Vintage Chair for my patio

Well its' done. It's not Ruby Red Grapefruit but I was inspired by Chris' yellow rockers on her front porch and Ta Da! It's the perfect color and the perfect cushion for me. 

It was worth all the hours of sanding an prepping.

I love it, I love it, I love it!

 

What color would you have chosen???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kites

Do we ever outgrow our fascination with kites.

I think not! As my son and grandson can confirm.

 

The Four Agreements

By Don Miguel Ruiz

 

 

I had this posted at my desk at work for years and took it down one day in a moment of frustration. I could have used it today to calm my mind.
I've read this interpreted any number of ways but in reality if you read the book the author says it best. You might not agree with everything Ruiz says but there is so much good you can walk away with,
Sometimes between what is going on in our personal lives and our work life it can impact how we feel about ourselves and changes our attitude and alters the course of the day. Today would have been the day to have the second point tattooed on my forehead so when I looked in the mirror I would remember it! 
When I checked my email tonite my Kansas daughter in law had sent this to me. It's going back up at my desk tomorrow. 

 

 

 

 

 

i Phone

For most the line between “what I need and what I want” can be blurred.

I’m diligent about keeping it clear in my mind, however……..

I want an i phone. Oh yes I do……
Do I need one…..not in a million years.
Sigh….Sometimes I hate being practical

My dream I'd say...

I'll have the "Pool" color phone please.

My Favorite Things

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens are beautiful and cute but…..

here is my take on the song!

Raindrops on roses--raindrops on roses with a itty bitty frog

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Whiskers on kittens--kittens are just so dang cute whiskers and all

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Bright copper kettles--Paula Deen cookware—love the color

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Warm woolen mittens--absolutely.. love anything that keeps me warm

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Brown paper packages tied up with strings--delivered by my UPS driver

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Cream colored ponies---always have and always will love  horses.. cream or otherwise

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Crisp apple strudels--I’ll have apple pie please in Greensburg, IN.

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Doorbells and sleigh bells ---just sleigh bells for me… I need some in my house

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Schnitzel with noodles---pasta with burnt butter and mizithra cheese……oh yum

                                                                             ~~~~

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings--We only have Canada geese

                          and they leave way too much behind if you know what I mean…

                  I’ll take the moon on a moonlight cruise on the River Seine

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Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes--hmmmm…not a dress kind of

                  girl anymore...great jeans, a LL Bean top plus a fabulous scarf.    

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Snowflakes that stay on my nose & eyelashes--only if I have the warm woolen  

                                                                                         mittesn and a hat

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Silver white winters that melt into springs---oh yes……a lush green spring...

     that’s when I feel earthshakenly (pretty sure that isn’t a word) renewed

                                               .

Can I please sing my version from the hilltop and twirl like Maria did in Austria?

I know, I know the song is sung inside the castle but I want to be on the hilltop!

~As you can tell I am longing for another European Adventure~

 

 

 

 

How Ya Doin'?

This has been a long week. This has been a confusing and frustrating week. This has been a week of self-reflection and not necessarily not liking what I see.

I need to sit on Chris’ front porch and chat about nothing and everything with her. I need to have a glass of her iced tea. I need to sit with her dog’s head under my hand as I rock. I need to drive up to her house and hear her say “How ya doin’?”

She makes me laugh.

                           However the 6 hour drive to get there is a problem.

 

Dilly Bubs

Cute Cute site on Facebook. Check it out!

 Dilly Bubs Mom told me about this today...gotta love a proud mama!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/dilly-bubs/136658466364581?fref=ts

Game of Thrones etc.....

One of my sons is totally immersed in the HBO series Game of Thrones. After hearing about how excited he was that the third season was going to begin I thought it was high time I started to read the books. So I am currently on the second book and I know why he feels the way he does. I was hooked immediately. I read on my lunches, at workout, before bed and basically whenever I can snatch a few minutes to see what the characters will do next.

If you haven’t started following the Game of Thrones saga take a look at it. If you do let me know what you thought!
Sometimes I want imagine being in the middle of the action when I read however......... I just want to observe on this one!
If you’ve read it you no doubt know what I mean.
Here are a couple books participation would be a must.

 I would love to be in Holly Springs visiting with Fr. Tim and Cynthia in Jan Karon’s Mitford series

I would like to put on a pair of cowboy boots and hang out in San Celina with Benni Harper and Gabe Ortiz in Earlene Fowlers Benni Harper Mysteries

Oh…..I would love to stay at Elm Creek Manor and quilt with the very best of quilters in the Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilters books. Think of all the wonderful ideas and help I could get !

And of course I will need to be in Rosamunde Pilchers books about Scottland. I would love to meet  Elfrida Phipps in Winter Solstice.  Or Penelope Keeling in The Shell Seekers.

I really could go on for a very long time here but I’ll spare you for now.

 

Cleaning Out

This is my weekend to clean, actually clean out. I have almost filled the trash can already. Why in the heck don't I keep up with all this instead of having to have a marathon weekend of cleaning.
                              It certainly feels good though!!! Best get back at it.

I think there must be something wrong with me to like this so much!

Itty Bitty Frog

Eyes open ......... you might find something unexpected! My dear fiend Chris did!

Vintage Metal Chair

I finally started sanding my vintage chair. I always meant to do this years ago and somehow it just kept getting moved to the bottom of that never ending list of things I want to accomplish. So the first nice day this year I didn't clean the house or work on my Etsy critters or anything else that always seems so urgent. Instead I spent most of the day outside soaking up the sunshine, cleaning out flower beds and sanding this beauty. It is one of the most comfortable things ever to sit in and I'm looking forward to another day of not cleaning and not sewing and just rocking and enjoy being
outside ......probably reading too.
Her color will be "Ruby Red Grapefruit". Fun Huh?????

Thriving in the Cool Weather

It’s been such cool and rainy weather for June but the flowers are thriving!

I am too…I love this weather.

I think I would do just fine in Washington, Oregon, Indiana, Kentucky, Wisconsin 

or Germany, France or maybe Switzerland....I can dream can't I?

   I could live almost anywhere without missing a beat.

Bassett Hound O' Mine

I wanted to introduce you to a member of my family. I have known him for 13 years and 3 months. He’s a great secret keeper and a wonderful listener when I get to rambling about life and such. And.... he loves me unconditionally..... as I do him.

AND so incredibly handsome!  Please remember beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

Here’s Tucker!

Where the Wild Things Are

I noticed on the Google homepage that it’s Maurice Sendak's 85^th birthday today, author of Where the Wild Things Are. I couldn’t even begin to guess how many times I read that book to my kids and grandkids.

Here would be our conversations.

"What books shall we read today?"

"Where the Wild Things Are"

"We read that 4 times yesterday. Are you sure you wouldn't like to choose another book. You have so many!:

"No...that one"

"OK."

Immediately following the end of the book.....

"Can we read it again????"    

And we did.............

 

 

 

Wicker Plant Stand

I picked up a vintage wicker plant stand that was falling apart.

Not even my talented husband could save it…. so I asked him how he would like to build one for me?
Of course he said sure!
He did the frame and I did the weaving.

Is it as fancy as a vintage planter……not even close.

                                   But I love it every bit as much, if not more.

 

As these beauties grow they will cascade down the sides!

Questioning

I've been thinking again....... about how we use valuable things or people and don’t even acknowledge the truth of their value. How we justify our beliefs because that  is the way it’s always been without questioning anything. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do in life? Question, and from that, learn & grow.

We know grass is green and the sky blue but don’t we want to know why or how that happens? Life is so interesting not to move beyond initial statements of fact or someone’s interpretation of that fact.
Maybe we’ll feel the same in the end but….maybe not.

Fruit Stands

Oh Yum! This is in Rome but these stands are located in any number places I   visited. The fruit was fresh and absolutely delicious! 

Some of the stands had it all peeled, iced and ready to eat.....perfect!

We really need to have stands like this here in the States too. Right????

  ~The chilled pineapple was my favorite~



Germany

I had been thinking and planning for this trip for over a year. I couldn’t wait to be in Germany and explore all the sites that were planned.

I researched and read about Rothenburg, Munich, Neuschswanstein, Rudesheim & Cologne and they were everything I hoped for... and more. I was stunned to stand looking at all the things I had seen on the internet. Of course there was so much more to what I’d seen. So much more that I wouldn’t even know what to look for. It seemed like every time I turned around there was something more fantastic in front of me.  

Traveling through Germany was one beautiful mental snapshot after another.

Joachim & Anna, friends of the gentleman who planned the trip, took us to a bakery in Langen where I had a rhubarb pastry …..oh my…..there are no words to describe it. ~Such kind people~

I want to go back……….I want to go back…………I want to go back………

It was everything and more that I hoped for!

Well not the losing my luggage on the way over part.

Or the part where they lost it on the way back too!

Seriously.....what are the odds???

 

My view from the top of the Town Hall Tower in Rothenburg

 

 

And even a better view

 

                            A mime outside Cologne (or do you spell it Koln)  Cathedral

This is where I sat and sipped lemonade in Rudesheim

 



 

 

Paris, France

Six years ago today I was in Paris. It was my "surprise city" of the trip.
I never thought I would like it as much as I did much less love it like I do. 
I want to go back 
I want to see more
I want to observe more
I want more, more, more time there.
When I think back I am still able to feel how I felt while I was there.
No doubt at all.....that's where I would go.

 

Want to have a bite to eat and drink with me?

We could chat, or not, the night away, take a nap

and start all over again.

 

 

I was right there....Why didn't I take a ride?

It's not like I was going back the following week!

Duh?

Daffodill Principle

A repeat email came to me and it made me think….again. It was titled the Daffodil Principle. It was talking about the cumulative effect of things that we do and how important it is to begin. Everything we do, physically, verbally or mentally begins a cycle and can eventually become an important contribution to the end result.

A kind word, a small compliment consistently done has the ability to change a person’s perspective about how they feel.

The beginning of a task sets the stage for it to be completed.

I tend to think of the completed project or idea, but I would like to instead think of the step that I need to start to get to the end. Then exercise patience.

When I lie quietly in bed on Sunday night I will think of all the things I accomplished this weekend instead of all I still need to do.

 

I only planted about 15 bulbs last fall and I can't say I enjoyed them any less

than if I had planted a hundred.