Buckets of Snow

If you're finished with snow look away! I'm sure we have a lot less snow than you probably do, but when this all appeared overnight I saw that my collection of watering cans and garden buckets had been transformed.  

Snowcone anyone?

And the urns and pots look all dressed up for a snow ball.

How pretty can you get?

My piles of junk now look like an art installation.

My buckets of snow.

An old rustic stool with a puffy white blanket.

And all around the house. . . .

It's snowing more already, but ours won't last long. Gone by the time March comes roaring in.

Thanks for coming by to see our version of the white stuff! 

Happy Weekend Ya'll!

Jacqueline

Spring Fever

I just can't keep away from the garden nursery because this is the sort of thing that greets me at the front door!

Love this vintage retro rack with the black letters and numbers.

The stylist here (Osuna Nursery) does a great job of giving us a look almost never to be found on the streets of Albuquerque. Too early to see anything like this popping up in front yards. But it's not a typical look in an area where xeriscape is popular in the landscape anyway. (i.e. Reducing or eliminating the need for watering--think rocks and cactus, which can be beautiful, but come on. . . Some people call it zero-scape in error.)

But it's all great for getting a hit of spring, and lots of decor ideas.

Happy Spring Fever everyone!

Jacqueline

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Savvy Southern Style~Wow Us Wednesday

Linen Closet China by Lenox

I wonder if you know this china series by Lenox China. I had never seen it before I found three different pieces together at a flea market a few days ago. At first I thought they might be very old ironstone. They are quite heavy like that and aged looking.  

But they have just had a lot of use and show it. Don't fall in love, because the patterns shown here have been retired by the manufacturer. A few pieces are still around to buy, but they are crazy expensive. Still, if I beat you at finding any at a great price, I'm going to snap them up!

All three designs are from the Linen Closet line and resemble old embroidered linen. The first I am showing is called Floral Wreath. I have an antique linen remnant running down the center of the table to carry the theme against a drop cloth table cover. A few collected nests make a centerpiece. 

The next pattern on show is Braided Scroll. I actually have a linen runner that looks very much like this design.

Scrumptious detail.

Finally there is this design called Linen Weave. Perhaps you can see that the surface has a texture that looks exactly like the real thing!

The chips and spots make it look a hundred years old. They will all look wonderful hanging together on the wall or displayed on a shelf.

At the same market I was lucky enough to spot the latest of my marmalade jar collection. The oldest sample I have yet.

I just love layers of linen. The grey linen napkins shown here are from Williams-Sonoma.

Our weather has turned bitter cold. More like the Frebruary we're supposed to have. So we're just keeping cozy and dreaming of spring.

I hope it's a great new week for you!

Jacqueline

Join me at

Savvy Southern Style~Wow Us Wednesdays

Common Ground~Share Your Style

French Country Cottage~Feathered Nest Friday

Between Naps on the Porch~Tablescape Thursday

My Romantic Home~Show & Tell Friday

The Charm of Home~Home Sweet Home

Nature's Gift

The weather is a hot topic as you've noticed! Or maybe I should say COLD. At any rate, it's just doing what it wants and is having its way with us. I thought I would continue showing more of the southwest part of the country that we live in.

These images are of the community gardens in an open space in Albuquerque that few folks even here know about. It is wonderful when flourishing, but even now a little time spent hiding out with the furtive birds will fill your soul for awhile.

People rent ground to grow things here. And there is always an unseen hand filling the bird feeders. Canadian geese and Sand Hill cranes hang out in the fields all winter, but they have almost all headed north again. 

I am thinking that the empty arms of the garden structures are like an abandoned grave site in an old western movie. But that's only my spring fever talking in my own old western town.

If we had rain it would be all green. Our temperatures have been in the high sixties for some time. But the gardens must wait for the yearly irrigation canals to be opened and flow from the river. And it is too soon for that.

Someone has turned dead branches, still rooted to the ground, into a bird feeder, and today it seems an artful object lesson for life. Something vague about lemons and lemonade, or use what you have, or building on the foundation of what has come before. . . .  

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I wanted a big seed head like this one at the start of winter for decoration but left it lying amongst the weeds for birds instead. This may have been the very one. Finding it again now that the seeds are gone feels like the universe answering a good deed. 

The gardens are full of hidden pathways and benches the patrons have made for everyone to enjoy. An excellent pew for contemplation or a picnic among the butterflies, roadrunners, and rabbits that make a home here. I love a romp with our little girls in our secret garden here in summer.

Someone I never met will come soon to prune the roses, plant some peas, or a row of onions. There is an honor system where no one ever harvests what is not their own. . . .  a little heaven on earth.

I tell people that I went straight from cabin fever to spring fever! But I am thinking of all of you still stuck knee deep in freezing temperatures and snow, and sending warm wishes your way.

Happy Weekend!

Jacqueline