Cool summers, back porches, frogs, and nesting = HOME

If ya'll know me.......you know how I LOVE to feather the nest!  I've had some things for a while to show you and when I walked out on the back porch (our summer room of relaxation) I took a few pics. The temp right now at noon is 62 degrees here in the North Georgia Mountains and I'm off today. YEAH!

I had a couple of things to help my creative spirit last week. My best thrift find was this:

Yes, it's WAY too comfy and covenient for my laptop which fits perfectly on it and also a table top for sipping tea or stitching smaller pieces. I enjoyed it this morning and took it out since the weather was absolutely gorgeous to enjoy. I feel so blessed.

I got this bright red metal flower to add some cheer to my corner of the porch.

The stand was also a thrift find.

This old quilt block was thrown in a pile of "junk" at the store and I grabbed it up for pennies to make a cover for a pillow for this chair. I still have to finish it. Just wanted you to see it. It's all handsewn by some sweet soul years ago. I love the cheery, bright, but slightly faded colors in it.

The old crocheted blanket at the end I've had for about 10 years. Paid 5.00 at a thrift store in Augusta, Ga at the time. It's been well-used, one of Ren's previous favorite blankets. I miss him so!

This is one of two windchimes we have on the porch which plays calm tones with the gentle breezes. Got this last year at The Cracker Barrel in Pigeon Forge. Recognize the chair design?

Below this is an old wood glider chair, again, at a thrift store for less that Walmart plastic chairs. The spindles were firm, absolutely nothing wrong with this chair and fits perfect in the corner. Usually when we are out on the porch, BodyGuard sits here to smoke his pipe and ponder what makes folks tick....LOL

The seat is solid and it glides smooth but I put a cushion in it for comfort.

The wood handles are a bit worn. If they could only talk....I bet there are some stories behind the former owners of this rocker.

And my friend, Thomas, also known as Allergen, is peeking in while I roam on the porch.

I love this cat more than you'll EVER know!  He is a gift to us thanks to Brandon several years ago.

When I came inside, he resumes his favorite top of the settee on the side porch and he and Abbie have a love/hate relationship.....I mean, honestly, they do. It's quite funny.

Right now she is watching CNN but wait, till she sees Thomas.....

Thomas has never provoked her but I'm here to tell you Abigail Dalenberg dislikes cats like no other.

And I can't dare say I love you to Thomas as she gets very defensive and has been known to pout for hours after that.  LOL

This also at the thrift store in Cleveland, called The Mall. Needs dusting but I can only imagine stitching something up to put over the rod here. It's glass and has paper cuttings in it. Very pretty and great shabby chic.

I'm always on the lookout rummaging through the store for old frames and I saw this for 3 bucks. I will not remove the piece in this one though because it's too cute as it is. I had the perfect spot in our kitchen for it.

And I wanted to show you a scissor frog I got on Ebay last month.

A Williamsburg piece, SO much like the ones I saw in the museum......perfect for special scissors here.

on the bottom Colonial Williamsburg, Delft, restoration piece

Hope your afternoon is cool, colorful, and counted blessings!!!

Sunny-side up!

This is our outside duty cat, Thomas.

 He keeps all the rodents at bay around the homestead and every now and again brings us the remains at the doorstep for us to be thankful for!  YIKES!

I think I have screamed enough when I suddenly see them there that he connects leaving such at the door, with excited screams. In the summer on two occasions he has played with and batted down to the house  baby snakes and that was supposed to be a reward for us. NOT!

We love him. He is a rescue animal and is about 6 years old now. Our son found him near a McDonald's trash bin where he was put with an empty can of cat food near it. Every since he was brought here, he has made himself home and loves every minute of mountain country life. I am most sure an angel was involved in his bringing here lots of love.

His main thoughts for the day are

Eat

Eat

Eat

repeat.

He occasionally gets a sneak inside for milk and treats but with both of us having cat allergies, Thomas stays mostly on the porches, wherever sunlight is for the day and he is known to move every couple of hours around the porches in different chairs or on the swing when the sun moves!! ; 0

We really dote on Miss Abigail, our 17 month old , long-haired CHI so much that we leave poor Thomas out. We love him just the same and he has been a blessing to us.

When ole man Winter arrives and the weather gets below freezing, we take our Zyrtec and he knows that he has a special sofa on the basement level that he lounges.

He gets along well with our 2 Labs and I think it's because they are about the same age and know nothing but each other.

This weekend the weather is beautiful  here in the North Georgia mountains, sunny and very mild!

We woke about 9ish and had some cinnamon toast and tea and conversation,

and now I'm starting on my list of chores to do. This morning woke up headache free and I'm so thankful for that.

Yesterday, I went by Target and found exactly what I needed for some additional yoga!!!

I also found the prettiest little birdbath that I will post later when I find where it's home will be outside!

Hope your day is beautiful and if not in weather too, in blessings surrounded by peace and those you love.

Like Thomas and......

Mario.

You just never know......

who you might run into these days!

Sunny-side up!

We have alot to be thankful for!

Starting the Dog Days of Summer in the South

Yep, I do believe it's the beginnings of the dog days of Summer here in the mountains.

The Labs shed their collars somewhere in the past few weeks and we have to get new ones. They have ID microchips, but we need to get more collars back on them.

Ruby and Raven are sisters. Ruby born before Raven and they are about 6 years old now. Unfortunately we were not even celebrating their birthday during the first week of July because of Ren's death but these girls are like Thelma and Louise. They usually have a mission.  And usually that involves the ducks at the pond down below and a long swim in the Summer, then a good belly roll in the red Ga. clay! :o

Well, as I was raised in South Ga, I think the Summers here are pretty mild. But, I have to admit today's humidity was so thick that my camera lens kept fogging up when I went to take a picture.

Reminded me of Waynesboro, Ga. where it's 100 degrees by May 1st every year.

I don't miss that  AT ALL!

But here, we'll have about a good month before the nights will get less humid and cooler again.'

Until then.  HOT!

This is the pic I was taking before I realized how fogged the camera got.

So here it is again after wiping it off.

yep, about the time I'm taking the pic, I get breathed-on by this:

so I hold my leg out to take the rest and hope that her breath is not going through your computer right now or you'll run and shut it off immediately!

Gosh, Raven, what did you eat today??????  Yuck!

Our Prim American flag has faded in the sun.

Thomas is keeping watch over all the over grown weeds. He is hoping for a frog tonight. He better not bring me another baby snake.

In fact, I read that you need more than 1 cat if you live in the woods to help keep snakes away.

So, I've finally convinced Body Guard to go to the humane society and adopt a light gray kitten soon!!!

I can't wait.  I bet Thomas can though. But he is getting pretty lazy in his age and we need another to tend to the outside of the house.

yeah, right. He is going to check out the rest of the porch.

He's our mountain lion.

who watches over delicate things like this rose in the garden.

And I watch over this other lion-of-the-house, spoiled and loving it, girlie. ;)

This quilt is her favorite spot to rest while I'm stitching or blogging.

She's getting ready to watch the news with me now.

It certainly is cooler in the house than outside, actually the thermometer says 86 degrees but the humidity is the highest ever today.

But, I can't complain because after supper, BG and I had a craving for a Dairy Queen Blizzard and we both tried totally new flavors. I got Strawberries and Vanilla Oreos and he got a Pecan Pie Blizzard.

I think I liked the Strawberry best and he did too.

Talk later

Jennifer

Sprucing and cleaning up

The front porch, a forever in need place of sprucing.

Here I put some flowers in the pocket I made this week by the front door.

Hubbie, trying to move our new stash box/armoire I got at auction last night for 75.00. Solid Walnut. This is just the top of it. It has a beveled mirror and the bottom portion which is not in this picture is solid wood walnut drawers.

A new Walmart find to spruce up the porch. A metal chimes with 2 redbirds on top.

Love it!

And some Lemon Balm. It grew about twice as tall this week before I could get it in the pot. So it's definitely a good part-time sun plant. Rub the leaves between your fingers and its LEMONY!

Here's my mint plants growing....another treat too. Low maintenance....actually no maintenance. Comes back year after year in this pot.

My yard helper.

He is so sweet. He came up to me and he and I just brushed our faces together out of pure love.

I love my cat more than I do my allergy!  ;o

Onward now to the ever dwindling "kids stuff" that's been left here and forever in a massive pile soon to be finding new homes. Also in the process of gathering all my older stitching stuff and putting into boxes for giveaway. Stay tuned for updates.

Well, my Pralines Ice Cream break is now over.....back to chores.

Later.