leder legends

We got married on a shoestring... maybe that helped it stick. We made our own invitations (crude compared to today's technology), borrowed a dress, sewed bridesmaids dresses, baked and decorated the cake, fashioned the bouquets and boutainaires, had very little to decorate the church, the reception was fun and held in a church basement, the food was ok, the preacher was a friend, and the organist considered his playing a gift.  Celebrated by going to a steakhouse.    Good food and still good company.

  We made the decision a while back to “age in place”! That meant one major renovation…. Move the laundry out of the basement and upstairs! The logistics of that in a ranch-style house was much more complicated than expected.  The bathroom is almost restored with a special place for the new washer/ dryer combo. I’m getting excited for the new vanity, toilet and tiled shower. Since our decision to “age in place” felt like a new beginning, we also decided to get a complete paint job- all the walls and all the trim. That decision also came with great ramifications.  Each room is being purged! Boxes of stuff are delivered almost daily to New2You and the trash can is often overflowing. Making all these ‘tiny’ decisions about what to throw away, give away or keep is exhausting! It has been fun looking at some of the once believed to be treasures! New garage door Alcove in the shower  The mess One room purged and ready for pai...

The hostas are big this year May is an awesome time in my yard! It's full of lush hostas, colorful columbines, stunning allium, shy brunnera and bleeding hearts, vibrant irises, and meadow sweet and peonies attempting to pop open. I walked around with the camera trying to capture the exuberance. ENJOY! Three different baptisia - dark chocolate, lemon meringue and wild blue indigo ready to pop! Irises are plentiful this year in many colors.  The deep purple is majestic! This one has variegated leaves and has been slow to bloom. Columbines are always a welcome surprise.  So many different colors in many different locations around- they self-seed and come up different than the mother plant. Brunnera comes up quite vigorously with large leaves and then shyly produces small blue flowers. Bleeding hearts are o...

  I love April! Everything is getting so green! The grass got mowed yesterday ! Perennial plants are slowly emerging and it’s exciting to see that the cold winter didn’t kill all of them! The daffodils are done but the tulips brighten up their sections.  Marigolds are big and bright also.  My very favorite thing is seeing all the different flowering trees especially the redbuds!  They are everywhere here in town! I have an awesome Carolina Sweetheart Redbud that is in bloom but will give continually changing colors of leaves.  They are everywhere backyard cherry was in full bloom last week… beautiful for two days. The crab apple trees, white and pink ones, are showing off right now.  The Magnolias are almost done. The pear trees around town are also done. They are lovely to see after a long winter but they are problematic.  Callery pear trees  (including Bradford, Cleveland Select, and Aristocrat) are non-native,  Highly invasive trees t...

From a functional bathroom to a complete gut... the bathroom now has a subfloor.  Hope springs.. Upside-down pictures but it was that kind of chaos! It's looking much better. Definitely thankful for the dumpster ! Drywall.  T he pan for the shower is in .  Slow...