Goodbye Floating Bamboo Cottage!

       Wow, 15 years!  Time for a new chapter and new lakes to explore!
 

   I put the beds, which were my grandfathers on my mother's side when he was a child, in the Marketplace for free and within five minutes had 40 messages! A man came to get them for his grandkids and sent me a photo, he was so happy to get them.  Didn't want to deal with moving them or selling them.

   They were antique tiger's eye maple, we got a lot of use out of them.

   Took two days to completely clean it out.  Can't believe how much stuff one tiny room can hold!

   I dug up a few more plants, cleaned up and will come by on a drive in the future to see what they are doing to it to make it their own.  We didn't get to meet the new owners as closings are all done virtually now, we didn't even get to see our agent.  I will now have a lot more time to work on the farmhouse.

   Shahab and Mindy spent the day with Jasper swimming, then Shahab cooked us a fabulous Persian meal.  

  They brought a basset hound mix that they are babysitting for some friends that went to Panama to visit their family.

   She was hiding out in the boathouse when someone was shooting off fireworks.  That noise really freaks dogs out.  More dogs are lost on 4th of July than any other day of the year.

Shahab was so funny getting the grill started, he has a different way of doing things.

Now those are some big skewers!  Dinner was delicious!

  Along with the skewers of onions and chicken, he made a batch of rice with lima beans, roasted whole tomatoes on the grill and had a salad as sides, along with red wine, of course!

         So goodbye floating bamboo, hello bamboo forest.  It's time to work on the path to the stream and restore the farmhouse and get it up and running!  I'm going to like this chapter!

1997 Flashback!

 COURT TV TOKARS MURDER TRIAL     

Don't know why, but I started looking for old footage from Court TV to see what my hair color looked like back in the day.  I have a hair appointment this week and he just can't seem to get my color right, it's too light.  Check me out in action at my job!  Wow, was I young!! Some Atlanta friends may remember the Fred Tokars murder trial.  It was two months long, and I stayed in a hotel, only to come home on Sundays.  It was grueling and scary being on TV, but now that I look back, it was exciting and rewarding!

The Bush is Gone

    and so is Roman.  It's been three weeks, and still too sad to look at his photos or really talk about it.  The day we had to let him go, I went outside and chopped down the bush he loved, the bush I hated.

                           It was hard to get to him under that bush, the snakes loved to hang out there, there were no blooms or berries, and the leaves hurt.  With Roman gone, there was no reason to keep it.

       When I lose a dog, I try to stay busy and not think about them.  I scrubbed the chimney which had a lot of mold on it from the bush.

    I pulled all the ivy and planted ferns, and in the fall will transplant two boxwoods and add some small shrubs along the wall.

  

                             The snake was not happy with it gone and looked all over for it.

  Ironically, the lilies opened the day he passed.  One day I can do a post for him, but not just yet.  Having lost Panda just months ago, then Roman, my big Beast, and watching Princess struggle with cancer, it's been a lot to take in.  Only a few chow friends know, I don't post things that are personal, but one friend sends me videos of a chow that I really am drawn to.  His name is Presley.  He was found in a ditch in the road, hit by a car and attacked by dogs.  He had to have hip surgery and wounds from dog bites were filled with maggots, he is heartworm positive and will take time to recover, but the timing may just be right as we won't get Geisha a friend until Princess passes.  Geisha is sad, too. She misses her friends. 

                This is Presley.  If we decide to adopt, I will be making a trip to Mississippi to get him, stopping along the way to see my friends in Nashville.

                  Just when I needed things to take my mind off losing my dogs and keep me busy, Jake came to do a list of what we're going to be doing with the farmhouse renovation.  First the new roof and breaking through the ceilings to vault them and a new back porch and adding a small deck.

           On weekends Bob and I go to antiques malls, I'm looking for small windows, preferably leaded glass, to replace the vents in the peaks that won't be needed once the ceilings are vaulted and will let in some light in the peaks.

   There are three, and as of yet, I have not found the perfect windows.

     Another thing I'm looking for are glass globes for this five-arm chandelier I found that I will use in the kitchen.  The hobnail globes on the bottom sparkle with different colors in the sunlight.

  I had one globe that I found that doesn't look too bad, clear glass and etched with a ruffled edge, but I need four more or five of something totally different, unless I just find five different globes and make it very eclectic!

                     The crepe myrtles were beautiful this year, and these are two that can be seen from the farmhouse porch, but they are obstructed by vines growing in trees, so another project this winter, to cut all the vines and saplings that obstruct the view. Next year we should be able to sit on the porch and take in the whole beautiful tree.

 

                   One in purple, one in hot pink.

    The Mexican Hydrangea grove I planted in the spring has come in full bloom and now gone, but it loves this area at the farmhouse and will continue to spread.  I have started removing ivy in front to be an area for perennials.

                             Some of the Mexican Hydrangeas in bloom

    Rose of Sharon are also in full bloom at the farmhouse.

   Amidst all that was happening, both the Jeep and the Pathfinder were having problems, it was time to buy a new car.  We really wanted the new Bronco, but my brother and mechanic both agreed the first year of a new vehicle is not the time to buy it, so we bought another Nissan and will sell it next year if we decide to get the Bronco.  The color is Monarch Orange.  I've driven the same vehicle for 24 years, my how they have changed!  

It's The Thought That Counts

                             This lovely fountain arrived in a BIG box and took me a while to put together.  George gave me the head's up something was coming, but didn't tell me what it was.  I thought it might be a fountain since we were just talking about the one Dave had in his yard.  I was afraid to open it up worried I wouldn't like it, but it turned out it was really nice, and the color was perfect for the brick courtyard. 

                            It was a bit loud, but reading the directions there was a way to slow the pump, but I would have to take it apart to do that, so I left it up for a while and then saw a leak that was coming from the bottom bowl, which was strange since there was no crack or hole.  The leak was big enough that overnight the courtyard was wet and I knew if I tried to fix it and couldn't, the company may not take it back, so decided it best to send it back.  Here it is up and running!

                   This was the fountain I saw in Asheville at the garden center I go to.  It's concrete and a tabletop, reminded me of a mill stone.  It was more what I had in mind for the courtyard, just a trickling of water to attract the birds and be soothing. 

                     Since the other was being returned, I thought my mom might consider letting me buy this one instead of getting another of the big fountain, but it had since been sold and another can't be ordered until February.  I called all over and even SC garden shops, but no one had this one.  I went online to the company, Campania International, which is in Philadelphia of all places, but it is wholesale.  

           When looking for my mill stone, I saw this one called the "Adirondack" and this might be the one for me if still available come time to order. 

    So today I got this big boy broken down, packed up and taken to FedEx.  Thank you Mom, that was a very sweet gesture, you picked a beauty, but a smaller one will do and will also save you a little cash!

   Now Blooming:  Phlox

     Coneflower that I dug up at the river.  Going back to get more!

                               Croscima that I had at the boathouse and never bloomed.  They are doing much better here in full sun.  Stay tuned for the Fourth of July post!