The final days of summer

Can you believe that summer is winding down already??   I can't!  It seems once again
that it has just flown by, but I LOVE summer here in Michigan this year.  Not scorching
hot, but beautiful weather for the most part.  We didn't even put in our air conditioners
this year and that is saying something.  Most evenings we even had blankets that we
covered up with instead of laying in bed roasting!  Although, I will say that we
 REALLY
 need rain here...badly!!  The grass is brown and crunchy which does not make
 for pretty photos at all.

I don't think I will ever tire of the chippy , white look.  Will you?   I think it is here to stay
for me.  I do add splashes of color such as pink and aqua every now and then, but I
always wonder what the next "trend" will be. hmm...

I am loving all my outside flowers again this year!  They are doing pretty good even in spite of
the lack of rain.  I have had to run the hose a bit, but not too bad.
 I  am glad that I can capture their beauty every year to share with you.

This is the back deck area this summer.  Yes, I do need to get the blower out and get rid of some leaves
and get out the spray to kill off some weeds and grass, but for the most part it is okay.  The area on the
right of the photo is just covered in tiny white flowers {Sweet Woodruff} in the Spring, but when
summer hits it looks rather bland. I wish the flowers would bloom all summer long!

I love white picket fences and have put them here and there on our property.

Here is one of our kitty's that we "inherited" when my son and his family took off for North Dakota.
They are finally coming around and being very friendly for the most part, but for the first couple
weeks we thought they would never return. ha!

We have two of them, both gray.  They are sisters and they fight like sisters do also! :)
One of them hisses at the other when it is feeding time and I tell them to stop that they
need to share.  We usually end up separating their food bowls. Crazy cats!!

I acquired this vintage can just recently and I love it.  I plopped some fake flowers in
it , but I really need to pick some real ones and take the fake ones out.
{I am a bad blogger...:( }

Up close and personal.  Not sure which one this is.
They are named Merida and Maeve and I can never keep track of who is who.
We need to get one of them a different color of collar so we can tell them apart.
One of them does have a wider face also so that helps sometimes. 

We had to work on this little window house this summer.  It has sat outside for a few years and was showing
the ill effects of the sun , rain and snow so we replaced the "peak" windows and I also gave it a touch up of
paint here and there.  I also added some silverware chimes and a white geranium sitting on an old stool.
Still love it!

I hope you are not tired of seeing my back deck area.  This is where we enter the house.
We rarely use the front door {unless we get locked out for some reason} so this is
the area I love the most. AND most of the time I can't remember what pics I have
shared with you so you may get duplicate posts.

Are you having a great summer? Ready for school to start??

I have been doing a few projects inside the house that has thoroughly exhausted me.
Hopefully I can share those with you soon if I can get some decent photos with this
crazy lighting.

Blessings~

Rolling along...singing a song...

...SIDE BY SIDE!

I would love you to ride along with me today as I share a few more garden pics.
Did you hop on? Okay, here we go!!

Sweet Woodruff and the bicycle just go together, don't you think?

Yes, I got carried away taking bicycle pics. lol

First stop is near the door on the back deck.
This is a very favorite clay pot filled with flowers.

Next, we will pull up along the side of the house to show you all the work I did today.

I am telling you, I worked and worked trying to clean up the flower beds
and getting out the weeds and I am plumb worn out!

I had a garage sale this past Saturday and several people wanted to buy my yard art including
this Welcome to my Garden sign that is painted on an old screen. I told them it was not for sale.

 I also dug up hosta and sold them.
I had a big wheelbarrow full and people actually asked me if I would dig up more! {I didn't}
They sold like hot cakes for 50 cents a clump. I am thinking about going into the hosta business.

We are back to near the door again! We are sure getting a workout. Someone didn't plan
this bicycle trip very well. ha!

We are now riding past some creeping phlox that just keep spreading every year.

 I LOVE this time of year because
the back deck area looks wonderful with all the spring blooms. By mid summer it gets rather
dreary looking though so I have to enjoy it while I can.

Along the way we pass the Sweet Woodruff again...

{Some also wanted to buy this sign!! NOPE...not for sale!}

...and an herb pot that I made this year.

I tried something new by creating a tiered pot assemblage with herbs in each pot.
I thought up this idea all on my own, but I am sure it has been done somewhere before.
 I really like how it turned out.

A person can never have enough Lemon Thyme and it smells wonderful as it wafts
through the air.

We are now riding down the path that is strewn with crab apple blossoms. It smells
wonderful!!!

This was hubby's idea so I obliged him. He saw this basket sitting on the deck {from my last
years stash...it was green moss initially} and hung it on the tree so I planted an impatiens plant in
 it and an ivy plant. Hope it does well. It should because it gets nice shade here.

I hope you enjoyed "rolling" through my gardens today on my white bicycle.  Our ride ended
way too soon, but I do hope that you enjoyed it and that you will visit again soon.

 I have so much more work to do and I am just getting too old and worn out to keep up with all this.
 I may have to yank it all someday and put in stone, but for now I will enjoy the beauty.

Window Dilemma...

I am in need of a little advice so I am throwing it out there in hopes that someone will come to
my rescue.  This is my kitchen window. My only kitchen window. No , it is not above
the sink where I would like it, but nevertheless it is a window amd I am very thankful for it.

I have had this vintage shutter up along with these curtains for several years because I love
the look so much...however...that being said it is time for a change. I still LOVE the shutter
there, but think I want different curtains. I would love NO CURTAINS at all, but I really don't
have a choice because the afternoon sun really shines in this room.

Question: Leave the shutter, curtains...take it all down? Sill length curtains,
floor length, what kind of fabric?? HELP please!! I have even considered
leaving the shutter up , but adding brackets so it is slanted down like an
awning and adding some chippy , shappy posts or half posts
to the sides.

The ideal solution is in a couple years to tear the whole kitchen apart, put in a new
window and on and on, but I just don't know if I have the umph for that at my age.
We do all of our projects ourselves and I am just getting tired. :)


So glad my herbs were on their best behavior the day I took these photos. Sometimes
they don't get the attention that they deserve and they get kinda droopy looking. :)

Fun with herbs and Invincible Spirit hydrangea

Do you remember your mother using this type of contraption...a vintage colander??  Mine did and I
even did a couple times or so, but I haven't in many years so I decided to put it to better use!

I think it turned out so cute that I wish I had a zillion more of these colanders because then I would
 plant them all up and have a sale!! How cute is this??!! This one is planted with spearmint.

L.O.V.E. this one as well. I found this cutie while antiquing last week. In the same mall I saw a few of these
little strainers that ran the gamet from $4 to $14!  Bet you can't guess what one I purchased!! lol

I also wanted to show you my new hydrangeas that are called *Invincible Spirit*. I purchased two of
these plants last year at the end of the season for $5 each instead of $24 each and I am amazed by how
many flowers on on them already this year! They were certainly named appropiately! Makes me wish
 I had purchased every single plant that they had!! 

These are much more tinier and more delicate petals than any hydrangeas I have had before,
but I just love them. 

Just look at the hundreds of tiny petals.

Yes, I got carried away taking photos again, but hey...what is a camera for right? *giggle*

Oh yes, did you notice my new blog header??  I just made that today and I am having fun making some
more so I can switch them out. Thanks so much to June of Laughing with Angels for giving me the
link to the tutorial!!

We are also thanking the Lord today for the much needed rain that we received yesterday!! I wanted
to dance around and play in the puddles, but we were on the road so I didn't really think it would
be too appropriate to jump out of the car in traffic and do that. I may have just been a *splat* on
the road then. yikes!!! Just kidding...we are trusting Him for more rain soon.

Lavender's blue,dilly dilly...

...lavender's green... do you remember that song?  I don't remember all of it , but that song is
always running through my head whenever I see lavender.

I decided to take a few photos when my lavender was in bloom a week or so ago.
I didn't pick it because my plant really isn't large enough yet, but I still wanted to share
it with you.

It has the most fragrant scent when it first buds out and that is the perfect time for picking.
{before it actually flowers} 

I love it in any form...flowering or not! :)

For some reason it looks more blue in this photo than lavender, but that's okay. :)

Praying you have a wonderful Sunday and a Happy Fathers Day to all the amazing
Fathers out there...you know who you are!! :)
Blessings~