Shadow Shot Sunday...peaceful...

Looking a bit like barbed wire, a branch wraps a
shadowy strand around a wren chalet...
very stylish for this country homestead,
but it's the sun in full regalia...
we are pleased!!!

The redbuds are in full bloom in my hood,
as well as the shadows, this poor tree has
been ravaged by past storms, the tree behind
hit by lightning, pummeling my house with bark shrapnel,
downed branches from passing ice storms
and extreme winds, but still glows in radiant defiance
in Springs' eagerness to please!

Shall we visit Harriet today for a little shadow play...
K...

Open house...Sisters' Garden & Bloom...

Yes, it's Spring and the greens are out at Sisters'...
TO DIE FOR cast iron fireplace surround...sigh!!!

This has always been the mantra at Sisters',
repurpose and reuse, a gentle reminder...
LOVE this galvanized sign, one of many.

Beautiful settings abound...

Farm scenes...

Industrial notions...

Fun textures...
this old library table was once covered in old linoleum,
but after being scraped off, a beautiful, artsy patina
remains...only for those who see beauty
in a different light.

Lily of the valley, ol'timey and filled
with the memories of childhood...they're almost blooming!

A queen...white chippy and perfect!!!

Cupboards abound...

What a wonderful display piece...

Perfect patinas abound...

...and imaginations run wild...

...as funky inventory is being delivered daily...
use your imagination...it's a beautiful thing...!
SISTERS' GARDEN and BLOOM
it's an open house for the spirit...
please join us!

Before...after...and tidying up...

Sweet chair huh...
and you know where I'm going with this don't ya...

...and this darling petite mahogany vanity...

TA DAH...

No, not white, but a brushed French blue...
I love the washed and worn finish on these pieces...!
A darling Empire style with Queen Anne legs
and Windsor type chair, in perfect condition
in a hard to find tiny size, think of the possibilities
with this set...!

LUV the paper umbrellas...
time to fluff and add to my room for the coming open house
at Sisters' and Bloom...

...new candles and smalls...
you can never have enough smalls...right!!!]

And rearranging, that's what it's all about in our world!
You can have a piece of furniture forever,
then move it to another location...
and BAM...it's sells!!!
It's the name of the game for all of us in the biz...
tomorrow, shots of the stuff pouring in at the shops
for the open house this Friday and Saturday!

You better show up or you'll be sorry!!!

Springtime in Iowa...and a treasure found...

Though not a for real riverboat, this min-replica
needs a boat to get to it's dock, as flooding on the river
continues it's spring saga...

No playing on the toys, this riverfront park is closed,
'cept to water sports...

The railroad has been working for a week raising the tracks...
it floods every year, do ya think this would've been in the
long-range plans of men...

as the sandbagging again resumes...

Morel mushrooms...

brown gold...this is what many live for in the springtime...
a hike to the woods and your fave shroom honey hole,
however, this one is right out my front door...

while I was mowing grass yesterday, my eye caught a
glimpse of these lil' treasures just 15 feet from my
front door and the lil' wood pile I have stashed there,
perhaps a snack today...I have the cracker crumbs...
YUMMMM....!

Shadow Shot Sunday...I'm going to kiss a toad...

Sun, oh glorious sun!!!
I was waiting and waiting,
camera in hand,
as the sun finally kissed
a toad...

GEESH...haven't seen the sun in days!
And of course, I have to work today...go figure...
but at least I'll get to enjoy it for a few brief moments,
as it peeks over an anxious, spent garden
from the previous year...

As the bluegrass grows, can you hear it...
we'll all be priming our mowers
for this special event...
SUMMER...it's coming!!!

However, it's late in the season down under
at Tracy's gig, funny how that works,
but Spring will be on all of us Northern hemispherians' minds...
is that a word...
let's play at Harriets'...K...

To the scullery with ye...

Well...since it's been soooo crappy and cold outside,
what does one do...
well, you play with your toys...
you redecorate!!!
I just wasn't happy with this piece in my living room,
it just looked too countrified...well,
my kitchen is countrified...and...don't go there TOT...
now it's even organized with all my soap product!
I collect old fruit pictures
and they are very country...hey,
let's say cottagey...K...!!!

Even this great country(cottage) cupboard works better
in my kitchen,it has oodles of room for my scents
and essential oils
and sorta conceals the washer...sorta...
I'm still workin on a plan to conceal them even better!

I bought this vintage American Agriculturist magazine
when I lived in Florida, dreaming of someday
owning chickens again...heeheehee...
Now to organize all the crap I put on the back porch
I thought I just did that...

I am...

Did you see it...
the sunrise this morning
or was your day filled with the weight of the world...
your job...
and trying to make ends meet
in an unforgiving, violent, polluted environment...
is this a nuclear sunrise?
Can you imagine,
have you the time to ponder
what a sunset reveals in Japan...
have you considered the people,
the roaming bands of cattle and abandoned pets...
or do you listen to FOX news with your
eyes and mind closed.
Will you be eating the leafy green vegetables
and toxic milk laced with the fallout
quickly covering the globe...
or will you be protesting the building of more nuke plants...
will you consider your foot print
and what you will leave behind...

House Things
My dear friend Brandon has posted the trailer
for the new documentary 'I Am',
is this the new direction we all seek...
to the new world and a new age?!

Thanks Brandon!

OK...here's the poop...

I mean LITERALLY...!
where thar be chicks,
thar be poop...
but, a goldmine for the compost heap...

The kids are really starting to look like real chickens...
starting to get their checkered appearance.
I love the barred rocks,
they are the queen of chickens in my world...
they just look country...right!!!
My greatest fear...
they will all be roosters,
ahhhh, but tasty roosters...!!!

Go ahead...ask me...

Am I sick of the rain...
no sun, wind, torrential downpours...!
Did I mention I have a metal roof...

The yard is a swamp...
there be strange critters out there,
I hear things that go bump in the night...

Insert sounds of birds and bees here....
warm breezes...the scent of blooming flowers and trees...
yeah, WHATEVER!!!
April showers bring May flowers,
well they never lived near the river...
Mississippi is starting to crowd out the roads in
the downtown, camp grounds are closing...
did I mention
TORRENTIAL!!!

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Can dreams really be found...welll...
Lorie and I are pondering it again...

Remember the sweet lil' shop we had in Palo...
this is the motor that drives us,
having a shop to work our magic in...

vignettes of discards, rusty and not...

chippy and worn and no one telling you
hey, you can't do that...or why don't you do it this way
or my way...

a lil' shop of your own, isn't that what it's all about...

cool stuff pulled from the trash
to make someone's treasures...

well, we think so too,
so Lorie and I are going to pull together and try to revive
our style at the Candle Shed...
the Junk Revival...literally...
will be pulled together at THE MALL!

OH YES WE CAN...!