Summer and Winter

Summer is approaching rapidly in our state. Beautiful warm, 60s, for us. We'll be getting the hot weather soon enough but the 60s are my favorite temperature.

I love summer with all the roses, peonies, gardenias and hydrangeas. The garden looks so forlorn now but Love Bunny will be out there this week sprucing it up and pruning the rose bushes. He does grow the most beautiful roses. Summer? I do love the new growth and lush green lawn but I'd rather bleed than sweat, friends. Truly! I love the fresh salads from our garden and my air-conditioning. But most of all I love the summer fruits: watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries. We are so lucky that we can get most of those fruits all year round except for watermelon and that's my favorite thing to eat.

But I also love winter. For one thing, I hate being hot. I love being cool. Another thing about winter is that our garage serves us well as a place to keep potatoes and they won't sprout. Also, I can keep cartons of Pepsi out there instead of in the pantry and it'll be cold enough when I bring it in. I love the butter being soft also. What are your favorite things about each season?
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A beautiful window treatment in a lovely bedroom.

I remember when we had mailboxes like this. Actually, when my parents moved to Salt Lake City in the early 1960s, we had a door with a mail slot. When I would visit them, I could always tell when the mailman had come with the rattle of the mail slot. I love that because I didn't have to go outside and walk to the mailbox in the snow like I do here in Idaho. Just very nostalgic for me.

Another gorgeous vignette in a living room.

This is another darling laundry room. See what you can do with almost nothing!

I'll have to tell you the story of when we lived in a house that was attached to another house similar to this but not the elegance of this, of course.

What a delightful gift shop.

I've wanted one of these for a couple of years but when I think about it, it seems a bit frivolous and can't bring myself to buy one. One of those things I can "live without." Definitely.

Another photo of laundry drying on a clothesline. Love it!

If this doesn't make you yearn for spring, then there ain't much hope for ya, chicks. ;-)

I'd still like a door on my pantry even though this is a lovely kitchen.

A cute way to hold children's things from school. I can see those trays done in chalk paint also.

A simply beautiful photo of roses in a dining room.

Ruffled lampshade, done very easily.

Exquisite china in pink and gold. Gorgeous!!!!!

A cute shower I'd love to have. I don't think you'd even need a shower curtain if the whole floor was tiled.

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Tidbit:
Theaters during Elizabethan times did not have toilets, nor did the plays have intermissions.

Also, Queen Elizabeth I outlawed wife-beating after 10 p.m.

Our state is #1!
Continuing with the "O", "P", "R" and "S" states and what each one is #1 in.

Ohio:
Library visits
Traffic tickets issued

Oklahoma:
Per capita use of electric and hybrid cars
Women in prison

Oregon:
Solar panels
Homeless population

Pennsylvania:
Covered bridges
UFO sightings

Rhode Island:
Drive-in movie theaters
Per capita illegal drug use

South Carolina:
Lowest gas prices
Strokes

South Dakota:
Lowest personal income tax rate
Per capita Facebook use
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My Apple Saved My Bumpkis Today

First of all, let me tell you that I've been experiencing difficulty with photos appearing in my Photobucket account. I've been in contact with them and they're working on the issue. With almost 13,000 photos in there, needless to say, but not being a chick at a loss for words, I'll say it anyway, I don't want to move them anywhere else. I love PB and hope this issue is cleared up soon. If not, I may have to discontinue posting for a few days. I hope this isn't the case. I have scheduled posts out to the end of September. As of 6 pm Tuesday, 9/4, PB is still down with maintenance so I can't do much. I'm just hoping these photos come through. I'll see tomorrow morning when this posts. 

Second, let me say just one other thing here: I'll definitely delete or block you as a follower if you are subscribed to other websites or blogs that I deem inappropriate. This is not a violation of your "free speech", but if you want to be a follower of mine just so other bloggers will click over to your blog and it's a p*rn one, forget it. I won't allow that. I became a bit suspicious when one person started following me a few days ago so I checked out their site and it had things I just do not approve of. I think most people know what that means. I'm really sorry I had to post this but it came up and I'm just not into those sort of things and wouldn't want others to have to find out the hard way for themselves what it is.
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As I've stated before, we've been an Apple Mac family from the beginning. Having owned at least 7 Macs through the years and also owning 2 regular PCs at the moment, we can tell you the superiority of Macs over PCs. There is no comparison. But, however, today my iMac saved my bumpkis again.

On Macs for the past several years there is an application called Time Machine on Mac OSX and later. When you click on it on the Dock, your whole desktop crops down and Time Machine then takes over. It looks like something from outer space actually. Here's what mine looks like. The "timeline" is over on the right side so you can go back as far as it'll let you, which on my machine is September 2011. I have an external hard drive that updates every hour. I take NO chances with anything on this machine. As with many of you, my life is on my computer. ;)

But anyway, I was Photoshopping some photos to upload to Photobucket. Now, when I edit them in PhotoShop, they come from one folder. As I'm finished editing them, I put them in another folder. It's not uncommon for me to have 200-250 photos at a time to edit. I do small batches of about 20-25 at a time. Then I trash them from the original folder into the trash and delete the trash. (This may sound complicated or tedious to some but it works well for me...until today.) After editing them from the first folder and putting that batch into the second folder, I then upload them to PB. But today I actually trashed several photos from the second folder inadvertently. I smacked myself on the head for doing it because I'd probably never find these photos on the internet again! I peruse lots of sites to find these delicious eye candy photos to share.

And then, I remembered I had Time Machine. Whew! I don't have to use it very often at all—rarely, in fact. So I clicked on TM and retrieved them from earlier in the day; in this case, about a half hour. I cannot tell you the relief I felt. I love computers, but especially my Mac.
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And this is the quilt bedspread I purchased for my bedroom. It should be here in about a week. I can't wait to see it!

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This bedroom is absolutely one of the most darling I've ever seen. Lucky is the little girl who lives in it. I assume it's a girl because of the furnishings in the room.

Just a sweet sun room for some lucky family. Very inviting and my kind of room.

A pretty street in somewhere in France.

Sweet pink hutch holding even sweeter plates.

Lovin' this cozy red and yellow living room.

This is the way I've felt for the last few months. I'm picking up now with the help of my wonderful hubby, affectionately known here as Love Bunny, but it has been a struggle, let me tell ya!

A beautiful old home but the flowers in the foreground are what caught my eye.

Can you image a small room like this just to sit and read? Looks like 2 chaise lounges. This to me is heaven.

Oooh, I love the colors in this room.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Lust away, friends. That thatched roof looks like lace on the top.

This photo is here because I love this color combo. ;-)

I know it's not the Christmas season but this heat of 90° here in the desert is getting to me so much that I'm anticipating the cold temperatures coming soon. And this is a lovely photo of a home.

Just give me glorious color and I'm happy!

The Golden Gate Bridge. My favorite city in the world to eat and shop. But look at the tiny pool this homeowner has. Property is at a premium in "The City by the Bay."

Have you noticed this blog post has a lot of pictures of my favorite color combinations?

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Linking up with at the picket fence.

Post-op Visit

I had my post-op appointment with my ob/gyn doctor early in the morning a few days ago and we just chatted. I doubt I could have stood him viewing his handiwork anyway. The day after surgery was his planned vacation to the East Coast. He had given me his cell phone number before he left with specific instructions that I was to call him if any problem arose but I wasn't about to interrupt his vacation. When I went into ER, that doctor had no such compunctions, however. She was a feisty little thing and I immediately liked her.

Anyway, she caught him in a cooking class in North Carolina. I think his wife planned this event for him. Initially, he didn't want to go but then he was glad because he learned how to make the perfect pie crust. He likes to bake and Tomato Pie was something he wanted to try.

His lesson taught him to use high protein flour—cake flour—and lard. Butter has too low a melting point but lard/Crisco shortening doesn't so it gives the pie its flakiness without melding the layers together. Interesting conversation. I really like him. I did tell him I'd want a piece of a pie he baked however.

I told him my family history about not liking to take pain killers and he said he and I had similar histories in regards to them but he told me I definitely needed to keep taking them. So I'm on my third week of pain killers as I write this. I'm pretty loopy most of the time. I write down every single time I take a pill so I won't forget but hubs takes good care of me since he's home with me all the time. (A positive side of being retired!)

But that day since we were already out, I told him let's pop over to WM and get a few things. After several minutes in the store I started getting woozy and nauseous and informed hubs he'd better get me out asap. He did. I went home, took a pain pill, parked my hiney on the living room sofa and stayed there for a couple of hours.

Then towards the afternoon I asked him to take me to Joanns Fabrics as I hadn't been there in months and had some ideas rolling around in my head that needed a visit to Joanns to set my plans in motion. I'll post pictures of what I got and what I'm doing with some of it very soon. He did and I was fine. I do think I was a bit too aggressive with the activity that day, however.

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Another exquisitely and stunning white bedroom.

A small balcony made gorgeous with flowers and pillows. I really do like this inviting space.

I have wanted one of these carpet bags for about a year now but just cannot bring myself to pay the prices they want for these. This one is one of my favorites though.

A cute vintage and rustic Hoosier cabinet.

Beautiful blues along with pink and a rosie red rug.

Collection of vintage china. I'd take any one of those plates and be happy!

Some tulip eye candy for you.

Just a beautiful old building somewhere in Europe from the looks of it.

A coffee grinder made glam.

A table setting to colorful to pass up.

Simple white canvas with splashes of pink color. Delightful.

I don't know why this little cottage intrigued me but it did. Just quaint, neat, colorful and delightful to look at.

I wouldn't mind doing dishes in this charming kitchen.

Azaleas and rhododendrons always remind me of Virginia. They don't grow especially well here in the deserts but I'd love to be able to have some here. Too dry.

Stunning arches with ivy trim.

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Linking with The Dedicated House.

Cottages and Eye Candy for Pink Saturday 4/21/2012

Welcome to Beverly's Pink Saturday. Visit her and the other participants to view all the pink.
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Remember a couple of weeks ago when I found a website that times blogs on how much time it takes for each blog or website to come up? If you haven't read that blog, go do so now. It was quite interesting.

However, I came across the mother of slow websites lately. It doesn't appear to be much of a blog as a site for advertisements. It's colorful, but I counted 31 ads on there. Anyway, the stopwatch timed this one at 7 min. and 58 seconds. Almost 8 minutes to have everything appear on the site. I thought that was rather a lot of time. No, I'm not giving out the name. I'm not in this to embarrass people, just fun to know.
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In Great Britain they call these dwellings cottages. It might seem odd to us here in the U.S. where we call them apartments, being that there are several dwellings in one building; however, I think cottages are definitely appropriate for homes that look like this. They are adorable.

Yes, a pink hideaway in the woods.

Simply gorgeous roses plate which I so enjoy looking at.

This is a cottage for rent in Turkey.

Sweet way to store things.

This is so cute I can't imagine anyone not wanting to live here.

Darling tag

And yes, this is a rental cottage in Europe.

See what you can do with just old jelly or mayonnaise jars. I have many of these around my kitchen to hold screws, nails and hardware I might need.

I like this room but it was the curtains that caught my attention.

Snow White and her seven dwarfs perhaps?

Yummy vignette in a feminine room.

Glorious white scrolled mirrors.

Oh, yes, English cottage for sure. Looks like it's close in the city.

You deserve a crown when you're a queen. I have mine! Truly, I do have a crown. ;-)

Now, go and follow your heart or your dreams.

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If you make mistakes, don't blame your parents. It's not their fault. Grow up and cowboy up!

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All photos courtesy of Pinterest and Tumblr