The Pear Trees About To Burst

The first signs of Spring are beginning to appear after weeks of cold temperatures and rain. This picture, out our front door, shows the Bradford Pear trees that line our streets about to burst into full bloom.

If you disregard the mess that my garden is in, because it has been too cold and wet to get out there, you can get a glimpse out our back door of the tree lined street ready to put on its finest show of the seasons.

Hope things are warming up in your part of the world if you are in the Northern Hemisphere.
I am sooo over this cold weather!

Welcome Spring

Happy Spring!

We are finally getting the stairway painted. The painter's started last Thursday and promise to be finished by this Wednesday. At this stage it looks terrible.....We had house guests this weekend that were kind enough to tolerate the light coating of dust that has permeated the entire house. Of course I did the best I could to remove as much as possible before their arrival but I am afraid the thin haze of gunk remained where least expected.

I hope you are enjoying Spring where ever you are.

xoxo,

Sue

Gathered Treasures

Shabby water stained print.
Tiny pots for mini violets.

A light weight silver pitcher.


Some greens for the picture.



A light weight arrangement for Jarvis to hold to greet guests.

Up close.

Fern fonds to form the base

of this arrangement for

the coffee table

in the great room.

Little moss pads

to put on silver plates and cover with cloches.

Now we need one more silver plate to finish it off.

It Has Been A Busy Spring

We ate way to much at Cindi's.
Just got back from Mackinac Island

with Dana and Angie

to celebrate Mother's Day.

We celebrated Taylor's First Communion.

Went to ride on Thomas The Train

with the boy's at the Henry Ford Museum

and spent time with my tree hugger friends. Isn't that tree in Mom & Dad's back yard huge???

I have been picking up fun things for the house along the way and will share some of them soon. Hope you are having a wonderful spring too.

Hugs,

Sue

Spring Fluffing

The delightful Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is having a Spring Fluffing party. I do not have much decorated yet for spring but because she is such a sweetie I did not want to miss her party so I thought I would share my fairly new mantel decoration with you all.
When my daughter Dana from Dana Moore Designs was here the weekend we were putting together the entertainment center she ran down to the basement and pulled up some spring things to fluff up the mantel.

The first things she brought up were my huge French rabbits that I like to use at Easter time. They fill in the space nicely. With these 18' ceilings you really need big items to make any kind of a statement. These big rabbits caught my eye at The Great Indoors several years ago and I look forward to using them each season. I purchased the blue and green Mama rabbit with her babies sitting on her and the green watering can at the same time. Dana used the books to set the watering can on to give it some height. Then she used an antique candle box that we had downstairs to carry the dark wood from the entertainment center over to this end of the room. The terra-cotta pot with moss in it adds a little softness to the arrangement.


This picture from upstairs shows the full fireplace with the crooked floating rug in front of it ;)

Thanks Rhoda for the party. I hope you enjoyed your visit here. These parties have been a fun way to meet other bloggers. I so enjoy hearing from all of you and so appreciate your comments and all of the new followers of Life At Home. Stop by Southern Hospitality , join in the fun and grab a cup of coffee and spend some time visiting the other participants. I hope to get around to visiting all of you soon.

Happy Spring Fluffing.

Hugs,
Sue

Seasonal Fluff Up

We have a really nice Marshall's not far from here that I like to visit occasionally to freshen things up each season. Last week they had some pretty blue and white flower arrangements that were on sale. On the kitchen table is a really big footed glass container lined with the leaves of Hydrangeas on the bottom and big fluffy blue and white Hydrangeas spilling over the top of it. The two blue bean pots and the Tracey Porter candle sticks give some width to the vertical arrangement.
After redoing the centerpiece on the table the old centerpiece got moved over to the cabinet on the other side of the kitchen eating area. The three plates behind it fill in the blank space at the top and the tall pitchers add some width. The lavender on top of the cupboard was in a pink pot but the blue one seems to work better with this new arrangement.
These blue and white dishes with the roses on them fit into the spaces of the cupboard. These were our dishes at the cottage but now get used when we have extra mouths to fee. After figuring out how to move the shelves around in the cupboards there was room to display the huge blue wine glasses that Sarah got us a couple of years ago for Christmas.
We needed something to keep all the lemons and limes that we use in, so at Marshall's we picked up these two tall footed containers. They had some with lids that were nice too, but the open topped ones seemed like they would be easier to access the fruit with out the possibility of breaking the top.
This smaller vase of blue and white flowers is one of two that we thought would work in the dining room on the buffet but they were to big so this one ended up here and the other one is in the living room.

Marshall's was loaded with goodies last Thursday. It seems like I read somewhere that Thursdays are a good day to go to the discount stores like Marshall's and TJMaxx because they restocked for the weekend. It sure was true last week.

Are y'all having a good summer? We sure are around here with lots of family fun. Wednesday Mom and Dad are coming down for a couple of days and then it will be time to get ready for our 4th of July vacation up north.

Take care and God bless,
Sue