Interesting Places

Since I haven't been posting for a while I am sure many of you wondered where I have been. Well------lots of interesting places!!

For Memorial Day weekend we took a plane ride to this location....





Not ringing a bell? I did ask that we stop at the above places to get these photos....my husband takes me to some of the best places.

Route 66!!!




This is where we were------ST LOUIS!!!



We were in town for our nephew's wedding-- congrats to the happy couple.



The day after we got back there was a Master Gardener garden tour...one I really wanted to make sure to be a part of. Our first stop was to Phillip's house.... yes, Phillip of How It Grows! One of our fellow bloggers! His home is a native garden delight. Lots of fun meeting him finally....he lives just up the road in Williamsburg. Be sure to stop by his blog and say hi!

He was most kind in allowing our large group to come through and ask tons of questions!!

Lots of ferns and lush green growth, very peaceful garden.

Two days later we were on the road to South Carolina for a quick look at the house. We hadn't been there since March --this was another drive down one day very early and drive home the next in the afternoon. I am getting too old to do that too many more times!

This is the 'Greatroom'. Living room/dining room/ kitchen.  Like the toilet in the front hall?  Plumber was still working.


Lots of red soil/clay! Landscaping/sod etc. is the last to go in--

We now have the exterior painted and garage doors!!


Early summer view of the lake from the deck-


Look at all that sunlight on the deck! Great for containers (tomatoes!!)


Hoping to get the study trip pictures done within the next few days...stay tuned!


words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Hooray for Jane and a Trip South!!

I know that I owe everyone a posting about Red Maples for the Tuesday's Trees series, it will come. It has been an incredibly busy time. I think most everything is in a 'ready' state for the house to be on the market. Saying that, I will note that today is a very rainy day and I do have three dogs.

We ran down to South Carolina over the weekend to see the house and are getting more excited about the move. Here are a couple pictures of the progress. The stacked stone came out very well!

And for those who want to see the view....... we have lots of windows ---all overlooking the lake.

Here is one that was uploaded to Picasa...apparently now working. (go figure)

This is another view of the gardens (above the stacked stone) and the sod area.


When we got home I was pleased to see that more of the garden had popped open in the matter of a couple days. My Magnolia x 'Jane' is in full splendor.

Having fun with the photos....I took a nice photo of Jane with the Spirea 'Goldflame' behind it. A really nice photo in its own right.



Then with a little color saturation I ended up with an electric bloom!


I have had trouble with my online Picasa album today. Hoping the gremlins will go away so I can post the tree article tomorrow. Anyone else having issues?




words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Beating the Storm

Earlier this week we went to South Carolina to look at the house, pick interior colors, choose light fixtures and talk to our landscaper.

The house is really coming along quickly. The Hardie plank is on, the roof is shingled and they are ready for the stacked stone to be applied to some of the front areas.


We walked through the house with the electrician to get a count on how many lighting fixtures were needed, the walls look like they are filled with spaghetti before the insulation and sheetrock. Our contractor and his subs are really nice folks and very easy to work with.

This will be the view we wake up to every morning.......


My day was really complete talking to Wyatt, our landscaper. He installed the riprap and is installing a flagstone patio, sod and irrigation, foundation plants, preparing the large (and numerous) garden beds. He and I have gone back and forth with lots of plant material ideas and how to keep a natural look to the garden. The lot slopes to the water, so we have some tiers and lots and lots of areas under the trees we were able to have as garden beds. There were some beaver damaged trees that needed to be removed. I am happy we were able to keep a good number of trees.

The flat spaces are going to be sodded (remember we have three dogs and they need a place to run). The debris along the riprap was washout from upstream. There were some big rains and the lake level rose 3 feet in one day.

From the dock you can see the house and the landscape coming into shape. The flagstone patio is at lake level and I think will be a super place to sit and enjoy the lake. The white sticks are the irrigation pipes with the sprinkler heads. You almost can't see where the grass will be as it is on the level area. The banks along the water are both garden. It is the full sun area I have to garden, most all the rest of the yard is shade or part shade. We are using as many natives or minimum care plants as possible. Deer walk through our yard to get to the lake so that is something we are keeping in mind with plant selection. Flowers and fragrance and foliage color......oh the possibilities!!



As we talked with the lady at the lighting store (one of our last stops) we kept a close eye on the weather. The original plan was to get our stuff done then relax for the rest of the day and drive back to Virginia today.....Saturday, you know, the day all the snow and ice plowed through the mid region of the country. We changed our plans and headed up the road midafternoon. After a short stop to see one of our kids in NC for a cup of coffee, we made it home by 10 PM, well ahead of the storm.

This morning when we woke the ground was white and when I let the dogs out they loved it!
Skyler must have made a million snow angels, doggie style-


And Newton and Monroe and Skyler were frolicing and having a grand time.


Glad we made it home and have no need to go out today. It continues to snow, I think we are about to 10- 12 inches. Did I mention we don't own a snow shovel?

Jury is still out with Windows Live, this was done without.



words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Where in the Heck Have You Been????

I know I have been MIA for a little while. I have good excuses! Really!

Saturday the 12th we celebrated my mom's birthday. It was a milestone birthday and so we were in surprise mode. My sister flew in from Kansas and my brother and his wife flew in from Illinois. Our daughters drove in and as did two nephews and a fiancée. Boy was my mom surprised!!

There was silliness-

and Skyler wanted to get into the action-












And of course some wonderful gifts.....my sister did a signature quilt for her--- a true treasure! here is a link to her blog's posting of the quilt.

So the week before everyone came I was cleaning and putting up Christmas decorations. Busy busy.















After we put my sister back on the plane on Monday we headed down to South Carolina. It was time to pick cabinets, countertops, flooring, faucets and other plumbing items. On our way down the highway we got an offer to stay at a lakehouse...instead of a hotel! Sweet deal. It was really foggy when we got to Greenwood, but we did find the house. The next morning the fog was still hanging around.

Not a bad view even with the fog! The only drawback was we were without internet... what a strange feeling! (Tuesday's Trees will be back this week.)

We drove out to the house. Lots of progress has been made since we were there. The rain has slowed them down a little, but it was great to see it shaping up! You can see the water is high on the dock and there is a tree that floated downstream. The tree was gone the next day.

Great view from the lake.

The siding was getting put on and the windows are starting to be installed.

This big picture window is our dining room window, facing west. With all these trees I don't think the sun will be an issue.

The roof is coming along as well.


Sunrise was pretty impressive when it wasn't foggy. It was worth getting up at 5:30- 6:00 AM.


Will be back around to everyone's blogs and try to catch up a little. Time to get into the Christmas mode now!

Headin' South

As I stated in my previous post, we drove to our future home this week to see the progress. It was remarkable as when we were there in August, it was quite overgrown. To make the comparisons I am including some photos from a couple of our previous trips.  Welcome to our South Carolina home...

For example, a couple comparisons-
Standing where we thought the house would be sighted and then standing at the front of the garage looking to the lake. If you look to the center of the photos there is a tree that is leaning a little to the right. It is an oak, you don't see it in person like you do when you look at the photos, kind of funny.

I have posted these on my Flickr page so you can open them larger. In addition to the photos posted there is an attempt to show a panoramic view collage. A couple of the photos would not line up perfectly, but it is close. The collage is too wide to post here, so check it out on Flickr.

Here I am at the water in April, you will notice how much higher the water is in this photo. The next photo is from the other side of the lot showing the area where we will have rip-rap installed. See how much lower the water is? At least we have a sandy 'beach'. The vegetation at the water's edge was not good, some had rotted and some had some beaver damage that would cause issues later. It is a delicate balance to leave the good and clean up the undergrowth and damaged.

To the dock and from the dock----

***Please note I have written some explanations on each photo. ***

Last, here is a picture of the 'house'. The cinderblocks are wet because they were just filled with concrete.

Stay tuned for future updates as we make our trekk back and forth.  Our new neighbors have offered to take some pictures, so perhaps I will have some to share in between our trips.