This and That This Week #3

I took it easy all week long.

 I made a little tweak to this vignette.  I added the nautical pig and moved the knot ball over by the flowers where the artichoke was as seen "here".  Now I am gearing my mind up for a change on the plate rack.  I've really enjoyed this nautical setting but with August around the corner I want to create something that is very summery looking with flowers before we head into the fall season.

I tweaked my fairy garden a bit.  I have a new post on my garden blog that you are welcome to come visit "here" to see what I did in the fairy garden.

A friend of mine's husband passed away early this year.  She decided to sell her home and scale down to something smaller and my daughter bought her grill and patio set.  The patio set was black and she wanted it yellow so a few weeks ago we took it to have it sand blasted and powder coated.  We'll be delivering it this weekend.

I took this last October when she had just purchased her first house!  It came with a lot of nice landscaping including this decking that is also a patio.  Lots of mulch and no grass to mow on this little city lot which I found to be a great idea.  I'll be sure to get a picture taken as soon as it's all set up!

This is my Morning Glory vines I planted June 2nd and placed on the deck.  My idea was for the vines to eventually attach to the railings and then I could see the flowers from the house.  They want plenty of sunlight and we get the most here so it's working out well.

Today I was pleased to see the first bloom appear!  I forgot to move the tripod that has the trail camera on it.

Speaking of the trail camera- it caught one of the turkey's waltzing around the garden yesterday.

Such a pretty flower!

My view out the kitchen window.  It's a rainy morning so no sunshine but that's okay- a good refreshing rain is always welcome!

I like to think of my summer "deckorating" this year as my little conservatory.  I like viewing it from the kitchen dining table every day.  Notice that over to the other side of the deck along the railing I have another morning glory planted.  I look forward to seeing lots of blooms soon!

I hope you've had a good week so far and are looking forward to a great weekend!

That's all for This and That This Week!

Joining:

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Dishing It & Digging It 

Finally My 2nd Cottage

I ordered this new cottage on May 9th and it took until now for it to arrive.

I had prepared a foundation for it this spring so all I had to do was to set it in place. 

I had chosen a bright green roof so it wouldn't match the red roofed cottage. 

I asked for a brown door, bleach shutters and the little scrollwork piece in black to go above the door.  Thankfully they got it all right!

The bright green sedum was planted there knowing I had the cottage coming. 

I found another garden cart like my old one that was crushed in my little accident I posted about the other day.  I decided it would show up better on the bright green sedum.

I've relocated a few fairies. 

When I fell last week the new cottage would have probably caused me more injury and likely have been damaged.  Perhaps it was divine intervention that caused the cottage to be delayed so long?

The little guy on the bench lost part of one leg. I can't find it either - must have gone deep in the ground.

I've had to start trimming the alyssum as it is really taking over.  Not complaining because this is the way I wanted it to look.

I planted some Moss Rose here too and I love their little flowers mingling in with everything!

Next year I'll probably set things up a little differently and create a new look.

It just rained for five minutes and now the sky is clearing!  It cooled things off.  It's been pretty hot here- how about in your area?

Thank you all for your kind comments on my previous post.  I appreciated hearing from you.

Crashing On My Fairy Garden

Last week Thursday I had a big boo boo!

I wrote about it on my garden blog so rather than repeating it I'm leaving a link to it in case you'd like to read about it.

Crashing On My Fairy Garden

Crashing On my Fairy Garden

I debated on sharing this story but since I feel my blogging is a bit of a diary about my life I decided to go ahead and share it.

 Early last Thursday....

 

....we were under a severe thunderstorm warning.  Since were were warned of high winds and possible haile I decided to use this spare umbrella to cover my hydrangea so it wouldn't get damaged.  

I toddled out a while after the storm to remove the umbrella.  Then I proceeded to walk up and around to the flagstone patio area to add some stakes to the Annabelle Hydrangeas.  They tend to fall over easily and it had been on my mind to do for 2 weeks.

This should have been posted for me!

 This is where I started walking towards the hydrangea. 

I later figured out that this cement leaf shaped piece is what caused the trouble I am about to unfold.   The bottom side is round and I unknowingly stepped on it so it was like trying to stand on a ball.   Over I went like a building collapsing and I came down hard.

I crashed across all of this and left a path of destruction as shown below.

 I fell into the cement cottage, broke the light and some small pieces.

 My upper arm and head crashed into this area.   Thankfully these pieces fell over easily.

I knocked the wood stump over and broke a bunch of the hydrangea plant off.

 The little garden cart was smashed to smithereens.

 Somehow I didn't damage a thing in this area.

Graphics...

We have a trail camera mounted on a tripod that we often run in the evenings to see what is visiting my gardens.  It was still on and it captured part of my fall.  This is the only picture I'm sharing!  I got back up as fast as I could and when I  stood up I looked down and saw that my leg was inured and I was bleeding.  All I could think to do was to get inside. 

If you are squeamish you might not like this next picture.

 Both legs and knees got injured but this was the worst.

I took this picture in haste to send to my hubby because I was hoping he could come home.  I have never been hurt where I bled so badly and frankly I think I was in shock. 

I have giant bruises on my upper arm, and my ankle/foot area bruised up too.

Dan was on his way but by then I had made it to the bathroom to clean up my leg and get something on the wounds.  I sobbed a bit and in my silliness worried more about the destruction of my fairy garden than anything. 

 Later on when I got my courage up I went back out.  Dan had to take the light apart and was able to restore it.   

 He went above and I handed him the stakes and he helped me get the hydrangea standing up again.  I lost about 1/2 of the stems but frankly I thought it was worse.

 I haven't been doing much because I have new aches that appear each day.  I decided to lay low and let my body recuperate.  I took the wheels from the smashed garden cart and placed one along side of the cottage.

 I set the other wheel inside this grape vine wreath and I think it looks nice there. 

See how the corner of the brick is missing a little bit!  I think that's what got my right knee so badly plus the metal arbor and flower pot.

The bunny which had been setting near the garden cart got a new safer home on the rocking chair.

I'm much better today and ever so grateful this didn't turn out worse.  

Who knew gardening could be so dangerous!!

This and That This Week #2

I did a little updating in the kitchen

Summer's heat has kicked in and I'm inside trying to stay comfortable.  Of course I can't sit still so I have to putter with something.  I came up with a new idea for the new bread basket I got a little while ago and had shown it in this post back in April "here".  I saw a picture the other day with a container filled with some everyday things like oils and spoons and such and it gave me the inspiration to fill my basket with a couple of items.  Perhaps I'll find some nice looking oil bottles to add in later.

The ceramic containers were purchased at a store that sells local hand made pottery.  The one pieces a small colander and the other is a crock.  I was drawn to them by the blue color and design on them and felt they'd work well with my seashell plate.  I added some of our daughter's jams that she made last year.

  

 A year ago I had one Polish Pottery coffee cup (center one).  Then I was gifted with two more (far left).  I ran across this small metal pot rack holder that was mounted on a wood board but I saw it as an opportunity to have a mug rack.  I had Dan remove the wood board it because I wanted it more simplistic.  I recently added the two coffee cups on the right to complete the ensemble.  It was another way for me to add some blue in the kitchen.

A while back I emptied and re-organized my dishes and everything that shows in the glass is pretty much all white now.  The red glassware is over in the right cupboard now and the other glassware has been mingled in other cupboards.  I always feel good when I organize things and then it works better than before!  

 It's been 20 years since we remodeled the kitchen and added on the big living room to the house.  These cupboards are all solid hickory and are holding up beautifully.  They have a piano hinged door in each corner cabinet.  Since the kitchen is fairly narrow I didn't want the traditional angled cupboard so it would help keep it looking as wide as possible.

 These drawer pullouts are handy.  I have my small appliances in the top so they're easy to take out.  I organize it so the most used are nearest the front.  

 The drawers by the stove were called pots and pans drawers and that's what I use them for.    We had bright brass knobs on the cabinets and switched to dark bronze a while back to update them.  The range I chose has a flat front and no handle that sticks out.  That was part of my plan to make the room seem more spacious too.

The stainless appliances came along about 8 years ago.  The end cupboard which I chose to frame the side of the refrigerator is 12" deep and I use it like a pantry.

The main reason I like plain white or nearly all white dishes now is they're a good basic that work with for so much.  If I had to get rid of all my other dishes these would never leave.  

We added Corian countertops a while back at a time that granite was at his most expensive so we couldn't afford it.  I like the solid surface it offers and its holding up great.

I saw this cow creamer at Pier 1 not long ago and had to have it.  I added it to the etagere with my pig salt and pepper shakers.  The fleur de-lis plates are from Sur La Table (last year).   They sell them as a tray but I like them to use for soup and a sandwich. They are blue and white but it's doesn't really look that way in the picture.

Because it's a hot day I went out early to water my gardens.  As I came back up on the deck I noticed the sun shining on this hydrangea and captured it.

This is how I get my back gardens watered.  It's a bit too much to hand water.  

We treated ourselves to a new patio dining set early this month.  I was able to sell our other set within a week of purchasing this so I was tickled about it and hubby was impressed with the extra moolah!  The umbrella is 11 ft. wide so we get good coverage.

It's a granite look table top.  

We got the umbrella half off because the manufacturer didn't make it right.  When you would crank it closed the ribs would come out of the little pocket that they're supposed to stay in.  I came up with the idea to rivet them in place and that evolved into drilling a hole, then using a small washer and a short screw and hooray it stays together and works perfectly.

My view out of the kitchen window.

Well that's it for my This and That This Week!