never forget

How did you commemorate Memorial Day?

Our town had a moving ceremony honoring those who have

made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure our freedom.

They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation. -Henry Ward Beecher

Did you have a good weekend? We did. Lots of parties, family visits, and fun meals outside. My father had a birthday, and my father-in-law made it home from the hospital. We have a lot of reasons to be thankful. School is finishing up in the next two weeks,and then wonder of wonders...

Summertime. 


We are so looking forward to it!

fifteen

Fifteen years ago today, I married my best friend.

Would I marry him again tomorrow?

Absolutely.

We have a date tonight.

We're seeing the fourth grade play.

Miss Gracie is the 'mother turtle'.

via small object

my sunshine

Love this shrub, 'Snowball Viburnum'.

Blooms lime green and gradually turns bright white.

An unbelievable amount of blooms.

It's covering two thirds of my kitchen window.

So pretty.

Rosie was helping in the garden today.

She didn't want to come in for lunch.

When I gently insisted she started crying and told me,

"I took her sunshine away".

Do you know the song "You are my Sunshine"?

posh wellies

Yes please.

Posh Wellies at Joules.

fourteen

Our sweet Maggie is fourteen.

She celebrated with her girlfriends the other night.

They are such a nice group of girls, each one is sweeter than the next.

river birch

Yesterday, we picked out three new river birches for the back garden.

We are having them 'put in' on Monday.

Do you remember Barbara Walters asking Katherine Hepburn, "If you were a tree, what kind would you be?"

camp

If camping looks like this, where do I sign up?

via Say Yes to Hoboken

via CK

rain, rain

As much as I love rain for the garden's sake,

enough already.

School was closed the other day, due to the flooded roads.

Luckily, the brand new elementary school hasn't flooded.

Snow days, yes (surprisingly rare considering how much snow we get).

Rain days, never...in my memory.

Good thing Gracie has her new umbrella!

green with...

Have you checked out Velvet & Linen?

I'm seriously in love with what Brooke has done to her front yard. With the goal of getting her three kids to eat healthier, she took out her front lawn and put in a kitchen garden or 'potager'.

But, worry not my friends. It looks absolutely amazing, and that's before she has much planted...

Love the cedar raised beds. The topiary forms are killer, too.

And, with her great eye for design, check out her focal point. Rusty birdcage filled with vintage terra cotta on a weathered green enamel table........!

The view from the street. The garden is literally a secret garden.

It's bananas!

Let's all live vicariously, shall we?

for dad

Vintage Map Coasters

Martha suggests making these for Father's Day.

Use a map representing a favorite vacation spot, university, hometown etc.

My girls are going to love this!

Tutorial here.

Have a great weekend!

a package

A package arrived in the mail yesterday.

Two days past Mother's Day. I didn't mind.

It was from my favorite shop in England, Cath Kidston.

Everything reminds me of spring/summer.

Fun colors and darling prints.

It's time for a picnic.

I couldn't get a good picture of the oilcloth

tablecloth, or of this sweet cushion.

Both are in the cherry print. It reminds me of all the cherry

orchards in Door County, Wisconsin.

We head that way every summer.

Can't wait.

rosie loves

Our little crabapple trees are bursting into bloom.

They smell heavenly.

Rosie loves being outside.

At the store the other day, she asked me nicely for a butterfly net.

I looked for one.

That wasn't pink,

or

purple.

When I found the plain bamboo one,

I showed it to her.

She liked it.

I asked her "what are you going to do with it?"

She whispered, "catch butterflies..."

"Then what?", I asked.

"Then, I eat them!"

(I explained why that wasn't a good idea. I don't know if I convinced her.)

happy day

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while,

but their hearts forever.

Happy Mother's Day!

Artist Mabel Rollins Harris

ice lollies

My girls would love these ice lollies!

Find it at Williams-Sonoma

peony

Love -

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.

It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.

Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home.

~ Mother Teresa ~

{image via Whatever}

lily of the valley

Today's flower...Lily of the Valley.

And in his left he held a basket full

Of all sweet herbs that searching eye could cull

Wild thyme, and valley-lilies whiter still

Than Leda's love, and cresses from the rill.

-John Keats-

bake it sweet

The last thing we need is another play kitchen.

But, I could make room for this sweet set.

By Le Toy Van.

lilacs

Did you have a good weekend? We did. The Confirmation on Saturday, followed by my nephew's First Communion. Then...the party.

Sunday, we took a long, lovely walk with friends and enjoyed a delicious meal.

Today, the lilacs in my garden are beginning to bloom. I'm in heaven.

When lilacs last in the door-year bloom'd,
And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the night,
I mourn'd--and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.

-Walt Whitman-

I took my youngest with me to the store this morning.

Guess what she picked out?

Tiny, multi-colored, sparkly pom poms.

(She pretends it's food in her play kitchen.)