Proud to be an 

American 

everywhere ... 

Glamping Featured

Kim at Living Vintage contacted me over a year ago to ask to use one of my photos from Africa - Land of Dreams that I shared on my blog. I am always a little surprised and a whole lot flattered when someone wants to share one of my photos. So, of course I gave her permission.

Living Vintage
used by permission

Decorating Tips for Narrow Passages

Narrow long passages or hallways can be hard to decorate since people need the space to walk through without bumping into anything. Do you have a long passageway through one room to the next? Are you always wondering what to do to give that area some life?

If you are building a new house that will have a long passageway, include features with interest like a stone wall instead of sheetrock.  

4 Lessons of Spirit of Christmas in my Heart

This Spring a large technology company has truly been testing my patience... and goodwill... and understanding... and pleasantness... 

New purchases from the company came with promises of a good time in the year. The upgrades will make your life a movie life where parking places always appear right in front of where you are going.

No circling the block.

Your new services will be faster, better, C H E A P E R.

Yes, just a perfect movie life is coming my way.

However, the promised good time has been dampened by a series of mistakes by the company's employees. Was there a script rewrite in my movie life? 

What have I learned from this? 

4 Lessons of the Spirit of Christmas 

In My Heart 

Deck Update 1- French Style

Deck updates at my house usually take several weeks, sometimes months, and some updates even take years. Budget, energy, time, materials availability, and worker availability are all factors that influence how long updates take. 

Let's not forget Mother Nature's role. Sunshine needed. Rain and hail delivered. 

What did I do that made her so angry? 

Isn't that what happens in most people's lives? 

Spring Deck Refresh - French Style

Warmer weather means sitting on the deck...

For morning breakfast, mid-day break from gardening, lunch plein air (outdoors), mid-afternoon nap, perusing catalogs, reading Grantchester mysteries, romantic dinners, late-night star gazing...

Monarch Butterfly Season

I have a dream to see the Monarch butterflies over wintering by the hundreds of thousands in Mexico.

To see them pulsate as one quivering orange and yellow blanket covering entire trees, to see them flutter above their hibernating mass when warm sun rays reach the high Mexico altitudes, and to see the bright sunlit sky darken with the shadows of thousands of Monarchs gliding around the butterfly preserve...

One day... Monarchs in Mexico in late February.

May - The Blue Hour

l'heure bleue en mai  

the blue hour in May 

Because of its beauty that makes time stop for an instant, the expression l'heure bleue has come to describe a variety of special times and events, not just a description of a special blue glow at dusk. Each month in 2016, I am sharing a collage of blue images that create a little l'heure bleue for me.