Additions & Seasonal Changes

Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers for my Robin. As I wrote,  his loss has been so devastating to us. I knew we would be visiting our animal shelter shortly because the mood in our home has been so gloomy. Our goal was to adopt and love a new kitty not replace our Robin. Dixie and Red Cat have realized he is gone as well and the whole house has been out of sync. Please believe me--I'm not crazy but our pets play such important roles in our lives. The funny thing is when we went to the shelter with the intention of coming home with one, we ended up with two new loves. Two from their list of what is classified as "overlooked" cats--cats who are not inquired about for one reason or another. Sad. So here is our 11 month old little Jinx. Overlooked because he has one eye. What a sweetie. Affectionate, playful and loving. Are we all not imperfect in one way or another? Everyone who passed him up sure are missing out on a great pussycat!

We also added a four year old female we named Molly. I have to still photograph Miss Molly Moo Moo and when I write Moo Moo, you'll see why....she has the markings of a gray, black & white cow! She's petite and sweet and quite the chatterbox so more on Miss Molly Moo Moo next post :)

I know my Robin approves of our choices. 

The Easter decorations have been packed away and in between all the yard work we have been doing, I am transforming our home into one of my favorite themes--Americana for Spring and Summer. I do have a lot of Americana out all year. Old fashioned red, white and blue are ever present here. But out comes Betsy Ross and Ben Franklin for their annual visit. One of our favorite trips was visiting her house right in Philadelphia only two hours from here. Caitlin loved her house and tour so much she used Betsy Ross for her biography report. Ask Caitlin anything about Betsy and she can tell you! Just as a little side note, Betsy was ahead of her time in that when her husband passed away early in their marriage, it was "understood" that women could not own and run a business in the 1700's. Well, Betsy was not about to give up her seamstress business and kept it going! She was a success. And when George Washington came in to her shop to talk about his ideas for a flag, he had some rough sketches and she did not care for what he designed so she put forth her own thoughts! Amazing!

In the foyer, on my happy little chair that I love to decorate sits more Americana. I want to purchase a couple more of these chairs this Summer in Lancaster. So reasonably priced and perfect for my decor. Only $21! I have a black one so I would like to get a mustard colored one and a burgundy.

You never know what you are going to find where and I ran into Rite Aid with a girlfriend the other day as she had a prescription to pick up and I happened to see these adorable resin bird figures (which I collect) for 50% off! I have collected resin bird figures, bird houses, etc for years. I would always buy a bunch of different birds in Lancaster and put them all over the house.My Mom and I love them. I picked this adorable shovel with blue jays for me and for Mom I got her the same one but with cardinals. Never rule out stores like CVS or Walgreens or Rite Aid to find good decorating stuff.

I added some real cracked corn too. I have this in the house as I don't want it to get broken outside by all the wildlife that visits us at night! I'll have to hope the new kitties aren't interested in tipping it over :)  I set it on a little blue bench my Dad had made for me and added a decoration of a glass porch door that normally hangs on the wall. I thought it looked well together!

And that's not all I got....

This one is solar and the bubbles pump up and down. These are things that sure make me happy :) In between the decorating,  I did some crafting:

I took some of the girls in my Brownie troop to the Guide Dog Foundation last Saturday. Our girls got to hear about the importance of this organization that exists on donation only; providing dogs to the blind and visually impaired all across the country. They learned how the dogs are acquired, trained and cared for. We visited their facility and met handlers and even an  elderly woman who uses a guide dog. She actually suffers from the same eye disease I have in its advanced stage, retinal pigmentosa. A little startling to me at first. Thank goodness mine has been in remission for many years but at least I know in the future it'll be great to have help should I require it. I had never known you don't have to be blind to receive a dog. We had great experience at the Guide Dog Foundation and the girls learned never to disturb a dog when it is walking with it's owner. Distraction could be deadly. 

In the photo above, my Caitlin is the little one on the right with the blue jacket. What a nice day!

Before I run, one more thing I added. I took all the bonnets Caitlin wore as a baby and toddler and hung them in my hallway. How cute does that look? I used to buy her the bonnets in Lancaster and use them every day for her. They were perfect for keeping the sun out of her eyes and wind from her ears as a baby. She wore them till she was almost 4! I found they fit better than traditional baby hats sold in the stores. I was so glad to see them one again.

Have a beautiful weekend! Hope the sun shines for you!