Thursday, June 30, 2011

A Rose from Oklahoma

buon giorno

(Italian for Good Morning!)


Today I will be finishing up
The Language of Flowers:
Flower of the Month -
the Rose.

The State Flower of Oklahoma is the teacup rose.

Rosa odorata (Andr.) Sweet
It was adopted in April, 2004.
It was developed as a hybrid tea rose in 1964
by Herbert C Swim and O.L. Weeks,
at the Oklahoma State University.
Dottie Weissenberger says she's been working to have the rose
named the state flower since she helped plant 500 of them
at the state Capitol more than 40 years ago!
The Oklahoma hybrid tea rose is a deep crimson representing
the blood shed when the Five Civilized Tribes were moved to Oklahoma (referred to as OK from now on).

Many of the web sites that are not being currently updated
list the Indian Blanket as the state flower.
The Indian Blanket - Gaillardia pulchella
is now officially listed as Oklahoma's Official Wild Flower.
Indian blanket, Gaillardia pulchella


Another mix up is the difference between
a State Flower
a State Wild Flower
and a State Floral Emblem!

The Oklahoma official State Floral Emblem is mistletoe:

mistletoe

The state quarter issued for Oklahoma shows
the incorrect State Flower as Indian Blanket!

It was issued in 2008, four years after the hybrid tea rose had been voted in as the state flower!

Somebody made a big 'oops' there!

I love the paper cuts found at
But again, they list the OK state flower as mistletoe.
Wrong.
As long as you know you are showing the
state floral emblem - the mistletoe, this is a beautiful cutting.

hybrid tea rose

Oklahoma is derived from the Choctaw words:
"okla" - red
"homma" - people
The state was formed in November, 1907 by
a combination of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory
of the Five Civilized Tribes:
Cherokee
Chickasaw
Choctaw
Creek
Seminole
c.1909

hybrid tea rose

Roses are ancient symbols of love and beauty.
The rose was sacred to a number of goddesses
including Isis, Venus and Aphrodite,
and is often used as a symbol of the Virgin Mary.
a lovely beaded red tea rose from

A map showing where the state of OK is in the USA.
From Liana's blog here is a beautiful June birthday dress:
Here is Grace, one of the dolls that fits it.

Next is a lovely green princess gown, with pink roses:
and Sylvia, one of the paper dolls that will fit it.

Oklahoma tea rose

Hybrid tea roses are the favorite rose for much of the history of modern roses.
Hybrid teas were initially created by hybridizing
Hybrid perpetuals with tea roses, in the late 1800's.

'La France' was created in 1867 and is universally acknowledged as the first indication of a new class of roses.
from Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast' Broadway show

Browsing around the web, I found this great blog about making broken china into stepping stones.
I hope you enjoy it too:
If you are copying and pasting the address,
be sure to get both lines!

and yes....I have wanted to do a broken china stepping stone
for some time!
Guess I better go buy some more paper towels...

for sale by bosculglasses.com

Some famous people born in OK:

Chester Gould, creator of the comic strip 'Dick Tracy'
Maria Tallchief, joined with the newly formed
     New York City Center Ballet
Will Rogers, humorist, stage/film/radio actor, author columnist, 
     and Presidential Candidate on the Anti-Bunk Ticket, 1928
Mickey Mantle, voted American League Most Valuable Player 3
     times (1956, 1957, 1962); elected baseball's Hall of Fame, 1974
Jim Thorpe, This guy as a very long bio, so here are just a few
     highlights: voted 1950 Greatest Athlete of the Century by
     Associated Press;won 2 gold medals in Olympics 1912, but were
     taken away by a technicality - in 1984 the International Olympic
     Committee returned the gold medals to Thorpe's family; 1st
     President 1920 of American Professional Association; helped
     found National Football League 1922;
and after retiring, he became a Western movie actor, and spoke on behalf of Native American education!

State flag

More fun rose trivia:

Portland, Oregon counts "City of Roses" among its nicknames.
     It holds an annual Rose Festival.


The rose is the national flower of England and the United States,
as well as being the symbol of:
     English Rugby,
     the Rugby Football Union;
     provincial flower of Yorkshire - the white rose
     and Lancashire - the red rose (both in England);
     and the provincial flower of Alberta (Canada)


Roses are so important that the word means pink or red in a variety of languages (such as Romance languages, Greek and Polish)

Well, frankly I'm about 'rosed' out!

Lefton green heritage hand painted porcelain tea cup,


pink roses chintz mosaic tiles from http://www.mountainmoonmosaics.etsy.com/
They have a very good selection of pre-cut mosaic tiles.


A coloring page done in the stained glass style -

courtesy Dover Publications

Let's finish up with a great vintage song sheet cover:

c.1918

ciao!

inkspired

dominoes@myinkspired.com - give me some feedback!




Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Fresh Apple Muffins

hi!
Kate Greenaway illustration

Today's blog is kinda' late in the day,
so I thought I would just share a recipe,
a picture or two, and be brief.
If that's possible,
for me!

Fresh Apple Muffins

from "Nothin' but Muffins" cookbook
written by Cyndi Duncan and Georgie Patrick

winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award
from Publishers Marketing Association

nope, I don't know what that is!! but it's on the front cover!

3/4 Cup buttermilk
3/4 Cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg, beaten
1/4 Cup shortening, melted and cooled
2 Cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1 Cup apples, finely chopped
1/4 Cup raisins, optional
1/4 Cup nuts, optional

1. Preheat oven to 400'. Grease muffin cups
2. Beat egg in small bowl. Add milk and shortening.
3. Measure and mix dry ingredients in large bowl.
4. Add egg mixture and stir just until moistened.
5. Fold in apples, raisins and nuts, as desired.
6. Fill each cup 2/3 full.
7. Bake at 400' for 20 - 25 minutes.
8. Makes 12 muffins.


Here are two vintage folk boy and folk girl transfers.

Their flowers aren't really specific,
so make them any color you want!




a vintage 1920 French postcard

a flower mandala, courtesy of Dover Books

That's it for now.
Tomorrow we will be finishing up
the Flower of the month for June -
the Rose.

Here we come, Oklahoma!

inkspired


Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The North Dakota Wild Prairie Rose

Namaskar
('Hello' in West Bengal, India)



Today I am going to be covering the State Flower of North Dakota,
and some fun trivia facts,
gorgeous photos
and who knows what else!

You'll never guess what the state flower is...



Oh, yeah, the Wild Prairie Rose.... guess I said that at the beginning!

Of course, it had to be a rose,
as that is the flower of the month!


The correct, botanical name is

rosa arkansana

I also found some sites that list it as:

rosa blanda

I'm going with rosa arkansana, as that was by far the most frequently listed.



Enough technical stuff, let's get on to the fun!

Here is a coloring page with
 both North Dakota's State Flower, and State Bird:



When I started researching the wild prairie rose, North Dakota, etc.
I found something really cool!

We have a pair of Western Meadowlarks that are nesting at the corner of our roof!! 



Now, ours don't look near this fat, but everything else is right.
They both have beautiful yellow underbellies and under wings,
along with a little on top of their head.
No dull female colors for this pair!


Before this, we didn't know what kind of bird we had.
I think that's cool!

I found this wonderful papercutting site, which offers each state and bird, with a silhouette of the state in the middle.
Very clever.
Very cool.
I guess cool is the word for the day....


Next up, a lovely decoupaged wood frame with probably flower gift wrap, although you could certainly make this with dried and pressed flowers, torn catalog listings, botanical print old books,
dictionary definitions, etc.


This particular frame is for sale on etsy,
but I do not have the creator's shop name.
Let me know if you know who I should credit, please.



How did you make out with the New York famous people quiz?
I find biographies just fascinating.

Do yourself a favor, if you haven't read a biography or an autobiography lately, do it!

Ready for some North Dakota trivia?

AAA (American Auto Association) rates North Dakota as
 the most affordable vacation state.

North Dakota (referred to from now on as 'ND')
 is also rated as the safest state to live in,
and the #1 state for high school completion rates
That's some pretty good PR going on there.

'Dakota' is derived from the Sioux word for "friend".

ND is home to many tribes of the Sioux nation,
notably Lakota, Dakota, Hunkpapa, Hidatsa +

Hunkpapa Sioux leader, Chief Sitting Bull,
surrendered at Fort Buford, ND,1881.
He was murdered Dec.15, 1890.
North Dakota was the original burial ground for him.


The International Peace Garden
is located on US (ND) and Canadian (Manitoba) borders.

State Motto:

Liberty and Union
Now and Forever
One and Inseparable

Great spelling word there - inseparable!



The Dakota Dinosaur Museum in Dickinson
holds the world's largest intact triceratops skull.
It weighs 1,500 pounds!


Okay, I just have to include this trivia fact:
Grand Forks, ND holds
the World's Largest French Fry Feed
 every year, during Potato Bowl USA.

In 2006 a new World Record was set
with 4,620 pounds of French fries
served at the French Fry Frenzy.
Around 10,000 people were served
about 113 gallons of ketchup also!

I bet the air smells like cooking oil for miles!


Lovely embroidery, courtesy of http://www.turkeyfeathers.typepad.com/

Next up is a peyote beading pattern.
You could make this
into a wall hanging, amulet necklace
or as a beaded 'patch' to be sewn on another item.



Wouldn't this be a gorgeous wedding gift, with the beaded pattern section sewn into the middle of a satin or taffeta pillow?

ND Trivia:
In 1877 there were strong efforts to make the Dakota Territory to become both as a single state, and as two separate states.
Sounds like a lot of high feelings in the air.

On November 2, 1889
both North and South Dakotas were admitted.

President Benjamin Harrison tried to obscure
the order in which the statehood proclamations were signed,
so the exact order of each state was unknown.

Things like that can be important, at the moment, for some people.

Because of alphabetical position,
North Dakota is considered to be the 39th state.

(You know, 'N' is before 'S'.)

I bet there are a LOT of interesting stories attached to that!


North Dakota is home
to more wildlife refuges than any other state.


North Dakota AMERICAN DREAM COME TRUE:

Lawrence Welk was born in Strasburg, ND.
This famous "Champagne Music Maker" went
from a simple sod house (preserved)
 to national television fame 
and on to his very own television program,
much beloved by many.
They still show re-runs of his shows!

This stained glass pattern is available from glasshauntauctivacommerce.com 

Famous actresses and singers born in ND:

Angie Dickinson
Peggy Lee
Ann Sothern



More famous people born in ND:

Louis L'Amour (author)
Sacagawea (Lewis and Clark interpreter)
Sondre Norheim (pioneer of modern skiing)
Leonard Peltier (American Indian Activist) 
Judge Ronald Davies -
(ordered integration of Little Rock Central High in the 1960's)

this photo shows the rose hips from the rosa arkansana

Well, I'm about North Dakota'd out.
Obviously there is tons more to the state,
but that's all for today, for me.


I hope you are starting to recognize the different roses.
There are literally hundreds of species and colors of Roses.


There are appoximately 1.2 BILLION roses produced annually.
I'm pretty sure that must be worldwide!


Feel free to send me some!!!

:0)

inkspired