Promise

And the first thing God did was make another promise. "I won't ever destroy the world again." 

And like a warrior who puts away his bow and arrow at the end of a great battle, 

God said, "See, I have hung up my bow in the clouds.

And there in the clouds -- just where the storm meets the sun -- 

was a beautiful new bow made of light.

It was a new beginning in God's world.

It wasn't long before everything went wrong again but God wasn't surprised, he knew this would happen. That's why, before the beginning of time, he had another plan -- a better plan. A plan not to destroy the world, but to rescue it -- a plan to one day send his own Son, the Rescuer.

  God's strong anger against hate and sadness and death would come down once more -- but not on his people, or his world. No, God's war bow was not pointing down at his people.

 It was pointing up, into the heart of Heaven.

from The Jesus Storybook Bible, by Sally Lloyd-Jones

It's 2012 and time to prune the roses! {How to Prune a Climbing Rose}

 Here in sunny SoCal, early January is THE time to prune the roses. 

If you do it right and in the right timing your roses will be more prolific, 

your bushes will be healthier and more disease resistant, 

and you will establish shapely plants with a brighter future!

{How's that for a little pruning promo?}

This is what my two climbing roses looked like earlier this week ~ lots of long runaway shoots, 

a  few faded blooms clinging on here and there, some rust, mildew, spot (diseases) encroaching. 

These roses needed to be given some direction. 

They needed a plan.

Here's how the two plants looked after being pruned ~ completely de-leafed, shorn of all encumbrances, spindly hangers-on, and blemishes. They are ready for a new year.

I start the process trying to see the bare bones of what I want to keep. 

Notice the twiggy branches shooting off the main canes. 

Those babies need to go.  

I cut off all the cross-branches and chose a few strong, well-spaced vertical canes to keep. 

They are secured to the fence and then trained horizontally at about shoulder-height. 

Most of the best rose production will come from the horizontal portions of the canes. 

Remember, roses bloom on new growth, so it doesn't help much to keep the old stuff around. 

Get rid of as much as your gardener's conscience will let you. 

Snip. Snip.

So that's the overall shape of my two climbers. Cutting off (all) the cross-branches is the easy part. 

You don't have much decision making there. Just cut at the base of the branch.

I also cut back the strong structural canes that I've decided to keep. 

It's best to be very deliberate about where to make that cut. Choose a spot just above a bud eye

where a new branch and ultimately blooms will appear as the plant pushes new growth. 

Once you can identify these bud eyes and "see" (no pun intended!) where they will lead, 

you can choose which ones to encourage. The last (highest) bud eye on each cane 

will receive an energetic push from the plant as it responds to the pruning. 

Make your cut just above a bud eye that is pointing in the direction you want 

strong new growth to go ~ away from other canes, away from the center of the plant, 

generally out and up. Notice how varied the bud eyes can look (below).

 

 The bud eyes are the (usually) lighter green or pinkish, slightly swollen areas, often just above a leaf or above a brownish lateral scar on the cane. Once you've chosen the spot where you want to encourage strong new growth, cut just above (maybe a 1/4 inch to a 1/2 inch or so), 

leaving enough room so you don't damage the bud eye.

The immediate results of hard pruning are satisfying but not pretty.

But the final results are stunning.

Happy New Year!

Mustard Yellow Table {love it or hate it?}

Lately I've been loving bright, mustard yellow. I think it started with a scarf I got last summer and now it has resulted in a little table transformation in our living room. Scott and I originally picked up this sturdy end table a few years ago from friends who were moving and I refinished it in a creamy white. I pretty quickly realized the white was too "antique" for me and the table just looked blah.

After collecting some images of little French tables on Pinterest and mulling it over (secretly) for quite a while, I decided to paint it a bright mustard yellow. 

 Scott said, "It's very yellow." I said, "Trust your wife."

Next, I sanded off some of the new paint, revealing some of the old white paint 

and the pale bare wood underneath.

Then, in order to give it a more aged look, I stained the exposed wood.

A final coat of wipe-on polyeurethane finished the job and gave it a hard, durable seal.

The whole project took just a few hours, with most of that time spent waiting for the paint to dry. I bought only a little sample jar of Valspar's "jackson square" paint (from the allen + roth collection at Lowe's) and that was plenty to do the job. The stain and polyeurethane were leftovers from other projects.

And now I have a much more interesting little corner in our living room.

I'm pretty sure a lot of people would think this kind of furniture refinishing is rather unfortunate--

who would want this garish, mismatched table in their home?

Well, call me crazy, but I do!

So what do you think?

Love it, or hate it?

Free and Fast Table Setting {Pure Style Pretty}

 In the many (lovely and inspiring) hours (that I will never get back) viewing home decor-ish ideas in the vast reaches of the interwebs, I have landed on a few brilliant concepts that have made their way into my home.

One of these is the beautiful design sense of Lauren Liess, through her blog Pure Style Home. Lauren's style is a little vintage, a little traditional, a little modern, a bit of kitsch, and lots of simple, natural, comfort.

She often features twigs and clippings and random natural objects she picks up on the side of the road. 

I love how she encourages the discovery of beauty in quirky unexpected places 

and then (boldly) brings that living design into the home.

This Christmas Eve, just before dinner was ready, I had a Pure Style Home moment. I pulled out my wrinkled (relaxed/casual!) tablecloth and napkins, assembled a collection of mercury glass votives, and went out into the yard with some garden shears, ready to bring in any pretty thing that might work.

The result was a mixture of eugenia clippings and ferns in a low vase for a centerpiece 

and single ferns on each napkin for place settings.

Don't you think it's kind of thrilling to create something free and fast and beautiful, or is that just me?

(You can find a link to Lauren's blog ~ Pure Style Home ~ on the sidebar.)