Apple Blossom Time

It's apple blossom time at our Little Red House. I've always thought it would be great to have an apple orchard, but we only have one old apple tree, and one pink-flowered crabapple. They are enough, however, to provide some beautiful spring blossoms, and to shower the grass with pink and white petals. Happy spring!

Bambi

Yesterday was a dreary, rainy day. Even the resident deer at Little Red House seemed to feel the lack of sun.

They spent most of the day sheltering under the trees at the edge of the tall grass. But late in the afternoon, the young ones decided it was time to frolic. Cute, right?

Wrong.

This is what the little buggers were really up to. Eating my garden! No, they are not cute little Bambis -- they are garden-ravaging monsters!

Our Town, Redux

Last week, I showed you a few pictures of our town. Here are a few more. Driving through it every day, I don't often take the time to really appreciate it. It's a beautiful place to stroll, especially in the spring, when the trees are blooming and businesses begin to put out pots filled with flowers. Many of the businesses occupy what were once old houses -- eyebrow colonials and nineteenth-century farmhouses. The churches are built of stone or brick, and there are brick walkways and stone walls. Come stroll with me...

A favorite casual restaurant. Lunch on the enclosed porch is always fun -- you can watch the world go by as you eat...

The funeral home. Yes, kind of creepy, but it's a great old house, isn't it?

A private home. Wouldn't it be great to be able to walk into town every day?

The Methodist church. Isn't the stone facade beautiful?

The Presbytery. What a gorgeous building!

The florist. Love the window boxes and the little garden out front.

They always have very imaginative decorations on the porch, too.

A gift shop. I just love the little windows!

Hope you had fun. It's a very dreary and rainy day here this morning, so I enjoyed our little stroll in the sun. :) I had an insanely busy weekend, so I apologise for not visiting everyone as I ought. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with you today. Happy Monday!

Sleepy Kitty

It's Saturday morning and I should be sleeping in, but the Furry One woke me up at 5:30am, and my daughter has to be at school by 7:30am for a track meet, so I think I'm going to need a little cat nap this afternoon. I hope to visit you all later in the weekend. Happy Saturday!

You Are My Sunshine

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement yesterday! I don't really think I am losing my mind, but when I find myself driving brownies to school, I certainly think I have momentarily misplaced it!

I got alot done around the house yesterday (probably because my daughter was gone from 6:00am till 10:00pm) and the sense of accomplishment is wonderful! I really cleaned her room almost top to bottom -- just have a few more nooks and crannies to get to today. Then I will start on the "guest" room. I feel like I am on a roll, and I need to take advantage of my newfound energy and ardour for cleaning. After all, I'm sure it is not going to last forever. :)

Doing laundry is the only chore that I really enjoy. It's probably the almost instant gratification. For a few minutes of work, and a little folding, you get a pile of neat and sweet-smelling clothing, or fresh and fluffy sheets and towels. I really do love it.

What is your favorite household chore?

Losing My Mind

We had to get up at 5am so that my daughter could take a 6am bus with the rest of her track team to go to the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. So I am left here to contemplate my life, and try to figure out why I am losing my mind.

Here is what I did yesterday:

5:30am: Stumble out of bed when the cat wails at the bedroom door. My husband sleeps (snores, actually) through the whole thing.


6:10am: Stumble out of bed when the alarm goes off. My husband sleeps (snores, actually) through the whole thing.


7:00am: Cut and plate three batches of brownies for my daughter to bring to school for her friends' birthdays. (She made them the night before.)


7:05am: Drive daughter to school.


7:30am: Wake snoring husband. Actually, I lie. He was already awake and awaiting my return to say good morning. Cat, sensing an opportunity for some head rubbing, jumps up on bed. She is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, having slept from 5:35am till now.


8:20am: Drive brownies to school. That's right -- my daughter can't lug three plates of brownies through her morning. Right about now, I am beginning to question my sanity.


8:30am: Take a few pictures of town, for potential blog post.


9:00am: Check email. Send some emails for travel soccer. I'm the team manager. Remember this, as it will be important later in the day.



10:00am: Do several loads of wash. Decide to start cleaning out "guest room." First order of business -- go to Home Depot to buy storage unit for many deck furniture cushions that currently reside in guest room.



12:00pm: Put together storage unit and lug cushions out to store them. Start cleaning out guest room (and I use that term loosely -- it's really more of a junk room). This may take awhile.

2:00pm: Take a break to fold laundry. Cannot put daughter's laundry away, due to the fact that her room looks like a bomb went off in an American Eagle store. Decide something needs to be done about this.

3:30pm: Do more laundry. Go to Drug Fair to buy plastic bins to help help sort the clothes in daughter's room. Yes, it really is that bad.

4:30pm: Start sorting clothes. This may take awhile.

5:20pm: Receive call from daughter. She is ready to be transported from track practice to soccer practice. Soccer practice begins at 5:30pm. She has promised a friend a ride home which will make her even more late. Am told to pick them up at lower entrance to track.

5:30pm: Drive right past lower entrance to track. Have to turn around and backtrack. This takes an additional 5 minutes.

5:40pm: Daughter has forgotten shin guards. Must stop at home to pick them up.

5:50pm: Drop friend off at inconveniently far distance from soccer field.

6:05pm: Arrive at soccer field. Realize that we are at the wrong field. Have inadvertently driven to Friday's practice field. I am the team manager -- I'm supposed to remember these things.

6:20pm: Arrive at correct field. Practice is over at 7:00pm.

6:30pm: Drive out of my way to go to supermarket which I have passed at least four times today, to get something to make for dinner.


This is the story of my life. So tell me -- am I losing my mind?

No, don't answer that.

Lunch On The Deck

The weather is smiling, the flowers are starting to come fast and furious -- it's time for lunch on the deck. I've picked some forsythia and quince, and set the table with my mother's Wedgwood, our wedding crystal and my favorite coin silver spoons. Will you join me?

Pretties

Just a few flowers for you this morning. Don't you love pansies? They are not as bright as the tulips, nor are they as bold as the daffodils, but to me they say "spring is here!" As much as I grumble about the winter, I am happy to live in a place where the four seasons are distinct. For how else could I love spring so much, without having to go through the cold and snow? So here are some pansies -- small, cheerful faces to tell us that spring is truly here. Hallelujah! :)

Buck Garden

We had some really summer-like weather last Thursday, with temperatures in the 70's. I decided to take the camera down the road to the Leonard J. Buck Gardens. It is a lovely shade and rock garden built on the sight of a 175-million year-old glacial stream valley. The garden was created in the 1930's by Leonard J. Buck, a geologist and trustee of the New York Botanical Garden, and landscape architect Zenon Schreiber. Apparently they did not draw any plans, but simply worked by eye, blasting and taking a pick-axe to the site to expose basalt rock -- the once hot lava that cooled to form the second Watchung Mountain. It is a beautiful springtime garden, with meandering paths that cross pools and streams, and climb chiseled rock to end in wonderful scenic overlooks. At the moment, there are waves of daffodils, forsythia, magnolia. Heavenly.

Happy Saturday!

The violets in the lawn are opening their faces to the morning sun here at Little Red House. Happy Saturday!

Thank You So Much!

I think the blog world must have gotten together and decided that I needed a little cheering up. "Poor Mary over at Little Red House is so busy cleaning out closets, and she really can't wait for spring to arrive -- let's cheer her up a bit with some awards."

And, of course, poor ditzy and unorganized mess that I am, I lost half of them somewhere in the bits and bytes of my computer. So I am terrifically late in acknowledging your kindness! I do thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.

So without any more ado...

From Kate, Adrienne and Vee,

Thank you soooo much. I love visiting each of you -- Kate, for your gorgeous pictures and wonderful stories of life on a horse farm; Adrienne, for your warmth and beautiful northwest scenery; and Vee, for your lovely vignettes and your words of wisdom.

And from Rue,

Thank you so much, Rue. You make my day, with your beautiful peanut butter and jelly life! :)

And finally, from Amanda,

I can't imagine a blogger more friendly and sweet than you, Amanda. Thank you so much!

I always have a difficult time passing these things on. There are so many wonderful bloggers out there, so these awards are for all of you! Please take them, with my thanks.

Through New Eyes

This is my town. My daughter attends school here. We go to church here. I must drive through here every day of the year. On Saturday morning, I dropped my daughter off at school to get ready for a track meet, and I walked through town with my camera. It was a little misty, and town was empty at such an early hour. I don't always realize what a lovely place I live in. I complain constantly about the traffic, and how it has changed so much since I was young. But when you look through the camera lens, you see with new eyes. Welcome to my beautiful town!