A trip to the shack in the woods...

I thought today I would show some pictures of my little haven in the mountains.


Whenever I go up to Fishcreek
 (our forty acres about seventeen miles up a canyon),
 I am usually welcomed by one of our horses.

This is Molly.

Below is the view out the door of the shack.

This has got to be my favorite place in the entire world.

It is so close to home, and yet it seems like you are in the middle of nowhere.

Actually...you ARE in the middle of nowhere!

Oh looky here...Bella would like a little camera time as well!!!

She's standing right behind the little shack, about four foot away from the rear wall.

I think she was sneaking up on me.

Which reminds me of a funny story.

A few years ago, I came up to spend the night here ALONE,

and I have to be honest....

sometimes I'm not very brave.

Well I spent the evening hiking around the property and then

came in to settle down for the night. I didn't hear anything outside

because I was watching a movie, when the next thing I know, there was a figure out the door.

It scared me to death and I was afraid to even move.

Because the light was on inside, I couldn't

 make out the figure, so I turned the light

out so that whoever was there couldn't see me as easily

.(like, where was I going to go if they decided to come in)LOL! 

And there in full glass door

 (crazy I know), in the middle of nowhere to have a full glass door with no curtain))

was a horse staring at me!!!

I think he was enjoying the movie too.

I now have a curtain!

The horses have a well worn path down this fence because

 we have the property on both sides of the road,

and we pasture the

 naughty horses on one side and the not so naughty horses on the other.

(not really)

But we do separate them for various reasons.

So now brace yourself! This is not pretty!

We will get to the pretty part in a minute.

Yep...this is it.

 Hopefully later this Fall, the shack won't be this ugly on the outside.

I'm planning on giving it a little face lift.

I would like it's outside to match it's inside.

 Guess what color I want to paint it?

WHITE

of course!

On the inside it has a different feel.

I love coming up here and just sitting and reading my stash of Country Home magazines

that I keep up here. Lots of issues dating back over ten or so years.

Sometimes I take a long nap.

Sometimes I do both.

Now I'm going to shut up for awhile and just show a lot of pictures.

The little shack has a lot of mirrors.

I love reflections.

The green chippy bed my husband found at the landfill almost a dozen years ago.

So that is my little shack in the woods this year.

 I posted about it last year too,

but wanted to do another post about how it looked this Summer.

 I think it is funny that my husband and sometimes my son-in-laws

stay in here from time to time. 

I wonder if they feel a little uncomfortable around all the foof?

So far they haven't complained.

I guess they could always sleep outside with the horses!

Here is a view to the other side of the road.

As you can see it is getting quite dry here this time of year.

The grass in the bottom is getting scarce so 

we will be putting the horses on the hillside until snow flies.

And now Bella wants to say...

THE END.

No room in the hammock...

The hammock that hangs in our garden gets so much use in the Summer.

 It has finally taken all the abuse it can possibly take, and I couldn't be happier about it.

It is usually filled to over-flowing with grandchildren when my own children visit.

Often you find my husband in it taking a nap under the trees.

Next Spring I will be buying a new one.

The ropes are all frayed and breaking from the use it has gotten over many years of children 

playing together or sisters sitting together, chatting away the hours. 

It is funny how a bunch of rope twisted together on two sturdy pieces of wood

can bring so much pleasure to so many.

So now this beloved hammock will go to our property in the mountains to entertain

the children when we are there.

 It still has another year of mild use in it.(I think)?

The garden blooms are winding down now.

 I took some of these photos about ten days ago while things were

still blooming abundantly.

Geraniums and sweet potato vine growing on the studio wall.

Beautiful echinacea growing alongside 'Bright Eyes' garden phlox and 'Winnipeg Parks' roses.

I love this combination for Fall.

Garden phlox has got to be the quintessential

 'granny garden' flower. It, and hollyhocks.

I don't know of many flowers that bring as much pleasure to me than these.

OK...

I know I say that about almost every flower in the garden.

...but they truly are gems in the border.

I adore the smell of the big flowers held high on sturdy stems.

Isn't this pink phlox just like candy????

Another pretty favorite...

 a lovely shade of lilac

I think the lavender one is my favorite though.

And I just wanted to share some of the views around the garden.

And on the porch...

And in the gazebo...

I have enjoyed this Summer so much.

But now it is time to welcome a new season to the garden.

Soon the trees will be turning and the grass will lose it's green.

I will be busy with garden clean-up soon enough.

So...

 it is time to say goodbye and

 beat Dale to the hammock!!!

White in the garden...

I have a few wooden structures in the garden that I love. The round gazebo was a gift

from a friend, and the arbor my husband built for me is now

covered by a very large grapevine and a climbing rose. All of them started out

in their natural state, but over time have ended up white.

This gazebo that I am showing here is a square structure and was in it's natural state

until a few weeks ago, when I finally decided that I would

probably love it more if it were white.

This gazebo was built by a man in town who builds adirondack chairs

 and picnic tables and sells them for extra money. He uses lumber left over from

homes that he builds for a living.

My husband had gone to his home to buy a picnic table for our daughter.

While visiting with the man, he commented on this lovely garden

 house that was in his yard. The gentleman said that his wife thought

it was too big for their small yard and wanted it moved.

So my husband being the nice guy that he is, bought it for me and soon it

was coming to our place on a flatbed trailer to live in our garden.

It had been stained a redwood color and had faded badly and needed to be re-stained

 (or something)and of course that something happened to be white paint)).

It sits out back by the pasture fence.

 It took me days to paint it,

 but I think it was worth it.

You can see that I got in a hurry and didn't paint the ceiling yet.

Of course I had to make some pretty linen curtains to hang in it.

Even the willow furniture that I bought at a yard sale years ago, ended up white.

No surprise I'm sure. You know how I love white!!!

It's falling apart slowly, but I love this set of furniture.

They got their coat of white paint several years ago for

my daughter's wedding.

Not too comfy without cushions, but they add interest

 even if they aren't real functional.

The pergola over the front patio is my favorite of all the structures in the garden.

This is where we hang out most of the Summer.

My husband built it and I love him for it.

 He is so helpful that way.

I think he really does enjoy his contributions to the garden.

He hung an old door in the hedge just because I said that I would love to have

one there. It seems that all I have to do is say "hmm, wouldn't it be nice if"

and he puts on his trusty tool belt.

Ya gotta love that!!!

(and a man in a tool belt)

There are some lovely blogs sharing their whites today,

and I am linking up with Kathleen at Faded Charm for White Wednesday.