Texture Tuesday

The Old Rose Bush

It was planted with love by someone who 

lived on this old farm many years ago.

They had dreams of seeing it grow and

flourish and thrive.

Maybe they had dreams of sweet

scented bouquets

placed around the farm cottage.

Perhaps they envisioned the beautiful

blossoms climbing up

the side of a trellis as it was

planted next to the porch.

We'll never know the story of this old rose

but I feel it is our duty...

a privilege... 

to continue to care for 

and nurture this beautiful rose

so that those who follow in the years

to come will enjoy her beauty

as much as we do.

It's TEXTURE TUESDAY once 

again and I am joining

with 

Kim Klassen

over at the Cafe

Here is the photo I used for the texture

today.

Our photo had to be centered around 

 the prompt/theme 'STORY'.

I used Kim's Simplicity texture

once at 100% 

then again at 29%

after turning the saturation down -56%

and lightness to +5

Here are the two photo's again a 

little closer together.

I wish I could figure out how

to do the 'mouse over'.

If you love photography 

and would love to try and learn

to be creative with your photo's

but you're not sure what to do....

please visit Kim's web site...you'll be

glad you did. 

Believe me...if I can do it...so can you!

Kim will start you off with the basics 

with easy to follow tutorials

plus she offers classes that will take your

plain old photo's to wonderful works of art.

I warn you though...it's addictive!

I hope you'll stop by and see what other

Bloggers just like you have created 

with Kim's textures.

Have a great week!

Looking Back at 2011

January saw snow here in Kansas

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's hard to believe that we're 

already into the new year...

is it just me or did you find the 

old year flew by?

As I look back on 

2011

I realize that it was a busy year

 at

Lilac Lane Cottage

here at

Kisiwa Creek Ranch

January saw lots of snow and

February I had my

One Year Give-Away!

Most of the month of March

was a mess with renovations

being made to the bathroom.

What a job

but it was worth it!

April saw the return of the Lilacs.

Unfortunately it wasn't a good year for them

but we did get enough blossoms to

enjoy that wonderful heady

perfume.

The Monarchs loved them too :)

May into June we spent our days 

priming and painting the house.

Going from medium blue to 

pale yellow was a pain!

June was the month of kittens!

We found these two out in one of

our buildings but then their 

feral momma carried them

out to our burn pile

and that's where I found them.

Dora the black one found a wonderful home

and Henry is 'fixed' and living with us.

It was a terribly hot summer but we managed

to have a little tea party in the garden with 

my new tea cozy I had won :)

The end of August was the time

for the annual 

Heritage Days in Yoder Kansas

where the Amish mix with the

locals and have fun competing in all kinds

horse events.

September took me to Ozark Missouri

with my sister in law Donna

where we had a wonderful time

antique shopping

:)

October was the month of the dust storm

here at the ranch.

This was a summer of drought for sure.

November

My younger (by 3 months!) Sister

came to visit from Canada!

She got to experience

2 earthquakes while she was here.

December 

was a wonderful month

of good food good company

and ended with a 

couple of surprises.

Which I'll share with you soon ;)

I wish you and yours all the best for a

HAPPY

HEALTHY

2012

It's Been Fun

Yesterday morning my sister Susan

left for home.

Unfortunately she had to leave a couple of

days earlier than expected

as the people she had gotten a ride 

with decided to leave on Sunday

instead of Tuesday.

Oh well...it was a wonderful visit

and we got lots of visiting in

and even found time for a 

day-trip!

We're grateful for any time we can

spend together.

~~~~~~~~

I'm afraid I put my back out on Saturday

so I'm not able to sit here at the desk for

very long but I wanted to get a few pictures

posted for you. 

This is Olly enjoying his 'Aunty Susan'.

He's got a tough life doesn't he ;)

Sue enjoyed Olly as much as he enjoyed

his belly rub.

More photo's coming once I can sit longer

at the desk. 

Did any of you feel the earthquakes last week?

We sure did.

I hope your weekend was a good one!