Shop News ~ SALE!

BIG SALE in my Etsy Shops  

www.injoyemporium.etsy.com & www.injoytreasures.etsy.com

50% off EVERYTHING!

coupon code MAYDAY50

One Day Only

May 1st 

I have been into spring cleaning - big time!  So I have decided to include both of my shops.  This is the time to buy, I don't plan on doing this again this year.  I am in a mood!  I plan to spend the summer re-thinking my shops. I have changes in mind. I HAVE IDEAS!

Idea Board

Hard to get sewing & making done when the sunshines...

Another batch of scarfs going....really craving weaving time!

Bunch of stuff to photograph & post to injoytreasures!

But first I have prom dress to shorten...fun, fun, fun!

Now I will go active my coupon code....so a bit early!

Spring Winds ~~~~~~~~

Today WE let the spring wind blow our list of things to do away!

We both had BIG plans!  We have been working hard outside getting all kinds of stuff done.  But....there is a whole week ++++ of nice weather ahead so took the day off.  We call these chairs the non-motivational-chairs.

Our View

Song of the Day!

Greg Brown ~ Spring Wind

Chill-laxing!

Confession: I did go out at sunset and plant some peas, lettuce, & flowers.  

Plus brought in the laundry and moved a wheelbarrow of dirt...but it was after a nap ;) 

~~~GRATITUDE~~~ !!!

We are having a weekend of GLORIOUS {overdue} weather!  

So I have been outside as much as possible working and enjoying!  

I have to say I am a bit jealous of Runa & the Ducks.  

They are swimming!  

I put my hands in the water yesterday...still pretty nippy!

The Turtle Watch Continues....

until this morning........TURTLES!

So today I am GRATEFUL for TURTLES!

It is toooooooo nice outside.....I have got to GO!

Need to make the best of today...blackflies are bumping....but not biting...

Here is a page from MY earliest book...more on that later...

Hope you all are as HAPPY as I am today!

It is my intention, each Sunday, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~

Happy Arbor Day

It is The Day We Celebrate TREES!

I LOVE Trees!

I cannot imagine living without them!

I even hug them!

I also make these balsam fir aromatic sachets from thrift shop wool clothing...upcycling!

I recently completed a special order for a Maine Wedding.  75 of my Trees Sachets ~~~ A FOREST!

Fir Trees  <----Link to Trees in my shop...save 15% with coupon code INJOY15 until April 30th

There is a funny little back story about these trees.  I made them for a holiday gift several years before I even started with Etsy.  When I opened my Etsy Shop I thought they would be a great way to celebrate Arbor Day.  So I made up a bunch.  They started to sell.  Then one day   little old me got this email (as well as an official letter) from the company  that make those tree shaped auto air freshener <---- I am not supposed to use this phrase!  Mine aren't even pine trees ~~~ They're Fir Trees!  

Including the wedding order I have only sold a few over 100....somehow I don't feel like I am a threat.  Anyways, I changed my tags and had a great belly laugh!

Dear Deborah,

I have received the pine tree-shaped automotive air freshener you mailed to me.  I actually work for the legal department at CAR-FRESHNER Corporation, which is the manufacturer of the famous LITTLE TREES air fresheners, and I was buying a sample of your product to check out exactly what you are selling.  You see, we have several trademark registrations protecting the pine tree-shape for air fresheners, so I wanted to make sure you were actually selling pine tree-shaped air fresheners before I contacted you. 

Unfortunately, we must ask you to remove any reference on your Etsy store that indicates that this product is an “Auto Air Freshener” or any other kind of air freshener.  Even if we didn’t want to ask you to do this, trademark law requires that we protect our pine tree-shape.  If we don’t protect our shape, not only could we lose our trademarks, but other people would think they could use it too.  We have no issue with you advertising this product as an ornament, but we would appreciate if you would modify your product description to exclude air fresheners. 

I appreciate your cooperation and would be happy to send you some samples of our most popular LITTLE TREES air fresheners for your enjoyment.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me or call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Best regards,

XXXX

Meanwhile back to TREE LOVE!

Trees

BY JOYCE KILMER

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

Source: Poetry (August 1913).

Fox Thoughts

The other day I was sitting right here at the computer when out of the corner of my eye I saw a red flash of movement.  My mind immediately said, FOX! The next thought was DUCKS!  My camera was sitting next to me so I grabbed it as I dashed out the door!  I took this photo when friend Fox was about a 100 yards from the duck pond.  My Quorum of Quack was happily drifting about in their pond not suspecting a thing.  When Fox detected my  presence  it paused a moment, looked at me with what felt like disappointment, melted into the woods.

The girls got put to bed early that afternoon.  The event had a feeling of synchronicity.  Many nights I have forgotten to put the ducks in, if I hadn't seen Fox out of the corner of my eye.... 

Lately, with the college choice angst around here, there has been advice, "Big Risk = Big Rewards!"  One hears that a lot in the human culture.  But observing Fox, and nature in general, that does not seem to be the case.  Fox was bold but, Fox was cautious.  I really had no way of protecting my ducks beyond waving my arms and shooing.  But Fox paused in a moment of discernment and took the safe path.  Though, I am sure Fox was hungry and Duck a l' Pond Water was a huge temptation~~~Better to Live another Day.  

The human race would do well, in my humble opinion, to show more caution in our choices.  Think a bit, have an alertness around our choices.  Remember that we ARE a part of the natural world.  There is such a culture of risk in our human world.  I looked up RISK in the thesaurus and this is what I find...  

Synonyms	accident, contingency, danger, exposedness, exposure, flyer, fortuity, fortune, gamble,hazard, header, jeopardy, liability, liableness, luck, opportunity,  peril, plunge,possibility, prospect, shot in the dark, speculation, stab*, uncertainty, venture, wager
Antonyms:	certainty, safety, sureness, surety

Very Charged Words!  We humans need to make some important choices if we are to keep this planet up and running to our liking.  I am a big believer that every action, every choice we make does matter.  Well, our son is not going to his "dream" college.  But a fairly safe choice money wise and location wise. I feel very connected to the idea of discernment.  That is how I try to live my life.  Here is a Mary Oliver poem that gives some suggestions.

When I Am Among the Trees

 

When I am among the trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust,

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness,

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

 

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

in which I have goodness, and discernment,

and never hurry through the world

but walk slowly, and bow often.

 

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, "Stay awhile."

The light flows from their branches.

 

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,

"and you too have come

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine."

 

~ Mary Oliver ~

 

(Thirst)

 

Turtle Watch Continues......

Plant Babies

My house looks like a greenhouse! (if you have been following my blog you know my real greenhouse was twisted by the wind into unusable pieces  during the winter) With this slow emerging spring it is pretty nice to be surrounded by all my plant babies.  That is what I call them.  They are such a sweet bunch right now.  All fresh and green and tender.  I like to coo at them and tell them how wonderful they are right now.  Before I know it, though, I will have to let them go into the big wide world full of insects and disease.  I will still care for them, of course.  I will do my best to give them a good start but they will pretty much be on their own.  So I will enjoy this special time of closeness and wonder to it's fullest!  By the way, have mentioned......my son made his college choice this week?  ah-me

The Seedling

AS a quiet little seedling
Lay within its darksome bed,
To itself it fell a-talking,
And this is what it said:

'I am not so very robust,
But I'll do the best I can;'
And the seedling from that moment
Its work of life began.

So it pushed a little leaflet
Up into the light of day,
To examine the surroundings
And show the rest the way.

The leaflet liked the prospect,
So it called its brother, Stem;
Then two other leaflets heard it,
And quickly followed them.

To be sure, the haste and hurry
Made the seedling sweat and pant;
But almost before it knew it
It found itself a plant.

The sunshine poured upon it,
And the clouds they gave a shower;
And the little plant kept growing
Till it found itself a flower.

Little folks, be like the seedling,
Always do the best you can;
Every child must share life's labor
Just as well as every man.

And the sun and showers will help you
Through the lonesome, struggling hours,
Till you raise to light and beauty
Virtue's fair, unfading flowers. 

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Here is some of my Greenieness

&

Seed Plantings

 Every window is being put to use!

Now we will move back in time & see how these tomatoes came to BE!

 When my tomatoes become long and spindly I transplant them into saved milk cartons.  They have a month or more still to come inside...you just wait and see!

 My bench of creativity ~~~ seed planting is one thing I do here!

AP = Amish Paste ~ BK = Black Krim...my favorite tomato!

It never ceases to amaze, astound, put me into a state of awe that these tiny flakes hold all the potential for a beautiful plant filled with juicy tomatoes!

The same way I feel about my boy!

Earth Day is Every Day.....!

This was THIS morning...FROST!  I must say I am ready for some warmth, NOW!  I am sure my flower seeds, that warned...plant after all danger of frost, wish for warmth too.  Well, frost isn't really dangerous...it is beautiful...but it is nearly May...feels like March.....so a March Poem

Here are a few more photos and a Wendell Berry Poem I love....

Return to Earth

By Wendell Berry 

Through the weeks of deep snow
we walked above the ground
on fallen sky, as though we did
not come of root and leaf, as though
we had only air and weather
for our difficult home.

                                      But now
as March warms, and the rivulets
run like birdsong on the slopes,
and the branches of light sing in the hills,
slowly we return to earth.

Source: 

• Earth Prayers From Around the World
 

....and for EARTH DAY...yesterday... 

[I spent the day working with the EARTH!] 

This quote by Wendell Berry!

The Golden Rule

By Wendell Berry 

Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.

Source: 

• Radical Grace (Center for Action and Contemplation) Fall 2011
 

~~~Gratitude~~~

Last Sunday!

I know I have been a bit lax about blogging this week.  Well, the spring business is in full swing! There is a long list of things to do!  Plus new sights to see as nature wakes up!  So I will get here when I can....but you can still count on Sunday Gratitudes!  

This weeks gratitude is hanging laundry outside!  I have never owned a dryer in all my adult life. (occasionally I have used one while travelling...but never where I have lived)  I love to hang laundry out.  Besides being a wonderful thing you can do for the environment it save money too!  Here is a link that gives some of the benefits...

http://www.almanac.com/blog/natural-health-home-tips/get-out-and-hang-out-your-laundry

For me though, it a peaceful relaxing task...most of the time...the exception is blackfly season...but we aren't there yet...so I will enjoy the peaceful activity to it's fullest...NOW!  Here are some scenes from the first outside laundry hanging of 2013!

Enjoying my Coffee with the Task!

Still Nippy ~~~ So Half Mittens

Oh! those towels are going to smell so GOOD!


Other Activities from the Week

Some Fun in the Mud this Week!

First Flower...a wee bit of Coltsfoot!

Turtle Log is in the Pond...Daily Turtle Watch Begins!

So back to work for today!!!!  

Tomatoes to transplant, spring cleaning to do, and more laundry to hang out!  Love to ALL!

It is my intention, each Sunday, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~