spring has sprung

Okay, I've been hit by the blogging bug! I can't help it but my days are filled reading every one's posts and falling in love with their decorating ideas. Thank goodness I'm retired and have time to do this....

I know it's officially "spring," but it sure doesn't feel like it. Here in Juneau we still have a ton of snow on the ground. And it's ugly snow.... dirty, ugly, end-of-the-season snow. As it recedes along the driveway, you can see all the ugly winter debris that has laid dormant underneath it all winter. I can hardly wait to get outside and start raking it up. This picture was just taken yesterday. Doesn't hardly look like spring, does it?!

Yesterday I did some assessment of the damage that I can see so far.... the snow guards, that prevent the snow from sliding off our metal roof, have been ripped off from so much snow and ice. As you can see below, our split rail fencing has fallen also from the weight of so much snow. We'll have to replace most of the posts and rails this summer:

And, no, this picture isn't upside down. This is my cherry tree.... After I cut off all the broken branches there may not be many left to bare cherries. This is a similar scene with most bushes that are breaking loose from all the snow.

When you look outside it still is pretty distressing.... BUT, I saw some pussy willows in bloom yesterday and the Canadian Geese are in the wetlands, and the last little red hat of my garden gnome is sticking through the snow. Never mind that he's on a 3' high rock! Every day I see a little more of his little cap and I know spring will be here.... eventually....

Now, if only my baby Rocker Jays would show up. It's pretty funny to see all their downy fluff sticking out all over their bodies. But no babies just yet; maybe they're sitting on their nests since we still have so much snow.

But the real indicator that spring is here.... I'm in the mood to clean! Nothing is sacred this time of year--closets and drawers; clothes; books; bedding. Every nook and cranny gets cleaned out and pared down; boxes and boxes of good stuff gets donated to the kids or the local St. Vincents; places get cleaned that haven't been cleaned for months.... Our winters are so long and so dark that spring is a definite renewal of the spirit and soul. It's a time for change; for refreshing our surroundings. This year I'm ready to get back to "cottage." I used to be more of a cottage person than I am now. Over the years I've downsized too many times and have passed on a lot of my goodies to my daughter, Tracy. I wonder if she'll give it all back....? :) Now our home is a mixture of Alaskana/country/cozy cottage with a mixture of mission and antiques. But it should be easy to incorporate a little more "cottage" into it because I've got the bug. The bug for vintage, for colors, for casual quaintness.

To that end, I started in our bedroom yesterday. We've never had a "bedroom bedroom." It's always been a catch all room for anything without a true home.... So my goal this week is to make it into a real bedroom, a romantic and comfortable room without all that other stuff! I mean we have baseball cards, office papers, umbrellas, tools, magnetic health products, paper rolls for our loose change, luggage, extra furniture, and the list can go on and on. Does this sound like a romantic bedroom? I think not! So it's all coming out! Not certain where it's going, but it's all going to find a new home. A big problem I have is our California closets.... I'm not so crazy about them because they're just open, there's no closet doors to hide things behind so you can see everything and it looks cluttered. So I bought some baskets to hold our stuff (or to hide it....) but need a few more.
I also found this cute retro pillow for the bed. I fell in love with it the second I saw it. It'll be a perfect addition for my blue and white bedroom.

Can you tell if this plant is real or not? It's not.... The lady at the checkout even smelled it! (She also calls the turnips by name.... "Hi, Mr. Turnip....") It looks great on my bedside table.
So things are looking up. Today I need to buy a couple more baskets for the closet and some 6" deep plastic bins to store seasonal clothes and slide under the bed. Maybe I'll get some spring flowers at our local grocery store and put my summer (non-flannel) sheets on the bed and look for some better art work to put on the wall, and some bluish rag rugs for next to the bed, and pick up paint samples from Valley Paint, and then try to pull it all together by the end of the day. It's a tall order.... in Juneau.... where our shopping is limited.... But maybe by the end of the week it'll be a beautiful, romantic bedroom!

Have a sunshiny day!