FYI

My NEW blog address is
bj-sweetnothings.blogspot.com

and I have a link to where you can receive
SWEET NOTHINGS posts in your EMAIL ACCOUNT.

Please go to the NEW BLOG.
thanks, bj

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

SUSAN BRANCH....JULY

Hello, Everyone, 

JULY........can you believe it's already HERE ...? 

MEEE, either !! 










One of my favorite things is my
SUSAN BRANCH
Calendar.....




The art work is sooo adorable
and I wanted to share with you
her JULY work.

I am such a SB fan....:)
(i've always been a
"get the autograph" kind of girl...:)

We have a grandson, DREW, that has a 23rd birthday in the delightful month of JULY.


With the HORRIBLE heat this summer....we will stay inside most of the summer time....
even tho I would MUCH rather be lounging on some red and white chairs like Susan has drawn here. :))


"Fireflies twinkle in the dark..."

...more memories for me...
Dallas had TONS of fireflies...
but, we called them "lightning bugs" and we LOVED playing with them.

At the risk of sounding really mean, we would catch some of the fireflies,
pull their little lighted butts off and stick the light on our fingers, playing like we were wearing
DIAMOND RINGS...

(it never dawned on me that whatever it was that made the little butts STICK to our fingers
MIGHT be .....GAG....their little "innards"........)

(NOW I think about that little TINKER BELL and am sorry we pulled the bugs little butts off)
*remember....we were just 5/6/and 7 yrs old    :>(


"BLUE SKIES" was a 1926 song, written by Irving Berlin...

WILLIE NELSON recorded it in 1978 and, until I did a little research,
I've thought all this time that WILLIE wrote it....:)
***
I've already told you how we hung ALL our laundry on clothes lines that my daddy
built for my mama....

I can still smell the freshness of the sheets as I climbed into bed at night...
I MISS that smell.


I have ALWAYS wanted to use flowers on my food....
never have had Pansies or Nasturtiums....
and I am scared to use Violets and Rose Petals...
I am SUCH a sissy girl....**sigh


                    HAPPY 4TH OF JULY........
My cousin, SKEET, and I have spread a blanket on the grass at night a million times and my daddy would be out there with us, looking at kizillion billion trillion STARS.

My silly daddy, for some reason, would start "barking" and every single dog for a hundred miles would start barking...
my dad would laugh      and laugh...such a silly man...
so much fun...
and I loved him dearly...

 It's been YEARS
since we've been to the beach.

Before Mr. Sweet's
sister passed away,
she and her family
lived a block from the beach on Port Aransas....

Our family spent many summer vacations, visiting them and playing on the beach and in the water.

I miss the fun at the beach.....

...don't you adore this "saying" Susan put on her JULY calendar.?



 I always remove anything that will be below water of my flowers.

My mama taught me this when I was very young.

Mom always had beautiful flowers and we had many vases of flowers throughout our house....
she taught me how to arrange flowers to look their prettiest.

Gosh, it's amazing, when you give it some thought, how many things we all learned from our moms.

I sure hope I have taught MY children something they will always remember......



When I was a tiny girl, under 8, living in Dallas, Texas
offered us so many fun things...

and window shopping, downtown Dallas, was a real treat.

Now, we didn't go downtown at NIGHT...

always in the afternoon and it was always HOT.

My daddy took us for ice cream cones every time we were close to an ice cream shop.....

memories.....*heavy sigh


We didn't have a BEACH to go to around Dallas but we went to a LOT of lakes around there.

WHITE ROCK LAKE wasn't too far away from where we lived so we went there often....

my aunts, uncles and cousins would often times go with us for the FUNEST times....:))

We would go to POSSUM KINGDOM LAKE sometimes...
the most I remember about going there is that my cousin, SKEET, and I would lay on some of the hammocks the lake people had put up between the many trees....
O...
and we would find lots of change in the sand under the hammocks....
hahhaa....such fun.

Our daughter, STACY, and her family go to Possum every few weeks during the summer time...
they have a big, nice camper there and Mr. Sweet and I went with them last summer....

I looked and looked for those hammocks I remember as a child but they were not there...


 "ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET"
is a song written in 1930.

My mama used to sing this song to me all the time when I was little.

"...leave your worries on the doorstep....
direct your feet.....
to the sunny side of the street....."

I guess ALL of us love BEATRIX POTTER...
I know I do....

 “Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were--Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter. ”
Beatrix Potter

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the month of JULY as SUSAN BRANCH sees it.
I so love her adorable art.

I hope you have a FUN DAY because,
FUN is GOOD.  

XOXO, bj

supporting the following parties...

My Happy List
Cottage Style Party
Show and Share
What's It Wed. 

Please visit these parties for some awesome features.
xoxo 

27 comments:

Debbie@Mountain Breaths said...

I am going to visit Susan when we are on Martha's Vineyard. She doesn't know it, but we shall drive by and wave. Happy 4th to you!

Blondie's Journal said...

What a fun post, BJ! I just love SB, too, and get her calenders every year. I also have all of her books. Do you go to her blog?

You have such great memories of your childhood...it sounds like it was magical. I had to laugh over the lightening bugs...my mom told us that as a little girl, they would pull the lights off them and string them up on thread to make necklaces. Ooh, gross! I mean guts around your neck!!

Have a Happy 4th!

XO,
Jane

Kathleen Grace said...

I love Susan Branch's art too! It is so beautiful and she has such a down to earth outlook. Do you visit her blog? Heaven! As long as you use flowers not sprayed with pesticides they are safe to eat. Lily petals are crunchy and good, nasturtiums are peppery and you can eat the flowers OR the leaves. Violets and rose petals don't really have that much flavor but they sure are pretty, and of course chive blossoms and other herb blossoms taste like the herb! Yummy!

Sarah said...

BJ, love the work of Susan Branch. Fun is good! I like that! ~ Sarah

NanaDiana said...

You know what I enjoyed much more than the SB calendar? Your memories of your childhood. We have some very similar memories, bj. My boy cousins used to catch those lightening bugs at night and smear them on their Tshirts so they would glow. The girls always that was SO GROSS! lol Living in the mountains we had lots of starry skies (like you did) and my dad knew all the constellations. Those were wonderful memory making days, weren't they? GREAT post- xo Diana

Deb Hrabik said...

Oh, I love her art too!!
Deb@LakeGirlPaints

Elizabeth Edwards said...

I love the "in case of emergency" that is great. what a great calendar.

is this your 1st of her calendars or how did you find out about it? ( :

Terra said...

The calender and your remarks are darling. You know nasturtiums are very easy to grow and the flowers are tasty on salads, with a gentle radish flavor.

Pondside said...

BJ, thanks for pointing me to this artist, who I don't know at all. I'm going to find out more!

Madeline's Album said...

The calendar is very nice. Thank you for sharing all your wonderful memories. Have a blessed evening and a safe and fun 4th of July. Madeline

Mary@mydogsmygardenandmary said...

Love SB also and have lots of her cards,books etc.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful memories - sure brings back a lot of the things I did when I was young
what fun we had.
Mary

Patty said...

What a fun post bj! Loved reading your memories - the lightning bugs cracked me up. Love your blog colors for the 4th. And I love SB too! Love love loved everything about it.

Latane Barton said...

What a delightful post. I love your calendar and all the memories it invokes. Have a happy 4th.

jp@A Green Ridge said...

Memories are so much fun!...:)JP

Theresa said...

What an entertaining post, filled with special memories:) Have a blessed day dear BJ, HUGS!

Debbie said...

So many wonderful little memories inspired by one simple calendar. This was a fantastic stream of consciousness and had me nodding and smiling through the whole thing.

Now, about those lightening bug earrings. Be ye careful... You know how people like to hold what we say and do THIRTY (plus) years ago against us today. Just ask a Lady and her Sons...

Debbie said...

I meant rings. Got a case of the stupids this AM.

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Susan is so talented! And has such imagination too. :-)

And thank you for sharing your fun memories, with us.

Hugs...

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Beverly said...

That was so much fun, BJ. I enjoyed seeing your July calendar, and it was so much fun sharing your summer memories.

Irene said...

What great memories. I will go look for the SB calendar. Happy 4th of July! Go out and make great memories with those grand kids.

Vee said...

It's so festive here! Love it. I have this very calendar thanks to your suggestion earlier in the year. Eight dollars. What a bargain. I do think that next year I'll get the one that's the smaller size like Auntie's. I want it right near the PC so I can really use it.

Ricki Treleaven said...

I absolutely adore Susan Branch. I won so many of her books, and I enjoy them and refer to them often! I think it's neat how you shared your memories triggered by the cute calendar, BJ. I enjoyed reading your stories! Summertime always reminds me of childhood, too.

Thanks for linking-up to My Happy List! You made my day!

xo,
RJ

Ceekay-THINKIN of HOME said...

I just love you BJ. I wish with all my heart I could meet you in person. I loved this post. I have many fun childhood memories of the 4th!

Miss Angie said...

Such a cute calendar, I really like it!

Diane | An Extraordinary Day said...

I too have always enjoyed Susan Branch's art and my address book is one of her lovely illustrated books.
The July calendar is beautiful and my don't we wish that our July looked like her illustrations. :)
Here in PA we have quite a few fireflies too. I love to lay in bed and see them twinkling in the trees in the wee hours. We've only lived here a little over a year, so I was surprised to learn that fireflies are actually the state bug. Haha....do you know what your state's bug is?
Best wishes for an Extraordinary July....and a Happy Independence Day!

FABBY'S LIVING said...

I loved this post BJ, so much fun! I love childhood memories, they are the best! I have a C'mas book that has many memories from the autor I just adore and relate a lot. Have a very happy and safe Fourth weekend.
FABBY

Audrey said...

I love this post as it bring back memories the same as yours ... laying on an old quilt watching the stars and maybe having a canning jar full of fireflies sitting near by. Beautiful calendar. I need to be sure to get one next year.
Happy 4th.
Hugs,
Audrey Z. @ Timeless Treasures