May into June!

 

May into June!

Wow - it is June and summer is here.  It's been a busy time here at Our New Vista.  

We enjoyed a great Memorial Day Weekend visiting cemeteries to place flowers on graves of relatives and enjoying great food.

June 1st was our "annual cleaning"...part of our contract living here at Willow Valley in Lancaster is an annual cleaning of our apartment. It is a deep cleaning and we move almost everything but the furniture out of the way so the team of 6 people can do a deep clean of our home.

They even did our screen porch - so now we are all set for summer!

Last year I found a tip to use toilet paper rolls in between my outdoor curtains to make them look evenly spaced.  I think the paper rolls would work great for inside drapes, but they did not hold up to the wind and rain that sometimes hits our porch.  I thought that pool noodles might do the trick and keep the drapes looking even.  I had one pool noodle left over from cutting it up to use in helping my boots stand up in the closet.  I bought another at Dollar Tree and used the paper roll as a measure and cut a slit down the middle.

Once I cleaned the pollen (ugh) off of the tension rod I just inserted the cut noodle in between each fold of the drape...

It looked great and really gave a nice bump out to the drapes...

I love the way the drapes look now...and I did this in early May.  The drapes have stayed evenly spaced despite some storms and wind!

Once that was completed I set out all my patriotic decorations.  

Switched the pillows to red/white/blue...

Front door gets a patriotic wreath...

Found this little gnome at Dollar Tree...so cute!

The red lantern was a gift from a dear friend...I use it now and for the Christmas season and Valentines...just change the bow.

Remember Boyd's Bears?  I had a bunch of them...stuffed and the resin kind, too.  There was even a big Boyd's Bear shop in Gettysburg that we visited once.  When we downsized and moved almost 6 years ago I was surprised at how little interest anyone had in wanting these bears.  It got to the point where I would give one away to a child if they happened by our yard sale...The only one to make the cut and come with us was this little Flag Bear.  I sit him on my favorite blue chair.

The little bead strands are also from Dollar Tree...the rattan stars are from Pottery Barn a long time ago.

And then I tried to make a flag out of wine corks...like Katy at 

The House On Silverado

Well...you can see mine did not turn out nearly as nice as hers.  I did not have enough red wine stained corks to make it work, and I did not use a frame...

I counted out the corks and glued them together...10 across and 7 down...

Since I was not using a frame I  thought gluing them together would be ok.

I got some craft paint at Walmart and went to work.

I glued the entire "flag" to a piece of cardboard and then used hot glue to wrap it in a wide white ribbon...

While it does not look as nice as Katy's, I still like it...and I hope to gather enough red wine corks so I can try again next year.

Hope your June is getting off to a great start...let me know if you decorate for the season.  I love hearing from you - please leave a comment below.  Thanks for stopping by Our New Vista! Have a wonderful summer!

“There is a temperate zone in the mind, between luxurious indolence and exacting work; and it is to this region, just between laziness and labor, that summer reading belongs.”
— Henry Ward Beecher