...."HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

July sunrise on the coast of Maine

If 'everyone' can celebrate 'Christmas in July', then I guess by default that would make August 1, 'New Years Day in August' ~ right?

THANKS LINDA for saving me a 'few' .10¢ ornies on
the Route 90 Sale last weekend!!

 July was kind of CRAZY - just like 'Xmas' tends to get - so many sales, and festivals and shows to fit into so few warm, sunny, delicious days!!

SWEATER CLIPS 2013 #8 (.99¢), #9 (.25¢), #10 (.50¢), #11 ($1)



curb picked on 'Trash Eve' from a Seaside "cottage"
in NH (we were dressed to go out for a Nice dinner,
and J didn't even bat an eye when I yelled for him
to STOP! and he had to do a U-Turn to find a safe
pull-off spot ....true love <3 p="">

I have just.wanted.one.of.these.FOREVER!  He is in Perfect
condition B-)

Probably the Best TEN CENTS I have spent all Summer.  Hysterical book.
1950's.  Warped humor.  They put captions to classics.
I'll share in upcoming posts!

July led us 'over the river and through the woods' too... from seaside, to lakes to cities ~ journey's far and wide!

 

AND...New additions to our svelteSTUFF family!!

(if you're wondering about the Berry Basket...  at a couple of days old we found one of the baby Cardinals on the ground. I picked him up and put him back in his nest.  Next day the nest was upside down and Both babies were on the ground - J put the original nest back up and we put Both babies back in.  This kept continuing.  It got to the point that M/D cardinal would come to our back porch with their distress call for us to go put their babies back in the nest... something had to be done - NEW BERRY BASKET NEST!!  Lusch Condo with room to grow...  Amazing how quick they grow - just 4 days after this photo we got to watch them fly out of 'THE NEST')

 

Now, for some 'renewed' New Year's resolutions, a bit of purging (I can't bring all of this stuff into our house without letting a bit go!!).  Hmmm... maybe this is what all years need - TWO fresh starts!

..."Don't Think"

A LOT of our recent 'finds' seem to be in the same range of colors...  I.DO.LOVE when that happens ~ particularly when it is this lively, fibrant shade, and our NE weather has been anything but lately!

Never seen grapes like this before!

THE.BEST.CORK.PULLERS.EVER ~ If you ever see one - GRAB IT!!!!

HOW COOL is the design on this guitar?  Do I know how to play? no.  Have I always wanted to learn? yes. Will I?  Does it matter with a guitar that is this fun to look at????

Maybe it's the weather... (NE weather has.just.sucked so far this summer - sorry to whine folks, BUT I AM SICK OF THIS RAIN!!), but EVERYTHING just seems out of 'whonk' right now...
  I've been looking for 'inspiration', 'motivation'...  maybe just some sunshine??
  While on my quest I did find this little tidbit...

CREATIVISM



...have been making some more Pedestals



“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try” – Dr. Seuss

"Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things” – Ray Bradbury

“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people” – Leo Burnett

...sorry sales, step aside ~

IT'S MULBERRY TIME!!

First harvest from our tiny tree yielded TWO large industrial metal mixing bowls F.U.L.L.!!  (Yes, we did end up giving half away!).  There is LOTS more to come, too!

*For those not familiar with Mulberries, they are simple to harvest, just lay a large sheet down under a branch and shake - the ripe ones drop off!  Move sheet, Repeat...  Move sheet, Repeat... NO THORNS!!  Just have to sort and cull the 'droppings'.*

It has always been a struggle to beat the birds, squirrels and rain ~ but this year we learned that there are others who are also VERY FOND of the little morsels!

We watched this lady for about 40 minutes - J with his Canon, I with the spotlight - as she happily munched on the dropped berries we had left behind!

...BIG HAPPENINGS

Whether your SUMMER SOLSTICE was on June 20th or 21st this year, hope it was a Beauty !

 

 Now, to await the arrival of the SUPERMOON!!

(I DO enjoy the making of these arrangements soooo, WHY don't I do it more often??  It isn't like we lack for a variety of vases, or flowers - that's for sure!)

Here's to the 'Biggest, Brightest' weekend of the year...

...Wednesday ramble.

"Is shopping for supplies then a way to postpone the real creating part?"

Came across this remark in the comments section of a 'thought provoking' post over at NOTES FROM THE VOODOO CAFE this morning ...

...sunshiny Monday ~ kinda.

Lovely weekend, spent transporting my parents for a 'long-weekend visit' to my brother's family and their newly built home AND of course a celebration of Father's Day! 

 While there, we even managed to sneak out for a few garage sales Saturday morning...

VERA 2013 silk #16 ($1)

VERA 2013 silk #17 ($1)

 Upon return on Sunday night, I felt refreshed, and inspired as only a 'change in scenery' can do for the soul...

 This morning, 'THE RAINS' stopped for a period and the sun actually shone!!!  The gardens are in a stage of pure bliss...

...just one side of our lawn border of roses...

...quantities of mulberries, the likes of which I have never before seen on our 'little' tree!

The 'Wine & HERB BED' with it's New Wine Bottle Tree (compliments of My Dad's handiwork!!~THANKS DAD!)

...and for dinner tonight we had Grilled Chix w/ a side of Garden stir fry Bok Choy & Scapes!!

...and now it is raining again.

...is the Universe trying to tell me something??

 The majority of this past Saturday's 'loot' consisted of this...

and the week before I score a L*A*R*G*E box of this!

hmmm...

'Somebody' better brush up on their "cast-of-characters" and get listing in their ETSY store P.D.Q. !!