Is Fall coming?

This is the first bit of dry air we have had in weeks..ahhhh. I run up to the attic and started to pull out some of my Harvest decorations. I think I will roast a pork tonight with garlic mashed potatoes and lots of fresh veggies from the garden. Maybe even make some bread. Oh what a bit of fresh air will do for me. A/C is off and the windows are open.

I still love my Bennington pottery....

I love Fall decorations and weather. Fall air is the best!

My little white pumpkins are from my garden. I can't wait to harvest the rest. I have some nice Cinderella pumpkins too. Thanks for checking out my tablescape. Be sure to go to Susan's Between Naps on the Porch. She is such a great hostess. Thank you Susan~

Textures of my home

I have started my day off catching up with my reading and I found Linda from Behind My Red Door had taken up a challenge from Carolyn over at Primitive Devotion and I have decided to join in. So be sure to check out both of these blogs, it is fun to see things up close and personal~

This was fun, so grab your cameras and GO!

Looks like Tin.....

Welcome to Tablescape Thursday, hosted by Susan from Between Naps on the Porch, Thank you Susan. Susan is celebrating her 1 year Blogoversary this week so be sure to join in and wish her well and don't miss all the wonderful giveaways she is doing this week. BNOTP is such an inspiring blog and Susan does the most amazing tablescapes ever~ To me Black eyed Susans are a transition flower....end of summer kind of thing. It is over 90 degrees today and it does not feel like the end of summer.

I found these great dishes, the name on the bottom said Granite Stoneware. They look like tin, but feel like stoneware. I only got four place settings and now wish I had gotten more. I have several tin pieces that I have picked up here and there. I think I like the farmhouse feel of it. Enamelware is so useful too!

This old coffee pot has flowers in it lots of times and the little bowl is new, but looks like my old pieces.

I like the mix of old stoneware and the glitter of glass. Everyone needs a little sparkle :)

Here is a closer look at the plates. The old silverware I found in a yard sale and my napkins and placements are Williams & Sonoma.

Now I told you it is hot, make that Hazy Hot and Humid....is this a heat wave yet? I weeded in the vegetable garden for 3 hours this morning, phew the heat was tiring, now I want you to see what my grandson was doing....by the way I did join him!

Before and After

Welcome to Metamorphosis Monday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.This book case is part of my metamorphosis and I wanted to show you that when ever we bring something new in the house, my kitty has to sniff and check it out from top to bottom, so last week we got this bookshelf while at Apple Hill and no sooner than setting the bookcase in place was the kitty in it. So while I gathered some items to be painted I let the kitty explore. For a little side story my son came home from Oklahoma, before he left for Iraq and he brought his kitty. Kitty came with the name Kema,(I don't know where that came from). Kema stayed with us while he was gone and we all became really attached, well my son has been home for 18 months now and he can't bear to move his kitty away from here. We have a smokey gray kitty named Bitty and they are buddies, they run and play and you can tell how much they love each other.....so goes the story of how Kema came to us.

These items are in every TJ Maxx and Homegoods. I had picked them up intending to make them match and never gotten around to it.

So I spray painted them flat black..they looked a little dull so out came the Rub and Buff. The little bit of gold helped. I am not sure how I feel about them but they will do for now.

Here is the bookcase with my printer on top and all the stuff that was on the floor before.

Here was my before. Now I still need to tweak things a bit, but the bookcase holds so much more and I really love how it gives some height to the corner and cleans up the clutter off my desk and floor.

Weekend Adventure

Last weekend my hubby and I decided to take off on Saturday and go to New Hampshire. I heard about this little place called Pickity Place. It is where the illustrations for Little Red Riding Hood were done. Not to mention there was a luncheon served that was to die for. The traffic through Boston was bumper to bumper and when we got past that I called to make a reservation.....I should have known it was not a good sign, I was crisply informed they had no openings for today! Oh well, we would still go and look, the gardens were said to be delightful. So GPS working off we went, now the roads turned into dirt roads, sort of over the hill and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go......Could this be right, my hubby assures me to trust the GPS! Then we do indeed come upon it, even the parking lot was gravel and full! In the middle of the woods no less. It was so quiet, the silence was amazing.

Here it is. The quaint little cottage.

There were some disappointments, the place needed repairs and TLC. Notice the tarp over the sun porch. It hasn't rained in awhile, I wonder what that is all about.

This was the little drying shed and it looked like everything is there had been drying for years. I couldn't understand why everything wasn't cleaned out and new things drying for this year. I did get a nice picture of my sweetie!

Oh yes, turnabout is fair play.....he got me too~

Look at the old gnarled tree in front of the cottage. I would love to draw that tree. Such a beautiful sight, I wonder how old it is. You could see cables holding it together and see tree work had been done. It would be a shame to loose such an old tree.

Around the back was a nice gift shop and greenhouse, the plants looked a little stressed, so I will pass....We did find a sweet lady who told us to go up and ask, sometimes a guest does not show for lunch. It does smell divine~

One of the gardens, lunch fare is reported to come from their own gardens.

OK, we waited and about 2:15 a pleasant lady came out and told us they could not fit us in today, oh disappointment, but we now know where it is and it is a beautiful day, clear dry and in the 70's~

So hubby said anywhere else you want to go? Ahhhh there is a little shop I saw in Country Register. It doesn't look too far away. What is the address he said and punched it into the GPS.

Little did I know it was 2 1/2 hours away. We did stop and get a quick lunch. Now I know it is getting late and my ad said they close at 5PM. Hubby said well let's just look and see it you might want to come back another time, we are close enough now. As we pull up, I am so frustrated at how our day has gone and the shop owners husband is just taking in the OPEN flag....oh the shop looks so nice, the home the gardens all look wonderful. He sees us and said Come on in!! Oh Joy! The shop owner Suzanne is just as welcoming. What a pleasant greeting. We found a bookcase for my office and some other goodies. We had a pleasant conversation with the Bogannan's. He told us some stories about the property, about the shop that was close to the street and moving it up the hill...amazing. He shared some stories about the work they did, the garden they built. Everything was just beautiful. I asked to take pictures, but Suzanne said the gardens were not picture ready, she had been really busy. The gardens looked wonderful, but each gardener is their own worst critic. They had a beautiful greenhouse I would love to have taken a picture of. The envy I felt. It was to die for and the hubby told us how they got the greenhouse and added it to their home. I now have a reason to go back, some pictures and some shopping perhaps? Oh we were at Apple Hill in Tuftonboro New Hampshire.

The pictures above are from their website so go on by and take a peek, just click here.

Ok the pictures are blurry, but I couldn't get a good one on the way home...through Boston again. My hubby is such a patient man...we did stop for ice cream on the way home.....

And the sunset was a beauty too...it was way better then staying home and doing yard work~