White Wednesday ~ Florida Style!!

I've been tossing this idea around for a few weeks now.  Living in South Florida, as I do, I have a LOT of shells in my house.  Many of which are basically white.  The perfect thing for a Faded Charm White Wednesday entry.  Here are some pictures I made tonight in my home.  Please take into consideration that I don't have one of those fancy cameras that so many other bloggers have these days (though I love them AND the beautiful pictures they take!!);  AND that I probably don't know how to take advantage of the settings that my little Olympus Stylus TOUGH (shockproof/waterproof) camera has.  I had to get this one as I dropped our last camera in the water on a kayaking trip.  I'm a little rough with cellphones and cameras, but that is another blog post.....

Please enjoy my little pictures....

This is a picture that I gave my husband for our anniversary one year.
If you've ever been to Key West, you may recognize Pepe's.
It is one of our favorite restaurants and where we ate our first meal
as a married couple years ago.  It looks EXACTLY like this...
down to the graffitti and bike.

I got this at Pottery Barn a few years ago.
I know it isn't real, but I like it just the same.

White shell frame.
This is my older brother, Jerry, with a prized tarpon.

There are lots of bowls of shells here in the Bass household!

I live in a little historical Florida house....
lots of little nooks and crannies....
perfect for a conch shell!

Speaking of nooks and crannies....
I believe this once housed an ironing board....
IN the dining room!!
I wallpapered sea charts in the backgound
and added MORE shells!

More shells in the kitchen...
When we go to the beach and pick up little
treasures, it gets dropped into this vase.
The Madonna & Child ceramic once lived
in my Grandma Schmitz's kitchen window.
If the house sets afire....I run to the kitchen to save
this (after getting my Kloe-Angel, of course!!).

Shells in the bathroom!



A little vignette I put on my dining table.
My favorite things....an old silver tray,
pink depression glass salt and pepper shakers,
beautiful flowers and herbs from my garden,
a clear footed dish full of....you guessed it....
SHELLS (and purchased seaglass).

 I hope my Florida-style whites fit the bill for this week's entry.  Can you believe there have been 86 White Wednesdays????  Incredible.  I am getting this prepared tonight as I expect a busy Wednesday at my work tomorrow.  I pray your day and the rest of your week is MOST wonderful!!

VIF, Early Birthday Present, Little Changes to Come

I received an early birthday present from my husband last Sunday when he said to me, "I think I'm going to make your potting bench today."  I said, "Really???"  He said, "Yes!"  I said, "Okay!  My only request is that we only use material we have on-hand and not buy anything."  Off to work we went....

I stumbled across an old iron country kitchen sink a while back.  And when I say "stumbled across" I mean I saw one in someone's trash pile, made a quick u-turn, and asked my strapping son of 23 to "Quick...throw that in the back of the truck!"  Okay.....I'm not proud!!  The owner of the house in which we raided her trash pile even gave her blessing!!  So off I ran with a very cool sink. 

A day or two of hearing "What are you going to do with that thing?" from my son and husband had me envisioning a lovely potting bench. Truth be said, I never even got a good look at it. My son put it face down in my truck. It went face-down in a cart in the backyard by the shop. It went face-down in the yard while my husband and I worked on bench. Little did I know that it needed a good scrubbing. Of course it did....why wouldn't it?

Okay....back to Sunday. Here are pictures:

One can't get started without the proper
foreman.  My Kloe-Angel was really the
one in charge!

Scrap wood from building the chicken coops,
hen houses, and sunroom was used.

I had to stop Mr. Handy Hubby before
he got too far so I could paint!

Leftover exterior house paint. 
Brushes already on-hand.

One of two cast iron brackets/corbels.
I've had these for a few years now.
I.love.them.
My husband does not as they each
EASILY weigh 150 pounds!
What in the world could they have been
originally used for??
(Did I tell you I.love.them???)

This is my worst-off stained glass window....
(did that make sense??)
one I would not be too upset over seeing it age
some more being out in the weather.  Plus I liked
the green panes with the green paint.
I did put some clear poly on it to seal it a bit though.

It had to be moved into its new position
before we could tackle adding the brackets and
sink.  That cool backsplash is actually the
footboard of a bed I bought during my first
trip to Maine several years ago.  I use the
headboard in my son's room, but have had
this out in the garden.  I happened to walk by it
while we were out there and said, "Hey...I have a
great idea!"  It is absolutely perfect!!!

Sink in place and looking exactly as I had
hoped.  Gracie is giving it a once-over.
We had to make one purchase....the metal
bands that are holding up the brackets.
Not bad!

And here she is....
my beautiful New/Old/Vintage Potting Bench.

Some lovelies from the garden....roses, rosemary in bloom,
marjoram, and a jalapeno pepper.

Every night I go out there just to gaze at this lovely creation.  I can't wait for this weekend to start so I can continue tweeking it.  I want to add more old brass hose nozzles (as I collect more over time) to the top shelf and collect old watering cans (to join the lovely plastic one) to add to the bottom.  I have another storage container that is housing still more pots and supplies.  That will all be added as well.  Then at some point, I will actually put a stopper in the sink, pour a bag of potting soil in it, and pot something!  How cool will that be???

And with that....I am linking to Debra's Common Ground Vintage Inspiration Friday!!  Please stop in to see her beautiful Valentine's Day inspired porch.  I am in love with the bulbs in the red/white transferware.

As for the little changes to come....I'm making a few changes to my blog page with the help of Karen Valentine.  I've been wanting to make some changes here and there now that I've lived here in this room for a little while.  That's what we designers do, right....rearrange and then rearrange again?  Who better to give this tech-challenged blogger some pointers than Karen, who did my page design in the first place.  So I've started cleaning house a bit to make some room.  Please let me know your thoughts as you start seeing the changes.  I value your opinion!
Wonderful weekend wishes to you!!

Where my heart is today...

(Reprinted from my wordpress.com blog dated May 6, 2010.)

     This is the only David Austen rose that has ever grown for me.

A little water, a little sunshine, and I'm good.

Sweet lavender.

Crazy climber...

My prettiest dill ever.  I think I'll plant some more.

(Postcript....not tolerating the hot Florida summer very well.  So sad.)

Happy endings.

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.

Chinese Proverb

Rainy Days and Mondays

(Reprinted from my wordpress.com blog dated April 26, 2010.)

A bit of melancholy settled in yesterday morning when my 4-month-old granddaughter, Kloe, left with her mother. For reasons inappropriate to divulge, she and her daddy–my son– have been living at my home for the past two months. In that two month period, I have run the gamut of nerves, anxiety, sleeplessness, anger, helplessness, and hopelessness. Not one bit of that matters when I walk into their room each morning to see her face smiling up at me, legs and arms flailing in excitement to see me. I believe yesterday I even heard her first giggle. It’s not really as bad as I make it sound here. It is very good that she spend time with her mother and maternal family. If all goes well, she’ll be back in two weeks for another stay. For all of the turmoil, it seems a modicum of peace and civility has risen to the surface. I will survive. This is just me feeling sorry for myself. I’m allowed to wallow for a few minutes.


After a trip to the feed store for chicken feed, my husband surprised me with a trip to my favorite nursery, Giverny Gardens. I had been saying how much I wanted and needed to get out in my own garden. With a baby in the house, moments were not always my own. So for something positive to do and think about, plants and flowers always do the trick. While this is a beautiful picture below (from their website) it really does not do justice to their nursery. They were chock full of spring flowers. I could have easily spent hundreds of dollars (or more) and still wanted more. They even had foxgloves and delphiniums….just gorgeous. Even though tempted, I did not get either as their lifespan is so short here. I did enjoy seeing them in person though. It may have been the first time I have ever seen a real foxglove. It was beautiful. I do have my eye on a few rambling roses though. I am not sure they are on Fortuniana rootstock though. They probably are not, but I will have to give them a try anyway. It says to prune them every 3 to 4 weeks. They must really take off. At 20 bucks a pop, I’ll have to wait a couple of weeks and hope they are still there. Is five of them too many? I think not.

I did get a few things though and happily went home and puttered. The trip there was absolutely worth it.

My mom used to have several orchids growing in a mahogany tree in our backyard. She said God took care of them because she would just put them in the lower branches of the tree and they were on their own from there. They thrived in the dappled shade, slightly moving air, and humidity. I feel the same way about how my garden looks right now. Flowers are busting out all over. The Confederate jasmine is covered. Roses are in bud. I cannot take credit for it as it has been months since I’ve been out there. However, yesterday, it felt wonderful to do even just a few things. The compost tumbler was emptied and its contents spread about. The plants reap the benefit from the kitchen scraps plus “leftovers” from the rabbits and chickens. I took out my past-its-prime ornamental kale, planted my new plants, and even some seeds. It might be a bit late in the season for that, but I have this mentality that in Florida we have a year-round gardening season and I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. I may get a surprise or two when those seedlings don’t thrive in our already warm spring. Still, it felt good to do it.

I don’t get to do whatever I want, whenever I want. None of us do. No matter our age, we still keep trying though. I was reminded of that when I gave Kloe her millionth kiss goodbye yesterday morning. The young have the luxury of having a tantrum. My tantrum will be in the energy I put into my projects for the next few weeks. Still, there is a peacefulness to knowing I don’t always get to have my way, that I don’t have control over everything, that I need to let it go. I will change that to let it grow instead and see what happens.

~ ~

Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. ~Lindley Karstens, noproblemgarden.com