I can’t believe it’s April!

Posted on April 9, 2012April 9, 2012 by Dusty Roads

I can’t believe its April 9 already. April Fool’s Day is behind us. Passover was Friday and Sunday was Easter and it’s still cold! After that mild winter I thought we’d be in a heat wave by now. At least it’s been sunny most days.

Still the problem with that is that now we’re having brush fires. The fire danger alerts are all at critical…in the red! And it’s only April! Some of the area is considered to be in a drought because there was no snow melt and, in stark contrast to the spring of 2010 when it rained so much we had flooding everywhere, each day now dawns nice and sunny. A few passing clouds may drop a few sprinkles but nothing near to what’s needed to wet down the soil and brushland. This is New England! Not Texas or Arizona which have been struggling with drought for the last few years. What is going on with the weather?

I feel like I’ve been neglecting this blog a bit since I came back from Florida. Trying to launch my little side business has been time-consuming. I have to laugh because I set up that little store at dustyroadsphotos.etsy.com and I am getting visitors to the site but so far no orders. What I’m finding is it’s all local folks that are checking it out to choose the cards they want and then they just tell me. That’s ok by me but I hope the word starts to spread beyond my “inner circle”.

I’m going to be adding custom decorator pillows and some prints to the line. I’m waiting to get my sewing machines back from the shop. I hadn’t done much sewing in the past few years so I wanted to have the machines cleaned and checked before I tried using them again. I am really excited about this idea so am quite anxious to get started.

When I was in Florida I was given a 4 day cruise for 2 from my time share. There were two hitches. 1) I have to pay the port fees (around $185.00 per person) and 2) The cruise has to be used within 18 months. I’ve been toying around with my schedule and vacation time and so on and I’m going to try to secure a date for next January. My friend Joe aka JR will be by cruise companion. We’ll be leaving from the Port of Miami and going to Cozumel. Once this is actually booked I’ll share more info on the itinerary.

I just got approved for some time off in July so I’m going to take a mini vacation in Maine. Just have to book the hotel. I’m looking at Portland as my “Base camp” for the 4 day get-away.

Late September is also in the works. I have approved vacation then to go to upstate New York to visit family and friends. There’s a hot air balloon festival in Glens Falls the weekend I’m going and my sister mentioned the Scenic Railroad trip through the Adirondacks. It’s still early in the planning stages.

And the Big Alaska Cruise is back in the works. Goal for that is now May/early June of 2013. We want to see baby animals so spring is the time for that.

So as you can see, there is some travel in the planning stages. My local jaunts have been curtailed a little by car issues and the demands of the new business but that was to be expected. Still I love my aroundustyroads.com blog and don’t want to neglect you either.

Thanks for hanging in with me during this slow posting period.

2012 Photo of the Week~ Week 14

Posted on April 7, 2012April 7, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Waiting For Spring

2012 Photo of the Week~ Week 13

Posted on March 31, 2012March 31, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Copper

A Colorful Little Shop

Posted on March 26, 2012March 26, 2012 by Dusty Roads

My week 10 Photo of the week was of two cute yellow duckie statues all decked out in a spring display.

Well I thought you might be interested in where I found such a whimsical decoration. I wish I could say I set it up myself but I’m afraid I can’t take credit for it. What actually happened was that I was running errands with my friend Nancy. We had just left Ritz Camera at the Derby Street Shops in Hingham and were headed down RT 53 to Trader Joe’s. Nancy and I spotted the house at the same time. It was kind of hard to miss. It had flowers all over its beautiful wrap-around porch. That splash of color so early in the year (it wasn’t even spring yet) really caught the eye!

Right then we decided to stop in on our way back from Trader Joe’s.

We got back in the mid afternoon. I took some pictures of the house from the parking lot then Nancy suggested we go in. It appeared to be a business and we were curious. We saw the sign, Garden Craft, but weren’t sure what that entailed.

Inside the house was bursting at the seams with silk flowers ands displays. I loved the idea of holiday trees..decorated trees not just for Christmas but for St. Patrick’s Day, Easter and even a tree with seashell ornaments.

There were fireplaces in every room and each mantle held a different displays. The lady at the front desk was putting together a floral wreath but stopped for a moment to tell me a little bit about the store.

Garden Craft was formerly in Hanover where they sold not only silk arrangements but also garden and nursery products. They sold off their previous location, discontinued the garden /nursery line and moved the retail operation to this building in 2011. From what she told me they have quite the loyal following for the retail part of the business and the new location is only about 1/2 mile from the old Hanover location even though they had crossed over the town line with the move. They were now in Norwell.

I told her I liked to take pictures and asked if I could photograph some of the things they had in the store. She told me to go ahead and enjoy myself. Nancy was looking for little items so she was happy to give me time to wander around documenting the visual feast surrounding us.

It was great fun wandering around the shop. As these photos illustrate they have a wonderful variety of decorative products and ideas. It’s definitely worth a stop.