and so she came

Yes, the night after the full moon, she hopped off the fence and said it was time to 

enter this world.  Healthy baby, safe delivery, mom and baby doing great. 

We are so thankful for little Miss Molly. She will enrich our world!

Big sister is over the moon!

on the fence

 I love fences. Maybe it's the repeat pattern, or the idea of a tidy enclosure ... I'm not sure why, 

but I'm drawn to fences and love to photograph them. And when they are fences such as these,

 all taken in Charleston, SC, it is fun to have a peek inside.

 I smile when plants and flowers make their way outside a fence to say hello.

Right now our little granddaughter is "on the fence" about which day she wants to be born. 

Will it be today? 

Connecting with Little Red House  for "Thursday's Inspiration."

making ice

"Do you need me to bring ice?" asked a young friend when we were planning a meal at my house.

"No, that's OK, I'll make some,"I replied.

She stopped in the middle of what she was doing, looked slyly at me and said slowly, "You'll . . . make ice? How do you do that?" She thought I was nuts I'm sure.

Here comes the full disclosure of how backwards I guess we've lived. I've never owned a refrigerator with an ice maker––well up til now, and we just haven't hooked it up in our current frig since we're not used to using one.

Yes, if guests are coming, I will make ice ahead of time. And I've been teased about this before. I'll put water in my three ice cube trays, carefully put them in my lower freezer. When frozen, I'll pop them out into plastic bags which I'll put in the freezer and then repeat the process. It just takes thinking about it ahead, and a little time. When it's time to put ice in the glasses, I have easy-to-use bags of ice. The cubes are larger and in my opinion, taste better. I'm sure I sound archaic to most of you. But after all, it is "how we used to do it."

The Gardener and I don't like our water, which we mainly drink, too cold anyway, so we rarely use ice just for us.

the little bath that could

It all started with a rock. Our bathroom transformation
began when our eldest son gave us a piece of leftover granite
for our little "powder room."

The wallpaper was probably 30 years old at least
and didn't go well at all with the granite. This
time I hired someone to remove the wall paper
since I knew it was put on unprimed or unsized
walls and would need repair.

When the work was going on, there were as many
as five men inside that tiny bathroom sanding
and spackling and sweating. I stayed far away.



It didn't take long for me to realize that the reason the previous mirror was not centered was because of where the old mirrored medicine cabinet was located, undoubtedly due to a stud issue. I decided we better do things right, so back come the men to remove the cabinet and rebuild that part of the wall.

When it came time to paint I thrifted by using left-over from painting Eldest's bathroom in his house, and a darker color for the bottom half, both matching the beauty of the granite.


Then came the "star" of the show--a very old Dutch cut out picture from my great-grandparents (above). The colors were perfect.


There's something here on my "to-do" list ...
maybe you can see what remains to be done.  I should run an observation contest.

















I also found a good color match for
other wall by bringing a very favorite
painting from another room. It's such
fun to pull things together from around
the house.

Lastly, a touch of turquoise ... just a pop will
do to bring a smile. Seems like I'm finding
lots of places around the house for this color.

in the round

Georgetown, South Carolina's third oldest city, contains the Stewart-Parker house, built in 1740. 

George Washington had tea here during his southern tour in 1791. Sometime after the president's 

visit a new addition was put on the street side of house including these semi circular rooms. 

This side is a marvelous dining room! 

The house now is used for weddings and other special events.

Joining Mary's Little Red House for Thursday's Photo Challenge: ROUND.

reflecting on food

For something a little different, notecards that show food reflection.

                                                       Some food healthier than others.

             All used in previous posts, but some waaay back in time.

March has come in like a lion around here, and flown through to Vee's card party, and most likely will go out like a lamb since Easter is at the end of the month.  You are in for a treat if you take a look at other photo cards HERE.

seaside

The Gardener: writing project; Me: resting and regrouping project. At the beach. Mostly chilly with an occasional touch of warmth, a hint of spring and one or two rainy spells. Perfect.

Connecting to Little Red House for Monday's Mosaics.

wearing of green

This house in NE Pennsylvania needs nothing more than itself to give its nod to St. Patrick's Day!

Mary's photo challenge this week is Green.

out of the mouths of babes . . .

The other night I was tucking Little One into bed. As always, there was conversation. This time her great-grandma's name somehow came up. "Do you know where Great-Grandma is?" I gently asked, wondering about bringing the subject up, as I didn't know what her parents had told her about my mother's death.

"Yes," came the matter of fact reply, "she's in heaven."

"Yes she is," I replied enthusiastically. "Can you believe she is with Jesus now? How wonderful."

"Yes," came her sweet reply, "but Grandma, don't you miss her so?" And she looked up at me shyly as she saw tears filling my eyes.

"Oh yes, little one," I answered, fighting back my tears, "I miss her so much. But I'm so happy for her." And then I tried to sing the songs I sing to her when I get to put her to bed. But I didn't do so well that night.

At 4.5 I'd say Little One already has a sensitive heart growing inside her.

spring hopes

When I see signs of a new season coming, I think about the word hope. 

We hope spring will come, and we know it will.  

There is the expression "Hope Springs Eternal," meaning no matter
 the circumstances, we will always hope for the best.
And then there is certain hope, and that I celebrate.

Please see Mary's Little Red House for other Monday Mosaics!

bookworms

 Our house could be mistaken for a library. As I thought about Mary's prompt for this week (books)

 I realized we have a bookcase in every room in our house except the baths and one bedroom. 

Yes we love, and I guess, collect books, and no I haven't read them all, 

though I am looking for more time to read soon!

 You could call the Gardener a bibliomaniac. He loves books. We especially love old books.

 Of course television had been invented before I was born, but 

my parents chose not to own a TV, so I grew up reading a lot--a bookworm for sure.
My parents read a lot too, and I would hide my book from my dad as he had a
habit of picking up a book and reading a few pages or chapters from the
 middle of the volume, especially if I was ready to read it!

The Gardener read all these books to our boys when they were young and they loved 

guessing the plots (we also did not have a TV for much of their young years).
So I suppose you might say books are important to us.

Mary at Little Red House has a weekly photo prompt; check out the other book posts.

welcome wagon

Yesterday I watched the moving van pull away from my next door neighbor's house. A young widow and her little daughter are abruptly pulling up roots and moving to be with her mother who has cancer. It doesn't seem that long ago that we met at the fence and she, with tears running down her cheeks, told me of her husband's terminal diagnosis. And 15 months ago the call came in the night, asking me to drive her to the hospital after the ambulance left, and could the Gardener stay with her little girl?

And so our lives intertwined in ways I would not have imagined on that day a few years back when I brought a plate of cookies to welcome them as new neighbors.

And any day now our newest neighbors will move in. I know nothing about them and wonder just how our lives will connect. Will they help us with an emergency? Will they have a baby? Will they keep to themselves? Will we, together, help our 89 year old neighbor? And so the rhythms of life continue to play out in our cul de sac.

f e r r y

 We are expecting a big (for the south) snow mid week. I looked at the weather map and it seems many places are expecting snow at the same time. Meanwhile, photos from a year ago this time when things were quite warm and sunny as we took a ferry headed south.

Joining in Mosaic Monday!