You Mean I Don't Have To Cook Today? Or Clean?!

This is my favorite picture of my Mom. I forgot why she said she had her head in that old wagon wheel, but I think it was some tourist attraction in Chicago. She's 86 now, and has started slowing down only in the last couple of years.

This is the person who calls me Mom. Our daughter Liz. She's home from college, and we're going to spend the whole day together. I can't wait, because she's lots of fun! We're going to see a movie, and she's going to make a new blog banner for me. And since it's Mother's Day, I'm almost positive she'll be extra patient with me, as I change my mind time and time again.




I never did get around to making a Mother's Day display. Just kind of propped up my collection on the bookshelf and called it a day!

The poems on these old framed pieces are so lovely.



Isn't this cottage cute? I want to live there! So what will you be doing on Mother's Day?

I'm not doing any of this foolishness. NO cooking, and NO cleaning!

Which makes me feel positively giddy!
Happy Mother's Day!

IN THE GARDEN

In the garden this week, I slapped a couple of coats of paint on the old bicycle and watering can in the Lamppost Garden. The foggy quality to this shot is me trying to make the van not such a focal point!

I've had this basket since I was a little girl. I would put our little doggie in it, and drive him around the neighborhood. I can't wait to plant up the basket and watering can. I'm going with a red and pink color palette with my annuals this year.

The pink hyacinths that I got so cheaply at Lowes.

Bleeding Heart, or Dicentra, in full bloom.

The garden out at the corner, chock full of tulips. A couple of years ago, a young couple would walk past there every day, and the man would pick a tulip or two for his girl. After about a week of that, I finally had to make a point of being out there one day, and telling him that although I thought that was very romantic, could he please STOP PICKING MY FLOWERS??? Or something to that effect. Surprisingly, he said OK, and he did stop.

More Virginia Bluebells.

Wood Poppies.

The Redbud, by the new, glorious 6' fence that my neighbor put up. It's just a shame that so much of the garden got trampled, by a man that so obviously does not garden, because he should have known not to step on anything GREEN!!! I'm ok. Really I am. I know those plants will come back next year.....right?


A close-up of the redbud. So, if you knock on my door, and I don't answer........

I'm in the garden. In my bra!
NEXT WEEK: Continuing to make every daylily in the gardens disappear, and planting up the bike basket!

REDNESDAY

Just when I thought I was out of reds, I looked in the sink the other day, and found my entry for this week's Rednesday.

All of the clean dishes in the RED dish drainer were RED!

My very most favorite plates. I've been feeling even more patriotic than usual the last couple of days.

And this was my breakfast today. Kinda says it all, doesn't it?!
If you would like to see more REDS, visit Sue over at It's A Very Cherry World!

MY WEEKEND FINDS

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of My Weekend Finds, the continuing saga of one girl's quest for more junk!

This May angel is missing a wing, but she still wants to wish you a Happy May Day and an early Happy Mother's Day!

A Josef Originals bell. She's got her arm stretched out, as if she's asking "Why oh why was I only 25 cents?".

A McCoy frog planter.

I found this birthday figurine a couple of weeks ago, but thrifting/garage saling has been awful, so I decided to save her for another time. Ok, actually I forgot I had her!

Isn't her little cake cute?

An October birthday angel.

I found this a couple of weeks ago too. She looks like she is either trying to climb into that birdbath or catch one of those birds!
Soooo, the junking action has picked up a little bit. And in two weeks, there is the citywide garage sales to look forward to. Last year, I think there were 300 participants. That's alot of junk! Did you find some good junk over the weekend?

IN THE GARDEN!

It's time to check out what's happening in the garden this week!
I finally found the flowers that I was looking for to plant in my little galoshes: pink begonias and blue lobelia. That blue butterfly is a light that was in our daughter's room when she was a little girl, and now it's a "night light" by the back door.

This chair was all chippy and in desperate need of a new paint job.

Now it's RED!

And it holds an old enamel bowl full of a variety of sedum.

And the frame surrounding the sign that certifies our backyard as a wildlife habitat got a whitewashing.

Tulips surrounding the mailbox.

The garden out on the corner of our yard. This garden is full of tulips and grape hyacinths.

Lovely red tulips.

The Bleeding Heart, or Dicentra, is finally starting to bloom.

So are the Virginia Bluebells.

These pink hyacinths that I found at Lowes for 99 cents will go in The Lamppost Garden. Yes, I have a name for every one of the gardens! And I have alot of gardens. By the end of the summer, you will think I'm either crazy for having so many gardens, or you will feel sorry for me and come help me weed!!!
NEXT WEEK: Weather permitting, two RED things go in The Lamppost Garden!

REDNESDAY

My REDnesday entry this week is a tribute to the Royal Wedding happening this week!

Isn't Kate Middleton beautiful? I can't wait to see her wedding dress!

Here is my humble little collection. I wish I had more, as England is the place that I want to visit most in the world!

At one time, when our daughter Elizabeth was little, I thought it would be fun to collect Queen Elizabeth memorabilia, especially since her initials are E. R. as well. She didn't share my enthusiasm, so this is the only Queen Elizabeth thing that I have.

It's a souvenir of her coronation, and there was once toffee in the box.

I had to do a bit of research on my little Union Jack flag. It doesn't look like the ones you see today, and when I landed on the blog The Anglophile, I learned that it's the flag from 1606, when England and Scotland joined as one country.
And also on that same blog, I saw this picture. I LOVE IT, and I bet Sue, our hostess will too. Over the weekend I was hoping to find some fabric with the Union Jack on it, so that I could make a little bunting, but there is none to be found anywhere. The ten-years-younger ME would be getting up at 3AM so that I could watch the wedding live, but the 50 year-old ME will sleep through it all and watch every news program on it later! I wish Kate & William all the best!
If you would like to see more reds, visit It's A Very Cherry World!