Chocolates, Flowers, and Wine

A glorious birthday celebration, planned in loving detail by my daughter,  continues to fill my heart with love and deep gratitude.

Today, we are sharing a few special gifts among the many received.

A dear niece, Amy, gave me Cote des Rose wine from France.

The unique aspect of this gift is the bottom of the bottle is a in the shape of a rose!

There was also a box of chocolates from Chocolate Springs gourmet chocolate shop.

These are very unique!

Amy's sister, Sarah, gave me a lovely bouquet of autumn flowers.

Please stop by my blog again as more wonderful aspects of a well celebrated birthday are humbly shown in the days ahead.

A Rainy Sunday

It's raining to beat the band here.

Wonder how that expression originated.

Does anyone know?

Soon, it will be take off time to go to Mass. 

Here's hoping you have a lovely day, no matter what the weather is where you are.

The photo at the top of this post is of miniature flower arrangements in a brass and glass case. 

None are more than two inches tall!

Have a good one!

Happy Saturday

When working a full time job, Saturdays were glorious days of freedom to do whatever one wanted.

Those years are over now but Saturdays are still special.

Sometimes they are used to take a mini-trip to another town.

On "at home" Saturdays, it's good to get caught up on around the apartment tasks.

These may be kind of boring but are necessary.

Today is an "at home" kind of day.

While tossing rugs into the drier, deep gratitude flashed into my mind.  

It's so convenient and wonderful to have a new washing machine and drier on a ground level floor.

It brought back memories of hauling dirty clothes baskets down old stairs and washing and drying in a 1935 basement. Gone forever are those days!

Looking around the living room at silk flowers in different vases also brought gratitude to mind.

Because there is no storage space in this apartment, a gorgeous, huge bouquet of fall flowers had to be donated to Goodwill after autumn last year.

Luckily, at a church yard sale this past summer, a whole batch of "new" and beautifully colored autumn flowers came home.

They were very, very inexpensive and look so pretty in different kinds of vases.

Because crystal always strikes a happy chord, a couple of the bouquets are in crystal, see through vases. 

When autumn is over, back to a thrift store this year's batch of flowers will go. 

Happy Saturday, dear readers. May your day be filled with things you love to do and places you want to go.

Wreaths Seem to Say "Welcome"

When someone visits our humble abodes, it's always appropriate to say "welcome."

One way of doing this is to hang a beautiful wreath on the front door.

Because of having no storage for larger holiday decorations, I gave my fall leaf wreath away. 

My daughter had made it a few years back. 

This year, when it came time to put a "welcome" autumn wreath on the front door, I really missed the sweet one that was given away.

So, my daughter came to the rescue.

She's very art-oriented and made the lovely wreath that now hangs on the front door.

Every time my car swings in to the parking space in front of my apartment, that wreath makes me smile.

DO YOU DECORATE WITH AN AUTUMN WREATH?

Decorating for Autumn

Since autumn is a favorite season, it's thrilling to see how other people decorate for it.

Remember a cousin, Marianne?

She's a master decorator and has a magic touch.

Her late mother, Gertrude, had that kind of talent, too.

Everywhere in Marianne's darling apartment are signs of autumn.

She puts little pieces of things, like ceramic birds and soft, small pumpkins, together in little vignettes.  

 Dried flowers, soft amber, orange, and yellow colors, miniatures, and more are all lovingly put together and the appeal is mesmerizing.  

It's amazing how one can decorate with thrift store finds, saved from year to year, and not spend much money yet make a space look so beautiful!

Thanks, Marianne!