Picking Raspberries

Last summer on our land, the children and I spent warm summer months picking the wild berries that grew prolifically along the edge of  our woods. By far my favorite are raspberries. I know...lotsa seeds....but I still love 'em best. They were the first to come in and lasted essentially all summer long. What a treat!

Despite the flying, biting insects and sticky, clinging bushes...it was always worth the effort. These lasted about as long as it took to hike back up the hill and put them in our bowl of breakfast cereal. In other words, not much of a shelf life. Or the children would jump off their bikes, pop a handful into their mouths...and then off they'd go again. Just one of those sweet and fleeting indulgences! : D

WTW Thursday :: Dollie and Me Dresses

Dollie & Me Girls 7-16 Dressy Dress,Blue/White,8

Some of you may have already stumbled across the WWW:  'What I Wore' Wednesday thing. So spinning off that theme, I decided to start my own WTW: 'What They Wore' Thursday....They as in what my munchkin kiddos are wearing....or  cutie outfits I come across.

These are the Dollie and Me dresses the girls chose for a Tea Party we've been invited to next month. They're beyond excited. And these dresses are beyond adorable....quite reasonable as well. My daughter, Heather, had gotten a $50 gift certificate to Amazon for her birthday from Florida grandparents, so she decided she wanted to put it toward matching dresses for her and her sisters. Great idea! They'll all match and their dolls will match, too! How perfect is that? Too bad they didn't have one in my size. Oh well! ; ) The dresses  I've featured here come in sizes 2-6x and 7-16  (tho many of them went only up to sz 12). They also carried ballet tutus, nightgowns, and play outfits along with assorted others.

Take a look at more of these darling dresses....the ones I'm most partial to anyway. Even at the cool, disdainful, little-girly-stuff-is-totally-beneath-me age of 16, I'd still be secretly drooling over these...even if I didn't admit it to anyone! Of course, I'll totally admit it now...and live it out thru my little girls! : D

Dollie & Me Girls 7-16 Dressy Dress,Pink/White,8

Dollie & Me Girls 7-16 Dress Up Dress,Pink,12

 Dollie & Me Girls 2-6x Dressy Monsoon Print Dress, Pink/ Multi, 6

Dollie & Me Girls 7-16 Dressy Monsoon Print Dress, Pink/Multi, 8

Dollie & Me Girls 7-16 Solid Monsoon Chiffon Dress, Purple/Multi, 8

Inspiration Board :: Kitchens

Found @ this HB slideshow:

 

 

Denise's Garden

My friend, Denise, has continued to ramp up her efforts in the raised bed garden she put in a year or so ago....with fantastic results. If you haven't already discovered raised beds, you have no idea what you're missing. Seriously! I refuse to go back to any other way of gardening ....totally spoiled now. And Denise refuses as well....especially now that her garden is looking absolutely idyllic!  As you shall see. She put in the pebble gravel this year and the cedar bench was a handcrafted gift from a friend in Canada. She struck upon the brilliant notion of setting it at the back of her garden. Once you sit in one of those seats, I can tell ya, there's no getting up again.

She's planted raspberry bushes along one side of the garden and may extend those eventually. And her daughter planted a flower bed in the center that will continue to bring forth blooms late into the summer. Lovely! My favorite feature, though, is the potted geraniums in the wooden buckets. So please excuse me, will you, while I take at least 47 shots of those....

I'm sure everyone can concur that it's impossible to get enough angles of red geraniums in wooden buckets....BUT....I'll practice temperance and stop for now. ; )

 

 

 

So here's the view from the bench seat in the garden. Gorgeous and very regal  feeling as you survey the kingdom....homestead Kingdom. And it's a beautiful acreage, too. I'll follow the kiddos out to the barn where the pony, Jessy, hangs out along with her little sidekick, Ebony, the mini-horse....

Their barn is painted the perfect red. When I have a red barn, this will be the red....the one and only red....no other red will do...

Hope you enjoyed strolling Denise's grounds and garden with me today...and hope you're inspired to keep tweaking your own garden get-away. I know I am! : D

Cinnamon Says 'Cheese'

 

Meet Cinnamon, our 'orphan' duck. I haven't gotten much on the duck, so decided it was his turn in front of the camera. Say 'cheeeeeese' Mr. Duck! My friend, Heather, tried hatching out some duck eggs earlier this Spring and only 2 of them hatched. Then one of those little chicks died, so all she had left was one li'l lonesome duckling. She asked me if  I might want to take the lone duck for the kiddos (she has a whole passel of large ducks)....and naturally, how could I refuse? The kiddos have adored this duck. From the time it was teeny, it has followed after them as fast as it can waddle....and used to go for long swims in the bath tub (and yes, it's outdoors with its own swimming pool now).

Since we weren't sure if this was a 'he' or a 'she' duck, we've called it Cinnamon....or 'Cimmanon'....as I hear it on many an occasion. ; ) Secretly I was hoping 'he' would be a 'she' so I could have lots of nice big duck eggs. Alas, a drake it is....with his deep quack and beautiful dark green feathered head. At least he's a handsome duck. And provides lots of entertainment. Perhaps we can find him a duck wife and eventually have a little duck family waddling about....and chances are I might even get some duck eggs, too! : D

Decked Out

Our deck is a nice deck....with a nice view. However, we just haven't been taking advantage of it like we should be....especially this time of year when the weather is beyond perfect. And don't you Mainers even begin to tell me that 92 degrees with a cool breeze is hot. Sorry, I'm from TX, this is not hot. No, it's not. Don't argue with me, I know what I'm talkin' about  here. Now that we've got that settled, I am absolutely tickled pink, purple, and tan-with-dark-brown-accents over my new deck makeover. Tickled!! : D

It all started last Sunday when the children hauled off the metal table and chair set to have a picnic under the birch trees. And that is, by the way, the perfect-o spot for that set. That, however, left a wide open  empty space on the deck that was just begging for something....something comfy and elegant and refined....and relaxing....and resort-mood-invoking. Something that says, "Just sit right down here, take a load off, and enjoy this view....now!" 

Unfortunately, I don't happen to have that kind of a resort-decor budget, generally speaking. So, generally speaking, I try to piece together what I've already got...or happen to grab from a yard sale....or just do without (until I can grab it at a yard sale...heh heh). 

Monday, we went to Wally World and I meandered out to the garden section to see if any flowers might help my dilemma. I didn't find flowers (except one hanging basket) but I did find lots of herbs and veggie plants marked 50% off. Big score. As you might be guessing, those weren't the only things marked 50% off either

 As we strolled back thru the patio furniture area, I spied this set marked ridiculously low....and couldn't believe my eyes. At first I thought it was just for the one table. But then I was shockingly informed that no, it was for the whole entire kit-n-kaboodle set....along with all those comfy all-weather cushions....and even the accent pillows. No. Way. And on top of that, it was all assembled and we could load it up in the truck, scoot home, and eat our tacos that evening sitting on those very chairs.... in all of about 2 minutes (the time it takes us to unload those babies outta the back of that truck). Be still my heart!

 

But I'm not even done yet. I know I'm being obnoxiously long-winded on this....but what are blogs for anyway?? And when it comes to decorating re-do's, I'm never at a loss for words. This area on this end of the deck is just begging for one of those scrolled metal firepit stands. I'll wait on that till the weather cools off a bit. I readily confess that it is way too warm for fires at the moment....only at the moment, tho.; )

And this end of the deck is just begging for one of those outdoor 4x6 all-weather rugs....perhaps with some sort of scroll motif on it. And a couple of citronella candles. I also needed some more planters...like big  ones. But I didn't want to pay $15 or $25 on big plastic planters. As I was cruising the clearance aisle, I noticed some large plastic round hampers that had a basket weave design to them way up high on the tip top shelf. I  drug them down, scanned 'em and they came up at $2.50. Score again!  I'll definitely keep you up-to-the-minute on any new deck designs and features.

Now before you think I've gone completely budget-busting bonkers, take a look at that grill there. Can you believe my husband just got that at the dump for nothing? Yep, the guy had just bought a brand new grill and was about to leave this one at the dump....with the butane tank attached. Works great....just fired it up and hamburgers were ready in a jiffy. So Wally World rocks. I detest Wal-Mart for over 100,000 reasons, but this week, it did indeed rock in my book. Addendum:   If you ever, ever catch me saying, "Wally World rocks" again, please slap me. : D