Giving Thanks....

(click any photos to enlarge)

"Dear Lord, thank you for this bounty which I am about to receive....


Amen. "

That truly was the first thing I thought after seeing these photos, that Sammy looked like he was saying grace for all that yummy food on a cold winter morning here in New England!

Are these not the sweetest photos that my daughter recently took of one of our "Sammy's" at the dining room window bird feeder?? Talk about a little ham with those cute poses! (I love the little leg resting on the side of the feeder!)




Please stop by A Southern Daydreamer for a listing of all bloggers sharing photos this Outdoor Wednesday!

I also wanted to remind everyone to visit My Little Cottage in the Making for Joanne's "A Better Me" post. Feel free to join in on the fun - the more, the merrier!!

Donna

Spooning... It's music to my ears

Two sets of windchimes hang in our dining room window...


Both are made from spoons...


...that are attached to the bent tines of a fork.

The spoons have been hammered flat on both sets.

I purchased these windchimes almost 15 years ago (although not at the same time) from a craft shop here in New England.

The dining room bay window seemed the perfect place to hang them, seeing as they were made from silverware...

One day last week it was warm enough to open the windows. A gentle breeze is all that's needed to encourage the windchimes to serenade us...

Dreams of being serenaded may have to be put on hold, however, as we're due to get another blast of winter in the form of 2-4" of snow mid-week... But I know that the worst of Old Man Winter is past, and the promise of spring is dancing in my head!!

Wishing you all gentle breezes and sweet serenades...

Donna

Love is in the air...

Love Story #1

You've probably seen and heard updates on Sam, the koala... but just in case you haven't...


Sam is the koala who was rescued from the Australian wildfires.


(photo by Mark Parden, AP)
She made international headlines after appearing in this touching photo (sipping bottled water being offered to her by Australian firefighter David Tree).


Volunteers lovingly tend to her burned paws, and she is expected to make a full recovery.



This little chap, Bob, was also rescued from the fires and and he happens to be recuperating at the same facility as Sam.

And now it appears that love is in the air (how fitting for Valentine's week!). Bob, it seems, has fallen hard for Sam and they've become quite inseparable. He has taken on the role of Sam's protector, often sitting with his arm around her. Ain't love grand? (And is this not the sweetest photo ever? Just look at those fuzzy little ears!)

Love Story #2

(click photo to watch 2 minute video)

This story made the rounds last month, so you may have already heard about Tarra (the elephant) and Bella (the dog) who live at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. But if you haven't, you must click on the photo to watch this very short video about a very special love story!

Love comes in all shapes and sizes; love sees beauty everywhere; love does not discriminate; love is unconditional. We can learn so much about love by observing animals!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!!

Donna

Puppy love and happy endings...

If I had to use one word to describe this photo it would be bliss (just look at both of those little faces!) It was taken Christmas morning, 1990, just minutes after Amanda woke to find that Santa had left a "real, live dog" for her (those were the exact words at the top of her Christmas list).


Sooshi was a 2-year old Shih-Tzu and her first puppy love. And even though he crossed the Rainbow Bridge in January of 2000, he is always in our hearts.

This morning I had a sense of deja-vu when I snapped the following photo...


Amanda had been driving through the Main Street of our downtown when she spotted this little guy...


...running down the street all by himself.

By the time she found a place to pull over, the doggy was way down Main Street, chasing a man who was walking his dog. Amanda caught up to them and asked the man if the little one tagging along was also his. He said, "No," so she scooped up the little guy and brought him home.

Dirty snow mounds are melting a mile a minute with the warmer weather, and little riverlets of water and sand are running everywhere, so this little guy was a sandy, soaking wet bundle of fur...

We were able to contact his owner through his tags; they were devestated that he'd gotten loose, and very grateful that Amanda had taken the time to stop and rescue him from such a busy street... I shudder to think what might have happened if he'd darted out between parked cars into the busy downtown traffic.

So here's to puppy love and my sweetie who took the time to make sure this tale had a happy ending!

I jazzed up this picture using Picnik, a photo editing website that my Courtney turned me on to! Try it - I think you'll have fun with it!

Donna

An exciting day here in New England...

Now I realize this won't be a big deal to many of you... You might not even consider this bit of news blog-worthy... but if you lived here in the northeast you'd understand my excitement....

....it reached over 60 degrees here today and I was able to have the windows open for the better part of the day!!!!!! That is such a gift for only the second week of February!!!!

So often it's the simplest things in life that give the greatest pleasure!!!

Donna

My thoughts & prayers go out to our friends in Australia

My thoughts and prayers go out to all of our Australian friends. The suffering, loss of life, and destruction due to the wildfires is almost incomprehensible.


(photo by Mark Parden, AP)

Firefighter David Tree offers water to an injured koala. You can click here to read about this touching photo. May God bless and protect all firefighters, wherever their work takes them. They are true heroes.


Donna

A guilt-free dessert and two lovely awards...

A few weeks ago I joined Joanne's "A Better Me" program (see the link on my sidebar). If you'd like to join, please do - the more the merrier!! In a nutshell, Joanne is an incredible cheerleader for all of us who are on a journey to become a healthier version of ourselves. Now for me, that means losing weight and exercising regularly (rather than sporadically). Joanne is so warm and supportive! But even if you don't join "A Better Me," by all means visit Joanne's wonderful blog, My Little Cottage in the Making! She blogs about her beautiful home, her family, her crafts, and she shares information about shops, eateries, and all sorts of interesting places in southern California, where she lives.

I've actually had great success with Weight Watchers in the past, so I've started back on that program. (Several years ago I stopped tracking, stopped going to meetings, and pretty much stopped being accountable for what went into my mouth. Needless to say, I gained back the weight I had lost. But I now have a new mindset, I'm back on track, and it's already starting to pay off!)


I definitely have a sweet tooth, so I thought I'd share this simple 3-point dessert with you... (It looks extra special in this beautiful "D" mug, a Christmas present from my good friend, Jill... Thank you, Jill!!!).


I really love Weight Watchers yogurt. They have such a wide variety of flavors (I used White Chocolate Raspberry, but you can use any flavor you like!) In a mug or bowl, mix together one WW yogurt (1 point) and one cup of seedless grapes (1 point).


Add a dollop of Cool Whip Free (0 points) and sprinkle .2 oz of crushed walnuts (1 point) over the Cool Whip. This is really filling and really good!!!

Awards

I also received awards from two lovely blogging friends....



I received this beautiful Butterfly Award from Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage (don't you love her blog name?) Claudia's blog is so much fun to visit... She and I are both animal lovers (we even have the exact same robin's egg blue/cottage flowered dog bed for our pets!)... She normally blogs about her home, her wonderful husband, and her fur babies in New York, but right now you can read about her west coast adventures (you won't believe how she turned a temporary furnished apartment into a cozy cottage retreat!) Thank you so much for this award, Claudia!

I also received this beautiful Special Friends award from Michelle at I'm A Little Teapot (another blog name that I love - that phrase brings back childhood memories for me!) Michelle is also a pet lover and she shares her love of family (and Rob's good taste in gifts!), and some incredible cross-stitch creations on her blog (she even cross-stitched ornaments for everyone this past Christmas - how special is that!)... She also shares amazing photos from various outings and trips (I want to move into one of the German villages she recently posted pictures of).

This award is given to... "Blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbon's of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these kind writers. When you pass the award along please include these guidelines."

As I have done with awards in the past, I would like to pass these two on to all the incredible blogger friends listed in my sidebar, whose blogs I love to visit and who share so much with all of us. Thank you all! And thank you, again, Claudia and Michelle!!!

Donna

My embellished Mary print - a vintage treasure...

Last year, during my search for the elusive Staffordshire dogs, I stumbled upon this vintage framed Mary print at a junktique shop.... I have a great fondness and love for all things Mary. Some day I'll share my small collection of Mary statues and art...

(click any photos to enlarge)

This was so different from anything I'd ever seen before. Some very creative soul had hand-painted a delicate floral border around a black and white print of Mary and then glued robin's egg blue crinkled paper around the print and painted border, giving it a lovely dimensional effect.


I love everything about this image - the serene expression on Mary's face, the delicate position of her hand, the flowers in the background, the overall simplicity of the design...


More than likely the person who handpainted the border is the same person who hand lettered "The Power of the Agnus Dei... To help efface sin... To guard against a sudden or unprovided death. To turn away the thunderbolt" below the artwork.



The frame itself is old and the back is quite primitive, with small nails holding everything intact.

Mary hangs among family photos in a corner of my office. (I know I have way too many things hanging on the wall, but in my office I tend to let my packrat mentality take over)... And in case anyone is wondering... yes, that is a framed photo of Colin Firth but no, he's not family. It was a gag gift from someone who knew that Darcy (of both Pride & Prejudice and Bridget Jones's Diary) makes my heart go pitter-patter!

I'd love it if you shared some of your favorite actors since I'm the odd duck among my friends, who are all huge Johnny Depp fans... I can't possibly be the only one who prefers a clean cut image to a bad boy image... can I???

And don't you just love Trish from Clean House?? Oh my gosh, she's such a hoot! I love that show, and everyone on it... (although I don't think Mark would care too much for the look of this cluttered corner!)

Be sure to head over to Smiling Sally's blog to see her Blue Monday listing and to find a list of all the other blue-loving bloggers! Have a great week, everyone!

Donna

Cherubs, and flowers, and birds... oh, my!

Almost a year ago, I picked up several vintage-styled tin plaques at The Christmas Tree Shop during an 'after-Valentine's Day' sale. It's now February and I finally get to use them!

(click any photos to enlarge)

I love all of them, but this one has the most incredible pink rose (perfect for Pink Saturday!!)... Hmmm, it looks pretty good on the vintage birdcage...


... but I also like it as part of the fireplace mantel decorations.

Just look at these two sweet little cherubs!! I tried hanging them from our little recycling center...

... but ended up hanging them from the dining room window. After all, there is a dove on the plaque so it seems only fitting that it hang above the bird feeder...

This is the largest of the three plaques. First I tried it on the doors of the TV hutch...

...and then I tried it on the dining room hutch.

I think I'll leave it here because the hutch cherubs seem very happy to have another cherub as company for Valentine's day.

Be sure to visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see her Pink Saturday post and to find a list of all the other pink-loving bloggers participating in today's Pink Saturday!


Donna

Splashes of color...

A couple of days ago I showed you the prisms that hang in our windows. The prisms are so pretty in and of themselves, but the rainbows they create are truly spectacular! Here are some that I captured around the house...

(click any photos to enlarge)

Rainbows dance on the ceiling and upper wall of the dining room...


... inside the family room bookcases...


...across the living room pie safe...



... and down the hallway.

They brighten up the kitchen cabinets...

...and the slipcovered sofa (I love how the scrollwork of a decorative tray cast a shadow across the rainbow).

They appear on lampshades and walls...

...dining room chairs...

...and the living room pie safe.

Even the candleholders that sit in the dining room window cast little rainbows in the bay window.

A houseplant leaf casts a shadow on the hallway wall...

...while rainbows chase each other around the grandmother clock.

And lastly, the living room rocker, decorated with rainbows and the shadows of a lace valance.

The rainbows are especially enjoyable during the long, cold winter here in New England as they definitely brighten up our little cottage!

Donna