Music to Live in a Quiet House

I did something different this year to decorate the house for Easter.  I just picked some flowers from the yard and put them around the house.  Honestly, I forgot to get down the box of plastic eggs and bunnies and baskets filled with fake plastic grass.

I love the red and white place mats I cut out after seeing Kim's place mats.  Click HERE to see a post on cool things at Nanny Kim's Place.

Yes, even decorated the bathroom with irises!

But I didn't decorate the bedrooms upstairs or the bathrooms or hall.  In fact, I notice I hardly go upstairs during the day at all unless I'm putting away laundry.  Upstairs seemed too quiet!  The family is grown and moved away or working.  So I  tried something new for me.  I bought a little radio/CD player for $25 and turned it on to one of those stations without commercials.  Now, every time I go upstairs, I'm greeted by music!  I love it!

I need to find a better place to keep my CDs, but for now, I keep them in this little purple crate by the radio/CD player.  The sewing machine belonged to my late mother and it is the one where as a little girl I sat with my mother sewing.  Over fifty years ago she bought it used and stripped and stained the cabinet.  I always thought the cabinet was so beautiful, but I wished we had a machine that would sew zig zag stitches. Ha!

The radio/CD player brought back a lot of memories of my mother.  When my siblings and I grew up and moved out, the house must have been quiet to her, too, because she put a little radio above a cabinet in the kitchen.  That radio was ALWAYS on whenever we came back to visit her!

Oh, what we do to escape time!  I look forward to being upstairs alone now!  I listen to the golden oldies and dance sometimes.  Other times of the day classical music is playing and I walk around picking up.  And then there are times when DH comes upstairs after cutting the grass and turns the radio off! He thinks I'm losing my mind leaving the radio on when no one is there.  Maybe I am.

How do you live in a quiet house?

Thanks for stopping by today!
Love,
Lottie

Funny shopping with DH

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter! Now for the funny!

Since DH and I have been retired, we spend a lot of time together.  I love him with all my heart and after 40 years he is still my hero. But sometimes he embarrasses the fire out of me.  For instance, yesterday we went to my favorite department store, JCPenny.  I was looking for pretty spring blouses and pants with DH.  I found some beautiful pastel blouses and we carried a handful to the dressing room.  There was a bench outside the dressing room and he sat there in his ball cap, sunglasses and holding my orange purse. I tried on one blouse that looked great so I came out of the dressing room to show him.  But he wasn't there!  Then I saw him far across the clothing department talking to a little salesgirl in the handbag section.  He turned and saw me .... and in a deep and LOUD voice that carried across the store, he asked,

" Hey, Honey!  What size pants do you wear?" 

I froze!  Did he really expect me to holler the size back? 

The little salesgirl came running across the store (she understood) and told me she would find someone to help us. DH was trying to be my hero again and find some pants for me to try on!  After our shopping trip he took me out for BBQ for lunch and all was forgiven!

Has anything funny happened to you while shopping?

Love,

Lottie

Spring Day at Home

I love being home in the Spring.

However, I had the opportunity to travel for 10 days on a wonderful trip!  I didn't go.  Some of my family did go.  Every night the phone rings and I hear about what a great adventure everyone had that day.  But I couldn't be happier staying at home.

Dog in the window.

You see, this is the week the azaleas bloom.  

Next year I'll go on a trip, but this year I just wanted to be home
and laugh with the azaleas!

And enjoy the wonderful banana bread my sweet neighbor baked! 

Who wants to travel the world when you can stay home and your neighbor hands you a hot loaf of banana bread just out of the oven across the fence .... yum!

Hope you enjoy your Spring days!

Love,

Lottie

April in Washington, GA & Old Houses

It's April and time for a"pilgrimage" to Washington, Ga.  For years, we have visited this sweet little town outside of Athens, GA.  To be honest, we love to have lunch on the 1st Saturday in April at the First United Methodist Church.  There is always a Tour of Homes.  Here are a few pictures of homes around town not on the tour and I'll post a few on the tour at the end. 

 

This house has a beautiful side porch in the back.  Very ornate .....

Next are three homes that were on the tour.  I was so overwhelmed I forgot to take pictures of the others.

The 1894 Inn

 

Fireplace mantel in living room in 1894 Inn

 1886 Granade Home

1827 Wisteria Hall

And here are a few interior photos of Wisteria Hall.

Ballroom that runs across the middle of the house.

               
     Porch off the ballroom and next to the kitchen.

Other side of the porch. (Yes, that is me in the mirror talking.)

Men's parlor or study.

More children's bedrooms ...

Wisteria Hall is named after all the Wisteria growing on the trees in the front and back yard.

We love April in the South.  It was a wonderful day.  Thank you for joining us on our trip!

Love,

Lottie

Flowers of Distraction

Hello today.  Are you busy, too?  Join me in the yard. Have you ever been so busy that the flowers distract you?  Every time I walk by  the tulips start laughing at me!

I find myself walking down this path out my back door to the swing in the backyard.  There I enjoy swinging, enjoying the breeze, spring ... tulips.  I think to myself, "How did I get out here?  Did I fold the laundry?  Did I unload the dishwasher?"

The tulips laugh all around me!  They are so beautiful! They are incredible!

Some flowers look like pieces of art!  I can't stop looking!

I stop in front of the first iris of the spring, purple on April Fool's Day! I'm unable to walk a step further.

I'm distracted by how delicate, how reminiscent of lace, these flowers are.

And across the yard, there is the first blooming azalea.  I stare .....

My knees stop so I can't walk up the steps by the old pansy barrel ... The pansies laugh at me every time I climb the steps to the door.

Spring is a lovely distraction ...

And why I stop and look INSIDE a tulip, every time I walk by, I'll never know.

I think it is probably a good thing that we are so distracted in our lives.  How else would we have the time to feel inspired by all the beauty that surrounds us?

Thank you for visiting and sharing my distractions!  Are flowers laughing at you when you walk by?

Love,
Lottie