A collection of imperfection...

I picked this china cupboard up in Salt Lake on a trip with my daughters. We went to do a little shopping and treasure hunting on a weekend two years ago. I found it at a second hand furniture shop that was closing it's doors and couldn't leave it behind. Our problem was, that we had already filled the back of the truck with other treasures, and had to find another way to get it home. I don't know what made us think that one truck bed would even come close to being enough room for four die hard treasure hunters.  

It sits in the mudroom just off the kitchen and holds some of my chippy, mismatched, much loved china pieces and bits of silver. This past week I did a major deep clean of this room, as it is the room that so many of our visitors see first (because it is winter so many people don't go the extra steps to the front door(talking hubby's buddies here, because mine have mudrooms and know that they are not meant for company))

Usually this cupboard is crammed to the gills and not very photogenic, so I did a bit of editing this week.

A very hard thing for me to do.

No matter where I go, I can't seem to pass up old teacups, china plates, tureens, or anything with roses on it.

As you can certainly see here.

I love misfits. It doesn't matter that some are chipped, cracked, and crazed.

Doesn't matter at all.

If I look deep enough, I can find the beauty in anything.

Sometimes just looking at something in a different way or with a different attitude makes it even prettier than before.

To me, they are perfectly imperfect.

Sort of like my life.

And looking at this little cupboard in my mudroom never fails to make me smile.

I wonder if it has the same effect on Dale's friends as well?

Nope...you're right...probably not!

 I think my friends need to start coming to the back door.

****

I will be out of town helping a daughter move and will not be posting again till late in the week. I will be missing White Wednesday, but hope to post the following WW.

Hugs to you all!

White Wednesday at my daughter's house...

When I went to Boise last weekend, I stayed with my daughter Ember and took some

photos of her mantel to show for this weeks white Wednesday.

I think Ember did a beautiful job on setting up the vignette on her mantel.

She has such a good eye, and is one of  the best junkers I have ever seen.

She loves to create and she loves to forage secondhand shops and antigue malls, and

can she ever find the best yards sales in town. I love going shopping with her.

We do have a problem of always going for the same things. If she gets to it first, I can usually

talk her out of it. I just give her

 my poutiest face and she hands over the goods. What a sweetheart.

She had a shop for awhile in Boise and I have some great treasures from

her store. I would go to Boise when she opened in her first location

and help her with her displays. So fun.

I'm a lot richer now that her store is no longer there.

Darn...I sure do miss the deals I got. Mother's discount

you know.

If you are into white like I am you will want to go to

Kathleen's at Faded Charm where you will find a ginormous

list of others participating in the weekly White party.

I want to thank all of you on the input about what method to post in. It was so helpful.

Today I am trying out the new editor in Blogger. So far I like it.

My teeny indoor garden...

Oh thank goodness for these little bulbs. I planted them in November and have been patiently waiting for them to bloom. Finally last week, I saw my first glimpse of white. I have always planted narcissus bulbs, but this was my first year to plant the hyacinths indoors.

I always plant my hyacinths outdoors in the bed out my bedroom window and when they bloom in the Spring, at night their scent is so strong that it actually drifts into the room and perfumes the bedroom with the sweetest smells. It's heavenly.

So this Winter I decided to plant them and place them right next to the bed.

I think these should help me dream sweet dreams, don't you think?

I have several of these bulbs scattered around the house. I'm anxious to have them bloom and bring a little bit of Spring into the house.

The days have been full of sunlight here in this part of Idaho this week. When I go outside and see the sunlight glistening on the top of all the snow, it truly takes my breath away. I love the sun-filled days, but the days that are foggy bring a different kind of beautiful. Two weeks ago we had a lot of foggy nights, so in the mornings the frost was so thick on the trees and shrubs, that the garden looked like a magical fairyland.

I would love to take this opportunity to thank all those who come by and take a peek into my life and my home. I think that having a blog is a little like being an editor of a magazine. You hope that what you write and the pictures that you share will be worthwhile to those who read and those who choose to spend their time perusing your publication.

You have all become so dear to me. The messages that you leave me and the encouragement you give is deeply appreciated.

*****

Now I need your input. This post was done in Blogger, but the two previous posts were done in Windows live writer. I would love to know which of the posts you like the best. I don't know what I prefer. I like many things about Live Writer, like larger pictures, and how you can place the pictures exactly where you want them, unlike Blogger, which loads the pictures backwards and the spacing is harder to control. I know this sounds silly, but the two posts I did in Windows LW scared me to death. I guess it's because it's new to me. I don't care about the fact that when you post in LW you don't have a picture that shows up when your post updates on other's blogrolls. I'm not sure how I would like to continue, but if you have any suggestion on how I can make this blog better, I would love to hear about it.

Thank you all for stopping by.

White Wednesday…

I’m joining Kathleen at Faded Charm for her weekly White Wednesday. It’s always fun to scramble around to find more whites to share for this weekly get together. I love white and I’ve always told my family and friends that ‘white is my signature color’ (and I say that with a southern accent, like Julia Roberts’ character in Steel Magnolias)( except her color was pink).

We got about 6 inches of fresh snow this morning.  We are at about 25 percent of our normal amount of snowfall for this year. Maybe we will catch up. We have a lot of Winter to go yet.

I do love how a new snowfall cleans things up a bit.

   

I do love this view out the back of our property.

The line of spruce trees along the driveway.

I hope you have enjoyed the whites in my world today. Now I can’t wait to come by and see what’s brightening up your days. I’m afraid that I have been rather slow getting around to all of your wonderful places the past few days. I was able to get away from everything here at home Sunday and Monday to go to Boise and spend some time with my daughter and sweet little four year old grandson. Monday we spent the whole day foraging antique stores and secondhand shops. It was so much fun, and something I think I really needed.  Boise was so warm (it reached 51 degrees while I was there) and it made me wonder (a little) why I live where I live. Even though it’s only a two and a half hour drive, it seems like a different world sometimes. As I was driving home and back into the mountains I was thinking of how nice it would be to live closer to my children and how the growing season in Boise is longer and the weather warmer.  Then of course, when I pulled in my drive and walked in my door, I remembered again, why I love this home and this little town… and why I will stay.

A year in the life of...

I had no idea what a year of my life would look like on a blog when I started. It was kind of fun putting this post together and looking back over the past few months.
This is the first picture that I posted on this blog. That was in February 2009. This is me about 51years ago. Geesh! I can't believe it when I put it that way.

January brought me a lot of frosty mornings and beautiful scenes in the garden. At this time I was thinking seriously of starting a garden blog and connecting with fellow gardeners all over the world.

Winter is this gardener's time to put things in order in her house while the garden lays sleeping. Taking care of things that she has sorely neglected the other three seasons of the year while she tends to her garden.

It's the time when she spends a little money on grocery store roses to cheer her until the garden gives her blooms of her own again.


Waiting impatiently on the spring that didn't seem to want to come in 2009.

She was happy to see the snow give way to rain in early March.

And

comfort a pouting pup that doesn't care for Winter anymore than she does.

Spring brought bare ground once again...

And bunny hugs for Easter.


Tulip time!

Flowering trees scenting the garden.

And bringing us back the bees.

Buds everywhere!

A lawn to mow...

and a happy dog once more!

Irises bloom

And the dogwood too.

Poppies are next to show their lovely heads...

Oh, and this gardener loves her lilacs!!!

The beginning of Summer brings naps in the hammock...

(for the gardener's husband, that is)

And peonies everywhere.

Trigger does love his pasture grass.

The roses start to bloom in June.



And the garden changes daily.

The birds have all returned now and are busy raising their families.

The gazebo got a paint job in late June.

White of course!

In July the roses take center stage.

Along with beautiful delphinium!

The gardener loves them fresh...

And she loves them dry.

July brings a hammock full of happiness!

(six of the gardener's seven grandchildren)

Angels

and faeries are everywhere!!!

and faeries favorite flowers...foxglove!


The gardener's house starts to fill up with past season flowers.

and in August the hydrangeas bloom.

August brought several needed rains in 2009.

But there was still plenty of sunshine to enjoy time on the porch.

Lot's and lots of time!

(for the gardener's husband that is!)

Sweet peas everywhere in August!

and hydrangeas too.

September brought a different light.

The kind of light you wish you could bottle and keep somehow.

September brought the harvest. Corn as high as an 'elephant's eye'.

and the gardener's favorite tomatoes.

The last of the flea markets...boo hoo!

Time spent with the family.

(the gardener's daughter Haylee and son-in-law, Joe)

And flea market smiles

(Joe and Haylee's little Maddie)

September dresses the garden in new color.

October brings even more color.

Beautiful color!!!

November...

stark November.

December is here again and with it the joyous holidays are upon us.

The month brought with it the snow to cover November's starkness.


All in all, 2009 was an awesome year for the gardener.

The gardener would like to take this opportunity to tell all who have followered her through this past year in the garden that it has been made sweeter by their company.