Signs of Spring

Hi How was your weekend? We had the most lovely weekend, signs of spring everywhere. The air was warm.  The sun was shining.  The  flowers were blooming.  I was smiling as I wandered around our yard enjoying what I was seeing in bloom.  Today however my back is a little sore from some of the yard work I did!

     Little purple crocuses poking up through the grass are always the first official signs of spring for me.

hen the daffodils. A previous owner planted lots of daffodil bulbs on the bank at the back of our yard.  I think they might be called jonquils although I’m not sure what the difference it really.  I just call them all daffodils.

                                                               They are beginning to flower

                                                     and there are a couple of different varieties.

        The cherry tree is beautiful and if you stand really close you can hear the hum  of hundreds of honeybees       

collecting pollen.

                                   
                                          Here it is up close.  You can see what a beautiful color it is.

                                     
                                 The hellebores (lenten roses) have been blooming for quite awhile.

                                                           
                                                              They come in a variety of colors.

 It is such a joy to be able to pick flowers from my own garden.  This little wire basket of glass milk bottles from Decor Steals is just perfect for single stems.  Decor Steals has a beautiful 2 tier white plate as the steal today, which I am very tempted to buy :)

             The cherry blossoms look pretty in a small white pitcher on this wicker tray on my kitchen island.

                                                    But I think I like the hellebores better there.

                                           
                                              And the cherry blossoms look pretty in my sunroom.

Sharing at Mosaic Monday

If you are still looking at snow out your window I hope these photos will give you hope that spring is on it’s way.

Rhondi xo

Weekend Wanderings Looking For Signs of Spring

By this time of year most of us are getting tired of winter.  Even though we have very mild winters most of the time where I live, I too am looking for signs of spring.

On my weekend wandering I discovered that I am not the only one who is longing for signs of spring.

Mia  at  Mias Landliv  lives in Norway, where it snows a lot and winters are long and dark.  She has forced some branches to bloom, planted  tulip bulbs in pots, and added some colorful patchwork , pillows and china while she is longing for signs of spring.

                              Ann at On Sutton Place put some pretty red tulips in a white vase.

Julie at Creating This Life snapped a picture of bunches of tulips at Trader Joe’s all ready for anyone longing for spring.

                                   Yvonne at Stone Gable showed us how to make some spring nests.

Madelief  who lives in the Netherlands already has flowers blooming.

In my previous post I decorated my mantle with signs of spring.

I hope you will come back on Monday so I can take you for a walk in my neighborhood and we can look for signs of spring together. In the meantime, I hope you will visit the blogs I have featured today and leave them a comment.

Spring Mantle

 What a crazy week we have had here.  This time last week we were blanketed under 6 inches of snow and today it’s 72 and flowers are blooming!  The buds on our cherry tree in the front yard are opening.  Crocuses are popping up and camellias are blooming.  Our daffodils aren’t quite open yet but I saw several in neighbor’s gardens when I went for a walk this morning.

Edie at Life in Grace had a post on arranging your mantle and since I was feeling like spring I decided to redo my living room mantle as a spring mantle .

My method is to gather  a whole bunch of stuff from other areas of my house or from the closets.  Then I just start putting the stuff up there.  I’ll stand back and look and then add or remove or re arrange it until I like the finished look .

  Since it was such a beautiful spring day I had to start with flowers.  I’ve had this forsythia for a long time and just love it because it looks so real.

 More spring flowers, tulips and daffodils.  Sorry to all you purists out there, but, they’re fake too.  As soon as I have daffodils blooming in my garden  I’ll replace them 

                                         A little nest that I found in a tree last year speaks of spring.

One mirror hanging and two small mirrors propped against the wall and my brass “sower” in front of them provides some sparkle.   I have had the sower longer than anything else I own. When I was 14 and “designed” my bedroom, he was on my shelf.  I  designed it to look like a sitting room, very adult, no silly teenage things in sight.  I was so proud of it and all my friends thought it was amazing.  I began my brass candlestick collection then too. So I’ve had them for over 50 years!  Yikes!!

I added a couple of brass candlesticks.  A mantle has to have at least one candle.  I used three because one always looks lonely to me. Besides the rule is you are supposed to group things in odd numbers, not that I’ve ever been a rule follower when it comes to decorating, but it just looks better with an odd number.

                                                                             A live plant,

and a small bouquet of Hellebores from the garden might fool you into thinking that  the other flowers are real too!

Some original artwork adds a handmade personal touch.  I got this scripture painting at Southern Marketplace in Indian Trail.  If you live in the Charlotte area and haven’t been there you are missing out on a treat.

and there is always room for another mirror, an ironstone tureen or a blue and white rooster   Mirrors are so useful because they reflect light plus they also pick up other parts of the room. I’ll do a post on mirrors sometime and show you what I mean.

So that is my spring mantle. You might think I have too many things on my spring mantle, but I just can’t seem to pull off the simple uncluttered look!

It was interesting when I went to link to Edie just now, I noticed that her post was ” 4 Gifts to Give Your Mantle”.    I must confess that I didn’t read the post the first time. I just looked at the pictures.  Do you ever do that?   Well Edie, you might be happy to know that I gave my mantle all 4 gifts unintentionally.

On Friday Edie is having a “happy mantle day” and encouraging everyone to post their mantles on Instagram using the hashtag #loveyourmantle.  Even if you don’t do a post, come on over to Instagram and post your photos.

Rhondi xo

Also joining Feathered Nest Friday and My Romantic Home

Spring Mantle

What a crazy week we have had here.  This time last week we were blanketed under 6 inches of snow and today it’s 72 and flowers are blooming!  The buds on our cherry tree in the front yard are opening.  Crocuses are popping up and camellias are blooming.  Our daffodils aren’t quite open yet but I saw several in neighbor’s gardens when I went for a walk this morning.

Edie at Life in Grace had a post on arranging your mantle and since I was feeling like spring I decided to redo my living room mantle as a spring mantle .

My method is to gather  a whole bunch of stuff from other areas of my house or from the closets.  Then I just start putting the stuff up there.  I’ll stand back and look and then add or remove or re arrange it until I like the finished look .

 Since it was such a beautiful spring day I had to start with flowers.  I’ve had this forsythia for a long time and just love it because it looks so real

 More spring flowers, tulips and daffodils.  Sorry to all you purists out there, but, they’re fake too.  As soon as I have daffodils blooming in my garden  I’ll replace them 

So that is my spring mantle. You might think I have too many things on my spring mantle, but I just can’t seem to pull off the simple uncluttered look!

It was interesting when I went to link to Edie just now, I noticed that her post was ” 4 Gifts to Give Your Mantle”.    I must confess that I didn’t read the post the first time. I just looked at the pictures.  Do you ever do that?   Well Edie, you might be happy to know that I gave my mantle all 4 gifts unintentionally.

On Friday Edie is having a “happy mantle day” and encouraging everyone to post their mantles on Instagram using the hashtag #loveyourmantle.  Even if you don’t do a post, come on over to Instagram and post your photos.

Weekend Wandering # 2 Comfort Food in Blogland

We had a major snowstorm here in the south which had everyone stuck in their homes for a couple of days. What do bloggers do when it is snowing and blowing outside?  We make comfort food.  I made soup, chili, and home made bread.

In my weekend wandering I discovered that there was a lot of comfort food in blogland  this week. I wasn’t the only one making comfort food!  Here are a few other bloggers who featured some delicious looking food this week.

 Penny at The Comforts Of Home made Chicken Pot Pie.  I know Penny and everything she makes tastes as good as it looks.

                 Diane at Simply Living and Eating made a Hearty Chicken Barley and White Bean Soup

                                            Patti at  Olla Podrida made Seasoned Beef Chili

  Marie at The English Kitchen  made  cheese and bacon scones.  Everything Marie makes looks like comfort food.  I’ve tried a lot of her recipes and every one has been yumilicious!  Marie has another blog called A Year From Oak Cottage.  Oak Cottage is the name of where she lived when she was a personal chef for a family who lived in a manor house in England.

And Finally… Jennifer at Town n Country Living featured 10 recipes for the ultimate comfort food CHOCOLATE.

I hope you enjoyed my weekend wandering and I  hope you have a good weekend!

Rhondi xo