Will They or Will They Not?

 When I went outside with Lucy the this morning for her,
"I'm going to sniff around the entire yard to see who may have
traveled  through my space overnight", I took with me the container
where I dump used coffee grounds and crushed egg shells, saved for the week. 
I add some water to the mix and take the old red Folgers container,
filled with this mixture, outside to the garden
to dump around the hydrangea bushes.  

I am seeing some green shooting up from the bottoms of most of the bushes,
now that the snow has melted, but I am worried that this weird,
extremely cold winter may have damaged the buds for
the flowers on the old growth.  I have 2 of the newer endless bloom bushes,
but the rest are the older variety which have the blooms
form on last season's growth.

So, I guess it will be a wait and see.
Did the flower buds freeze and will not bloom
or have they survived?

Setting Up for a Spring Show

 We set up at the new location of the Perry Hall Craft Show yesterday.
Lovely, larger storefront filled with gifts, crafts and vintage.

 

Today...back to the studio/shop to work on orders and some new projects.

My brain is so full of new things I want create,
but running into the problem of not enough hours in the day.

www.countryworkshop.net

Just Under the Snow...

the red buds on the maple tree in the front yard are shining through.
OK, Mother Nature...enough!

Just Beachy...

Warmer weather and sunshine have me dreaming of days at the beach.  
 I found some "shore" things that can bring the feel of
the beach right into my home.

 Love the blue of these Thomson Pottery Cape Cod dishes
with seashells found on macys.com

  Some blue and white pillows with starfish shares a bit of the beach
to the living room or maybe the bedroom.
found on houzz.com

 A set of 3 nesting tables of white painted wood,
have the look of a cottage by the beach.
found on the CastawaysHall shop on Etsy

Our new Wisdom of the Beach sign,
in light turquoise and white,
would fit right in...
Country Workshop

Celebrate!

Let's Celebrate!
 

The end of Winter...the first day of Spring.
As my Grandmother Elsie used to say,
"Get out side and blow the stink off."

Who has the Cupcake?

 The family celebrated 12 birthdays last weekend and had a "sprinkle" for my niece who is expecting the next new addition.  He will be here in early April.

Some beautiful and tasty cupcakes for the celebration of both
the pending arrival of the"Little Prince" and the Birthdays were of
great interest to the grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

 But the most intrigued was my darling Riah who sat
patiently waiting for the moment she could take a bite.

  She was the first one at the table...

 All smiles at first...

 

 waiting, waiting...

  Sneaking a taste...

Waiting a bit longer...

The singing of Happy Birthday...

and finally success!

Flowers and Waterfalls

   Took a few hours to stroll through the Maryland Home and Garden Show
and was able to see a bit of spring and summer.

 Lots of colors and lots of ideas...

 Old time favorites like primroses

and pussy willows.

But I saw these mini iris for the first time...

and many water features...

 

Love the one below, built into a hill with these lovely stone steps.

 

Also some amazing out door living spaces...several with full kitchens.
There were small displays but some were enormous.

                  

However, some of the best spots were little corners,
of a larger set up...that really looked like summer.

After this crazy winter, a bit of summer was a wonderful thing.

Baltimore's Painted Screens

On Saturday, my daughter Meagan, her husband Erik,
Lou and I went to an art exhibit at MICA
The Painted Screens of Baltimore and Beyond
Meagan works at the college and had asked if we would like to
go to the exhibit and I an so glad we did.

 Celebrating 100 Years of Painted Screens

 A Baltimore Tradition
1913-2013.
"You see out. No one sees in."

Growing up in Baltimore, I remember seeing many homes with painted screens on windows and screen doors.  Certainly not as popular now, but there is a house, a couple of blocks away, that has one of these works of art in one of its front windows.

Lou's Grandmother's rowhouse on Rose Street in Baltimore had a painted screen and the traditional white marble steps, which his Aunt Dot scrubbed every Saturday.

Picture Windows ... The Painted Screens of Baltimore and Beyond 
runs through March 16th in the Fox Building's Meyerhoff Gallery
1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.

A bit of history from

The Painted Screen Society of Baltimore

Only in Baltimore?

Rowhouses, attached homes sharing common walls, fill thousands of blocks of this major American city. The homes' windows face the street at eye level.  They provide the perfect outdoor gallery.  Only in Baltimore could you walk the streets of a living museum, and enjoy examples of the unique art form found on window and door screens throughout historic, primarily eastside communities. Painted screens are an authentic urban folk art, created, displayed and beloved here since 1913.

Start and Finish...

 

 Yesterday morning started like this...

and ended with this in my little corner.

There is certainly beauty on cold, winter days
but I do believe I could do with some
warmer days and daffodils.