Victorian Decorating

Starting to experiment with decorating ideas using Victorian die cuts - different ways to display and enjoy them outside of the scrapbook and collecting box.
Because they are so detailed and small I thought grouping them on a shelf might have more of an impact.

The matching frames help to tie it all together....

Will be sharing this over at
NiftyThriftyTuesday
Ivy and Elephants
No Minimalist Here 
Time Travel Thursday

Welcome Weekend....

Hope it's enjoyable, whatever you plan to do....

Wordless Wednesday.....

Kitchen Conservatory

We're so pleased with the latest home project, especially the fact that it was completed over the December holiday break, enabling our household to begin the New Year with a solid sense of a job well done.

Here are a few over exposed images of the task we were taking on - covering 12 foot floor to ceiling windows with a great view of our neighbor's unkempt yard.

Since the exterior glass was impossible to clean, these windows were always a little grungy - and there's nothing worse than looking through a grimy window....
So the husband and I decided to cover them with opaque acrylic sheets, as a way to obscure the view but still let in the abundant light that streams into this south-facing part of the house.
These photos show the panels set in place, but still covered in their kraft paper wrapping....

I could go into great detail about how the two of us went about measuring, cutting, caulking and varathaning, but instead I'll just share the finished project - a serene wall of soft, warm light that makes this part of the kitchen feel like a conservatory.

This week I'll be traveling over to...
Show Off Your Cottage Monday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Wow Us Wednesdays
Share the Love Link Party
No Minimalist Here Open House Party
Time Travel Thursday
Show and Tell Friday

Welcome Weekend....

Whether you play in the snow, or lounge in the sun, enjoy the weekend!

Wordless Wednesday.....

San Francisco Backyard Chickens

Every household needs a laying hen (or two, or three)....

Let me introduce you to "the girls", the backyard hens we've had for the last six years.
Actually six years is pretty old for a chicken, even one that's been pampered like a pet, and our coop is more of a retirement home now than a thriving egg palace.

But every so often, trumpets sound, and one of the girls manages to lay an egg.

Then it's quite a happy day on our little farm!
We celebrate by using the egg in a frangipane (almond paste) and I bake a fruit galette - with peaches in the summer, persimmons in the fall, apples in the winter.

Then we light a candle and hope for another egg soon....

This is the only chicken we allow in the house....

The girls and I will be visiting...
Farmhouse Friday
Potpourri Friday
Home Sweet Home
Show and Tell Friday
Saturday Show-Off
Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Wordless Wednesday......

Mediterranean Climate

That's what we have here in San Francisco, so even in the short days of winter, there's always something surprising in the backyard....

The brugmansia provides lots of fragrant trumpets for indoor flower arrangements, like this one...

The Meyer lemon is covered with tiny lemons as well as last year's crop (ready to use on our broiled fish dinners)...

And there are bright sprays of epidendrum orchids, potted and thriving among the bromeliads on the deck.....

You'd think it was August - there were even enough lavender spikes to put together a small bouquet for the kitchen table....

But this beautiful weather comes at a price.
A Mediterranean climate receives the bulk of its rainfall in the winter months, and this past December set a record as the second driest since 1898.
We need rain, and we need it soon - I'll gladly go without backyard flowers for awhile.

Will be joining the fun over at
The Charm of Home
No Minimalist Here
Potpourri Friday
My Romantic Home
Etsy Cottage Style