The Blue and White Cottage ~ 4th of July

 

Hi everyone! Posting a bit early because of the holiday weekend. No one is home reading blogs, hahaha, when they could be out eating hot dogs and drinking beer.

This year the house has quietly subsided into its blue and white persona.

I am not decorating for the upcoming patriotic holiday.  Gone are the days when we could so exuberantly wave our  beloved flag, when this was a holiday filled with parades! fireworks! houseful of kids and friends---excitement and joy. Just a fave tiny TQC project flag that stays out most of the year.

Some little colorful touches here and there.

I've used my red/white/blue Stars quilt for more years than I can tell you, before my kids were born, since I was a young unmarried New York girl? It was a find at a PA flea, the binding is, oddly, woven garment labels that say Made in Canada. This year I used the soft pink and blue quilt instead. A rescue I completed also long ago.

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Mo is doing okay. He goes out at least once a day for a quiet ramble, temperature and humidity permitting.

Or he snores in front of any fan or AC he can find. "This is the life, mommy!". I think he is content. Zzzzz.

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The first deck garden flowers have bloomed! 

I am thrlled with these fancy Zinnias, below/ upper right.

The cosmos and coreopsis will bloom soon too. The marigolds are starting.

Fountain is up and running. I still have the notion birds will visit for fresh water, but year three and no visitors.

The Beach Days Memories scroll is done except the label. I hope to find extra hands to help me film it unrolling???

Have a good holiday, back soon.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

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June is Done! Garden, Nature Journal, Randomness

 My goodness, how June has rushed by, July is on its way. Today is cool, grey, blustery---not a pretty summer day but we must take joy in the break from the heat wave of the past week.

We couldn't even go out on the deck! I scorched my feet  one morning, watering the deck pots barefooted. That was crazy! Scary. Mo was confined to the cold airconditioned house mostly, though his dogwalker very kindly has begun ''sunset walks'' on extreme days. So kind and we did love the idea of Mo getting out to visit the cool grass and sniff all the peemail he was missing.

Here is my sewing box, all washed and dusted, waxed and buffed; relined. Filled with sewing treasures from family and friends. Ready for deck days ahead. I hope to do my sewing hour even if Baby Mo must stay indoors. [oh he will be so puzzled and mad at me though.]

btw here is a link to Instagram's Pug LouLou's 11th birthday party. Hard to live up to, lol. LouLou is Eleven too!  So adorable, I am such a fan. [also on FB if you don't get IG.]

The deck garden is coming on nicely. I water twice a day, even if it rains.

Wildflower seeds sprouting in the now harvested radish patch.

And look! The coreopsis just wouldn't be defeated. It has sprouted on the big pot's far margins and will soon be in bloom. I am so happy to see it!

Huge gemination of the cosmos seeds from? I transplanted some, I hope they take.

First flower! A marigold:

And zinnia buds too. Maybe have flowers for the fourth of July.

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I had my high stress appointment with the eye surgeon this week. Good news--no change, no surgery--but nothing can be done (not even just glasses Rx tweak) to reconcile double vision. The appointment was actually too close to my IV treatment which causes depression and blurred vision, but each was mandated by the doctors' schedule. I couldn't see well enough after the eye doctor to do nice work on my memory scroll, but after a few days I pushed on and finished all my sketches in my nature journal. This finishes the first book, January to July 1. "Quavery" at best, but done matters to me more than perfection.

Pansy redo. I hinged the second sketch so we can see both.

The many faces of the black cherry over the years.

radish sprout

Yellow iris

Spiderwort or snakewort- weed but such a glorious blue

Crabgrass

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Stamps found tucked in a long expired passport. Couldn't resist adding them to the pages here.

I walked out early one hot morning looking for nature stuff to draw. Nothing! A few weeds. I did like this one, I think it is a milkweed.

July may be lots of seashells and pebbles.

Darling Ladybug on my zinnies! Rounding out last days of June 2025.

Have a wonderful weekend. I'll probably be back Wednesday, before 4th of July gets going. See you then.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

a rare dawn pic-summer solstice