Saturday, April 30, 2011

Pink Delights!

Hello everyone,
    It is a lovely warm spring day here and I have just had a stroll through the garden-everyday brings wonderful little changes as buds unfurl and new blooms pop.
   Today,however is Pink Saturday again at How Sweet the Sound so I have some Pinks to share with you.

  The photo above is from our garden a couple of years ago and some of you have seen it but it is one of my favorites. The lilacs are in bud now and soon the garden will be filled with their beauty and wonderful aroma.

You know I love my afternoon tea!








I love this blush pink Antique rose.I have been pruning all my roses the last couple of days and I can't wait to see them bloom again.


 That's it for my 'pink delights' but there is lots more to see at Beverley's How Sweet the Sound for you to enjoy.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Carolyn

Thursday, April 28, 2011

I'm in the Garden !


Hello everyone,
       Spring has finally arrived here so you may have noticed I have been a little bit absent lately- well I am in the garden,finally!
  My rubber garden boots were a yard sale find last fall for $1. but my husband thought they should have paid me to take them! Ha Ha!

I am happy to be able to pick a few bouquets from the garden now.-
These boots were made for gardening!

I am so happy to have Andrew working with me in the garden since he is now semi-retired and works from home. There has been many,many big wheelbarrow loads raked of the beds even though many of them where cleaned up last fall. Gardening is definitely a labor of love!!!

Although there is not a lot of color in the garden yet- everyday now there will be more and more.
We have thousands of daffodils ready to burst into bloom.
I am happy to have the bees buzzing around the blooms.
Puschinia scillaides or striped scilla.

crocus and scilla.
Tiny bouquets for my kitchen windowsill.


My husband and son had to build a new roof for our terrace as the old one collapsed under the weight of the snow that we had this winter. I can't wait for to enjoy our meals out there again soon.


A collage of some of our early spring blooms.

Well, I hope you will be patient with me for awhile as I post a little less for a week or so but there is a lot of spring chores to do in our 2 1/2 acre garden. Ah! but soon there will be lots of beauty to share with you.

I hope you are enjoying your spring too!

I am joining My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday today.

Take care,

Carolyn
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Monday, April 25, 2011

Celebration, Florida

Hello everyone,
     We had a beautiful sunny warm day here so I enjoyed the day out in the garden doing spring clean up. I think spring has finally arrived as it is supposed to be warm all week so the grass is getting green and I think almost everyone on the Island was out raking their lawns today. The farmers are starting to put in the crops and soon the Island will be a haven for tourists once again.
   Anyway, my post for today is a little town in Florida called Celebration just a short drive from the vacation home we rented in Emerald Island. We enjoyed walking around this charming place a couple of evenings and of course I took lots of pictures.



As you can see it was a beautiful calm evening and I loved the water reflection.

I love this beautiful vine-it is not one that We can grow here so may some of you could tell me the name of it?

Celebration had lots of big fancy home but also lots of charming smaller ones. It was such a neat and tidy place - every home was so well cared for.

We enjoyed the warm evenings and seeing lots of color.


It was so peaceful there.

The palm trees were a novelty to our girls who had never seen them before.

I could enjoy a tour though this one!

or sitting on the balcony here with a tall glass of lemonade.


Notice the lack of traffic!
lovely townhouses with perfectly trimmed hedges.
So beautiful!
Well here we are(well not me, as I am taking the pic) waving to you all from the sunny state of Florida. Our three daughters and their husbands and children came with us on this trip.  Word on the street says we are taking our four sons,two daughter in laws and Jessie on the next one and I heard someone say Spain!

Thank you for visiting me,

Carolyn

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Easter Blessings

It has been busy here lately but I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a blessed Easter.


A clematis blooming in our sun room that wintered over in the basement.

My first daffodil bloom from our garden this spring. Yea! good things to come.

Easter Blessings to you all!

Carolyn

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Most Romantic Tea Room Ever!


Hello everyone,
   I am back from our holiday to the sunny south. Last week we enjoyed a trip to Florida with our 3 daughters ,3 son-in-laws and eight of our grandchildren. We all had a great time and there were some moans that we had to leave so soon by the little ones. It is hard to compete with Disney!
   One afternoon my husband and I took a little drive to Mount Dora and stumbled upon the most romantic tearoom I have ever seen . I took lots of pictures because I knew you would want to see it too!

There were several rooms to eat in and all of them had me totally captivated!


Of course I loved all the pretty china!
Beautiful linens lace and vintage clothes were displayed all throughout.

This is a separate building but still part of the tearoom.


Oh my!!!



Beautiful dresses.
Hats for you to wear! I love the ivory one just under the fairy lights.

A little garden nook if you choose to eat outdoors.
I love this cupboard with the pretty china.

It is the Garden Gate Tearoom in Mount Dora for any of you lucky enough to live in the area it is well worth the drive.
Oh! and did I forget to mention that the food was delicious too. If we go back to Florida someday this is definitely on my list.

Thank you to all of you who left such nice comments for me while I was away and to all you new followers as well- I am enjoying catching up with you. The last couple of days I have been enjoying cleaning up our garden and seeing all the promise of good things to come.

Today I am joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

Thank you for visiting,

Carolyn