The Gardener's Cottage has challenged me...and will the 10 I choose accept the challenge!

Janet at The Gardeners' Cottage has challenged me!

I am to post my 6th blog image and tell why I posted it.

I posted this because I actually found this heart rock on the beach!

The one with the circle is not as rare but things in nature do inspire me.

I will copy what I wrote back at the 6th....

Humble Bungalow is a small and modest home in which to reside. I have often looked at the Real Estate listings and in particular, at larger Craftsman homes of a similar vintage with thoughts of storage and closets and room for "stuff." I swoon for storage!
I do collect stuff. Natural stuff. Free stuff. Stuff without packaging. Stuff with lots of packaging. No name stuff, brand name stuff. Vintage stuff. Stuff that speaks to me, makes my heart sing, makes me smile.
When new stuff comes in, old stuff goes out. I donate to our local Hospice Thrift Shop which is staffed by an energetic group of women and as I drop off my donations I cruise through the shop just in case I spy some new gem needing a home in the humble bungalow. I am always surprised to see the quality and variety of items that they have in the shop.

I had to smile when I spied this rock at the beach on one of my walks to the waterfront. I carried it home and it sits on the window ledge beside my laptop in the kitchen. I cannot imagine ever parting with it!

So part of my challenge is to get 10 bloggers to post their 6th and tell why...

here is my requested list and I hope that you are following and can oblige!

1. Semi Expat in Oz

2.  Frugal Scholar

3. Bonjour Happiness!

4. La Bonne Vie

5. Duchesse

6. Metscan

7. Roses Over the Cottage Door

8. materfamilias

9. Duchess of H

10. Daily Connoisseur

Pop by and visit these lovely blogs...you will want to follow them on their daily round!

Sunday dinner for the family, planned ahead cuz' the Hostess is in the garden!

Sunday dinner in the Bungalow April 25th, 2010

On the menu:

Baby back ribs in BBQ sauce

Coleslaw

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

Heirloom Tomato Salad 

Scalloped Potatoes

Watermelon for dessert

One of my favourite cook books

An easy peasy tasty salad, full of goodness and looks wonderful

Cut in half Heirloom Tomatoes

add aged Balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

top with fresh grated parmesan cheese or feta

I spent the better part of the day in the garden so I prepped the 3 salads ahead and just need to put them together when the ribs are ready.

The ribs are easy too, just precook the ribs for 20 minutes, drain, place in shallow roasting pan, add bottled BBQ sauce.

 (I like Diana's sauce for chicken and ribs)

Cover with foil and let cook at 325 degrees for about an hour.

The scalloped potatoes take the same time so it all comes together without a lot of fuss.

I had time for a soak in the tub with my bath salts and feel much better although my muscles are sore and will be letting me know again tomorrow!

I was sifting soil, loading up the wheel barrow and moving it around the yard top dressing the beds.

I need to get some gardening boots, my socks and clogs do not keep my feet clean or dry....any suggestions as to what boots I should look for?

 Hunters are good, but there must be others that perform and last.

I hope that you all had fun this weekend.

Post Earth Day, I am going green this weekend.

Maling heavily decorated plate in the back and Franciscan ware in Sprout Green, everyday dishes.

Circa 1950's 

Le Creuset, my go to cookware

Mr. HB built in a wine rack when he designed the kitchen renovation years ago and it still gets play!

Unmarked matte green arts and crafts pottery.

Large cones collected after a windstorm from the heritage tree in the cemetery close to our home.

The cemetery is a lovely space full of interesting gravestones, heritage trees and is a quiet respite from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

It is a surprisingly beautiful place in which to saunter and ponder

replete with

 cacaphonic birdsong and the scrambling of squirrels.

Succulent

New porch plantings

White geranium in a chipped and crazed Medalta pudding crock

My favourite colour just happens to be green...can you tell?

What colours speak to you?

Is there a colour in your home that you instinctively embrace and use again and again?

Digital tricks for the hostess...lets start with sepia...

I attended a workshop on the Digital Camera today.

I took copious notes, they are a mess of abbreviations and scrawl.

I was advised to come home and play with my new skills, do some homework!

I loved the colour options and had no idea how these worked.

 I thought that photoshop did the colour changes...I never knew it originated in the camera.

I am starting out with the sepia as I like what it does to textures.

We were advised to shoot from unusual angles and to use some new composition guidelines.

The rule of thirds, full frame focus, and the golden mean.

These are suggested areas on where you'd place the emphasis or focus.

Walter Bosse or Baller bronze cat from Austria, vintage thrift shop find. 

I have not researched this new find yet.

Cute face!

Oak candle sticks made in shop class by our son, when he was in grade 9.

He surprised me one year and gifted them to me...I will say...there were tears involved!

Copper framed photo of our Chris Craft on the desk. 

Mrs. Plant, long time Bungalow resident, in vintage sepia, so fitting!

We watched the hockey game this evening and had our dear friends join us for a simple dinner.

 On the menu-

Gin and Tonics

 Goat cheese, bite size heirloom tomatoes, Carrs water crackers, pepperoni sticks.

Homemade beef chili and garlic bread

rhubarb strawberry pie and ice cream.

The score was 7 to 2...and the Canucks won.

Have a great weekend!

What do belly dancing and cameras have in common?

Well...they are on my agenda tomorrow...LOL!

I am signed up for a workshop in both and am hoping to come away with some new skills.
I will probably use the camera tips more than the dance steps...but I could be surprised.
I take a lot of photos....especially on holidays.

I try to capture images from various angles and perspectives.

I like to frame my subjects or add something a little different.

Sometimes the subject is different enough on it's own and needs nothing.

The image is self explanatory

Sometimes, even in motion, the camera surprises you!

Images record holidays spent on the ocean with friends.

Ours a Chris Craft, theirs a Monk

Good times

great memories!

I'll hone my digital repertoire

and the dancing?

I'll report back later

She who must be obeyed!

Meet our aging feline Stickley, faithful Bungalow cat.

She has given us many years of affection, purring and pats.

She has accompanied us on the boat trips in the summer and she does not like the rumble of the twin 350's or the fact that she is surrounded by the ocean and does not like water, except to drink!

The roles are reversed and now it's PAYBACK!

She is 17 and has developed high blood pressure and is hyperthyroid.

So every morning our day starts with many a meow....the food bowl is empty.

We mash 1/4 tablet of an amlodipine between two spoons and then add some cream cheese into the mix and smear it on her lips to lick.

Sounds tasty...she hates it!

Breakfast is kibble and a dish of gourmet chicken a la florentine.

We take the opportunity to rub the compounded pharamceutical cream on the inside of her left ear...right is done at night!

On days that I am at school working she greets me at the door meowing when I get home and the first thing I must do before removing my coat is to top up her chicken a la florentine.

I then put on the kettle and sit to read the snail mail, emails and blogs.

She will purr and settle in for a patting session beside me while I am at the laptop sipping my tea.

Did I mention that she sheds?

Handfuls of fur float to the floor and heaven forbid, I am usually in black...thank goodness for the sticky roll that has become my favourite tool in the cat hair battle.

She has been much better of late, sleeping on our bed at night and sitting beside MR. HB on the leather love seat.

She used to sleep beside him on her blanket until she did a face plant when her retina was detaching...we did not know that she had this condition until this fall alerted us.

We got her to the vet asap and many tests later she is in fine form...ruling the roost here, calling the shots.

We love her dearly and feel that she is living on borrowed time with the help of modern science.

Pavlov and dogs move over!

Stickley is in the house!

Humble Bungalow fence and garden....

The fence is finished and I am relieved that there will be no sections blowing down in the wind for awhile! It was a great time of year to have the fence constructed as far as the perennial plants go because the damage is minimal as they are just starting to grow.

Mr. HB glued the copper fence caps onto the posts and they give it a finished look as well as protecting the posts.
This image is the view looking out from my dining room window on the north side of the bungalow. The slate patio was new last summer. I purchased wooly thyme and planted it in the spaces between the slate, as you can see it has overwintered and filled in nicely. The borders in this space will be filled in and thriving by May.

The clematis montana reubens is prolific and visible just at the top right of the photo.

It has gone on a climbing spree and is entangled with our neighbours lovely Dogwood tree.

This is my view from the dining room north.

The hummingbirds are a buzz throughout this tree and flowers.

Humble Bungalow dining room images as requested.

Humble Bungalow dining room east view.

Window dressing and bench seat cushions.

You can read about these in the previous post.

South wall and buffet.

West wall with bungalow built ins, a classic feature in the arts and crafts home.

Shelves, glass fronted cupboards, and an angled bevelled mirror 

are details of our 1913 heritage bungalow dining room.

The Bungalow has dark douglas fir panelling and is quite a small home, hence my decision to name it The Humble Bungalow. 

A working man and family would have been installed here eeking out a living and perhaps tending a vegetable garden in the yard.

It is 2010, and the Bungalow stands, a testament to a bygone era of simplicity and honest living and the garden is very fertile and plantings thrive.

We have attempted to improve and update the Bungalow maintaining the architectural integrity and restoring her to a functioning family home.

We are bucking the tide in many ways...

most people that we know have large homes with room to sprawl and great rooms for entertaining.

I suppose this might be our retirement home...downsized before need be!