God's promises are true.

One year ago today, Bob nearly cut his leg off.

Then he almost lost the leg when infection set in after surgery.

We did lose our house. And my car.

We were, essentially, homeless for a month.

We had to close our business,

and we weren't sure if we'd ever open it again. 

Some days, we didn't even want to wake UP.

But then.... God showered us with blessings.

It has been a very long road from that day to today.

All of the 'bad', hard, and confusing stuff were part of His plan for us, 

to bring us to the place we are right now.

I love that the photo above shows his injured leg NOW, 

looking strong and healthy and whole!

Thank you, Lord, for holding us together - literally - this year.

And a huge thank YOU to our friends & family, 

for your prayers and your support over the past twelve months.

We could never have come this far without you <3

Rosy. Family. Bubbly. In that order!

If you remember, I recently shared the saga of Miss Rose here.

Over the past few days, she's graced us with blossoms both beautiful and fragrant!

Definitely worth waiting for, and just in time for a visit from my Mom & Dad...

they happened to be here for the best weekend of summer weather!

A day cruise up to the San Juan Islands,

a drive around Camano Island,

lots of barbecue & wine, sitting on the back patio and front porch,

and a visit with their granddaughters and great-grandsons

made for a relaxing, wonderful time for everyone. 

 We all wished that our whole family had been here.

[Next time, Jeni and Joel, we'll get you and your families here, too!]

 And on Monday, 

Bob and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary

[32 years together!]

What a ride it's been!

Ships Ahoy!

My hubby LOVES history. Especially seafaring history.

Growing up just miles from Dana Point 

and the historical replica of the 'Pilgrim' tall ship, 

[the Pilgrim was immortalized by one of her sailors,  

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., 

who wrote the classic account Two Years Before the Mast 

about its 1834 voyage between Boston and California.]

he has been fascinated with tall ships since childhood.

A few years ago, we headed up to Victoria, BC

for their famous Tall Ship Festival... 

he was nearly beside himself!

We stayed at the Empress, in a harborview room,

and overlooked the eight tall ships gathered there for three days.

We couldn't quite do that this year.

But on Sunday, we headed off on an hour's drive

over to Penn Cove at Coupeville, Washington.

Two tall ships were in port for their annual festival there,

and it's so close by that we just HAD to go see them.

Penn Cove is just across the Saratoga Passage from our Island...

it's a short sail, but a LONG drive around to Coupeville!

 One was the Hawaiian Chieftan, which I know very little about!

The other was the FAMOUS Lady Washington

[who appeared as the HMS Interceptor 

in the Disney/Bruckheimer film 

'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'.

Some guy named Johnny Depp was in that film, too ;0)]

We both snapped hundreds of images of the two ships

while they were at sail, at the dock, and out for a 'battle' cruise. 

[It was pretty anti-climactic after seeing the CG cannon effects in the films, btw].

Many of our images have now been edited 

to look like very old photographs,

and will be printed & hung in our home 

to reflect my hubby's love of the sea

and our island location:

Camano Island was a major tall ship-building location 

in the nineteenth century.

And next year when they come back, 

I'm getting my hubby ON that ship for a nice long sail!

It's been on his bucket list for 40 years...

I think it's time for that one to happen.

Lookin' Rosy...

So a few months ago, before our June show, we undertook some major remodeling of the landscaping around here...

We cut down and pulled out the roots of over TWENTY giant evergreen shrubs/trees in the center of our driveway alone. Then there were the beds in front of the porch and on the side of the porch and over on the edge of the driveway.... We just cleared it ALL out. And BOY what a difference it made!

There was a BEAUTIFUL Japanese Maple tree hidden behind those evergreens! And OH, you should have SEEN the burn pile!!! God bless our neighbor who came with his tractor and hauled away the tree trunks and branches. He has a chipper! We let him keep the bark chips, too ;0)

There were some lavender plants hidden under those evergreens, and I saved them and replanted them. I discovered a very small rose bush, which had been mowed over and reduced to a tiny stump, and replanted it, too.

And then there was ' Miss Rose'...

She was tall and scraggly, overgrown and untrimmed. She held on to a few leaves, and several rosehips and unbloomed buds from last season remained on her gangly branches. 

She was located at the edge of the gravel driveway... with her roots precariously placed beneath the traffic area in hard-packed gravel.

Now, Deb is no gardener or plant expert.... but I DID work for 18 months at a home & garden store (Molbaks) and learned a bit about plants (taking those horticulture classes was the only way to get a pay increase :0/ )... and I knew that this was not a good setting for a rose. 

She deserved better.

So, I spent one.entire.DAY (an overcast and cool one) gently digging around her roots, loosening the dirt with a spade and small shovel, pulling weeds lodged in and around her roots, lifting inch by inch to dislodge her from the rocky soil. One root stubbornly delved straight DOWN into the earth, and I was unable to pry it out. So we hooked up the truck and a rope, and slowly slowly slowy pulled her out of the ground in the smallest increments possible to avoid damage.

I placed her gently in the new hole I had dug for her, cradled in the corner of the stairs leading up to our front porch. I envisioned her pretty pink blossoms perfuming the breezes wafting into the open windows in summer. I tenderly supported her roots and covered them with rich soil, watered her deeply, and even said a prayer that she would survive the move.

Well........

Despite all that, she dropped all of her leaves, turned hard and brown, and looked for all the world like a dead rosebush sitting next to my pretty white front porch. During our show in June, she did not shine as I had hoped, but drew comments like 'Awwww, that's too bad' from friends and fellow vendors. 

Our weather this summer has been, well, frankly, ABYSMAL. 

People are calling it Junuary, Julyuary, and Augustober.

Cloudy, cool, rainy, and decidedly UN-summerlike. 

But apparently, that is JUST what Miss Rose needed, because about two weeks ago...

She sprouted leaves! And BUDS!

I was sitting on the porch one afternoon, having lunch with Bob, and all of a sudden I realized that there was some GREEN over there by the stair railing. I went over to look, and jumped up and down for joy: 'She's ALIVE!'. 

At that moment, Bob named her the 'Resurrection Rose'... perfect, isn't it?

What had been so downtrodden, and then appeared to be dead, just needed time to recover and be revived. At exactly the right moment, she was. And soon, she will bloom into soft pink old fashioned roses with the most delicate scent... I just know it. She will perfume the air and decorate the porch & yard and be all of the things I had hoped she would be. This photo is of the last blooms that remained on her last fall when we discovered our house...

And no, the irony of that is NOT lost on me... I get it.

Life can be rosy, no matter how dead and lifeless it looks at times. 

Dreaming Wide Awake

Last evening, after a delightfully sunny, warm day
and a relaxing dinner alfresco,

our regular 'tidal change' breeze blew through the valley. 

All of the windows in the house were open, to let in the fresh air all day,

and somehow, this particular breeze managed to stir something

that no other breeze has. In a very long time.

I walked past the guest bath, and noticed the corner of something

peeking out from under the huge wall-mounted mirror.

[One that I have every intention of removing,

as soon as I have time and the perfect pair of mirrors to replace it with]

When I pulled on the corner, a postcard dropped into my hand.

The photo on the postcard is shown above. 

Yes, it's Mona. Remember my plea to her here?
I have this strange attraction to her
because she is all the things I am NOT. 
[serene, calm, mysterious, ageless....]

But, that's not the point. 

THIS IS:

 That postcard with the lovely image of the lovely Mona Lisa came from PARIS.

France. 

Postmarked, signed, sealed, and delivered

from the Louvre to the former owner of our house.

Who, for reasons unbeknownst to me, hid it behind the mirror

in the upstairs guest bathroom.

Makes me ponder....

Why has no other breeze dislodged that postcard?

Why did it happen last night?

Last night, which was a sweet precursor to the AMAZING day

 that today has been? 

I have no idea why things happen when they do,

but I am going to just tuck this little beauty somewhere I can see her

every darned day

 and remember her strange and mysterious appearance

[much like her smile]

and believe that if the things that happened today happened, 

then this postcard could be an indication of things to COME.

Yes, like PARIS France.

Because after this week, this day, ANYTHING is possible...

Speaking of which, have you heard about this marvelous new shelter mag

that's premiering in September?

 

  FOLK Magazine is just the breath of fresh air that the shelter glossies need right now!

Visit their web page and learn more about 'the Folks',

the inventive and inspiring minds behind this fabulous project...

... and if you look really close, right there on page 36, 

you'll see why I am so over the moon excited right now. 

I'll be a regular contributor to this beautiful style mag!

I am so honored to have been asked to develop creative content

for each issue, in a column called 'Sweet Re-Treats'.

I'm working alongside some very, very talented people

[like my sweet friend Kimberly Taylor!]

Now do you see WHY Paris, France is so possible?

Dreams DO come true!