I'm seeing red....

The cardinals have been visiting often since our last snowstorm. 

There's no missing them, especially against the minimalism of winter's landscapes.

I spotted this guy in an instant from inside the house, so I ran to get my camera. 

Thankfully he was still there when I got back.

These photos were taken the day our major snowstorm arrived.

(altered with picMonkey)

A while later Mr. Cardinal ventured closer, perching on top of the plant hanger attached to the deck. From there, it was a hop, skip, and a jump to the sunflower seed in the screen feeder!

I think of my mom whenever I see cardinals as they were her favorite birds. 

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of red. It seemed fitting to share it today!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm linking up to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home this week.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Donna

The beauty of a blizzard...

School cancellations, trips to the supermarket for last minute non-perishables in case of power outages, batteries for flashlights, and the list goes on. If you are one of those who escaped any of the possible downsides of this storm (flooding along the coast, downed trees, loss of electricity, etc.), it's much easier to appreciate the beauty of these storms.

(courtesy of picMonkey.com)

This was the view from our dining room window yesterday, showing the ivy that climbs our brick chimney and the new gate and fence hubby installed over the summer. I love the snow piled atop the arbor.

This is our dining room window this morning. I had to take the arbor photo from the upper panes on the right side of the window where there was no snow piled up.

Through the top of the left panes, the deck is visible. A brave Sammy Squirrel and Mr. Bluejay are waiting for me to toss out some peanuts...

...while a little junco waits patiently for me to brush the snow from the screen feeder 

so he can get at the seed.

This was the view from the family room slider. 

The snow was piled up to the first grid on the door section. 

The drifting snow was practically up to the patio table, and the chairs are barely visible at all.

It's going to be a while before we're eating out here, I'm afraid.

A bit later I tossed out peanuts for my friends, with most landing on the table.

The "gnome home" is also filled with snow, its window also covered with snow.

Oh, good. Sammy found one of the peanuts I tossed out for him. 

Now we'll take a peek out front and see how the snowy landscape has changed our view.

Here's a view looking down the street. I insisted that hubby, in his sixties, agree to having someone plow the end of the driveway for this 2+ feet of snow. He agreed, so we arranged to have that done. This photo was taken pre-plowing.

A while later, you can see that the end of the driveway has been cleared. They did a great job. But now we need to shovel a path from the house to the driveway and then unearth the vehicles. It's hard to see from this angle, but the snow is almost covering up our mailboxes.

Okay, this is better. From the front door you can see the mailboxes, barely visible above the snow. There's usually at least a 2' clearance between the bottom of our flag and the ground. But now, when not being blown by the high winds, the snowman flag rests on top of the snow.

And there it goes again, blowing in the wind...

This was our mini snowstorm of January 16th, just a few weeks ago. Even though there was snow on the ground, the mailboxes were still well above the snow and the flag had plenty of space below it.

I hope those of you who don't live in New England or snowy regions enjoyed these photos.

I hope those of you who do live here, but winter in Florida, are smiling, as you're reminded of 

why you made that choice.

I hope those of you who love to ski, snowboard, and snowmobile have a blast.

I hope those of you who don't (me included) have an early spring!

Donna

The older she gets....

 ...the crazier she gets!

 (photo altered with picMonkey)

This is a photo of Baby sitting on the jelly cupboard, one of her favorite places to hang out. And why not? It's up high so she can look down on poor Mr. J, a floor dweller. It also allows her to oversee the entire living area of the house. But probably most importantly, from this vantage point she can easily watch the action at the screen feeder mounted to the dining room window.

Once upon a time, this little corner of the dining area looked so neat and tidy.

And even after sweet Baby came along, she was always so careful while perched on the corner.

But lately, she's been a wild woman. With reckless abandon, she leaps across the half wall from the family room to the top of the jelly cupboard. Therefore, all breakables have been completely removed. The crocheted runner isn't even safe anymore. I find it on the floor more often than not. If Baby's not around, I attempt to put it back on the jelly cupboard; if she is around, it just gets tossed over the back of one of the dining room chairs.

The bay window decor doesn't escape her shenanigans either. The placemat that sits under the plants is always bunched up due to her leaping down to the window to 'attack' whatever poor creature or bird is at the screen feeder. Just look at her up there, eyes locked on the feeder through the window!

It's the same thing in the living room, where I'm always having to adjust the lampshade on this vintage lamp. Sadly, there used to be two of them. We all know who is responsible for there only being one now.

Two days ago, this was the view outside our window, some lingering snow and frigid temperatures. The snow is long gone now (as temps rose in the 50's and 60's for 2 days!!)...

And something else is gone as well...

The runner that usually sits on the apothecary chest was in a heap on the floor, the calling card of you know who. (I love how Mr. J is on his way over to investigate. Don't worry, Mr. J, I know the culprit!)

It's this little beast, who races from one end of the house to the other, and then leaps!

And just look at this face. Not a shred of guilt!

It's okay, Baby. We know you're just being precocious, curious, and athletic... a trait most younger cats share :) And you're awfully cute, and quite entertaining, so I think we can overlook some of your messy tendencies.

We're bracing for some frigid weather again, I'm afraid. We sure were spoiled by the last two days!

This week I'm joining Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday
and Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage for A Favorite Thing Saturday.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Donna

Favorite Halloween memories...

Halloween has always been a favorite time of year for us...

  ... so needless to say, there's been a lot of tweaking going on around the yard
so we'll be ready when all the little trick-or-treaters come calling!

It seems like just yesterday that we were taking our own girls trick-or-treating, but in reality

it's been many, many years as they're now in their twenties!

(I'm still not sure where those years went!)

Part of the Halloween fun was making the girls' costumes each year.

Back in the early 90's they were little Dutch girls. The costumes were pretty easy to make;
little calico skirts with elastic waistbands, cafe curtain aprons (which I then then stenciled with windmills), cardigans and tights that they already had. The tricky part was the little Dutch girl hats, but with the help of some florist wire I was able to get the side flaps to bend upwards!

Another year they were little Indian maidens after their dad brought these headdresses back
from a trip to Colorado. Again, very simple homemade "over the head" faux suede dresses
(i.e. no zippers or buttons for this bumbling seamstress).

These were the easiest costumes ever! Black pants that they already had, some of my old blouses, scarves, and necklaces from the 80's, an inexpensive eye patch and voila - instant pirates!



A footed sleeper, headband ears, and heart on her nose
transformed Amanda into a Care Bear one year...

...while a homemade cape, crazy socks, painted whiskers and cat ears

transformed Court into the snazziest Halloween cat ever.

Most of the yard decorations that I put out a couple of weeks ago are the same ones we've had since the girls were little, like the pumpkin windsock in the first photo and this ghost windsock. Both have seen better days, but I still hang them year after year.

I still have the blue & yellow "black cat" flag the girls are standing next to in their pirate costume photo, but I've been hanging this one for many years now.

This pumpkin scarecrow came along when the girls were a little older. He gets 

tied to the maple tree so he can greet all the trick-or-treaters coming up the walkway.

The whiskey barrel in the front yard always gets a 'bouquet' of
faux fall leaves at this time of year...

...as do the flower pots on the front stoop.

Another scarecrow stands guard at the back gate.
The ivy growing up the fireplace is brilliant orange right now.

Mr. Hairy Tarantula hopes that you and yours have a very fun and safe Halloween!!
And you moms & dads who have little ones - enjoy these years because, trust me,
they fly by all too quickly!

Thank you PicMonkey for helping me alter these regular photos into

spook-tacular Halloween photos!!

I'm joining Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage for Favorite Thing Saturday
and Brenda at Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday.

Be sure to pop over and share one of your favorite things/people/pets/holidays/recipes, or things you've been tweaking around your home or yard!

Happy Halloween, everyone!!!!

Donna

P.S. To all my east coast friends who have mentioned Sandy in their comments, I hear you! If we have electricity, I plan to share a "one year anniversary" post with some photos of our yard after last year's freak snowstorm. We lost so many trees and branches. I'm definitely not looking forward to a repeat performance exactly one year later!

 

Wordless Wednesday... Fun with PicMonkey

(original photo)

(altered with PicMonkey)

DIY Lint Roller Holder...

If you have one (or more) of these...

 (photo edited in PicMonkey)

...then you probably have a dozen (or more) of these!

A couple of months ago the incredibly talented Brenda from Cozy Little House came up with a GENIUS solution for storing these sticky little lint rollers (click the link above to see her post). She used a tin can with the label removed to house her lint roller! Now why didn't I think of that? Mine is always stuck in the bottom junk drawer, adhered to everything surrounding it!

I used Brenda's idea as a jumping off point to make my own Baby fur remover... I mean lint roller holder!  I used brown scrapbook paper to make this for one of my girls to keep at her new apartment.

 Then I picked out a couple of more scrapbook papers to make some for myself.

 I couldn't resist adding Baby's picture to the green striped one. It picks up the green in her eyes!

Although Baby was originally a little miffed at the insinuation that it is mostly her fur around the house and on everyone's clothing (which it is), she has had a change of heart and enjoys seeing her pretty face on the new lint roller holder that sits out on the counter. 

Easy instructions follow if you'd like to make one of your own! I know a LOT of you are pet lovers out there and this is a stylish way to always have a lint roller handy and unstuck!!

(click / double click to see instructions full sized)

Have a wonderful weekend and a Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

(And Happy Birthday to my beautiful mom, who would have been 86 today. I love you, Mom!)

I'm linking to Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday.

Donna