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.

Lunch With Blog Friends

I sent out an email invitation to any bloggers that lived in North Carolina to come for lunch. I picked some flowers from the garden.

I set the table and made some soup. Only three were able to come but it was just the perfect number because we were really able to chat.

And they came...with their cameras! You can tell a blogger because we always have our cameras ready! I couldn't resist taking this shot of Penny Mary and Donna taking pictures of the food.

Mary is giving Donna some pointers.

They came bearing gifts. Mary's was wrapped with French paper, with a picture of the Eiffel tower on the tag.

Inside were sweet smelling lotion and spray, a lovely guest towel and a pretty little bottle which she got at Suzanna's. If you read Mary's blog you will know about Suzanna's shop.

Penny's gift came wrapped in red toile.

It was a beautiful vintage kitchen towel in all the colors I love and a rolling pin with blue and white handles. I've never see one like that before, the perfect colors: blue and white.

Donna sews these cute bags and she made one for each of us.

Inside mine was an apron she made ...

and some recipe cards, a snowman cookie cutter and a mini loaf of lemon poppy bread.

We had such a wonderful time. I felt like we had been friends all our lives. We talked non stop and before we knew it 3 hours had gone by! Thanks for driving so far to come to my house for lunch and for bringing me such thoughtful gifts. You're the best!

Here we are: Penny, Mary, Donna and me.

They are all still driving home as I write this so I'm the first to post about our lunch. Hope you have a safe trip home!

Rhondi xo

Girlfriends Forever

Good morning girlfriends. I have been in Texas for the past week, having a wonderful visit with our grandkids and our son and his wife. The kids are still young, 5 and 3, so dressing up for Halloween is very exciting. This year the twins were spiderman, and our little grandaughter was Minnie Mouse. We went to their costume parades at school and preschool and then trick or treating in the neighborhood. It was such fun as they ran from house to house gathering up as many goodies as they could and then watching them dunp all the loot out on the floor at home and decide which ones they wanted to eat as their special treat for that night. Every year by the time Halloween night arrives Ella is tired of her costume because she's already worn it quite a few times at the many Hallowen events they have in their community, so she goes to their dress up trunk and picks some random item!

So if you were wondering why I hadn't been by for a visit or didn't respond to any emails, that's why.

Now this morning I am at my computer with a nice hot cup of tea ready to have a good chat with my girlfriends.

It's funny how I can feel so close to women I've never met but in many ways, I know you better than some of the people who I see all the time. As we were flying home in the plane I was wondering, "I wonder what they've been up to?" Just like the title of this book by Susan Branch says, "Girlfriends Forever", that's what you are to me.

I'm having my tea this morning in my Mary Englebreit "Pals" mug in honor of you!

In the same way that in the movie You've Got Mail ( I'm sure I've told you before how much I love that movie!) Meg Ryan waited with anticipation for the words, "you've got mail" at her computer , I wait with anticipation to see who has a new post up and who has left a comment.

I wonder, how has Brenda made her home look cosy , did Kim post today, what is happening at Pondside, how is Adrienne, how many joined in on pink Saturday, how is all the work at Penny's progressing, what has Podso been up to, what beautiful thing has Kathy sewn, what thrifty projects is Manuela done, what is Carolyn's garden looking like, did Mary visit Suzanna's, what delicious recipes has Marie cooked up, what fun things is BJ doing today, what creative and beautiful things will Karen have made since I last visited her, who has Rhoda visited, what's happening in Elizabeth's little village in France, has Eli made any more cute things, what colorful projects has Lucy posted, how's Heidi in the Netherlands and what neat things has her mom Nancy made.. and what about the other Heidi and Kim, Donna, Jain, Janie, Tina, Rhoda, Angie, Nezzie, Rue, Linda, Marty, Jeanne, Sheila, Kammy, Teresa, Shelia, Nannette and on and on. There are so many others I just can't list all of you!

You are all my friends and I know it seems crazy but I miss talking to you when I am away, even when I'm having fun like being with my grandchildren. You are all very special to me..... Girlfriends Forever, just like the book says!

A big thank you to Kim at Daisy Cottage whose giveaway I won. It was a very special heart hand made by Fifi. When I arrived home it was waiting for me in the mailbox. Isn't it charming?

It's fun to go away but I always love coming back home, don't you? There is something about home that is so comforting . I feel like my home wraps it's arms around me and says "welcome back" each time I return from a trip. Sometimes it also says, "Please clean me!"

Now I'm going to make a second cup of tea and have a visit with you! Wish it could be real but a virtual visit will have to do for now.

Love to all my "girlfriends forever"

Rhondi xo

Out For A Sunday Drive

Beth at Olde Tyme Marketplace mentioned on her blog that she was having a weekend celebration for the second anniversary of her shop Olde Tyme Marketplace. It is in the little town of Marshville which is about 30 miles from my house. So I decided to take a Sunday drive out there to visit her. What a delightful shop! It was an old country store and lunch room years ago and still has the lunch counter there. Actually the movie The Color Purple was filmed on the main street of Marshville and the inside of the store was where all the scenes of the restaurant/lunch counter were filmed.

What a delightful shop! Isn't this furniture great?

Here I am with Beth. She is a real sweetheart and I felt like I'd known her all my life.

It has a huge porch the whole length of the store brimming with plants and lots of interesting pieces.

Beth had everything arranged beautifully and everywhere I looked there was something I wanted!

These old quilts tempted me and the vintage apron is very cute.

But it was something in this picture that caught my eye.

I had to rescue this rooster from his cage, although he does look cute in there. These little birds in a basket were a lamp base. When I got home I couldn't decide whether to put the rooster outside on the porch..Or on top of the china cabinet in the dining room. What do you think?Just down the street from Olde Tyme Marketplace was my dream house, a bit of a fixer upper with a huge wrap around porch, only $144,000. It's too far away. Oh but what fun it would be to fix it up! It was wonderful to meet another blogger and to visit her great shop. If you are ever in the area make sure you visit Old Tyme Marketplace in Marshville. You'll be glad you did!

Thank you so much for all of you who took the time to respond to my last post. It was so great to find out where you're from and to meet some new friends. That's what I love about blogging: all of you. You are what makes it so worthwhile!

Rhondi xo

A Visit With A Friend

I told you I was going to visit a blogging friend. If you visited her blog today then you know who it is already. I set out early in the morning to drive to her home. I drove toward the mountains

And finally arrived at this gate and as I walked up to the door, out she came. What a surreal moment. It was like walking on the set of your favorite TV show and the star is right there to greet you! And when we went inside it was fun to look around and see how all the things I had seen on her blog fit together to become a warm welcoming and gracious home.

I had only seen Penny on my computer screen a couple inches tall and there she was larger than life! Here we are in her dining room standing in front of the wonderful china cabinet she painted red.

It was like we were long time friends. You know when you get together with an old friend you just sort of pick up talking from where you left off last time?

Penny's house is even more beautiful than her pictures show! And she is just as sweet as can be. We visited for awhile at her home and then headed into town. It is a charming town with lots of interesting shops and restaurants. We had lunch at the Living Room. Our lunch was a comedy of errors, everything I tried to order they didn't have and then when they finally brought our meal they brought me the wrong thing! It was quite comical really. After lunch, we checked out a couple of antique malls and a few thrift shops. We both bemoaned the fact that thrifting in NC is not as good as some of y'all have. As we were roaming through one of the antiques malls, Penny remarked that we weren't very good bloggers because we forgot to take a photo of our lunch! Oops!

Penny gave me a gift wrapped in red toile paper and black and white checked ribbon : a darling little blue and white plate in a pattern I'd never seen before and some of her fragrant lavender soap. I didn't take a picture of it either!

It was just the loveliest day ever!
Rhondi xo