Penny Sanford Designs

"Dancing with the Daffodils"

A happy, beautiful Easter to everyone! This has been such a spectacular year for the spring daffodils at Hamer Hills Farm! They are just begging for an Easter Egg hunt among the vivid blooms!

We shot just a sampling of the many different varieties here on the farm to share with you. It is just 1.5 minutes with narration.

Do you recognize the poem that Penny is narrating? It is William Wordsworth's most famous work, "Daffodils" or "The Daffodils", also known as "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", written in 1804 and first published in 1807.

Wordsworth then came back in 1815 and edited the poem, and that is the version you will hear in this clip.

The inspiration for this classic romantic poem is widely presumed to be a walk Wordsworth took with his sister Dorothy near their house in the Lake District in England.

Dorothy later wrote about this inspirational walk among the daffodils:

"When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow Park, we saw a few daffodils close to the water side. We fancied that the lake had floated the seed ashore and that the little colony had so sprung up. But as we went along there were more and more and at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road.

"I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever dancing ever changing.

"This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here and there a little knot and a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity and unity and life of that one busy highway. We rested again and again. The Bays were stormy, and we heard the waves at different distances and in the middle of the water like the sea."

– Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere Journal , Thursday, 15 April 1802

The Earth is Bursting Forth in Bloom

I'm not sure the spring bulbs have ever been as spectacular as they are this year!


However, in all honesty, I do say that most every year.



I've looked back at pictures from previous years, and the blooms do seem to be larger and on taller stems.



Unc spread ashes from the fireplace on many of the bulb naturalized plantings last November or December, and I think it made a nice difference.



Usually we buy commercial fertilizer to scatter on them in late October or November or early December, and again after the green foliage has died down in the late spring, early summer.




The four pink varieties we have MAY be my favorite, but then ever different variety I look at becomes my favorite. I will NEVER grow tired of the very fragrant heirloom varieties, especially the one in the fourth picture. That is the east meadow in front of the house.



We have been naturalizing bulbs and planting new varieties and dividing and spreading big clumps of daffodils every year for all of my 47 years!



I hope to continue doing that for the rest of my life. It must be quite a sight from the air because we are having helicopters slow down and fly low over the house, yard and meadows around the house.



Here are some very early narcissus that bloomed in time for Christmas. I had shared these pictures on Facebook, but had not blogged them yet.



I'm not sure why we had this Christmas gift of unexpected blooms because we have had plenty of cold weather this winter. The gift of these very early fragrant blossoms were most appreciated, nonetheless!



More photos of spring flowers to share with you, but this is enough for today!

Grandma's Spool of Thread Chosen by British Designer Torie Jayne

My grandmother's spool of thread is published again! It is the picture on the bottom right from London designer Torie Jayne's January 24th blog post!

This is the fourth or fifth time Gordon's photo has been chosen for a print publication or online publication, and even one time as an advertisement for a men's clothing designer.

Here is the original post/story about Grandma's popular spool of vintage thread.

Grandma would be beyond amazed!

This time, the picture was chosen by British designer Torie Jayne. Here is the link to her blog. I hope the link goes straight to the January 24th blog post where Grandma's spool is featured.

On more than one occasion I have spent several days (the free time) perusing her wonderful blog that is an abundance of eye candy and ideas!

Torie's blog is not letting me give you a direct link to her January 24th blog post where this montage is featured, but it is worth scrolling until you find it. Here is the link to all of her January posts. You will see enjoy the visual sensory journey back to January 24th, I promise you!

In fact, I advise you start with her current blog post and work your way backwards! Thanks,Torie! I would never have discovered your wonderful inspiring blog if you had not asked to publish Grandma's spool of thread photo!

Torie Jayne

A Color Orgy!

Today I found myself happily lost in an orgy of color!



These first pictures are from the Renaissance at Colony Park Lifestyle Center in Madison, Mississippi. I learned today that "lifestyle center" is a trendy new name for a stylish shopping area! More on that in another post.

I've long been a fan of planting pretty vegetables in a flower bed. This one was so lush and healthy that I found myself craving some ranch dressing! Oh, and that rosemary bush! I've NEVER gotten a rosemary plant to grow that large. I turned as green as the pansy leaves with jealousy! I was so busy running from one color burst to the next that I failed to get a picture of that beautiful rosemary bush!



And it was just barely warm enough today that we could have enjoyed a leisurely lunch under one of these Happy Yellow table umbrellas. We only had 30 minutes, and it was well after lunch, so I'll have to come back another day to lunch under the yellow umbrellas!

The color orgy continued at my doctor's office, provided by her salt water fish tank! My Facebook friends have taught me some facts about these next few pictures.

1. These Happy Yellow fish are called "tang". They are salt water fish.



2. Watching fish/creatures in an aquarium lowers blood pressure! I can believe it! (My bp was up today because of an event I will share with you in another post, probably tomorrow.) I should have stayed longer watching these beautiful fish and other critters!



3. This cute little fella is a salt water coral banded shrimp. He posed and "vogued" and pranced and strutted his stuff for the camera. The yellow tang got shy when the camera came out.



4. The blue little fish looked like a rich royal blue-purple sometimes and like an intense French blue sometimes. Do they change colors, or was it the lighting in the tank? What are these beauties called?

This feast of color today made me want to rush home and pull out fabrics from my stash to mix colors and patterns! What an inspiring day!

What inspires you to play with the colors in your fabric stash?

Stock Tax Photo for Small Business

The sunshine filtered through the dusty blinds onto the little table where I prepared to work on Taxes yesterday. The T-Terror. The five letter word that reduces me to shivers.

Then I saw IT. A perfect stock photo with the shadows created by the blinds and the calculator and the blank 941 tax form.

Not that I was stalling from actually getting into substantive work on the taxes, but I just HAD to capture that fleeting moment.

Now, do you know anyone who needs a stock photo of Tax Time for Small Businesses (because of the 941 form).

I have other versions that show the form to be for 2008, and a version without the calculator.  Shoot me an email if you are interested.

Do you have any idea which of the many stock photo sites are best for obscure photographers like Gordon and me? We have quite a few iconic photos that we would enjoy "selling" as stock photos.