Summer Days

July is a nice month! It comes in with a bang for the 4th of July and kind of eases out slowly in to the August heat. As I look around at my patriotic decorations I realize that the next "boxes" of decorations to be brought out will be my FAVORITE--Autumn! But don't worry! I'm not rushing Summer to be over. I'm enjoying myself too much!

I've been picking sweet peppers from my garden and also some "hot" banana peppers and jalapenos. My tomatoes are starting to turn red and we have a whole bunch! Its exciting to watch your garden grow. I've also been working inside and doing some extra Summer cleaning.I know it sounds crazy but I actually enjoy cleaning... One of my favorite shelves is this particular one in my dining area:

I always like to make a few changes and I have so much fun doing that. I moved a few things out and moved a few in! Here are the garage sale finds from a few weeks back:

I gave my chicken family some more room to eat their corn on this shelf:

And the vintage Amish man and woman stand proudly on this shelf!

I added my metal watering can to the wall instead of using it on the shelf. I love it here, and I added a battery candle!

I always have a helper too. Caitlin loves to do things around the house. Yesterday she was pretty busy though making cupcakes for our Girl Scout Pool Party today! We are "bridging" from Brownies to Girl Scout Juniors and celebrating with a pool party at my co-leaders house. We are bringing these pool themed cupcakes!

We used blue sanding sugar on top of white icing to make it look like a pool. The colors are more vivid in person. That's a teddy graham in a gummy life saver too.

 Caitlin enjoyed working in the kitchen after being a glamour girl on Saturday! She and her girlfriend Ashley got fancy hairstyles from Ashley's older sister! Then they did a "photo shoot"!

Fancy Hair! 

Lots of fun! Stephanie did a great job curling Caitlin's VERY straight hair!

Before I go, I wanted to mention a great website I have been visiting for some time and I just won a giveaway! If you are a fan of Amish fiction, go to www.amishreader.com  A terrific sight that reviews Amish fiction books, interviews the authors, shares recipes and other tips, etc. At the end of June I was lucky enough to win a giveaway from the author! It came in the mail yesterday along with some other goodies! Pens, bookmarks, magnets.. Check it out!

Thank you so much Amish Reader! I'll be in Amish Country soon too! Can't wait!

Have a great day!

Happy 4th of July a Day Early!

"On this day of Independence, on this Independence Day...I'm singing a song of freedom for all people who cry out to be free...." that's from the song of Freedom sang by Bing Crosby in one of my favorite movies "Holiday Inn".

I hope you have some wonderful plans for the 4th!

My Brownie Troop was recognized by ADOPT A BATTALION LONG ISLAND through the Boots on the Ground Organization for providing gift bags to our veterans. Here are some of them: 

We plan to keep doing projects for our veterans. Last year we sent cards and gifts to Walter Reed Hospital and other stuff. Our kids need to know that freedom isn't free. Sometimes adults need reminding of that too! :)

My husband replaced a window in Caitlin's playhouse above the chicken coop!

It's a beautiful window and Caitlin can open it and close it unlike the other window we had. He also put new railings, steps and lights!

Now for the interior...I don't have pictures yet but he got her some indoor/outdoor carpet. We'll be on the hunt for some furniture for it so she can have her clubhouse in comfort!

Here is Miss Molly Moo Moo looking very Presidential in the family room...

I'll be seeing plenty of black and white cows that remind me of my Molly Moo when I go to Lancaster County shortly! Counting the days till I'm in my "happy place"! 

Next week is a busy week! Brownie Pool Party! My troop is "bridging" as they call it to Junior Girl Scouts! Pool Party at my co-leader Cheryl's house. Can't wait! 

Have a great holiday, friends!

Restoration of a Pickle Pioneer's Farm

After a busy weekend, Monday was looking kind of good to me! A nice quiet Monday. A super Sunny Monday! The first Monday I don't have to wake the kids up for school! Breakfast on the porch..Hurray! Love that they are home. I worked on the garden this weekend and picked my first peppers. The basil and the parsley are growing fast and I've been using them as well. Tomatoes are plentiful but still green and eggplants have only produced flowers so far but I'm sure they are on their way. I didn't get to visit any sales; maybe next weekend!

Saturday night we had a wedding to go to, and I enjoyed seeing a bunch of my cousins. A fun night. The wedding was held in a beautiful mansion on a big golf course. I didn't bring my camera though...sorry. I had a small pocketbook :) A perfect wedding day with low humidity and radiant sunshine.............. Now on to why this post has such a funny title:

My husband just completed extensive restoration work on a piece of Long Island history It looks amazing and he brought us there yesterday to see it complete. This is the John Gardiner Farm from the 1750's. It is in a neighboring town to Commack where I live called Greenlawn and was turned over to the historical society in 2003 by the last of the surviving Gardiner descendant who lived there with his twin brother and sister his entire life. It's a beautiful house though it never had (still doesn't) have indoor bathroom plumbing. There is only running water in the kitchen sink.

My husband's task was to restore all the buildings on the property including the house, barn and other supply buildings.

Main Barn

Second barn

path to the outhouse

original chicken coop

The farm is lovely and the Gardiner family was known on Long Island as the "Pickle Pioneers" because they grew pickles and encouraged other farmers to grow and produce them as well~~To this very day this is a working garden and pickles are grown. They host a pickle festival every October on the farm.

On the grounds in a big field, kids can take a ride on the vintage railroad. It's adorable and very old.

But the farm has some dark history. Two of the early family members were murdered in the parlor. It was big story in 1842. A farm hand robbed them as they had their afternoon tea. The feeling of not allowing visitors in the house originated from that and was carried over generations. The twin brothers and their sister who lived in the house their whole lives never let anyone in so the house remained as it had from the old days. when the remaining brother died at age 100 in 2003 he said he had regretted being a recluse. He missed people. Today, the Gardiner farm welcomes lots of visitors!

I JUST HOPE MY HUSBAND DIDN'T BRING ANY GHOSTS HOME WITH HIM!

Summer is here! Garage Sale-ing and Good Old Books!

Hope you all enjoyed a lovely weekend! We are so excited for this week--our last week of school till after Labor Day! Today Caitlin's grade is having a bbq to celebrate the last full day! Tomorrow starts 1/2 days! Billy is taking his last two exams and he is done. On to tenth grade in September. Wow! I've been busy helping at school with all the last minute stuff before the year comes to a close plus working around here in the garden. My son and I shoveled out all the old hay and shavings from the chicken coop and put down a couple bales of nice, fresh soft hay. Smells so good! I do that three times a year. The bunnies and Carol and Frankie are just loving relaxing in it while the sun shines. Little Miss Frankie just nestles her little ole self into the straw and STAYS! Carol the rooster stands guard and minds her and no one, I mean no one, can disturb little Frankie when she is resting!
On Saturday I went garage sale-ing. I had mapped out a few potential good stops but it was quite the opposite! What I thought was going to be a good one turned out to be a really bad one....I had high hopes for an estate sale that was advertising vintage Halloween and Christmas as well as "something for everyone" but their idea of vintage was 1995....no good. Plus everything was thrown about and all over the place. Overturned boxes and broken things and it was the first day of the sale. I kind of think it started out that way. No sale there...We hit a few more and had no luck but then  passed some unadvertised sales and I came home with some goodies though nothing vintage. That's okay; I like what I got! And I got.....these two resin bunnies who will sit on this bench outside the chicken coop....

These two pillows....couldn't pass them up though they most likely will be moved. They hide the hearts carved out in the swing...

Great rooster tray!

I also got a set of six cottagey-style mugs that I couldn't pass up for $2 but I didn't get to photograph them yet cause I was washing them all.

All in all, a fun day!

I was organizing some things and I took out more books that I collect  to show Caitlin. The many Summers I spent reading The Happy Hollisters, Nancy Drew (my favorite), Kay Tracey and others. I have a fairly large collection that Caitlin loves to look through and she chose a Nancy Drew and
two Happy Hollisters to read. It made me think of the wonderful children's authors I loved as a child and still look back on with so much joy..Carolyn Haywood, Catherine Wooley...Do you remember the Ginny & Geneva books? The Betsy Books? So many great titles.."A Room For Cathy", "C is for Cupcake", "Ginny Joins In" ... How about Henry Huggins? Beezus and Ramona? Because I loved mysteries best I spent my Summers with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. With Trixie Belden...I remember our library had to limit the amount of Nancy Drew books you could take out at one time (only 3) because they were so popular. The wonderful original Nancy's. When I think of Summer I think of going to Jones Beach, our family's annual week long road trip to somewhere ( St Louis, or Branson, or Lake George or Niagara Falls or so many others)..., sitting outside in the evening under the stars, no bedtime! and reading! Hope you have some fun Summer memories!

Have a sunny day!

June Days

School is officially out on June 26th! Hurray! I know to many of you that sounds late, however, we do not start school until after Labor Day. Now it's just 1/2 days till the end. Caitlin had a pizza party yesterday in her class and on Monday they'll be watching movies till the end and signing memory books. My son took his regents and final exams at home; the doctors felt that was best due to his stomach condition but he is feeling better lately so that's a plus! That's what happens with bowel disease--you have weeks of good health and weeks of bad. He is looking forward to working with my husband and doing all the things he loves to do. One of them is to ride his bike and when Billy rides his bike, you never know what he'll come home with! Such as:

A big metal flower that says WELCOME! In perfect condition out on the curb for trash day...My son can spot a treasure mile a way! It found a home on one of my rear porches. Love it!

On this very same porch, come dusk is a visitor (going on three years now) who comes to wait patiently every night and sits with her paws against the glass of our back door trying to get our attention for her supper....Miss Racoonie is her name. I've posted her picture here many times. She is very polite and she waits to see what is on the menu--usually some leftovers, some dry cat food or some bread....and she has big appetite. She has raised two litters of babies in our three years and although her children moved on, Miss Racoonie comes every night. She sits at her tray and waits for her meal.Always polite, never aggressive. On this particular night, I had made spaghetti and meatballs with italian bread on the side. After enjoying what was left, she decided to do what I have noticed she does when I give her crusty bread:

She dips it into the little bird bath to soften it up! Then she eats it! How clever she is. I was just lucky enough to get a picture of her dunking process. And that is why, Miss Racoonie, you have survived so well on suburban Long Island--you're a smartie! See you tomorrow!

Some other random photos:  Jinxieboo and Molly Moo enjoying a peek out the parlor window....

And my wood burning stove blooming and blooming and blooming!

Have a happy Saturday!

Bats, Babies, Fun Things & More Roses!

Happy Friday the 13th! It's a stormy rainy day here. We are expecting thunderstorms throughout the day~~kinda fitting for Friday the 13th, right? With Father's Day on Sunday, the impending thunderstorms made me think of the many times I would sit with my Dad under our backyard patio during a thunderstorm as a child. We both loved them. We would sit, safely of course, quietly just listening to the rumbles and watch the lightning.  Listening to the rain. My Dad taught us how to appreciate Mother Nature's symphony of "drums" with thunder. I do the same with my kids; we sit on my big front porch and silently listen and enjoy and ponder. My Dad will be gone ten years this coming January and I miss him every day of my life--not just Father's Day. Speaking of families...I've been trying so hard to photograph all the action at our horse chestnut tree to get a glimpse of the babies. Can you see the baby in the hole..look closely! It sounds like there are at least three or four babies and they are always calling for their momma and daddy! These two parents are working so hard keeping this family fed. Hoping to get even more pictures where you can see the kids!

From birds to bats....yes, Halloween bats! I've mentioned in the past that my good friend who is a major Halloween lover, has been scaling down her tremendous Halloween collection. Last year she gave me so much wonderful stuff and just when I thought she was done weeding through everything, she leaves me two boxes on my porch of hard plastic bats to hang in the trees!

Total of six bats with wires for hanging already attached! She got them at one of our favorite stores in Amish Country, Almost Paradise. She remembers buying them in the 1990's. So glad to have them!

And just cause we are on the subject of Halloween, Friday the 13th---my husband was at the nursery and brought home a dozen of these plants called "BEWITCHED"! The color is so much like the colors of Salem, Massachusetts--of the House of Seven Gables, of the Witch house, etc. Dark, and deep beautiful! It reminded him of the House of Seven Gables (our favorite house) so he planted them all over!  Did I ever tell you our house was designed by my husband to incorporate the look of homes in Lancaster County, PA and the House of Seven Gables in Salem? Here is a picture of "bewitched"--it grows pretty larger and is perennial.

In the garden up front behind my mailbox, the tea cup roses are blooming in lovely apricot:

Oh and here's Carol and Frankie among the hostas.....

The garden is just bursting this year. It even overgrew my antique mailbox:

I don't want to cut any of these lovely plants back though. It looks very neat and orderly but in a natural kind of way! Lots of color!  Yesterday I went to the Dollar Tree to pick up some more patriotic decorations and what good stuff they had. I found these adorable LED lights.

Butterflies and dragonflies. They are battery operated and so adorable. There were flowers and leaves too. The decorating uses are endless! I love my light up stuff. The happy glow! I also got the decorations I went in for and then I spotted this empty box. Of course, the cow print on it drew me like a bee to honey so I asked if I could have it...Not sure what I can do with it but I think I might hang it in my craft room to hold stuff....I might put a new sign over the words...not sure.....It's actually an advertisement for a very good cream if you've never tried it! Just never know what you'll come home with! Cow print box--SCORE!

Before I go, just one more image for Friday the 13th...a not so scary black cat who LOVES to watch the birds outside!

Little Mr. Jinxie Boo who may only see out of one eye but can spot a fly or a spider faster than anyone!

Happy Friday!

Warm Weather Weekend

Our weather this past weekend was just lovely. The temps were warm in the low 80's~~just perfect with no humidity. Perfect for a birthday pool party at our neighbor's house.

Caitlin's best friend celebrated her 9th birthday and chooses each year to have a pool party which is super fun. Lots of swimming, pool games and sweets. Her two older sisters made her birthday cake. Oreo filling!

It's hard to get Caitlin out of the pool once she is in because she LOVES swimming so much. Below she is on the right with two of her buddies wearing a rainbow bathing suit. My sweetheart.

Over in my yard, we are thrilled that we have a downy woodpecker nest in our big horse chestnut tree!

At first I thought he was just crawling along our tree for ants and bugs. We have lots of woodpeckers, chickadees, blue jays, cardinals and nuthatches. But then I saw he kept working on a particular area. Within a couple of days he was in the hole! Before you knew it could hear lots of baby chirps and a Momma flying in and out too! The nest goes all the way down inside the branch! Lots of noisy activity as those babies cry and cry till they get fed~~then you hear them settle down. I'm feeling for the Mom and Dad! They are exhausted!

The woodpeckers do have a nice view from their nest though of my roses! This is just one section! They are blooming like crazy!

Lots and lots of roses! We bought these rosebushes last year from Costco for $10 a bush. I'd say we got our money's worth!

I've been in such a Halloween mood lately. I think of Halloween EVERY day 365 days a year. Is it too early to make some Halloween crafts?

                                                        Have a great day friends!