Pony Rides and Rambling 12/4/2013

I invite you to visit my pinterest to see all the beautiful rooms, gardens and eye candy I put on there. I now have 12,870 images and 10,030 followers. It really is quite delightful to visit there. I have absolutely nothing to gain by pinning or doing it, just the love of seeing gorgeous images and to dream. I just love looking at beautiful things as I'm very visual.
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As Alexandra Stoddard once stated in a pamphlet, "No one should deprive themselves of the joy of color because color choices, unlike most choices, aren't a matter of money. You are free to select the colors that put a smile on your face and edit out the rest. Living with refreshing, life-enhancing colors in your room, in the clothes you wear as well as the paraphernalia in your handbag and and the accessories on your desk can do wonders to your spirit. Color to me is one of the gifts of grace that is ours to select and a tool to help us live beautifully."
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My sweet little 3 1/2 year old great granddaughter is now doing something I taught her. When she meets someone, she is to shake their hand and say, "I'm dazzled to meet you." She picked that up real fast and people are astounded how well-mannered she is. That is NOT to say she's perfect because that little chick is a pip, trust me! She also was treated to a very nice surprise from a friend of mine who lives in Mt. Home, Idaho. She arranged for Caroline and Juliette (1 year old great granddaughter) to have a ride in a pony cart last week. Caroline loved it! She was in a cart that held 3 people and then she got to actually ride the pony. She had the most excited expression on her face and talked about it all night. When we got home Caroline told her mother: "I had a great adventure tonight, mummy."

A sweet red bathroom. It looks tiny but still has space for a cupboard. See what you can do with small spaces? They don't have to be ugly and frumpy. They can definitely be gorgeous.

I don't think there's anything more enticing than ice cream with cherries or strawberries on top. I remember years ago eating them at our local drug store in Norfolk, VA. and having a Coke with it. Those were definitely th' days: drug stores with counters for shakes and even sandwiches.

I just loved this entrance with the curving of the door, the mailbox right outside and a bench to sit on. Gorgeous.

Snow coming soon. I can't wait. I wish it would snow a lot this season. I love snow and it gives me an excuse to stay home and be a slug!

Cute potting room. Maybe it's part greenhouse also. Just look at all those vegetables.

You do know I love sparkly bottles, right? Well, this owner has outdone herself. Beautiful!

Love the lace garment with ribbon/fabric flowers decked across a French wicker chair.

One of many colorful buildings in a foreign country. Looks to be like Italy or France.

A stunning dining room.

And a stunning kitchen. I love a white kitchen. Have you seen the new ranges/ovens that you can put in 3 big cookie sheets? I just saw one the other day in Sunset magazine and lusted for a bit. Just a bit though. Because if I had it I'd have to cook/bake more and that ain't happening!

I could live with this little beauty, but at the moment I'm very happy with the little footstools I've made over with duck cloth. Plus I saved a lot of money doing what I did.

Hold me back!!!! I love chocolate on chocolate on chocolate.

This is one of the styles of furniture I love. Isn't it gorgeous?

This looks like it's cordoned off so I'm guessing it's a display somewhere. But it is beautiful and I'd love having it in my home.

Now, I have to admit that this little beauty and this setting would definitely entice me to go camping. I shan't mention it to Love Bunny or he just might try to go out and find one so I'll camp with him again. But this is a beautiful dinner setting for a trailer.

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A Car Story

Have you noticed that cars were becoming a bit smaller several years ago but now Detroit's fascination with the look of cruise ships is bringing back larger cars? I love my Camry but my dream car is a Lexus. I saw one at the dealership when we were buying hubs' little truck. (Why men's fascination with trucks and SUVs?) They had a gorgeous black one there waiting for its owner to pick it up. I wanted to sit in it but the owner was expected posthaste and I didn't want to be caught in it. It had every single thing that could be included in a car. The owner was a retired military man and he paid $75,000 for that car for his wife. That's two and a half times our first house in California! WOW! I was impressed. But Lexus cars have a 500,000 mile warranty. That would probably be close to the rest of my life actually.

My son has a Mercedes S600 and it's truly amazing, but I'd still love to have the Lexus. This is his second Mercedes S600 and it has every single thing available except the feature that slows it down if you're too close to the car in front of you. I loved riding in it as it's very luxurious but he wanted me to take it to the grocery store while visiting him a couple of years ago. I was a nervous wreck driving it. He actually told me he took it out into the desert on a deserted road and got it up to 140 mph. I said, 'Son, don't ever tell your mother you got a car up to 140 mph.' (Another thing you never want to hear from your son: Mom, have the cops called you yet? This happened when he was in a motorcycle accident many years ago before he was married. He got mangled a bit but is alive. He doesn't own motorcycles anymore.) He laughed and said he was safe but he promised to go the speed limit—as much as a Californian can keep it at the speed limit. And we all know what that means on the freeways at rush hour.

The one he has now he got out of Texas and had it shipped to him. It was in great shape but a few months after he received it, it had a minor problem. He consulted a local dealer and the cost to fix it was $23,000. He said he'd fix it himself for that amount of money. No kidding! Also, he ran out of gas one day. That, in a Mercedes, cost him $800. Yep, they had to reset the computer and those services don't come cheap, trust me. He loves tinkering; it comes from the days when he was a poor Marine. ;-) Oh, and for those of you that think this may be bragging just a bit, his wife is the brains of that family. ;-)
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A beautiful french bedroom with chandelier. I even like the golden colors on the bed with the pink walls.

A brave homeowner painted her fireplace wall red. I think it's lovely. Like her choice in sofas also.

Cute little sconce holding some flowers left over from the season.

Cute way to decorate with photos and paintings of roses all along her sofa wall.

Snazzy little apron. Love the fabric and the ruffles.

Pretty little pots and pitchers as a display in this cupboard.

Gorgeous eye candy.

Lovely French sofa in pink. The curves make it especially lovely.

Cute way to store your scissors and a bit of ribbon.

Another little cottage in Carmel.

What a cute idea for double sinks but I wonder if they're practical. They're kind of high to bend over to wash your face. I think I prefer the lower kind of sinks.

A lovely but different living room. I think I'd like it as an outdoor room more.

My kinda chick with a pompom over her bed!

A bunch of lovely book markers.

I always love draping curtains over entry or door ways. Adds a touch of drama. This is especially cute in a little girl's closet.

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A Bit of Elegance and Simplicity

The other day I was trying to access a blog and it was taking forever to come up. Now, there is a website where you can find out how long it takes for your blog or website to come up. So I thought I'd test my blog and a few others to just see what the time is for several different types of blogs. Just a few examples for you:

Several blogs were 5.xx seconds range.
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One was 17 seconds.
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Another one was 11.5 seconds
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Another popular one with over 30,000 viewers was 31.2 seconds.
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Costco was 2.4 seconds
*Funny but Walmart wouldn't let me time it but it was instantaneous, which means they probably have a T-line and a fantastic IT person. :-)
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Amazon was 1.8 seconds.
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A news site was 4.1 seconds
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Etsy was 1.1 seconds, even with all the photos!
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My Photobucket was 3.2 seconds with almost 10,000 photos on it.
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The main Photobucket was 1.1 seconds.
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eBay was 2.29 seconds!
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One "celebrity" blogger, who has a LOT of stuff on her blog is 10.8 seconds.
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Another very popular blogger was 15.2 seconds
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Another "celebrity" blogger was 1.32 MINUTES.
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One blogger who I follow and like is 7.9 seconds
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One of my favorites is 7.3 seconds
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One popular blogger was 2.9 MINUTES to load! I'll never go back to that blog.
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Mine was 1.9 seconds, but I Photoshop all my photos to make them smaller in terms of jpg size. This shows that it definitely helps. Also, blogs with pngs are very, very slow.
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Apple's was 1.4, so they're one—along with etsy and Photobucket—who was faster than my blog. I find that incredible though.
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This is not scientific data, just fun.
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Haven't we all dreamed of having a little cottage shed in our backyard for either storage or just a place for ourselves? I have. I'll never have one but I daydream about it. Daydreams are alive and well in this home! I'm just too frugal and too old to get one.

This looks like a style that seems to be gathering steam as a new provocative style. Personally, I don't care for it but I'm sure a lot of Berkeley students are decorating as we speak. ;-)

Pink is all that needs to be said about this room.

I don't know where this is but from the architecture it looks like something on the East Coast rather than West Coast. I just wonder if those wood planks on the window open and close. It's a beautiful and extraordinary window.

For those of you who wish for spiral staircases. I don't think I'd want one simply because I don't like stairs at all, but this one is gorgeous.

Look how cute this pendant light made of canning jars looks. Perfect for a farmhouse look.

Well-worn and -used copper pots.

This is a restaurant in the Phillipines, where my daughter-in-law is from. Our son and his wife travel over there about every 5 years to visit her family. This is one of the cities they've visited. The water goes under the tables so you'd better be shoeless. I'm sure the kids love it!

I truly do love white with dark blue piping. I think I'd like it with pink piping much better though.

And yes, I'd love this chair also, exactly like it is with those stripes. Gorgeous!

Aren't the walls of this kitchen exquisite?

This is a shawl pin I saw on the internet. It actually keeps your knitted shawl or scarf together. Go visit Claudia and see her exquisite handmade scarves.

And this chair? This is the chair in my living room. It's the photo Thomasville sent me when the chair was made and ready for delivery. It's one of the most beautiful chairs I've ever seen and I just love having it in my home.*

I've always wanted to make a ding in the universe; I doubt I will, but I have no doubt I'll put a ding in a very minute portion of it.
Connie
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All photos courtesy of pinterest and tumblr.

All This Talk of Other Countries

I've noticed much talk about other countries on the blogs: things French, things Italian, things English and such that I've decided to do some posts about living in other countries. Personally, I love seeing photos of other countries and having visited other countries I just cannot imagine living anywhere else but the USA. I know most of you love to travel and wish you could travel more, but with some first hand knowledge of living there I find I'm happy just exactly where I am. But more of that later. First, let's visit a typical middle class home in France. Second, be happy where you are and for what you do have. I am.

In this photo I'm intrigued by what they've done with the ceiling. I've never seen a ruffle hanging from there before but I kind of like it.

Stone walls and floors in the bedroom would make for a very cold bedroom I'd think but with the fireplace it wouldn't be so bad. And, lots of ambiance!

When we moved into our house, which was brand new, and noticed how all the plumbing worked so well that we could turn on both showers, the washing machine, dishwasher, flush toilets all at one time and still not notice a bit of drop in the pressure, I was sold on new construction. I doubt I would ever be happy in an old fixer upper or old plumbing. I had enough of that in our last house!

Very sweet vignette in the bath.

I'm not too sure I'd want a living/sitting room this rectangular though.

I do like the round top doors though.

Wine cellar? Only the French. ;-)

Lovely bedroom for visitors.

Neighborhood markets would capture my attention also.

The view from the house across the lush valley.

Beautiful walkways but I don't think I'd want to be climbing up and down daily. I'd guess the whole village must be in great shape from the meandering streets.

This little place in the yard would certainly be a blessing though.

Beautiful views just walking in the evening.

But tell me, how do the cars navigate on such narrow streets?

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My brother-in-law and his wife lived in Italy and Belgium. When they lived in Italy they had to go out and buy cabinets for the apartment they rented. When Italians rent an apartment or house, it comes with absolutely nothing except maybe a toilet. There is no flooring. There are no kitchen cabinets. And when they had a broken window it took weeks to get it replaced. They just don't have Home Depots there to go in and get a piece of glass. I've forgotten most of what they told us it was like but I think they were glad to get out of there.

Here is an account from a friend that lived there:

We lived in Italy and it was not a walk in the park. It was poor, lots of stealing going on. It was not the dream I imagined it would be. I was thrown into a big, old, dirty, filthy city and it was hard for those 3 years. The food was wonderful. The traveling was a blast, but I would not want to live there again. And oh, the healthcare was horrid. It was scary to go into the hospitals. They are like 3rd world countries, just didn't feel sanitary or clean like what we have here. And they don't make appointments. They wait for first come, first served. You have to bring your own bed linens, nightgowns and food. You bathe the patient; they don't. And they sandwich them all into a room like sardines, not a pretty sight. Yeah, I love where we live here in the good ol' U.S.A.!
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