A VERY PRODUCTIVE WEEKEND!!

I checked the 10-day weather forecast and decided it was safe to go ahead and plant all of my annuals this weekend. No night freeze here in Michigan. . . yeah!!!

I purchased potting soil, flowers, a few new clay pots I needed, scrubbed out all the old pots with a water/bleach solution and planted away. I also fertilized all the pine trees with Miracle-grow evergreen tree stakes, all the trees with tree stakes and fertilized the perennials. AND I'M DONE!! Too tired to take pictures though. Will show you soon!! I'm off to La-La land now. . . ZZZZzzzzzzzzz.

Blessings. . . until next time,

WISTERIA LANE?????

No, Not Desperate Housewives on Wisteria Lane . . . my Wisteria

It's FULL of buds. . . just waiting day by day for it to burst. I'll share the moment with you all when it happens :)

Blessings. . . until next time,

My Walk Around the Yard: part two


Our front courtyard area. The wisteria is about to explode. I'll show you when it does.

Ornamental miniature Cherry Tree. . . just about finished blossoming. It's now leafing out.

Magnolia Tree

Phlox bursting forth with color. . .

Lilac tree ready to blossom too!

and the Lilac bush.

Lamb's Ear

Azaleas in full color. . .

And finally, my little bench waiting for its basket of annuals to be placed on top. A wee bit early for annuals here. I normally plant after Mother's Day, when chance of frost/freeze is over. So, about a week and 1/2 until I plant those annuals. I can't wait to start digging in that dirt :)

Blessings. . . until next time,

SPRING IN MICHIGAN

SPRING

Oh yes, it's been a looonnnggg time coming, but it's here. SPRING in Michigan and I'm loving it!! I took a walk around my yard this afternoon and snapped a few photos.

Spring, it comes every year. I like to think of it as God's promise that our bad times (winter) will surely end!

Flowers blooming;

Trees budding;

and we repeat :)

See all of my hostas and lily of the valleys coming to life, reaching for the sun?

I'll share more pictures. . . next time.

Blessings. . . until next time,

Garage Sale Season has Started!! WhoooHooooo

My Favorite Season of the Year :)

I know you in the south have been enjoying garage sale season for a while already. But, here in the north. . . they just started. I have no pictures to share with you all. I'm in bed with a rotten chest cold/sinus thingy. . . but before I got sick I hit a few on Thursday. I found a Mr. Coffee Ice Tea Maker with an extra pitcher and lid for $5, makes GREAT iced tea. We don't drink Sweet Tea here in the north. Just plain brewed iced tea. . .yummy! I also found a great little table that needs some TLC for $15!. . . and I found some really nice costume jewelery (yeah, like I need more of that my youngest said). The weather here is absolutely beautiful. Low 70's. That's perfect in my book. Before taking to bed, I helped hubby put out all the outside yard things yesterday. We re-installed our rock pool, I uncovered and changed the lights in our fountain in the front yard, put out the pots, yard ornaments and the gazebo tent. It is so nice to be done now doing these chores at both homes. More mulch added to both homes, yard & patio things in place.

Now. . . we can just sit back with a tall iced tea and enjoy the beautiful weather. :)

Have a wonderful week. When I'm up and feeling better I have some baking and cooking to do and a birthday cake to make for hubby. He's turning 52 on Thursday. Where does time go?

Oh yes, did I mention everyone will be back to school and work from Easter Break tomorrow? Yes, that's my real Whoooo-Hoooo!!! Then, I'll be back to myself shortly because I will actually be able to rest!

Blessings. . . until next time,

Corn, Corn and more Corn!!! (or another little "project")

Corn here;

Corn here;

and Corn here!!!

I blanched and froze 14 1/2 dozen corn!! I cut it off of the cob and then froze it. Oh, my, GOSH is it delish or what? I think I'm going to go back and get some more to put up too. There is a little road side stand, not too far from my house with the most delicious Michigan grown corn ever. It is fresh picked daily and placed at their stand for sale. And, if you get there early the next morning you can buy a case of the corn picked the prior day for $6 ~ that's about 7 dozen ears of corn!! For $12 I put up a lot of corn. But. . .I don't think it was enough the way my family is eating it up already.

Do you freeze or can anything special? If so, what do you all put up for winter~time eating? Just curious :)

I think nothing beats the taste of fresh veggies in the dead of winter!! Yum~Yum!!

Blessings. . . until next time,

Moving Things Around!!

We had our lighted fountain on our back patio for a few years now. . . but since we added the other water feature of our rock pool ~ we didn't think we needed two trickling sounds :)


So, I "encouraged" my hubby to help me move it to our front yard ~ in our little courtyard area. It's on a dawn/dusk timer which turns on the water and the underwater lights (man, I needed to replace those lights and did I ever have a hard time finding replacements ~ good ole' Internet ~ after running all around the county checking brick and mortar stores ~ I finally found replacement bulbs on the Internet!)

This area doesn't look as "grand" as it usually does. . . because. . . remember we had our house painted this month? Well the painter chopped a lot of this area away to obtain access to the trim and to secure his ladder to the second level. My Clematis in the antique urns was absolutely beautiful before the painter got to them. They were climbing up the copper pole and blooming in all their glory *sigh*. I guess that's the price to pay for home maintenance upkeep!

Our little fountain looks like it belongs here. . . don't you think??!!

Blessings. . . until next time,

Well. . . Well. . . Well, What Have I Been Up To???

I've been sooo busy. . . that's what I've been up to!!!





Oh, I think I could use another vacation. Since returning from vacation I've managed to paint the guest bathroom (including the ceiling with a 20' high sky light enclosed in such a small area that a two year old would feel squished. . . don't ask how I fit), painted a vanity chair for our 14 year old and a small thrifted rocker for yard decor, disassemble our rock pool and put it back together (it wasn't functioning properly so I took it apart and discovered a "family" of toads had invaded the pump area!!), found the "speciality" lights for our courtyard water fountain - ordered them on-line, drained the water and installed them, AND helped paint the last room in our church's children's wing. *SIGH* DONE for now. And this was along with Cheer Practice everyday, school clothing shopping, gymnastics lessons!!

At least I get to mark off some major items from my TO-DO list. I wanted to tackle these small, loose ends before painting our master bedroom. Major RE-DO project. Only one item left before the bedroom make-over. . . and it's to make drapery toppers for our den. That's NEXT on my list. I already have the fabric and fringe. . . maybe next week I can get started.

I want to post pictures of our wonderful vacation in Myrtle Beach. I will do that within a day or so. Tonight we are heading up to the cottage and I plan on making some major time for blogging. I've missed you all.

Blessings. . . until next time,

Rock Pool FINISHED!!!

After our Rock Pool was installed it needed some finishing touches to it. (I shared that I would post a picture of it when I was finished too.) It needed some filling in around the base, a few low growing perennials, some more small stones and marbles. Yes, I added clear marbles. They glisten wonderfully in the sunlight and I'm liking it :) You may click on the photo to enlarge if you'd like. Oh, and I can't forget the lily pad either. It's floating in the pond as well.

I love sitting on my patio and hearing the water trickling down the Rock Pool. I think every patio could benefit from a little water feature. . . it's soooo relaxing people!!

It's now all finished and I'm loving it!!

Blessings. . . until next time,

Lavender Festival - Aaaahhhh!!

Lavender Festival - Romeo, Michigan - Wonderful!!

(Can't ya just smell the lavender????)

Last week my mom and dad needed to come down from their home up north to drop off some things (their great granddaughters - looonnnggg story!)

Anyways, they always stay with me when they come down and my mom wanted to attend the Lavender Festival. What a wonderful time we had!!

The parking was down and around the corner from the festival so a shuttle bus was provided. What a shuttle bus, huh? It was only a 3-4 minute ride, but what a ride. Here's my mom, isn't she adorable?

Mom selecting lavender plants. I adore the smell of lavender, it is so relaxing to me. I have three different varieties planted in my yard this year. This is my first attempt at planting lavender - so I hope it does OK in my soil.



Mom and I had so much fun shopping and purchasing our lavender products. Vendors were selling many products made with lavender as well as jewelry, food, garden decor, furniture, etc.

This will definitely be an annual outing for me. I'm already looking forward to next year's festival!! Aaaahhhhh!! Lavender. . . doesn't get any better than that!

Blessings . . . until next time,

Rock Pool Installed!!!

. . . and I LOVE THIS MAN!!!!

Yup, my wonderful husband installed our Rock Pool for me this weekend. I adore it!! It's just perfect for the little spot I wanted to add a water feature - near our patio. I went out today to purchase some pond clarifier. . . so with just a few drops, supposedly, it should no longer be cloudy. I also purchased some low growing perennial ground covers - to plant around our little Rock Pool so it will fill in the surrounding area for a more natural look. I'll post pictures after I have the plants in the ground. . . but first, I'll need to wait until it stops pouring rain here :)

Yes, in my prior post I mentioned adoring the sound of trickling water - well, now I get to hear the pounding rain (yeah, I'm kind of strange. . . I like that sound too!).

Blessings. . . until next time,

Wishing and Hoping and Praying . . . .

That this is THE weekend.

I hope this is the weekend that hubby and I can get this Rock Pool installed. It's very, very small. Just perfect for my back patio area. I purchased this at the end of the season last year at Lowes and have yet to install it.

I just adore the sound of trickling water, don't you? That is, of course, if a bathroom is near :)

Blessings, until next time!

Sher

Some of My "Precious" Treasures

. . . and so the love story continues.

It's the love I have of bird houses!!! I have always adored them!!

See this picture? It's a Purple Martin house that my father made my hubby and I for our 27th wedding anniversary last month. Isn't is BEAUTIFUL? What to know something? This was a pattern that I got out of a book at my elementary school library when I was in just the 4th grade!! My dad has always liked working with wood and at the time they lived in a house on a nice piece of land. My dad had said he wanted to find a plan to make a Purple Martin house. . . so on my next library day in the 4th grade. . . I found a book with a plan. My dad made a bird house just like this one for the back yard of my childhood home.

What a surprise to arrive at our cottage (Mom and Dad live 2.6 miles from our cottage) and find this most beautiful Purple Martin house for us! My dad kept those plans all these years and surprised us! My husband helped my dad lift it up and bolt it down. Dad had already dug the hole and poured the cement in around the base.

Here's a close-up of this beauty. Dad cut it out and constructed it and my mom painted it.

. . . And now, into the next generation after mine. . . our daughter made this birdhouse for me in my Dad's wood shop. It was my birthday present last year. Isn't it adorable? She's 14 and took Wood shop in the 8th grade (yeah, hubby and I thought it was a joke, or because all the boys take Wood shop - well joke was on her because she was the only girl with all younger 7th grade boys - but you know what. . . she LOVED IT!!! She enjoyed that class very much. We actually had to talk her out of taking it again in the 9th grade. We told her to try another elective which would be better applied towards getting into college. She can always make things in gramp's wood shop.)

My dad thinks there must be some genetic defect in our family because my brother loves babies and cooking. Me, I love my own children, but I don't want to watch yours. Cooking? Get it on the table and get it off. I have better things to do. . . like woodworking, refinishing furniture, sewing, decorating, etc.

Yeah, in our family my brother will probably get the china and I'll get the tools : ) ha-ha.

Blessings. . . until next time,

Hello Dear Friends in Blogland. . . I'm Still Here. . .and On The Road AGAIN!!!

Hello friends. . . we've been busy. Very, very busy!! This above picture I just LOVE because it is actually of my husband relaxing for a change and not DOING SOMETHING! We went up to our little cottage Friday evening of last week to over-seed the grass, fertilize the perennials, holly bushes and evergreen trees and put down a new layer of mulch. Then it was back home late, late, Saturday night so we could fulfill our greeting obligations for the Sunday worship service at our church followed by dinner out for Mother's Day with my hubby's family. We had to stop at the funeral home on our way home (our neighbor's mom passed-away - - very sad, she passed on my neighbor's birthday too!) It was a CRAZY, BUSY weekend.

This weekend our youngest is making her 8th grade confirmation on Sunday at church and then we leave for San Antonio, Texas - - Sunday afternoon!! I think another CRAZY, BUSY weekend is upon us :) At least I'll be able to rest in Texas. My husband has to teach at a conference for his company and our youngest will join me in sight-seeing. If any of you know some "must-see" stops in San Antonio, PLEASE TELL!! I know of the River Walk, the Alamo, Sea World, Six Flags and that's about it. But, I may just have lucked out because our 14 year old told me she just wants to layout and tan, rest and go shopping. AAAAHHHHH. . . that, I can do my friends :)

Blessings. . . until next time,

Well, There May Be HOPE of SPRING SPRINGING!!

Remember wwaaayyyyy back in the fall when I planted, gee I can't even remember now how many spring bulbs? Here's the link to my Fall post. Well, I was outside today, checking out "things" and what do my eyes behold? Sprouting Hyacinths coming up from the earth!! Oh Sweet Joy!! Could it actually be? Is Spring finally coming to Michigan? I sure hope so. *Yes, that's a little icy/snow pile at the top right of the photo.

If you click on the picture above it should enlarge and you will see even more sprouting flowers! I know those of you who live in a warmer climate must think we crazy northern people are pathetic. But then, when you have a dang nabit pile (following picture) STILL at the end of your driveway it can seem like forever till Spring!

Oh, yes, I did hear we are in for a little fresh snow fall on Friday. Makes a person want to pull their hair out!!!! Oh well, at least the dirty snow will be covered with a fresh white blanket. . . I'm trying here folks, I'm trying :)

Well, on the brighter side, I should be able to post within a day or so some of my embroidery machine projects. I'm having so much fun. So, I guess that's the good thing about the lingering winter. . . I can stay in my basement workroom and don't think about being outside in the beautiful weather. Yeah, there we go.

Blessings. . . until next time,