~Little Shop of Horrors~

Come with me and let's take a  privileged peek behind the curtain of:
THE TRUE MAN CAVE

not the Hollywood dressed up version, with cute pictures on the walls.
No, this my friends, is the real deal.

Where no woman has gone before
and one needs a 'special invitation to enter'

 

 

WARNING!!

Some of the pictures you are about to see make shock you.

 

Here he is safe from my design choices, and my attempts to spruce things up.  For even in 'his' den ... I made all the decorating decisions. Here he is free to hang whatever he chooses on whatever surface he chooses.

 

He is free to squirrel away items I intended to toss out.

Yes, an old 8 track tape player                                                         and a whimsical Italian chef ?????

Cleaning is optional.

Yes, life is good here in the shop.

The Shop is also known as the Black Hole

where things go in, but they seldom come out.
Who knows what lies buried in all these cubby holes and boxes?

 

He is a magician

and here is where he stores the trunks filled with his props

This is where the magic happens

that's usually precipitated by me asking a simple question:

"Why can't I do....?"

"What if we added...?"

"Would it be possible....?"

As in all of life, there are worker bees and then there's the Queen bee.
Fortunately for me, I am the Queen bee.
I am the dreamer, the maker of great plans.
And the dear Hubbs?
well...............



Look around, and see the tools of his trade.

 coffee cans lined up like books on my library shelf.
And just as being surrounded by my books gives me pleasure
I'm sure he loves to be surrounded by nuts and bolts.

Here, unloved and discarded pieces of furniture

are brought back to life in his skilled hands

 

This place is the reason there is a Dressed Up Cottage

If not for the magic that goes on here, it would be the NOT SO Dressed Up Cottage

with rusty broken hinges and parts falling off everywhere.

He is happy here in his little dusty cluttered corner of the world
 and why wouldn't he be?
Surrounded with the necessities of life, what more is there to wish for?

Cold Beer

TV

A comfy rocking chair

 

This vintage drafting table which was a 'freebie' is a handy spot to read
 the Sunday Paper

 

I simply love the old weathered work bench where countless projects have been
laid out, painted, stripped, sanded, stained, nailed, glued, filed, and sawed

 

What are you looking for?

He has it

 

It's like an old fashioned hardware store.
 And some of the items in here date back to that era. Ha ha

 

Here's MY favorite item in the shop.

 

through all my teasing, it's all said with a wink and a smile.
I don't call him 'Mr. Wonderful' for nuthin'

for this is where he makes my dreams come true

~The Parched Earth ~

Yes, here we are in the long
tired
 Dog Days of Summer

The Brown Days as I call them.

The life has been sucked out of the gardens.

The heat is relentless.

Even a breeze does no good, as it's blowing straight out of a convection oven.

Nothing to do, but find a cool spot (even a concrete step will do) and lie down.

A tall  glass of ice tea always helps.

August has nothing to recommend it.
I'm not a fan. 
Perhaps if I had a birthday or  if there was a special day to look forward to ,
 I would feel differently.

Sometimes I feel a little sad for August, but there you have it.
 For me, August is the unloved step child of the calendar year.

The parched earth

has been particularly thirsty this year
everything is dry, dusty .....and tired

The beautiful fields of corn in an earlier post
have shriveled up and all but blown away.

We are in the midst of a severe drought, and the agriculture in our area has suffered much.

Sadly, this will all be noticeable at the grocery store in the near future.

Smaller ponds have not been able to survive.

This pond is one of the most beautiful and picturesque in our area. But as you can see the draught has taken it's toll here.  The water level is usually up to the dock and there is lots of swimming and fishing going on during the summer months.
It's sad to see it like this.

A lovely creek bed, now only a walking trail.

What was fun in May;

the tending of new plants, the watering, the weeding, the nurturing tender young sprouts

has become a tedious chore in August. The plants once full of  lusty youth have become straggling and pale. They have given their all, and even if there's a tiny bit of life left in them, they still just look sad. So I become , what my son has dubbed me over the years:
 Dr. Jack Kavorkian!!!

I start pulling up plants and tossing them out and emptying pots and planters as if getting rid of the evidence will change the facts.



Not much left to my window box at the moment.
And these little guys know their days are numbered as well.  Sorry.

My Crepe Myrtles at the end of the drive-way 
are still trying to bloom their little hearts out,
 especially since they heard about my latest killing spree.

As I am set to publish this post, I can say we have blessedly had a splash of rain and the temps scaled back  just a enough in the last couple of days, to give one hope. 
A welcome reprieve.

As August thankfully begins to fade
 I turn my cool thoughts to September.

For Autumn is my muse.

~ Two for tea ~

Is there anything better than finding a new little treasure of a place?

I'm forever on the hunt to find the perfect place for a girlfriends lunch.

                   Come let us have tea and continue to talk about happy things. 

                                              -Chaim Potok

                                                                                                                     

BFF and I had a favorite tea room years ago, but alas it went out of business.

Every since then I have been searching ........and searching.

I feel like Goldilocks
It has to be JUST right.

Not too silly, not too ....

It must be
a place where all of your senses are nurtured

Soft music?  Check.
 The perfect strains with a French flair fill the air

The sound of water trickling in nearby fountains? Check.

Lovely linens? Check.

Flowers? Check.

Something pretty at every turn? Check.

Check

And check

and be still my heart.........GREAT FOOD? CHECK!!!



Roasted red pepper soup with goat cheese crostini, Greek quiche with feta and olive. Yum

Kudos to chef Eva Gray with Simply Delicious Catering

Move " The Vintage Veranda" to the top of the list.

724 S. Scenic, Springfield MO

A gentleman is always welcome, but this is the sort of place that feeds the female soul.

Speaking of feeding the soul, let's not kid anyone .
You know I'm talking about dessert here!!!!

Come to Momma

Not only is this a lovely tea room, but the attached shops
"Robin's Vintage Suitcase"
 and
" The Garden District"
are beautiful.

Let me share just a few glimpses of this adorable shop.
the owner 'Robin Gilmore' really has an eye for setting the stage.

 Vintage silver

vintage china

and lots of little sweet 'nothings' to make you smile

Is it possible, I've found the perfect place?

I think the empty plates speak for themselves

And so this day ends with a big smile

As BFF and I nod in agreement.

Here it's good to be a girl.

Please note that I have NO sponsors for this blog.
If I make a recommendation, it's strictly because I truly choose to make an endorsement.