Summer Cottage

This picture of our house is from the play ground across the road. While the grandsons played; I realized that I rarely see it from this perspective. Yes, I’m still in love with this old pile of stones. We’ve stacked up a lot of love and memories inside these walls in thirty-five plus years.

The Gladys rose has produced so many blossoms that I needed to harvest the first crop so that the rest would not be dragged to the ground in the heavy rains we are having. So I gathered them and then wondered what they could be used for, since I already had numerous bouquets in the house and also had shared some with others. Anyway, this turned out to be a fun, project. Who makes rose water these days, anyway! But it was easy to do and lots of fun.

The color and fragrance is captured in these bottles, which I shared with friends, because it won’t have a long shelf life. So pretty and fun to do. In case you want to try it.

Fill a glass mixing bowl with the petals of roses. Pour boiling water over them until they can be all mixed into it. Next morning, you’ll have pale, soggy petals which can be squeezed and lifted out of the water. Strain this fragrant, beautiful water into a jar and set in the refrigerator to cool. Buy the little one dollar cosmetic spray bottles at Wal-mart and fill to pass out to friends. Use it as ironing spray. Spray it on your tired, dry face. Spray it into the air for a room mist deodorizer. Or on your skin or hair. Remember to feel all old-fashioned about it. Smile. These are the days of choosing to slow down.

It’s campfire/s’mores time here. Everybody came for Sunday evening grilling and campfire. We have teenagers in the family again and these two are perfect renditions of same. We love it. They have brilliant minds, energy to match so that wisdom is coming right along, as well. Us older folks get to field some wild ideas which must be tempered with good humor and shared wisdom. The idea being purported here had to do with lab-grown meat versus the cattle on a thousand hills. Personally, if I had only lab-grown meat for my daily meat, I would pass. But it sure was fun to listen to the discourse and debate. Laughter.