Alley Ride

When I lived in this town years ago, I used to walk the alleys. I have always thought the alleys to be intriguing. They seemed sort of private, and I liked to peek through slats in back fences  and steal myself a bouquet of alley flowers.

The temperature was cool this morning, so I took off on my bike for some alley snooping.

First up, a cherry tree.

People seem to do alleys differently around here. It's not unusual to find flower patches or old buildings used as garages. Of course, I like to peek into backyards to see what sort of creativity there is to be discovered.

Hmmm... this looks tempting...

I love the green doors and ivy...

  Sometimes this town has an Western/Colorado vibe. Sometimes the lush greenery makes me think of California.

Folks aren't afraid to do sidewalk flower beds either.  No stealing this time

And I kept smelling a lovely fragrance as I rode my bike. I followed my nose...

Could this possibly be a Linden tree?

What do you think of this house?  Long ago, it was a funeral parlor. My brother once told me it is haunted.  I have a photo of it taken in the 1930's, if I can find it, I'll post.

Back home from my ride.  I must get to the other things on my To Do List so it can be my To-Done List.

I'm working on a new project... it's simple but will make a big difference. (Hint: It involves paint and fabric.)

Proceeding...

Our place has only 2 bedrooms. We have taken one upstairs bedroom for us, and the other is my office/computer/sewing room. Both of those rooms had that old cootie-filled carpeting that Handyman removed--we are happy with the wood floors. Refinishing may come later on down the road, or maybe not.

One thing about the basement that Handyman was excited about was that it is all open, no walls up, or hobbled-together rooms built with someones own three hands...

We knew we could put a bedroom in the basement, just a guest room for sporadic company. Soon after moving in, Handyman painted part of the floor in preparation of framing up the bedroom walls.

There will eventually be a dropped ceiling. There is a toilet and sink in this basement, and the sink will be incorporated in the bedroom. Think "motel" where sinks are often in the same room as the bed. Makes for more options for the toilet area.

In the top photo, you will see on the right, the location of the toilet, it is behind that door. A wall will be added as the one currently there does not go to the floor. I'm not worried, Handyman knows what he is doing, he'll do an excellent job. I have complete confidence in him, although I do ask questions and sometimes give suggestions.

You can see on the other side of the 2 X 4's a stack of boxes, etc. Believe me, this is the "organized" part of the basement, the rest looks like a tornado has gone through it!  Of course, we've only been here about 3 weeks--I'm cutting myself plenty of slack! 

I will continue to take pics of the progress and post!  Even as I type, I hear hammering!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!  Thank God for the men and women who have served in the Military, the men who have put their lives on the line so I wouldn't have to. The men who have died in my place--just like Jesus. He paid the price so I wouldn't have to. Have a blessed day!

Visitors to Our New Home

It was wonderful to see my niece and her two boys...

I've been decorating the front porch--a wide, old fashioned porch. I added two chippy paint metal lawn chairs, pots of Impatiens, a basket brimming with artificial flowers (I think they look okay) and a colorful rag rug under one lawn chair. Around here, folks sit out on their front porches in the evenings.

Handyman is laying pavers underneath the porch swing under the vine covered pergola...

He's a blurrr....

moving along, making progress.  We're adding pine bark nuggets to either end.

Goodbye unfriendly lava rock... hello attractiveness. He's doing a great job.

Don't Fence Me In

Cleaning the vines off the fence... our fence, yes, but on the neighbor's side!

The last owners planted Virginia Creeper along the fence... not a good thing. This plant is invasive and over the years it had invaded the neighbor's yard, tree, bushes, even at one point, she said it was trying to grow in her back door. Sure, it gave some privacy, but this monster had to go.

Enter Handyman.

I had cut some off about half the fence earlier, but he took a deep breath and dived into the mess and began snipping, digging, and chopping away. You can see it along the fence on the right side of the photo.

As he chopped away, I dragged the offending matter to the alley and gave it the heave-ho into the Western Wrangler. (BTW, the Western Wrangler is doing great...)

Off to the dump (he loves it that the dump is always open). We still have more to remove on the fence, but it's beginning to look better. We're planning on moving the firewood from the back alley to that strip of rock where you see those large plastic tubs. This way, the firewood will be handy this winter, and for the summer, it will provide some privacy.  We do what we have to do.

Where we have removed the day lillies, Handyman is going to put down sand and then pavers under the swing area. I was out there yesterday, and do you see what I see?  They are somewhat camouflaged... I spoke of their cooing before...

Here is a close-up of the little fellow. They are so gentle and peaceful.

Yesterday evening, they both were resting on top of the honeysuckle trellis as I sat on the swing underneath.

 It's a pleasant place to be.

A Quiet Morning

I'm a Coffee Kid. As I drink my morning coffee, the sun shines in my kitchen. I raise the window and enjoy the cool breeze, the cooing of Mourning Doves, and the local church bells sounding the hour.

The trellis in the backyard features 2 honeysuckle vines; yellow and a red-orange. I've seen several humming birds... humming but not singing.  Large, over-grown clumps of daylillies were growing at the base of the vine---Handyman has been removing them for me and I will replace them with? Maybe nothing. This is my new, no-fuss flower gardening plan--just the pots, remember?

It's pleasant to sit in the wooden swing that hangs from the trellis and listen to the Oriole and the wind chime.

Now, back to work!

I'm Baaack!

Here's to hoping you all had a great Mother's Day, I sure did! I was able to hang out with Sis in Law on Saturday and we hit 2 greenhouses and I picked up some pretties for my "new" front flower bed.  I'm so excited to be cutting back on the flower gardening... just a front flower bed around the porch, a few pots on the porch itself, and a small area in the backyard. I am going to love container gardening!

Oh Kids, I can't tell you how crazy it's been since the move. Basically, everything has been going great--God is working things out right and left--but wow, do I need to get back to a routine. I thrive on routine, you know, keeps me calm, cool, and collected. I do my best thinking during those "keep calm" moments--old age, mayhaps?

Even though we've moved, you know we still have to stay true to ourselves... me the flowers, photography, writing and organizing, and Handyman, you know him.... I've put him to work... well, not exactly.  He's as intent as I am to make this place all spiffy and cute, and one of the very first projects upon moving in was to take up the 50+ year old carpeting in both bedrooms. Wowser, was it bad! The sad thing is how lovely the pattern was and I couldn't save it! I had the thought of piecing good sections together and making something--as if I don't have enough projects here---but the best thing was to just give this old girl the heave-ho. Horsehair padding underneath! You know it's old! (This house was built in 1922--a 'bungalow'.)

He had to wear a dust mask... it was that bad. Took him several hours to complete the task, even removing nails and tacks.  The goal was to expose the wood floors--whatever condition they might be in, and get rid of the 50 years of grime and cooties!  He also painted, as the room was a dark mauve and closely resembled entering a cave!

Well done, thou good and faithful husband!

Now, it's on to stacks of projects... it will take us a year to get settled--I have more things than room, so this should be interesting. Already, my "new" sewing and office is my favorite room!  Someday, I'll show you the orange kitchen... yes dears, it is a fright. I am so anxious to cover that color!

We are "here"!

...and we are exhausted! But we are loving every (well, nearly) moment of the insanity.  I'm posting from the library (just 2 blocks from my house!)  and hope to get Internet this week (if we can find the computer!)  Wow... this has been interesting. 

Catch you soon (Lord willing!)