Another Outdoor and Watery Wednesday

It's Wednesday again and you know what that means...more photos of our beautiful Province of Manitoba!

First up, though, is a photo of the Red River behind the glorious Canadian flag.

Spring has arrived in the two weeks since we took these photos.  So they look pretty bleak, I'm afraid.

We are back in Lockport, Manitoba, in these photos.

The Red River with a seagull in the foreground.  You will see in the next photo what a seagull really looks like.  They are much prettier than I had ever imagined they could be.

And lastly, my tulips have blossomed!

To see more outdoor photos go to Watery Wednesday and A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.

I hope your Wednesday is as beautiful as mine is here in my corner of the world.  

SPRING!

Don't you love Spring?  I think it is the loveliest Season of all.  It's a time of anticipation and revelation.  It's also a time to finish up a few projects and rearrange a few items in the house.  In remodeling our kitchen, we covered up a doorway where our new kitchen range is now.  There had been a door that led to a small hallway.  Now it looks like this photo below.  It's a solid wall that I have put a mirror on and it's where I can fix my hair.

I also changed my antique sideboard up a little.  I added the "spring" letters and sat an old bottle on it.  I purchased the bottle yesterday at an Antique shop in Oakbank, MB.  The words on the bottle say "Burdock Blood Bitters", one side of it reads, "Toronto, Ont.".  The other side reads "The T. Milburn Co. Ltd."  The dealer told us that it was from about 1925.  I love old vintagey bottles, don't you?

I have found two wonderful Canadian blogs that you may not have found yet.  Firstly, Canadian Cottage is written by a young woman who, along with her husband, has created a sweet little cottage that has loads of eye candy in it.  She is currently blogging about the changes they have made in their master bedroom.   

The next one is written by a woman who takes mundane articles and adds lots of "bling" to them.  I found her lovely articles when I was last shopping in Langley, where I lived for 12 years, before moving to Manitoba.  Her blog, JunkDreams is also full of great eye candy.  I hope you will check them out, if you like cottage decor, you will like these!

I hope your Monday is full of all the good things that life has to offer you!

One last look at my new arrangement in the hallway.  The bedrooms, bathroom and closet all lead off of this hall.

                                       Cords, how on earth do you disguise them?  They are so unsightly.

                                 

A Huge Old Canada Bread Box for Show and Tell

Hi come on in!

Today I'm joining Cindy over at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.  I am very excited about what I have to show today.  I have a neighbor who is a collector of all things vintage and he found this Canada Bread Box and sold it to me for what he paid for it, can you believe $20.00?  I was thrilled to buy it from him.  It has oak slats on the bottom, with the metal corners that you can see there.  I'm sure this style of box hasn't been used in the bread factory for a while. I just love the lettering on it.  Thanks Jeff!

The box is huge, though.  I almost don't have room for it, so I put it on the fireplace hearth.  I put some vintage blankets in it and a pillow covered with a vintage pillow slip.

Yesterday was my son's birthday.  He turned 33, he's my oldest.  He is a wonderful man, I am so blessed to call him "Son".  He has a sweet wife and two children.  He runs his own brick laying business and has completely renovated his home, that he just sold, and made a nice profit on.

Happy Birthday, Greg!

I had him and his family over for his b'day dinner, I made him Cajun Beans and Corn Bread.  It's a favorite from his childhood.

Be sure to go over to Cindy's Show and Tell and see what else is being shown, it's always lots of fun.

Have a lovely day!

Outdoor Wednesday & The Red River Is Going Down

Good Wednesday to you!

I am joining Outdoor Wednesday over at A Southern Daydreamer again, as well as Watery Wednesday.  Check them out, you will find some wonderful photography.

The photo below is of a beautiful, old building that is straight across from our park, just the other side of the Red River.  I think it is so interesting.

I was down at the Red yesterday and it has gone way down, the upper trail is completely uncovered by water, though a little muddy still.  The trail that is closer to the real shore is still under water.  It has been such a lovely Spring here.  The sun has been out and we haven't had any rain for weeks on end now.  The farmers are planting  already.  Last year the fields were still too muddy in June!  Thank you, Lord for your kind mercies!

Two sweet little birds were sitting in our bush, they were really tiny but I was able to get fairly close to them.  They didn't seem to be afraid.  I don't know what kind of bird it is.  If you know I would love for you to tell me.

I have changed the format of my blog and I am still fighting with it to get photos where they should be.  I am getting there, the photos are larger now at least.

I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Hugs,

A Birds Nest

Good morning, so glad you came back to see what I have come up with!

I have had this vintage planter for some time now and originally it was for a Wandering Jew vining plant that my son gave me for Christmas.  But I very successfully killed it over the Winter, thus leaving it empty.  I don't think there is any need for me to fill it with another plant that I will only kill.  So, I came up with this idea.  I put a little white china plate in the bottom and put some sheet moss on top of that, then inserted a small bird's nest that I found outside last year in a bush.  Then of course I had to put a small white bird in it.

I really like it!  It balances out what is on the other side.  See photo below. 

Greet asked me about the sideboard below the last time I showed it.  So far as I know it is a Canadiana piece.  I think it was made to be used in a kitchen originally.  I say that because I saw a sideboard exactly like it in a museum in northern British Columbia and it was in an old kitchen that had been set up in the museum to look like an original kitchen from the 1800's.  I'm not sure if it is an antique or not.  The two bottom drawers appear to be made out of pine, not oak like the rest of it.  The piece was given to my folks when our house burnt down in 1969.  It was painted a hideous dark brown color.  I have since refinished it.

I have been fooling around with the layout of my blog, I hope I haven't detroyed everything that I liked about it.

Blogger offered new templates, but I can't find them.  So I am back to an old one, and it is a little better than the last one.

Have a lovely day my friends!

Hugs,

A Gold Medalist and a Thank You

Good Monday to you my friend, so glad you came by for a visit!

 

In the photo above you see a photo of my husband's nephew held by Ben Hiebert, one of the 2010 Olympic Gold Medalists. He is on Kevin Martens Curling Team.  

      In fact my little nephew is holding the gold medal.  Ben Hiebert, happens to be a nephew of my sister-in-law Rhonda (my brother's wife), who lives in B.C..  Confused?  Well, they are all from Regina, Saskatchewan and my husbands sister, Yvette,  works with and is a friend of Ben's girlfriend.  That is how they are all connected.  They visited my husband's sister Yvette's home, thus the photo op! 

 This is the little fellow who was visiting us this weekend with his mom, Yvette, he's two and a half.  When she showed me this photo, I told her that I had to have it so I could post it on my blog.  Because of being connected to Ben, (through Rhonda) we watched all of his curling games at the Olympics over the internet.  We have never watched curling before, ever!  But, as we watched and listened to the commentator, we gradually began to understand what the throwing and sweeping was all about.  It is quite a fascinating and interesting game.

In other news, I won a give away over at A Beach Cottage and this is what I won!  A years subscription to the Canadian House and Home Magazine!!!  It is a huge, wonderful magazine, thank you Sarah!  If you have never visited Sarah's blog, you  really ought to, it is so unique and fun!  The really sweet thing about it is that she has a giveaway pretty well every week and sometimes more often than that. 

We are enjoying unseasonably warm weather here in Manitoba.  The normal temp for this time of year is 12 deg. Celcius, it is meant to go to 23 deg. Celcius!  Last week was the same, except for one day.  Hurray!!!

PS  Be sure to come back tomorrow, I have a simple little something to show you that I put together!  Something cheap and easy!

Another visit to Carolyn's House

This time we will start in Bethy's bedroom.

Carolyn made the window treatments while I was visiting her this last January. She purchased the quilt at Ross'. I love the colors in there.

Next is the living room. It has a wrap around mantle, which has proved to be a challenge to decorate nicely. I think Carolyn did a lovely job of it, though.

This is the bathroom upstairs. She made the shower curtain out of a lightweight chenille with ribbon tabs. This is a nice bright room, everything is green and white. Except for her tulip, of course.

I don't know why the below picture is so small. You can push control and roll your mouse roller away from you and the pictures will all enlarge if you so desire.

Her living room again now showing the front side of the fireplace. She purchased the chair on Craigslist for $20.00. It is very sturdy and SO comfortable. The pillows were bought from an etsy shop in India. The pillows are beautiful and so well made.

Still in the living room. I love the candleabra above the footstool. Very romantic!

I hope you enjoyed the visit to my daughter's house. If we had truly gone there, she would have invited us to stay for tea. She is a gracious hostess.

I won't be blogging again until next week. I am busy getting ready for company from Regina, Sask. My sister-in-law and her two and a half year old son will be with us for three days. She's dropping her husband off in Brandon, Man. for a hockey tournament and heading over to see us. We are very excited about the visit and know we will have lots of fun with her little one. The weather is supposed to be sunny and warm!

Have yourself a beautiful weekend.

Outdoor Wednesday

This photo is from Manitoba, Canada. I love the big skies that we are able to enjoy because we are a prairie province. A storm blew through on Easter Sunday and the skies looked very interesting.

I am linking up with Outdoor Wednesday, at A Southern Daydreamer again. I love to see others photos, I hope you have enjoyed seeing mine.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

HUGS,

A Give Away...

At Ticking and Toile For this wonderful book, by Christina Strutt the creator of Cabbage and Roses. You will love this book. But hurry, the draw is tomorrow!

And at Home and Harmony... for these wonderful bee glasses!!! They are so gorgeous.

My Favorite Room

Good Monday to you! Today I am joining Ciero over at The House in the Roses for "Show off Your Cottage". I thought this sounded fun! If you enjoy seeing sweet cottage images, be sure to go over!

My favorite room in my little cottage is the sun room. Here I sit and blog, play my keyboard and sometimes just dream.

There it is, on the other side of the french doors.

It is actually on the North side of the house, so it really gets very little sun. But it has two large sets of windows in it, therefore it gets a lot of light.

See the tiny little white picture frame? My granddaughter Bethy drew the picture in it for me. She was just turning six at the time. She is in the picture that sits in the window at the back of this photo. That is my little sis and I in the china plate frame. The photo that you see on the left is of my mom and dad when they were first married. This room is full of such lovely memories.

Pretty plain photo, but that is my little chair that I repainted and made a slipcover for. I will remake that as soon as I can get a staple gun.

I love the color scheme in here, the pink and yellow look so lovely together.

That is my mother's graduation dress that my dear Aunt (my mom's older sis) made for her when she was 17 years old. That would have been in 1952. I have two other dresses that belonged to my mother, also. I love vintage clothing. I aim to paint this old wardrobe this summer. I now have an electric paint sprayer and it will get lots of use as soon as it is warm enough to use. Well, there you go, that's what I wanted to show off today.

I hope your Monday is sunny and bright!

A Few Changes

I have been playing around with the sideboard in the living room. I wasn't real happy with it.

(Before)

(After)

I have changed it to this. Sorry about the dark photo, the rest are light enough to see everything better. Note the sticks in the huge vase, most of those are from our apple tree that got a trimming this week.

My poor tulips are pretty much gone, but I love the pop of color that they provide.

I made this yesterday. It's just chicken wire stretched over the back of the old mirror frame and screwed on. Ordinarily it could be stapled on, but I don't have a staple gun, yet.

This little guy was moved over here. I think it belongs here. I have tried to find a good balance of light and dark on the sideboard. That seems to be what looks good in the living room.

So, are you working on a project, if so, please tell me what you are working on.

Have a beautiful Saturday!