Simple Pleasures

Summer hasn’t arrived yet but already it’s slipping away. We must enjoy these warm moments before they are gone! With a plethora of “to-dos” around my house, I sometimes have to make a devoted effort to stop and experience this great season.

Spring often awakens my “nesting” mood, my need to try out fresh ideas for my home and garden. I have enjoyed planning and planting new annuals around the house this year, forcing myself to toss out the tried and true pink theme and explore some new possibilities. That’s easier to do with an inexpensive crate of flowers! But some tried and trues are hard to live without, like the beauty that accompanies our thriving peony bush in early spring! So I took some of nature’s blessings and brought them indoors to create small flower vignettes. I nestled the oversized flowers in simple bud vases and placed them around the house. I love the romantic look that can be created with these flowers and the added vintage charm that comes from placing them next to a large apothecary jar, French script scrolls, and an aged doily. Vases with varied heights, colors, and textures create an interesting appeal as well. Be sure to stop and enjoy the simple pleasures of the season!

Spring has Sprung!

Spring has sprung and isn’t it just wonderful?! I love a sunny spring day after the long, cold, dreary winter. With all that is going on in the world as of late, the promises of spring are so refreshing. Plump robins are everywhere, feeding on a smorgasbord underfoot. Forsythia is beginning to bloom and just today I saw a magnolia tree in full splendor.

Each spring I overwhelm myself with all the possibilities that spring has to offer. Maybe this will be the year I start that garden I’ve been dreaming about, or the year I raise my own herbs. What types of perennials will I add to the face of our landscape, what color scheme shall I choose for the annuals? How will we manage the crabgrass this year or fight those pesky weeds? It never fails, by the end of May I’m burned out and wonder why we can’t hire it all done. But spring has just begun and I plan to hold fast to the notion that THIS will be the year…

So bring on the garden ideas and plans,

dust off the recipes that winter pushed to the back of the cupboard,

unfold the delicate linens for the dining room table,

and spruce up the house with some fresh decor.

Spring has sprung!