White....from the garden...

Never realized just how soothing white in the garden can be. Sharing a few fresh white pics from my cottage garden....both flowers and elements....

The vintage alphabet party for August

It's time again for the August Vintage Alphabet Party at Etsy Cottage Style Blog

This month the letters are N and O

For me this was easy! Out junking and garage sale hopping this weekend I can share some of my finds!

This vintage rhinestone Necklace is a beauty!

This vintage waterfall Nightstand is ripe for stripping and refinishing...

This Oval mirror is gonna be so shabby romantic when it gets a white coat of paint

and finally, the Oneida dish, painted white will be an awesome shabby soap dish.

I will be looking forward to showing you the finished versions of these lovely weekend found treasures in a future post. I hope you enjoyed. And if you have some N and O vintage treasures to show off, won't you join us? The party is all week, hop over to Etsy Cottage Style Blog to find out more!

It is quite spectacular....

Burning the Grass seed fields....quite common place where I live. DEQ closely regulates this practice of sterilizing the soil. Each year less acreage is allowed to be burned. The farmers are challenged to come up with alternatives. I must say that I was appalled by this practice when we first moved to this beautiful rolling hills area. But, I must say, watching it up close is amazing. And this close, we never had any smoke come anywhere near us. That is because the atmospheric conditions have to be just right, the the smoke rises straight up. These are pics looking from my front porch. It is just amazing to watch, I wasn't the only one snapping pics. These guys that burn the fields are experts at controlling these burns.

click on the pics to see more detail....

almost over within 15 minutes

Looking the other direction, another burn in the hills...

not the lazy days of summer for me

nope, I can't call this summer lazy by any means~ Hubby Jim and I fit the term "tweeners" to a tee. Taking care of both your adult kids and your parents. Jim's parens have had multiple health issues the last few months. Our son in law was very ill with ulcerative colitis and ended up with major surgery.  He is on the mend now and will make a full recovery. We have been babysitting our 2 little granddaughters a lot to help the family out, but I still manage to juggle the day job with my creative side for my website, but at times I feel stretched thin. Some things I had to let go--my cottage garden is in a state of "jungle" at the moment. I have this HUGE  Sally Holmes rose bush that is begging for a major deadheading. The guest room redo is waiting for me to finish, and our garage is stuffed with our son's belongings as he looks for another place land when college starts in the fall. But not complaining, life is good.
I thought today I would share some recent photos my daughter took (also her photographer) of these precious "midgets" as my other half lovingly refers them to. Sometimes they are also his "rug rats" LOL

Lynsie and Lilian 

 

False vs the real thing

On a previous post, I featured my False Queen Anne's Lace that grows in my cottage garden. I had lots of comments and even a few emails regarding what was different about the "false" and the weed that grows along the roadside. I literally walked across the street to snap a photo of the wild stuff that grows in the ditch.  I thought I would explain the difference.

 Click on the pic to see full size

As you can see, the false variety is more prolific in blooms that are larger and flatter in shape. They also do not have long tap roots as the wild one's do. They are from two different plant families, the wild ones are considered an invasive weed , but the false can be too if not thinned out early. I love my false variety as they intermingle with the other cottage flowers, and perfect for fillers in a bouquet.  But again, they have to be kept in check or they will quickly take over as you can see in some of my recent posts! Once you sow the seeds--you never will have to sow them again, they will be back every year, I promise!

My Favorite songs....

A fun blog party I am joining in is "My Favorite Song" Hosted by Cindy at I Owe it All to Him blog.

I had to really think on this one because my tastes in music keep changing through the years. For many years I was into the classic rock, then to a bit more popular easy listening. Then big time into country music...then several trips to Hawaii got me really into the traditional Hawaiian slack key guitar style. Even a big of classical string and piano now and then I guess you could say I like it all....But I also have my favorite hymns...the two that came to mind first are "The King of Love my Shepard is" and What a Friend we Have in Jesus".
My current pop fave is Alycia Keys "Empire State of Mind"
Some old faves--Light my Fire by the Doors--some great memories go with that song
"Imagine" by John Lennon--still makes you think after all these years!

Come join us and share your favorite songs too!