Ice Cold Pink Lemonade

It was a perfect day for a fresh cup of lemonade.
Monica thought she'd be an entrepreneur. 
She mixed. She made a sign. She gathered the goods. 
She was patient.


As she waited for her customers, she sang.

The Signage.

The local gang.

We've not seen the last of  The Lemonade Stand.

There's a month left of Summer and Moni likes a profit.

Git your change ready.

xo jeanne.

Bryn Mawr Garden Tour; Part II

On the garden tour, the marker signs were quite fabulous.
Martha's garden was number 9. 
It was one of our favorites.  Relaxing and gorgeous. 
Positively perfect, yet still oh so welcoming.

How do you like this charming fountain?

 Notice - it's in a large metal bucket.

On of the most interesting things about the gardens on the tour...

Several of them had the most interesting pathways. 

Martha had made a gorgeous table centerpiece.

Succulents. Dreamy.

So pretty and extraordinary, that we asked her where she'd bought them. 

Then went to the buy some for ourselves. 

Her entire garden was beyond inspiring. 

My pictures do not do it justice.

It morphed right into her neighbors yard... and together,

the two master gardeners had us all oohing and aahing.

That, you'll see tomorrow!

xo jeanne.

Thank Goodness for Waterproof Mascara.

Last week our family had the shock of loss move through our family. 

It was the middle of the night call no one ever wants and is never prepared for.  

My husband's nephew was killed in a car accident.  He was 31.

That sentence holds much grief for so many people.

He was a father, son, brother, fiancé, nephew, uncle, cousin and friend.   

How do you possibly say goodbye to this handsome young man?

I have no idea. The grief is raw and brutal.

But we did one thing to help......

We got busy.

We made bracelets. Lots of 'em.

As many as we could, and handed them out at the funeral to his friends and family.

There were special ones for his mother, sister, fiancé and his girls.

We made over 60. They are adjustable and fit everyone.

 

He has identical twin daughters. 

They are adorable in every way possible.

At gatherings this past week, they lifted our hearts immeasurably.

 

Why do we wait to celebrate people?

This confounds me.

Why didn't we have a "Let's Celebrate John!" day two weeks ago? A month ago?

How we wish we could have told him the things we wanted to. Should have.

I feel like picking one of my friends and throwing a party for them just because they Are.

Then continue on friend by friend, family by family.

I have learned this:

Judge no one. Love is everything.

To his daughters, to his fiancé, to Alese, to his mother, sister, father, Howard,

 and all of us who have lost the promise of his future, I am so sorry.

xo jeanne.

*Thank you so much for your earlier comments.

I have removed the Sad Dog post.*

Bryn Mawr Garden Tour, Pt. I

I went on a garden your this weekend with my girlfriends.
It was a humid 90 degrees.  Can you say; "Hand me the ice water and a giant fan?!"


Through the heat, we trudged on and toured some truly fantastic gardens.
Here is one our our favorite's.
Michael's Garden.  
He had the most gorgeous garden statue collection. Drool Worthy.

 

Seriously gorgeous.

 And they just kept coming.

  

It was a statue drool fest. 

His gardens were so well done, the statues were not over-kill.

 

He has an enclosed front porch that was so romantic,

 We wanted to sit right down, drink wine and listen to music.

We would have too.

This is just one on a tour of 14. 

To say I am inspired is an understatement.

I went home and was pulling weeds before I made it to the front door.

More to come.

xo jeanne.

Project Sneak Peak: Patio Glider Redo

I spotted this piece a few years ago at a garage sale.

I thought it had potential so I shelled out the five bucks. Or was it eight?

For at least 3 years the poor thing has been sitting on my back deck. 

Becoming weather worn and neglected, waiting for me to explore that potential.

                                                                                                  

I recently sold the wicker set on my front porch and the cat has no place to nap.

Thus creating glider redo motivation.

I have plans of painting greatness.

This phase alone took me an hour an a half:

• I sanded off the chippy old paint. This took time as there was lots of it. **
• I sanded down the rusty parts of the metal.

Then: (this is cool and involves the vinegar)

At a garage sale a few weeks ago Linda and I talked to the cutest little old man. 

A true tinkerer and jack of all trades.  

He told us to use vinegar to help paint stick to rusty metal. 

Just rub it on with a rag. Who knew?  So that's what I did with my glider.

• I poured vinegar onto a rag and rubbed it on to the metal. It dries almost instantly.
• I spray painted on grey primer.

Then I had to quit for the night.
Laundry was calling. 

Dishes needed loading and the dog needed walking.

Oh, and I had to color wash my hair.

Life goes on with paint on my hands.

Stay tuned! It's going to be fab.

(the glider and the hair.)

xo jeanne.


** not to worry - all fans of chippy paint and rust.
this piece will have sufficient age & character to show off.

Repurposed Railings. Perfectly suitable for sitting. Seriously.

Pulling up to a garage sale a few weekends ago,

 Linda and I spotted a funky bench in the garden. 

"Hey, check out the bench."

"Hey, that's funky. 

"It's an iron railing."

"It's a iron railing bench!"

We headed to the back where the garage sale was. 

We spotted the home owner gal. 

"That bench in your garden is fabulous."

"You dig it out, it's yours. It's cemented in."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Well dang! If I had all day and a shovel, I would."

 

The bench isn't their style.  It came with the house. 

They'd be glad to see it go.

Her dad, who was there, piped up. "I'll dig it out."

Wow. (we instantly love dad.)

I scribbled down 'bees knees bungalow' on a random piece of paper. 

I told her that if it does get dug out, I'd be happy to take it off her hands.

She could find my email through the site.

Two weeks later,  I got the neatest email.

The bench was out of the ground and mine for the taking.

"Yes! We'll bring the truck!"

Turns out, that it wasn't cemented in at all.

Just spiked in really well.

Now,

the funky repurposed iron stair railing bench is in my very own yard.  

                                                    

This is the most awesome case of follow through Linda and I have ever heard of.

Cool eh?

xo jeanne.

Introducing: Truman, The Wonder(ful) Dog.

Say hello to Truman, our new little buddy.

We think he's spectacular.

Quite stylish too.

Truman is a happy little fellow.

Truman Capote when we're feeling formal.

He's fit into our family like peanut butter and jelly.

Like mashed potatoes and gravy.

I've waited a few weeks to debut Mr. Truman.

For you see, there is some sad news too.

Our sweet Mike, who was in so many of my posts - 

Has passed away. It was quite sudden.

(He dropped dead in our living room. Horrid scene.)

                                               We miss him so very much.

Sigh. Michael Finnegan. Mikey. Sigh, again.

Total bummer.

Thank goodness for Truman, who's helped us to heal.

(Who loves hugs and kisses, toys and blankets? Truman.)

 Plus, he looks great in hats.

Like Norton, from The Honeymooners.

** You have all been so sweet.

Thank you all for your lovely comments about Mike, the dog.

Giant hugs for all you.**

xo jeanne.

The Pot Wreath - BKB Style & Tutorial

My terra cotta pot collecting and wire frame days are behind me.
I've finally made my very own pot wreath. 
With a twist of course. 

Inspired by questions about the picture I took of the one at Bachman's Ideas House a year ago, answering numerous emails and describing my best guess about how it was made....
It was time to make my own.

• I used a square wire frame - instead of a round one. I had it from my old boxwood wreath. I discarded the dried boxwood and kept the wire frame.
• I collected pots a garage sales.  They were chippy and worn - which I wanted.
• 16 gauge wire. (this can vary and be your own choice)
• Wire cutters.
• Gloves.

I mocked up the placement of the pots.  

Then I got an idea. Why be normal?

So I painted the pots black. Then painted a few with a white stripes.

 Taping them took too long. I quickly gave up and just did stripes by hand.

I let the pots dry a day before making the wreath.

I didn't want the paint scratching off easily.

• I 'strung' wire inside each pot, through the drain hole, cut it with wire cutters and 'tied' it to the frame simply by bending the wire around the frame. This is why I wore gloves - for bending the wire.
• I went like this, attaching each pot, eyeing and arranging as I went. 
• The wreath is heavy.

I hung it up to see how it would look.

• Then, I planted succulents.
• I bought one at a plant sale, one at Home Depot and took one from my own garden.
• A combo of Hen and Chicks & Sedum.

After I had it planted, something wasn't quite right.

I had the mug o' succulents that I'd planned to take to work for my desk.

I'd bought the mug for .50 cents at a garage sale and put succulents in it a few weeks ago.

But, I still had it at home. Lightning struck and I decided to switch a pot for the mug.

It was just the ticket.

 

I think it turned out quite lovely.

The one at Bachman's had moss tucked into it, perhaps to cover wire or spaces. 

I didn't want to deal with the moss, so skipped it.

Done! Fabulous!

xo jeanne.