Sunny Pictures

Foyer
Living Room
Dining Room

New Computer

Our new computer is hooked up now. Even with my gratitude for having this bright new shinny beauty my frustration level is at a ten.................So many new things to learn so please excuse the mess around here while we work out the kinks and get things up and running. This moments frustration is trying to go back into the text to punctuate and getting two crossed lines on the prompt instead of a straight line to let me type.

Enough boring technical gab. On the the good stuff. Enjoy the photo above, that was supposed to be On to the good stuff............ This is Mom & Dad's front door. Their house was built in 1935. They are the third family to inhabit this pretty English Cottage which is more than likely where I get my fondness for the style and my romantic personality.

Back in 1956 when Mom & Dad made the trek 30 miles west to open a new branch of the family business, not exactly pioneers but it seemed like a long way from home at the time, Dad made Mom a promise. That promise was that one day he would buy her the pretty cottage above. Long story short, many years later he did. After years in a Chicken Coop, an apartment and a sweet little colonial he made good on his word.

~Birthday Dream Ideas~

Option # 1: We could go to NYC, stay overnight at The Carlyle and visit Charlotte Moss Townhouse.
Option # 2: Chicago, overnight at The Drake, lunch at the Ralph Lauren Grill.

Really great deals for flight on Travelocity could off set the extravagant cost of the accommodations ~

These two options are probably more like my own dream birthday choices. Sheryl, I'm really looking for your choices. Care to chime in?

This year several of our friends are celebrating what I call our mini-milestone birthdays, Cindy calls it more appropriately turning "double nickles". It's your turn Sheryl, what's your pleasure?

Anybody else? What would your dream birthday be like?

~Birthdays~

Sheryl, what would you like to do for your birthday this year??????????????????

Summerhill

Here are a couple of little fuzzy pictures that I scanned on to this old computer of my old cottage kitchen.

If It's Wednesday.....

Most of the neighborhood is more than likely making sauce. I haven't seen it yet this year but last year, on trash pick up day shortly after the full moon during the harvest season, there were so many tomato boxes on the curbs that you had to navigate carefully to avoid toppling the huge stacks of empty crates. Since I've been away quite a bit I may have missed the annual ritual.

My lovely neighborhood is of mixed ethnicity with a heavy lean toward Italian American with the occasional Greek, African or Irish American in the mix. We live on the northern east side of Metro Detroit which is famous, or infamous, for having a large number of Italian neighborhoods. This was all very strange for me when I first came here four years ago. Now four years later and 20 pounds heavier it is beginning to feel like the natural flow of things.

I've learned a lot from all these wonderful people but today is Wednesday and I'm making sauce so let's talk food. There are so many markets down here where you can get the freshest fruits and vegetables imaginable. The bakeries are loaded with fresh bread daily and the desserts are beyond, beyond. They cook seasonally and have very little in their refrigerators but display what they are fixing that day in big bowls on their counter tops like beautiful eggplants and peppers of assorted shapes and colors. People still come home for lunch and Nonna, the Grandma, cooks for the whole family.

They eat very little meat and reserve it for the evening meal that is served much later than I am used to, dinner was always at 6:00 when I was growing up. Coffee with milk or espresso for breakfast. A fresh cooked vegetable dish with bread, or maybe pasta for lunch. A small amount of meat with pasta often, veggies and bread for dinner. The portions must be much smaller than I tend to consume of all this delicious stuff because they are very tiny people.

Probably shouldn't generalize about an ethnic group and I'm not, but on my street on Wednesday were making sauce ~~~~~~~.

The photo above is one of my favorite cookbooks via Amazon.

Charlotte Moss

My love for Charlotte Moss has been on going now for well over 10 years. Since my computer is completely dead and it looks like there will be a new one on the horizon soon, any suggestions for what kind to get would be appreciated, it is impossible to post the pictures that I took last weekend that I promised earlier. In the mean time you can see some of the weekends pictures on Sheryl's blog http://friendshipcottage.blogspot.com/

Back to Charlotte. I can in no way compare myself to her but after reading her interview on http://habituallychic.blogspot.com/ this morning I can relate to her even more. She attended interior design school but dropped out after deciding that she couldn't draw well enough which is exactly what I did. She went on to study a new area and I studied business. She went on to Wallstreet and I went into banking. OK, so she was on Wallstreet and I was a new mother working as a bank teller, but hey it was banking ~ After becoming disillusioned with Wallstreet she went into retailing and opened her own shop. After the birth of my first daughter at age 25 my friend Pam and I opened our first shop. From there the similarities begin to fade. She went on to become a famous Interior Designer and author. I raised my three babies and dabbled in retail for the better part of 20 years and did some interior decorating for people when they insisted but mostly later regretted ;)

When her books first started coming out I became an instant fan. A Passion for Detail was first published in 1991 and it was love at first sight for me. I started collecting old books, looked forward to having a green stripped dining room with wallpaper like the paper on the back of the covers of the book, got a calico Caviller King Charles spaniel & planned on another, worked for Pat Wood who sold staffordshire lamps in her shop like Charlotte, collected old framed Victorian botanical prints, majolica, needlepoint pillows and silver.

Creating A Room came out in 1995 while we were decorating our home and cottage. Both of her books strongly influenced the decor of both. In Creating A Room, Steinmeyer's illustrations really brought Charlotte's visions to life for me and probably many others. I loved the collaboration of Charlotte the visionary with James the illustrator, both artists of immense talent.

Steinmeyer's illustration on pages 39 and 40 of A Passion For Details is still one of my favorite rooms. His work on A Sunny and Sophisticated Living Room form CAR is where I got the idea for the curtains in our house we were working on. With the book in hand,I approached a couple of gal's that had work for Laura Ashley in NYC that had moved back home to our area, to help me. My first choice for fabric was a Rose Cummings rose printed lined that turned out to be way out of my budget so we settled on a sweet Waverly chintz that I love to this day. The girls did a great job that turned out to be more difficult that we had planned. It was a difficult install, so difficult that when I had them resized to fit the house we are in now they totally botched the job and my beautiful Charlotte inspired curtains look more like something out of a bad Victorian reproduction job. Alas, I still love the fabric so there they hang in their lame interpretation.

Charlotte Moss will forever be one of my favorite designers and I am thrilled to see that she has become so successful and influential today with her classic design and books now reaching a whole new generation of devotees,even the ones that are so strongly devoted to the Domino style. Congratulations Charlotte and best wishes for future success.

I really wish I would not have cut up my copy of Creating A Room so much. Today these two books are selling on her site http://www.charlottemoss.com/ for $150 each since they are now out of publication. Even at those prices I would buy them again and look forward to her next projects.

Barclay Butera for Traditional Home

Photos from Traditiona Homes website at http://www.traditionalhome.com/ , the blue and white readers will love this, Sheryl, Cindy, Suzi & Heather!

Today we are heading up north to Homecoming at CMU and for my granddaughter Riley's birthday party tomorrow. John is so great about spending time with my side of the family, which we do a lot of since they are closer to us, but with in the next couple of months we are looking forward to heading to Denver to spend some time with the bunch in the picture above. Sorry Dominic, the pictures on my computer are so small that I can't see them until they are uploaded onto the blog, I thought you were in this picture too. Dominic is the, not so little any more, baby of the clan.

Cindy did a post about dream houses which has inspired me to take my camera with me this weekend and take a few pictures of some of my favorite houses including my mom and dad's, and the in progress guest house adjacent to it, that I think you will enjoy. If my computer is fixed I'll post them sometime next week.

Hope everyone has a good time enjoying this beautiful fall weekend and thanks every one for your encouraging comments.

Go Chippewa's!!!!!!!!!!

Burleigh Pottery

This morning while googling images for English country style I ran across this line of pottery to share. They describe Burleigh Pottery as the epitome of the classic English country look. This look isn't for every one I know, but I just love the homey undecorated look of the English country style home where nothing is perfect, too new looking or pretentious, just well lived in spaces cluttered with the stuff of every day life.

You can click here to see more from Burleigh Pottery.

Our Home Four Years Ago

It is hard to believe that we have lived here for four years now. This was not our first choice for a house when we were house shopping. The house that we were about to close on after we had sold our house did not pass the builders inspection. Now, in the grand scheme of things I know that it is not the end of the world, but it took me a long time to get over the Mud House never the less.

I've been reading Melissa's blog about being authentic this morning and am feeling the need to be more authentic here on my blog in order to be known authentically.

John is my third husband............I know, I can hardly believe it either. My family has a large family business that provides for me very well. Did any body watch that awful show Dirty Sexy Money last night? Well, on a much smaller scale that could be my family. A few different story lines and take it out a few generations and there you have us.

My first husband and I were married shortly after high school. We had our three beautiful children over the course of several years. Thirteen years later we were divorced. To this day I regret it and would advise anyone with children to stay married to the father of your children unless you are dealing with one or all of the four A's, adultery, addiction, abuse, or abandonment. Even then there is hope through the grace of God, but none of these were the reason for my divorce, I was an idiot.........that was the reason for my divorce. Before I knew it he was remarried and had adopted a little boy. Through it all he remained a wonderful father to my children.

On March 16, 1986 I was saved and born again through the blood of Jesus Christ our savior. Five years later in 1991 I married a man fifteen years older than me. We were married for 10 years but after the first 5 years it began to become clear that our differences could not be overcome even though we both tried very hard and sought all kinds of outside help and kept trying probably longer than we should have, but I now know why that was........

Two years after my second divorce my first husband had an aneurysm burst in his brain at a meeting. He never recovered. I know that he had some brain function immediately after the incident because when I went into the ER room when he got to the hospital I leaned over him and told him that the children would be fine and that I would take care of them and a tear rolled down his cheek. It was the worst time in our lives and it continued for two more years until he went home to be with the Lord in the spring of 2004.

Shortly after my second divorce I met my husband John. We were married in 2003 at which time I sold my home and cottage to move from a small central Michigan town to Metro Detroit. He sold his house and we found the Mud House and were excited to start our life together down here. On one of our first dates we began reading the Bible through in one of those read through the Bible in one year Bible's. He had come out of a difficult marriage and had turned to the Lord to help him come to terms with his situation. We finished reading our Bible coincidentally the day we were married. This was not my first time through it but it was his. That Bible reading and many prayers together have gotten us through some very difficult times.

Two weeks after my first husband went home to be with the Lord John's mother fell and broke her hip. Within a couple of days she also went home to be with the Lord. She was a loving mother and we were heartbroken by her loss.

It has been almost a year now that my second husband also went home to be with the Lord. As I mentioned above I now know why we were together. Shortly before he passed he asked me to come over to his house where he was in the final stages of his battle with lung cancer and he thanked me for bringing him back to God. He had a peace about him that I could feel even though I knew he was in a great deal of pain. He died two weeks later.

So, you are now probably thinking, what a nut case, and maybe so, but I have loved and I have lost, I've been a sinner and a saint and through it all the Lord has been beside me holding me in His arms comforting and leading me bringing me back to Him.

Some time ago I erased much of my blog because I became the topic of debate among some of the Christian bloggers. At that time I couldn't even put into words my experiences of the last few years. I was called an isolator, a Jezebel and blasphemer of the Word of God. Hopefully, what they said is not true, but if it is I repent of it and will continue to have faith in God who forgives us and guides us.

Back to the topic of our home. I give God all the glory for all that I have. It is all his and only mine to be a good steward of so it is this house and not the Mud House and that is just fine with me. Could my computer be broken so that I would have to use this old one so that I can finally put the past few years into words......Thank you Jesus, thank you all who have listenend to me ramble.

Hope I haven't scared any one off. This is the first time in years that I have been able to sort through all this.

It is nice to meet you authentically.

Linens and Things

This morning I decided to organize my table linens and discovered that many of my tablecloths don't even have a table to cover in this house any more. Hum? Let's see, there is the round blue one that goes to the table that Dana has now, better save that for her. Then there is the plastic outdoor blue & white checked round one that went on the round outdoor table that is in the basement waiting to be resurrected at someones cottage one of these days.
Does this happen to any one else or have I really turned into a pack rat? You would think I would pass them on and I really do give away a lot of things that I don't use but for some reason there are categories of items that just stay with me.


Guess that needs some pondering. For now though my linens are nicely organized and accessible, ready to be put to good use. Have you organized your table linens lately?

Photos above are from Very Fine Linens & emsheart via google image search.

Karla's Party

Today over at Karla's Cottage she has invited us to share what we love about our home. She has posted about her darling cottage including a recent photo shoot from Romantic Country Homes magazine that showcases her eclectic kitchen as well as other past articles that show its many transformation. I really can't say which one I like best, they have all been so creative and I love them all. Visit her blog at http://karlascottage.typepad.com/ and join in the fun if you like.

Since my computer is still down I can't post any new pictures about what I love about our home but one of our favorite things about this house are our weekly Tiki Sunday parties. Every Sunday during the summer we host an open house sort of pool party where we never know exactly who will show up but on most sunny Sunday afternoons we have a pool full of family, friends or both. Every one brings food to share and helps with the clean up so it is a fun relatively easy way to entertain.

Stop by Karla's and join in the fun and read about other bloggers homes.

Arcadia Bluffs

It has been a busy week here. Jury Duty turned out to be no big deal once I found my way to the court house, in fact, I never got selected to serve on a case and met a couple of lovely ladies that I shared the beautiful sunny day with. We had an hour and a half lunch break so we walked around Mt. Clemens and had lunch at a charming restaurant that had outdoor dining. The rest of the day we spent swapping recipes and telling each other about our daily life. I got the address and phone number of one of the ladies because she does alterations, but unfortunately I didn't get the others information. She was a factory worker for General Motors and was telling us about her schedule of working 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. As you may have heard on the news General Motors today decided to go on strike. I so wish that I had gotten her name so I could contact her to offer her my wishes of a speedy resolution to the situation. This is a very difficult time here in south eastern Michigan for so many people.
On a more pleasant note, last weekend, as I mentioned before, we went up north to see our girl friends newly remodeled cottage. My computer crashed last week and is in the shop being fixed so I'm using my old computer that won't let me upload my pictures, but to my pleasant surprise Sheryl at http://friendshipcottage.blogspot.com/ has written a couple of posts about the weekend that tell the tale, well most of it any way ;) She graciously omitted some of the events.

Above is a picture of the club house at Arcadia Bluffs where we had dinner Saturday night. You have to see the picture that Sheryl took of the bagpipe player with the sun setting behind him, amazing.

Jury Duty

Today I'm off to Jury Duty. I was hoping that my number wouldn't come up but it did so off I go to do my duty as an American.

Consignment Shop Majolica

Last week Dana and I had to go up north to Petoskey to pick up the chairs that I bought for the guest house last summer. While we were up there we went to our favorite consignment shop and I found two majolica pictures to add to my collection, they are the ones in the bottom photo.
The one on the left has is pink on the inside, the one on the right has a bird on a branch of what looks like an apple tree in bloom. The smaller ones in front are reproductions that we carried at Chloe's.
If you are in the Petoskey area I recommend that you take a look at this consignment shop, that I can't remember the name of but if you are interested let me know and I'll give you directions. We were in there for about an hour and during that time there were no less than six ladies in there that looked like they were Interior Designers stopping by on their lunch hours making calls to what appeared to be clients describing certain pieces that they were spotting. This place is a treasure trove of everything from furniture to small items that the people from the resort communities in the area bring in to sell. The prices are unbelievably low and the selection is top notch. It is probably hit and miss but both times that I have been there it has been packed with inventory.
I happily snatched up these two majolica pieces and a blue and white cache pot with a drip plate under it but could have loaded up the car with more goodies for the guest house if we would have had room with all the chairs already in there. We are hoping that in December when we start to put together the GH that they will still have a good selection.
Hope every one had a good weekend. This week I have Jury Duty............but next weekend several of my friend and I are going to our girl friends newly remodeled cottage on Lake Michigan and we are all very excited to see the finished product and share some girl time.
Thanks for all the sweet comments. I'm off to visit some blogs.

Happy Birthday Aaron

Happy birthday Aaron! Thirty four years ago today Aaron was born. When he was born the name Aaron was very rare, now it is much more common but in 1973 it became popular. That was the year that Hank Aaron broke records in the game of baseball. His name was every where and apparently people liked it, at least his last name. Aaron was also the name of the articulate brother of Moses according to the holy Bible. With a name like that how could you go wrong.

Aaron has lived up to his name. He was a good baseball player but really excelled at the game of golf. His prep school days were during the time that Tiger Woods was also coming up in the game of golf, he was the guy to beat. He also played on the same prep school team as Doug LaBelle who is now a member of the PGA. Aaron was coming on strong in the golf world but after a summer of internship as an assistant golf professional while in college he decided to change his path.

Aaron now works for our family business and like his Biblical name sake is an articulate man of God. Since his father passed away in 2004 after a two year illness Aaron has become the family spokes man. He is a strong leader of his brothers and sister and a role model of Christian grace.

These last few years have been difficult for him on several fronts but he, by the grace of God, has survived and grown to further his testimony reflecting the Lords promise to be with us through it all. It blesses me to see a smile on his face once again and hear the laughter, that was for so long stifled by grief, reappear.

God bless you my son, the gift that God so generously bestowed on your Father and I to raise. May you continue to grown in your walk with the Lord. I love you with all my heart and wish you the happiest of birthdays and blessing through out your life.

Living Room Flowers

When we were up north for the wedding I had a few minutes to visit the cutest shop in Charlevoix and got this cache pot with pink roses on it and a lavender plant to put in it. I put it on a table in the other corner of the living room but it didn't photograph well there so I stuck it here where the light is better, still not the greatest picture but you get the idea.
This mosiac platter with roses on it has been with me for a very long time. It get's moved around a lot and makes a nice serving piece for desserts at Easter.
We have two of these white and pink Morning Glory vases on either side of the secretary sitting on very rickety wall brackets. There is no way I could put anything in them without toppling the whole thing, so we just enjoy their pretty presence from afar. An errant feather duster can send the whole thing crashing to the ground.

Well, most of the flowers are fading in the garden but the sedum seems to be coming in nicely and will soon furnish some color. We also planted a few dahlia bulbs this spring that are starting to produce nice pinkish red blossoms that will look nice in the kitchen and great room.

It is about time to clean out the planters and replace the geraniums with some fall colored mums and change the door wreath. The wreath that I have used for years is looking pretty tired so after I go to the gym this morning I'll try to find something a bit fresher.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying these first few crisp fall like days. The weather here in Michigan has been glorious.

Thanks everyone for your kind comments on the wedding. Things have settled down some and Kyle & Carrie seem to be enjoying their wedded bliss while working on the mounds of thank you notes for all the generosity they received.

Mr. & Mrs. Kyle White

What a glorious time we had up north celebrating Kyle and Carrie's marriage. It really was a dream come true. The kids all forgot their cameras so I was in charge of all the pictures which is a frightening situation since I usually can't even remember where my camera is, but I must say I think I did alright, maybe it's because of blogging. In fact, there are so many pictures that I had to put them on a separate blog.

Not that anyone is interested, but if you would like to see more pictures of the wedding you can view them on the blog I set up for them at http://kylecarrieswedding.blogspot.com/ .

Hope everyone had a good week! Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment.

The Wish of a Prayer Comes True

My prayer for my youngest son is coming true. On Saturday he will be married to his sweetheart. The heart felt joy of a child finding their mate is so glorious. I thank God for sending Carrie to share the life of my beloved son Kyle. All the glory and honor is his. What a gift from the Lord that Kyle has been to our family. From birth he has been the happiest child, always entertaining all of us with his bright smile and charming humor. In a few short days he will be joined to the wife that God has brought to him. Please join me in prayer for blessings on their marriage and could you put in a word too asking that the good Lord help us fit everything in the car ;)

Well, I better go finish packing. John wants to be on the road by 11:00, which means that at 10:30 he will be saying "lets go". Over the years I've learned that if I plan to be ready about a half hour before his departure time things go most smoothly.

Have a great weekend! I'll be back on Monday with pictures of the wedding, that is if I can keep the battery charged on my camera........

~Photos of Castle Farms, Charlevoix, Michigan~

Wild for White

Right now everything white is catching my eye. Maybe it is because John wants to paint the garage blue and I am trying, ever so gently, to help him realize that if we paint the garage light blue with the pink cupboards that he just installed he may be in for more taunting from his Harley friends than he imagines. I've had these images on my computer for a while and they keep catching my eye. Ornate white moldings add so much texture to what could be a very bland space. Classically placed moldings can be tricky to place but if you get it right it can add so much to a room. One of my favorite women of style is the late Nancy Lancaster. She used art in her living room to create the illusion of classical molding by placing the pictures as if they were tucked inside classically placed molding. That room has been photographed many times and if I find it I'll will post about it.
The hardware on this gorgeous door also adds texture and sparkle to another white room.
The diamond shaped mullions on the windows in this white kitchen add texture and dimension.

~Kitchen Picture is from The Well Appointed House~
~Ornate Door is from
~ Mirror on white is from

Nice Matters & Wedding Update

Thanks Toni at http://rabbithillcreations.blogspot.com/ for awarding me the Nice Matters Award. I'm passing it on to Stephanie at http://greeniegardens.blogspot.com/ she has the cutest post about trash that you have to read. Her daughter Heather at http://splaneyo.blogspot.com/ has a great post about the Nice Matters Award on her blog that had me laughing already this morning when I went over there to see if she had already gotten the award.

The wedding was so much fun and turned into a weekend event. I ended up wearing a sleeveless little black dress even though I'm opposed to black at weddings I guessed correctly that at this one that would be the color of choice and it turned out to be a good guess. One of my sister-in-laws was so mad that her husband told her not to wear black and three quarters of the guests were decked out in the somber color. Not that it was a somber event but knowing my niece and all her friends black was a safe bet on the color.

I took a black light weight cardigan with me but never ended up needing it. Plenty of hot flashes kept me warm even in the AC. For shoes I wore comfy black heels to the ceremony and quickly changed into black Havianna flip flops for the reception which sound awful but blended in just fine. All my gear for the day fit nicely into a mid size purse and kept all my necessities close at hand. I did however leave my camera at the reception site but the MOB brought it over yesterday.

Which brings me up to the pool party for the day after the wedding. Our neighborhood was packed. You could barely get a car down our street. The next door neighbors daughter was married on Saturday too. Both big Italian families partying in their pools created quite the busy place. Our poor other neighbors!

Well, hope every one had a good weekend.

Something Blue For Annie's Wedding

Today is going to be a long day. I don't know about you, but the older I get the harder it is to attend 11 or 12 hour events. Our niece is getting married today downtown at 1:30 pm, the reception is also downtown at 6:00 pm. Well I'm guessing many of you know this dilemma.....What on earth am I going to wear that I'll be able to get through this ordeal in. The usual issues: layering to go from hot flash to freezing in the AC, shoes that won't make me look like a frump but will allow me to stand around in them for some where around probably 6-8 hours, purse to carry a full days supply of necessities that does not look like a suitcase........and on it goes.

We really are excited about the wedding, it's just the getting there that is such a pain ;)

A Walk In The Garden

This morning I grabbed a fresh cup of coffee and my camera to see if there was any thing pretty blooming in the garden that I could share with you. Usually when I am outside first thing in the morning there is no one around, but as luck would have it, the neighbor pulled out of his driveway right when I was coming out. Oh well, I'm sure he has seen worse but it reminds me to try to get dressed first thing in the morning. I feel bad that he had to be subjected to a lady of a certain age in her night gown with a hoodie over it and uncombed hair first thing in the morning. Maybe he didn't notice me as I slid behind a shrub.

Pantry Project

This afternoon I finally got a chance to get the pantry cleaned out and organized. After my last trip to Costco things were stuffed in every which way and in danger of a complete avalanche.

The craziness that is my life has settled down a bit. As a result I had a burst of energy and pulled everything out of the pantry, gave it a good scrubbing, and reorganized it. It was easier to organize this time because John installed some cabinets, that were being discarded from the building he is working on, into the garage, right outside our back door. The non-food things that I had in here got moved to the garage leaving plenty of space to arrange things.

Hope everyone had a good day. Thanks for stopping by.

Rainy Day Protection

It is always nice to have umbrellas handy by the door to grab on your way out if it is raining or rain is in the forecast. These are my umbrellas that I keep by the front door. It is hard to photograph them in the front entry so they are in front of the door that goes to the basement from our backdoor to have their picture taken.

The big one in the back was a Christmas gift from my Mom many years ago, called the Rain House in the J Peterman catalogue. It has a horn handle and is big enough to protect a small family. The size makes it impractical for quick trips to and from the car but it has come in handy at times when we have had to be out in the rain for longer periods of time.

The two plaid ones were gifts with purchases from the old Ralph Lauren store that used to be in downtown Birmingham before they moved to the mall. Seriously, way back when, they gave out these beautiful umbrellas for even a relatively small purchase. All the details have faded, but my recollection tells me that Sarah and I made several trips back to the store, while Christmas shopping that year, for more umbrellas.

The black one with the silver handle is from Chloe's. We also carried the pocket sized version of this one. It had a replica of an antique silver knife handle on it. We sold ton's of them for about $17.00 each. They made the cutest gifts when wrapped up in our blue & white checked tissue paper, put in a clear bag and tied up with blue tulle ribbon. I still have one in the door pocket of my car that gets plenty of use. They aren't the sturdiest umbrellas but work great when there is a bit of a drizzle and you don't want to get your hair wet.

The pink plaid one is fairly new and I would like to add one with pink roses. Lori at http://pinkfadedroses.blogspot.com/ inspired my stroll down umbrella memory lane. I recently discovered her blog from DebraK at http://thebunnysbungalow.blogspot.com/ when she so sweetly included me in her fun tag (I'm still working on it Debra). Lori has a post showing the prettiest umbrellas and parasol's. Hopefully she will share with me where the ones with roses on them came from so I can consider getting one to add to my little collection.

Well, I haven't had much time to post lately but really appreciate all the comments and I'm enjoying visiting my blog friends. Hope all is well with everyone!

Natural Wonders Tag

DebraK tagged me to put names of blog friends on things from the natural world. Since I have no clue how to do that using the computer I wrote the names in my grandchildren's crayons on the back of my old business cards. To coin a phrase from my friend Cindi, I know this is "lame" but I wanted to play along so here is my lame attempt ;) Andrea at http://truesouthernheart.blogspot.com/ always posts beautiful pictures of classic design that I so enjoy. She probably thinks I am a terrible lurker because I could spend hours clicking on her side bar, it is a treasure trove of interesting sites to explore.
This is a rabbit weathervane that Rhoda at http://southernhospitality-rhoda.blogspot.com/ had in a post that I really fell for so I went out and got one for our kitchen. She has a beautiful home that she is willing to share with the blog world and often does tutorial posts about different project that are very informative. She has also been a bit of an angel to me, leaving sweet comments exactly when needed and helping me with my spelling.
Here is a rabbit for Suzi Q at http://rabbitruncottage.blogspot.com/ . I found Suzi Q when first entering the blog world because I loved the name of her blog and still do. That would be the perfect name for our house too because little rabbits play all over our gardens just like they do hers. Her home is just beautiful and her blog is so inviting, I love visiting her and hope you will too.

DebraK at http://thebunnysbungalow.blogspot.com/ tagged me for this post. She is the sweetest lady who's beloved Mother suffers from the same tragic condition that mine does. Thank you for including me in this fun tag. I chose this bunny bookend for you because it is right by one of my favorite books and sends love your way.
Cindy at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/ is nestled here among the blue faux berries and blue and white lamp. She is a favorite of many for all here creative energy. Since she has added me to here list of blog friends my readership has increased so I thought I had better get busy and make some posts. Her recent post had many thinking the photos were from a magazine, absolutely beautiful. We share a love of blue & white and I can't get enough of her lovely projects. This isn't really representative of the natural world but it is a painting idealizing my old downtown street scape. Tucked in there is Chloe's, the little shop that kept Sheryl at http://friendshipcottage.blogspot.com/ and I busy and got us through some tough years.

It may not be from the natural world but it was a sacred little space that blessed many and Sheryl was right there with me from start to finish.

Fifi is fairly new to the blog world but most of us probably recognize her work from many of our favorite magazines. Her blog at http://fabulousfifi.typepad.com/ is loaded with pictures from her adorable cottages many transformations. Her sisters French B&B is so pretty.
I am truly in love with this rug that Toni at http://rabbithillcreations.blogspot.com/ made and had for sale on e-bay. It was so exciting when it became mine. Really it is too nice to have on the floor but I love it so much that I have it right in front of my stove which since I have been so busy has not seen much foot traffic. Her creations are truly inspired and she always has witty and sweet comments. I love chatting with Toni.

There, I've done it. This was really fun. Some of you have been tagged before but if any one is up to it have a go. To get more information and to see others creations you can track back from Debra's.