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At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

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March 28, 2016

A Stroll Through the Garden

Good morning, from redheadcandecorate.com!

The birds are singing lovely tunes, the ice has melted away, and I see my green tulip tips breaking through the cold, cracked soil. My funny cat, Sylvia, is having a blast in the windows running back and forth like a lunatic watching her friend Charlie, the chipmunk, and…I am so ready to clean the “road salt” from the interior of my car.

Thank goodness, SPRING HAS FINALLY SPRUNG.

$5.00 Metal Pail Idea for Your Garden

Photo taken May 2015.

Since we are all craving the warm temperatures and weeding sounds like a vacation, I thought a stroll through the garden would be a nice treat. Before we begin, you probably should know that my thumb is not green. It’s probably a shade of purple or pink. However, I have been blessed with a husband that is an amazing gardener, and the house we live in came equipped. I am just the lady that weeds it, and makes sure the dead stuff goes away.

The East side of our house that faces the sun, has large stone steps leading down to our back yard. At one point we were thinking about putting a pool in, but they told us it would require removing the stone steps. We knew that guy was nuts immediately. The steps are adorned with huge hostas, and we just love it all so much.

pretty flowere in garden

Big Hostas in Michigan

Photo taken 2015.

Even when the hostas get too big. We still love it. Watch your step…

Big hostas

Then there’s the view out towards our neighbor’s beautiful forest. Our property line ends behind our wood pile that I enjoy using as a back drop to many photos. I’m in love with wood, how about you?

back yard 2013

If you swing to the left a little you’ll begin to enjoy our little piece of heaven. We enjoy our “DIY Fire Pit” from April to November…

Easiest DIY Fire Pit You Will Ever Fine

Then if you travel North a bit, you’ll run into our tomato garden on the upper deck. This tomato growing process begins in May, and ends in September. The Garden Kit was something we tried for the first time last year. Holy moly, we had tomatoes coming out of our ears. If you are interested, click here: Garden Kit. If you have questions about it, just let me know below. It is a wonderful investment because you can use it over and over.

Tomato Garden Kit

Moving on, to our deck…oh the deck. I could write a book about the struggles we’ve faced with this deck. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but there were actual trees leaning over it when we moved in. The branches made it so we couldn’t even use a grill out there. Last year we finally finished the deck makeover. There’s a full tutorial on “How to Refinish Your Deck” on my blog if your deck needs help.

Beautiful Deck Makeover by Thompson's WaterSeal

Here’s my favorite bush…her name is Penny. Penny the Piony is such a beautiful site come Summer. I actually welcome the ants that accompany her and tell them they are welcome any time. You’ll find me standing there taking photos almost every day it’s in bloom.

Front Yard 2015

Photo taken 2105.

Here’s our front porch on a nice early Summer evening. If you look closely, you may see Robin rented out our window. She likes to gather food & twigs all day, and then returns for good at dusk.

Summer-Front-Porch-

Photo taken 2014.

If you turn around, this is the view looking out towards the road. We live on a cauldesac and I enjoy the very light slow traffic (except that one lady-sh!). The vintage car you see in that back drop is our neighbor’s. I told you they were cool.

garden9

On the West side you’ll find the local teens hanging out :). We made their swing set over last year. It’s on my blog too, if interested.

Pretty Swing Set Makeover

Lastly…the place I stomp the ground when the bills come in, the place I smile when Aunt Carolyn sends me a recipe, and the place I look out at our home from and thank God for my blessings.

Mailbox Makeover w: Modern Masters Paint

us on the porch

Happy Spring to you!

Love, Julie

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9 Comments Filed Under: Gardening, Outdoors, Spring Tagged With: gardening

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Comments

  1. Teresa Emrich says

    March 28, 2016 at 6:24 AM

    I truly enjoyed the tour of your outdoors. Your location is so charming. Your gardens are just gorgeous, and I loved how you landscaped your mailbox….going to borrow some of your ideas! Thanks for sharing. Happy Spring!!!

    Reply
    • Julie says

      March 28, 2016 at 10:51 AM

      Thank you, Teresa!

      Reply
  2. Nikki says

    March 28, 2016 at 7:30 AM

    LOVELY! You surely have a piece of paradise! I really enjoyed the tour.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      March 28, 2016 at 10:52 AM

      Thank you so much, Nikki!

      Reply
  3. Jeanie says

    March 28, 2016 at 10:05 AM

    Very beautiful!!

    Reply
    • Julie says

      March 28, 2016 at 10:52 AM

      Hi Jeanie! Thanks for your sweet comment!

      Reply
  4. Shirley@Housepitality Designs says

    March 28, 2016 at 2:35 PM

    So beautiful Julie!…I am crushing over the flowers and those amazing hostas!…I love hostas, but cannot grow them due to the deer loving them for dessert!….Loved the photo of the family!….

    Reply
  5. carol bittner says

    March 28, 2016 at 3:52 PM

    Thank you for the spring tour; very lovely. Hostas are just the best !!! Your landscape is so peaceful; I can almost hear the birds singing. Nice looking people on the front steps!! Glad I’m getting to know them. 🙂

    Reply
  6. Gwen says

    March 28, 2016 at 5:19 PM

    So fun to see another part of the country!! This look would be in the mountains here So full of green and trees. What a delight!! Your yard is simply amazing!!!! Peonies aren’t grown here but I saw a new variety that’s supposed to adapt!! So tempting because they are spectacular. Yours thrive as do your hostas. Snails eat them here So I had to give them up. I love how they spread out!! From front to back the tour is a fun delight of spring joy.

    Reply

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I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 y I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 years now and every year I ohhhh and ahhhh over the blossoms like it's the first time I've ever seen them. I gush and I take photos (that look exactly like the ones I took the year before and the year before that) and I make my family come outside and look at them with me which you know they just LOVE to do. 😉 I think that is one of the main reasons why I love spring so much. On the one hand, it's predictable and yet, on the other hand, it still feels like such a surprise after the long months of barren branches.

And yesterday, as I was staring at the gorgeous blossoms for the umpteenth time, I couldn't help but think that I hope this is how I feel when our lives return to some semblance of normalcy.

I hope that the predictable feels special and that the typical feels anything but. I hope that I ohhh and ahhh over the simple things I've realized I've taken for granted. And, most of all, I hope that feeling doesn't go away for a very, very long time! 💗
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Happy Easter from my home to yours!
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Easter Sunday is so joyful, bright and cheery. Shouldn’t that be the day we call “good”? It just feels so much better!

But, I don’t know how to rejoice over His resurrection, unless I have felt the pain of His death. I have realized that in life the sweetest victories are the ones which were realized after a pain-filled journey.

And, so it is with Good Friday. I know there will be victory over death, but I can’t skip ahead in the story.

Jesus knew what was coming. He knew what he would experience. And he knew why he would go through it. He did it for me. He did it for you.

Do you know that? Have you felt it down in the very core of your soul? 
Sometimes it makes me squirm a bit. Why would anyone do that for me?

Well, because, I can’t do it for myself!

There is nothing I can do to earn that kind of love and mercy.

That is why it is called GRACE.

His grace is freely given. We don’t have to pay for it. He paid the price for us already.

Do you remember that movie from years ago called “Ransom”? A couple’s young son was kidnapped and the parents went to hell and back trying to find him and pay the “ransom” demanded by the kidnappers.

Well, Jesus is our “ransom”. (1 Timothy 2:6) His life was the payment.

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Where are things collecting in your house right now?
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Adoration isn’t just sitting at His feet gazing longingly with stars in my eyes. It’s bringing my fears and my sorrows and gray roots in my hair that desperately needs to be colored and my messy house and all of the things that threaten to send me over the edge right now and laying them down before Him, soaking up His word and His presence so that when I stand back up, I am changed for having spent the time adoring the ONE who is... Healer, comforter, peace-giver, deliverer, redeemer.

What do you need to bring to Him today? I’ll share mine in the comments and I’d love to hear from you too!
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It feels the most...normal. Daytime is strange and foreign right now. My husband has taken over our home office, I’m suddenly taking over the responsibility of managing my kids’ distance learning and let me just say that teaching 7th grade algebra to my daughter is hugely ironic since I struggled with math all the way through school. I’m trying to do my own work but it feels utterly futile with the constant interruptions which take precedence right now. In the daytime, I’m constantly reminded of how upside down life feels.

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So now I love evenings even more than I ever did before and I’m so grateful for this little chunk of time where the rhythms we established years ago are helping to sustain us now when so much of life feels outside of our control.

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If you don’t absolutely HAVE to make a decision right now, I want to encourage you to wait until life gets back to normal. If you are finding yourself over-analyzing relationships and family dynamics, I want to encourage you to remember that everything seems more dramatic when looked at under a microscope. And, let’s face it, being homebound with our loved ones non-stop makes us all feel like lab rats in an experiment.

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