A little heart

I have a blogging friend that makes very sweet things.

I went to take a look at her Etsy shop, because she said she had put some more of her creations on there.

All of them were beautiful, but there was this little tiny heart that spoke to my heart and I knew I had to have it in my home with me.

I just got it a few days ago.

She made an even tinier one for the inside of my thank you card.

Isn't it adorable?

And this is the one that spoke to me...

I'm so thrilled to have it.

A beautiful little piece of my friend, made by her very own hands.

I have it hanging in my office right now, so I can look up at it everyday from where I blog, and smile :)

Thank you, Flower Lady.

For being my friend.

For being so kind.

and

For just being you.

xo

rue

PS

Thank you for all the get well wishes.

It was just a little cold, but I feel so much better now.

I think it was the wishes that helped ;)

Music break

I have a cold and I'not feeling well, but I wanted to post something, so why not this...

With all the turmoil going on in the news recently, I thought it would be nice to look at something beautiful and well...

old-fashioned ;)

I hope you enjoy it.

xo

rue

Being polite

Polite

Does anyone know what that word means anymore?

Well, let me look in good old Webster's, so we can all be on the same page.

In fact, we'll look at two of mine.

One from 1968 and one from 1978.

For reference on what a dictionary is and how to use it, please go 'here'. I don't want anyone to be confused ;)

Webster's 1968 dictionary says:

The 1978 version says:

Hmm.... not much difference.

How about Google?

adjective, politer, politest.

1.

showing good manners toward others, as in behavior, speech, etc.;courteous; civil:

a polite reply.

2.

refined or cultured:

polite society.

3.

of a refined or elegant kind:

polite learning.

Still not much different, but the language changed a touch.

Now guess what the antonym is?

Rude.

You know which one I've see a lot of and especially lately?

I'll give you a hint... 

It's not the nice one.

I'm not sure what has happened to society, but somehow we've forgotten our manners, and etiquette seems to have gone the way of the Dodo bird.

Yes, we all have jokes about people at Wally World (politeness includes dressing correctly), but it's most prevalent on the internet.

And yes, we've all experienced it there too.

Places like Facebook are a nightmare.

What I didn't expect is seeing it amongst us in Blogland. 

We all have seen trolls, but when one of our regular readers leaves us a rude comment or sends us a rude email, it throws us for a loop.

Especially, when it's one of our own.

By that, I mean another blogger.

I've seen comments that completely tear someone down.

I've seen words so rude that I want to cry for the person.

And I've heard of emails that are so downright nasty that I can't believe that anyone would send them.

Hello!

Where are their manners?

What happened to being supportive?

When did this turn into a game of how bad we can behave towards each other?

If you disagree with someone, fine, but there's no need to be rude about it.

Put yourself in their shoes and think about how it would feel if it was you getting those nasty words.

Maybe buy an etiquette book to learn how to be polite.

Or borrow one.

God knows I have enough of them ;)

It doesn't cost a thing to be nice and as the old saying goes...

"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Or as Mark Twain said:

"It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt."

Or how about...

"Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

Anyway, just be kind to one another.

Please :)

xo

rue

My exciting Saturday

So last Saturday, I decided it would be a good time to defrost the fridge.

Why not?

It had been something like 6 months.

Bad, bad, rue.

As you can see temperatures were going to be hot...

At that point it was early in the morning and it was already 70 something.

Have I mentioned that this heatwave is killing me?

It ended up being 100 that day.

That "new to me" barometer is from a little thrifting adventure I had :)

I don't know what the little gold dial is for, but I'm using it as a wishing bar.

I set it to rain ;)

Anyway, I cleared out the fridge and my kitchen was a disaster zone.

As you can see, I need to do this more often...

Obviously.

Don't judge me.

About 8 hours later it looked like this...

Some of the ice cube trays were still in the cooler, so I could have some ice for a cocktail, after I finished.

After 8 hours of looking at my kitchen like that, I needed one.

Here it is with the food back in it...

Exciting stuff right there.

So now it's all clean and humming away :)

Oh! And I got a new tablecloth while I was out thrifting too :)

It wasn't my usual colors, but I think it works and besides, it was only $14.

Yay me! :)

I'm sure your Saturday had to been more exciting than mine, but at least I got one chore done that I had neglected for far too long.

Now I need to clean out my closet.

It's scary in there!

xo

rue

My 100th post

I had a different post lined up for today.

That was until I realized that this would be my 100th post.

When I saw that number it seemed very small, but very big at the same time.

I thought back to that December day when I realized I wanted to come back...

My life had changed so much since I had blogged last time and Blogland had gone on without me.

To anyone else, 100 posts wouldn't be that big of a deal.

But to me...

 this is a milestone.

A big one.

When I started to write my first post I was nervous and I didn't know what to do, so I wrote...

"Hello again world"

I had no idea what would happen.

It was so weird to write to a non-existent audience.

It had been around three or four years since I left and I was worried that no one would remember me, so I didn't comment anywhere.

I didn't know what to say to those friends that I'd left behind.

In fact, as soon as I finished that first post and clicked on publish, I thought that I had made a mistake.

I was wrong.

No one knew I was here for four days and then I got a comment.

It was from Kim.

Tears came to my eyes.

Then eventually all of you started leaving comments and I was overwhelmed with happiness.

I was no longer writing to myself, like I thought I would be.

To those of you that are new, that have become my friends, and those of you that are my dear old friends...

I want to thank you so much for coming along on my new journey.

You have no idea what it means to me that I have been welcomed back with a joy that I didn't think would ever come when I started up again. 

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

From the bottom of my heart.

It means so much to me that I still have a place here and that you care.

It really truly does.

xo

rue

A Summer Cottage Garden Party

Hello there and welcome :)

Before we start the tour of my cottage garden, be sure to grab some iced tea...

We're having a heat wave here in the Arizona mountains and the temperature is an unusual 98 degrees. The average is around 80 at this time of year, so it's HOT. 

Not Phoenix hot, but hot nonetheless.

At least for us ;)

Anyway, for those of you that don't know me, my cottage was built in 1930, which you can read more about 'here' and see the inside 'here'. When I moved in, the very evil last owners had let the yard go and everything was pretty much dead or dying.

Here's a picture, a couple of months after I moved in from Google Street View:

You can see more of my garden in different seasons and some of the progress here, here and here, but this is what it looks like today:

It's taken 4 years, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, to get it to this stage.

The tears were mostly from my bank account.

"cough"

Anywho...

I weeded (A LOT), planted roses and lavender in the front planters, put in new grass seed, had the sprinklers fixed,  and had the trees trimmed of their dead branches. I also planted another Elm tree, that you can see to the left, up above.

My roses are losing their blooms right now, but there's still a couple to enjoy...

Come on back up to the front porch...

Excuse us, Mr. Towhee :)

There's more tea, if you need a refill. 

I'll be sure to grab some more ice, if you need it :)

I just painted this pot rack red. It's holds my bird feeder, some plants, extra pots and birdseed.

For those of you that don't know what it looked like before, you can see it 'here' and even more of my garden from last month.

That sad little plant below is a daisy that I rescued from the front yard, after some animal tried to eat it.

Poor thing...

Off to the side I have a birdbath and some herbs growing.

Oh! I almost forgot to show you the inside of my turret...

It's a little space, but I think it's welcoming.

Well, kind of....

I guess it depends on who you are ;)

"Ahem"

Moving on to the side yard...

See that little plant at the bottom right?

That's my rosemary.

I'm proud to say that he's doing quite well, after two years :)

Around the corner, I have two side entrances.

Here's the one to my office/sewing room.

I just painted the railings and the doors not too long ago.

There's a lot more painting to do, like the window trim on the sides and back, and the house itself, but I'll get there eventually.

My home is always a work in progress, inside and out.

Aren't they all? ;)

Oops! Excuse us, Mr. Lizard!

Here's the door that leads into the mudroom, onto the kitchen, and the downstairs...

and this is the little garden outside my dining room window...

I just planted a Hosta there and I plan on getting at least one more, for the other side of that candle stick thingy, with a bird on it.

Thank you, Su, for that idea ;)

Across from this is another little garden with a birdbath.

It's the view I see every morning from my kitchen window.

I just planted some new flowers there this week and I can't wait until they fill in :)

Just past the side door is a little passageway to the backyard.

I'm just showing a peak, because it's still not ready for show and tell. 

Besides, it's getting hotter out here and this tour has gotten kinda long.

Now if you'll join me inside....

we can finally get out of this heat!

After you cool off, be sure to visit all the other participants on Brenda's Cottage Garden Tour:

The Cozy Little House

The Cottage Nest

Junk Chic Cottage

Aiken House and Gardens

Art and Sand

Butterfly & Bungalow

My 1929 Charmer

Golden Boys and Me

Blondie's Journal

Thank you so much Brenda!

And thank YOU so much for coming by. 

I truly enjoyed having you.

xo

rue