May God give you...

For every storm, a rainbow...


For every tear, a smile...


For every care a promise, and a blessing in each trial...


For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share...

For every sigh a sweet song, and an answer for each prayer." (Olde Irish blessing)

Happy Sunday...

Donna

When pigs fly...

This little piggy went to market...


This little piggy stayed home....


This little piggy looks happy....

...under a little glass dome.

This little cast iron pig was a gift from a friend many years ago...

I thought the little guy deserved to be showcased, after years of sitting on a shelf going relatively unnoticed.


So for the time being, he has a place of honor on top of the dining room jelly cupboard...

With any luck, he'll subliminally remind me to watch what I'm putting into my mouth since he's sitting there, big as life, in the dining room.... Because after a big Easter dinner of spiral cut ham & potato salad (not to mention desserts), and then munching leftovers for the next couple of days, I had a 1 lb. weight gain this week (groan...)

(glass domed pedestal server from Target several years ago)

Wishing you all a week as beautiful as the one we're expecting here in New England!!!

Donna

Happy Easter, my friends!

Donna

Patience is a virtue...

And luckily for Mrs. Birdie...


... Patience is also a great place to nest!

I first introduced Patience here (when she was an outdoor planter); and when she moved inside for the winter, she modeled several new "hats" here...


Since she's made herself so comfortable here in the family room, I don't think she'll be going back out to the garden this year...


I loved all the comments as to where Mrs. Birdie might have built her nest! So many great ideas (that I may use in the future!! With all my bird cages, you'd think I would have thought of that myself!)

And oh, how I'd love to have a guest bathroom for Mrs. Birdie (We have one bathroom on the main living level and one downstairs in the finished basement. The #1 thing my husband would change about our house, if he could, is to have a master bathroom.)

And the mention of a kitchen window(sill) for her to nest on sends shivers down my spine! (That would be the #1 thing I'd change about our house... to have a window in our kitchen!! Yes, you heard right... not one single window in our little kitchen!)


The family room was mentioned in one comment, and Patience herself was mentioned in two comments, so those three entries went into a hat..... and the winner of the little birdie and quilted tote is...............

Jean Tuthill at A Romantic Country Home!!!

Just e-mail me with your mailing address, Jean, and I'll get the quilted tote and birdie right off to you!

Donna

A "spring nesting" game....

It's "spring nesting" season, and Mrs. Birdie decided to build her nest right inside our little cottage!


She flew from room to room, searching for just the right place to build her nest; and judging from the smile on her face (beak), I'd say she's quite happy with the spot she chose!


So, if you think you know where Mrs. Birdie built her nest in our house, just leave a comment on this post - but be quick! The game ends at midnight tonight, Thursday, April 9th. All correct answers will be entered into the drawing, and be as specific as you can with the exact location within the house because, for each additional (correct) detail you give, your name will be thrown into the hat again (in other words, if you guess the correct room the nest is in, that's one entry; if you guess the correct spot in the room, that's two entries; any other correct information or details you provide about the nest location gets you additional entries! You get the idea!!)...

The prize!


"Spring" means blue skies and green leaves, so this little quilted tote from The Christmas Tree Shop looked mighty "springy" to me, and I thought one of you might like it, too!


And "nesting" always makes me think of birds, so I thought one of you might enjoy a bird for your own cottage or garden (this little bird from TJ Maxx practically flew into my cart to be part of the contest!)...


Looks like Mrs. Birdie is very excited! She has already hopped into the quilted bag and tells me she's ready to head to her new home!

I'll share the nest location and winner in tomorrow's post! Happy guessing!


Donna

Staying on track...and a fun little day trip

(click any photos to enlarge)

Don't you just love this "heavenly" blue brick building in beautiful Portsmouth, NH, with its crisp white shutters? This photo was taken back in January when it was still c-o-l-d and snowy...


(Amanda & Court in Portsmouth)
But this photo was taken Sunday (thankfully the snow is long gone!)... Since Court had to come home from college late last week for another orthopedic appointment for her broken fingers, the family decided to take advantage of the nice weather on Sunday and pop up to Portsmouth as we had some errands to run in that neck of the woods.


We ate breakfast at The Friendly Toast and since I'm trying to stay on track with making healthier food choices (check out Joanne's [My Little Cottage in the Making] "A Better Me" diet and exercise blog posts every Wednesday!), I got an egg white omelette with spinach and mushrooms, TFT's signature homemade bread/toast, and sliced tomatoes as a substitute for the home fries. It was all delicious!


The entire restaurant is decorated with vintage items; many (probably most) from the fifties, so you know I was in 7th heaven! That gigantic white reindeer hanging from the ceiling is identical to the little ones I put out at Christmastime...



And this wall was covered with vintage/fifties era paintings and prints...

I was especially drawn to this original nun painting (having been heavily influenced by nuns during my childhood!)

Each table sported a little lamp; ours featured horses. This lamp looked just like something my Nana or Mom would have had in their homes back in the fifties.

Here's Court, totally focused on changing her camera setting in order to take artsy b&w/one accent color photos...

She chose red as the accent color and this is the end result, Amanda and I with red highlights... A pretty neat effect!

Tomorrow I'm going to have a quick one-day guessing game contest with a little prize for the winner!

Donna

Bird and/or spring napkin rings...

I was asked where I purchased the bird napkin rings on top of my hutch from yesterday's post. To be honest, I've had them for so long I don't remember where I got them! And while I wasn't able to find any exactly like mine on-line, I did find some bird and/or spring napkin rings... Just click on the photos to go directly to the source (as you'll see, there's quite a wide range of prices!!)

(These are my favorites - aren't they sweet??)

It would also be worth your while to do an eBay search. I found many listings for bird napkin rings (as well as lots of other shabby/cottage styles!). I didn't include them here because they're such short-term listings, but it's definitely worth a search as there are some great napkin rings (many of them vintage) at very good prices!

Now, on a much more serious note, I'd like to ask you all to keep Connie's son (Connie from Living Beautifully) and his family in your thoughts and prayers. He was hurt quite badly in an unexpected attack while on his way to meet his family at a restaurant to celebrate his birthday...

You can keep up with his progress on Connie's blog. Connie is so funny, upbeat, and cheerful, and always leaving such sweet comments on everybody's blogs... It kills me that she and her family are suffering so much over an attack that should never have happened in the first place... It's so sad when good Samaritans, like Connie's son, are hurt so badly while trying to do the right thing..

Thank you everyone...

Donna

Spring... a time for nesting

I thought I'd do a little tweaking to my dining room hutch...


I got a little mini-lamp from the Christmas Tree Shop for one corner.


...because I've seen so many blogs with lovely little accent lamps on their hutches, and I love that look!

It's a perfect little accent light for at night, when a full size lamp isn't necessary (this little guy takes just a low watt chandelier bulb)...

These photos were taken during the day so you can see the lamp better.

It's surrounded by favorite family photos, two little white bird/napkin rings...

... and, of course, a nest...

...because, after all, spring really is a time for nesting... Wishing you all a happy spring week wherever you are!

Donna