end to blogging

Hi everyone!

I started blogging as a creative outlet in 2011, sharing random things I  liked along with posts of my gardens and travels. I had nothing to promote and just did it for fun. 

I have since become an empty nester living in a cottage in a small town in North Carolina along with my husband who works at home. I no longer have extensive gardens and ponds to photograph as we have a wooded shady lot.  I have not had much to share for some time so my energy for blogging has waned. There are so many blogs and so much interesting digital media out there, there is plenty of inspiration elsewhere.

So I will bid adieu and will continue to read my favorite blogs. Thank you for all your comments and emails. I appreciate each and every one of them!

Thanks for visiting!

Cindy

things I like this week

1~2~3~4~5~6~7~8~9

Thanks for visiting!

Cindy

the puppy this week

Hi everyone!

Three month old puppy pics. Bodhi is doing well with training and we are settling into a nice routine. But how many times we go out to pee each day is crazy! He sleeps through the night and loves his crate thank goodness.  Every day is a puppy day and our exploring the South has come to a halt for now. 

I am enjoying working in the yard with Bodhi as my "helper". The daffodils and muscari we planted in the fall have been a treat after the winter but I forgot to get my camera out and photograph them, they are fading now. I am always walking with the puppy and am usually not with phone or the camera anymore.

So happy spring everyone! My favorite time of year.

Thanks for visiting!

Cindy

the puppy

In case you do not follow my Instagram feed or Facebook, here are two cute shots of this puppy this week. His legs are getting very long! Poodle legs.

Thanks for visiting!

Cindy

things I like this week

all on etsy 

1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5 ~ 6 ~ 7 ~ 8 ~ 9 

Thanks for visiting!

Cindy

New Orleans Garden District and Uptown

Our visit to New Orleans last month was so fun. New Orleans never disappoints. We hope to get there regularly now that we are in living in the South. The most humble cottages are as beautiful as the elegant mansions.  Residential architecture in New Orleans is unparalleled. Just so pretty. Great restaurants, artistic people, excellent music venues, it is a special American city.

We rented a flat on Magazine Street in the Lower Garden District. Good location for moving around. I would not want to stay in the busy loud French Quarter. The apartment was stylish and very comfortable.  Loved this tv wall, skirted table and Asian teak lamp in the second floor master.

There was a desk upstairs for work in the master bedroom with a comfortable king bed, nice linens and a bathroom with large soaking tub which I used every night.

Some Garden District and Uptown beauties......

Lafayette Cemetery No.1 on Washington St....

Audubon Park cypress roots.

 A huge colony of Whistling ducks is living in the park these days.

This was a familiar site all over the Garden District and Uptown... it was one week after the conclusion of Mardi Gras so stuck beads were hanging in trees on St. Charles and Magazine streets.

Camellias were in bloom.

Of course the St. Charles streetcars were moving back and forth all day and night.

I love these small elegant cottages.

We ate at Commander's Palace,

La Petite Grocery and Emeril's Delmonico in the Garden District and a few other restaurants in other parts of the city, including Galatoire's in the French Quarter.

Each was a special experience.

Will post more New Orleans next time....

Thanks for visiting!

Cindy

puppy update

Hi everyone!

Time for a puppy update! 

Our little miniature golden doodle is named Bodhi (pronounced Bodie). It is short for Bodhisattva, a Sanskrit name meaning enlightened one (my husband was born in India).

We forgot the work that a puppy requires the first few weeks after bringing him home! Oh my. Constant diligence and patience are required. It all pays off of course. Bodhi wants to please and training is going well. 

His mother is an English Cream Golden Retriever and his father is a Toy Poodle. Bodhi seems to be taking after his father so far. His vet said he eats like a poodle (slowly) and his face shape is more like a poodle. He was the smallest of the four boys in his litter. The breeder thinks he will be about 25-30 pounds full grown. 

Thank goodness it is spring and we are able to be outside. He did get to experience snow for the first time after bringing him home. We had two snowfalls this winter in late February. We missed one of them while out of town in New Orleans and Fairhope, AL.

We wanted to rescue a puppy and I have been perusing rescue sites for months but it was very difficult finding what we really thought was right for us. We are used to the pleasing personalities of retrievers but needed a small dog for our cottage and we wanted to start with a puppy. We do not have a fenced yard, living on a wooded mountain property. Most rescues require a fenced yard.

I kept seeing photos of miniature golden doodles on Pinterest and noticed several on the streets of NYC while visiting our daughter in January. Our Atlanta friends lost their lab and were looking for a puppy. They found an ethical doodle breeder and we decided to see the puppies. Of course, game over after spending an hour with a litter of beautiful puppies!

We took the puppy to Hilton Head last week to meet two of our kids (the two East Coast ones, oldest lives in Colorado) and spend time with some good friends. 

The puppy needed socialization so the timing was perfect. He was used to just being with the two of us and needed to widen his world. 

He loved the beach and enjoyed meeting EVERY SINGLE PERSON who passed us on the beach. 

He also spent the day in Savannah with us. Our son attends SCAD.

He is under the table sleeping, you can see his tushy sticking out.

So we are adjusting to day to day life with a new little creature as our constant companion. 

Flower shopping with him the other day..... 

We are keeping the travel crate in the car and taking him everywhere with us that we can.

Happy spring everyone! We are getting busy in the yard and enjoying the daffodils we planted last fall. 

Thanks for visiting!

Cindy