The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring, Tra La

One of the great "bonus" discoveries I got the first spring I was in this house (I  moved in in October, lo these many years ago) was that there were a lot of my favorite flowers, shrubs, and trees already here. There are a few apple trees and a flowering crab apple, some very prickly wild-ish roses, and among other things, these lovely plants, all of which are flowering right now--quite the balm to my soul after a long bitter winter.

Peonies are one of my favorite flowers--I like them even better than roses.

I grow chives to eat, but they also have lovely blossoms which the bees love.

I have about 7-8 different lilacs, in a variety of colors. This is one of the later bloomers.

This little white rhododendron was hiding under some heavy pines in the front yard. When the trees got trimmed back a couple of years ago, the blooms appeared for the first time!

This is a huge rhododendron that guards the front entrance. It's a little bit of a show off.

Here is the little one in its niche. I'm working on a shade garden under here.

A white lilac, at the end of its bloom period.

 

 

 And as requested, a picture of the "necklace of the week" I posted on Facebook. This one is turquoise, black onyx, and coral--a combination favored by many of the Native American tribes, which I love too.

I hope something lovely is blooming in your yard or in your life. Let me know if there is!

Barn Roof: Before and After

You might remember back in May when I posted this picture of my barn roof:

Thanks to the fabulous George, it now looks like this:

And this (from the other side, in brighter light):

Happiness is a new barn roof :-)

And on a lighter note...

The last post was a fairly serious one, and frankly, I think most of us are having a tough enough time as it is this week. So here are a few lighter thoughts:

SHOES!
I actually found high heeled shoes I can walk in. (Mostly because they're wedges, and therefore not nearly as high as they look.) They're amazingly comfortable, made in Italy--which makes me feel very sophisticated--and (wait for it) they were on sale! Score!

As some of you know, I am on my second attempt to trade in my waterbed (which I've slept on for 30 years) for an actual mattress. This one comes from Salem, of all places, so hopefully it is magical. I had Pilar Conde,  one of the artists at the shop, make a new comforter cover from some beautiful material I found, too. So far, I am having a rough time adjusting, but the cats seem to like it just fine.

And the new stuff did inspire me to neaten and rearrange the tops of the dressers. (And clean behind them, which apparently hasn't been done since I moved in 10 years ago. Urg.)

I also found two cloths for the dresser tops that my grandmother (Germambie, for those of you who remember my posts about her) wove back in the day, that go perfectly with the new colors. So there is some old in with the new. You can also see the amazing goddess wall hanging that Pilar made for me a few years ago. (I tried to pick out fabrics for the new coverlet that would go with the wall hanging, since I love it so much.) Pilar also made the very cool massive dreamcatcher you can see hanging over the dresser on the left.

Home sweet home :-)

Okay, there you are. I hope you are all having a great weekend, and that the next week is filled with fun and satisfaction. I'm off to write...