At the End of the Rainbow....

The rainbow ends right over our family's cottage. That's always a good sign!

And the other end over the neighbors.

And a beautiful sunset.

Gardens that Make Me Smile

This one is ours...the swing is back up and it puts a smile on my face (that it's done, and that it's such a happy color!). That phlox always reminds me of my Grandmama's yard.

More...just some flowers outside our garage.

Now, on to some other flowers in town! This is some of the City of Pontiac's handwork! It makes walking or driving to town over the Mill Street bridge a pleasure.

As I'm walking over the bridge I always look over at this building. It has offices in the downstairs, and a home in the upstairs.  They have a beautiful garden overlooking the river.

It must be lovely to sit up there, watching the hummingbirds and catching the breeze. It puts a smile on my face whenever I pass, which is several times a day.

Chalkboard Paint at the Shop

Since I already have a black and white and taupe kind of thing going on at the shop, I was inspired by this article in Cloth, Paper, Scissor's Studios Magazine to paint my office door with chalkboard paint. This is the studio of Kristin Krause. Check out her blog by clicking on her name.

So I got busy and painted a couple of coats of chalkboard paint on the door, and then used artists acrylics to paint details. You can see in the little sign above, I used chalk (clever, I know) to draw some guidelines on the door.

 (as always, click on the pic to see it larger)

I think it turned out kind of neat, and now we can leave notes for each other right on the door, too. This is a good technique if you can't draw a straight line...because straight is not necessary!

Going green....

Well, not going green in the way we ususally think of now, but in the actual green. In my attempt to post every day from now until the end of the month, you are getting some shots taken right at dusk, so I apologize for the little bit of blur you might encounter.

This color has been popping up on our porch in the cushion cover stripes, this lantern, a little in the hammock.

Of course in those sweet potato vines...I love those things...they brighten up any pot. Sometimes I plant them right in a bed where they go crazy and make a huge bright green spread.

I just put the second coat on the swing that goes in the back yard...tomorrow we should get to hang it back up. I got the first coat of green on a bench that goes in the front yard, just outside the porch.  Then that, quite possibly, is enough bright green. I think I may be able to blame this on Colleen who adores this color. I've learned to appreciate it, probably because of her.

I know that dress looks like a softer green, but the blue and purple tulle is toning down the brightest neon green you can imagine. That was her senior prom dress. Such a sweetie.

Nook Book

I got an early birthday present today...Joe and the kids got me a Nook! I've been thinking about getting a Nook or a Kindle, and finally decided on a Nook. I always find this kind of stuff confusing at first....well, who am I kidding, I still don't really have the whole ipod thing figured out. Anyway, so far I've managed to get this thing registered, charged up, bought a book, and started reading. It's very easy on the eyes, and you can change the font size from tiny to huge and anything inbetween. That could be very handy if I ever get caught without my reading glasses.

I do love real books...I like the pages, the smell of the ink, and this will not replace an art book or any actual book where the illustrations are important. I think it will be great on trips though...load up books and take off with them all in this one little pad. Should make my tote bag a lot lighter! And if I manage to get caught up and need to buy more, I can do it through wifi connection or 3G. I'll be sure to let you know what I think as I try it out further.

I feel a little like Tom Sawyer............

Yesterday I pressure washed and primed the swing, and today I have my new daughter-in-law painting it! I don't know why but I am usually a bit of a control freak...which is not good. Delegating is good! I see the light! I'm in here cooking supper, and the swing is getting painted. The color in the picture above is more like the true color. Bright!

One of my best friends, Peggy,  is trying to post to her blog every day for 30 days. I'm not sure I can think of something to post about every day, but I'm going to give it a try...