flowers

A Calm Day After A Thunder Storm

May 16, 2013 By Brenda

It rained all night. I looked out the window this morning, and the flowers are drooping a little under the night of storms.

It is quiet outside now. Just the sound of the birds.

I have the whole day to stay in today. My favorite kind of day.

The way the weather has been here lately, warm one day and cold the next, I may end up with a quilt in my favorite chair with the dogs settled around me.

Light some candles.

Maybe spend some time in the front bedroom that serves as my office. For months now, I’ve been putting things in there when I didn’t feel like finding a good place for it, and it’s piling up. I’m tired of seeing the disarray.

Right now I’m going to head to the kitchen and fix some coffee. One of my joys of the morning. And sip it while I read email in the living room.

And see what the rest of the day has in store. Because it’s far too muddy to go outside and take photos, or pull a few weeds that may have cropped up.

What have you got on your agenda today? Anything exciting?

Filed Under: birds, candles, coffee bars, Flowers, quilts Tagged With: birds, flowers, quilts, rain 23 Comments

All Fall Down…

May 15, 2013 By Brenda

I walked down the street to see how the empty lot looked. Well, I knew it wouldn’t be very interesting. But the bull dozers and semis have left. And it’s done.

And so here it is. Nothing remarkable or anything.

I worry some about the trees that got scraped in the process. But hopefully they’ll be all right.

It’s funny how I house I vaguely remember now has hold of my attention so.

I took some photos of other houses to show you what’s along this block.

Mostly just little two bedroom one bath houses. But they hold character you don’t often see in newer neighborhoods.

And characters, period. There’s this man who never ever mows his yard. Yet flowers thrust through the scraggly weeds and reach toward the sun to bloom.

Probably just weeds that bloom. But they are pretty weeds.

I have only seen him outside once in nearly two years.

The white house is where the Navy medic currently lives for a little while longer.

And the house next to him. They always have roses.

Just a little neighborhood near a university. People who I don’t know for the most part. But share a block with. People who have lives and worries and histories and houses that simply happen to be in this spot.

And now an empty lot, clean and smooth. The debris all taken away. That once upon a time was home to an elderly woman and many cats. Some will remember her and bring her up in idle conversation once in awhile. But now, she and the cats and the house are gone.

And it is simply an empty space ready for a new beginning.

Filed Under: Flowers, gardening, Photography Tagged With: flowers, neighborhoo houses 27 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 12, 2013 By Brenda

Filed Under: birds, Flowers, gardening, nature Tagged With: bird, flowers 11 Comments

Flowers, Changes, And A Demolished House

May 11, 2013 By Brenda

Judy ordered some blue Mason jars, and gave me three. I snipped red roses and filled them up with fragrance.

This is where I eat my meals, so I especially love to sit here and smell the roses.

Here is one of my pink climbing roses planted last year.

There’s just a whole lot of excitement going on in the neighborhood today. I heard a big crashing noise. And two doors from the Craftsman house, in the opposite direction from me, they are leveling a house.

There is a bulldozer and a big semi and lots of noise that have the dogs having conniption fits.

Wonder what they’ll do with that land? Well, it was an eyesore. I don’t think anyone had lived there in a long time. A neighbor said an elderly woman lived there some time ago, but had to be put in a nursing home.

I wondered why someone had spray painted orange words on it. I thought it was graffiti! And then my next thought was: there goes the neighborhood!

Another iris opened up. Isn’t it the most beautiful color?

Earlier I sat on my little gardening storage thing that luckily has wheels, and planted seeds. I seem to have a lot of plants coming back from last year. I was surprised to see, scattered all over this bed, lots of little morning glories about an inch tall.

If you remember, I was going out in early July last year to photograph the first morning glory bloom when I fell and broke my ankle. I guess the morning glories, which are usually annuals, decided to come back and give me an encore due to my trouble.

In other Cozy Little House news, I have added two more delightful and creative contributors. I will be doing things a little differently. Instead of having them post every Thursday, each will choose one day per month to post from their little corner of the world, at their convenience. With summer time coming up, lots of people get busy and don’t want to be tied down.

My new contributors are Carol from Art And Sand, from her little cottage by the sea. And Poppy from Poppyview, in her little house in Crete, Greece. Both love color as much as the rest of us do. So expect some colorful and vibrant posts coming up!

Hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day and weekend in the garden.

Filed Under: birds, cozy tablescapes, Flowers, gardening, nature, New changes Tagged With: birds, contributor news, flowers 29 Comments

The Sweetest Things

April 20, 2013 By Brenda

A few days ago, I got the cast off my leg. At first it hurt like nobody’s business. But it has gradually gotten where I can walk some without the cane.

Judy went with me. Afterward she did what she knows makes me happiest: take me somewhere to take photos.

Patience has never been my virtue. But I’m sure there is a lesson encrypted in this past ten months that I’m supposed to learn about all this.

It has not in any way been an easy year. But still, here I am. Taking photos and writing blog posts. Just as I’ve been doing for five years.

Some of the best years of my life, meeting all of you, despite what might have been going on in my personal life.

She drove to one of my favorite spots, Swan Lake. What lucky people get to live in this neighborhood, daily watching these elegant and graceful birds.

Well, I guess until you see them in this rather ungraceful position!

Spring flowers may be here, but the weather is cold. Cold. It’s crazy. It’s nearly May!

Nature, in its four seasons, has immeasurable beauty. I feel humbled by what to me is near perfection.

“Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into.”

~Henry Beecher, Life Thoughts, 1858

Joining Elaine’s Sunny Simple Sundays at Sunny Simple Life.