A Place to Laugh, Chat and Follow Along As We Restore Our Old Home While Juggling Business and Family Fun
Dear Mr. Romantic Porch,This tiny porcelain figurine was the topper on our wedding cake. See how closely it resembles the Kim Anderson figurines I collect? I didn't know about Kim Anderson collectibles then. Oh, what I've learned across the years. I will cherish today, this moment...that is all I'm promised.
I hope you are having plenty of "porch time". That is what I call quality time spent on your porch. I love to sit on the porch in a comfy chair during a thunderstorm, or watch the lightening bugs (fireflies) twinkle their light as they signal their mate in the twilight of evening. But then we get up and run all around the yard trying to catch them. In the winter on my blog, I showed you this house covered in snow. Isn't it pretty now?
Down the street from us is this adorable little brown cottage. It looks like the owner enjoys porch time too! During the summer, when our schedule permits, we eat almost every meal on our porch. What do you use your porch for? 
Hhhmmm, how can I do this?
Country Liv so generously offered to send me her fleur~de~lis stamps and stencils. From the looks of this, maybe I should have taken her up on the offer!
OK, try and try again!
That's better.
Remember this old rough wood floor that I painted pink and white a couple of weeks ago? I added a big white spot.
I laid the stencil down on the white and then painted pink all around it.
I've never stenciled before. It probably isn't done correctly, but that is OK. This bucket of pink paint was a $5.00 "mis-tint" (I don't know if that is a REAL word) bargain at Home Depot. I've just used what I had available to me. The wet paint obviously dries darker. 
But hey, it's done...still needs some touch up! Since we walk across this floor about a gabillion times per day, I think I can let a few of my perfectionist tendencies go! That's one of my "Spring Cleaning" items mentioned in the previous post. I will not let perfectionism paralyze me!
When I was a child, we would take mattresses and bed frames, rugs and other bits of furniture out to "sun" in the fresh air. I was able to do this with my area rugs and big sofa pillows this summer. We beat them and scrubbed them with a cloth dampened with rubbing alcohol. It was so fun at day's end to bring them back inside and know they were clean and fresh. And then there is the stash of stuff to recycle or pass along to the next needy person.
Cielo from "A House in the Roses" has invited us to share our gardens. If you click on her blog name, it will take you to her link. From there you can tour gardens all over the world. 
Every romantic porch needs a "flirting bench". Two sweet little nieces found a bench in a National Park, and called it a "flirting bench", so an idea was born in my mind that we needed one here at "A Romantic Porch". There it is draped in its' soft whiteness. 
Vining Geranium and Hydrangea, are a beautiful combination. 
The shelf serves as a great window box under the faux window. 
A touch of fresh cheery yellow goes a long way in boosting the spirit. Thank you for visiting my garden. 
Or is it lazy, crazy summer days? Well whatever...where did the lazy part come from? Yikes, I can't keep up. I promise I'm trying. 
"Just Do Your Best"!
Find new perspective!
After snapping several photos, I was so happy! This is what I was trying to do...catch the reflection of lights that are hanging in a window on an adjacent wall to show in the glass in the picture on this wall. I'm easily pleased...or is it amused...or entertained?!
When we first got these old cabinet drawers, we didn't remove the glass handles. However, we knew there was great potential in the "empty vessels of storage"! For a while I used one of the drawers to hold video games and equipment. 
On Saturday one of my sisters who is here for a visit, took the handles off of the drawers and soaked them in bleach and scrubbed them. Don't they look so pretty? I tried to get a picture of the light reflecting off the glass, but I must not have had the camera on the right setting. I would just love to have a bowl full of these beauties sitting right here on the cabinet. Old glass is beautiful to me. It has an aged depth and quality that you don't see in newer pieces. I wonder if it is the age or the ingredients used to make the glass? Come to think of it, sometimes people become more beautiful as they age too, if they allow the circumstances of life to reflect a quality of beauty from their countenance and attitude. I hope as I age I don't become hard and brittle or harsh and crackled. I believe I can choose to be joyful and cheerful, reflective of good and wholesome qualities.
After all the scrubbing and shining, my sister put the handles (or are they pulls?) on our old cabinet doors. If you look closely you will see the light rays reflecting from them onto the doors. Aren't they perfect there? Thank you so much for helping me, sweet sis. I couldn't have done it without you. You know that already! Right now I only have four glass handles, but I'm on the lookout for more!
On each of her blog posts it is delightful to see how Kim arranges her thrifted treasures from room to room of her cottage. She allows us a peek as she "dusts and fluffs" her way through her sunny days. Her sweet little "doxie" Maggie is always ready for a pose and doggy smile from her sparkling brown eyes. 
Can you guess what this may be? I'll be back to tell you so you can see!
Today is June 13. Friday the 13th! WWWooo. Why does so much superstition swirl around Friday the 13th?
I've never been superstitious about Friday the 13th. Have you? If I keep writing with this blog post, maybe I can figure out how to say Friday the 13th, 13 times!
I love shapes. Wouldn't life be boring if everything was made of straight lines, or circles or squares? It is so interesting to me to have a variety of color, texture and form.
After the leaves fall from the trees each Autumn, I'm amazed once again at the shape of all of the tree trunks and branches. They have the appearance of black lace starched crisply against the horizon. Then as spring and summer rolls around, they begin to adorn themselves with this most fascinating cheery green fringe called leaves!
In our household we enjoy playing with unique puzzles or problem solving games. My mother and father in law gave this to us at Christmas time. We've had fun stacking these little magnetic pieces many different ways. Actually, the pieces aren't magnetic, but the base on which they are positioned. Isn't it cool how they can be on their side, and still not fall off?...oh yeah! the picture is sideways, isn't it?
Our little daughter brought this to me and said, "Look momma, this is our family!" When I turned around, I was surprised to see the stack of magnetic nuts...but maybe that is just what we are! NUTS! But really, each separate tower, growing, standing tall, with individual needs, wants and goals, but all held together by our magnetic force of love and caring for each other. 
My Dad started woodcarving when he was 75. For a span of 9 years he carved a few hundred pieces, of various kinds. This Indian Chief has always been my husband's favorite of all of daddy's carvings. I can still hear Daddy saying that when you look at a piece of wood, it tells you what it wants to be. You can see the design in the chunk of knots and gnarls. As I get older, I understand more clearly what he meant by that statement. I can apply it to a lot of areas of my life actually. 
He loved to paint his pieces with a colored stain, so the grain of the wood most usually would show through. He carved a Sea Captain like this for each of his 10 children. However, each Captain is slightly different, because he made them as separate individuals.
This carving titled "Coffee Time" is a cowboy crouched over a campfire, making coffee. Years ago, when land surveyors were first mapping the United States ( ie. Lewis and Clark expedition, etc.) each "survey party" also had a cook that traveled with the group and fixed meals for the surveyors over a campfire. I think this little guy is telling me that the coffee is ready. Come on, join me. Let's talk over coffee. 
Living life to the fullest, is filled with moments. Sometimes those moments are happy and joyful. Other times they are filled with sorrow, sadness, and instant regret.
Keep moving forward...one step in front of the other. I want to look back and "fix things". But that only robs me of the energy and creativity of facing today, the tasks at hand. Looking back blurs this moment, and this moment is all I have. I don't want to waste it. It slips by so quickly. 
On Friday, May 30, our area was pelted with thunderstorms and tornadoes. The weather has been stormy and fretful for several days. Our church has served as a Red Cross Shelter since that Friday evening. It has been so interesting to see the 2 organizations work side by side to try to meet the needs of people all week. It has been a seamless process, by all appearances, with many activities being restructured to accommodate the needs of others.
This past Friday night, 10 inches of rain fell within 5 hours as thunderstorms moved through surrounding areas. My heart is full of compassion and concern for thousands who have lost their homes, farms and businesses to flood water and thunderstorms. 
You guys had some really great guesses about this photo. The picture in the guessing game below is of the floor in this room. It is my feeble attempt at painting a "rug"! I still want to put 3 fleur-de-lis (spell check has no idea what that previous word is, so it may not be spelled right) designs on the long pink rectangle, but I don't have a pattern for that yet.
Who knew that I would do this? Does anyone know what it is a picture of?
Thank you for all of your kind thoughts and wishes, emails, calls and cards for our son Jonathan. It was special to have grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins here that day to share this emotional "right of passage" with us. To put it in Jonathan's words, "That's pretty awesome!"
