~ Re-Purpose & Gardening Projects ~ phfr - style!

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter

Re purposing a wooden crate that some supplies were delivered on:

{happy}

Water hose nozzle, cultivator, trowel, gloves, sunglasses...

This wooden crate has been use a couple times as decor for a "market stand" in two of our Altar Boy Pilgrimage to Rome elegant dinner events as seen here and here.  {happy} to use the crate for so many purposes!

Conductor has really worked hard to landscape this barren patch of dirt.  He designed the rock scape as well as the garden layout and installed all the irrigation, using a water drip system.  Butterfly dug the trench & planted the flowers.  Little Lamb helped to dig out some of the garden areas, too.

{pretty}

Flowers & shrubs of choice:  Bougainvilleas & Marigolds, Dwarf Alberta Spruce, Miniture Rose, Redwood Vine, and many others...very {pretty}.

Surrounding the garden will be a fully functioning train and rail road tracks.  G scale 1:20.3 ratio.

{funny} it's a birdhouse cabin.

Conductor made this 'house' as part of his railway display

He's taken two of his favorite hobbies and created a school project filled with many valuable and challenging opportunities...

This project is not only allowing him to, of course, be creative, but to problem solve and make multi-layered decisions.  This isn't child's play.  He has moved wheel-barrels of dirt and rock; he has dug and cemented posts and assembled a gate with a latch...with the help of Butterfly & Dad.

{real}

Although still a work in progress, many plants have been planted, a meandering path leveled...

We will be updating the progress as it happens...hopefully. :o)

 

~ To find more contentment, go to Like Mother, Like Daughter ~

~ Saint Patrick's Day ~

Bringing out the GREEN...Inside & Out:

UPDATE:  Part of our family tradition is to make a visit to our local Fire station, which Hosts a Pancake Breakfast for St. Patrick's Day...we have participated in this fundraiser since Conductor was a little guy.  All three still very much enjoy going to the station and having the firemen serve GREEN pancakes!  Then we take a picture of our children in front of the various fire trucks they have on display...Little Lamb was the only one to climb into the cab of the big truck this year. 
I like to keep my children's anonymity here for the time being...I'm a weirdo that way. :o)

INSIDE:

It helps to have everything in it's own container...although, I do need to update with some teen friendly reading...

A little something for my First Communion Class who made their First Confession on St. Patrick's Feast Day...These wonderful note cards were from Paper Dali.  I found a couple sheets that I had printed already in my March file...so I only needed to print out one more sheet.

Pot o' Gold

Hubby makes an incredible Corned Beef and cabbage dinner...

While dinner cooked, we sat the porch and listened to Irish tunes on Pandora...

OUTSIDE:

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

 

St. Patrick's Breastplate: 

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation. I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth with His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In the predictions of prophets,
In the preaching of apostles,
In the faith of confessors,
In the innocence of holy virgins,
In the deeds of righteous men.

I arise today, through
The strength of heaven,
The light of the sun,
The radiance of the moon,
The splendor of fire, The speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The firmness of rock.

I arise today, through
God's strength to pilot me,
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and near.

I summon today
All these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel and merciless power
that may oppose my body and soul, Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul;
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

 

(prayer found at Our Catholic Prayers)

~ Sticky Business ~

When I visit my local farmer's market I like to pick up local honey...I've read it helps reduce allergy symptoms by building up the body's immunities to local allergens, therefore alleviating the symptoms.  I'm not sure if this is true, however:
1.  I like to support my local businesses.
2.  I love honey.
3.  I love honey.

I also will buy it in bulk and refill using (clean) containers.  Little Lamb has taken over this job...

It's a sweet messy job, but someone has to do it.

With all the blooms around, my eyes have begun to itch (and my nose to twitch). 
The flowers don't bother me (thank goodness!)...I think it's possibly pollen from weeds or even trees. 

I really need to invest more time reading & understanding what other natural allergy remedies that I can possibly use. 

I've read peppermint tea is helpful...and wasabi.  I love wasabi, actually, I LOVE sushi with wasabi.

Is it just Californians that suffer from allergies?  Growing up, my siblings and I never had problems...never even heard about allergies.  Then after my first pregnancy, I experienced my first allergy symptoms come Spring.   Some years the symptoms have been really bad, other years just annoying.

Hopefully you don't suffer from allergies...but if you do

What remedies do you recommend? 

~ Humble Servant ~

Pope Francis I

{happy}

"And now, I would like to give the blessing, but first I want to ask you a favour. Before the bishop blesses the people I ask that you would pray to the Lord to bless me – the prayer of the people for their Bishop. Let us say this prayer – your prayer for me – in silence."     ~ Pope Francis I 

Viva il Papa!

 

"I will now give my blessing to you and to the whole world, to all men and women of good will. Brothers and sisters, I am leaving you. Thank you for your welcome. Pray for me and I will be with you again soon. We will see one another soon. Tomorrow I want to go to pray to the Madonna, that she may protect Rome."  

                                                                                                        ~ Pope Francis I

 We are so Joyful with the news of our new Holy Father!  My children made a special request...

It's like a mini-Easter...total JOY and Happiness!

{pretty} delicious

We LOVE our Papa!

and He LOVES Us!
















{funny}
We began our Cardinal & Conclave craft a couple days ago.  Yesterday we read a guide to the Conclave and prayed earnestly for the election of our pope and wondering Who will the Holy Spirit call to lead the Church? while working on our wooden cardinal craft....
This morning we attended Mass to pray for our Pope...and then the WHITE SMOKE appeared....shortly after 7:00PM (Rome time) today (3-13-13) the white smoke emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel!

Habemus Papam!

{real}

"Good night and sleep well!"
                                                    ~ Pope Francis I 

~ Go to Like Mother, Like Daughter to find more contentment ~

 

~ Cappella Sistina ~

Soon all eyes will be looking towards the little chimney...

Who?

Who will the Holy Spirit call to lead the Church?

I'm recalling standing here with my husband and children, thinking about whose footsteps have crossed these floors and whose eyes have gazed upward towards the magnificent masterpiece of Michelangelo...and yes; this IS where the conclave takes place.  This is where the pope is elected.  This is the place.

We will certainly be praying...having total faith in our Lord's greater plan.  No need to fret; right?  Right.  The Holy Spirit is in charge. 

And so we continue to pray...

Pro Papa!

O God, eternal shepherd,

who govern your flock with unfailing care,

grant in Your boundless Fatherly love

a Pastor for your Church

who will please you by his holiness

and to us show watchful care.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your son,

who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

 

 

As we were working on our little wooden cardinal craft, I was wondering whose pictures we should choose to use...since we don't have enough wooden pins & pegs for all the cardinals.  We decided to do all of the United States cardinals, because then we could continue to pray for them (as we sure can use the prayers here in the U.S). 
As we were looking up several of the cardinals I made a comment about wanting to pick the "good" ones (therefore implying the other exists).  I immediately commented that we should probably pray for the "not so good" ones too, and maybe more so...here was Little Lambs response:

Little Lamb:  "Mom,  God did not come down to save the healthy sheep; He came down to heal the sick sheep..."  Explaining her comment further:  "It's a combination of what I've heard."

With excitement & hope...we wait.

UPDATE:  Adding these two fun and educational links:

For an update on the election of the pope via e-mail or text  Pope alarm

For an illustrated guide to the Conclave - excellent!

~ Cardinals & Conclave ~

We continue to pray for our Adopted Cardinal...and as we anticipate the Papal Conclave, we decided to join Equipping Catholic Families' GUESS WHO?! activity.

I printed out all five sheets of the cardinals here.

Since I've been clearing out my arts & craft boxes, I found these wooden doll pins and pegs and thought they would be useful...

But which to use?  Decisions, decisions.

There are only 27 wooden pins left and about 30 pegs...then I had a peg that had a little "hat" on top.  I thought I would save this for our next elected pope;  since I have four of them, I am going to do a Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus, too.

I had originally intended to do an activity with my First Communion Class using the Cardinal sheets, however, we just didn't have time since we are preparing for the sacrament of First Confession in a week.

So, Little Lamb and I are taking some time today to learn more about some more of our Cardinals...since we have adopted our own. 

What a time we are living in...we have access to so much information.  We are excited to see the Papal Interregnum unfold...

Stay tuned.

Linking up to Catholic Bloggers Network

~ How Does Your Garden Grow...? ~

Remember this old rhyme?

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row

I found this 1744 version:

Mistress Mary, Quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With Silver Bells, And Cockle Shells,
And so my garden grows

Mistress Little Lamb has started her garden (on my kitchen counter).

This one is part "experiment" with seeds, soil and water.  "To see if plants/seeds can take a really wet soil."
The "poison" sign was to "keep anyone from thinking it was root beer and drinking it."  Even though we don't drink soft drinks - very thoughtful, you just never know. :o)

While outside, things are really looking healthy and promising...

We are spending a lot of time outside in our garden...so many projects...

I had really pruned this tree back.  I'm so glad it's now bursting with buds (despite year 'round 'Christmas' lights - which look so pretty in the summer evenings).

Hello Camellia...so lovely.  Did you know that this flower/shrub was named after a Jesuit missionary?

These roses were pruned by the deer...they are coming back now (with the help of some deer netting).

And soon we can transplant these to the outside garden beds.