Okay, finally on here to get caught up by organizing what I posted. It was a nice day here today. I should go outside tomorrow and take pictures of the azaleas while they are in full bloom. It seems all the plants are extra happy this year after all the rain in the fall. I've been able to spend some time with my horses lately - which I'd better do now before the really bad heat and the summer bugs (especially those biting flies) settle in. It's time for the horses to shed, so there's lots of brushing going on.

Here are the Bingo words that have been called so far (don't know why some of the spacing got so odd) :

GOING TO THE FAIR
BUCKLE MY SHOE
JACK BE QUICK
THE CUPBOARD WAS BARE

MY FAIR LADY

WEDDING BREAKFAST

SEVEN CATS

AND I DON'T CARE

ALL THE KING'S HORSES

HAS FAR TO GO

ALL ON A SUMMER'S DAY

NETS OF SILVER AND GOLD

THREE MEN IN A TUB

WENT TO BED

BLACK SHEEP

There are only 5 more to be drawn so I think there will be Bingo soon!

Next I'm posting who has sent and received.

Jeanne

Here's where we are with SENT and RECEIVED.

Simone will send to Jeanne (me) - RECEIVED

Faye will send to Shirley (sjc48) - SENT

Jeanne will send to Erica - RECEIVED

Emily will send to Melinda - RECEIVED

Amy will send to Simone - RECEIVED

Heidi will send to Faye - RECEIVED

Melinda will send to Emily - SENT

Annie will send to Heidi

Erica will send to Amy - RECEIVED

Vas will send to Annie

Shirley (sjc48) will send to Vas - SENT

If I made any errors, just let me know. I'll see you tomorrow with another Bingo word.

Jeanne

Bingo!

Jeanne -- I received your great Mary Mary Quite Contrary pack today. Your homemade bookmark is super cute and I love the Easter coloring book.

Jeanne also sent an Egg Coloring Kit, 'Brilliancy' Maiden Pinks seeds, a plant crossword puzzle, a spring flower word search, and a cute comic from the newspaper.

Thanks so much!

Congratulations Emily!

Shirley your box went out this morning.

Confirmation number 9405 8036 9930 0215 0258 36

Faye!

Heidi I received yours yesterday. I loved the snowmen and the red duct tape. My husband said it was like Christmas when he saw all the goodies. His mouth was watering with the vegetable seeds you sent. Here is a picture of it.

Faye!

Congrats on the Bingo win, Emily!

Super package, Faye, but what was the nursery rhyme?

I spy some of Heidi's hand made cards in that pack! Really pretty, Heidi!

Have a great day, All!

Shirley!

Faye, I'm glad you liked it. The rhyme was Mary Had a Little Lamb and I couldn't find a lamb anywhere. Just chicks and rabbits! I'm glad you liked it and it's even more fun when the hubby is interested, too!

For those of you who are wondering several things related to Mary going to school-pen, stickers. I made up a little story about Mary that included the seed names-Mary, marigolds, Mary learned about Russia in school (Russian Mammoth Sunflower) and California (Calif. Poppy), silly things like that. Heidi

Thanks, Heidi, I had the same problem with birds, for my nursery rhyme. I can see not finding my "specific" birds, but I found NO birds at all - good grief. Well, almost no birds at all, but the one I did find is so far from the theme that it is comical!

Would love to hear the full "Mary" story! How creative!

Shirley!

Heidi, what a great package and I love that you added some made up lines to the nursery rhyme so that it would tie in with Mary Had a Little Lamb! Wish I had thought of that because I was struggling with Mary, Mary Quite Contrary.

Erica, I'm glad you were happy with what I sent. I told Erica about this in my note - I picked my nursery rhyme last so I wouldn't cause anyone to have to choose a second time and it was going to be Hot Cross Buns. (I love them! For the past few years the bakery section of the grocery stores have had them available all through Lent. You guessed it - none to be found this year so I switched my idea and picked Mary, Mary Quite Contrary.)

Emily, I was so thankful to see that you had Bingo. May husband was asking me if I had created the game so no one would win. We only had 5 slips of paper left to be chosen. I have a little gift for you as the winner and will mail it out soon.

I'm the FOTESS hostess for April and I'm not going to post it early, but if you want to give it some thought, the theme will be April in Paris. I thought of that idea when I first signed up to be hostess for April which is one of the reasons I didn't want to trade that month with anyone.

Meanwhile I am updating the sent and received list on the list I posted last evening. When all have received I'll copy it to the bottom of the discussion.

The sun is out so hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures to post and share my beautiful spring flowers.

Jeanne

The full Mary story!

Mary (Marigolds) had a little lamb, little lamb, little
lamb.

Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow.

And everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went.

Everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to
go.

Mary got up in the morning and said “Oh Glory! I’m going to
be late for school.” (Morning Glories)

It (the lamb) followed her to school one day, school
one day, school one day. “Little lamb, you can’t (Cantaloupe) come to
school with me! You tendersweet thing!” (Tendersweet Carrots)

It followed her to school one day where they learned about
Russia (Mammoth Russian Sunflowers) and California (California Wonder
Peas) which was against the rules.

It made the children laugh and play, laugh and play, laugh
and play.

It made the children laugh and play to see a lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned it out, turned it out, turned it
out.

So the teacher turned it out but still it lingered
near. “Don’t be such a pansy (Pansy),” the teacher told the lamb and gave it a
swat.

“Oh, it’s almost 4:00! It’s time to take my lamb home,” said
Mary. (Four O’clocks).

“Come home, Sweetie,” Mary told her lamb. (Sweet William)

Mary told her teacher, “In case you didn’t know, lambs eat
oats and goats eat oats, but little lambs eat ivy, but my lamb eats Grand
Rapids Lettuce and Mustard Spinach.

I chose Mary had a little lamb because the first thing I thought of when I read the swap idea was a little framed cross stitch my Aunt Mary has in her kitchen. It's very crudely made and I'm sure some little girl somewhere made it. It says, "Mary had a little lamb. I have a dog." Heidi

That's great, Heidi! Thanks for sharing, there's a lot you could do with that concept. Hmmmm....a future swap? Food for thought!

Shirley!

Jeanne,, I would have called Bingo sooner but I thought I still had one word left. I was out of town for a couple of days and didn't have my list with me. When you posted the list of all the chosen ones, I checked to see which one I was waiting for and checked twice because I couldn't believe I had already gotten it.

By the way, Jeanne, I got your package today when I came back home. Thank you and thank you for supporting such a good cause.

Heidi, I love the full story. There were some big words there for kids!

Just stopped in to say hello. I'm trying to do my Easter cleaning --- and time will be running out soon. I took some pictures of my flowers yesterday and will try to post a few of them later.

Jeanne

What's that children's nursery rhyme...April showers bring May flowers...March sleet brings retreat? defeat? The word 'tears' doesn't rhyme! 60 miles from us there is snow and ice, highways closed. We'll see what we get by morning. Heidi

It looks like snow here, too, Heidi. Oh. Yay.

However, we didn't get much this year, and we always get one last snowstorm, so it's normal. Still don't like it!

Stay warm,

Shirley!

This weather is crazy, Yesterday I went to work at 5:30 AM, it was 40 and raining, then it snowed, then sunny, then raining, again snowed, Went home at 2;30 and it was beautiful. I saw a rainbow end to end... What a blessing! I love Mother Nature.. Never a dull moment :o)

These are the azaleas planted in front of our house. Our dining room window is the one behind the closer white azalea. When you look out the window, it looks like a white floral snow storm. (Sorry to hear some actually had a snowstorm!)

The next picture is one of my winter sowing containers. Normally I toss in the whole package of seeds - this is so crowded that maybe I should have planted half of the package!

I wish you could see how saturated everything is with pollen, but the pictures are much prettier not seeing that.

Jeanne

Beautiful flowers, Jeanne! Thanks for sharing! What kind of Butterflies? And what is in the WS jug?

My crocus's are done blooming, all I have blooming now are 3 lonely clumps of mini daffodils, don't know what happened to the rest of them. My mini tulips seem to have disappeared too. Bummer. But it looks like all the Iris's are coming up, thought the squirrels may have taken some of them, but so far, so good!

Well, we didn't get any snow, just lots of rain, which was needed. It is very grey and gloomy out there today, but that's okay, I've got a new stamp to experiment with and all is good!

Have a great day, Everyone!

Shirley!

Trying the identify what's in the pictures. In the very crowded milk jug, those are pink snapdragons that I got from someone on GardenWeb/Houzz. I don't think there was a name on the packet or I would have recorded it.

I'm not a butterfly person, but I looked up Butterflies in South Carolina and think I have an ID on them. They appear to be Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. From what I read the males are the large ones with the yellow and black and the females can either be yellow and black or mostly black with kind of a bluish tint. I'll try to get a picture and see if I have any luck. It has gotten hotter here today and I think it's has been a week or more without rain - we need it for the plants and to wash away some of the pollen!

Jeanne

For the butterfly experts, what are these?

The butterfly with a lot of black on her/him was not cooperating - barely landing on the flowers and in a hurry the whole time. Late this afternoon I only saw one with the yellow and one with the black coloring. I think they were winding down for the day! I was very surprised that the first picture turned out so well.

Jeanne

Jeanne, you were right; in the first pic, that's an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail; the second pic is the black form ETS female. The females are the only ones with the black variation, and it's kind of rare. The black form occurs mostly in the south, we only get the yellow and blacks ESTs up here. What great pics! It's going to be at least another two months before I see any of these guys. Thanks for taking the time to shoot and share the pics!

Shirley!

I got Melinda's package today. She chose a nursery rhyme that I had never heard of: On top of spaghetti. She chose a spaghetti theme and even sent a recipe as well as seeds for tomatoes and peppers along with some essential cooking tools. She also included a (I think homemade) lovely Easter egg in honor of the holiday. Thank you so much, Melinda! I look forward to trying your recipe! I love anything cooking related.

Jeanne, those are great pictures of your flowers and butterflies. Very impressive that you were able to capture the butterflies on the flowers so well.

Heidi, your nursery rhyme went out on Wednesday afternoon.

Happy weekend!!

Annie

I received an absolutely Great "Nursery Rhyme" package from Faye today!

Faye's nursery rhyme was "eenie meenie, miney mo", a counting rhyme, and I think you were right, Faye, this would have been really hard to match seeds and such. She was able to match one phrase: catch a tiger by the toe. But the package was wonderful, regardless!

Faye sent (not in pic) a pack of gladiola bulbs, a good sized clump or white Spanish Bluebells and a package of garden tie tape.

In the pic: a beautiful, yellow handmade Easter card, a pack of Tiger Eye Rudbeckia seeds, a chocolate rabbit, two homemade cards-created by her cousin (really pretty!), a pot hanger gnome, a beautiful ceramic garden plaque, and sticky notes with a matching pen. In the Blue Egg, there were packs of Bee Balm "Blue Stockings", Cypress Vine pink, Verbena Bonariensis (YAY!), Echinacea PowWow Wild Berry, Salvia "Purple Volcano", and a Gaillardia Mix.

Faye, the Tiger Eye seeds are new to me, looking forward to growing them! The other seeds are all my favorites and will go well in my butterfly gardens!

Thank you so much for this wonderful package, Faye, I'll enjoy using and growing all of it! Thank You!

Shirley!

That's a really nice package that you received, Shirley. I hope everyone has a good Easter weekend and if you are traveling, stay safe.

Jeanne

FOTESS · More Info

Six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Then I let it go again.

Why did I let it go? Because it bit my finger so.

Which finger did it bite? This little finger on the right.

Annie sent the most wonderful package. I love to fish--just don't make me eat it. My husband and girls eat the fish so I'm in good shape. Annie sent me bandaids (for bit fingers), Bit O'Honey (for the honey of a fish I'll catch), Butterfinger (for the ouchie to my finger), fish stickers (yippee!), turquoise napkins (I love turquoise and napkins are good when catching the fish or eating the fish either one), a knife (love it--wonderful) and the 1,2,3,4,5 part is for the seeds!!! 1-pea Super Sugar Snap 2-Sweet Williams/Claret, Holborn Glory, 3-beans/Dixie Speckled Butterpea, Jade, Red Swan 4-tomatoes/Blush, Brandywine Pink, Golden Orange, Marbled Supreme. Plus the dental floss which can be used for 101 things during fishing outings!

Oh, the things you don't know. I have wanted to try bush beans and now I don't have any reason not to! I started some tomatoes in my window this week. It's probably too soon, but I just couldn't stand it. I don't have the kinds you gave me so I'll have fun! Life just isn't life without the goal of summer grown tomatoes! I poured my Cherry Tomato seeds in the pot and I think every single one had to germinate. I can't kill a seedling so I'm trying to figure out what to do. I can always give them to neighbors if they get big enough. I've lost all my tomato starts the past 2 years trying to harden them off. Thank you so much! This was such fun! You made my week! Heidi (Wish my photo was clear like yours Shirley!)

Hi Everyone, and just in case I don't get on tomorrow - Happy Easter!

Heidi, I only have ONE place in my house that I can take reasonably good pics from, on that bookshelf. The lighting/light in this place is unreal!

Did a little yard work today, and filled the suet cages again. The birds are still coming in! AND!!!!! All 19 of my WS Pansy jugs have sprouted! I am so excited! Another good year for them. I've also got Turtlehead and Wild Columbine sprouting too!

Everything upstairs under the lights are doing well; as expected the Tithonia and the Brandywine tomatoes are getting too tall. Drat. Will have to solve that problem soon.

Great package, Annie!

I hope everyone has a really nice day tomorrow,

Shirley!

Happy Easter everyone.

Happy Easter to All!

Thank you Jeanne for a great month!

Good Morning!! Happy Easter to all.

Heidi, wow...you received your nursery rhyme fast. Glad you liked. There should have been a "Take Five" candy bar in with the seeds. But maybe it is sitting up in my seed office.

Thanks Jeanne for a great idea and month. So sorry I missed out on the games.

Happy day...

Annie

Happy Easter! My granddaughter is taking a nap so I signed on for a few minutes. Spending Easter with a 2-year old could not be better. She had such fun hunting for Easter eggs - plastic ones (right here in the house), dyeing the real eggs, and decorating paper eggs. She even made an Easter card.

We got to talk with the grandsons in CA and it sounds like they are having a good day, too!

Very odd weather - it's warm and the day has been totally misty and fog with just a tiny bit of rain. Everything is in bloom so it's pretty regardless.

I think I may rest for a bit until the little one wakes up.

Jeanne

Annie--yes, there was also a Take 5 Bar in the package. I'm so sorry it didn't get mentioned. What a fab package.

Have you all heard, "It's Friday...but Sunday's coming!" It's a sermon by a black Southern Baptist pastor who goes through the events up to Jesus' resurrection and the moral for us is that it may seem like Friday, everything's falling apart and life is awful...but Sunday (the good news) is coming! I love that message!

Heidi

I had a wonderful Easter weekend and hope everyone did!

Here's where we are with SENT and RECEIVED.

Simone will send to Jeanne (me) - RECEIVED

Faye will send to Shirley (sjc48) - RECEIVED

Jeanne will send to Erica - RECEIVED

Emily will send to Melinda - RECEIVED

Amy will send to Simone - RECEIVED

Heidi will send to Faye - RECEIVED

Melinda will send to Emily - SENT

Annie will send to Heidi - RECEIVED

Erica will send to Amy - RECEIVED

Vas will send to Annie

Shirley (sjc48) will send to Vas - SENT

I'll keep updating and if I missed someone having received, just let me know.

Emily, I will be mailing another prize to you - with the holiday weekend, I just haven't gotten to the post office for a few days.

Vas, I hope everything is okay with you. Please let us know when you send and receive.

Jeanne

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEANNE!

Jeanne -- Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Jeanne!!!

Happy Birthday Jeanne. Hope you are having a great day.

Thanks for the Happy Birthday wishes. I'm having a nice day being lazy and doing what I want. :-) I spent some time with my horses this afternoon which they enjoyed and I did as well.

Jeanne

Jeanne, Happy, Happy Birthday!!!!

Annie

Just wanted to stop by and thank Shirley for the very lovely and thoughtful card she sent me. Just brightened my whole day :)

Sorry I missed March...can't wait for April :)

vina

I've posted the April swap so you can look it over. I hope many want to "travel" to Paris with us.

I haven't heard from Vas, but I'm trying to reach him. No worries, Annie, if we don't hear back in a day or two, we have arrangements to send a swap package to you. We don't leave anyone who signs up without a swap package.

Have a good day, everyone!

Jeanne

I'm hoping we'll hear from Vas soon. I can't find the confirmation #, so that makes it a little difficult.

Annie, your package will be on it's way, next week. I still have lots of the same things that I sent Vas, so it isn't going to be a problem. I'm really sorry this had to happen to you.

Rainy here today, again. But much needed. Did some grocery shopping today, my least favorite thing to do, but, hey, I should eat!

The Downies and the Juncos are swarming the suet cages! I didn't see this many Downies all winter!

Jeanne just posted a chance for us all to "take a trip to Paris" with her, for the April Swap! It sounds like lots of fun! Check it out!

Have a great evening, All!

Shirley!

Emily your game prize has been mailed to you. Thanks for participating in the games. Still no word from Vas.

Jeanne

Jeanne, I got your package today. That was fast! Thank you so much. It was so well packaged and so cute. Thanks for being such a great hostess and for such a fun and creative swap.

Vas did not send to me for thIs month of March....so Shirley (sjc) sent a wonderful nursery rhyme package to me. First of all, Shirley, you did not have to this. But I thank you very much. I just opened my package from Shirley (sjc).............and here is the fun she sent my way.

Shirley, included several baggies, labeled 1-7.............very, very clever!!!

*a beautiful hand made card......I LOVE your cards and no tweaking is necessary.

#1 "Sing a song of six pence.".........Six colored pens....and do I need these big time....YES!

#2 "A Pocketfull of Rye".....I bag of rye flakes to be used for cookies or cooked like old fashioned oatmeal.......I have never used rye flakes.

#3 "4 and 20 Blackbirds Baked in a Pie"....LOL....lots of stickers...roosters, birds and flowers. I LOVE, LOVE stickers!

#4 "When the pie was opened the birds began to sing. Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the King?".................a very generous bag of M &M's

#5 "The King was in his counting house, counting out his money!".........lots of coin wrappers....for pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. My husband loves these. Lots of memories wrapping coins..............LOL!

#6 "The Queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey.".................several honey sticks........I love honey!!

#7 ""The maid was in the garden, hanging out the clothes. Along came a blackbird and snipped on her nose."................clothes pins with birds on them....to cute!

And seeds................

Beets Red Ace

Tomato Amish Paste

German Chamomile....I have never grown this!!

Watermelon Shiny Boy

Thank you so much Shirley. You are a JOY!!

Annie

I was the hostess for this swap and want to post a big THANK YOU to Shirley as well. Shirley sent a wonderful package to Annie.

Jeanne