Springing Ahead??

Hey Chickies!

Oh, how I've missed you....


I'm overcome with grief for the people of Japan. I cannot even begin to fathom the devastation and loss, families looking for their loved ones, everything they've known gone in a flash. I'm heartbroken.


I'm so grateful to know Jesus and know for SURE that He's there for me should any kind of crisis come our way.... I know I can hold onto Him and that I'm in the palm of His hand. Pure peace.



The night of the earthquake I stayed up until two in the morning watching the tsunami reports. It was expected to hit Hawaii... The Hubbs' Mom lives on the water on Oahu....I was very concerned about my MIL... but, she had no damage at all and was staying at a friend's home on higher ground..... it's not the first time they've had to evacuate. Thank you Jesus for your protection.


I've seen pictures of tsunamis before, but still can't wrap my mind around the force of that water. An entire town looks like toothpicks.


Continuing to lift the people of Japan up in prayer, and I know you are too.


They've had quite a few reports about the earthquake threat in Washington. It seems we're on the Cascadia fault. They think, if we have "the big one" it will also create a tsunami and they think the waves would be about 100 feet high.... Whoa!

This seems so totally unimportant, in the scheme of things, but I'm SICK to death of winter. I'm tired of being cold and damp. I grew up in Washington State. Believe me, I've seen plenty of rain. But, enough. is. enough.




It's been COLD AND WINDY. Our canvas patio cover is in shreds.....and my sweet little primroses are barely hanging on..... And, those lovely hydrangeas that I so adore????

Look like this. YIKES!


I keep waiting to post pictures of the house until I finish everything. It finally dawned on me that that day probably will NEVER come so I'm just going to post where I am now.....



Stay tuned!


Huggies and Lovies.....



Spence


PS..... Did the time change mess up your internal clock too? I am SOOOO out of whack. :-)

Oh DEER.... And, The Saga Of The Weird Hydrangea

Hi Sweeties!


Oh my gosh..... I can hardly believe this!


My sweet and adorable Hubbs bought me TWO Limelight Hydrangeas for my birthday.


I was soooo ExCiTEd...


I love that yummy springy green, don't you?

We live in a little town.


We DO NOT live in the country.


We do NOT live in a forest.


We do NOT live with wildlife.


However.


It seems we've been having some visitors in the AFTERNOON.


DEER!


And, they decided to EAT all the tops off of my new hydrangeas.... A new PeeGee too...


And, went over to my porch.....rambled on through the shrubs and ATE

the tops off all of my geraniums too.



HOLY MOLY!


So, now my question is....


I know enough to fill a thimble about hydrangeas..... I can grow 'em, but don't know about the "old wood" VS: "new wood" business.


I just know all of you smarty green thumb chickies will have the answer for me.



Are they going to be OK?

Ok...........here's question number 2.



How the heck did this happen????


Yep, they ARE two different hydrangeas.... I have them all across the front of the house.


BUT.


I have NEVER planted a lace leaf hydrangea.


Not that I don't think they're pretty, but I had one at my old house and always wanted those big 'ol mop head ones.


Honestly, I'm going to go through some pictures, but I KNOW it wasn't there last year.


Another mystery at the Cottage.


Have a wonderful day DeAR OnEs...


xoxoxoxoxo

Spencer

Silly Deer.

It's Pink Saturday.... Come On Over To The Cottage!

Hello to all you little sweeties!

I can't believe it's already Pink Saturday again....whew, have I been a neglectful blogger....but a REALLY good gramma! :-)

I've so enjoyed my little guy. He's been staying with us for most of the summer which is just the BEST thing ever for this 'ol gal! We went to see UP this week....it was so sweet. I have to admit, I cried! I don't normally, but I sure did with this darling movie.

Sweet Beverly is hosting this Pink Saturday party. She puts so much into coordinating it and I appreciate her so much. She's such a doll, isn't she?

Please go see her and all the other pink lovelies at:

www.howsweetthesound.typepad.com

You'll be so happy you did!

And now....a little peek around the cottage. I thought I'd better get busy and take some new pictures. Things have grown quite a lot since I took pictures last.

I've said before that we live in a planned community in a little bitty cottage....(just under 1500 square feet).

The back gate.........I LOVE this pot! I see it every day when I drive in......it always makes me smile.........hey, I'm a simple girl. It doesn't take too much to thrill me! :-)

I think we have about 13-14 hydrangeas..........I LOVE them. Some of those blooms are just crazy big! Aren't they just the happiest little flowers?

I've talked before about starting ivy to do your own topiaries........this is one of them! Isn't that great? Holy cow! I've taken a gazillion starts off of this little gal, including one I'm starting now. I did buy the frame for this one......I think it was about 30 dollars, but WAY cheaper than buying a finished topiary. I saw similar ones at Smith and Hawken for about 150 dollars.

I think this little gizmo is supposed to be used for party beverages, but I'm using it for my front porch party instead........I bought both pieces at the Goodwill for 19 dollars! I think it was supposed to be 100 dollars according to the original stickers. What a bargain.

I don't think it would work very well for parties any more.......I drilled tons of holes in the bottom. :-)


Those flowers look red, don't they? They're PINK!

The front steps. Whew, we get tons of moss around here (It's Western Washington.......of COURSE we have mosssssssssss!)........I love it on my steps so I leave it. It's cute AND it saves me tons of work.

Don't you wonder why they put the railing on the LEFT side? I'll never figure that one out.

On each side of this big 'ol hydrangea are ground cover hydrangeas. They really don't cover anything, they're sort of upright, but quite cute....and blue.

I got FOUR of those great chairs..........a table and a chaise for 65 dollars at an estate sale....isn't that unbelievable? No really........I DID. The table needs to be welded, but still....a great buy.

Little cement bunny......cute little guy, and heavy as can be. I love using my little saucers upside down.

I've tried the Martha plan for adding moss to my clay pots.......some worked out quite well and some are still waiting to be great. Buttermilk or yogurt. If you have moss you can smear a bit on the pot as well to expedite the process. I like my pots to be yukky. They sort of suit the cottage.

I made that little topiary over on the right too. It's actually one of those primitive style hat racks, but worked perfectly for the topiary. I just buried the base in the dirt.

There's that Bellamere Cottage sign again....made from an old headboard. Don'tcha just love a cheap re-do? I used to have this posted on Rate My Space.......we have an All-City Garage Sale every year in our little community.............I never participate........I HAVE to shop. :-) But a couple of years ago a gal knocked on my door squealing............"I've seen your house on RMS!!!!!!..........oh my gosh, I was screaming in the car to my girlfriend and said we just had to stop"!.....hilarious. I've actually seen this sweet little gal at quite a few estate and/or garage sales. I sort of felt famous for just a moment there. Hey, I have to grab stardom wherever and whenever I can. Sad, isn't it?

I have never had any luck with verbena, but it's my BEST friend this year. It is HUGE. This picture doesn't even show how far it's hanging down. I'm going to try seeds next year. Have you ever tried growing them from scratch?

The little plants are about four dollars each, so if I could start them from seed it would save a bundle.

It's a puny little mallo plant underneath the window on the left side. I had some lovely wallflower there until it went to heaven.....that mallo will get HUGE....and there are two peony trees planted in there as well. I'm not a minimalist outside either. :-)

Thanks for coming to visit the cottage. It's a happy little place.

I've been ever so neglectful with my blogging. I miss you all! I'm going to get peppy and catch up any minute.

God bless all of you. You are FABULOUS.........and I am grateful.

Huggies and Lovies!
Spence

There's A Handpainted Island At Bellamere Cottage!

Happy Pink Saturday! I'm so happy you came to visit!


Get your morning cuppa and kick back for a little bit and enjoy all the lovely girlies at Miss Beverly's.......... www.howsweetthesound.typepad.com


So little chickies.......here's the story of the island at Bellamere Cottage....

As I've said, our home is in a planned community and there were only SOOO many choices as to style, colors, hardware, etc. when we built the little cottage about six years ago. One of the options that WAS available was a center island for the kitchen. According to THEIR plan, it couldn't have an overhang for stools.......now, tell me......how are you supposed to sit at the island with no stools?

Ahhhhhhhh...........but this is where the handy, dandy half-husband (see previous post) comes in! Oh, what a great guy to have around! He and my adorable little hubbs built a wood top for me WITH the desired overhang. It was just plywood, however.......yeah, that's just not going to work, is it?

No problem! The lady of the cottage.......that would be me.......came to the rescue with her little paint bucket and a couple of brushes. .........let's tape off the center and free hand the posies around the edges........roses are hydrangeas would look happy, don't you think?? A couple of coats of primer, a base coat of paint and some dolling up..........about 4 coats of Diamond Finish Varathane.......and VOILA'!!!

This is actually the THIRD time I've painted it. I discovered it's not a good idea to leave a cleaner bottle on top of it on cleaning day.........ewwwwwwwww.....it was so sad.......then I repainted it with a golden border and HATED it, so, as they say, THREE times is a charm.

This is a temporary solution for the island top. I didn't care for any of the upgrades they offered for our counters, so I just went with the standard laminate and will be replacing all of the kitchen counters in a few more years.....so, in the meantime, this painted countertop works just great for us.


I tried for two days to take decent snaps of the kitchen and living room to share for Pink Saturday and couldn't get them to look right. I have a Canon G-9....it's a pretty good camera, I think, but my shots all looked FUNNY! Almost grainy???? Does anyone have any tips? I don't know what all those little buttons are about?? :-) I just use auto, but I think another setting might work better. We were actually having sunshine here in the NW too.... Things that make you say hmmmmmmmm.

God Bless All Of You!!!

Have a wonderful and safe weekend.

Thank you SO very much for visiting.

xoxoxoxo

Spencer