Friends

Just hanging out with some of my friends...

I hope you are having a great day!

'Til next time,

Love ya,  Jean

More decorating...

I added some hand painted wooden candy pieces 

to the front of the house.

I made these pieces for the candy store 

when my daughter and I owned it.

This is the first time I put them out for Christmas.  

I like how they look.

 So cute!

I added another "tree"  out there on my side yard. 

 It's really my garden obelisk under the lights. 

This is a neighbors house.  We really light up the street!

I am enjoying the decorating this year.  

It's been a lot of fun for me.

I can't wait for my kids to see it!

'Til next time,

Love ya,  Jean

Christmas lights...

Lots of lights outside this year...

All LED's so they don't use much electricity...

Mickey says "HI"...

It is so much fun decorating for Christmas...

It brings out the kid in me... lol

I have added some hand painted wooden candies to my shutters since I took these pictures.  I will show on my next post...

'Til next time,

Love ya,

Jean

Happenings...

Where have I been the last three weeks?  What have I been doing?  

I painted this birdhouse...

I put up all the Christmas lights...

I got the Christmas tree out and decorated it...

I totally organized my garage storage closet...

I worked on my postage stamp quilt...

I made 2 pies,  sweet potato casserole,  and green bean casserole for Thanksgiving...

I did a little Christmas shopping...

I raked umpteen bags of brush and leaves from my garden...

I winterized my pond...

I filled my compost bin up to the top...

I made the floral arrangements shown below...

Front of bird house...

side...

back...

floral arrangement at the top of the driveway...

My old ice skates...

front door wreath...

another floral arrangement near the front door...

I think I got a lot accomplished!
(I just didn't document it at the time.)  lol

I will be showing my outdoor Christmas lights next.
It looks so pretty out there...

Also,  in the first picture of the bird house, if you look behind it, you can see the progress on the new house.  It is coming along nicely.  They started the siding yesterday.

I will also be showing my postage stamp quilt.  It is progressing faster than I thought.

I also had another trip to DisneyWorld for Halloween.  That was soooo much fun!!!

I love retirement! It gives me lots of personal time to do what I love!  (And a few things that I don't really love.)
So,  that's it for now.

'Til next time,

Love ya.  Jean  

New kid on the block...

This house is being built across from my side yard...

They tore down a small ranch to build this.  

It was actually the first house that was built

 in this neighborhood in 1956.

This is the dirt that they took out
for the foundation and basement.

This is what we have so far...

4,000 square feet,  way too big for the lot!
Notice how it dwarfs the house next to it.

That's progress!!!

'Til next time,  Love ya,  Jean

My new compost bin...

Making compost...

This is my new compost bin.
It is made from one of those storage boxes
that you use to store trash cans.

My DBF  added some air vents to each of the sides...

This is a peek at what's inside, so far...

There is a bar across the front to hold the doors closed.
 When I remove that bar,  I can open the doors
to pull the stuff out.

Then I can mix it up real good and put it back in,
or use it, if it is ready.The top lifts up, so I can also mix it with my cultivator.
I am excited to see how well it works...

I'll let you know...

'Til next time,  Love ya,  Jean

A transformation...

This was a very hot,  humid summer here in New England.  It made gardening very difficult,  but I persevered and did get some things accomplished.  This is the area under my old ornamental cherry tree.  This tree is about 55 years old,  has fire blight and is on the decline.  An arborist came around about 5 years ago and wanted to cut it down.  I couldn't bear the thought,  and it has rebounded a bit.  I will have it trimmed again in another month or so and I will keep it as long as I possibly can.  I love this tree.

This area of my garden went from this...

to this!

I took out the scruffy cedar trees that had grown there,  cleaned out the pachysandra that had taken over, and put in tons of compost and mulch.  I like how it looks now.

I'm  looking forward to cooler weather, so that I can work more comfortably out there.  The garden will be put to sleep again for the winter before we know it.

'Til next time,  Love ya,  Jean