Oh Yah Baby!
The Chickens Are Coming!
We paid for and met them today.

Four beautiful five month old laying hens of which
Three are Rhode Island Reds and One is a Barred Hen.

You can see the Barred Hen better in this shot.....

The people who owned these are moving into town in August and have no room to keep them anymore, but love them to bits!
Remember, we picked up this coop back at the end of March this year?
Then do you recall when we were eating crow...er...hen very shortly after?
Well....we've got our plan in motion now and within a day or two will
be ready to show you our little chicken casa.
We'll also be getting two of these Rescue Chickens from Maureen's daughter Christie's rescue farm we visited last week while picking up a riding lawnmower.

Bless their wee hearts....
If you follow Maureen's blog "It's All Connected" you'll have seen her
Rescued Chicken Update yesterday where she explains the fascinating
progress her birds have made in the short time they've been with her!
I can't wait to see ours flourish and become....cocky?  Hahaha

Now that the crazy birthday extravaganza is over, we can focus on our little
part of the world again so....keep an eye out for these new additions to our family!
xo

        Last week, I turned 50. 
        Yep, the BIG Five Oh.       

This is a photo of me at my 50th Birthday Party, held at our home on Saturday.We had a Vintage Birthday Party!
....because....I'm vintage now.
The girls and Dan were throwing the party, but I ended up in the thick of the
planning.  I mean, afterall, it was at our house, so what's a girl to do?
We had massive amounts of food including a pig roast our friend Craig took
care of tending to all day for us!

So funny!  Elmo going after the oven mitt and Blarney licking the cutting board....
well...a little gross, but god love 'em!
Don't worry, we pulled them away from the meat.

We had mountains of delicious food!  The very best was the cupcakes
Miranda & Robynn spent painstaking hours icing!
Beautiful!

The jello shooters Alana & Megan made didn't hurt either.....

And, speaking of alcoholic beverages, Mark (Alana's guy), Maureen & I worked on the
punches.  The recipes came from the Ontario LCBO's Summer Edition.
Tequila Sangria & Watermelon/Cucumber Tequila Punch.
I'd advise against putting the Tequila Sangria into these dispensers....the fruit
kinda jammed up the spout and we had to use a ladle.

There was also a non-alcoholic punch...don't worry!
Everyone had a wonderful time, myself included!
It's nice to get together to see friends and any excuse will do really.
Turning 50 just happened to be mine and we had an award for the best vintage hat.
Here's the Winner!

It was a great way of getting our gardens finished, fixing up the screened-in room,
cleaning the house all under the crunch of a deadline.

I loved this photo of my two girls, Alana & Megan,  and myself and wished the other two girls had been in the photo as well....it's hard to get people all together in a photo!

I did get photos of the other two beauties though.....

The Lovely Miranda

and the Beautiful Robynn with hubby, Adrian!

All the girls worked very hard to get ready for this party!

I'll be taking the rest of the summer off from house deadlines and will be able to focus more on blogging and decorating.  In the meantime, while I laze around thinking of post ideas,  you'll find me here.....relaxing!

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the party, especially Dan,
the girls and Maureen (godsend)!
xo

Of course, I need to begin with the most awesome flower you just saw
on my home page...The Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus!
TADA!

There's going to be quite a few photos following this, so hang on tight!
I'll just show the photos and if you have any questions about any of them,
please ask away in the comments section.

The Boomerang Lilac was given to me on Saturday by my friend Nancy.  It will
bloom three times throughout the season and this is my first wee flowers on it.

Can someone tell me what this is?  I can't remember....that happens when you're
fifty!  hahaha!  It has these pink blooms as well as white and deep red ones?

This Daisy was a Mother's Day gift from Robynn!

My all-time favourite by far is Lavender.
Mmmmmm.....so relaxing.

If you know me, you'll know I started these Lupines from seeds I
brought back from Nova Scotia.

This Lorraine plant is special to me because my friend "Lorraine" gave it to me.
I can never forget the name of the plant!

I'm sure I'll have more to show you in the coming weeks, but here's just a
wee peak at how I displayed the flowers in my powder room.
No one can miss them there, even if they came in the back gate instead of the garden!

Thanks for viewing!
with love.....from the flower child (at heart)
xo

...and tomorrow I give my explanation as to "why" I've been riding on my
Gorgeous Garden Gate posting!

The flowers in my garden are gloriously blooming and I definitely
want to share some close up photos of the prettiness
and show you my photo frame I've done using some of the pictures!

Just this morning, my Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus bloomed in
full regalia!  I'm so excited!

My sister-in-law gave me this lovely cactus several years ago when we lived
in our old house and I was amazed then at the fact that we could even grow
a "cactus" in this Southern Ontario garden that would come back every year!
Since being transplanted here at our new house three years ago, it hasn't bloomed until
this year and I'm ecstatic!  Check out this close up!

This was the one and only delicate bloom from yesterday...the first one!
Although these flowers are beautiful and amazing, they are lethal.
When you work with them, you need thick rubber gloves, because not only do they
have wicked thorns, but also millions of horrid little feather-like hairs that
will prick your skin in barely visible groupings of 10-40.
Can you say OUCH?

Please click HERE to see my variety of beautiful blooms in a FLOWER PARADE!
It's my Happy Place!
xo

Sharing With:
Cottage Garden Party - Fishtail Cottage

Is this unbelievable or what?

I planted this Bonita Tree Rose two years ago.
The year before last, I did all the right things to put it down for winter.
I dug up one side of the roots, pushed the tree over onto the ground, and put
compost around it.  I spread straw all over it and covered it with burlap, staking
it all down onto the ground.
Yah...it was very pretty last year...but this past fall.  I was very, very bad.
I left it..........and can you believe this???  What the heck???

It's so healthy, it's ridiculous!
The bumblebees are running rampant all over it, so it must be as
sweet as it appears!
I haven't even done any pruning yet!
Enjoy the flowers
xo

I'm in love with my Garden Gate!
After Dan & I finished hanging it, we crossed the road and sat
on the bench facing our house to admire it!

Our old garden gate, was broken - missing a fence board and the latch was rotted out.

I was telling Dan that I wished we had an old door we could use as a gate. 
That's when he went down into our dungeon and came up with this!
One of the original doors of the house from the 1800's.

I've got to tell you, Dan did the work on it....I just designed it!
Phew...that was hard work!
I remembered we had this old stove pipe flange I had purchased at an
antique shop a few years ago.  It was always getting put somewhere or other
without any real home to speak of.
We did nothing to this...the rust appealed to me!

I did help clean the door up with some TSP and scrubbing.
Then it was ready for paint!
Dan cut a hole for the flange to fit into as a window.
He saved all the old handle hardware and painted all of it brown.
Bought some new hinges and painted them as well.
We added our house numbers to the top and some flowers beneath the window
in a window box I bought for $1.99 at Value Village last year!

Our curb appeal has risen substantially!
I like that it has the feel of a Secret Garden...makes you want to walk up to it
and peek inside the wee window, doesn't it?

Coming in for a Garden Party?
I'll wait here....
xo

Sharing with:
Open House Party - No Minimalist Here
Transformation Thursday - The Shabby Creek Cottage
Latest and Greatest Link Party - Days of Chalk and Chocolate
Flaunt It Friday - Chic on a Shoestring
Simply Creations Link Party - Simple Home Life
Time Travel Thursday - The Brambleberry Cottage
Inspiration Friday - At The Picket Fence
Cottage Garden Party - Fishtail Cottage
Pin'Inspirational Thursday - The Artsy Girl Connection
Vintage Inspiration Friday - Common Ground
Say G'Day Linky Party - Natasha in Oz
Get Schooled Saturday - Too Much Time on My Hands
SNS - Home Decor - Funky Junk Interiors
Feathered Nest Friday - French Country Cottage
Wildly Original Party - I Gotta Create
Overflowing with Creativity - It's Overflowing
Sunday Show Off Linky Party - Twigg Studios
Sunday's Best Par.Tay - My 1929 Charmer
Creative Me Link - The Southern Institute
Show it Off Party - Get Outta My Head Please
Summer Fun Party - Just a Little Creativity
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday - Coastal Charm
More The Merrier Monday - DIY Home Sweet Home
Link It Up Wednesday - Junk in Their Trunk
White Wednesday - Faded Charm
Whimsy Wednesday - The NY Melrose Family

Featured on:

         Once upon a time, around Christmas of 1963, there was a family consisting of five members.  Mother, Father, Son - 2-1/2 years old, Daughter - 1-1/2 years old and yet another Baby Son - 3 months old.  The Mother was from Nova Scotia where her two oldest children were born, but was living in Ontario (at the bequest of her Navy husband) with his parents prior to the birth of Baby Son and she was very unhappy.  So unhappy, she wrote letters to her two younger sisters of longing to live back home in Nova Scotia .   In personal anguish, she attempted suicide a few times with pills to escape the life situation she was in.

As a result of her deep depression, she succumbed to Cirrhosis of the liver on Christmas Eve of 1963 at the age of 23 - not the result of alcohol, but from attempting suicide one too many times.  She left her three children behind with their father who was only 26 years old himself.  He took an honourable discharge from the Navy and attempted to find employment to care for his children, however, it was the 60's and Social Services were not as helpful to the Paternal Parent as they are today and his skills were limited from having been in the navy for 10 years. 
        His three children were given over to foster care.  The Baby Son was adopted out
almost immediately, being an infant.  The Daughter spent approximately one year in
Foster Care and was then adopted by a family who had one son of their own, but could not have another child of their own, but wanted a little girl.  Unfortunately, the Eldest Son had a more difficult time of it because the Father kept attempting to take him back sporadically over a period of almost five years.  He was finally adopted into a family who coincidentally (but unknown to either until years later) lived relatively close to his sister's adoptive family.  All three children were brought up in homes where they were given the utmost in opportunities to grow into wonderful people.

        Back in the 60's the Children's Aid Society lied to the deceased mother's sisters when they came to visit the children in foster care and told them that "all three" children were adopted into the same lovely home.  The sisters were distraught and so were their parents because they had been working on a plan to raise their sister's children, but were eventually consoled by the fact the children stayed together.
        All three children grew up knowing they had siblings somewhere, but as is usually the case, the female child was the one to initiate a search first.  She registered with the Adoption Disclosure Registry and met her Birth Father first when she was 27 years old.
        He was a lovely, quiet man, who had lived a hard life until he met the woman he is still with and he's content.  The Daughter didn't keep up this relationship because there wasn't really a bond there after all the years (in her mind, she already had a father), but her curiousity was sated and she wishes him nothing but the best life has to offer.
        She next met the Baby Son when she was about 30 years old and connected with him immediately...there was definitely a bond there.  They stayed friends for a few years and because he was so far away, and had a family of his own, like her...that dwindled down to the odd phone call.  The daughter didn't meet her oldest brother until she was about 42 years old.  The bond was there as well, but he lived so far away...provinces no less and was just starting his family and career and she had her problems here, so they didn't see much of each other.  A few visits back and forth have been managed over the last 8 years.
        A most excellent thing happened for the Daughter in between meeting the two brothers.  She met her natural Aunts, who both lived in Nova Scotia.  She now visits them every year or two and they came to her wedding and helped with the preparations and laughed and loved.  She finally realized where her genetic being arose from because they were so much like the Daughter herself.  They even had some of the same pictures on their walls and loved to garden and paint.
        When the Daughter was visiting her Aunt's & Uncle's the first time, they took her to see the homestead of her Great Great Grandparents which was still standing and still being lived in by relatives.

        It was at this historical home, the Daughter's Aunt took a cutting of the wild rose bush and rooted it for her during her first visit and packed it lovingly, ensuring it stayed damp on the plane trip home.  When the Daughter returned to her home, she planted it immediately in proud prominance in the front garden of her home.
        Ten years later, the Daughter moved out to the River to a beautiful new home with her husband after all their children had left the nest and replanted a new cutting of the wild heirloom rose and it still has a prominent, welcoming place near her front door.

This always reminds the Daughter that
"Your History Makes You Who You Are"
xo

Sharing with:
Metamorphosis Monday - Between Naps on the Porch
More the Merrier Monday - DIY Home Sweet Home
Turning the Daunting into the Doable - Project Queen
Sunday's Best Par.Tay - My 1929 Charmer
Whatever Wednesday - Momma Hen's Frugal Life

You may recall the posting
"Grow 110lbs of Potatoes??  We shall See!"
from May 3rd last month?

Only one month ago, we decided to try out this idea we found
on Pinterest from tipnut.com and the results have been crazily amazing so far!

WEEK TWO

I know....holy cow!  Time to add soil and another level of framing!

The photo above was taken around the end of Week Three when yet
another level is required to be added....but we got so busy, we hadn't added it yet.
Finally, today, Dan just added whatever wood he could find hanging around and
it STILL seems to need another layer!

I'm amazed at how lush and healthy this potato plant is and can't wait to
start harvesting potatoes from it!
So far....EXCELLENT!
Because the progress has been so quick, I do believe you could go
HERE
and make your own in time to have potatoes still this year.
It sure beats "mounding" individual potato plants and weeding all around them!
I'll keep you updated later in the season.
xo