Good and Tired

What a blessing grandchildren are! These are our three, twin boys aged 3 and a 5 year old girl. They look so cute with their backpacks walking up to the entrance at preschool. I have been in Texas for the past week looking after them while my son and his wife went up to Canada for her grandpa's funeral. It was non stop activity: school, ballet classes, a birthday party, puzzles, games, reading stories, trips to the park, the mall, Wendy's, church, bath time, spilt milk .... and lots of hugs and kisses mixed in!
So today I am "good and tired", meaning I am tired in a good way!
I'm wondering what y'all have been doing this past week, so I'm going to be stopping by for a visit today. See you soon!
Rhondi xo

It's Time To Party!

Good morning friends. If you read my blog last summer then you might remember that I hosted a porch party on my birthday. Many of you joined in and we all had fun with it so, I've decided to have another one again this year. We'll be out of town for a wedding on my birthday, so it's going to be on June 1. So come join the party and tell your friends. If you don't have a porch it can be a deck, or even a patio, whatever outdoor space you like to live in during the summer months.

In case this is new to you, all you have to do is take some photos of your porch all dressed up for a party. Please copy the photo I have and use it on your blog, and tell your friends about it.

Make sure you let me know at least by May 31 that you want to join in the fun. Please have your post all ready first thing in the morning of June 1. I suggest you write it up the day before and set the time to post at 6:00 AM on June 1. As I receive the names I will list the blogs on my sidebar. Then the day of the party I will list them in that day's post.

If you change your mind at the last minute and decide not to join in, no problem, just let me know so I can remove your name from the list.

I can't wait to visit with everyone!

Rhondi xo

A Quiet Sunday

Sunday afternoons are usually quiet here. It's the perfect time to "porch sit". Soon the mosquitoes will be around and porch sitting isn't nearly as enjoyable. Our porch is not very deep but there is plenty of room for two rocking chairs. So I gathered a couple of books to look at and I sat and rocked and relaxed.Last week I got this tureen at GW for only $3. My thrifty idea was to use some sweet woodruff and a small hosta from my garden instead of purchasing a plant for it.

Aren't the lines of the tureen pretty? hosta

sweet woodruffWhat a lovely way to while away an hour on a Sunday afternoon. I think we all need time just to relax, enjoy the quiet, listen to the birds or daydream. All those things nourish our soul. In this busy life we all live, we forget to stop and be still sometimes.

Did you have a chance to be still for awhile this weekend?

Rhondi xo

A New Baby In The Neighborhood

We have some new neighbors. The house has been vacant for two years and recently someone moved in.
It was about two years ago I found this sweet little angel birdhouse and hung it on a branch of the Japanese maple. No birds showed any interest and the house remained vacant. But one day this week I noticed it swaying and as I watched a little chickadee appeared at the entrance!

I decided I would try to get a closer look.So I edged closer to the tree. There was something a little fluffy looking. Was it a baby bird or just part of the nest?I moved in closer, held my camera up in front of the hole and snapped a picture. One cute little beak was poised just waiting for the parent to return with more food! You can click on the phot to enlarge it.I quickly backed away before the parents came back. Such a simple thing but what a thrill!

I'm not doing thankful Thursday as a regular post anymore , but today I want to say I am thankful to have experienced one of God's miracles....the miracle of birth.

Rhondi xo

One Thing Led To Another

My "to do" list today included working in the garden and cleaning the house. Everything started according to plan. The morning was lovely and fresh so I spent quite a bit of time in my garden. As I always do now that things are blooming, I picked some flowers to bring inside. Today I chose the verbena. The blossoms are huge and it's hard to get a vase that will hold them in. This large green bowl seemed to be the best fit for them and I decided to put them on the mantle in the living room. That's when one thing led to another.

I'm not sure if it was the green bowl, or these beautiful place mats and napkins that my friend Karen gave me, or all the luscious green outside. Whatever it was, it led me to remove all the red in the room and go on a search for other green items I had around the house.I put these little green gourds in a footed Delft bowl that my dad brought back from Holland when I was just a young girl. Put a green plate on a stand beside my blue and white.

Stacked up some blue and green gardening booksAnd the mantle is complete. When I saw how fresh looking the green was I looked around to see what else I had that was green and I remembered that I had a cloth from a few years ago which fits the round table. So I rummaged through the closets until I found it, pressed it and put in on the table. A couple more green books and some greens picked from outside, a pale blue vase and some pale blue books and it's looking very light and airy and springlike.Then the quilt hanging over the couch looked a little too dark, so I took down the blue and white one in the front hall and hung it over the couch. Now what am I going to do with the bare wall in the hall? The paintings my mom did are all the colors of spring, and they were just in the guest room, so I put them on the wall in the hall. Then the black hall table looked too dark, so I moved it to the bedroom hallway and put some fake ferns in an old planter that I had in the attic. So here is a view looking from the dining room. I think I've managed to bring spring inside! Another view from the dining room.Now when you come in our front door, this is how it looks. Hmm....that wall in the hallway at the back looks bare. I wonder what I can find to put there?So that's what happened today when one thing led to another. Meanwhile the housecleaning still needs to be done!

Rhondi xo

Beauty In My Garden

Right now my gardens are filled with aquilegia (columbine). They seed themselves everywhere and I just love the surprise when they pop up in unexpected places! The colors are so beautiful. Some hang down and are sort of ruffled.Some face up. They grow in profusion at the side of our house.

I think they look like God painted each one individually. I hope you enjoyed looking at the beauty in my garden today!

Rhondi xo

A Quilt And A Rose

I love making quilts. I am passionate about making quilts. Sometimes I get consumed with making quilts! This is my latest quilt. A friend asked me to make it for her and gave me carte blanche to do whatever I wanted. I love taking all kinds of bright colorful fabrics and putting them together. I especially like to combine fabrics that don't match and see what happens. The more different patterns I can find, the better.

The knockout roses have started to bloom so I picked on just for you this morning. If you lived nearby I'd deliver to you personally, but you'll have to settle for a virtual rose. Next time I'll show you what else is blooming in my garden.

The forecast is for a beautiful weekend here. Hope the sun shines where you are this weekend.

Rhondi xo