Inspired by Sarah’s recent “non-collaboration” succulent plantings… I decided to replant a new succulent for my window too! Luckily, I had a large flower pot all ready to go. Can’t wait for this new one to grow into its pot!

Looks like my friend Sarah has done a little succulent re-planting! Loving the line-up of my stamped & soda-fired flower pots… sure, they were intended for a “collaboration” between us. But after a “couple” years of collecting dust in her studio… it’s good to see they’ve come out of retirement with a wonderful solution!!! Beautiful Sarah… and I still love the ONE piece that came out of that original project!!! HA!!!

So my cousin Kim & I hopped in the car early yesterday morning… and decided to drive down to Bartonville to visit my friends Gerry & Rosene. They’re my very first at fair friends EVER!!! From the very first day, from my very first show oh so many years ago in Sandwich, Illinois!!!

So we had a wonderful drive down to Central Illinois covering many subjects and “solving all the problems of the world”. We made it to Goodfield – and it’s always tough to go past Goodfield without stopping at BUSY CORNER for homemade pie!!!

We decided to get a slice to go… a snack for the road for the next 20 minutes… but I couldn’t decided… so I got two! I went with a classic rhubarb pie, and slice of chocolate turtle marshmallow cheesecake!

When we got Gerry & Rosene’s home, you’ve always go so much beautiful garden colors, flowers & rustic art everywhere to see. So here’s a visual tour… just a small glimpse of their garden!

And then at the end of our evening, we were sitting around on the deck having dinner, and more pie… AND brownies with ice cream & hot fudge!!! And then we saw a spider building an amazing web directly above my chair. Tough to photograph… but I kinda got this nice shot… a bit blurry… but still pretty cool.

And with that… our road-trippin’ day to Peoria had come to an end…
and it as time to head home!!!

Mother Nature’s entry for another TEXTURE TUESDAY!

When the big storm came though a couple days ago, apparently is broke off a bunch of Rosene’s coleus plants. Not to be beaten down, she gathered them up and made a cute little centerpiece for herself! Helps when you have a nice little stamped & soda-fired vase to put them in!!!

And for those of you following the growth of the purple hyacinth bean plant on my back porch… it’s growing well & filling in nicely. And today we got our very first flower!!! Hopefully there are a LOT more to come!!!

Fun little pottery twirls “sprouting” in my friends’ garden down in Peoria! A fun little accent bordering the staircase… as every garden could use a bit more pottery, right?! Looking good Rosene & Gerry!

Just a few homes down the street from my condo there is this wonderful collection of lilies blooming in the front yard. Such an AMAZING collection of lilies all blooming at the same time… so many colors, so many textures and the aroma is perfectly overwhelming! Whoever is growing these… thank you from the entire neighborhood!!!

Looks like my back porch purple hyacinth bean vine is filling in nicely… weaving through my curtain of rusty gears. We should be seeing flowers in the next couple weeks!!!

After the quick thunderstorm that just blew through, these red lilies look even better with some raindrops lingering on the petals.