Growing a pumpkin

Once upon a time....there was a Halloween pumpkin that did not get carved. It was a sad pumpkin, until one day a nice lady placed it in the vegetable garden.....
Over time its seeds spilled all over the vegetable garden and in the spring they grew.....

True story! And it is taking over the vegetable garden and climbing the arbor......We will see if this little pumpkin here gets bigger and bigger and if it is joined by any other pumpkins or if this will be the only one.....
Nancy

Happy Father's Day!!

A deep and warm Happy Father's Day to all the readers out there! I wish all the Dads a delightful day!

Nancy

A walk in the garden

Today, my friend, Sally, shared her garden with me. I have seen the before which was always lovely, but this is so wonderful a transformation, she is letting me share it with you.

The first thing she did was faux paint her wall to make it look like an old stone wall. She is a remarkable artist! She did just that! Then she created from her own collection of treasures a mirror.

See the fountain? She made it! 

The only thing she had to buy was the plastic tubing for the water!

She cleared all the area and spread gravel and created a sitting area....So, comfy!

 She found this iron Christmas tree stand and created a planted umbrella stand! How cool is that??

Then she used this clay tubes to hold solar lights. Before I knew it the entire garden has been totally transformed!! So, here are some more pictures!

 She created these planters from pavers that she bought from Home depot and cement glue!

This is a tree stump that wouldn't come out, so she created it into a gorgeous planter!

 This is another fountain she created from items she had found from thrift stores and garage sales!

 A bird house hangs in her fig tree, which almost always has a little wren living in it....

Sally's garden is full of interesting surprises and vignettes. There are completely wonderful areas that just beg to be enjoyed. Come and sit a spell......

Thank you Sally for a lovely day in your wonderful garden!

Nancy

Reinforcing our Pottery Barn chairs.....

Our new kitchen is ten years old. The doors sag a bit (I don't know how to adjust European hinges). The thermofoil "skin" has turned a bit yellow and less white and the Pottery Barn chairs we bought are showing lots of wear.
The undersides are a simple wire "spring" and the fabric they put on, basically a muslin, has disintegrated to show that they used thin, cheap foam. Sigh. They were not cheap chairs and we hoped they would last longer....

On a couple of chairs the muslin was completely gone....sigh....what is a lady to do?
Well, the wire is in good shape and the foam has a bit of life left. So, in an attempt to prolong the life of our chairs....I bought jute webbing....
I tried a couple of techniques for weaving and gave up on it being "perfect". Instead went for stability. After all, who really looks at the underside of a chair?

 This is what most of them turned out to be. I used the juste to weave in under the wire and staple them.

There were a couple that got a few extra strands of webbing, though I am sure they won't last much longer. Gravity will take effect and all.
However, the overall time wasn't too bad in weaving the webbing in.(My arthritic fingers aren't too happy with me. 6 chairs and pushing the webbing under the wire....)
It will protect the foam longer and the chairs feel just a bit firmer than they did before.
I think it is a good temporary fix that I hope lasts at least a couple of years....
The webbing I purchased at JoAnn's. It was 79 cents a yard. I then had a coupon for 50% off. Sweet! 21 3/4 yds for $9. That is a significant savings to any on the web (no pun intended). Most wanted me to buy 72 yds for an average of $35 plus shipping.
I cut the webbing in generous strips and still have some leftover.....
Humm, now what do I do with leftover webbing????
Have a great day.
Nancy

Enjoying the season of harvest

The task at this time of year, is to keep up with the harvest.
There are raspberries, blueberries and boysenberries....
There are zucchini, scallop squash, apricots, peaches, beets, and onions.
Unfortunately, there are enough at one time to make jams, jellies, or relishes...it is sporadic. No matter, we just enjoy the harvest, knowing it is one less trip to the market and that these are organic...

I see squash with dinner and a boysenberry crisp for dessert....yummmm
What's for dinner at your house??
Nancy

Celebrate!

We invited some of our neighbors over, so they could see what has been happening....I mean, they were all curious and said so.....
So, we invited them and brought out a great wine and cheese, crackers, bread and veggies....

See this cute little old wooden bucket?? Here to the right?? It is really old, but when I found it at a garage sale it was falling apart. The rings were falling off and the wood pieces were really bad. So, I bought it for $2 and took it home and soaked it for about 2 days. Now, it is almost all better, and I have it here with a pot of sedums in it. It is so cute and old.

And the lavender was a little tin bucket all planted at Trader Joe's....perfect.
Yup, nice little open house. And yes, they all loved what we did. Imagine. It only took us 23 years......
Nancy

Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a great weekend. I know I did, although I am still tired.
The floors were done on Saturday and I spent Sunday, cleaning up the dust that got everywhere from the guys cutting into the brick of the fireplace for the floor and then bringing the books in.
We decided that the new baseboards behind the bookcases, with just a couple of thin coats of paint will not get the formal painter's touch. I just had to get the bookcases back and books too, as they were sitting on dropcloths in the garage for about three weeks...
So, everything else is on felt pads and can be moved, so that the painter can finish off baseboards and paint the newly patched wall.
In general, we are so happy with our floors. Kinda like living in a model home, and I have become a bit OCD about cleaning. That is what the Bona swiffer and Miele vacuum is for!
Here are some views that I took this gloomy morning.

This is the view this morning into the family room from where I sit everyday...

This is the view of the kitchen from where I sit, without extra light...

Here is a view from the kitchen doorway to the table. I recently took the shades off of the chandelier and put on soft white bulbs...it feels good.....

Here is the view from the kitchen doorway to the livingroom....I am loving this open feeling that taking out the pony walls afforded us!

Our living room, not at all finished, there is still a bunch to do, but we need to paint baseboards and that wall that was patched before filling things back up...Don't you think the wood floors are great? Much better than 20 yr old blue carpet.
And here is the family room, with the books....

The bookcases feel so much better being painted the same wall color and then the backs of the bookcases are painted French Linen (ASCP). It is cozy and comfortable.
All in all, a great choice of floor covering for us...It is a medium dark color with lots of variation to go with variety of dark furniture (and some light) that we have inherited and collected. Every piece of furniture, even the Lazy Boy chairs, has a story to tell. That is very cool.
Hope you have a great day.
Nancy
I had a question from a reader....the floor is Garrison's Southern Carolina Classics, a 5"w with random length planks, and it is hickory...hope that helps.....