A little visitor...

While sitting at the dining room table yesterday, I happened to glance toward the living room window where I spotted the brilliant red that can belong to only one bird here in New England...

I begged him to stay while I ran to get my camera, and he kindly obliged.

I love it when I spot one of these beauties. Cardinals were my mom's favorite birds, so I naturally think of her when one visits.

It's been a very strange winter here in New England as we've only had to shovel the walkway and end of the driveway once thus far. The lack of snow coupled with warmer than normal temperatures have made for quite a pleasant winter for this non-snow/cold lover.

However, we were hit with a mega snowstorm the week before Halloween, when the trees were still covered with leaves. The weight of the snow on the full foliage branches was just too much. In addition to losing major branches from multiple trees, we also lost entire trees in some cases, including a maple next to our driveway, an oak in the side yard, and yet another in the back yard.

This maple tree that sits in our front yard also lost some major branches, but it could have been so much worse. I'm thankful that it is still standing, providing a perfect spot for the cardinals to visit whenever they'd like. Happy February, everyone.... Donna

Coming out of seclusion...

Hello friends. I want to take a moment to thank everyone, from the bottom of my heart, for the lovely, heartfelt words of support at my dad's passing. I thought I would get back into the swing of things much sooner, but it has taken more time than I expected.

I have thrown myself into work, trying to keep busy and stay focused. If I'm busy, I don't have time to think. Blogging makes me think. I have to think about things to write about, usually what is going in in my small little life. Dad is always in my thoughts it seems, and it's just been too hard to put into words what I've been feeling.

I want to apologize about the "Bad Case of Blogger's Block" post that showed up in November on my blog. Can you believe that that was a post I actually started over a year ago when I couldn't think of anything to blog about? I grabbed some photos from my computer, intending to eventually making it a coherent post and I scheduled it to go live the following year. I then forgot all about it and because I haven't blogged since August, I didn't realize it had gone live in its rough, non-verbal state.

So what have I been doing? Dealing with guilt of my dad having been in a nursing home/rehab facility, a place he did not want to be. Wishing I had done many things differently. Revisiting so many things and wishing I could go back in time and do some things differently which (in my mind) may have changed the outcome. Stress eating. God, have I been stress eating. I will be getting rid of my Weight Loss log on the sidebar because I've regained all the weight I'd worked so hard to lose. If I ever feel up to starting the weight loss journey again, I'll start a new log on my sidebar.

I'm still wearing dad's blue shirt. The one everyone said was "his" color. They were right. It's a beautiful shade of pale blue. The rhinestone brooch was my addition. I can say without any hesitation that my dad never sported the brooch when he wore this shirt.

When I take a break from transcribing, the shops, and/or trying to paint, I sometimes see these beauties in our neighborhood.

A friend called me last week to let me know they were in her yard, so you know I had to grab my camera and head down for a visit.

After having no tree at all last year, we decided to take a chance this year even though Baby is as crazy as ever. We didn't put any of our breakable ornaments on the tree which was a smart move because she's constantly batting at everything and trying to climb up or through the tree.

She's a very mischievous little cat and I'm certain she thinks the tree was solely put up for her amusement.

I have a feeling she will miss it come January.

Sweet Jarrett is also enjoying the tree. I think all the critters are excited that Santa will be bringing them some treats. They've been very, very good this year (yes, even Baby).

Our little Tiger, now 18, spends most of her time on Amanda's bed, laying next to the heating vent in my office/studio, or watching the world go by outside her window... Santa knows her favorite treats are Temptations and I'm sure he'll be leaving her a few different flavors.

(Baby watching for Santa)

I doubt I will be back before the holidays so I want to take this time to once again thank you ALL for your kindness and to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Donna

Pretty in Pink

The view from our living room window...

is spectacular right now, thanks to our hoppa crab tree.

It's hard to believe it was only a little over a month ago, during our April 1st storm...

...that it looked like this!!!

Even the bird lamp birdies are enjoying the view!

It's hard to believe that when we bought these trees back in 1982 (we planted two in our yard)...

... they were so small ...

... that they both fit ...

...  into the back of my VW bug convertible (with the top down, of course).

Spring was a long time in coming, but it was well worth the wait!!

I'm linking up to My Romantic Home's Show & Tell Friday. Be sure to stop by and see what everyone is sharing this week!
Also, I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit a lot of you lately. My dad has been in the hospital/nursing home/rehab for the past two weeks and I'm spending a lot of time there. Hopefully, if all goes well, he will be coming home some time next week and I'll have more time to get around and visit. Till then, I hope you are all enjoying spring wherever you are!!

Donna

Winter Valances...

As much as I have had it with winter, I have to admit that I'm smitten with the beautiful snowscapes we see through our windows. I've always loved to "bring the outside in," so most of our windows have simple decorative valances rather than full window treatments.
(click to enlarge any photos)

Baby had been perched on the windowsill, looking out at the snow falling. Of course by the time I got back with my camera, she had moved to the chair. We purchased the valances in this room back in 1989, which is when the family room was added.


No valance on the slider, but another beautiful view of the snow from this angle. These tab top panels match the valance in the previous photo (they're also 22 years old!).

I love the battenburg lace trim on our dining room valance. It looks like intricate snowflakes to me. I think I got this valance about 8 years ago. I recently purchased a couple of more just like it for an upcoming project that I'll share soon!

This lace valance has been hanging in our living room so long that I don't even remember when I purchased it. It's probably been there at least 12 to 15 years because I purchased it during my primitive decor phase. It transitioned beautifully to the cottage decor we now have.

Nature has also been busy hanging valances on practically every house in New England it seems!

Everywhere you look, icicle valances are hanging from rooftops.

I pray that when they start melting, people aren't affected by roof leaks, but I'm afraid many will be.

We've knocked down the ones we can reach, and the ones on the side of the house where Mr. J goes in and out. We sure wouldn't want one falling on him!

But some are just too difficult to reach right now, like these outside our bedroom window.

Finally! The sun is out today after 2 back-to-back snowstorms. But they are predicting another snowstorm for Saturday that might give us at least 6" more...

I don't know how much more we can take! As you can see, the snow is already up to the flowerboxes on our backyard shed! (Sammy, in the foreground, was happily muching on birdseed in the screen feeder when I snapped this photo this morning.)

I'm sorry I haven't visited many of you in the past week but I will visit soon. Dad had a bad reaction to a routine surgery and we have been very busy this past week. On the plus side, it looks like things are slowly getting back to normal, and for that we are very grateful.

I'm linking to Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home, so be sure to stop by and add your own post and/or visit all the other participating bloggers!

Stay WARM everyone!!!

Donna

And the sun sets...

... on another day.


The late afternoon sun sits so low at this time of year. I caught it right at sundown the other day, while it was sending its last beams of light through the living room window behind the caged plant...


...and the lace valance...


It gives a beautiful glow to the room as it sets. How I wish it would stay longer. I am not a fan of pitch black darkness before 5p.m. But the setting sun does put on a show with the shadows it casts on the walls at this time of year, as evidenced by the following photo of the plant, the window, and the valance.

Within a minute of taking this photo, the shadow was gone as the sun had dropped below the treetops outside the window.

In other day-to-day news, Baby continues to claim everything in the house as her own.

... including the drying rack, which is brought in a lot during this time of the year (as opposed to drying things outside where they just freeze).

Baby's nose is a bit out of joint. We have a new member of the family who I'll introduce shortly. Although it took a while (and is still an ongoing process), the animals seem to be adjusting. We've had some bumps in the road of life over the past few weeks. Nothing major and everything will be okay, but I'm sorry to say that it delayed me announcing the winner of my giveaway, which was scheduled for the day after Thanksgiving.

I asked one of my girls to pick a number (from the total number of comments) and she picked #18. So congratulations to Brenda Kula of Cozy Little House, who posted the 18th comment on my giveaway blogpost! Brenda, just email me your address and I will get your SNOW giveaway right out in the mail to you!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving :)

Donna

bare naked windows...

I love the look of bare naked windows. Whenever I wash them (which last happened a few days before Halloween), I always take down the valance. The windows tilt in for easy 'outside' cleaning, and the valance always gets in the way of the tilting...


We have shutters on the bottom half of the window for privacy, so it's not like I have to put the valance back up, but for some reason I always do... Anyhow, I got my supplies ready and went to work.


After all the windows were washed and the woodwork cleaned, it was time to put everything back in place. I love the scalloped edge, embroidery and eyelet trim of this runner that I use in the window. I've even grown fond of the worn wood where the shutters rub as they are opened and closed every morning and night...

The aloe vera planter got dusted and put back in place...

...along with several of our fur babies' urns...

My boy, Blackie, is kept in a blue cotton ball holder.

And finally, the little decorative candleholder is cleaned and put in place (it's actually just a dust collector since the only time it is ever used is during a power outage, and during those times it is moved up to the mantel so furry little feet won't knock it over)...

And speaking of furry little feet, as soon as the valance was back in place, little Baby had to climb up and inspect my work. She looks so sweet and innocent in this photo, but just you wait until I show you her dark side in a future post!! Yes, Baby, I captured it all!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend! I'm off to the Cape on a one-day 'mission' tomorrow and it's supposed to be glorious weather! Yippee!

I'm linking up to Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home so be sure to stop by and visit all the other participating bloggers!

Donna