Odds and Ends from The Last Week in July + More

 

Here's the latest Cheerful Cherub. It's very timely, isn't it? The artist was only 20 years old when she was hired to do this daily artwork and poem for the Chicago Sun Times. She had already been doing them for her own personal pleasure for a long time. She took her art portfolio to the newspaper and they weren't interest in anything she showed them. When she was packing up to leave several of these Cherubs fell to the floor. When the editor picked them up and looked at them he was charmed and hired her on the spot to continue them for the paper. 

I took this photo early Saturday when the morning dew was still on the leaves. Many if you left comments that you had never heard of Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). Most of the other flowers have already shed their seeds and a small round green pod is left. In my reading I have learned these mature into a reddish rounded fruit that remain all winter and add interest to the plant. I'll keep you posted.

Mrs. Groundhog has three little ones this year and they are adorable.

I had a large tree that was overhanging the house cut down last year and have so enjoyed the weathervane on the stump. My property is badly overgrown due to all the rain we've had. I'm in the process of looking for someone with a large tractor to do some field mowing for me.

This was a big hit on my Instagram Story on 7/29. I can't remember any of my childhood phone numbers because we moved around too much. I have an 85 year old friend who can remember his though. He can also remember his high school locker combination and all sorts of other useless stuff but he cannot remember his cell phone number or ANY passwords. I made him a "business card" with his cell number, name and address, and email address. I put it behind his clear cell phone case. Now he just hands over his phone at doctor's offices, etc. when someone asks for any information. It has been so very handy for him. I have an address book for all of my passwords. I have a friend who could NOT remember her passcode to unlock her new iPhone. The only place it was written down was "in her phone". Apple locked her phone for 2 weeks before she could get it back. So it's very important to have a system for all the things we have to save to work and play on the Internet. 

Any time I add something to my weekly post you will get another email from "follow it". So open the email and scroll down for something new I've added.

Thanks for stopping by to see my weekly post. xo, Rosemary

Buttonbush for the Polinators and Milkweed Caterpillars and More!

This is the first year my Buttonbush has bloomed. I planted it three or four years ago from three bare rooted native plants the Land Trust was giving away. It wasn't my first choice but I got there late. A friend recommended this as it would attract bees and butterflies. I babied the "sticks" and it took a couple of years before they looked like an actual shrub. This is the first year and the bush got buds that finally bloomed and it's glorious. It turned out to be my favorite plant and I am so glad I was late to the event. I had never heard of Buttonbush and now it is thriving in my yard. 

There are only a couple of blooms in this photo but now it is absolutely covered with them.

I have been enjoying the monarch caterpillars on my milkweed plants too. They seem to grow overnight. This is a fat one.

I photographed this rabbit on Saturday morning happily eating weeds in my driveway. It froze and let me photograph it and didn't move until I started walking. Friends with vegetable gardens don't like them but they don't bother me and they are welcome to my weeds. We have had more rain this year that any summer I can remember so the weeds have really taken over. I'll get them hacked down and mowed eventually.

The above three images are from one of my favorite books, The Cheerful Cherub by Rebecca McCann. It was published in 1928 and includes 101 favorite posts by her in that appeared in The Chicago Sun Times newspaper. Her original drawings and little poems featured The Cheerful Cherub and his little dog. She was only twenty years old and wise beyond her years, right? I'm trying to catch you up on the three I have put on my Instagram. Enjoy!

I finished this book last weekend and liked it a lot. It's about the early 1940s in NYC when penicillin was new and in short supply. You could die from a cat scratch or a skinned knee if you got an infection. It reads like a historical novel and is full of facts that were unknown to me with a little romance thrown in too. 

Have a great week. 

xo, Rosemary

Making The Most of My Free Time

This experiment is a huge success. I was able to create a blog post using an old photo from my library, resizing it, and adding the text using my new favorite font.

Wasting Postage Stamps . . .

STAMPS
With all my hard-earn cash
Most recklessly I part
But when I waste a stamp
It simply breaks my heart.

I feel exactly the same way about wasting postage!
Waste not, want not.

I scanned this page from one of my old books entitled The Cheerful Cherub by Rebecca McCann published in 1928. She drew a daily cartoon with an upbeat message in The Chicago Post featuring this cute little guy and his dog as an antidote for gloom. Looking through this book never fails to cheer me up!




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Avoiding housework in summer...

SWEEPING
I like to sweep the front porch steps;
The sun shines and the birds all sing.
I hate to sweep the kitchen floor ~
I never see or hear a thing.

I have always wondered why I dislike doing housework in the summer. This little cartoon sums it all up, doesn't it? I find it quite impossible to take care of the inside and the outside all at once. In the summer I concentrate on my outside rooms. Winter is for inside work.

I scanned this page from an old book of mine entitled The Cheerful Cherub by Rebecca McCann published in 1928. She contributed a daily cartoon of this cute little guy each day in The Chicago Post as an antidote for gloom.