Goodbye July ....

A truly busy month! Our 1st Annual Music

Festival was a big success. We celebrated a

significant anniversary. Finished our Pergola.

Booked our contractor for the deck. Busy time!

~ Chy

Foggy Morning.

Our start to the day was very foggy.

Lasted until after lunch and then it went

away. The sun came out, then it rained,

then the sun was out, then it was dusk.

A very crazy weather day. At least it

didn't snow! How was it in your world?

~ Chy

Front Garden.

All our rain has helped our tiny front garden

grow well this year. In time, I want to see this

full of bushes, plants and blooms. But for now, 

we have started with perennials and I love it!

My hosta is going well. It was dicey in the

Spring if it was going to come back. It did!

I love all the pink. I looked out last night though

and I think a deer may have munched the blooms ....

A new addition to the garden ~ some creeping Thyme

that promises to spread. I've given it some good space.

More as we go. I'm loving being able to now see

progress but still have the final look in my dreams!

How does your garden look this year? Do you have

the garden of your dreams or are you still building it?

~ Chy

Dusk Lights.

Capturing the light coming from our

living room, on a cloudy, dark night.

Always gives me comfort to have some

light at night, even on Summer evenings.

~ Chy

After the Rain.

More rain again today, but as we cozied

up on the couch to watch "Coronation

Street", the sun suddenly re~appeared. A

lovely way to end a gloomy and cold day!

~ Chy

Comfort Teddy.

We've had a number of intense thunder

storms, with brilliant but scary lightening

the last few weeks. And look who has

found it's way to our bed ~ my teddy!

~ Chy

Earning his way ....

Coming home from town and our little

guy decided he needed to "earn my way"

by bringing our compost bin back from

the road where it's picked up. Sweet kid!

~ Chy

In The Garden.

Perfect words to describe our

over flowing gardens right now!

Thank you Susan Branch for

inspiring all of us to garden.

~ Chy

Garden Peas.

We have started harvesting our peas.

With all the rain, our garden is full!

Added them to our dinner the other night.

So sweet and full of flavor. A favorite!

~ Chy

King George VI.

And finally, a photo print of King George

sitting at his desk in Buckingham Palace.

My kids were shocked we took this to

the booth as we're big fans of all things

British and love the Royals. But it was

$10 and will sell for $48. It includes an

incredible note on the back, handwritten,

from May 1st, 1939. Priceless really!

~ Chy

Art Studio Frame.

This one did end up in the booth! Paid a

tiny .25 cents for it and it's listed for $6.

~ Chy

Sweet Dish.

Another find from our recent trek to

the charity shop in our little hamlet.

It was marked at $1.25 but was half price

that day, so I paid 62.5 cents. Not bad for

a perfect condition glass tray that still

had the price tag on it for $16.99. In the

end, it stayed home instead of going to

our booth! Sometimes I fall in love ....

~ Chy

Finally .... Food!

After weeks of Festival Planning, then

delivering, we finally had time for a

true hot dinner. Chicken, four cheese

risotto and veggies. It was so welcome!

~ Chy

Everything Old.

Another find I almost kept but have now

priced and placed in our booth. Too cute!

~ Chy

Postal Woes.

 

There's been reports and pictures of
mailboxes being broken in to recently.

I'm off to the post office tomorrow to

show them these pics. I'm guessing the

mail delivery person has seen these

but I want to make sure we get a new,

more secure box. They are replacing

boxes but it's done by damage/break

ins. Hopefully this is enough to get us

a new, secure unit for our subdivision.

~ Chy

Apple Maps.

Followed this guy down the highway the

other day going to town: Apple Maps!

~ Chy

Regal Plant Shelf.

A trip to the charity shop netted a few

new items for our antique mall booth.

I almost kept this one to hang on the

wall and put some small plants in it.

But didn't as we don't really need to

buy or collect anything more. Our

home is comfortable, not cluttered

and we don't need to fill it up. So off

it went to the booth. I do truly hope it

sells soon so I don't change my mind!

~ Chy

Geese Crossing.

When we were out and about yesterday,

we came up to a group of cars stopped.

Turns out, eveyone was waiting for this

gaggle of geese to cross the roadway!

~ Chy

Puppy Treats.

 

We're taking care of Lola this Summer
while our youngest dd is off exploring.

Every night, just before bed, Lola gets

to have 2 little heart shaped turkey treats.

But we ran out so off to the store we went,

She was so excited when we got home!

~ Chy

Cozy Pantry.

Our rainiest Summer ever will not stop!

It is making our evenings feel like Fall.

However, we love our cozy home and

this shot of our Butler's Pantry shows

just how little light we're having in the

early evening. Cozy, sweet and warm.

~ Chy

Rock Wall.

When we built our house a few years ago, our

builder was kind enough to place these rocks and

boulders of all sizes close to the house for us to

place some day. And some day has arrived ....

Our neighbor down the road was able to use his

tractor to move them in to place for our "rock wall

garden" we've been dreaming about. Behind these

will be a row or two of good soil, then we'll place

wrought iron fencing that is about 4 feet high in

just after the soil, which will one day be filled with

perennials and bushes. It's start of extending our

English Garden concept to the back of the house.

Pictures to follow once we have the rest in place

and you can see the progress and hopefully blooms!

~ Chy

Pretty Pink Pot.

Two smaller vintage pots sit out on the

steps of our front veranda. Love all the

pretty pink blooms we have this year.

So much rain has created so much color!

~ Chy

Birthday Girl.

This sweet baby had a birthday on the

11th of July. Our first born and feistiest!

We found huge cupcakes (her favorite)

and sparklers for the each one to light.

Later on the weekend, we had ice cream

cake, another sweet favorite for all of us.

The sparklers were super bright and in the end, we

didn't light all of them for fear the alarm would go off!

My choice: strawberry cheesecake with chocolate

swirls on top. So delicious but so very filling!

~ Chy

One Day ....

I'm learning each day how to garden. This year, with

all our rain, I finally have filled pots with blooms that

just won't stop! We were at the nursery last week and

they had filled this stone planter with beautiful plants

that have also filled every inch. One day, I'd love to

have a planter this big to fill up. So luscious and full.

~ Chy

Valentine Plates.

Spotted these vintage Valentine's Plates at the old

Antique Mall a few weeks ago when I did a shift.

My gramma collected these plates when she still

graced our lives. When she died in 1982, her girls

(my mom and 2 aunts) split up the plates. For years,

my mom had hers in the dining room. Then they

moved to the coast and I can't remember now if I

actually saw them in any of the homes they lived

in out there. They came home when my dad was

diagnosed in 2000, he died in 2002 and back in

2017, my mom moved in to care. We had to pack

up her house and there are still some boxes in our

garage that I've been going thru. And guess what I

found? At least 12 of the plates! They were all in

perfect condition, safely tucked away in sturdy but

beautiful display boxes. Now I'm going through

each to decide which ones to hang up and which

ones to gift to my daughters. Feeling so loved ....

~ Chy

Sweet Art.

I'm a huge fan of Susan Branch, who has a million

books ~ okay, not quite but many. She uses art and

words together. I've never seen anyone else do this.

Until I came across this photo in an Art Magazine.

As I begin to expand my art journey, this technique

is something I hope to incorporate. Isn't it sweet?

~ Chy

Intriguing Item.

Spotted this at our Antique Mall in the

big City. Now I'm trying to figure out

what  I could use it for, if I were to go

back and buy it. How would you use it?

~ Chy