Pink Hydrangea

This beautiful Pink Hydrangea has moved with me three times. At each move, I have
dug this guy up and planted it at each new house. This is the best it has ever looked
so I guess this is the best place for it.

I planted this Gladiolus last year in the spring, the first one was purple, then this
beauty bloomed, I love the white flower with the pink center. So pretty. Stay cool,
it is very hot here.

Sunday Fun Day

A couple of weeks ago I had a message on my Etsy shop that a man
named Kevin wanted to purchase a piece of furniture from me for his
wife. They are moving from Texas to South Carolina and he would be
coming through town on his way down and would purchase the server if
I would hold it for him. Well of course I would hold it, it is in my dining
room. Well, this never happened, he did not purchase the piece on Etsy
so I took the piece down from the site thinking they may have changed
their mind. So Thursday I got a call from Kevin saying that he was in
Vermont and would pick the server up Friday afternoon. Okay Kevin,
that's great news but there is one problem, you haven't paid for it. I haven't
paid for it, says Kevin, are you sure? Men! So I asked him to bring me cash
and to call me when he gets closer. Apparently his wife is a designaholic,
his truck was loaded down with fabric, wallpaper, antiques and his seven
year old daughter, Gigi, who happens to be very cute.

 So this antique English server went out on Friday afternoon and is on its way to South
Carolina. This left a big hole in my dining room and I wanted a piece to take the servers
place. I would like to find something smaller, maybe a demi lune. Because Saturday was
the 4th of July, I was afraid that most businesses would be closed, so I set my site on Sunday.
There were three places I had my site set on visiting, Rockfish Gap Country Store (right down
the mountain from Afton), Tuckahoe Antiques ( just up the hill from Rockfish Gap Country
Store on the way to Wintergreen) and Covesville Antiques up 29 towards 64. At the first store
I saw a nice little French piece but it had sold, so up the road I went to my next stop. This is
what I found at Tuckahoe Antiques.

This is a Bigg's light colored Lowboy for $195.00, it is about 30" high and 23" deep
with lots of storage with 5 drawers. It is not an antique, it was probably made in the 1970's.
The salesperson was very helpful and gave me this information. I also found this in another
booth.

This lowboy was originally $350.00 and marked down to $250.00. It was way more
ornate with more carvings, shinny brass and a darker stain. My salesperson said this
was definitely an antique, the owner of this booth used to have a famous auction house
in Charlottesville. I took pictures and decided to head over to Covesville Antiques, which
is also owned by the folks at Tuckahoe Antiques. Here I found two more pieces of interest.
The first piece looked just like the one above, but were the carved shell was an opening.
I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture. The price tag was $250.00 then around the
corner I spotted this beauty.

 It was priced at $225.00, beautiful carvings, pretty brasses and I liked the bottom details
under the shell. Definitely an antique and the wood had a pretty patina. SOLD, because I
was paying cash, I got it for $180.00. Here it is in my dining room all dressed up.

It is the perfect size, not as hunky as the other piece, I love it. You have got to check
out these stores. I could have spent a fortune in these places.

Making Pillows

Earlier this week I finally got to finish a project that I had been putting off.
A couple of weeks ago I got out my sewing machine out and made a pillow
in a discontinued fern fabric to take into my antique space. I had 5 pillow
forms on hand, so this week I finished the last four. There were a few mistakes,
like having the one with the fringe going the wrong way, oops, and realizing
that silk and chenille should not be sewn together. It bunches up! But I got it
done and below are the results.

I took them in today to my space and loaded up the sofa with all these pretty pillows.
You can find the at The Staunton Antique Center.

Summer Blooms

Summer is finally here and I had a chance to walk around my yard and snap
some pictures of what is blooming now.

Lavender, Lilies and Allium.

Mothers day gift from my sister.

Yarrow and Day Lillies

Squash Blossoms

Tomatoes starting to form from a bloom.

More pictures from my back garden and containers. Happy Sunday and Happy Fathers
Day to all those dads.

Celebrating My Sister's Birthday

This past Saturday we celebrated my sister Beth 60th birthday, she is the oldest
and we are two years apart. yes, this is scary, I am almost 60.

Her is a picture of the group around my mothers pool. My daughter Ellie came up with
her fiance Wes, in the middle is my sister Beth and my Mom and her husband Ted is to
the right,

Above is my nephew Wyn, B. son, her husband Steve and my Dad. Steve planned ever
thing and wanted it her because it is safer than Richmond were they live. They brought
ever thing so that my Mom  just had to get the yard ready. We had wonderful wines and
delicious apps.

Here we are going to the front porch for cake and ice cream. The top photo is of Beth
and Steve and the bottom photo shows my brother L.H. who arrived late as usual with
his wife Heather. They live in Lynchburg.

 I snapped this cute picture of Ellie and Wes under the arch of a feature in Mom's yard.
Young love, so cute.

A snap shot of the group relaxing on the porch after cupcakes and ice cream and
opening a few gifts. It was so nice to get together during this pandemic, it was almost
as if things were back to normal again.

Summer is Here at Last

Yesterday my Mom asked me to go to a garden farm with her and she asked if she could
bring me some of her peonies.

I filled two vases full of her beautiful flowers, they smell amazing.
My porch and yard are finally in bloom, it has been cold and hot this spring.
We have had lots of rain, it has been very windy and we have been stuck at home.
As we move into faze one and we have finally warmed up I could finally go out
and take pictures of my yard and my porch for you to see.

My beds in the front yard are narrow and small and get morning sun. I have been here
for four years and my flower beds are finally becoming full, with pretty flowers returning
each spring.

I started these beds with seeds I bought at Walmart and then I started planting things
that would come back each year like the pretty pincushion plant above.

My flowers have brought me happiness and peace in this crazy sad year. My porch
has been my escape from the news on tv , the deaths, and the sadness.

If you look closely at my planters, they have forks sticking up in them. I had a squirrel
digging up my flowers in my planters, so I googled what to do about this. They dig
in the dirt to hide their food, I would come out in the morning and my plants would
be all dug up and dirt was everywhere. Very frustrating, I was told to sprinkle red pepper
flacks on top of the dirt as well as cayenne pepper and to stick forks with prongs up to
keep the squirrels out of the planters. I have done all of this and so far it has worked.

This year I added a fern to the porch, I love the soft green color and I bought a lemon tree
and some lettuces.

I will post more pictures as things begin to bloom. Stay safe and stay well.