To Scallop or Not to Scallop

Ahhh, that is the question!

Turns out we have extra scallop that we could place above the transoms to mimic the front of the house. I think it could be too busy with the transom windows; John thinks it would be great to use the scallop since we learned that we are not allowed to return it. 

A little reminder of what will be going on one day soon...

The windows upstairs will be replaced with this one and the doors are going to be trimmed out somehow. John is saying that he is cutting the doors square. I don't know. He's doing something to bring it more in line. As you may remember, we have this wonky asymmetrical garage front because of property constraints and the need for stairs to the side entry. (Before, the stairs came out into the driveway. Since there was a different garage then, it didn't matter. [A single garage door was to the left.] )

So, if you have an opinion this fine Saturday, please share. No, it will not cause an argument. I promise!

Have a lovely weekend...


Edited to Add: For further clarification, the scallop is a similar color to the siding, but not the same color. It is almond and the siding is pale green sage. We won't be painting. That's the whole point behind siding. =D

Edited to Add Again: Oh my! My communication skills are slipping. The garage will have the same siding as the house. It will be light sage green. See yesterday's post about one garage side already having been done.  So the brown is going away as the light sage green siding will go over the top. The scallop trim is a complementary color (almond—also the same color as the scallop on the house), while the siding color is as you see on the house. Same color, same batch, same everything. That siding has been waiting in the garage for a year and it's going on over the next two weeks. Just in case that makes a difference for anyone trying to decide. 

Thanks for your input. This has been fun!

Misty Morning

It's so quiet here this morning in the mist. All I can hear is coffee perking, John turning the newspaper pages, and my own fingers clicking on the keyboard. Perhaps Molly's soft whiffling as she sleeps under the piano bench. Wait. Yes, I can hear her. Well, anyway, come on in; John'll give you the comics to read; I'll pour you a cup of coffee; and we do have a piece of that crunchy apple pie.

My big task yesterday was to paint the little side deck over there. The stain was getting pretty tired and worn. If this mist clears, it needs a second coat. That's my kneeling pad — the thing that looks like a giant chicklet. It serves very well to let anyone know that s/he shouldn't use those stairs. In addition, both cars are parked in unwelcoming ways, but don't let them stop you, feel free to use the front door!

This was John's task, which he knocked out in one day. Now he has the garage's east side done. Yay! Oh, sure, I'll keep you posted on the progress every now and then until completion.

Have a fabulous Friday and enjoy the weekend!

It was Pretty...Pretty Crunchy

~Farmhouse Stand~

Diversion was needed yesterday in light of the day's news. (I have discussed that elsewhere.) So while John worked on the garage, I went off in search of apples, and pumpkins, perhaps a mum...

~The Edge of the Wood~

rather than going for a walk in the woods behind my home (as one has suggested). There's a big, old, wet, nasty ravine between me and that walk so I don't do it. John tells me that there is another big, old, wet, nasty ravine directly behind this scene. Nope, I'll be looking for level ground for my walk. There's an equally nasty walk along the river that is posted "no trespassing." I'll not be walking there either.

~Getting a lot of mileage out of one little windowsill~

I found some wee little pumpkins on the table you first saw above. Are you tired of this scene yet?

And I found some Macs being the only available variety so far.

They made a pretty pie, but those apples baked for nearly an hour and a half and they are still crunchy as if I had used canned apples. Ugh. I quit on making pies. Next time, I'll buy one instead or try to see if I can ruin *this recipe.* (Aren't they cute?!)

The Secret Revealed

Yesterday's little green leaf allows me to come clean about the water droplets that appeared on *this post.* I don't believe that I ever revealed the answer and so many were wondering way back then in August 2011. Timely, I am not.

Yes, to all those who thought a little spider may have been helping me out. Yes, indeed, the green leaf was attached by the tiniest thread blowing about on the breeze.

We are entering some golden days of September. The morning mists are gone for now and the days are crisp and sweet. They make me want to go walking in an orchard. Instead, I'm noticing the light, which never seems to enter the room playing instead just around the edges.

 ~Light through a Leaf~

 ~As Far as the Light Comes In~

~Three Cups in a Row~

What have you been noticing lately?


P.S. Don't forget! A week from today is September's Note Card Party. Clicking on the sidebar button will take you to all the information you need. I'm looking in my files for photos of mums and pumpkins and autumn pleasures. (Edited to Add: Just because I'm looking for autumn things, does not mean that you must or should. I do not mean that photos are limited to only autumn things...not at all!) Hope that you'll join in.

~Fading Orange Zinnia~

Little Green Leaf

Today is a most solemn anniversary. I am not sure how to treat it in this eleventh year. I understand that the ceremonies today will be led, for the first time, by family members and friends without outside voices, namely politicians' voices. That seems right.

I did some little research and found that many widows and widowers of 9-11 have moved forward and remarried. This is good and I am happy for them. It does not mean that the spouses lost are not remembered. It does mean that the survivors are not stuck or wallowing in a grief that would swamp them if it were allowed.

As a nation, we have moved forward and maintained a continuity of purpose and have not suffered an attack of that magnitude again. We lost some freedoms and gained some peace of mind. We certainly lost an illusion of safety that day that I doubt anyone who lived through it will ever feel again.

***

In the spirit of moving forward, I think I'll chat about a mindless little nothing much on this September 11. About how the wind caught a little green leaf outside my kitchen window and held it dancing there long enough for me to catch it over and over and over.

Of course there's a trick. It remained there turning and swaying for ten minutes or more. How? Maybe you can guess. ☺

A blessed Tuesday to you as you remember and move forward.

Trying a New Angle

I was so excited reading Jen's A Garden of Threads while visiting my Mosaic Monday Friends last night. Besides seeing some really wonderful mosaics there, you can learn about the four majors as discussed in a photography class titled "The Art of Seeing" that Jen has recently taken. I was excited to be learning something interesting and I was excited because I had just tried this new angle myself. This very photo was featured in my mosaic yesterday, though it didn't show up very well. One might not have been able to tell that I was nearly lying on the ground with the camera shooting up through the zinnias. (I do this for the amusement of the neighbors.) I liked how it came out. Now I'm going to try some other majors.

So what's been your best shot lately?

Lazy Sunday Afternoon~Mosaic Monday

One of us slept; the other read. One of us woke up, baked some cookies, ate some cookies and then padded about with camera in hand taking pictures of the other's ear and odd and sundry things in the yard like pine cones and tassels, oak leaves and acorns, zinnias growing tall, and wild nasturtiums. Is it time for bed yet?

Please have a look at the other Mosaic Monday offerings. They'll be much more interesting than this I promise you. Just go to Little Red House. Mary'll be waiting!

You Can't Earn It

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. 
~Ephesians 2:8–9

There are those who have a life they never live. They have come to Christ and thanked Him only for what He did, but do not live in the power of who He is. Between the Jesus who "was" and the Jesus who "will be" they live in a spiritual vacuum, trying with no little zeal to live for Christ a life that only He can live in and through them, perpetually begging for what in Him they already have!
~Major W. Ian Thomas (foreword to Bob George's Classic Christianity)

These thoughts have been on my mind a lot this week. I began to see the concept in terms of growing flowers. I can water, fertilize, pull weeds, tend my little garden, but I can not create a flower.

It's the same way with living a Christian life, we can tend our gardens, but we do not create salvation by doing so. Only God can do that. When we come to Him through His son Jesus Christ, we have all the power of who He is today, in this moment. We'll not know everything there is to know nor be perfect, though we will have everything we need to walk with Him. Let us not keep begging God for what we already have.

On the other hand, let us not assume that our meager efforts of being a good person or doing whatever.it.is. will be the ticket to heaven.  Jesus is our ticket and once we come to Him, let us allow Him to live His life in and through us.