IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD!!

This is a perfect day as far as I'm concerned. The sun is out, it's warm, and there is just a light breeze to help keep the bugs away. Some of the work we've done to the gardens is paying off big time with lots of colour. It cheers me up.
My rock garden is doing beautifully and I took some pictures to have a permanent record of the beauty. This afternoon, I'm planting some more bright pink and white phlox (the creeping kind) and I purchased some lime green stonecrop that also creeps to add even more colour to the rock garden. I'm after lots of colour, impact and a goal to have it so full and robust that no weeds can get established. I've included a picture of some of my rock garden. It is on the slope of the hill and runs almost 70 feet long. A lot of work, but SO worth it. In about another week, it will be even better and in a month all of the lavender plants will be in bloom and then is stunning!
Tonight I plan to watch the finale of American Idol and will work on some plates that I have custom orders for and need to complete.
I baked this morning as my husband is having the executive of his Woodturning Guild here for a meeting tomorrow and the host usually provides cheese,crackers,fruit and some sort of dessert. We'll get everything ready tonight so I can take off tomorrow while the guys have their meeting. I need to go shopping for some stuff for a birthday gift.
Our friends in Milton are celebrating a joint '140th' Birthday Party on Friday afternoon and we will attend. Their birthday's are fairly close together so they decided to have a joint celebration. She will be 69 and he will be 71 thus the 140th.
Should be great fun! We're only going up for the afternoon and evening and back that night.

GOOD FRIENDS.....GOOD FOOD...GOOD TIME!

Well, the weather didn't cooperate too much the four days we were away. Nevertheless, we had a great time catching up with some long time friends. We spent one night in Kingston with a friend (she used to work with my husband) and we met her 'new man'. She has been struggling with some health issues and yet she insists on fighting on despite the pain she is in most of the time. As long as we've known her, she's never been a quitter on any level. We went out for dinner and then to a nightclub in Kingston called 'Brandees' where we had a few drinks and listened to one of our absolute favourite blues/jazz singers and her band. Her name is Georgette Fry. If you go to her website at www.georgettefry.ca you can get more info and even purchase her music.Wonderful!
We spent a lot of time eating, drinking and just catching up with our other friends in Brockville. Sunday, the weather cleared up enough to go to a little tourist town about one half hour away called 'Westport' where lots of really cute and interesting and eclectic shops have opened up. I got SO excited as I had my first Chip truck french fries of the year. We have a lot of 'Chip trucks' in our various tourist towns and they make the BEST french fries ever..yum! It's silly, but it's a highlight of the season for me when I can buy french fries from one of these trucks.
We then spent most of Monday before heading home on the new deck our friends have built along the whole length of their house. Stunning view to the river from the top deck and then they added a complete lower level deck and tied it into an enclosed hot tub underneath they already had. We watched about a couple of freighters go by and I saw a rower training as well. There is often a power boat or a sea-doo or sailboat passing by as well. When you look across the St. Lawrence River you are looking at the USA. It was so pleasant sitting on the upper deck sipping morning coffee and talking. Their daughter had come home from Ottawa for a day or so and she has grown into such a wonderful woman now with great attitude and enthusiasm. Her parents are so rightly proud of her.
We had a wonderful time with some wonderful friends. Hopefully, it won't be so long between visits the next time!

GETTING AWAY...FOR A FEW DAYS!

This is a long weekend in both Canada and the USA. Tomorrow we will go to Kingston and spend the evening and overnight with a girl my husband used to work with and we will go to a club in Kingston where an amazing, amazing blues singer named Georgette Fry sings every Thursday night. We are then going to take a few days to go see some friends in Brockville, which is about three hours away from here. These are long time friends and sadly, we haven't seen them for almost two years.
They have an absolutely beautiful home with a large property that is right on the St. Lawrence River. It's so wonderful to sit out on their deck or in their sunroom and watch the freighters and boats drift by...love it! One of my dreams would be to have a property on the water. We have lots and lots of lakes around us,but we don't live right on the water. Oh well! :(
Although, I have so much to get accomplished, just for this weekend I plan to let it all go to have a great time with some great friends.
Everyone, have a great long weekend! The weather is looking a little ominous, but have fun no matter what!

INSPIRATION DAY .......... # 11

This is a fellow Canadian Etsy shop owner and I have become very intrigued by both her and her art.....I just love it!

The shop is Priscilla Mae.......

I picked this day to post her inspiration as she so honours her Mom...

PLEASE go visit her shop AND her blog..... you won't be sorry you did!

www.priscillamae.etsy.com
www.priscillamaeetal.blogspot.com

I've just changed the original image which was a photo of her Mother, but wanted to show you some of Priscilla Mae's work.... I still haven't figured out how to get more than one image in a post.....oh,well!

I've taken this inspiration contribution directly from a writing from her blog she posted last year(with her permission)..........very touching.

Who is Priscilla Mae? And why did I call my company Priscilla Mae et al?


For many months, I tried to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life. One night, I was sitting on my porch with a glass of wine or two and enjoying the absolute peacefulness of the evening. I was thinking about my Mom's life and whether she had ever sat and dreamed of what her life could have been. She was a brilliant and wise woman but who lived at a time when women didn't have as many options to decide the direction of their life. Mom raised our family and she did a wonder job but she had so much more in her.

My mother died many years previously and I was having some difficulty remembering what she looked like. So with my wine glass in hand and a pencil and paper, I began to sketch away to try and bring back my mother's face. The faces kept coming but they were younger pictures of my Mom and maybe they incorporated a bit of me. It was a wonderful night and the time just flew by. Before I knew it, there were dozens of faces all over my porch floor. Not just faces of my Mom or me but lots of faces of women. Funky women with big hair, bedroom eyes, funky earrings, great hats with feathers...they made me happy!


It came to me then. Draw what I know...women. And call this new endeavor, "Priscilla Mae et al," in honor of the first and most important woman in my life .. my Mom.