Kitties and Fountains and Moss, Oh My!

I looked over yesterday, and there was Puff, practically BEGGING me to take his picture! :)

Are you all tired of hearing about my friend Jennifer's husband Dwight yet? Well, too bad. He built that patio about 10 years ago, I think, and put this fountain in as he was building it. Hellllooo! How cool is that?!

Look above at what he just built last weekend! Jennifer and I had seen a fountain like this at a garden show earlier this year, and she had taken a picture of it to show to Dwight. Well, apparently he went right to work drilling through some rocks, and digging a big hole, lining it with pond liner, getting some weird plastic decking drain stuff to layer all the stone on, et voila! Fountain! The plan is to put some sort of patio around it, so they can sit and enjoy.

This is Jennifer's incredible climbing hydrangea, making its way up the stone side of her house.

Above is a photo I took right next to the parking lot of a Burger King in Albany the other day. Kathleen just rolled her eyes at me, but you just had to see how cool it looked! I couldn't resist. And speaking of not being able to resist, I had a little fun with it in Photoshop. Don't forget to click to enlarge these for a better look.

My phone takes videos! LOL!

...and sideways videos at that! It's OK....just bend your neck to the left a little. Geesh.

Birthday Bash and Thrifty Treasures

I'll start with my thrifty find of the year so far! There are a couple more as you read through this post, but this silver pitcher is the big winner, in my opinion.

P.S. If you're clicking over from Rhoda's, please leave me a comment!
I'd love to visit YOUR blog!

It's a tw0-piece creamer, as far as I can tell. I was looking at that inside pointy jabber thing, and wondering about it, and BF said "I know what that is! It's to open a can of cream!" I was like "Hunh? Whatchoo talkin' about, Willis?" He remembered canned cream from when he was a kid. So I did a little internet research and found that during the Great Depression, people would use condensed milk in their coffee, because fresh cream was hard to come by.

What has me a little baffled, though, is why a company would make a sterling (or plated--I'm just not sure at this point) creamer for a CAN of cream during the depression. This question leads me to believe that the pitcher is indeed plated, but is in unbelieveably great condition. It's mark is WMF, which is German, and I think that if it's plated, it's worth about $65. If it's sterling, maybe twice that. Want to know what I paid?

A dolla'! Holla'! (Hee...my kid is rubbing off on me.)

Now on to my birthday dinner party. I potted up some of the plants that have been waiting patiently for my attention....

See that awesome antique basket? A dolla'! Holla'!

The flat saucer above was just collecting water, so I dug up some moss out of my yard, and planted myself a little zen rock garden. Cute, right? :)

The table, all set and ready for guests to arrive...

...see the candle from my friend Elizabeth over at A Breath of French Air on Etsy?
It smells so GOOD!

My new (old) wicker rocker. $50. Sorry, not such a bargain, but I spent two hours out there yesterday reading and enjoying a fire...

What do you think of my little pine trees? I felt very Martha-ish as I wrapped the grapevines around the bases to cover the pots. Kathleen thinks I'm a little bit crazy, and BF said "Aren't trees supposed to be planted in the ground?" I'm so misunderstood. ;P

....a gratuitous pic of my new car....I'm loving it!

.....and my birthday present from BF. I love this thing! It's so ME! And it echos the domed shape of my tent!

Thrifty find alert! The table below fold up flat! $15!

I'm thinking maybe some Formby's refinisher might be just what the doctor ordered for this table.

I know, you wanted to see that tree a little bit closer, didn't you? .....so you could copy my grapevine idea, right? I knew it!

The par-tay table!

...oh, and below are all the awesome bargain pots I got at Campo de Fiori a few weekends ago. Cheap! Tent sale! Do you see my upside-down-cloche fountain? Too cool for school! It sounds and feels like a little grotto out there now.

Thrifty find alert number three! Old church pew! FREE!! I know, right?!

I'm thinking I may paint it a bright-ish color--maybe a yellow-green. We'll see.

I'm hiding...no wait, my sister and I are taking pictures!
There were eight of us for dinner. So nice!

The cosmos were so pretty!

My friend Jennifer brought me the most gorgeous bouquet of peonies from her garden.

My toolbox pansies! They're really taking off. Toolbox: $1

My wave petunias are lookin' good too!

Jennifer bought me my very own pink dogwood tree for my birthday.
Does it get any better than that? Seriously.

This is a shot of the garage doors that I painted last week. They used to have all black squares that were totally beat looking. Now it's not such an eyesore. I'll get to the rest of the garage at some point this year.

Everyone brought me plants! I'm so excited! Below, ligularia, some big garlic thing, some euonymous...

Sedum, autumn joy:

Dahlias! I've never grown those before!

This beautiful bouquet of peonies and roses was from my friend Kelly. *sigh* I ADORE peonies.

Garden Inspiration

I don't know about all of YOU guys...but I get a lot of my garden inspiration from friends' gardens. This is my friend Donna's house, and she and her husband have done amazing things to their property. Of course it helps that they have their awesome stone house as a backdrop. :)

This front garden is a work in progress. They just put up the new fence.

Oops! Sorry it's sideways. I'm too lazy to fix it. You'll just have to deal.

That copper finial below is from Campo de Fiori! I came THISCLOSE to buying one of those last week. Oh well.

Good dog! :)

I would kill for a screened porch. Some day.

They go to the Cape all the time, and Sanibel, etc. This is their shell collection from all over.

Kathleen went to her eighth grade semi-formal dance this past Friday. I'll post a couple of pics of that tomorrow. She looked great in her dress!