Flowers in the garden ~

Just a few pictures I took in the garden the other afternoon. Can anyone tell me what this flower is? For the last several years, I've had this vine grow in a little back garden and it reseeds itself every year. I have never seen it flower before. It is very unusual ~ unlike anything I've grown before.

My cannas are doing well. It is the only tuber (?) I've ever dug up in the fall and replanted the following year. I've had pretty good luck with it.

My hibiscus (what's the plural of hibiscus ~ hibisci?) were very late to break dormancy this year. In fact, I thought they had frozen out over the winter. I am so glad I did not dig them out. Two finally started growing and flowered, the third is still only about a foot tall.
Not a great picture, but morning glories are one of my favorites. I have had the worst of luck trying to grow them in recent years. I'll plant dozens of seeds and I'll be lucky if one grows to flower. This year I didn't plant any and this is one that reseeded itself.
I've been moving plants around in the garden and need to get a few mums for some fall color. I love pumpkins and gourds on the porch, but the squirrels destroy them long before Halloween. Any suggestions?

Thank you so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Please remember ~

NEVER FORGET!

God Bless America,
Land that I love,
Stand beside her and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans white with foam,
God bless America,
My home, sweet home.
God bless America,
My home, sweet home.

Weekend road trip ~

I'm finally getting around to showing you what we saw and did on last weekend's get-away. We started with the Jubilee Museum and Catholic Cultural Center in Columbus, Ohio. The museum is open by appointment only, so it was just the museum curator and us. There is no charge to visit the museum. It was founded in 1998 as a repository of Catholic artwork. It is currently the largest collection of diversified Catholic artwork in the United States. You don't need to be Catholic to appreciate the beauty of the objects. The pictures can all be enlarged to see the detail.
A host was put in the monstrance and used for benediction.

Various stained glass windows from demolished churches.

The middle zuchetti was worn by Pope John Paul II.

The entrance to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. We spent the entire day in the museum. It is huge ~ three hangars full of planes, floor to ceiling. There's also an IMAX theater that we did not have time for. Another no charge museum!

There really are some unusual looking airplanes!

From the Air Force Museum, we headed into Dayton. Unfortunately by the time we got there, the Wright Brothers Museum was closed for the day.

A beautiful Asian (?) Catholic church in Dayton. I was disappointed we could not go inside.

This is the Ohio State Reformatory, also know as the Mansfield Prison, which opened in 1896. At that time, they believed they could reform the inmates by teaching them a trade. It is a beautiful old building that was slated to be torn down until a group of citizens formed a preservation society, bought the building for $1.00, and are now trying to restore it. Many believe the prison to be haunted (including our tour guide) and they do offer ghost tours and overnight stays. I don't believe in the ghost part, but it is way too creepy to want to spend the night wandering the building with its peeling paint and lack of heat. The prison has been featured on TV ~ Ghost Hunters, I believe it is called. Movies filmed at the prison include Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976), Shawshank Redemption (1994) and Air Force One (1997).

Looking down the cell block hallway.

An ornate bench carved by one of the inmates.

Not the real thing, but as seen in the movie, Shawshank Redemption.

We stopped in Lebanon and visited the Golden Lamb. You are able to walk through the hotel and peek in all the rooms. It houses a wonderful collection of antique Shaker items.

I really struck out antique-wise. I always like to buy something to remember my trip, but all I ended up buying was a $4.00 treen container to add to my collection. Nothing too exciting. I also bought a pig bottle, also known as a codd bottle, as a little thank you to my DSO for taking me on the jaunt, but I forgot to take a picture of it. One day, I will have to do a little post about pig bottles. It's just an interesting little tidbit. I did find LOTS of things if money was no object, but like the rest of you, it is. I found prices to be high, or maybe I am just out of the loop.

We also spent a few hours in Waynesville. The town is full of quality antique shops, handmade furniture stores and the like. Karin, I did stop at Olde Glory (and here's picture proof like you wanted...lol!). It was a wonderful shop full of very primitive antiques. Even if I had the resources, most items would have been out of place in my 1940 colonial.

I hope I have not bored you with too many pictures.

Thank you for stopping by.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Punchin' ~ hookin' ~ penny-in~ ~ ~

Welcome everyone. I hope you are all having a great holiday weekend. The weather in northern Ohio is gorgeous once again. I got a little much needed yard work done this morning, but still have plenty more to do.

I can't stand to sit in the car and not have something to do, so last weekend on our little get-away, I took several things along to work on. I got the backs sewn on these punch needle pieces. The eagle was made a couple of years ago, the Halloween cat last fall, and the elephant just last month. Did you guess that I hate the finishing process?
Penny-in'. My new word! I also made progress on my penny rug. I got all the pieces blanket stitched that I had cut out. Overall, I'm please the way my stitches came out, but I had a bit of difficulty stitching around the square corners. I haven't worked on it since I returned. I really could get this done soon if I put my mind to it!
This is a freebie pattern I got from Linda over at the Wool Cupboard. (You can find her on my sidebar. I don't know how to add the link from here.) I got all the punching done while sitting in the car ~ just need to add the backing. That's one of the things I love about punch needle. It is very portable and doesn't take up much space.

I took this along, too, but did not start working on the binding until after I was home. I hooked this last year. I could not capture the true colors. They are more subdued. I wanted to use up some of my worms, but didn't even make a dent in them. When I first started hooking, I didn't have a cutter so I purchased wool already cut into #8 pieces. Now I have literally thousands that I will probably never use! This little mat is about 10" x 14" and I made it for an end table in the living room.

I also finished my cat rug ~ my largest rug to date!!! Of course, just the hooking part, not the binding part. I'll try to post a picture in the near future.

Thank you all for stopping by. Please come again soon.

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

Duchess ~ ~ ~

OH! Blogger is giving me fits tonight. Of course, I am short on time and was going to do a quick post. I should know better...lol! I am about ready to give up! I've accidently deleted pictures, and if I add them again, the order is all wrong and blogger won't let me move them. GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, sorry about my rant. I'll get over it! Fall is in the air here in northern Ohio. (What happened to summer? It can't be September!) Tonight we have the most gorgeous full moon! The last few nights have been crisp ~ great sleeping weather. I would love fall so much more if winter didn't follow it!

This young lady is Duchess. I am pug sitting while her mom and dad are away for a long weekend. She is a tiny little thing, probably 12 or 13 pounds, about 13 years old, one-eyed with a tongue that is always out. The poor dear has problems walking and occasionally loses her balance and falls over. You can't help but love her!

Last night when I put her food in the bowl, Marvin walked over to her bowl and stood there and just growled and growled, and then proceeded to eat all of her food! Not much of a gentleman, is he?

Duchess' mom told me the one thing I needed to know about her was that the very first thing in the morning Duchess needs to go outside to poop and sometimes she doesn't quite make it. So I get up, run downstairs and take her out. Nothing. I take her out again. Nothing. Before work I took her out FOUR times. I came home at lunchtime. Nothing. So now I'm getting a little concerned. After work. Nothing. The concern is now turning to worry. Finally late in the evening I got to stop worrying! She's now sleeping on one end of the couch ~ tongue hanging out and Marvin is on the other end. Without Ohio Pug Rescue, who knows what would have happened to these doll babies!

Hopefully in my next post I can show you the progress I made while riding in the car last weekend. I worked on my penny rug and several punch needle pieces.

Thank you for dropping by. May you all have a safe and fun-filled holiday weekend.

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

Bed and Breakfast

On our recent get-away, we stayed at three different Bed & Breakfasts. Two were underwhelming (but did serve a yummy breakfast). The third was fantastic! The Houstonia (house-tonia) in South Charleston, Ohio had the most gorgeous woodwork I have ever seen. If you are ever in the Dayton, Xenia, Springfield Ohio area and are looking for a place to stay, I highly recommend the Houstonia.

The exterior, with its modern siding, belied what was to be found inside.

The front door windows looking out from within.

The foyer and staircase were breathtaking!

This is the detail in the panelling. It is embossed leather.

The dining room.

The door leads to a butler's pantry.

A built in china cupboard can be seen to the left.

In the dining room, one of seven fireplaces in the house. Six are gas and one is wood burning.

Fireplace detail.

The Houstonia got its name from the original owner of the house. He was a what I would call a "snake oil" salesman, selling liniments and ointments.

The breakfast was out of this world. We had a fruit and yogurt parfait....

...and what was called a puff pancake with fresh fruit. It tasted like custard. Yum. Yum.

I hope you enjoyed your tour of the Housetonia and I haven't bored you with too many pictures.
Thanks to my Sweetie for taking all but two of these pictures.

Thank you for stopping by.

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

P.S. I hear Frannie is doing great in her new forever home. New mom loves her bunches and she is being spoiled like all pugs should be.

Marvin and I are getting along great. He does have a yeast infection in the ears and a bacterial infection of the skin and has started treatment for both.

I'm back, Frannie's not, but Marvin is :(

I'm back from my long weekend get-away. It was wonderful to run away from reality for a few days, but it is always good to get back home. I will share some of my adventure in my next post.

While I was gone Frannie went to her forever home. This time I really hope it is forever.

Do you remember Marvin the five year old black boy I posted about on July 27th? He was the pug who was adopted by a child psychologist and was to become a therapy dog. I really thought he'd be the perfect guy for the job. I'm not sure the reason, but he was returned to Ohio Pug Rescue this weekend, and he's my new foster. This is the first time I am fostering a boy, so he'd better behave!!! He's sleeping on my couch while I post this and try to catch up with my emails. (Who am I kidding? I am NEVER caught up with my emails!)

Thank you for stopping by and please stop back soon.

Pug hugs :)

Lauren