Well it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

 Leavenworth, Wa

Can you believe it is almost Christmas 2009! I can hardly believe this year has flown by this fast--and I am glad in many ways, as it has been a tough one! Mom and dad are now settled nicely back in Maple Ridge, the house is lovely--however they are now getting involved in a legal battle to get the rightful roof & garage replaced. I pray that God will overshadow their efforts and 2010 will be an adventure and blessing!

I am looking forward to spending Christmas in Leavenworth,Wa with mom and dad--and I pray we have an enjoyable Christmas to make up for the mother of all bad Christmas' last year! Nothing says disaster like a house fire 3 days after Christmas, and a huge phone fight for Michael on Christmas day with his family. It has been several years of not enjoying Christmas' due to family competition and fighting.

This year I pray God will bless us with a lovely, quiet, peaceful year.

Hello World....

Well October has been quite a busy month. I haven't had a chance to write much at all. I finally got the fence painted, the roses planted the Walnuts started falling and we had probably 1,000 on the tree this year verses a few dozen after the squirrels raided it while we were moving in. The first main snowfall of the year occurred Monday and I started to panic! So much to do--still need to plant my 8 Climbing roses, all along the newly painted fence line. I also was hoping to get the garage finished with Hardi Plank and Smart Trim before the winter sets in--we will see! November is moving month-- mom and dad back to Maple Ridge in their newly re-built home and finally maybe...we can finally relax...augh, what a two years this has been....... 

More New Roses for the Rose Garden......

Well 8 more roses are on their way into the Rose Garden Front Bed--David Austin "Bonica", 5 Climbing Rose~Climbing Peace (3), Climbing Rhonda (2), and 2 Flowering Carpet Roses--one in white and one in pink. Bella!

I also got the fence stained & painted--so I can plant the climbers in front of the trellis fence~I can hardly wait till next June when they start to bloom!

New Roses For The Rose Garden




I went to Cranbrook on the weekend and got some Roses for my back Rose Garden--and they are lovely!

Lambert Closse

Sweet Sensation

Morden Centennial

The Lambert Closse are huge, full, hardy pink roses that smell heavenly, I got 2 of them. I will be putting in the back rose garden this week and getting it ready for next years beautiful blooming season.

"My Petite French Guest Room".....

Well I finally got my French Doors in place! It took time, but it was well worth the wait~I have my Bathroom complete, my Guest Room needs the "Etched Glass" effect added, and the Master Bedroom needs the knobs & etched glass done...but it is almost complete! The glass knobs are "to-die for" they bring back memories of my Aunts house in Burnaby, where we used to go every Saturday for lunch. As a child I would just stare at those glass knobs and for years the architecture of her 1940's home would fascinate me,  as I was growing up in a "modern" 1970's house!

Here are some photos of my Guest Room, which was set up since to move, but was used as the "spare room" for my art supplies, so now it is cleaned out and ready for my last set of guests at the end of the month~

The Room is very small so I couldn't put the screen I got from HomeSense in a great display position--but it works!

 The bed I got of Craigslist down in Bellingham and it is pine with wrought iron inset. I love it, you feel like the book "princess & the pea" when you are laying on top of it, I will have to custom make the skirt fit and I want to have a petite chandelier hanging from the ceiling to complete ma petite pièce d'invité française ("my petite french guest room"~ Ohh LaLa.....

I finally got one of my tapestries in place, this one is made in Italy 

Fall is in the air.......

Well we don't know if mom and dad will end up with the home I blogged about last post. It has some beautiful points, but it also has an issue with 3 small (very small) bedrooms. Really the 3 would be one regular master bedroom size. We are waiting for another price on the remodel estimate, as one fellow quoted $150,000 for a 900 sq. ft addition--crazy!!!!

 Otherwise our second guests from the Coast have come & gone--Sharon & Randy--we had a wonderful time, really discovering how wonderful company is! Our third set arrives in just over a week.

We washed the deck down today & it is drying and I can stain it this weekend--I will be most pleased to have that job done, once and for all--after all, we had the thought of building a deck in April and now it is mid-September!

Our pears are starting to drop, as well as the apples~the raspberries are bearing again and the grapes will be ready soon for harvest--as long as the squirrles don't beat us to them! Many critters call this property their home and it is a competition to see who gets to the food first ......

I am starting to walk again and enjoy my books on CD~life is starting to relax and I really am enjoying the Kootenay lifestyle.

It's House Shopping Time....

....For my parents that is!!!

Beautiful Wrap Around Deck with a Hot Tub....Lovely BBQ and Sitting Area.....

Kitchen To Die For with SkyLights......

Did I mention the view.......

Very Exciting Time for them, we went this morning and looked at 3 houses, and this one was almost perfect~nothing a contractor and $30,000 can't fix anyway!!! The Master Bedroom was a bit small, so I recommended a wall removal clause and we will see what the contractor says....

The second bedroom will become "one with the den" if they accept the offer on the house, and the cottage down on the end of the property will be the "Guest House"~Very cool!

Mom and dad have gone to put an offer on it--subject to their house selling and the contractor approving the moderate changes. If it is meant to be, it will be theirs--if not, there will be something better coming their way--but it is very exciting to "start the process!"....