Vermont with her husband to build a log home and 

live off the land.

My kind of story!

However things don't always go

as planned and life isn't always easy.

 Peggy made me laugh and cry.

Through it all you come away with 

a deeper sense of how animals

are more than just our pets.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book

and it made me appreciate

how fortunate we are here

in our cozy little farmhouse

in the country.

Peggy

is also the author of

Dieting With My Dog.

 

 If you're looking for some

good summer reading I hope 

you'll consider this one.

Have a wonderful week!

Spindle Cottage

While I'm taking my "Blogging Break"

I thought you might enjoy 

watching this video of a sweet couple

from Somerset England

who LOVE to build garden sheds.

 

Talk about creative!

 

Don't forget to enlarge the video

and enjoy. 

 

:)

Taking A Break

The hot weather is here

so I'm taking a 

"Blogging break" 

to catch up on things

around the farm & in

the old farmhouse.

I hope the weather is

cooler where you are.

 :)

Early Morning

It was a beautiful sunny morning

so I grabbed my camera

and snapped a few

pictures.

 

 

Starting on the back porch.

 

I'm still patiently waiting

for the screened porch

to be built.

 

It will happen one day...

too many other things

need tending too

before the porch reaches

the top of the priority list.

:)

 

 

Now on around the corner

to the Annabelle hydrangeas

along the front of the house.

They're struggling where they are

but I'll keep working on them

and hopefully one day they'll

be happy there. 

 

The wagon is near the arbor

and front gate. 

We have to do a bit of work 

in that area yet but it will

get done when the porch 

and new sidewalk go in.

One day 

;)

 

 

Now we're over to the veggie

garden. I've been waiting

for free mulch for a couple

of months but I got an email

this morning that they have some

...now they just need to let me

know where it is!! 

 

One day I hope to have most 

of the garden area covered with mulch

to help keep the grass and 

weeds out.

Right beside the veggie garden

 is the chicken coop/garden shed.

My favorite building

here on the farm.

 

It's a neat old building.

 

 

Now we're over to the little 

orchard. We have two pear trees

an apple a cherry and two 

plums. We had two peach

tree's and another cherry 

but they died. All the 

fruit trees are old.

I don't know what I was doing

when I took this top photo...

I sure wasn't thinking of focusing!

 

This is the other pear tree above,

it's a different kind of pear.

These get a brownish

skin on them. 

We've never been able to enjoy

our fruit trees 

because the trees were let

to grow too tall over the years

(not by us)

and just when the fruit is

ripening...the birds come!

They seem to know when 

we're not home because we've

never seen them do it

but we know it's them

because before the fruit is ripe

they'll come in flocks as if to 

test how ripe the fruit is.

Then I think they send out scouts

to see when we leave the farm

for the day.

Then they fly in for the 'kill'.

I'm sure of it.

 

More shots of the coop/garden shed

along with one of our other 

old buildings.

 

Finally we're back to the porch

and the Trumpet Vine

that you just can't kill.

This old vine was growing up a

dead tree right in that spot

when we moved here 3

years ago.

We cut the tree down

(it had termites)

and dug up the vine....or

so we thought.

Now it grows up 

the eagle weather vane

and is taking over the 

old porch.

 

I don't really mind...

I may just let it grow along the

new porch...one day.

I hope your week is a good one

so far.

Amish Barns & Changing Times

This past weekend

hubby and I

took a little trip to

Amish country to have supper

at the 

 Carriage Crossing Restaurant

in Yoder Kansas. 

It's not far...only about

20 miles away

and it's a pretty drive with 

a few rolling hills.

Most trips we are 

rewarded by seeing Amish 

buggies traveling down the road

but on this day sadly there were none.

We thought we'd do a bit of shopping

in the little town before we ate but

by the time we got there

the stores were closing.

It was 4:30 on a Saturday!

It's a sleepy little town

but the restaurant stays open

until 9pm.

 

The only two buggies we saw were

tied up to hitching posts but 

there were a lot of tractors in town

with trailers attached

and a large group of Amish enjoying

a meal under the roof behind

the post office.

 

See the tractor with the home made trailer

behind it in the picture above? 

 The Amish seem to be using this mode

of transportation more and more in this area.

Inside you will find chairs benches or

automobile seats that can be removed.

We even saw a child's car seat

in the back of a horse trailer pulled by 

a tractor. 

This day we saw a tractor

with no trailer

carrying an Amish family consisting of

mom dad and at least 4 children

driving down the road.

They were all hanging on to something

and to each other.

I felt a little sad to see them

traveling this way instead of in their

buggy but it was about 94 that day

so maybe it was their way of 

saving the horse from the heat. 

We enjoyed our supper and 

headed home.

 

Along they way we pass a tiny

Amish church and graveyard.

I was told by a sweet Amish lady

one day that this was a 

church that was holding to the old

ways. They were not allowing

rubber tires on their tractors or

any farm wagons...they must be

metal. She said the congregation

was declining. 

There is a larger Amish church

closer to town and I suppose

this is where those that 

want to 'modernize'

attend.

 

The old church

I realize that certain things make

life easier for all of us including

the Amish...

but to me it would be a sad day

if we no longer saw

these sweet people traveling the

roads with their beautiful 

horse and buggies.

It's nice to know that there are

those out there who still

live that simple old fashioned

way of life.

I'm linking to 

Barn Charm