OUR FRINGE TREES

It was a warm, sunny day and I took a break from my chores and went to sit on the front porch for a while. As a gentle wind blew, a beautiful fragrance was carried with it. It was coming from the Fringe Trees (common name) that line our driveway. We've had these trees for years, but I never caught that lovely aroma in the past, maybe because I usually sit on the back porch.

My husband ordered these trees, on line from a nursery, after we saw one on a trip to Pennsylvania to visit the kids. We must have just hit it at the right time because they only flower right after the the Dogwood flowers have faded, and only for about two weeks, if the weather conditions are right.

When we received them, there are ten, they were only about twelve inches tall. The cataloge says they grow about 10 feet tall by 10 feet wide. Ours have grown all different sizes, two are very small but full of blossoms this year.

In the fall the leaves turn a bright yellow. The female trees grow clusters of dark blue, grape like fruit, which is eaten by birds.

Below is one of the short ones, I sure wish that they'd grow up..... LOL

I think that a company should make a perfume from them. It would make a great fragrance, not too heavy, not too sweet.

I just checked out the TIME LIFE Encyclopedia Of Gardening for Trees. It stated that these trees grow up to 12 to 15 feet in about 10 years. It also states that it evenually can become 25 to 30 feet tall. That's not what we originally read when we ordered them.

Have a great day. Hope you enjoyed learning about our trees.

THE BALD EAGLES

CHASE COMMUNITY GIVING, located on FACEBOOK, is giving monies to non-profit organizations for betterment of their facilities. I'm asking you to please go to Facebook and vote for the WILDLIFE CENTER OF VIRGINIA and the NORFOLK BOTANICAL GARDENS. You have to have a Facebook account, which is very easy to open if you don't have one. You will get five votes, but can only vote once for each of those in the running. PLEASE, PLEASE vote for these two worthy causes, they are all wonderful, caring people who are watching out for our AMERICAN BALD EAGLES and for their care and safety. You must chick ' LIKE' first when you get to the CHASE site, before you can vote, so keep that in mind. THANK YOU....



Hi everyone, I tried something new to post, it didn't work as I hoped it would. In order to view the photos, so that you can read the print, double click on each page and when the page opens SINGLE click and the print will enlarge. I hope that you enjoy the story.

Re-arranging and Repurposing

I love to move things around in the house, or add something, which I call re-purposing. I've wanted to include some pictures around the clock since last year. I've had some little photos that our daughter, Cindy, took hanging up in the loft, but they were seldom seen up there. These pictures came from when Cindy dressed-up, the kids at her day care, in old fashioned clothes, and took pictures of them for the Moms, for Mother's Day gifts from the kids. I absolutely love these photos and now I can see them more often. I also hung the 'pie keeper' that Cindy had given me last year, it was painted by a friend's mother-in-law, and was too nice to use as a pie keeper.

A little closer look at the grouping.

I also moved the love seat around this weekend. I didn't care for it on an angel, the way that it was first placed. It didn't serve well in that position, it was uncomfortable seating when we had company. That is an odd corner in the room, because we can't place anything against the wall, there is a large heat/air vent in the wall that can't be covered up.

So, I moved the love seat, which doesn't leave a lot of 'traffic room' in front of the French doors, it's only the width of the door, but makes for a much better seating arrangement, so I'm pleased with it. Plus I've moved many of my decorating books on the built-in hutch and it's a nice place to sit and look through my books. Those pictures in the bottom, left corner of the photo are the pictures that I no longer have wall space for after we moved the wall unit, I'm trying to come up with a new place to hang them.

A view of the new seating arrangement . Through the French doors you can see the foyer, which has been housing our outdoor hanging plants for the winter. WHAT A MISTAKE THAT WAS, one I won't make next year.

This makes for a much better seating arrangement, and a much cozier space, in our Traditional/English Country living room. I really enjoy taking time out during my day and just sitting in here, taking some 'me time'. It's also the place I head to first thing in the morning with my cup of coffee. I watch the neighbors walking their dogs each day and the antics of the dogs greeting one another.

SHOW AND TELL

As I was taking down our Christmas decorations in our family room, I realized that I had never posted the new look to our fireplace. The photo above was taken showing the mantel as it looked for Christmas in the past. We loved the way it looked, but my husband wanted to convert the gas fireplace, to a wood burning fireplace. After having a fireplace installer look it over, he told us that it couldn't be converted because there wasn't a suitable foundation under the chimney. Having his heart set on a wood burner, my husband looked into a free standing wood burner. Of course since the fireplace surround was made of wood, that had to be changed because of the heat that would be generated.

Today the surround is all marble tiles, with larger tiles making up the hearth. We decided to hold off filling in the grout, in the trim work, waiting to see if there is any type of shrinkage, do to the heat that comes from the wood stove. So it's still 'a bit' of a work in progress. My husband is very good at doing tile and stone work, I've often told him that he missed his calling. But I always get to pick out the tiles he uses, so I get to be part of the projects too.

A little closer look. Those horse head fireplace tools came from my boutique, the Collie weather vane I found on line.

I've still decorated the mantel with some of my favorite accent pieces and artwork. The Collies in the print over the mantel, look very much like the three Collies that I had, all at the same time. Seth would be the sable, Shadow the blue merel and Shilo the tri colored (MY BOYS). I lost all three, of my beauties, to old age within a year's time in 1997/98.

On the left are special pieces, which I refer to as my grandfather and grandmother. My father's parents were Italian, farmers, so the HomeCo pieces that I purchased, over the years, remind me of them. The horse figurine, was made for me by our oldest son's godfather. My father loved horses and there is seldom a photo of him that doesn't have a horse in it. He's either on it or standing next on one, so that had to be part of that vignette.

My love for horses must have been passed down from him, for as long as I can remember, I've always collected horse figurines. Of course I've always wanted to own a real one, but when I realized that would never happen, my 'love affair' started with The Collie. I received my first Collie, as a graduation present, from my then boyfriend, Billy. I named him Lucky. The framed stitchery, of the Collie puppy, was made for me by one of the crafters who placed things in my boutique to sell. I would take items in on consignment for crafters, it helped to add merchandise to my store, when I first opened, and it also helped the crafters in the area have a place to sell their crafts. It worked out well for all of us. Some made as much as $500 a month, that wasn't bad for a stay-at-home mom, who wanted to earn so extra income.

Although I've tried to decorate this room with a little more of a masculine look, for my husband to feel comfortable in, I put 'the heart of me' in it too, using art work and figurines of Collies and Horses. My favorite art pieces are by artist Cindy Alvarado. She sure knows how to capture the beauty of a Collie. I was told, that the Collie that she painted with the cat and the fence, called 'PLAY TIME', comes from the same bloodline as one of my Collies, Seth. He was a beauty and looked just like the one in that picture.

I just love this grouping, and often sit and look.........and let myself enjoy 'D'sDayDreams. ;)

I hope to get the walls re-pained sometime soon, I like the green in the summer, it makes the room feel nice and cool. On the other hand, it makes it feel cold in the winter. I have two bolts of fabric, waiting behind the office door, to make new window treatments, but I keep putting it off, hoping to paint first and remove the Leopard border. The border seemed like a good idea at the time, but I'm tired of it now and it starting to look a 'little tacky' to me.

LIVINGROOM MAKEOVER

I guess we all have to take a break from things
sometimes, and that's what I did when I didn't
post for a while. Actually, I've been 'down in the dumps' since I lost my beautiful, Collie,
Sergei, in July, and it seemed that every time
I tried to write, that I became very emotional
and had to stop what I was doing. I can't explain
why that was happening, but it did. However, this is a new year and I wanted to post about the
things that have been keeping us busy.

The picture above shows the new arrangement of our living room. Last year, in January, my husband removed the wall to wall, kelly green, carpet and laid down our new hardwood floors. It was such a welcome change and they look great. If you have viewed my blog in the past, you may remember that our four piece wall unit was standing side by side and covered the side window that is shown here.


I had always used the wall unit as one piece and was hesitant about separating it. However, I love the way it's being used now, as corner units.

Now that the window is uncovered, I had to make another top treatment to match the one we already had on the front window. I never thought that I'd be able to match the fabric, after all, it's been years since I made the first one. But, I lucked out and found the material at my favorite on line store, http://www.barnfabriccenter.com/
I couldn't match the fringe, so I removed it from the front treatment until I can find what I need for both of them.

Now I have a dilemma, I was thinking of getting plantation blinds for the window because with the curtains off, I'm in love with the way the sun
shows thru the window and shines on the fern
and highlights the embellishments on my little
Chinese chest.

We had always planned on purchasing window grilles for our windows, but now after seeing how the sun plays in the room, I'm not sure what to do. I did get in touch with the Anderson Window Company trying to get information on the cost of the grilles, so if they are too costly, that may be our deciding factor, not that plantation blinds will cost any less. :(

Let me also mention here, that when I first started looking for the plaid material to match the wing back that we had purchased, I found it in one store selling for $39 a yard.

After shopping around I was able to purchase it for $14 a yard. However, this last purchase of the material at Barn Fabric Center, I was able to buy it for $3.99 a yard. :)

Pictured in this last photo, is the other two wall unit pieces, cornered and used as a desk area. For now, until I come across an area rug that I like, I'm using one of the rugs from our bedroom under the coffee table. In this picture you can also see a little of our new hardwood floors.
That's it folks......WISHING YOU A VERY HAPPY & HEALTHY NEW YEAR.

Hugs
'D'

A RIDE DOWN CANAL ST. ON MOTHER'S DAY

Last year, when Rue of (PBAJL) posted some pictures from one of her many driving tours, I mentioned that, someday I'd have to remember to take my camera along on our drive, so that I could share photos of some of the houses on THE CANAL, in Lewes, Delaware. There are so many beautiful houses along that road, most of them have been renovated, there are some that are new, but I've lost track of the homes that have been there, they all look new to me now. The first one, is one of the smaller homes, and I do think it is one of the older ones, with it's new look.
In another month, the flower beds will be filled with fantastic color from the flowers that will bloom there. They don't put them in the ground until after the threat of frost has passed. That doesn't stop the owners from having beautifully manicured lawns.

How nice it would be to live in one of these beauties, however, I'm not sure that I would like having people, like myself, diving the road taking pictures all the time. Plus there isn't a home on this road that has less than a million dollar price tag.

Most of the homes sit on a nice piece of property............................

Then there are a few that have been built right next to each other. They could be owned by the same family, maybe mother/daughter owners. Or a part of the property sold because of what the owners could make on the sale of a lot.

The row of houses in this photo, are located on the other side of the canal. They have all been built in the last ten years. When we first moved here that land was all marsh-like property.

Each of the original houses, came with a lot, as shown above, across the street from the home with access to The Canal. Each had a dock where they could tie up their boat or boats.

Most of the properties also have boat houses: it is not unusual to see the owners out there, usually on a Sunday morning, having brunch or some other kind of social event. I couldn't get a good picture of the more elaborate boat houses, as there were too many trees in the way, or another driver behind us was waiting to pass, when another car was coming in the opposite direction. But I'd take any one of them.

Well......maybe not any of them, this one is a little odd looking, but interesting. It had to take a lot of talent to get that 3-D look on the outside of the building.

Downtown Lewes is charming. It has many little shops that would perk any one's interest. It always amazes me how this area can support so many great activities year round, there is always something going on. So much so, that in the next few years, cruise ships will be docking here during their ocean voyage down the East Coast.

Hope you enjoyed a very small look at the homes on The Canal, maybe you just might see them for yourself some day.

Thank You Soldiers - Veteran's Day/Memorial Day Song