beach bound...

i'll be back...
beach brain and all.
♥
erin

summer hydrangea harvest

 monday was a fabulous day!

just the kinda day i crave.

 i spent the early morning in the gardens

 harvesting some hydrangea blooms for drying.

i like to wait to cut these beauties,

 until they are just starting to turn a paler shade and feel slightly papery.
no need to put them in water, as they are starting to "dry" by themselves.

 i sat tucked under the back porch stripping the leaves off the stems.

the neighborhood very quiet today, as the golf course is closed and it was too hot for most to play outside..

i find stripping leaves and fondling these huge blooms, oh so relaxing.

 blue has been my favorite color my whole life,

with green being a close second.

 what is it about these beautiful flowers that make us swoon?

 i am not even sure what i will do with all of these flowers, but the creative potential makes me giddy.
 yes, a very good day...

 playing with flowers.

outside, in my favorite "room" ....
where i recently added some of my vintage hankies, up top,
 as a makeshift banner.
recently stained the deck too!
in a light grey...which i am lovin.
i'll tell you more about that later...

 of course, i had to bring some hydrangeas inside....

 i tucked some into my cement swans

and made a hydrangea garland for the mantel...

 the shades of blue and green blend beautifully with my latest painting.

 my painting,
"drifting" 

the idea suggested to me by my adorable bloggy friend and fellow artist cindy (thank you, sweets)
 AND inspired by all of the queen annes lace growing in the fields right now. 

i love wide open fields.

i am a claustrophobic.

an open area, like a field or a beach, calms me and makes me feel at peace...

so does, stripping the leaves off of a hydrangea.

my hydrangea garland ....

easily fashioned with strung twine and some clothespins.

easy is good.

summery blues and greens....

like ocean water.

the very best part of this day....

after my shower, i walked into the den and realized some clouds in the sky had darkened the room a little...

i walked to the window and i heard the gentle rumble of forgotten thunder.

and yes

it rained!

just a little, but it was better than nothing.

we continue to be hot and dry here,

and i continue to search for creative outlets and open spaces.

i am heading to the beach on sunday!

in some ways, i am already there.

♥

erin

happy fourth of july!

a light in the valley.

As we light a path for others, 

we naturally light our own way.

~mary anne radmacher

 

photo taken across the field, from my son Ian's house, 

in fernvale, tennessee..

the little church was completely obliterated by a tornado...

 that swept through this valley, a few years ago....

and here it is today...

 rebuilt...

and standing strong...

a little light in the valley.

happy sunday

♥

erin

call me crazy, but i slip covered my dishwasher.

 yeppers.

slip covered my dishwasher

in an old

feed sack.

 five years ago, mr. dan and i painted our 1975 kitchen cupboards.

at the time, i thought it was cool to paint all the top cupboards linen white and all the bottom cupboards in this dark charcoal color.

see below.

 in this "before" (actually, "during") pic you can see i have painted the bottom cupboards on the left and on the right is the old dreary color, that just zapped the room of light and energy.  you can also see that i was playing around with window treatments.  the crocheted tablecloth has been removed from the window and all the painting is finished now.  so, my freshly lightened kitchen had this black dishwasher, that stuck out like a sore thumb.  i thought about covering it with wallpaper or contact paper or tile or peel and stick flooring and even thought of painting it....none of these ideas seemed right....this is not the kind of dishwasher with the removable front....so thinking outside the box, i went through my stash of fabrics and settled on this old feed sack which was the perfect color and even has subtle stripes that mimic the cabinet molding.

 i simply cut the feed sack to size... hemmed all around and fastened it to the sides of the dishwasher with velcro (bought at michaels with a 1/2 off coupon).

easily removable for washing or changing out to something different in the future.

done.

i likey.

i likey alot.

 here are some purdy pictures of my newly brightened kitchen.

the light merrily bounces around the room now...

it is amazing how the lighter bottom cupboards have made such a huge change and make me happy.  

me thinks the dishwasher is happier too.

♥

erin

p.s.  last night my neighbor's house, two doors up, caught on fire.

we watched huge flames firing towards the sky shooting from the back of their house.

it felt like it took forever for the firemen to get the water running.

my street was filled with emergency vehicles, neighbors, smoke, flashing lights, crime scene tape, exhausted firemen re-cooping on the ground...

no one was hurt.

the damage will be accessed this morning, i spose...

the burning images of colorado springs on fire, where my brother-in-law lived, and we vacationed, is disturbing, to say the least.

so many fires out there.

some fourth of july fire works displays have been canceled here, due to our dry conditions.

another 107 degree day here in tennessee.

still no rain in sight.

it feels like the whole world is on fire.

tell me it's

not.