Are you ready for some ... football? Already?

I guess that time of year is approaching! This morning at the lake, I see the flags are a-flying...


The house to the right of us:

University of Iowa Hawkeyes

And the house to the left of us:

Iowa State University Cyclones

After moving to Iowa many years ago, I quickly discovered that the Iowa / Iowa State competition is a fierce one! 


I remain mostly neutral. I am a college football fan and enjoy watching both teams. However, when they play each other, I usually choose one over the other. The Hawkeyes.




Thanks for visiting!

My Garden Center Purchases!

In my last post, I blogged about visiting a garden center and mentioned I had bought two items. So I thought I'd share a photo of them!

I actually started this post two days after the last one and just now found the time to finish it! If you've read my "about me" page, you might have noticed my regular job is a web designer. Well, that's what I've been doing for the past few weeks months -- working on a new website that will launch on August 1. So far, I've built over 5,000 pages on the new site. Page. by. page. by. page.

After sitting at the computer from 7 am - 5 pm each day, the last thing I want to do is get back online when I am home... I have so many posts I've not had the time to do yet -- and so many blogs I need to catch up with. I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now!

So back to the garden center stuff! Remember the black and white pottery? I loved the mushrooms! They had large, medium and small and I bought a medium sized one. Hubby put it by this tree, but I'm still trying to decide if I like it there -- I picture it nesting amongst a bunch of hostas in my shade garden. The other day I moved it to try it with the hostas, but ended up putting it back under the tree because I missed it there.

My neighbor, Julie, said it looked like a Gnome Home. I'm going with that.

The other purchase was the heart-shaped turtle! Love at first sight. <3

(That's a heart. The "<" and the "3" together make a heart and I know how to do those because I'm cool... ok, actually it's because I have a 19-year-old daughter who told me how to make them.)

Mr. Turtle resides on my side table outside. Right next to the pepper plant I planted -- that actually has peppers on it!

This is the east side of the house with my shade garden... I took the photo two weeks ago and will have to take another updated one. The flowers along the edge are a type of "balloon flower" and have exploded in purple!

I'm still working on the shade garden landscaping. I started three years ago. Since I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time, my game plan has been to buy something that grows in shade, plant it, and hope it comes back the next year. If it doesn't, I get something new in the spring and try that. It works for me. I <3 planting things and get so excited when they actually grow!


Thanks for visiting!

Garden center shopping and cool things from a speeding car

A couple of weeks ago, hubby had to pick up some bags of grass seed for the new lawn and announced he needed to make a quick trip to the garden center near Lake Okoboji.

I was in the passenger seat of the car before my sweetie could finish his sentence. I love going to garden centers!

This is one of my favorite places to go -- Ferguson's Garden Center. You can see their website here.

("Quick trip." Yeah -- right. He shouldn't have mentioned it to me if he wanted to make a quick trip. heh.)

They are loaded with everything imaginable pertaining to the outdoors and garden decor! I had to take a few photos to share. I also bought two things -- can you guess what I got?

Entrance to the garden center

Outdoors in the front area -- see the tall giraffes?

A closer shot of the giraffes -- how cool are these? 

Loved this fish planter! If it had come in green, it would've been mine.

Some cool things by the entrance including bottle trees and word rocks

Loved this owl rock!!

Unusual painted metal cow...

Cutesy Dalmatian planters

Loaded with lawn doo-dads!

And planters of every size, shape, texture and color...

Fountains, benches, statuaries in every corner.

I love turtles and frogs and thought this turtle fountain was so unique!

These planters and mushrooms had me at "hello!"

Wall full of quirky signs inside the building

Mermaids are cool! So was the fish planter they were displayed in.

This mermaid was awesome! I didn't notice until I was looking at my photos later but I'm crazy for the table they are sitting on. Didn't even notice that! I may have to return to the store...

So much garden decor everywhere -- from giant giraffes to a tiny little plant stake.

Wide open store with wall-to-wall fun things

Giant sign in front of the business

Closer shot of a bottle tree. I see these on so many blogs! Love the ones decorated with the colored bottles.

See the mama duck with her three babies behind her? Very unique!

Every size, shape and color...

Beautiful green color on these!

Whimsical bug garden stakes

Cool turtle and sundial. So much -- it's easy to miss things if you're on a quick trip!

I personally find ants (of any kind) creepy, but these were cute.

Another turtle! His body is in the shape of a heart.

Glass fountain -- very cool!

A mermaid vase... years ago, I was trying to find a mermaid and nobody had them anywhere. I found a bunch on this day!

Colorful display at the checkout

Isn't this the ugliest pink flamingo?? Looks like he was in a war zone... even the flamingo on his left was shot down.

Another shot of the front outdoor area

These ferns were HUGE!! 

The annual area -- or what's left of it in July.

Flea market that hubby wouldn't stop at. LOL! Photo taken from window of car. I think hubby sped up as we went by...

Quick shot of Lake Okoboji taken from the car as we sped over the bridge.

Historic Arnold's Park amusement park. Taken from the car. This Coney Island style attraction is located right on the lake, and is home to the 13th oldest wooden roller coaster in the U.S.! It's so much fun to ride the Ferris wheel right over the water! You can see their website here.

Thanks for visiting!!

Municipal Band in a Small Town

Each year in the early summer, my daughter participates in our town's Municipal Band. Musicians of all ages can participate and they practice once a week and then perform on Thursday nights. The performance is held outside by the county courthouse.

She really enjoys being a part of the band -- and it enables her to continue playing/practicing her trumpet especially now that high school is over. Next summer, after her sophomore year in college, she will most likely be living in her college town and has already looked into participating in that town's municipal band.

I enjoy hearing the band and visiting with friends who attend the performances. They begin by playing our National Anthem and everybody stands and faces the American flag in the courthouse square. People who are walking by in the nearby streets will also stop during the rendition. And the majority of people salute the flag with their right hand over their heart. This always has a huge emotional effect on me. I think more so because I grew up as a dependent in the US Air Force and learned from a very early age what our American flag represents.  

Set up around the band is a tiny version of a farmer's market. There are tables set up with jams and jewelry and even Tupperware for sale. (I was excited to get a Tupperware catalog!)

It's one of my favorite events each summer! 

Local musicians perform for about an hour each Thursday night.

My daughter is the back row on the trumpet.

The streets are blocked off for the performance.

Thanks for visiting!