THE GARDEN CALLED AND THE NEVER ENDING SUMMER PROJECTS!

Our house with old walkway.

 I know it has been a long long time since I did a new post . My excuse? Well, I am sure some of you can appreciate that when Spring finally arrived, my garden was calling to me ...no make that, screaming at me!
 I looked outside and saw what truly was a disaster of dead perennials and broken branches. It was very overwhelming. Not only was the garden a mess, but the barn, house, and stone walls around the house needed some attention.

New walkway ( patio).

 For years, I have wanted to do something about my front walkway and when a friend, who does stone work, happened to come over one day, looking for work, I asked him if he could straighten the stones that were not laying nice and flat. Well to say that he fixed it would be an understatement!!! Moral of this story is, make sure you are speaking in a clear voice and that the words coming out of your mouth create an exact picture of what you want it to look like. Somehow, his ears heard something else that day.
 When the HUGE palate of stones arrived,  a pile of stone dust, and that black stuff that keeps weeds from popping through, I started getting a little concerned. What's happening here?
 I did say that it would be nice to have a few more large stones around the doorway instead of the grass and weeds that always ended up there, but this was starting to seem kind of extreme.

Getting accustomed to it and trying to "soften" the edges.

 Then the work started. Oh boy. My husband just kept walking around mumbling about what an old house this was and why did we need a patio in the front of it. Patio...why are you saying patio? I was trying really hard to keep the faith that it was going to be great and NOT become a PATIO!


It's a patio...... moving on ....










Next project! This one is one I know all you ladies out there can really understand the need for. A closet in the bedroom!!!! For eleven and a half years, I have suffered with NO CLOSETS, except a pitiful tiny thing ( I can't even use the word closet here), at the top of a winding staircase under the eaves. Impossible to get to and find anything inside it. Which is one of the reasons I am always wearing the same clothes..... couldn't  find any of the nice things I would occasionally buy. Yes, it is true that I am not a fashion diva, and my daughter has pointed out, several times in the past, that I am a fashion failure, but it would be nice to be able to get to my clothes without breaking my neck. It is too difficult to explain how the former closet ( still think that word is not appropriate) gave me a sore neck but believe me it did. My friends laughed when they used to see what I hung my clothes in.

The new Closet!!!

 So, I called a friend and asked for the telephone number of a good carpenter that would make my closet vision a reality. I called him and several months later, I have my dream closet! It is not completely done yet, due to the fact that the carpenter, Jeff, who I might add is a great guy, runs a summer camp for kids. It is only a couple of small details that need to be done so, in the meantime I have stuffed this closet with all of our clothes. I also added a few new things.  What fun it is to actually be able to see what you have! My husband, the one that thought this very unnecessary, stands in there every morning happily picking out shirts that he hadn't seen in a long time, because he couldn't find them and I was exhausted trying to explain to him how to find them!

1790's mantel! Love this!

Next, the crazy fireplace wall. this is next to where we had the closet built. I am still amazed that it took me so long to figure out where to put a closet since the space was just sitting there all along. Anyway, the fireplace wall was the creation of a man named, Harold Dexter, who back in the 1940's, was a restoration carpenter. He used some 18th and 19th century bits and pieces to create what he thought was a fabulous 18th century looking fireplace wall. NO it was not! I tried to love it and everyone that saw it said "Oh my, this is something", and yes it was something allright, but not a good something. As it happened, I was offered a wonderful circa 1790's mantel. It was almost exactly like the mantel I had in my bedroom in a former house of ours, that had a date of 1799 on it. I knew it would fit . This is another thing that my husband couldn't understand the reason why it was a  necessary thing to do. He loves it! It is beautiful and looks so much nicer then before.

Herb garden in beginning of the summer. 

 Slowly but surely, all our summer projects are being finished and just as the season is ending. It has been quite a nice summer and YES, I did work like a dog out there in my garden and it is beautiful! I moved huge stones, for small walls in my herb garden, replanted roses , perennials, and added compost. I was getting quite the buff looking arm muscles! Husband was a little unnerved by that......

Moral of this post is, always listen to the wife.....she usually knows best.....