Natural Bridge

I have been out and about and just want to share some of the places I visited during these
travels.  Unfortunately, I did not carry my camera with me, but I used my phone to photograph
what I saw, so the quality may not be it's best.

Let me begin with this amazing Natural Bridge. As we drove up north, we decided to
make a stop and take a nature walk with our son.  My boys love the outdoors and enjoy
exploring new things.

When we walked down the path, we never imagined the Natural Bridge to be as enormous as it is.
It is quite a sight!  Story mentions that our first president, George Washington, actually carved
his initials on this bridge.

I didn't post all the creatures we met along the way, but here is one of my son's favorites,
the short millipede and one of my least favorites, snakes.  The snakes are said to be harmless,
I was inches away from this one, I noticed it before placing my arm on that rock, yikes!!
Did I scream?  You bet!  My son loved this adventure.  It was like a scientist or explorer
out on a mission to discover all that nature offers.

If you have kids that love a good nature walk and that love to explore creatures of all sorts,
this is a stop that must be made.  There is so much more to explore in the area including caverns.
Here is a link if you want to learn more about Virginia's Natural Bridge.

See you on the next stop.
I hope that you are enjoying your summer, what have you been up to these past days?

How We Created a Butterfly Garden

There may not be a creature on earth that is more admired by children and perhaps adults, than the butterfly. Why not put out a welcome mat for these amazing creatures? One of the most wonderful features that butterflies have is that they are easy to attract into your own back yard. Our backyard oasis was designed to attract butterflies by providing them with only four things; 1) Plants that the baby caterpillars can feed on 2) Host plants that serve for laying eggs, 3) Flowers that provide nectar and 4) shelter from wind and predators.

Plants that provide Nectar

Your own observations will tell you what kind of flowers will attract butterflies where you live. Start by setting aside a sunny part of your garden to grow wildflowers.  Among the wildflowers try planting a Butterfly Bush (buddleia).  It's fragrant flowers spikes bloom from July until the first frost--and most butterflies can't resist them.

In planting perennials, consider Phlox, Yarrow, Black Eyed Susans, Coreopsis, and Shasta daisies. We have had great success in attracting the Tiger swallowtails and Monarchs.

I had to snap several photos in order to finally capture the beautiful wings of this lovely Eastern Tiger Swallow Tail Butterfly.  

Plants that caterpillars can feed from

One good way to ensure a continuing supply of butterflies is to put in plants that will feed caterpillars and their larvae.  Consider Bermuda grass, clover, dock, hollyhock, lupine, nettle, St. Augustine grass, and turtle head for this purpose.

Shelter for Butterflies

Butterfly houses, similar to bird houses, provide shelter to the fragile creatures during storms as well as food.  They may be brightly painted, just as their inhabitants are.  

Planting a butterfly garden will not only attract these beautiful insects to your yard, but it will also preserve them.  Many species of butterfly are endangered and creating a habitat where they can thrive will help them to survive.

Because many butterfly species are threatened, please don't try to "preserve" their beauty by killing them & mounting them in boxes.  Admire them in their natural habitat.

I must admit, these are beautiful, and they are so large in size.  This is the Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, isn't he a beauty?

What attracts these amazing creatures here in our garden the most are the wildflowers like the buddleia, also known as the butterfly bush.  We have plenty of those around the property and they attract the hummingbirds too. Many zinnias planted in a garden along with purple cone flowers are appreciated by all these amazing creatures and the flowers bring in beautiful colors into your garden.

To find out what plants attract butterflies in your area, visit your local gardening store.

I hope that you have enjoyed our little butterfly adventure, these are only a few of the many photos taken in our butterfly garden and I hope that you enjoy.

Note: No butterflies were harmed.

Pavers for the Backyard

The days for outdoor entertaining are here and to get ready, we have been working on updating our backyard.  It's a long term process, but Mr. M has layed out the pavers which is the biggest part of this project.  We are now focusing on the sides of the pavement and since they did not have sod available for us, we have planted seeds in order to have grass by the summer.

It is a lot of work, digging, measuring, layering, and leveling.  But if you remember this post, you will know that this is something we have wanted to do for a long time.  We decided to keep this project simple because Mr. M did all the work himself; the less complicated the better.
In the image you see above you will notice a huge rectangular section which was dug out to be completely pavered, but in order to keep costs down, we went with the smaller centered square as seen instead.

After the pavers were layed out, he added the sand to fill in the gaps and hold the pavers in place. When you add the water, it solidifies the sand.
Now all we need to do is add grass to the sides, perhaps plants too.  The project continues and I will post more as we go along later on. I have been working on outdoor seating and will post those soon as well.  Are you working on any outdoor projects?  Gardening?

A Frozen Morning in the South

After some rain, ice and a brief snow fall last night, we awoke to find everything frozen outside. If you have ever been in the deep south, you will know that this is not normal, so we were somewhat excited to see this scenery this morning.  In New York, which is where I’m from, this is the norm.

My little one finally got to witness a real snow fall and the ground covered in a thin white blanket of ice.  There will be NO driving today, as you can see, the road looks like an ice-skating rink.  Everything is closed today.  I hope that where ever you may be, you are staying warm my friends.

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Picnic Love

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Hello there!  I hope that you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Today I have gathered some of my favorite picnic settings and hope that

it inspires you to enjoy your very own.  My son is the master mind

behind the picnics at our home.  He loves eating in the outdoors with mom & dad.

We love to create different picnic settings to make it interesting. 

I hope that you are inspired as much as we are.

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If you wish to view more
ideas, visit my Pinterest page here and see more.
Enjoy!

Linked:
The Shady Porch
Sunny Simple Life

Entertaining Outdoors

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Hey friends, I hope that you are having a wonderful and blessed day, if not,
then I hope these lovely and inspiring outdoor spaces cheer you up a bit.

As you are well aware, I am in the process of
giving our little outdoor space a bit of a make over.  It is a long process due to weather,
but hopefully it will get done before the end of the summer, I hope.

It only needs cleaning up, painting, planting...well you get the idea.
It's not an expensive project, just time consuming, but we'll eventually get there.
In the mean time, I wanted to share these inspiring outdoor entertaining ideas.
Aren't they lovely? 

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This spring and summer open your doors to the backyard or even balcony if 
you have the space, as an extension of your home. The presence of a grand table 
with plenty of chairs transforms an open space into an outdoor dining room.  
Accessorize with what you have on hand, candles, jars, cans, lights,
 banners, tablecloth, runner and flowers.  You'll enjoy it and so will your guests!

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via: littlemissmomma

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These last three are from Ashley at Little Miss Momma and she creates the loveliest outdoor
entertainment spaces, simple and beautiful for a gathering.

I hope that you enjoy browsing through them as much as I have.

Which one inspires you the most?

Linked to:
Craftberry Bush
Salt Tree
The Dedicated House