Yellow Is My Favoritest Color

Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo...

"There is a sun, a light that for want of a better word

I can only call yellow, pale sulphur yellow,

pale golden citron. How lovely yellow is!"

I love yellow. Yes, it is lovely. And, I cannot resist it. If I see a jacket or a dress or a pair of shoes or a flower or a can of paint or a cupcake or bottle of nail polish and it is yellow....stand back! I just love yellow. Years ago I planted a yellow rose garden for my Mom....she loves yellow roses. When my Dad passed away, my childhood friends gave me a red rose bush....I planted it right in the middle of my Mom's rose bed...like a heart. I love that!

On another ~yellow~ subject....I did the coolest treatment on our dining room walls. I saw it on Kitty Bartholomew HGTV years and years ago and then I got the blessing from my Man then, dizzy with decorating delight...you know what that is like....I got the goods at Home Depot and went on my merry decorating way. Cha~cha~cha! But wait...before I cha~cha too soon...let me give you the details.

First you get yourself some joint compound and mix some straw into it and add color tints ...and what color did I add?... you ask... why yellow of course! Mix that puppy up and spread it on the wall ~like frosting~ and viola...cool wall treatment achieved! And now I can say ~ Cha~cha~cha!

The bottom line is....I just love yellow....it is a happy color, the color of sunshine, the color of lemonade, the color of sweet Easter peeps ~ yum~ and my gal pal MaryJo just told me that is a feel~good color...yes~sir~ree~bob...you got that right sister!

~ Boxwoods ~ No More Needs To Be Said

But....of course....I will say more....no surprise there.

I just ran into my ol' friend Chris. I have known Chris for years and years. We used to do these over~the~top staff luncheons for the teachers at our kid's school. We would cover the tables with quilts and bring in bunnies and baskets and old suitcases and flowers and bird houses and little chairs and more quilts and tea pots and have the food spilling out of these items.....it was a total blast and the staff were so charmed by the whole sha~bang.....ANYWAY...Chris was telling me about her landscaping redo and the English garden of it all......and I said..."Boxwoods!" and she said...."I got it sister"...or something like that. I told her about alllllllll of the boxwoods that we planted around our home 11 years ago and how much I love 'em.....I told her that I would blog about them....I dashed home and here I am....so Chris....this boxwood love is for you ol' friend!

Smiles ~ Ramona

Sweet, Sweet Summer

I forgot to post a picture of ~my girl~ and her graduation from Oregon State last month....a future teacher....lucky students. She is an amazing daughter...and it has been a pleasure raising her.

I am loving Summer. Enough said.

~Smiles~

Outdoor Rooms Are Just Funner!

Funner? Yep, they are! Outdoor rooms, that is. I just love a good outdoor room. Even little vignettes of tables and chairs or benches piled high with fluffy pillows tucked into secret corners of your yard...pure delight!

Oh, and did I mention that I love the juxtaposition of it all! And the more juxtapositioning, the better! Let me paint a picture of this for you....sweet little quilts thrown over the rail of the porch or over the back of chairs around the table ready to cover chilly legs while you and yours linger in the yard past dark. Or...picture this....pillows placed here and there....stacked high in the corner of the patio...Oh, and how about hanging a clock outside, or a lamp on a table, or a picture hung on the side of the ol' homestead?

I am also thinking....candles everywhere, maybe an old metal tea set on a faux, a la dollar store, silver tray....and, and, and fruit in the bottoms of flower pots around the base of plants planted in said pots....lemons in the summer and green apples in the fall...lots of fruit and you can still eat it if you wanna...yum!

And by all means....hang some curtains....that is the best juxtaposition of them all....in fact...I think that it just might be juxtapostion~ola! I am certain of it!

Better dash....gotta plant and small vegi garden in an old chest of drawers!

~Smiles~

Loving Fridays in the Summertime

It has just been one of those Fridays...nothing scheduled....rare and I love it....and the fact that is is summertime and it is a beautiful day...well I feel pretty relaxed and gently motivated to do my favorite thing...puttzing around the house and yard. It has also been a wonderful day for catching up on this and that.

Early this week I received the most lovely package from my Favorite Things Swap partner, Fiona. I am totally in love with the purse organizer she made...Fiona lives in Australia and I live in Oregon. Cool! Check out her fun blog...you won't be disappointed.

I also took some green photos to add to the Shades of Inspiration fun. I took a photo of a precious ~green~ birdhouse that my friend MaryJo is giving to her sister and she has asked me to build a gift basket around this darling house for a bird....I will have fun doing so...and if I am sucessful...then happiness will be in the air! Cha~cha~cha!

Happy Weekend ~Smiles

The Best Dog Ever!

He truly was our Best Dog Ever! We had to say a final good~bye to our beloved August Henry...fondly called Gus. He was a hefty thirteen year old beagle that would give you a high~five if you said..."Hey there Gussy ol' boy, give me a high~five!" He was an original and a total sweetie~pie...in a hound dog sort of way....'cuz in the end....he ain't nothing but a hound dog....rockin' all the way!

He loved and was loved by our cats. The night before Gus died they all sat around watching him while he slept...I think that they knew that he wasn't long for this world. He used to wrestle with them....it was truly a crack~up to behold. They were BFFs for sure.

He captured the hearts of all who met him. He would always greet you when you came home with all of the excitement in the world...and his delight was the same whether you had been gone five minutes or five years. He used to chase the cats away from their food in the morning...he loved cat food...and he would eat the 'last bite' of my morning banana....good gosh, I miss him so.

So good~bye sweet boy....you are missed more that you will ever know and you are not replaceable...not now, not never. We are heartbroken.

Lazy Summer Days.....

Well that is what I heard....lazy? Not here, not today and not in our neck of the woods. I promised a ~summer to do list ~ but first I need to get a tad organized which includes making a list and on that list I will add that I need to make a ~ summer to do list ~ cha, cha, cha!

I had a blast participating in the Favorite Things Swap. My partner is a great gal Fiona from Dragonfly Crafts and she lives in Australia...so great to connect with her.

Enjoy a sneak peek at my favorite things package I sent to her.

Now I am off to take our 11 year old to Drama Camp....great fun...and while she is at camp I am going to go buy a tunic pattern and sew myself a tunic...yes~sir~ree~bob...those cutie pie tunics remind me of the 70's....my gal pal Marie made a floor length one back when we were in high school and I just loved it...I am going to make one that goes to my knees and I will wear it with jeans and sandals and maybe I will wear a toe ring on one of my french pedicured toes...one can dream...

Smiles ~