Look what I got!

Look at this cute birdhouse….doesn’t it look like a fairy house? Or a gnome home? My very creative son made me this for my Birthday. I told him I needed some new birdhouses, that mine were looking shabby…I just love the curling white birch roof and the house made from an oak log, the twig for a perch and the little sign that says Nana’s Garden. This is just so unique…

 

he also gave me this great book. Talk about a son who pays attention to what his Mom likes.

Full of great information on birds and what they like.

Then I got three of these! I can’t wait to start planting around them, morning glories, scarlet runner or even sweet peas. They look so pretty just standing out in the garden, some higher visual interest for sure.

Then I was in Home Goods on Monday and I found these sweet babies….just looking for a home. How about some big pots of ivy? I could twine them up the trellis…or more flowers? I don’t know where they are going but I WILL find a spot. I just love them so much…

These are just some of my seeds waiting for the ground to warm up a bit.

My Potting shed is waiting for me to fill the window boxes and to clean her out! Spring is calling me.

Sunday Morning Brunch

This is the tablescape I used last summer for our Sunday morning brunch with friends from the Cape. It was a perfect morning, I wish I had taken a picture of the food, but this year I will.

The placemats and napkins have a touch of rusty red in them and it does not show in the pictures. The napkin rings are dragonflys...we were in the garden. The silver was my husband's grandmothers and we use it all the time, so you will see it again. The hydrangeas were from the garden.

Coffee, tea and pastry was served from here in the shade.

I just can't wait for the weather when we can dine outside in the garden once again...right now we need a fire and blankets to do that!

Another room in my home

Come on into my Living room, it is on the south side of the house so it gets sunshine most of the day. It is one of my favorite places to be. I read in here, I light a fire and curl up in my chair. We put our Christmas tree in here and all gather here on Christmas, Easter and any other holidays....after the kitchen of course, which is where everyone seems to linger the longest.

You can see the room at Christmas on RMS http://www.roomzaar.com/rate-my-space/Living-Rooms/Ill-be-home-for-Christmas/detail.esi?oid=477657

Ok Linda, is this how I do it? The link thing?

This is the top of the entertainment center. I try to save my hydrangeas blooms as long as I can and they dry really well.

I thought this was a Christmas cactus...but it blooms at Easter too! Go figure. Are they supposed to do that?

This is looking in from the front foyer.

This is my chair, mine and the cats that is. I read in this corner because it has a window on each side. I pile up my magazines and books. I can look out over my gardens from here too.

Ok, ok, there are more then three plants in my home, it is a collection for sure.....

Have you seen this??

I went to the mailbox, it is COLD, but sunny and bright here today. Well this just made my day. I made myself a cup of chocolate mocha and curled up to explore the pages of La Vie Claire. The pages transport you like you have taken a trip to the Cape for the day. Claire Murray has a nice shop right on 6A with hooked rugs to die for. The magazine is an inspiration to me, there is a great article about Barbara Damrosch and pictures of her wonderful gardens. Then a woman named Genevieve who crafts sea inspired jewelry, that is just beautiful.

New painted furniture to compliment the rugs and more!

Great new chairs are being offered in beautiful cottage colors.

One of the quotes is on a green page with PASSION at the top and then below it:

"The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live"

Flora Whittlemore

How beautiful and true is that?

Claire Murray's hooked rugs are featured.

The Pictures are beautiful, the quality of the paper, some are so pretty you could frame them. There are quotes and Art inspiration, food and gardening. Doesn't this picture remind you of cool crisp sheets on a hot summer night?


If you have not had the pleasure of viewing this treasure you don't know what you are missing....now excuse me while I go back and read some more of the articles and gaze at the pictures once again.

Go to http://www.clairemurray.com/ for more info and details on ordering a subscription.

This is the room we eat our meals in, it is open to the kitchen. You can tell we eat here, notice the TV I would love not to have there, but the rest of my family loves and wants it there....they say we have to live here and it does not look that bad. I was in the kitchen before the redo and was supposed to go back, but no one could see it during meals and what if the Patriots or Red Sox are playing???? Anyway I would like to take my wallpaper off the bottom half of the wall and paint it the same color as the trim and chairrail. I would like to do the picture frame moldings, you know like Pickets. I have had a full work week, but my mind is working on this. So opinions please!

36th Anniversary

Yesterday was a perfect day. My hubby and I celebrated our 36th anniversary. We both have jobs that are difficult to get a day off from.........so we booked the day out for each other, left the phones behind hopped into the car and took off. We had a light breakfast and headed West. We went to Sturbridge MA. It is only about an hour away from us. It was very cold yesterday so we decided to poke in the shops and to have lunch at an Inn we have enjoyed before. It is called the Publick House. Just a day spent together, no family, no friends, just us, kind of like how we started out. I made a surprise gift for hubby, I went through some old things and found pictures and mementos of when we were dating. It really surprised him....he seemed to love it. I think we forget the people we were and who we fell in love with. SO I just reminded him and myself too.

Then we stopped in a shop called The Handmaiden, ahhhhhhhhhh I was in heaven!

Another great lighting shop!

Then it was time to go to lunch..........

OK the atmosphere was great and I did not take any pictures inside. I just enjoyed spending the time with my sweetie, but oh the food was just ok........and later we did not feel so good. This was not quite how we remembered it. So we headed on home and I came home to this on my doorstep.

My good friend who is going through a split are 25 years had been thoughtful enough to remember my special day and leave this gift! It made my heart swell that she had done this and I just love this piece, can't you just see it with herbs spilling out and tucked on the porch for Spring?

These are just a couple of the gems I found today. The basket will hang on the front door soon, after the snow is gone. Don't you just love it? I do. Then the little nest I could not pass it by. I also found my first copy ever of Mercantile Gatherings. I have read about it on other blogs, but never found it! I just love it and I loved that I found a familiar home. Linda from Behind My Red Door . I am sorry I don't know how to do a link yet....HELP anyone? Linda's home is just wonderful, warm and very welcoming. It was like visiting a friend, and the quality and pictures in the magazine we just perfect. It was just a great day all in all and now I have to go off to work and make up for taking a day off!

Saturday was a beautiful day. We started some garden cleanup and just enjoyed the sunshine! I changed out my hearts and brought out the forsythia to make it look like Spring, after all Sunday is March first..........

Then, look at today...........This is New England, but I see many others even in the south got snow. Mother Nature wields a mighty swing.

This is the view from my porch...ahh it is on the north side of the house and baby its cold outside!

On my final note I want to tell you about this linen spray that I love, it makes everything smell so clean, like laundry that has been hung out to dry. I got it in T.J. Maxx, have told a few friends....it is sometimes hard to find, but I now have a small reserve of it. I pick up all they have each time I see it. When you spray the shower curtain it smells like you just gave the whole bathroom a deep clean. It is great when you are ironing your curtains and anything else...or just spray it in the air. Just a great clean smell, you know like SPRING!