Baileykins and the Fishies

From the beginning Bailey has loved the fishies -- like they are best friends or something. She liked to watch them in the tank.



She likes to chat with them pond-side.



And oh my, what's this?


Fishy babies?


"Hello Fishies!!!" Bailey would especially like her some Fishy Babies!

Tah-DA!

Remember this wretched wreck of a deck. It was piles of rotted lumber, falling down fencing and whatever that mess was in the corner, who knew!?!


But looky here! In place of the wretched wreck is the New Children's Garden. A fishy pond, a sandbox, lots of plantings, cozy seats. Oh My.

Let's take a tour: First stop is the herb garden -- this is a far cry from last years weed thatch. Intermingled among the rosemary and bail, the lavender and thyme are cheery salmon geranium and several tall hollyhocks.

Side by side are the oeach tree espalier and a very new pear tree. The peach tree is standing at attention with one lone peach not yet ripe for picking.


The sandbox is the living end. It is a slat covered trapzoid filled with fine grained sand, perfect for wee GRANDbabykins to play for hours and hours. And he does!

The seats nearby are for me to watch from afar -- a bit too far. I like to get on my knees and join in the fun.



Ah, the Children's Garden -- it's good to be done.

Goosey Goosey Gander

The Goosies are Blooming, The Goosies are Blooming!!!!!

Don't they look like little goosey heads? This is Gooseneck Loosestrife and it is my favorite thing in my garden. Many flowers make me smile -- but this one makes me laugh out loud.

They are fun and fancy and happy. A whole gaggle of geese marching with purpose across the lawn. Admittedly this corner of my garden is sadly neglected, due in no small part to the goosies.



Beside them is a rose bush that needs to be yanked down, which is no small thing, so that we can get to the fence which needs to be yanked down, which is no small thing... but to get to the rose and to the fence we would have to tromp through the goosies... And I can't bare to trample them. Maybe over winter when they've sunk back to the earth. But right now the rose and the fence can wait a while... while the goosies are blooming. Next year I will move a few to the Children's Garden

A Little Deconstruction

Looky here, isn't this what every girl wants? Her very own dumpster!!!! Ah, be still my heart.

I am so excited about the dumpster because it gives me a place to put my porch. Yes, my porch.


It's a very sad story about my porch... see, it has been crumbling for years... and years, since before I even bought the house and made it my own. Though it looks like a nice enough porch, it was mostly held together with paint and fading dreams.

But eventually reality sets in and the thing has to be dealt with...
That's Poor Gordon whose only mistake was dating a girl whose house is a little on the wobbly side. He did the lion's share of the demolition. My son, Adrian came to help too. My job was primarily debris removal -- I got to toss it all into that big not-so-shiny dumpster. Woo-Hoo!!I always get the good jobs.

See that post... the rain found a leak in the roof, dripped in and rotted the post from the inside out. I can't even begin to describe the damage the birds did. They found a little hole, made it bigger, moved in, brought their friends... It was like a starling frat party up there. When the old nest got too decrepit they shoved it back and built anew. Rotten birds.

And here is my porch -- No More...

The plan is to build a new one... though, time is ever the issue. Next weekend my favorite builder boyfriend is otherwise engaged... the follwing weekend my youngest niece is getting married. It could be till the end of summer... but it better not be! I'm going to go find more debris to toss in that dumpster.

The Happiest Mother's Day

Where, oh where, do I begin.... let's say the beginning. My dear thoughtful boyfriend wanted a day just for us doing something beyond the norm, something romantic -- the norm being chores and projects, wild and crazy folks that we are. But this weekend, Mother's Day, to have time to ourselves meant Saturday. So he found a gristmill restaurant and off we went on our private personal adventure. It was so much fun -- this little town north of Beyond-All-That is just a crossroads in the woods where a deep gorge carved out a great place for a waterwheel. Oh, it was so pretty. Breathtaking really. The food was good, our table was right on the edge of the gorge and the service was charming.

No little town that features a gristmill restaurant is worth it's salt without a couple of antique stores. But it is such a little town. Once we'd dined in the mill and cruised through a few antique shops... that was it. But five miles away was another little town, well known as a hippy enclave with all the requisite head shops and pottery shops, stained glass designers and college bars -- think 1968, the summer of love, sandals, peace signs, peasant tops, incense... Groovy. I had more fun than a dune buggy load of Monkees. I picked up Peruvian knitted finger puppets for my wee Grandson and a beautiful blue hand thrown tea pot for my darling daughter-in-law and a surprise birthday gift for my manly-man boy child. Less than never do I simply fiddle and shop --it's a wonder I know what's available at all. We stayed and shopped so long that we had dinner at one of the college bars, outside, after the shops began closing up. It was a great day.

And then Sunday -- the REAL Mother's Day, I worked my fanny off... with this:

I got a brand new stove Saturday morning - I feared it would not be delivered in time for my Gristmill in the Woods adventure.... ahhh, but it was. I would show a picture of the old one, but I was too focused on shoving it out the door to snap a picture. Let's just say... it was OLD. Not necessarily ugly old (though it did lack a certain vintage charm from the get-go). It wasn't even broken... but this stove has a griddle. It's got a convection oven, too and a warming drawer... it's slick and shiny and... oh, I am in love.

So I worked real hard on a Mother's Day Brunch... for these people. That's my son, my Grandson, my daughter-in-law and my Sweetie.

This was the first "event" in my newly redone dining room!!!! Frankly, the china cabinet isn't yet built... but the pieces are cut out and ready... These poeple weren't going to sweat a little thing like "no china cabinet." We were too bust being dazzled by this cake my darling daughter-in-law created. It was as delicious and scruptious and wonderful as t looks. Oh, she puts up with my son and bakes to boot! She is amazing!

It was a real nice weekend. I hope each of you enjoyed a wonderful relaxing, content, satisfying Mother's Day too. To you and your family -- grab as much delight as you can. And eat cake.

The Stand

So, Talia, The Wee Queen of Oh-So-Much, is pretty sure she can not compete with this little man (and hiding back there behind chair legs is Natalie poised to beat a hasty retreat) So goes my days of late -- Stay and fight it out or cut my losses and run? THAT is the question.

Ahhhhh. I so apologize for my lengthy absences. I am tied up and covered over with project after project on top of project to where just mowing the lawn seems a monumental undertaking.


In fact, under all those limbs, mowing my lawn IS monumental.

As you can see, my cottage is very old... i.e. decrepit in the most adorable way, but decrepit all the same. That porch needs replacing, the driveway is a crumble. We won't even peek at the back porch. Those tree limbs had to come out... I was so grateful for the few days they lay on the hillside -- so long as the hillside was buried I was relieved of the chore of mowing. Hooray. Yet, I am still engaged in indoor projects. The china cabinet got cut out yesterday, the dining room drapes await hemming, new shelves for a kitchen wall are now painted and might (might) get installed this evening... or not.

I haven't yet decided if the issue is money or time or bodies to actually do the deeds. I do know that when I pass by neat and tidy and completed little condo parks I am sorely intrigued.

And for a bit my computer and my camera were so annoyed with one another that they ceased to chat. After many long deliberations I have brokered an uneasy peace. For now, at least, the works are, well, working again.

As it is, I will continue plugging along as best I can, ever mindfull that all work comes to an abrupt halt upon the arrival of this little face:

Kai William -- 10 1/2 mos.

As Good As It Gets

So the snow has melted and given way to these:

I love crocuses -- in their Sunday Best they trumpet the arrival of spring like a happy surprise. Just seeing the little shoots pushing up through the cold earth shakes off the weariness of winter and fills our collective heads with a new beginning, a fresh start. That's as good as it gets.

I've been so wickedly busy these past many weeks that frankly I could use a fresh start. I was in Pennsylvania all last week helping my boyfriend and his brother spruce up their parents house for sale. It's been sitting empty for some three years now -- suffice it to say that "sprucing up" doesn't really begin to cover it. If ever anything was in need of a fresh start that house tops the list. And now what I could use is a nice nap... in the sunshine... in a hammock. But I am getting ahead of myself.

My living room and dining room projects are nearly complete -- a few drapes to hem and a china cabinet to build. I tend to loose steam when I'm so close to being finished... Does that happen to you? The week before going to Pennsylvania I was in a big push to get the dining room drapes finished and up and got as far as the hem. Now that I'm back I don't yet have the itch in me to wrap it up. But by Saturday, ready or not, I'll get them done. Maybe I need to gaze at those crocuses a little longer, to breath in more of that "fresh start" air out there.

What does spring evoke for you?