My Favourite Thing...

...is watching the rain begin to fall on a Saturday morning when the only thing I have to do all day is cut the grass.

Now I can laze in the sunroom, listening to the rain on the roof and read your blogs while the mourning doves call from the trees  Ahhhh, heaven...

I am joining Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage for a favourite thing.

Julie

Kitty Cuties

All images are from Pinterest!

Don't move!

Comin' in

Welcome to the Casbah!

You wanted something?

Whazzup!?

"cuz there you go
chasing butterflies
only wasting time
let them go"

psychadelic tortoiseshell

one more pin, one more pin, just one more pin

mmmmm yummy

techy kitty

hee hee hee a guinea pig in a teapot..so funny

chimera kitty

hi my name is Patches

long drives always make me sleepy

ready for the opera

oh baby

Julie

My Courtyard Porch - My New Favourite Thing

I am joining Claudia today for her party at  Mockingbird Hill Cottage with my new favourite thing...My Courtyard Porch.  Okay, first off...courtyard is a little grandiose but I've always wanted a courtyard so I'm sticking to it.  It's actually the bricked square at the end of my driveway but it is fenced in sooooo.

Here's what it looked like yesterday morning.

Sad, peeling, barren.  Not exactly the stuff of dreams.  But this is what it looks like now..

What do you think?  I love it!  I want to sit here in the morning with my coffee and in the evening with a cocktail while I tend to the BBQ.  And I'm not done yet.  I need a little sign here, maybe a rug, definitely a cushion for the silver chair and some "patio lanterns" (my favourite Kim Mitchell song).

Have a seat,  I'll be right out with our margaritas!

Julie

Procrastination

I don't know why but I always seem to procrastinate.  I watch the minutes tick by on the clock knowing it will be crunch time and I won't be done or ready or whatever.  Yep, I'm a last minute kind of girl.

But this time, I'm proud of myself.  I didn't wait til July 2 when Google reader was dead and gone.  Nope, not this time.  I have claimed my blog on Bloglovin and I have added the button to my sidebar so you can follow my blog with Bloglovin.  Now I just need to make sure I set up delivery of all of your lovely blogs that I follow now.  It's late so it'll have to wait til tomorrow when it's raining...

Yawn

G'Night

Julie

Pretty Peonies

I did a little weeding today with the emphasis on little.  My arthritis is bad so the weeds have swallowed my garden.  That's why you're getting some close-ups of my garden today.

I have so many white peonies in the garden that I can easily cut armloads of them for the house.

I took a few minutes and tied them up tonight as we are expecting a couple of days of rain.

Peonies aren't the only plant blooming in the garden these days.

All my planters are blooming too.  I'm happiest about the hibiscus one.

But my white chair planter comes a close second.  It might come first when it grows big and overflows the edges.

Julie

Cleaning Grout with Pinterest

I am always pinning little ideas and tips and recipes on Pinterest but I haven't used any of them until today.  My bathroom needed a good spring cleaning and I scrubbed until it sparkled.

Specifically, the grout on the floor really needed cleaned and I saw a pin that said toilet bowl cleaner would clean those grout lines lickety split.

The picture doesn't look as bad as it really was.  To the right is an area that has been covered by the mat and to the left, the very dirty exposed grout lines.

I applied toilet bowl cleaner to the grout lines and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then I scrubbed it lightly and rinsed (wear gloves...I didn't and my hands are irritated).

Holy cow!  This is the same dirty area that is sparkling clean now!  That is one pin I can recommend.

Of course I also changed the shower curtain.  Am I the only one that has a winter shower curtain as well as a summer one?  I like adding light, bright white to the bathroom for the summer.

I also put the first peony in bloom in my garden in a sweet china vase.  It filled my tiny bathroom with a gorgeous fragrance!  I am joining Elaine for her Sunny Simple Monday party.

Julie

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...It's Convocation!

My niece, Allyson's convocation was on Wednesday afternoon.  It was a stirring (although long) ceremony.  It was her third (Master's degree now!) and I am so glad I was able to attend this one.

Allyson is our resident beekeeper so her celebration took on a bit of a bee theme.  Her Mom gave her a set of my favourite wineglasses.....hint, hint.....

These glasses are made by the oldest glass factory in France, la Rochere.  The Napoleonic Bee collection features exceptionally clear and heavy glass produced in turn-of-the-century molds with traditional seams.  One of Napoleon's main symbols was a bee and during his "reign", they were emblazoned on everything.  After all this time, they are still in style!  The glasses have a very classic and substantial feel and I think they would look great whether your table setting is casual or formal.

Once I knew she was getting the glasses, I decided to make her a sign with "bee" happy on it.

So I got an old piece of wood out of the shed and painted it with Benjamin Moore "hazy blue" on Tuesday night after my "knitting night".  The next morning I gave it a light sand and "modge-podged" a bee image on.  I just wrote happy freehand as I wanted it to look rustic...et voila!

I was pretty happy with the way it turned out and so was Allyson.  Our colour choices were totally coincidental.  I didn't know what she was planning on wearing but the sign is obviously meant for her.

I really enjoyed making this sign (my first) and I've already planned the next one ;).

We had a lovely dinner at my sister's to celebrate.

Congratulations Ally!

Love,

Julie