Nature's Gifts

GREETINGS!


I'm sure some of my blog followers will know what these are, but I can guarantee that most, if not all, of my family on the West Coast doesn't have a clue! I first was introduced to Hedge Apples when I moved to Missouri. And now I've found them in Oklahoma! They are a kind of "green" bug repellent......they keep spiders and bugs away. So you put them in your closets or where ever you don't want bugs! Neat huh? The texture is kind of bumpy and they look kind of like a "brain".....and yes, they are that bright green. They grow on trees and you wonder how the branches hold up such big "fruit"........they are about the size of a grapefruit. You see them along side the roads, in fields, etc.





Around last Thanksgiving time, I decided I needed something in the house for Fall. So down the driveway I went looking. I found these "weeds" and thought they were really pretty cool. One has little white fluffy things on it and the other has white-ish spear like things. Kind of looks like a miniature bird of paradise flower. I put them in empty oil diffusion bottles and they have managed to stay intact even now, in August! Amazing what you can find and do with nature's things. One of my favorite things is to gather different kinds of weeds and make a big arrangement in the Fall, using an old crock or kettle or milk can or whatever you can find. And its been so hot, that now is a good time to start looking for the "spent" weeds. Cattails and even thistles are great if you can find them. The more different kinds you have the better! I did nothing to preserve these weeds, so feel pretty lucky that they lasted this long. They are not displayed where I took the pictures....they have better places in the living room!

This was my masterpiece a couple summers ago. A dear friend gave me an old electric chandelier that belonged to his mother. I took it and removed all the electric wiring and light bulb holders, added additional chain to hang it by, and bought 6 two inch in diameter and 3 inch high candles to put where each light bulb had been. Then we hung it up in a tree in the front yard of our cabin at the lake. I'm telling you, it was sooooo cool, sitting outside in the evening, the candle-lier burning, night falling, frogs croaking and crickets singing. Can't wait to get it up here when my back porch is finished. That was just embellishing Nature! I wish I could find my lighter pictures of it so you could see it better, but you get the idea.

Okay, I'm done for tonight. Did this twice as I messed up somehow and had to start over! Such is life. Happy weed hunting! Take care and God Bless.