For the Love of Lily

I have a cat named Lily. I am convinced that Lily is a little angel cat and she is one of my soul mates, a split-apart. We once had a cat that we loved dearly, Otto. Otto passed away far too soon and Kelsey and I were heartbroken. One afternoon I was in the back yard and I heard a tiny noise coming from Otto's grave site. I moved back the bushes and there sat the fluffiest calico kitten right in front of Otto's angel that we had to mark his resting place.
Without hesitation, we scooped her up and started trying to find her a new home. No luck. I was determined that we did not need another cat! Still no luck. Darn cat was just so cute but I was certain that she did not belong at our house. A few weeks passed and I had to make a week long trip to the beach.
The week that I was gone, Lily disappeared too. I issued the BOLO and had everyone searching. No Lily. The day I returned home from the beach, Lily returned home too. This happened several more times when I had to leave home. By now I was beginning to realize that Lily and I shared an undeniable connection. She goes about her days minding her own business unless I am sick or sad, then I have a kitty perched right beside me surely trying to heal my soul.
I thought that I built this bird feeder for my birds but Lily knew that I really built it for her to use on rainy days. If there is a drizzle in the air she heads straight for her home.
Now, if you ask my girls, they will tell you that Lily is spoiled rotten and gets away with anything. They are just jealous!

Happy Saturday on Sunday! Today we took off for the Flint River to look for rocks for our new project. We didn't come back with any rocks but I did come back with an adventure tucked in my back pocket.
So... I am going to combine my Happy Saturday with an Adventure Sunday. These flowers are sure to make you giggle. Maypops are one of my favorite flowers. They look like something that came straight from the Wonka candy factory.
We found so many turtle eggs. Sadly, a raccoon had dug these up and Jay said that we would not be able to save them. Fact: If you turn a turtle egg within the first 24 hours after it is laid, the embryo will drown. The happy side of this story is that the river was full of turtles.

Can you see the egg in the water?
We walked on these mussel beds. They made a happy crunch beneath your feet. (it was just the empty shells. No mussels were harmed in this walk.)
Look at the roots of this beautiful cypress tree. Isn't Mother Nature simply magical! We will be going back to look for more rocks on Tuesday. Happy, happy, happy.

birds and bees

The lantana is covered in butterflies.
the fiddle-heads look good enough to eat.
The begonias are sweet in pink.
The trees are a sea of white.

The sinks and toilets are all planted.
I have bird feeders and houses and baths in every corner of our garden.



And where do ALL of the birds want to eat? In this guys hat! The little fellows will swarm to eat out of my tin man's top. Just goes to show- you can lead a bird to water but you can't make him drink out of the fancy feeders that you paid good money for.

new chandeliers

Our newest chandeliers are in. We had the best sheets of vintage tin laying around and decided that they would make a fun light fixture. With a little bit of bending and prying and convincing Jay that I had not lost my mind , we ended up with 6 neat chandeliers.
The best part, we sold them before we could even hang them in the store.

Saturday just comes too quick!

I simply can't keep up with my list of happy happenings on Saturday. I make a blog and it seems like I turn around and it is Saturday again. Last week was NOT happy so I failed to post a "not so happy Saturday" blog. Back in April, I traveled to Italy and near the end of my trip I developed a incredible pain in my cheek that I attributed to volcanic ash sinus trouble. After numerous x-rays and lots of money with the doctor(all coming back clear) I decided to try the dentist for the second time. Turns out that I had a wisdom tooth that secretly pushed the neighboring nerve so hard that it died...and then abscessed...and really hurt. None of this showed up on any x-ray and I found myself begging the endodontist to just remove all of my teeth. Surely one of them was the culprit and dentures HAD to better than living with this pain. Lucky for me, we decided to drill the right tooth and 1 hour later I had a root canal! All of this led to a NOT so happy Saturday. As time heals all wounds, I am back this weekend feeling much better and full of happiness.

1. The itch has hit to travel again and the thought of time spent with my favorite travel companions makes me so happy. Hoping for the Elvis suite again.

2. pain killers

3. Mimosa trees. These trees get all covered with the best pink puff balls and just make me smile.

4. bluebirds. My bluebird family is back in the house and working on a new family for the summer.

5. fireflies. Fireflies are everywhere this year. They just light up my life.

6. My Dad. Thanks for being the Best.

7. People with a sense of humor. It just makes life so much more fun.

see ya soon.

packing it in

Now you would think that we would be masters of packing with all the pack-unpack that we do here at Alice and Jay. Jay loves to claim that he can't pack so I need to do the packing. Typical man! As we were driving home from our last road trip we passed these packing masters along the interstate. I will often turn a chair upside down to fit it in another chair but this is the first time I have ever seen it done with trucks!! Hats off to these guys.
We will be heading to a huge(funny how these auctions are like the fireworks stores along the interstate; world's largest, largest store south of the Mason-Dixon, and just probably the most humongous store on the planet!) and I mean HUGE auction tomorrow. We are hoping to come back with the most incredible trailer load EVER. I'll let you know how it goes.
Update on Oscar. Oscar is my baby red bird that hatched in my store garden. He didn't have a tail and I was concerned. Good news! Neiman-Marcus must have put tails on the half price rack because he is back in my garden and he has the prettiest tail and a head full of feathers. My friend, Geri, has a cardinal that has a bald head. I am going to tell Oscar to let him in on the feather sale.
Stay cool and be sure to go out in your yard right after dark. The fireflies are everywhere.

"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
Alice in Wonderland.

We believe at Alice and Jay!