Flowers & Arbors & Bears, Oh My! (Awards, too!)

Look at this happy face that greeted us during our visit to western Massachusetts!

What a delightful time Amanda and I had at the Berkshire Flower Co. in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Just look at all of the the beautiful flowers and rustic twig furniture!


Oh, I think this bench would look FABULOUS in my garden!!! Amanda convinced me it wouldn't fit in the back of the van (I think she inherited those genes from her father!)...


What's this? Why, it appears that the woodland creatures from behind the flower shop have come out to welcome us to western Massachusetts! They posed so pretty in front of this white gazebo, which would also look spectacular in my backyard!!


I am torn between the white iron pieces and the natural twiggy pieces. Isn't this arbor sweet? I can just picture it with morning glories or a moonflower vine climbing up the sides...


Amanda made friends with this little fox... I'd love to introduce him to the Foxy Loxy garden statue that lives in our backyard.


Doesn't Bambi look sweet in front of the geraniums?


And look who howled a big "Welcome to the Berkshires!" for us!


Hey, I think I've seen these two guys in my own backyard!!


Awwww, this litte guy reminded me of my own Mr. B... It's hard to believe that each piece is carved from a single tree trunk... I am in awe of the creativity and talent of the wood carver...

Here's Mama bear and Baby bear... Where could Papa bear be?


"Here I am!!!" And look at that "Papa Bear pose" he got into so we could take his picture! He hopes that you'll stop by to see him and all of his friends if you're ever in the Pittsfield, MA area!

"Tag - I'm it!" I've been tagged to list 7 little known facts about myself by Deborah of Pictures, Pots, and Pens. Deborah covers a wonderful variety of topics on her blog and she takes the most beautiful photographs (such as her recent post where she included incredible closeups of flowers, many of them being visited by busy bees!!)... Thank you, Deborah! Okay, not too long ago I listed 7 things, so I'll try to come up with 7 more!

1) My favorite times of day are dusk and dawn (although being a night owl, I don't catch the dawn as often as I'd like).
2) The older I get, the more I dislike the L-O-N-G snowy New England winters. I wouldn't mind if winter only lasted a month or so, but it seems to go on and on forever...
3) That being said, without the winter, I probably wouldn't appreciate spring as much as I do, and spring is definitely my favorite season!
4) I often include potato chips as one of the ingredients when I make sandwiches. Not on the side, mind you, but inside the sandwich.
5) I never get tired of "I Love Lucy" reruns.
6) If I'm flipping through channels and come across "Under the Tuscan Sun" or "You've Got Mail," I don't go any further. Some people have comfort foods. I have comfort movies.
7) Last summer I bought a GPS unit for my car and immediately after hearing "her" voice named her Delilah (after the Plain White T's song that was a mega-hit at around the same time I bought the GPS - I love that song!!).

And now on to the awards!!!!

Alaura at Cottage Rose was kind enough to pass along this Arte y Pico award to me! Thank you, Alaura!! Be sure to visit Cottage Rose for tons of inspiration... Alaura's blog is full of home projects and before & after photos - so many great ideas!

The guidelines for giving and receiving this award are as follows: 1. Pick 5 blogs that you feel are deserving of the award. 2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone. 3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of the link to the blog that gave it to him/her. 4. The award winner and the one who has given the prize has to show the link of 'Arte y Pico' so that everyone knows the origin of this award. 5. Show these rules on the award page


Kady from Life on Bonnie Lane has presented me with this lovely award!! Thank you, Kady!! Kady is the kind of blogger who I would love to have as a next door neighbor as she would brighten up the whole neighborhood with her smile and sunny disposition!!

Thank you all for your awards and the game of tag! I’m passing along the awards to all the wonderful blogs in my sidebar – you all deserve it!!! And I’m opening up the game of tag to anyone who reads this and would like to post 7 things about themselves on their own blog!! If you decide to do that, you can just leave a comment here so others can visit your blog and learn 7 things about you!!

Donna

My Love Affair with Window Seats...

"The Cozy Window Seat... One of the most cozy and comfortable additions to the furnishings of a room is a window seat. Every woman in particular delights in these little nooks..." (The New York Times, January 7, 1894)

My love affair with window seats began in 1959 with the very window seat you see pictured above. As a little girl, I used to sit sit there and watch the world go by.

About 3 years ago, while bringing one of my girls back to college, my sister and I drove by our childhood home for old time's sake, and as luck would have it, there was a FOR RENT sign out front! The owner graciously allowed us to go into the empty apartment and reminisce.

Remember the scene in You've Got Mail where Meg Ryan has closed her bookshop, and as she turns to look at the empty room one last time she sees a childhood memory of her mom twirling her around? That's exactly how I felt. When I looked around at those empty rooms I could see my mom sponging Christmas stencils on the back door with glass wax... me playing "hide and seek" in the kitchen with Pete, our parakeet... and the dining room set that my mom loved was once again sitting in the center of this very room... It was such a gift, being allowed to relive those memories 46 years later. To my sister's dismay, the old clawfoot tub was gone, but everything else appeared as though time had stood still for all those years.

Fast forward to the home I live in now and the family room addition we put on when our girls were little. The very first thing I insisted it have was a window seat (well.. the very first thing I insisted on was having the laundry area moved up from the basement, but the second thing was that it have a window seat! (second photo)... And although the decor has changed over the years, the cozy feeling has not... I guess I relate to those women of 1894 in that I, too, "delight in these little nooks."

Donna

Spring ... where are you??

"I love daisies. They're so friendly. Don't you think that daisies are the friendliest flower?"

Kathleen Kelly [Meg Ryan] to Joe Fox [Tom Hanks] in You've Got Mail

Sunday was a cold, grey, dreary day around here... not at all spring-like. So while at the grocery store, I treated myself to a little pick-me-up bouquet of daisies. Don't they look sweet in the thrift store vase I picked up a few years ago? Their yellow centers look like the sun shining and they immediately cheered up the whole room!

Hoping that wherever you are, you're enjoying beautiful spring weather. But if not, a bouquet of daisies can be bought for a mere pittance at your local grocery store...

Donna