Wednesday, April 10, 2013

My Little Town


I live near a small, close knit, logging town tucked into a plateau at the base of the Cascade Mountains with a view of Mt.Rainier. 

Built around the turn of the century, it is full of charm. 

This little cottage is especially dear and is the childhood home of my daughter's friend. 


With cherry and plum trees blossoming, even the newer buildings look charming. 

This is our local library. 


Against the stormy, gray skies, this beautiful building really shows off it's turn of the century arches. 


Everywhere you go, pink petals carpet the sidewalks. 

This is a back alley. 



This lovely church is located on the appropriately named, 'Cottage Street'. 

Tucked into a sweet row of cottages. 



Each one with it's own charm. 


As we leave the little town behind, we see the new leaves are emerging on the line of Alder Trees. 

I love the lime green against the gray sky. 


The countryside also has it's charms. 

Pink blossoms peeking out from dark evergreens. 


And rows of flowering trees marching along to lead the way. 


A world of beautiful blossoms and emerald green. 


Every farm and cottage flaunting it's Spring Beauty. 


Lovingly planted by painterly hands. 


Tucked into quiet groves. 


With hidden gardens. 

Foothills Museum buildings - log skidder, tower, cabin, mess hall for logging operations

Or Showing off for the world to see. 



Spring in all it's glory. 

That says happiness to me! 

Are you seeing signs of Spring? 

xoxo

Monday, April 8, 2013

A Sweet Surprise



I am so excited! 

I have just won a lovely blog give-away from

When I saw that Brandi was giving away one of her beautiful hand crafted pillows, 

My heart did a little flip! 

Not only that, but she was giving away a gift certificate to the Online Fabric Store !  



I had the perfect place for Brandi's pillow! 

I had seen Brandi's hand crafted pillows on her beautiful blog. 

I have always loved them. 

So when I saw the give-away, I crossed my fingers and made a wish! 


And my Fairy Godmother waved her magic wand! 

Doesn't it look like it was made for just this spot? 


It even matches my carpet! 

Brandi has the most beautiful blog and I never miss a post. 

She is not only an accomplished seamstress, but a talented decorator, excellent cook and entertainer, and all while being a sweet wife and Mom to two. 

She is very creative and shares her creativity with all of us, showing us tutorials for all of her decorating, sewing and craft projects. 

She also shares her tasty recipes. I keep a few recipe cards next to my computer so I don't miss any! 


Can you see Ling Ling peeking through the glass to see the nice note I received? 


Thank you, Brandi, for your lovely pillow, 
and for the dedication that you put into everything you share with us.

And thank you for the gift certificate to the Online Fabric Store.

I can't wait to choose my fabric! 



xoxo


Saturday, April 6, 2013

A Rainy Day


It's been very rainy and cool for the last few days. 

All the Easter decorations are put away, except for this sweet vintage embroidered cloth and some foil wrapped chocolate eggs. 


A little bowl of happiness :)


Today there is mist all around. 


 I hear the Pitter Patter of  tiny raindrops. 


Giving the table a beaded edge. 


But the coffee pot keeps me warm inside. 




I made a nice big pot of it the other night. 

It is just the thing on these wet, spring days. 


I forgot to take my chair cushions in and now they are soaking wet. 

Everything is wet. 

Wet dogs, Wet feet, Wet hair when I go out to feed the birds. 


Towards evening the sun gets low enough to spread some glow beneath the clouds. 


These rainy days are perfect for doing some stitching. 


Once the daily chores are done (are they ever really done?), I reward myself with a nice cup of coffee or tea and sit and stitch for a while. 

I am making a tablecloth for my summer table. 

While I sew each tiny stitch, I think of all the wonderful meals I will share on my handcrafted cloth. 



Meals shared with precious family and friends. 




But for now I will share some strawberry shortcake on a lace covered tray. 

Just Ol' Blue Eyes and Me. 

On a rainy evening in front of the fire. 

Warm and Cozy. 

What are you doing this weekend? 

xoxo

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Nature's Garden


Thank you to all of my sweet friends for your lovely comments on JoAnn's book, 'Are We Walking To Alaska'. 

You can find all the links for this wonderful book on my side bar. 

I also want to thank you, Dear Friends, for coming by to visit me! 

I so enjoy reading all of your kind comments and appreciate every one. 


Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day. 

As I was watching, this red-tailed hawk flew to the 'hawk tree'. 

This is a large Western Red Cedar that stands by itself with a very good view of the valley beyond. 

Birds always land on this tree and have a look around. 


Right after I took this shot, he flew down to the ground and didn't come up. 

Must be good hunting grounds. 


Signs of spring are everywhere now. 

The wild plum trees are blooming and the daffodils are still going strong. 

Can you see my two dogs, Champ and Whitey? 


There's Champ peeking through the plum blossoms. 

The bird feeder is in the tree in between the daffodils. 


My sweet boy, waiting patiently for me to play with him. 

He loves to fetch the ball. 


Whitey couldn't be bothered with all that foolishness. 
He has a bone. 

And when Whitey has a bone, he doesn't let it out of his sight. 
Except to bury it! 

Yes, I have bones buried all over. 
He always has dirt on his nose!



But no time to worry about that, I have daffodils and roses to fertilize. 

The very early daffodils are starting to fade, 
so they get a little fertilizer to make sure we have more next year! 



I will be sad to say goodbye to these little happy faces! 

They are scented, too! 

I do try and plant only scented flowers. 



Here's my boys resting in the dandelions. As you can see we don't use weed killer. 

We keep everything natural and healthy for ourselves, the pets and our water supply. (We have a well). 


As we walk towards the house, we pass the blooming 'Pink Current' bush. 

Now that the berry bushes are starting to bloom,
 the hummingbirds have not been visiting the feeders as often. 

I can hear them chirping and buzzing around me, as I walk around.

There are also bumble bees!  


Another favorite hummingbird flower; 'Salmon Berry' blossoms. 


White daffodils bloom among the mossy rocks. 


These are very old and were planted when my children were small. I don't know what variety they are. 

I try to keep track of things like that, but I always lose the tags. 

I want to start a garden journal and document all that I plant in the future. 

Do you make note of varieties when you plant? 


This is a wildflower that is very much like Coral Bells. Instead of the flower wands being Coral, they are green with a slight tinge of pink along the edges.  I spread the seed around to ensure future wildflowers. 

I now have large colonies of these. 


Nature's garden beneath the Cedar tree. By nurturing wild plantings, I have encouraged nature to create it's own gardens. 

Here we have Holly seedlings, wild 'Coral Bells', and a wild thistle that has the most unusual leaves. 

Oh, and a dandelion or two. 

Nothing I could ever plant would thrive beneath this tree, so I have welcomed these wild interloper's. 


I spent the day weeding around some Forget Me Not plants that migrated out of their rock garden into an area where we lost our Golden Chain Tree in last winter's ice storm. 


Golden Chain tree in summer of 2011

The Forget Me Nots had seeded themselves in under the shelter of the flowering branches. 

I will replace the tree with something else and allow the flowers to stay. 


That's how I garden. 


Mother Nature does most of the work and I just help her along. 


Are you able to get out in the garden yet? What are you growing this year? 
xoxo

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