House View From The Other Side of the Creek

I would like to join Susan for Outdoor Wednesday. Go see more great outdoor posts by visiting her at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

Before Christmas one evening, I looked out the back window and saw fire. I showed John and he called the fire dept.
Here is a close up of the fire. The location is actually on the other side of the creek so it is not that close to us but because of the leaves being too dry at this time of the year, we were concerned.

The fire dept. truck came. It's the vehicle with lights on the left side of the fire. And then it left so we guessed that it was a controlled fire.
The following day, John drove there after work to see what was going on and finds out that someone bought 6 acres of the property and is clearing out enough of the trees to be able to build a house. When John got home, he told me he could see our house from there. So, I asked him to take me there for I wanted to see how the house looked from the other side and I wanted to see the creek.

This is where the fire and smoke was coming from.

And there's our house. Recognize it? It would show more now after the leaves all have fallen but we haven't been back there since. It is a private property so we can only go when the guy, our future neighbor, is there. Can you see the creek at the bottom? It's pretty dry in this picture.
Here's a closer up.

another one

See how deep the creek is? I was excited since this was really the first time I saw our house far from behind.

and then we went home.

But first, let me show you our red Japanese maple, before it lost all its leaves. Isn't the color pretty?

One last thing I want to share is our rosemarie and camelia flowers. We had a dinner party on 1/2, so I picked some rosemarie to mix with my baked potatoes. While cutting up some rosemary, I noticed the pink and red camelias were both blooming. So, I cut some to put in a vase. Sorry, I forgot to take a camera and it was too cold for me to go out again, so I just took the pictures of the herb and flowers after I took them to the kitchen. I think they are pretty and it is so nice to see some flowers blooming in cold winter months.

Thanks Susan, for hosting another fine event.

Thanks all for the visit!

Guest Room for Grandkids Still Evolving

The holidays went by so quickly and now it's another year. For most of us, we like to redecorate during this time and I am no exception.

I would like to share what I have done. They are mostly blue so I would like to participate in Sally's meme, Blue Monday. For more blues, go visit her at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

I created some mosaics too so I am also linking with Mary at http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/ For more creative mosaics, go there.

And since I am posting changes, I would also like to join Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/. To see lots of amazing transformations, make sure you go there.

I have shown this change first last week but I am not done yet so I want to share a little progress. The top pic below is the "before" picture. It's the original decor since we moved in here from Florida almost 3 years ago. The bottom picture of the mosaic is what I did last week. The end tables have not been placed yet and no window valance was hung. And now, I have hung the blue and white toile valances I bought from Ebay. I also moved the end tables here from the living room. The tables were extra pieces in the living room and I don't know why I didn't think of moving them here to begin with.

I know I should put that porta crib away but I cannot figure out how to fold it. I haven't had practice for decades now, lol. So, I just added a yellow throw blanket to match.

I also ordered an area rug for this room but it has not arrived yet, so that might be my next transformation post. It's sorta ongoing, lol, just like everyting else in our house.

Just shown here are accessories I added on the end tables. Everything was just moved from other parts of the house. I do that a lot, do you?

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your new year is favorable so far. Thanks Sally and Susan!

Progress in The Garden With Finials As The Finale

I thought of joining Chari of http://happytodesign.blogspot.com/ today for Sunday Favorites. Our backyard is kinda pitiful looking right now except for the sparkling blue water in the pool, so I thought of reposting pictures from last summer, after the iron fence was installed. I am a little late but better late than never. I had a dinner party for 14 lst night and I am still cleaning up.

Thank you, Chari for making this possible. It gives me a good feeling to think that I can possibly make the yard looking like this again after winter.

I am again linking with 2 gracious ladies: Sally for Blue Monday and Susan for Metamorphosis Monday. Please visit these fine ladies at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ and http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ respectively and then visit their participants also. I am definitely sure that you will enjoy them all.

Whew! A very hectic week just went by. My stepdaughter and her 3 little precious children were here for a visit and just left Friday. They sure kept us hopping the week they were here. There was never a dull moment.

Now, I am back to normal so I am back on full swing on my blog (although I never really neglected my blogging for I stayed up late at night to post). But my garden was put on hold and below are pictures of how it looked when I stopped working on it.

I have to apologize because my pictures are a little out of order and I really do not want to redo the whole post. I just added the first 3 pictures so please bear with me. Anyway, here is the finished fence viewed from outside the side yard. The "before" is shown below. Sorry, lol!

John and I went to a garden shop in Baton Rouge and saw this eucalyptus bench. It was marked down from $219 to $89.00 and it is very heavy and solid so I told him we should buy it. And being an obedient hubby, he agreed, lol! So, here it is! Do you like it there?

Here we are all posing in the gazebo.

Noah and Zoe, after picking some basil for our pasta dinner. They really enjoyed doing that, can you tell? Do you see our vegetable garden behind them? Our basil went crazy. It is growing everywhere, even outside the raised garden.

Did you notice Zoe's cute blue top? I think that will qualify for a Blue Mon. contribution, right?

Cute smiles, huh!

You probably still remember when I posted the gazebo being installed.

It is looking better now with plants and sod around it.

We placed some stepping stones going down so we can easily access the secret garden down below.

Here is another entry to the secret garden from the other side of the yard.

Some flowers are still blooming.

We laid bricks under the table and chairs. We need to buy more. It's been raining almost everyday, thus, the puddle there.

Here is the area where you can see our backyard neighbor's house. It is near the vegetable garden. This is how it looked before the fence was put up.

I planted some flowering plants in the area close to the deck.

See the posts?

And now the fence is up. We put a gate there in case we want to go out from the side yard. It would be a good exercise going up and down the hill.

Here is on the side yard after the fence was installed.

Good thing we put a fence up cause when the wind blows hard, it blows the pool toys away. Now, at least they stay in our yard.

This is the side of the driveway going to the backyard. Just ignore the plants. Some of them have already been planted but some are still waiting.

Here is that same area with the fence.
I just love the finials, rings and the gates.

Thank you Sally and Susan, for hosting these 2 fun memes. Thank you all for stopping by!

Tea for Three

My contribution for this Tablescape Thrusday is a Tea for Three. Two friends of mine came so we could just hang out and sing Karaoke. And when we do that, we like to drink tea and munch on something. I like to use a teapot with a warmer cause we continuously drink hot tea during the session. Somehow, we think it opens up our vocal chords, lol. For a lot of creative tablescapes, please visit our gracious host, Susan of http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
We do this in our family room, which is the most informal place in the house. With leather furniture, it is meant to be comfortable and worry free. It is also the most funky one combining safari and tribal decor.
This is very informal so I just used paper napkins. Do you like the painting on the wall? I painted that by myself.

I got this pewter tea set and the tray from Ebay a long time ago, when I still lived in Florida. It was made in Holland and I like it very much. In fact, I like it so much that I searched for more and I found a set that I gave to my daughter and another I gave to my friend, Nit. They are very similar except I could not find the same kind of tray. Too bad cause I really like the pierced scroll design. Mine also included a coffee pot not shown here.

I hope you enjoyed my small participation on TT. Thanks for coming and thanks Susan, for hosting it.