Southern Hospitality » Gardens and Flowers

Fall Colors in Georgia

Rhoda — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:00:58 +0000

This time of year, I can’t help but do a lot of staring at the trees. Enjoying all that Fall color that is now hanging in the trees, vines and bushes all over the area. Our backyard has fading grapevines that are now a vivid yellow. The dogwood trees have turned a burnished scarlet with red berries shining against the blue sky.

This is my second favorite time of the year, behind Spring of course. Spring is about growth, rebirth, and fresh starts. Fall is the fading of summer flowers, cooler temps, and those beautiful colors that paint the landscape. And I love this time of year too.

So, go with me on a stroll outside my neighborhood this Fall. My camera and I had a good time trying to capture the beauty that I see with my eyes.

Yellow muscadine vines.

Fading fig tree.

Ruby red dogwood berries.

Dogwood tree

Fading hydrangea.

I adore this little barn that sits beside a house on the way to my sister’s house. I drive by this house all the time on Blackwell Road and have always wanted to take a pic of it, so I stopped one afternoon just before dusk and captured this beautiful red door.

Isn’t it pretty?

Dogwood tree

Not sure what this tree is, maybe a gingko, but it’s right on our street. Love the heart-shaped leaves.

Beautiful fall trees turning with the season.

Dappled maple leaves dancing in the late afternoon sunlight.

I hope you will take time this Fall to enjoy the beauty of the season. Go for a walk and take a look at all the trees, with their beautiful changing colors. Nothing like getting outside on these gorgeous Autumn days with the blue sky and the changing leaves to get inspired!

Have you taken note of Fall this year! Don’t miss it while it is still around.
The winner of the Hadley Pottery Thanksgiving platter giveaway is: Cindy C

And, the lucky winner of the Knorr Prize pack is Lynda Cormier!

Congrats, ladies, I have emailed you both.

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Dig Drop Done: Planting Bulbs & How to Win a $5,000 Yard Makeover

Rhoda — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 09:00:39 +0000

Today, we’re talking about planting bulbs, gardening, and how to win a $5,000 yard makeover just by sending in a photo of your ugly yard.

Are there any ugly yards out there screaming for a makeover?

Click over to this page for all the details!

Canning Tomatoes

Rhoda — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:00:18 +0000

My parents have canned tomatoes for so many years, yet I have never stopped long enough to see just how they do it, so this summer I finally did. And you know what? It’s not that hard at all. If you have always thought canning tomatoes (or anything for that matter) is really hard, it’s totally NOT. Their method is tried and true and we have been eating tomatoes canned like this for many years. My homemade spaghetti sauce starts with these tomatoes.

So, for those of you who may get your hands on some good ripe tomatoes this summer and want to try your hand at canning, this one’s for you!

First, you’ll need a big tub of fresh picked tomatoes. These are a mix of Better Boys and Romas, grown right in the backyard at their house.

Drop them in hot water for about 3-5 minutes to get the skins off easier. While you are starting this process, sit the canning jars into a hot oven. Mom sets hers at 170*. The jars need to be hot when the tomatoes go in.

Throw your lids into a pan of hot water and let them sit. Not boiling, just good and hot.

My dad gets in on the action too and peels the tomatoes. They are a team with this garden stuff. Peel and chop into a big pot. If you loved seeing my mom’s hands in the chicken and dumplings recipe, you will definitely love my dad’s sweet hands. They are strong and hard-working. These are the hands I grew up with. My hands look remarkably similar to my dad’s, freckled just like his, with long fingers. I get my coloring and height from him. He is 6′ 5″ tall. Well, he used to be.

Thank you ALL so much for the sweet comments on my mother’s hands last week. I told her about all of those wonderful comments and she couldn’t believe it. She thinks her hands are ugly, but I told her differently. All of you had such fond memories of some similar hands that YOU grew up with. That is priceless!

Both of those beautiful sets of hands are hard at work. Me, I’m taking photos. Seriously, they have done this so many times, they have it down to a science. Chop those tomatoes up in a big pot.

Simmer them for about 30-35 minutes until the tomatoes cook down really well.

Now it’s time to add the tomatoes to the hot jars, one at a time. These are quart jars with wide mouths. You can find all the canning supplies you need at Walmart.

Add one teaspoon of salt to each jar.

Be sure to leave a little room at the top of the jar for expansion.

My dad wipes off the neck of the jar, you don’t want anything to keep them from sealing properly. Wipe them clean. Then add one of those lids from the hot water, pressing it in place.

Then grab a ring to finish it off.

As the jars start cooling, you will hear them pop and that is the seal being formed. You can look at the center of the lid too and see it is sucked down in the middle.

There you have it! Beautiful, red, delicious, jars of tomatoes all ready to use during those cold winter months when fresh tomatoes are just a sweet memory. We use these in everything from spaghetti sauce, to chili, and soups.

Delish!! I hope some of you who may have wanted to try this will do it. You could probably find a farmer’s market with lots of fresh tomatoes at one time. Not that hard, just a little time consuming. We have rows and rows of canned tomatoes and beans sitting here waiting to be used and that is such a great thing to have around.

I’m up at my parent’s NC mountain house today, enjoying the quiet, watching hummingbirds flutter at the feeder, while my mom, aunt and uncle shell black-eyed peas. Mom and my Aunt Mary have already put up (in the freezer) 40 quart bags of fresh corn.

We made fresh salsa out of all those tomatoes too and man, was it good. I could make a meal off of fresh salsa. We use Concord Foods salsa packets (HOT!) from Walmart or most grocery stores carry it. Easy, just add tomatoes and onions. Click here to see an old post about it.

This is what summer is to our family!

Summertime in the Garden

Rhoda — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Lawdy, it’s hot!

If we don’t get some rain soon, I think we are all going to melt. Not to mention the garden. Oh, the garden is taking the heat.

My sweet parents have been gardening probably 50 years or so, close to it anyway. I can’t remember a time when they did not have a garden, it’s been a ritual around our house forEVER. Growing up, part of me and my sister’s chores was to go and pick out the rocks in this back yard garden, which were plentiful back then, to make way for the garden. We thought at the time we were being harshly mistreated, having to work that garden. We were convinced the rocks were multiplying. As soon as we picked up a bunch of them, more were in their place, it seemed. But, this dirt finally got in shape and ready to grow some bountiful produce for our family. And truth be told, we didn’t have much to do with this garden producing at all. The total credit goes to our parents.

It’s been producing a whole lot of years now. This little 1/2 acre lot has seen some delicious fruits and veggies in its time. We used to live next door to this house and just over the fence there was the original backyard garden that fed our family.

My sweet, 84 years old in July daddy still lives for gardening. It is what keeps him going and gets him out of bed every day in the spring and summer months, tending to his plants and coaxing them to grow some delicious stuff for us.

Here he is just a few weeks ago, hoeing those weeds tirelessly, keeping the rows clean and neat so that when the bounty comes, he can get in there and pick.

This is one hard working man, that daddy of mine.

His hard work paid off and just about 2 weeks later, the garden looks like this. Quite a difference from picture #1 up there.

The tomatoes are looking good and these are what concern me the most. I love me some fresh tomatoes, as do so many of my friends and family. We live for the first tomato sandwich of the summer. Can’t be beat! Sometime around July 4th, we should have our tomato fix.

Daddy has muscadine grapes growing in the backyard, which get ripe in late summer. Is this a Southern thing or do ya’ll know what these are? I’ll have to show them to you when they get ripe. One is a black skinned fruit and the other a golden green fruit. I used to love to eat these, but not so much anymore, although they are really sweet when fully ripe.

Although they have HUGE blueberry bushes growing up at their NC mountain house, he also added some blueberries to the backyard here in Georgia. You can’t have too many blueberries and these are finally taking off and are loaded this year.

Dad loves figs too and planted 3 fig trees, which are now humongous and have taken over the backyard. This one is loaded.

I wish I loved figs, but sadly do not. Daddy will make up for my lack of fig love by eating a boatload of figs when they get ripe. I do however, love fig cake. I can see some of this delectable stuff in our near future.

Another huge fig tree helps shade the backyard, my dad’s swing in particular. Anyone else have an old clothesline in the backyard? Back in the day, my mama hung up all our wash on clotheslines. I can still remember that and did not enjoy that chore either. Hanging or bringing in! Give me an electric dryer any day.

His swing is nestled in the front of the fig tree and is his favorite spot to relax.

I almost cried at leaving behind the huge blackberries that we planted in Alabama last year, but my daddy dug several of these small plants up when I moved and here they are, looking good. Next year, they should produce many berries. We all love blackberries, so it was a no-brainer to bring some of these to Georgia.

Finally, I brought my Meyer lemon tree with me that I got from Petals from the Past last fall and it’s got some babies growing. I’m so excited! Not sure what I’ll do with them, but it’s fun to see citrus growing in the backyard.

Even though we desperately need rain, this is the bounty picked this week and hopefully the first of many meals that our family will eat this summer of fresh veggies from the garden.

We will be frying, sauteeing, casseroling, and who knows what else with this squash and zucchini. Fried squash is my fave. All of this was picked last week and we scarfed it down.

Added by popular demand!

Mom’s Fried Squash

She puts about a pint of canola oil into a deep pan for frying. Use whatever pot you have that can be heated up to medium-high heat. You want that oil hot, but not too hot! She slices up the squash first and salts them, let them sit for a bit for the salt to bring out some of the water. Mix up self-rising flour and buttermilk into a light batter. Dip the squash in that batter and fry them, baby!

That’s it! They are SO good.

How about YOU? Are you gardening this year? Tell me what you’re growing.

I’ll have plenty more garden stories to share with you later.

A Port St. Joe Private Garden

Rhoda — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 09:00:17 +0000

I never got around to sharing this beautiful Port St. Joe garden with you, but it is too gorgeous not to, so better late than never. My friend, Vicki, has a friend down there who lives in this house and is an avid master gardener. You will love it!

Driving up to her house, this is what you see, a beautiful fenced courtyard with lots of lush plants inside.

She even has a garden house. Don’t you want a garden house? Me too!

Lush plants were everywhere and it is obvious this lady knows what she is doing.

While we were there, the azaleas were in full bloom and starting to drop their pretty petals in a lovely display below the huge bushes.

Big, full-bloomed pink azaleas, these are the big variety.

Lovely plants were everywhere.

Birdhouses and garden statuary abounded too.

A pretty purple verbena was blooming profusely.

This beautifully patinaed horse weathervane was a focal point worth looking at.

Lots of statues.

Wonderful sentiments to share in the garden.

She really has a green thumb and knows how to put it all together.

Purple beauties.

More birdhouses sitting on an old stump.

A bench for sitting and enjoying all this beauty.

A potted kumquat tree. Do you know what these citrus fruits are? My parents grew up in Florida, so I have had kumquats. They are little bitty things.

Such a pretty fountain.

Baskets and greenery.

More of those astonishing azaleas.

Pretty in pink.

Lovely

So there’s a garden tour for you. I took all these pics just to share, so even though spring has passed, I hope you’ll still enjoy the beauty of a private garden in Florida.

I sure enjoyed taking the tour in person!

Traci’s Patio Transformation: Backyard Oasis

Rhoda — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 09:00:41 +0000

Over the last 4 years of blogging, I have met some of the nicest bloggers that are out there and Traci, from Beneath my Heart is one of those who is near and dear to me and right at the top of the list. Traci has a wonderful spirit. Caring, compassionate, and beautiful, she exudes such a sweet heart. I had the pleasure of meeting Traci last year in Nashville and getting to spend some time with her this year was so fun. She is the real deal, loves to laugh, and is a down to earth Southern girl. My kind of friend.

(Traci and I hamming it up at an antique store in Nashville, grrrrrrr)

Traci is stopping by today to share her patio transformation that she did last year. Outdoor spaces are so much fun and I followed along with her patio redo with anticipation along the way, as it turned from a plain concrete pad to a stylish space ready for outdoor entertaining.

Hi, Ya’ll!

My name is Traci, and I am so glad to be here at Rhoda’s wonderful blog, Southern Hospitality.

Rhoda holds a very special place in my heart.

She is one of the reasons I started blogging two years ago.

See, my precious mother found Rhoda’s blog online and fell in love with it. She said, “Traci, you have to check out this blog! You would love it!”

My response was, “What’s a blog?”

Well, I did check it out, and I was hooked. I fell feet first into blogland, and my life hasn’t been the same.

God has blessed my socks off!

One of those blessings is Rhoda’s friendship. She really reached out to me after my mom passed away a year and a half ago. I met Rhoda in person at Blissdom a few months after my mom had passed, and she took me under her wing and made me feel right at home with the other home bloggers. I am forever grateful to Rhoda. I tell her she was my little “angel” during that time in my life.

Now I am so blessed to call her my friend. And I know my mom would be beside herself to know that her little bloggin’ daughter was guest posting on Southern Hospitality today! Isn’t God good?

Well today, Rhoda and I are talking about Outdoor Spaces on our blogs.

I am going to share with you my Back Patio Makeover I completed last summer. It was my favorite project of the year!

And over at my blog, I am spotlighting Rhoda’s fabulous deck makeover she completed last year. I absolutely love it. So please feel free to hop on over and see me after you finish reading this post.

When we moved into our home almost 7 years ago, there was an unfinished sunroom on the back of the house.

We left it like that for about a year, but we did not enjoy it. It was like a huge bug collector, and it would get scalding hot in there!

So my hubby and I tore down the walls of the sunroom and built columns to create a covered back patio.

We LOVED it!

It stayed that way for about five years, and it has been a great spot for summer cookouts and family get-togethers.

But last summer, I was getting tired of the gray concrete floor on our back patio. There were several stains we could not get rid of, and the concrete just left the patio looking bland.

I wanted to tile the patio, but we didn’t have the money.

So I decided to stain the patio to look like tile. (Actually, Rhoda put the idea in my head, and then I researched it online.) Thanks, Rhoda!

We cleared everything off the patio…

Then we measured and taped off the patio using1/2 inch automotive tape to create squares. This part really wasn’t as labor intensive as you may think. (Just a little hard on the knees.)

Next, we covered the patio with a concrete stain and sealer from Lowe’s.

After it was dry, we removed the tape and had this!…

We loved it!!

To see the complete tutorial of how to do this project on your concrete patio, click HERE.

We added our furniture back on the patio with a little bit of a different color scheme.

I added drop cloth curtains to the corners of our porch to add softness and help shield the sunshine during the day.

We have spent so many wonderful days and evenings out on this patio. I truly treasure it!

The “faux” tile was the perfect touch to dress up our patio!

Thank you, Rhoda, for letting me share my makeover with your readers!

Now I would love for you all to hop on over to my blog to check out Rhoda’s fabulous deck makeover! I’ll see you there!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

Traci, thank YOU so much for stopping by! Outdoor projects are some of my fave and your stained faux tile patio is at the top of the list too. I am a sucker for stained concrete! If I had a house with carpet over concrete, I would rip that carpet up SO fast and stain the concrete. It is such an inexpensive and beautiful fix for concrete, whether it is inside or outside the house.

Are you doing any outdoor projects this year? Tell us about it!

Making A Fall Magnolia Wreath

Rhoda — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 11:15:22 +0000

Sometimes I lag behind when it comes to getting inspired for Fall, especially when our Southern weather wants to hang on to that Summer heat all the way through September. This happens most every year for me. It’s not until the air gets a little bit cooler that I think about what I want to do for Fall. This year, what got me in gear was seeing my friend, Kate’s beautiful magnolia wreath that she whipped up from nothing.

My mind quickly went to my stash of magnolia branches that I had collected 2 years ago for Christmas decor. They are nicely dried and preserved with a pretty sage green color and that luscious velvety brown on the backsides. I dug them out of the attic to see what I could come up with.

Here’s what I had. About 10 or so of these magnolia branches, plenty of leaves to fill up my wreath. Specifically, a grapevine wreath I’ve had for years. So, I snapped off the leaves til I had a pile like this. Got out my hot glue gun and started layering them on the wreath, weaving them in and out, on top of each other. I turned some of them backwards, so that the pretty brown backsides would show too. And I ended up with this:A lovely magnolia leaf wreath. I had a large piece of burlap that I picked up at a yardsale for pennies and cut strips of it for a floppy bow. Just looped it over a couple of times. Simple and easy. Those little pinecones I brought back from the Northwest came in handy too. They were perfect little accents glued on the burlap. Love the natural feel of this wreath. Just what I had in mind. So, there you have it. An easy wreath, using materials from nature. I found this cute little quail bird at a yardsale too a couple years ago and added him in at the end. And he makes a perfect companion to the wreath. Just like he flew in and perched there to be our personal greeter.

I’m going to try and save this wreath by wrapping it up and storing it away before Christmas comes. These magnolia leaves are pretty hardy and since these were picked 2 years ago, I’m hoping they will keep holding up on the wreath too.

Have you made any wreaths this year?? I’d love to see them if you have, so tell me about YOUR wreath!

Come back on Wednesday and I’ll show you the rest of my Fall decor (what there is of it!) and you can link up too if you have some Fall to share!

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Are you on Facebook? I’d love to have you join my Southern Hospitality page if you are. You’ll see me leaving updates over there periodically and you can read along. For instance, since the yardsale party is over for the year, I couldn’t resist hitting a couple of sales near my house.

What did I find? Click over to my Facebook page to find out! And feel free to add a pic of your own.

I think I’ll have to give up on a BlogFrog community. It’s just too hard to do it all, so Facebook will be where you’ll find me more. If you have questions or comments, you can feel free to leave them there too. Either way, I’ll see them. That’s a good place for others to join in on conversations too.

Don’t forget, the Nate Berkus blogger show is Monday, so check it out if you get a chance! Sarah and I are sitting behind the brown chair on the far right of the stage, but you might not see us at all. We were on the back row of that section.

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Lastly, the lucky winner of the CSN $150 giveaway is #48, Courtney with MommieBlogs. Congrats, Courtney! I’ll put you in touch with CSN, so that you can claim your prize.

I’m linking up to The Nester’s Wreath party!

Birmingham Botanical Garden Orchid Sale

Rhoda — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 10:00:05 +0000

Just a couple of weeks ago, our Birmingham Botanical Gardens had an orchid show and sale. I decided I must check it out and already showed you the orchid I brought home. Thanks for all the tips from those of you who have grown orchids before. I’m really going to try to keep this one alive.

I took my camera with hopes of getting some nice orchid shots too and had a ball trying to capture the beauty of these delicate flowers. I ended up taking a lot of pics and was pleasantly surprised at how well they turned out. I want you to know that these pics are edited for contrast, size, etc., but I did nothing to the color. This is straight out of the camera beautiful. It was amazing how many different varieties there were and all the color combinations they had. I have no idea what all the names are, I didn’t take notes on that. My intent was just to capture as many blooms as possible with my camera.

Note on my camera: taken with Canon T1i, with 50mm1.8 lens.

So enjoy the show!!

This is the one I brought home, a soft and delicate green/yellow shade.

Aren’t they all beautiful and different?? I was just drooling over all of them. Thanks for going along with me and I hope you got inspired for orchids too. I stopped by the Leaf and Petal, the giftshop at the gardens and they have some lovely items in there. All are garden related and such pretty things to look at. Wreaths. Pretty mercury glass votives.

Botanically inspired pillows.

How about a big colorful grasshopper on your pillow? Potted flowers and a gorgeous driftwood mirror frame. Simple green bottles filled with fronds. Elegant and easy.

Loved the big urn with mossy ball inside, along with the green bottles. Feast for the eyes. I had to come home with 3 of these little white guys.

Cute owl on a pumpkin. And a Limelight hydrangea in bloom. I have a huge Limelight and love it. It’s a bloom buster for me.

Hope you enjoyed the orchid tour at the botanical gardens. It’s a treat for the eyes!

Living with Plants

Rhoda — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:00:20 +0000

Having real live plants around the house has always been a favorite of mine, all the way back to the late-70′s when I got my first apartment. OK, I’m dating myself, but remember macrame plant hangers? Yeah, I had a couple of those. I’ve gone through stages of having less rather than more, but right now is a more is more when it comes to real and living plants.

If you’ve read my blog long enough, you’ll remember me posting about real and fake plants and how it’s OK to have fake plants, but I’ve come to the conclusion in the last couple of years, that real just suits me better. Now, when I look back just a few short years ago and see all the fake plants I had around here, it just makes me cringe.

Do you ever do that?

Now I’m on a mission to bring more live plants in the house. So far it’s working out pretty well and I’ve managed to keep most of them alive. One that I have had great luck with is the Birdsnest Fern. I didn’t think it would be easy to grow, but I have one and it’s doing very well in filtered light, so I picked up another one at Walmart recently.

I used to have several African violets in this window, but those have bit the dust. I need to get more. My mom grows some beautiful ones and has shared with me over the years. They seem to do great for a few years, then something happens to them. I can’t remember the exact name for this pothos, but I think it has Lime in it. I have had this for probably 3 years now and it is growing great. I’m not particularly super good at fertilizing, but I try to keep everything watered fairly regular. This corn plant came from an office I was working in and it was literally 1/2 dead when I brought it home. I nurtured it and now it has grown probably 2 or 3 feet since then. It likes all the light coming in the foyer. At the top of the stairs by the window, I have the Birdsnest Fern. It’s been sitting here happily for 6 or more months. I love the crusty old terracotta pot that I picked up at Grandma Eleanor’s old house.

By the way, Grandma E is doing just fine. We didn’t get her out much during the heat of summer, but I imagine I’ll be taking her out some this Fall. She’s her usual ornery self. I talked her recently into donating some of her dogs and rabbit dolls that she makes to The Lovelady Center for the children, so I was glad she agreed to it. They will enjoy having them. This little bean (or whatever it is) came from Ikea and was only $3. I’ll definitely get more of these if I find them again. I love how it looks like a little green tree. All I do is keep the soil moist and it seems to be completely happy. Someone told me this is an avocada seed, but I tried to root one and it rotted. This looks more like a giant bean to me. Peace lilies (Spathiphyllum) are one of the easiest plants to grow inside. If you have ever had plants, this is probably one of them. They do very well and will droop when water is needed and perk right back up when they get a drink. You can hardly kill these things. This is another type of spath (I think), not sure which one, but it does equally as well. I’m bad about not keeping my tags, so lose track of the official names of them. These little plants I found at a yardsale and have no idea what they are called. Does anyone know? I just give them a little water and they seem to be happy and they do spread and pop up new shoots. Bamboo shoots have been around for a few years and they do well too. Closeup of those plants that I can’t identify. This palm tree has done pretty well for me too. I keep it watered and so far so good. The other larger frond variety did lose several fronds, but is still alive. So, I would say that this particular variety is a better indoor choice. It’s a little lacier on the fronds.

This pretty little plant has been in my bathroom for well over a year now and doing very well. It seems to grow slowly, but has not given me any problems and stays very green with just weekly watering. The only identification on the plant tags on these say Angel plants, but I think that is just a species and not a particular name. Anyone know what this one is? I just bought another one since this one has done so well. They look like tiny little palm trees. A commenter said that this is a diffenbachia, another hardy and hard to kill plant, this livens up the bathroom. I’m bad with names.

So, what are your favorite plants for indoors? Are you growing plants inside or do you think you have a black thumb? I promise all of these that I’ve shown have been very easy to grow and most of mine are a few years old.

I hope this will inspire you to bring some plants home and give them a try if you’re not already. Real plants just add so much to a home!

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Are you decorating for Fall? I’m a light Fall decorator and don’t do a whole lot, but I’ll be sharing some Fall things in the next couple of weeks. I know that Fall is exploding all over blogland, but I just can’t get into it so early, so come back in a couple of weeks and we might even have a linky party, so you can show off your Fall finery. Mine won’t be huge, but I will do something.

Updates on the Porch

Rhoda — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:00:17 +0000

I’m joining Kimba’s Outdoor party today with new and improved pics of our new porch. I’m SO enjoying this new space and spend a lot of time out on the loveseat, reading and enjoying the sunshine. Since I got that new camera, I’ve really enjoyed playing around with it and getting better shots and the first post I did on the porch was with my old camera. So, thanks for indulging me, the photo-bug! I have done a few updates too, so come along with me.

You can see my original porch post here and click here to see how I made those cute shutters. I found 2 lime green pillows at Target to add to the chairs and I decided to repaint the little iron table in between with the same paint I used on the shutters, Avocado and I like the shot of green on the pillows and table. These were inexpensive pillows and add a lot to the chairs. It was pretty sunny when I took these pics, but you get the idea on the green.

This, this….is my favorite spot on the porch. I can lay down, put my feet up and relax right here in the loveseat. And I do allocate an hour here and there to doing just that. I did add a small fan out here too, that I can plug in and beat the heat. We definitely need all the help we can get right now. HOT, yes it is HOT! Still loving the fabrics I picked out.

And this little yardsale vase gets a new lantana flower every few days. I found that dragonfly votive holder years ago yardsaling too and added it out here for some additional cuteness on my tray. Yummy fabrics. The coffee table is good for holding books and a cold drink. I brought up another little plant stand that holds a slab of marble and a couple of newly potted impatiens. I love growing flowers and having more on the porch is good with me. Here’s where the brass yardsale birds ended up. They are heavy enough they should stay put on this railing. Coral impatience. Another look at the birds. These yellow zinnias are doing well for me too. And since I got the new camera, I’ve been experimenting with some other flowers in the yard. This is my limelight hydrangea, which is now bustin’ out with blooms. I love this plant! And a purple coneflower is oh so pretty.

Back to the porch, I also got a new light fixture (Lowes, $30), a nice addition to the porch. The other one I had up here was from a yardsale, so it was time to get a nicer one.

Another impatience plant here on the bakers rack. I also picked up a strand of capiz shell lights from Target, just in case we want to sit out here in the evening. Aren’t they cute? I tied them up with zip ties and they stay put just fine even when I close the umbrella. And last, but not least, we finally got a nice storm door on our backdoor, which was much needed. We can already tell a difference in how much cool air now stays in the house instead of escaping out this door. It pulls down from the top to reveal a screen that we can use during the Spring and Fall when the air is cooler.

One note on our gray siding. You can see the color of our brick in this pic, which is what our entire house is made of, except this small area here on the deck space. The former owner painted all the trim this gray color right before we moved in. Eventually, all the trim will be repainted to more of a brown/taupe color, which I think will look much better with our brick. That’s why I used a taupe on the deck stain and that’s why I chose this brown/tan color for the new door. Just in case you were wondering. Gray is not my first choice for the siding or trim on our house and it will be repainted eventually. For now, I’m living with it.

So, that’s an update out on the porch! I am loving this new space so much. Watching hummingbirds has become my favorite past-time.

I hope you have a place outside to enjoy too. Do you?!

Hop on over to Holiday with Matthew Mead and read about my childhood Christmas memories of my Barbie doll! Do you still have YOUR Barbie? I do!

And last, the 2 Blueberry cookbook winners are: #124 Susan with Thrums and #41 Carolyn H. Congrats ladies! I’ve sent emails to both of you and I hope you enjoy your cookbooks.