TTFN,
Teresa
Home » Posts tagged 'holidays' (Page 2)
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Hippity-Hoppity!
Ten days til Easter! Out come the bunnies – the real, fuzzy ones are hopping all around our neighborhood, the cute do-dad ones are scattered here and there in my house.
My Mom cut back her rosemary plant and brought a big chunk to me. My nose is in heaven! I just plopped the bunch in this old bowl, and it fills the whole room with that wonderful aroma.
These are really old light covers that were in a box with equally old Christmas ornaments that my Grandad found at the green boxes. One man's trash is another man's treasure! He knows I'm goofy about antique stuff so he gave the whole box to me!
Same story with this guy. He was badly broken and going in the garbage at the flower shop my Mom worked at, and she rescued him, brought him home, and repaired him (you can barely tell, if at all, where he was broken after she fixed it). Garbage is apparently my cup of tea!
Not all my do-dads are garbage or from thrift stores (but most of them are 🙂 ).
A bunny “snow baby” box (that came in it's original box) I got for 50 cents at the thrift. I think it's so cute.
These are probably my very favorite bunnies. They are very old German candy containers.
These are also German candy containers I found at an antique store in Minnesota.
Here is a very woodsy little hippity-hop!
There's not a chance I will be able to get a picture of a real bunny in my yard. Miss Declan has discovered the fuzzy little critters while peering out the windows. Now she is obsessed! Thankfully they are staying out of harms way by sticking close to the woodpile.
My poor flower beds are in a dreadful state. They look terribly bedraggled, but Mother Nature is nursing them along, and there are bright spots starting to pop up here and there.
Sunny little daffodils.
Tough crocuses, who will show their pretty purple petals even with snow all around them.
I don't know what these tiny little flowers are called. They are spread all over the gardens, even jumping into the lawn in spots. I love their color.
The bleeding hearts are just bursting thru!
Hope you all have a very Hoppy Easter! And do remember the reason for the season!
TTFN,
Teresa 🙂
Christmas Decorations – 3
Next batch 🙂
Because there are so many pics I'm not gabbing much, but if you would like to know more about any of my decorations, go back to December of last year in my archives. I included a bit of history about most of the things I put out. My Mom, who is wonderfully talented, made many of my decorations.
Onward!
Cross finger these go thru! See you for part 4 in a minute.
Teresa
Christmas Decorations – 2
Yay! It went thru! Guess I can only load about a dozen pics at a time. More makes Blogsy wig out. So, here goes round 2 –
On to the next dozen! Sorry this is a pain in the neck to hop from post to post, but can't get them to publish otherwise! So, thanks for sticking with me for the Christmas tour.
Teresa
Christmas Decorations – 1
Tis the season! Time to festive-ise the CottageLodge! I love looking at Christmas open houses. I've recently seen about 30 bloggers Christmas home tours, and something that surprised me is most were pretty conservatively decorated. Most were elegant or cute, but fairly minimal/streamlined.
Boy, not me. I like to fill 'er up. I have never had a “themed” Christmas, just the same old, cherished things I've had for years. This year I put out probably half of all my decorations. I only decorated the living and dining rooms, keeping the back of the house/family room baby (puppy) proofed.
I will get on with the picture tour and hope it works this time. Blogsy is what I use to post on my IPad, and it is giving me a hard time – this is my 3rd try to get this post out. I am going to break it into 3 or 4 posts in a row to see if I can get it to publish. So here goes part 1, cross fingers.
OK, we'll try to get this published, and hopefully I can come back with another batch if this goes thru!
See you in a minute!
Teresa
HAPPY FALL!
So, I was being very lazy, and thought how I might just skip the Halloween decor this year. Then I remembered I had skipped it last year because we were tearing out carpet in the living room and replacing it with oak floors, and having the existing oak floors in the dining room and hallway refinished. Then I painted: the living room (3 different colors), hallway, dining room ceiling, all the trim in the whole front of the house, the front door inside and out, the screen door, and all the porch railings. I wallpapered the entryway, finally squared off and finished the opening where the gothic window was supposed to go once upon a time, and we added the birch bark backer to the Tulikivi hearth. Truth be told, I was too dang tired to put any Halloween decorations up!
This year, I had none of that for an excuse. I finally decided to get off my dead rear and get in gear. What good is it to have all this stuff if you don't put it out, right?
I started on the front porch and worked my way in.
I think this is a bicycle basket. I found it at a rummage sale. My thought was to strap it to the gate after filling it with fake flowers (because they won't be hurt if snow sit on them). It works pretty well!
These 2 little green pumpkins were the extent of my pumpkin crop from my raised bed veg gardens this year – WooHoo.
You flip a switch on this guy, open the top of his skull, and his eyes (sockets) light up, and it looks like flames come out of his skull. Too cool! (I'm easily entertained)
This little gaggle of witches were some of the first Halloween decorations I bought when I got my own place many moons ago.
My bat picture was an illustration in a super old (early 1900's), tattered kids book I found at a rummage sale. It didn't even have a binding on it anymore, just loose pages held between the covers. So I took some of the cuter animal pictures out, brought them to the copy shop, and had them enlarge and print them on heavy card stock for me. I framed the other animals, but decopaged the bats onto an old metal tray from the thrift I cleaned up and spray painted black, and use it for Halloween. I like bats.
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My Mom made the cute jack-o-lantern pillow for me.
I made the crow plate from an image download from Country Living magazine's web site. I printed it onto old dictionary pages, then decopaged them onto a wooden blank plate that I had painted black. It was a pretty inexpensive project and I like it a lot.
This book came from the free bin at the thrift! I haven't read it yet, but knew it would be perfect to set out for Halloween along with the magic wand my big little son made for me in shop class a few years ago. (I was thrilled when he gave it to me, but now that I think about it, do you 'spose he was trying to tell me something? 🙂 )
I got these little paper mâché bats about the same time I got the little group of witches. They are pretty fragile and I've not seen anything like them since I got them so long ago.
Haunted barn.
Here are our counter egos, Bruce, my little son, and me, Halloween style.
This witch cracks me up. If you clap your hands, shut the door too hard, or drop something, etc., she goes into a cackling frenzy and rocks back and forth. There's been a few times Mr. Bruce has stumbled out of bed at 6 in the a.m., shut the door into the kitchen, and off she goes. Probably not exactly what you want to hear before your eyes are barely peeled open. She's been the source of just a bit of under your breath muttering in this house…. 😉
Even if it's a pain in the neck dragging all this stuff out, it's worth it once it's done. It helps me quit whining about summer being gone so fast, and gets me into a cozy fall mood! One (AKA me) really needs to remember to appreciate each and every day of each and every season!
TTFN,
Teresa
Grateful
It was a wonderful, but much too fast 4th of July holiday.
I wanted to share some photos from the “Art in the Park Festival”, but most booths would not allow photographing since the majority of what was displayed was original artwork, and I'm sure they worry about people trying to copy/replicate their work.
I enjoy looking at the flag display the Veterans put out around the park.
Lots of folks out having fun over the Holiday.
As I passed this grouping driving down the street, I was struck by how they perfectly emulate all the things our little town is comprised of – the granary represents our farming and ranching, as does the rodeo sign. The sign is also an indicator of the tourist trade we rely on to a certain extent. The rodeo pulls in approximately 10,000 people according to the roundup committee's website. That is pretty darned amazing considering our town has a population of about 7,500 people! The Mayors Landing sign represents many of the activities the Yellowstone River offers; from fishing, to boating, inner tubing, plein air painting, even rock skipping! There are so many fun things to do at the river. The trains at the right side of the photo are representative of how this town got a spot on the map to start with – if it weren't for the railroad, I don't know if this town would ever have rooted and been able to hang on. There are lots of ghost towns in Montana, and we might well have been one of them had it not been for the jobs the railroad sustained our community with. And last but certainly not least, the beautiful mountains that surround us on nearly every side! They say Montana is “The Last Best Place”, and I don't know about that for sure, because there are a lot of wonderful places in this big wide world we live in, but I feel very blessed to call this my home. That stork sure did me a favor when he dropped me at this longitude and latitude 🙂
TTFN,
Teresa
Happy Birthday USA!
I really can't believe Independence Day is this week! When I was a kid, it seemed the 4th of July marked your summer vacation half gone. It has been so cool and wet it still feels like Spring to me! But, according to the weather forecast, we are in for a baking spell starting tomorrow. That's OK, because this little town really hops over the 4th holiday, and it will be nice to be warm and dry for all the outdoor activities. The parade is Wednesday afternoon, and the 1st of 3 nights of Rodeo action starts that night. They have a terrific high purse rodeo here that draws pretty famous rodeo competitors. People drive for miles to attend. When the rodeo ends each night, they have a phenomenal fireworks show. They set off the fireworks on the golf course, which is directly behind the fairgrounds, so the extravaganza is huge, and explodes directly above your head! Pretty intense! There is also a wonderful crafts fair the 2nd thru 4th, and I will try to catch a few photos of that to share.
Anyway, thought I'd show you some patriotic tagging we have in our little town. We have our fair share of vandalistic scribbles here and there, but this is quite serious and a real benefit to our community.
Several years ago, a couple of teenage boys asked and were granted permission to paint this mural on the interstate bridge supports. Ninth street island is a small island (with homes on it) that runs between 2 chanels in the Yellowstone River. You can drive on the island and look at the mural and also the conglomeration of art on the other support. I believe this mural represents the planting of the flag at Iwo Jima.
Pretty awesome job if you ask me. Pretty awesome kids to have enough pride in their Country to take the time out of their busy kid schedules to gift our town with this reminder. It is starting to show some wear and tear. I hope it hangs on for many years to come.
This is what is painted by various artists on the other support.
Very interesting!
Then, unrelated but still fun to see, off the island and down the road to the baseball fields, there is an Osprey pair nesting on a support between the ball park and the river.
I couldn't see their babies heads popping up yet, so they must still be fairly little.
The male was flying back and forth over the river, fishing for his young brood. He was too fast for me to catch a picture of him.
This is pretty much the view they have from their perch.
The high water is clearing off enough now that I'm sure it's nice and easy for them to spot their fish.
We are getting time off work to go to the parade, and will also be closed all day Friday (YAY! Thought they were going to stay open – bonus!), so looking forward to having a fun week! Hope you do, too!
TTFN,
Teresa 🙂
Happy Easter! ^..^
Yippee! The sun is actually shining thru my kitchen window! Time to freshen things up, put away winter-y decor, and bring a little brightness into the house. It is so hard to get inspired when it's dreary and gloomy. Now the grass is visibly greener, lots of daffodil, tulip, and iris shoots are peeking out, and I feel like I, too, am “waking up” from a too long nap.
Thought I'd share just some random stuff around the house before I start to revamp a little. Nothing too exciting, just a few things that make me happy when I look at them –
Bruce's great grandpa made this bench (and a lot more) many, many years ago for a meeting hall in the small Czech community he and his family lived in. Recently, they tore down the old hall, and they invited Bruce to help himself to as many benches as he liked since it was his kin that built them. He took 1 for himself, 1 for his brother, and 1 for his cousin. Gosh, if only we'd known we would be getting the cabin he could have grabbed a few more, they are so cute and useful.
I have had a few dogs from my collection out and about. Think I'll trade them out for my little sheep that are presently tucked away.
Eastertime snuck up on me this year. Apparently I was in a bit of a haze, cuz I sure didn't get into the swing of bunny and egg decorating much.
Just put these little guys out and that will have to suffice this year! Besides, I've got the real deal to look at while I'm out raking and spiffing up the yard….
The End 🙂
HAPPY EASTER!
TTFN
Teresa
Cozy Christmastime
Yay! Christmas! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!
So happy to have all the decorations up. Now to just get in gear and start baking and candy making.
So, here's the nickel tour of the front of my house (living and dining rooms). I don't put too much in the back (kitchen and family room) because too many critters, too many not so careful fellas. I don't want to be ruining any teeny amount of Christmas spirit that might be germinating by being a nagger, so I just keep fragiles out of harms way by parking them in the parlor.
I had a terrible aversion to putting together my tall tree this year, so decided on using 2 little ones instead – one for the living room, one for the family room.
A small portion of my Santa collection on top of my Great Grandmother's nearly 100 year old piano.
My Mom is so very talented and has made many sweet, story telling little Santa (and other characters) vignettes for me. She makes their faces and hands from Fimo dough, builds a body for them with wire, stuffing, and cloth, then sews their beautiful suits. The Santa above is decorating a tree with the help of a magpie, sheep, Corgi, Scotty, and kitty, all of which she crafted herself.
The older Santas are really special to me.
The night before Christmas book was my Mom's when she was little. It has pop ups and beautiful pictures in it. It is taped and tattered and has been very well loved by my Mom, my brother, myself, and my son over the many years it has been in our family.
The little Santa, in the sleigh, didn't have any hair under his hood. That just didn't sit well with me, so I talked Rooti into volunteering one of his curly locks. After snipping it off, I tucked it around Santa's face with tweezers and I feel much better now that he has a proper hair-do.
The Woodland Santa above was a gift from Mr. Bruce after I had given him a terrific tongue lashing about him not appreciating how very fortunate & lucky we are to be able to celebrate Christmas. No bah-humbugging allowed I told him. It apparently peeled away the Scrooge in him long enough to see his way to giving me this lovely present. He really gives it all he's got now to keep up the holiday cheer, because we must remember the reason for the season, thank The Lord, and count our blessings each and every day.
A little grouping of my non-red Santas.
This Santa is a candy container; his legs come off and he is hollow inside.
This little Santa was my Great Grandmother's. It is just over 100 years old as close as we can figure.
This Santa on the goat is another one of my very favorites.
The baby angel below, riding the swan, is another of my Mom's creations. She found a ceramic Cupid kind of ornament, carefully broke the face off of it (ooh, sounds violent :-0, don't make the girl mad at ya!) made a body & found some teeny golden wings, and voila! A swan riding, baby angel! She made the swan out of wire, stuffing, cardboard, and a coat hanger. No pattern, no lessons, just her own God given talent. I added some of my other swans including the swans I talked about in a prior post about our vacation to New Hampshire & Vermont.
I found this very strange ?wine glass? At a rummage sale this past summer. It is over 16 inches tall and I believe is true crystal ( it makes that humming sound that crystal does when you run a damp finger around the rim of the drinking part). I thought it would make a unique cloche/snow globe type decoration for some small Christmas cuteness. I paid the full dollar asking price, then stored it in the Christmas room fingers crossed that it would still be in one piece when the holidays arrived.
The swirls etched on the glass make it seem like a little fairy tale winter snow storm around the mini cabin and tiny deer.
Santa and his team on the rooftop, and an old hymnal inviting one to belt out a few carols 🙂
A polar bear parade.
A pretty, old gothic shaped church window decked out in holiday finery.
This little house just makes me want to shrink down, and mosey in for a cup of hot chocolate by the fire.
Another one of my Mom's whimsical Santas. He has the dearest face. The greyhound dog in front of the fire was brought back from an antique store in Scotland. He was a birthday present from my Mom's friend Roxanne (my udder Mudder I call her). The fireplace was a gift from my friend/co-worker Cheri. I had seen it at an antique mall, didn't buy it, then proceeded to whine about it at work. Somehow Cheri got over the mountain pass before Christmas and bought it for me, bless her heart.
These deer were a gift to my son from my Mom's cousin. They belonged to her father, and probably were purchased in the late 1930's she thought.
This little goat was made by my Mom. She bought the sleigh, but built the harness for him. By chance and good luck I found the tray (in the background) at a rummage sale. I showed the tray to my Mom, and that Christmas, a jolly little elf mysteriously appeared in the goat sleigh one day!
There is a story worth telling about the little stove in this picture. My son went to my folk's farm when he was little instead of daycare. He was quite the farmhand, helping with all the daily chores from the time he could walk (and in a backpack before that!) The Christmas he was 4, he declared that, for Christmas, he was asking Santa for a wood stove. The kind like Grampa had in his shop. OMG, instant panic on my part!! Where in the dickens was I going to find such a thing? My folks thought it all quite funny. The story was relayed to my uber talented brother, who very nonchalantly replied that he could make a little stove for my son, no problemo. The beautiful little result sat shining under the tree that Christmas morning. Talk about a Christmas miracle!! Thank you Lord for such a talented, artistic family!! My brother said you could actually use the stove if a person would want to pipe and vent such a tiny thing to the outside!Santa and the Scotty on his lap – more from the good Mom. My Dad made the willow chair and foot stool Santa sits in. His lap throw and shawl crocheted by Mom. The big black metal dog is from my collection.
A backpack basket full of sparkly holiday greenery, with a dove nestled in the middle.
This crew resides in the bathroom for the holiday season. 
Also made by Mom. I call this my Nova Scotia Santa w/ baby.
She made this baby from a tiny china doll found buried under a bunch of miscellaneous junk at an old shop.
All the shells she used in making the tree came from our vacation in Hawaii, and Roxy's vacation to Florida.
Well, this is a pretty good sampling of Christmas at CottageLodge. There is a good deal more, but I can't have you missing your own Christmas spending days looking at my bazillion decorations! Glad you stopped in for a look, and hope it added to your holiday cheer!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! AND A BLESSED NEW YEAR!
TTFN 🙂
Teresa