~Sunny Skies

It's that time again! I love hanging my wash out under clear blue skies, especially sheets. Finally the warm weather has arrived. I should say hot weather because yesterday and today it's in the 90s! That's too hot, too fast for us northerners. But I've been out enjoying these beautiful days. The garden's planted with many hot chili peppers as usual, along with bell peppers in different colors, lettuces, onions, zucchini, tomatoes and this year Bill planted corn. Good luck with that corn! The last time we planted corn, it got some awful disease and we had to pull it out. I'd like to plant some white pumpkins again but Bill is fussin about that, saying they take up too much space.

A little angel, a gift from a friend is sitting in this urn with pansies. I don't think the pansies are enjoying the hot weather.

That's my shadow taking pictures of pulmaneria, one of my favorite early bloomers. There are pink and purple flowers on this lovely gal.

Last Saturday was my birthday and I received these from a friend. Aren't they pretty? You can't tell from this picture but they're tiny rosebuds. I love getting flowers! Bill surprised me with these red roses! They have a dark red stripe running throught them, the buds are giant sized, and the smell is divine!

I hope you can get out there and enjoy these warm days and beautiful blue skies!

I'm about to start a new project.....lightening up the dining room. Be gone dark red! I just feel like getting rid of some of this heaviness......ya know what I mean?

~Happy Trails

While I was visiting Mia, we were talking about birthdays and I mentioned that I asked Bill to take me horse back riding for my birthday. For some crazy reason I got it in my head that I wanted to ride a horse. Never, ever, have I been on a horse! I never even stood next to one! Well, Bill wasn't too keen on the idea. He thought we'd be to sore to walk for a week afterward.......sometimes he acts so old.

Dawn told me we were taking Mia to daycare because she hadn't been there in a week, then we were going to Hobby Lobby. After dropping Mia at daycare she told me she had to tell me something......we weren't going to Hobby Lobby...... we were going riding! She got me good! I had no idea! I even saw her put boots and heavy socks in the car but didn't even wonder why.
I was wearing sandals, she brought some boots along for me.....I forgot my camera....she had it! I cried. It was such a thoughtful gift!

That's me getting my first glance of my horse Dancer. At this point I still wasn't so sure I could do this.


Here's the lady we called Frontier Lady. She really had it going on...more about her later. She's introducing me to Dancer and showing me how nicely she behaves. Actually she wouldn't even let us near the horses until she'd explained it all.

I'm trying no to be afraid. Nice horsey!

Gosh, I'm liking this. It's all new to me...feel how she walks.......... one, two, three, four. She even trotted for me.


I'm doing it! I'm actually riding!

It was a perfect warm and sunny day to be out on the trail.

Dancer is actually an old grey mare! It's doubtful she does much dancin these days. She could have done the trail herself without any help from me. She's standing in a rut in the trail, that's why she looks small, and I'm standing on the higher ground.

Why are we standing in the middle of the trail? More about that below.

Dawn's horse, I think his name was Fred, had lots more spunk. She's ridden before and could handle him, but she did get in a little trouble because she ran down a hill when she was supposed to go slowly!

Here we are! It was such fun, I know I'll ride again....maybe take some lessons. Thank you Dawn for my birthday surprise.

More about Frontier woman,

She had a 9 mo. old baby and a 4 yr. old. Her husband was in the field helping a black Angus give birth. It's first birth and it was struggling. He had both kids with him in his truck out in the field while she took us riding. She kept in contact with him on her cell the whole time. On the trail we spotted the truck and heard her baby crying. That's when she made us get off the horses so she could go to her baby. I wondered what she was doing.....she was breast feeding the baby. We ended our ride with her walking her horse back to the barn while she carried her baby. Then using only one arm because she was still holding the baby, she put all three horses in their stalls and took off their reins or whatever you call it, collected the money from us and was off to the field to help birth the calf. That's why we named her Frontier woman. Later she probably fed the chickens, collected the eggs, breast fed her baby again, fed the cattle and after all that went in and cooked her family a delicious supper from scratch.
Go Frontier woman!!

Honestly, I'm not making fun of her.........Aren't women amazing?

~Birthday Girls

Last week I was visiting Mia Kate because she's ONE YEAR old! Her first year went by so quickly. She's fun to dress up and I'm always putting things on her head....poor kid, but she doesn't seem to mind a bit. Like her do rag...... the hippie look?

Curlers, because a gal's got to look her best!

Her birthday breakfast was a pancake and cheerios, I think she liked it.

And another surprise after supper, a cupcake. She's such a cutie.

Dig in....yummy.

What a fun and squishy mess!

Here's the princess at her real birthday party with yet another cake and a crown on her head!

She loves salty foods, especially Chicken in a Biscuit crackers and chips.

A little melt down at the local diner....ah well........a little gal can only take so much.


Hope you enjoyed these pictures of little Mia's birthday. April has three birthdays for us, Dawn, Mia's mommy, April .14......Mia's is the 17th and mine is the 25th. Dawn had a BIG surprise for me! I'll be posting that next.

Mom, Alzheimer’s Journey

I get asked from time to time about my MOM, guess it’s time to post about her again.
She’s settled in the nursing home now. Honestly, I think the move may have been more traumatic to me than to her.
Her condition continues to deteriorate …she is losing weight again and now she’s on soft foods only….she forgot how to chew now, along with forgetting how to walk. She sleeps most of the time. Her days and nights seem to be reversed. Every visit it’s becoming harder and harder to connect with her.
Can you imagine what that feels like? Seeing your Mom as an old person, her hair mussed up, sleeping in a wheel chair with her head hanging down? Heart breaking…… It’s the picture that comes to mind when you think of a person in a nursing home. …well, that’s Mom now.
In an effort to get her to sleep at night, she spends the day in a wheelchair, sitting in an activity room where they do puzzles, sometimes small projects and watch movies……….even then she’s rarely awake long enough to say a few words. Her speech is but a quiet slur……
The last 2 nights she stayed in bed all night, so hopefully she’ll sleep less during the day so I can talk to her a bit.
This picture is from about 2 yrs ago.

On Easter I spent some time with her........she was sleeping, but I held her hands and prayed for her and she squeezed my hands back. I rubbed her arms and legs with lotion and gently rubbed her face. I kissed her and wispered in her ear......
I met her admirer, an old gentlenam who thinks she's his wife. He holds her hands and they talk. This behavior is frowned upon and I was asked if they should allow it to continue. As long as he's a gentleman and she doesn't mind, I say so what. Who knows what comfort they may be receiving from each other.

Please keep her in your prayers. My greatest wish is that she not be in pain.
Thank you so much.

Harlequin Pattern Tutorial

Several readers have asked how to do the harlequin pattern, so I’m attempting to do a tutorial. Key word here… ….ATTEMPTING, so here goes….

First measure, then measure again. Determine the size of the area you’re painting. With that in mind, determine the size of the squares.

By that I mean, figure out the size of the squares so they fit evenly within the space. For the pattern to be easy to lay out, try not to end up with fractions. Here’s how I did the desk……..

The area to be painted was, height 18” x width 42”. So I made the height of each square 6” and the width 7”. That gave me 3 squares up & down, (height) and 6 squares across (width).

3 x 6” = 18” height, and 6 x 7” =42” width.

The harlequin squares can be tiny or giant sized, that’s all up to you. Figuring out the measurements in the hardest part.

Next, lay out the pattern.

Find the exact center of the area. You can use a chalk line or a yard stick. Go diagonally from corner to corner, top left to bottom right and vice versa. Where the lines intersect is the middle. Put a dot there. That is the middle of your first square.

Horizontally I’m working with a width of 7”, So I put a dot 3 1/2” from the left and right of the center dot. The dots have to be on a level line so you’ll need a level and maybe a square and straight edge. Mark out 7” from the dots you just made, not the center dot, all the way across.

Next do the same for the height. Go back to the center dot, mark 3” above and below the center dot, then mark a dot 6” from that dot all the way up and down keeping the dots level.

Next, measure out horizontally 7” from the center vertical line at each vertical dot, (the dots you marked for the height) these are the pink dots. Can you see how it’s working out now? Just keep making dots, it’s basically a connect the dots project.

Well, that’s how I do it….there may be an easier way, but I don’t know one. Just practice first and you’ll get it.

It helps to use a colored pencil close to your paint color. I just mark lightly on the surface and it’s barely visible.

Use painter’s tape to tape off the squares.You can’t tape off squares that are next to each other, that won’t work because that tape will be in an area the needs painted. Before I start to tape off, I put a small piece of tape in the center of each square that’s to be painted. Doing that really helps to see the pattern and you won’t paint the wrong square.

On the desk top I used a creamy white color and went over it with a brown glaze for an aged look.

The lime green powder room has a lighter green glaze and fleur de lis at the intersections. I thought of using bees or dots, but decided on fleurs.

Well, that’s it….it sounds complicated but once you start to see the pattern developing, it’s not so hard.

Good luck with this! I’d love to see the finished project.

If you have questions, please feel free to email me.

Have a Great Day!

An Easter card for YOU

Romans 6:8-11
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Unexpected Visitors at the Bungalow

We’ve been receiving gifts on our patio that were too big to be left by the doves that roost on our property and were wondering what could have left them for us. It could have been a red tail hawk because they’re always stopping by.

Then we say him, Mr. Mallard! He's all ready to strut across the patio and leave more poop gifts.

I took these pictures through the window and he didn’t seem too concerned. Mrs. Mallard is always near. We always see them together. Because we were inside I couldn’t get a good picture of her, but while he was standing by, she was in our tiny pond with her head under water and her butt in the air. It was hysterical!

Hysterical because our pond is tiny. It’s all of about 3 feet by 5 feet. Mr. Mallard was probably saying something like, “You go ahead Dear since there’s not enough room for us both.”

This is a picture from a previous year. See how tiny the pond is!

We see these ducks every morning. It’s so cute to see them strutting by the back door as we're having coffee. They must have a nest nearby. I just hope Mrs. Mallard doesn’t plan on letting her brood play in our pond.

We’ve lots of doves, yellow finches, robins, an occasional mocking bird or blue jay and of course about 19,000 bunnies, or so it seems, and now ducks too!

The bunnies can go but I do hope the ducks stay a while, I’ll keep you posted.

Happy Spring!

~Easter is Beautiful

I found these pretty images of Easter tables and thought I'd share some eye candy. Red and white looks so pretty with pink speckled eggs.

The bunny toile plates are from Touchstone online. I think they're also available from Smith and Hawkins. Aren't they gorgeous!

These two pictures, from Country Living, are like a breath of fresh air, so pretty and Spring like. You could make up this cake from a store bought cake and cookies for a quick Easter treat. No mess and no fuss!

Martha Stewart's team always comes up with clever ideas . Who wouldn't want this basket filled with chocolate?

Or this one? I love the the different shades of green together.

Spring decorating with eggs.....

beautiful blooms.....

freshly cut tulips.......
It's just a beautiful time, Spring and Easter!

Stay tuned, my next post is about our unexpected Spring visttors.