Spring in the Living Room

I cut some branches from a tree in our back yard this afternoon that have little white blooms on them. I'm actually not sure what variety the tree is, but I had previously thought the blossoms seemed similar to a pear tree. I'll have to do some research on it.

They make for quite a dramatic arrangement on top of the mantel, and feel very Spring-like amoung the collection of nests.

As you can see, we've also found a coffee table. I will get around to posting about it at some point, but it was an antique table that was previously green with orange underneath. Ryan cut the legs down for me and stripped the top which will remain the natural, beautifully aged pine. But the legs were too difficult, so we simply painted them white.

I have been on the hunt for a fixture for this room and just haven't found anything yet.

I also added a smaller vase of blossoms beside my chair.

I can't wait for the orchards in our region to start blooming. I've driven out twice with the intention of photographing them, and on both occasions, came back disappointed. They just aren't ready yet - likely around Mother's Day.

Spring Wedding Flowers

I love arranging flowers. 

I especially love it when those flowers are fragrant Peonies and Garden Roses.

I spent Friday morning in the old cottage behind the store, surrounded by buckets full of blooms, cleaning roses for arrangements, enjoying a chocolate pecan scone and tying the bride's bouquet.

Here is her finished bouquet. 

The stems were left long and it was tied with long, trailing blush ribbon.

It also had bits of Wax Flower tucked in it, a couple white Hydrangeas, as well as some antique blush Spray Roses and Eucalyptus greens.

The Peonies were a favourite variety of mine that I used to grow - Duchesse de Nemours. They are very fragrant, white double blooms.

The bouquet smelled heavenly.

My mom tied her bridesmaid's bouquets which were mostly Hydrangeas with a few roses tucked in them to match the bride's.

She also did these gorgeous centerpieces. They are Hydrangeas, Mums, Ranunculus, Roses and Lisianthus in footed mercury glass bowls.

I find it to be a relaxing escape for a few hours.

Budding Lilacs

Some days, this is what mothering looks like. 

Peaceful. 

Today it looked more like a broken television, and dirty hand prints on drawers, and a ripped slipcover, and uneaten lunches, and angry protests that bedtime came and the sun was still shining.

It was a whole lot of lacking patience.

I needed to escape for a few moments and find some peace. So after the bath water was drained, and teeth were brushed and two grumpy boys picked out books to read quietly while the sun went down, I put on a sweater and headed out to the gardens.

Back in December, due to such warm temperatures, I had noticed our Lilacs had actually started producing buds. Another listener that weekend on a CBC garden segement had called in with the same concern I had - would this effect our Lilacs in the coming Spring? The gardening expert simply wasn't sure as it's a very uncommon problem. We would simply need to wait and see.

And so, I've been patiently observing the buds, hoping I wouldn't be denied one of my most favourite joys in Spring.

As I escaped to the garden, the sky glowing red with the setting sun, I found the little bit of joy I was looking for.

 

There will indeed be blooming Lilacs this Spring.

Easter Celebrations

While we had a lovely weekend celebrating with family, we celebrated our risen Saviour, and His perfect love for us. And right now, I don't even have words for all of that, but this song has just stayed with me all weekend, as a sort of anthem of victory. It's titled Man of Sorrows by Hillsong.

Man of sorrows Lamb of God, by His own betrayed
The sin of man and wrath of God, has been on Jesus laid

Silent as He stood accused, beaten mocked and scorned
Bowing to the Father's will, He took a crown of thorns

Oh that rugged cross, my salvation, where Your love poured out over me
Now my soul cries out, Hallelujah, praise and honour unto Thee

Sent of heaven God's own Son, to purchase and redeem
And reconcile the very ones, who nailed Him to that tree
Oh that rugged cross, my salvation, where Your love poured out over me
Now my soul cries out, Hallelujah, praise and honour unto Thee

Now my debt is paid, it is paid in full
By the precious blood, that my Jesus spilled

Now the curse of sin, has no hold on me
Whom the Son sets free, oh is free indeed
Oh that rugged cross, my salvation, where Your love poured out over me
Now my soul cries out, Hallelujah, praise and honour unto Thee

See the stone is rolled away, behold the empty tomb
Hallelujah God be praised, He's risen from the grave

Happy Easter.

First Day of Spring

Happy first day of Spring!

While the temperatures were still quite cool today, we enjoyed a day full of sunshine. The warmth will come, and when it does, I can't wait to throw open the windows and air out the house.

I haven't done much in the way of changing the house for the season, but I have added a few potted Hydrangeas (a favourite of mine) around the house. I also have some fragrant Spring bulbs planted as well. If you're local, you can pick up these Hydrangeas in Blue and Pink, as well as an assortment of bulbs at the shop.

I just couldn't get over how many blooms were on this one!

Aside from that, I'm looking forward to tackling some Spring cleaning, and hosting Easter dinner this weekend.

And while it's not cleaning, we've slowly been checking small items off our to-do lists like hanging artwork etc... This was a painting I picked up at Christie's Antique Show last Spring, I can't wait for this year's show at the end of May.

Isn't the sunlight just wonderful?

And as today is the first day of Spring, I took a walk through our gardens to see what new growth was popping up. This is our first Spring in this house, so I had no idea what, if anything, would pop up where. I was thrilled to find some patches of Daffodils,

Finally, in preparation for Spring Cleaning, here is a great little Spring Cleaning list I came across from Jenny Hobbick at Everyday Occasions. I plan to use it to organize my own list. This is her example, but if you follow the link above, you can find blank printables.

The Family Room Entrance

I thought I would show you the progress we've been making on our family room entrance.

In an effort to keep this as inexpensive as possible, we actually relocated a shelf we weren't using from another part of the house.

It's a very simple shelf with a peg rail across the bottom.

 You can see in the photo where the shelf was. It was in a hallway off the family room, towards the playroom. You can also see it wasn't really being used where it was.

I think when I work on this little hallway, I may use that wall to create a gallery wall of family photos.

We kept it as simple as possible - Oliver's leash, my market bag, a small ironstone tray for keys, a basket for mittens and Willen's backpack when he's home.

Now I just need to sew a simple cafe curtain, and find an old bench.