Hello, Dear Friends! A New Year is upon us!
I've always loved this song/poem by the Scottish poet,
Robert Burns, which reflects on cherished memories
and friendships.
It captures the essence of nostalgia and camaraderie,
two things dear to my heart.
xx
 |
| My winter garden |
I've put away the last of the Christmas decorations and am ready to
start the new year fresh.
Have you made any resolutions, my friends?
I think resolutions are very noble,
and filled with good intentions,
but sometimes they set impossible goals.
So, I try not to put that pressure on myself.
Life is difficult enough, am I right?
Of course, I do want to pay attention to my health,
my relationships and am always striving for self-improvement.
Even at my age, it's important to keep moving forward
in a positive direction.
'Positivity' is my word for the new year.
There is certainly enough of the opposite going around,
and I don't want to add to that!
We all see and hear what's going on in the world around us,
and so much of it is out of our control.
What we can control is our own reaction and response
by being a kind and considerate person
as much as humanly possible.
Being positive requires a certain amount of hope and faith
that whatever is set in front of us
can be resolved through insight, empathy, resilience and courage.
Having a positive outlook requires those things - a real effort
to put destiny in our own hands by following
basic laws of universal truth and decency, applied in everyday actions.
I promised to bring you up to date on what we've been up to recently,
so come along with me and I'll show you some completed projects.
We have to climb the freshly painted stairs...
Can you tell that I love this shade of blue?
It just resonates with me.
Plus, I didn't want to repaint the whole upstairs!
xx
Do you have a favorite color?
Here we are at the top where I want to show you the bathroom remodel.
I keep all of my tablecloths and runners in this dresser.
I painted the hydrangeas years ago.
Sorry the photo is rather blurry - it is dark this time of year, here in the north!
This one is better.
My hard-working Mr. completed this remodel all by himself.
He put up the bead-board and painted it, installed new light and
plumbing fixtures and re-tiled the floor.
We had the old cabinet already and my contribution was to
paint the interior of it. Blue, of course!
New trim on the window.
Not an easy project, but he did a wonderful job.
It was time-consuming with many steps
and he is so glad that it is finally finished.
He re-glazed the cast-iron bathtub and installed new chrome plumbing.
When we built the house, we installed vintage bathtubs.
They were extremely heavy!
But I love them.
xx
This is a signed, original watercolor that I found
at a vintage store.
xx
We also tidied up the spare room for sleepovers with the grandkids
and as a guest room.
The futon folds down to make a double bed.
I sewed the pillow covers from woven rugs years ago.
They are sturdy and soft, and launder beautifully but need to air dry.
I sewed new curtains, too.
Dreamcatcher in the window.
Baskets, bookshelves and crates hold toys, games, air-mattresses
(for group sleepovers) and linens.
Love these vintage-style little vehicles.
I found the tiny painting at a shop in New England
years ago.
This desk was used by my children for their computer as teenagers.
This was before lap-tops and they would argue over
who got to use it first.
The internet was dial-up and would kick off
whenever someone called, which was constantly
because, well, think of it - four teenagers!
(They are all close in age.)
My two sons shared this room
when they were growing up.
My two daughters shared what is now my sewing room
with the bathroom in the middle.
It was a busy home.
The futon opened up.
My daughter, Jennie gave me the vintage dresser when she moved to Hawaii.
It was white, so I painted it to coordinate with the room.
The Mr. found the original paint can in the toolshed that
I used to paint the bookshelf and curtained wardrobe
years ago. He was able to match it at the
hardware store (it's amazing what they can do now),
and I painted the tray and mirror frame to coordinate.
The color is called 'Green Stone'.
Have you ever found a green stone?
I have and it really is this color!
This is a room with lots of happy childhood memories,
(despite the bickering over the computer) and I hope
it is the same for my grandsons, too.
xx
South-facing window pours light into the room on a sunny day.
This window has the best view in the house.
(Photo taken this past autumn.)
We've also re-purposed the playhouse
into my potting shed.
I've had the wooden ladder and doll highchair
for many years in storage and so happy to
be able to use them again.
The highchair was Jennie's as a child.
It was pink, so I painted it green.
She loved playing with dolls.
Now she has her own doll, Jack!
It will hold pots of flowers this spring.
My greenhouse is finished and now I have a little area all to my own
to dabble in horticulture.
We stained it a dark ebony to give it a timeworn look.
My dear husband and youngest son built these.
The greenhouse was a precut kit.
xoxo
Another view of the potting shed with the fenced in wildflower garden in the background.
(I seeded it with a 'deer-proof' mixture of flowers)
I want to press the flowers for cards and wall-hangings this summer.
Inside the greenhouse.
The herbs and flowers are from my deck garden.
It is an experiment on what I can save over the winter.
The greenhouse is unheated.
It smells so good in here!
Daughter, Jennie also gave me four big planters with vinca vines
from her garden before she moved to Hawaii.
Fuchsia and pineapple sage.
Begonia.
Shelves that the Mr. put up to hold my pots and supplies
behind the shed.
Inside the shed.
This little cupboard was once in my mom's kitchen.
xx
Old fruit crate shelves.
Lots of little crates, baskets and containers.
I probably won't do any potting in here!
It's primarily a place for me to store all of my
faux flowers, gatherings, pretty containers, seeds
wreaths, etc.
The Mr. is going to make me an outdoor potting bench
this summer.
Eventually we will insulate the walls and finish them off
with beadboard and shelves.
View from the deck taken last fall.
You can see that I've covered the ground with cardboard over
the winter to create a new area for flowers and herbs.
The picnic table is a nice place to take a rest.
A sweet ornament from my son at Christmas.
I've decided to keep it out all year.
Another cute ornament from my daughter, Heather.
Love the vintage 50's housewife theme.
She and husband Eric also gifted us with this fun 'Chinese Take-out'
ornament, along with a gift certificate to our
favorite Chinese restaurant.
We ordered take-out for New Year's Eve and these
were our 'fortunes'.
Did you do anything fun for New Year's Eve?
Do you have any plans or trips you are looking forward to this year?
My daughter, Heather and I are going to visit
Jennie in Hawaii next month for a few days.
I'm really excited about that.
My plans for the new year are doing lots of gardening.
My son, Gabe and wife Erica gave me a gift certificate to a plant nursery
for Christmas and all the family pitched in to give me another
large gift certificate for my birthday last fall.
I also need to do some organizing.
We have a storage unit we need to unload, so we have to
sort through lots of things and organize the toolshed
for what we want to keep.
The rest is getting donated.
The price of the unit has become too expensive - almost double
from when we first rented it.
Inflation!
Plus, we need to downsize!
Sweet button bouquet from my sis-in-law for Christmas
on my radio in the sewing room.
Amazing cloud formations at sunrise around Mt. Rainier the other day.
And later...
I hope you are starting out the New Year with something that makes you smile,
Dear Friends.
xx
"If I could tell you one thing,
it would be this.
Not everyone needs to dazzle.
Some of us are here to observe gently,
to offer biscuits and warm smiles,
to clap for others without needing the spotlight.
There's beauty in not being the loudest
voice in the room.
There's quiet power in showing up every day,
being kind and not needing to be noticed."
- Josephine Tewson -
Actress who played
Elizabeth Warden, the quiet neighbor
in the British sitcom, 'Keeping up Appearances'.
