The garden today and recent wins...

I took the camera out in the garden today to snap some of

the things that are still blooming.

This beautiful pink rose is 'Bonica' it will bloom

all the way through October here.

This rose is 'Marie Victorin'. I love that it has a

little hint of yellow in it's bloom.



This wonderfully fragrant rose is 'Moxie'.



This is my 'Pink Diamond' hydrangea. It's starting to change

it's lovely fall color.

I don't know why this 'David' phlox is so late to

bloom, but I'm glad that it is.

These are the blooms on the 'Southern Belle' hibiscus.

They are huge!

Pink petunias on the porch.

The sweet peas are blooming their little hearts out still.

I bring in big bouquets of them, and they

make the house smell heavenly.

They are everywhere in the garden, but we are going

to get a hard frost this week, so I must

say goodbye to the pretty things.

Now for my wins!

I won an awesome giveaway over at French Larkspur.

Tracey gave away a $50 gift card to Starbucks

and the newest issue, in English, no less, of

the beautiful Jeanne d'Arc magazine.

This package came wrapped so beautifully. You know the kind

that you hate to open, because it is just too lovely.

Of course I opened it. I was so anxious to get a look at my first

Jeanne d'Arc, that I couldn't help myself.

What an amazing issue this is. Just full

of so much beauty.

Tracey's beautiful shop French Larkspur is stocked with

beautiful Jeanne d'Arc products.

I'm very excited to get to Starbucks and start

gaining those extra pounds that I know

I will by the time I'm done with this gift card.

I also won a wonderful giveaway from the girls at Tales from an O C Cottage.

What a haul I made off with there. The box that arrived

was filled to the brim with the most beautiful things.

I had so much fun unwrapping every package.

Look at that darling card with the bluebirds on it! Notice the

same little birdie salt and pepper shakers I got.

Love them!

It's been so cool to win such great giveaways!

Thanks girls!

I went junkin'...finally!

I wanted to show some of my finds from the past couple of

weekends. I was able to go to some yard sales finally

and these were some of my finds.

I really love old garden junk. I liked the patina on these

old sprinkler nozzles.

I loved how they looked with the lace runner and bling

I found. The nozzles will end up outside somewhere

in the garden, and the bling in the studio for now.

An old chippy bookcase.
Where in the heck it will go, I have no
idea.



More garden junk

These old rakes were my favorite find.

Can you believe how cool this blue one is?

I got this great floral handbag for $1.00.

I loved the colors in it.

You can't tell from the photo, but it is

nubby linen cloth.

Here it is hanging in the studio. I will be filling it with

sewing supplies. It's not near big enough for

me to use everyday. You should see the big ole' thing

I lug around to hold all my necessities...(crap)

If you would like to see what some other girls found 'junkin' stop over at
Cottage Charm and Family Inspirations

for their 'Junkin' Monday'.

The September garden...

I took these photos a couple of days before Labor Day and this is what the garden looked like then. Now a week later the white phlox are almost finished blooming and the coneflowers are losing their color. Many roses are still blooming beautifully and my beloved sweet peas are going strong. The hydrangeas are at their peak and with the cooler night temperatures will soon start to turn a lovely pinkish hue. They will soon be ready to cut for dried arrangements in the house to cheer me through the long winter. The garden has brought me so much joy this summer. I can't think of too many things that bring me more pleasure than gardening. There is much to do in the garden in the fall to get it ready for the winter months. It is always a sad time for me, but a necessary one for the garden.

I am truly loving all the vegetables this year. The corn is gone now, but the tomatoes, peppers, squash, and cucumbers are still feeding us. I should be a pale shade of red because of all the tomatoes I have eaten this past week. I wonder if a person can overdose on tomatoes?

I hope that you are all spending these last Summer days doing the things that bring you joy!

White Wednesday...Labor Day at Rebecca's

Today for white Wednesday I thought I would take you along on my shopping trip to Rebecca's in Bellevue, Idaho. My daughter Ember and I got there a little early and we waited patiently for Rebecca to open her doors. There was a line of ladies ahead of us and we were on our best behavior and tried our best to be civil and not run over them in our enthusiasm to get to the goods. As I have stated before in a previous post, Rebecca is only open for the 4th of July and Labor Day. Her shop was filled with beautiful items and dressed for fall. The colors were rich and deep, but I still managed to find a few whites and creams for today's post.

Love the white corbels.

And just look at this amazing shade made by Rebecca's friend Laura. I probably have ten photos of this shade from every angle I could get. The detail was amazing. I loved everything about it, but alas, it was out of my budget, so I had to leave it behind.

Here is a closer view of the beautiful detail on this shade.
It was quite dim in the shop and so my pictures are a little dark. I hope you can get an idea
of just how lovely this was.



And here is a picture of the darling Laura herself, modeling one of her shades that lasted all of ten minutes after the doors opened.

I love lamps, and I really loved these lamps.

Rebecca always has a great stash of vintage linens. This little corner is where I hung out the most.

Yep...I did some major damage in this area. I made a mess of everything and then tried to put it all back together after I was done pawing through it. I bet they just hate shoppers like me. Well, maybe not, because a lot of it came home with me.

Then when we went to leave, Ember and I had to make our way over to the homemade cookies and lemonade. I love these food toppers that Laura made from vintage netting and laces.

Just so pretty!

And the cookies were so yum!!!

I want to thank Kathleen for hosting White Wednesdays. There are so many beautiful blogs featuring whites today and if you would like to see more, visit Faded Charm for a list of those participating.

Porch living...

I wish the porch looked like this everyday...but it doesn't. Rural living is a challenge sometimes. The fields around us are in constant change. The farmers are either plowing, harrowing, sowing and reaping, which makes for a lot of dust and chaff. We have also had a lot of rain this summer and since this is an open pergola I have to bring the fufu-y stuff inside when that happens. In fact just this morning it all had to come in for awhile because it started to rain. Yes, it's a pain, but still worth it. I do wish it was a covered porch. Maybe someday.
This is a favorite spot of the whole family and it seems we gather here more than any other place when the children come to visit. I think it's because this is where you will find Dale (hubs) when he is home. This is his man-cave...(sure looks like it, doesn't it?) He doesn't seem to mind the fluff though. He's a good man and puts up with all the fu-fu-la. The chenille settee is where you will find him when he's home. Mostly in a horizontal position. The porch was only half this size this spring, but when I acquired the iron table and chairs, and the four piece patio set (at a thrift store) we had to make more room. Hubs was happy to build on to HIS room and it went up pretty fast. We have sure enjoyed the extra space here and I'm happy you could join us on the porch today!!!