Happy Memorial Day

Stars and Stripes Forever!

God Bless All Who Have Served Our Great Country - The United States of America!

Thank God I'm An American! 

And thank you for visiting my blog - have a safe and happy Memorial Day!

Sandy at Teacup Lane

A Patriotic Experience!

The many views of Mt. Rushmore National Memorial located near Rapid City, South Dakota.  The National Park System did a wonderful job creating this new visitor center.  It is so impressive to walk up the Grand Avenue which enhances the view of the granite monument and highlights the sculptured faces of four of our former United States Presidents.   This is a must-see experience!   

Please join our host Mary at The Little Red House (here) for more Mosaic Mondays!  As soon as Mary posts for Monday I'll set the link directly to her mosaic post.

Sandy at Teacup Lane

Mt. Rushmore National Memorial

We are at Mt. Rushmore today (monument is located near Rapid City, South Dakota).  Let's take a look up close and personal of two of our former US Presidents - George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Two more...Teddy Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln.

Entrance from parking lots.   It didn't look like this 30 plus years ago when we last visited.

The grand avenue up to the monument....a nice man took our photo for us.  It's a beautiful day today - high 80s and sunny.

It's impressive...isn't it.   Look at the beautiful blue sky.  

The monument was started in 1927 and finished in 1941.    

Hope you enjoyed seeing our fantastic granite sculpture monument. 

from Wikipedia:  Mount Rushmore National Memorial, near Keystone, South Dakota, is a monumental granite sculpture by Gutzon Borglum (1867–1941), located within the United States Presidential Memorial that represents the first 150 years of the history of the United States of America with 60-foot (18 m)sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents (left to right): George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865).^[1] The entire memorial covers 1,278.45 acres (5.17 km²)^[2] and is 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level.^[3] It is managed by the National Park Service, a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior. The memorial attracts approximately two million people annually.^[4]

Sandy at Teacup Lane

Our BABY

So many bloggers share photos and stories of their beloved animals.  Today I am sharing with you some old photos of our dog, Dusty.   

We had been married a few years when we decided to get a dog.  I wanted something small like a Yorkie or a Shih Tzu.  Well...hubby wanted a German Shepherd.  He had read a book about monks raising German Shepherds and was impressed with the breed.  So we found a breeder and went to make a selection.  While waiting for the puppies to come out the mother dog came over and sat down next to me - her eyes were level with mine.  I thought...OMG...the mother is huge!  Then out came the remaining two bouncing little puppies.  A brother with long fur and a sister with short fur.  I fell in love with the boy dog with the long fur.  That was our Dusty.  Actually I asked hubby if we could take home the sister too but he said one was enough.  Dusty was very quiet and shy on the drive home.  But it didn't take him long to join our family.  

Here he is the first day we brought him home.  He had the biggest paws we ever saw and we learned why later when he grew into a large 125 pound "German" German Shepherd.   That's my feet in the picture.  I couldn't resist getting down on the floor to play with him.

Right from the start Dusty loved lying on the landing by the back door.  He fits it nicely here but he still liked to be there even when he was full grown and hung over the edge.  Wasn't he the cutest doggie!

   Here's Dusty at 12 weeks old.  And this is a better view of his huge paws.  As puppies German Shepherd's ears go through a period of being up and/or down.  One is trying to stay up here...sort of.

We had Dusty for 7 years before we lost him to bone cancer.  We just loved him - there wasn't a nicer dog - he never growled at us or acted mean once in all the years we had him.   My hubby worked with him so he could take a bone out of his mouth.  I could hold his rawhide bones while he chewed them.  There aren't many dogs you can take a bone away from without losing a finger.  He was a real sweetie and as much as he loved us he loved other dogs even more.   Oh...I called him "Baby" because he didn't even realize how large a dog he was.  Once we are back home I can share some photos of Dusty all grown up.  He was a beauty.  Once when walking him we passed a little girl who cried out "Look...Mommy...a wolf!"   

RIP Dusty.  We miss you!

Sandy at Teacup Lane

Blue and White Toile

I love toile.  

I adore toile.   

This is the fabric pattern I chose for my drapes in our master bedroom and curtains in our master bath.  I love the blue and white (...sort of cream) and this scene with the dog.  

See the trees, fruit baskets, flowers and (ta da...) the bunny!!!!!  You know me and bunnies....LOL.

And here is the deer!

I had these custom made...the first time (and only time) in my life.  In the master bath I had the curtains put on white rods and asked them to add the checked stripe along the bottom.  

I don't have a photo of our bedroom - there I had them make a wooden valance covered with the fabric over drapes - also with the checked stripe on the valance.  They liked the combination of the toile and check so much they made some to keep as samples.  

Just an update on our Alaskan RV trip... so far we have traveled through the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois (around Chicago), Wisconsin, Minnesota and tonight we are in Brandon, South Dakota (near Sioux Falls) - a total of 1,400 miles (approx).  We are staying at a Yogi Bear Jellystone RV Resort tonight that has fairly decent internet connection.    

Tomorrow we head to Hill City, South Dakota (near Rapids City) to stay for a few days to see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse.  I talked my hubby into seeing these attractions again (we saw them probably 30 plus years ago)...he is anxious to get into Canada and on the Alaskan Hwy but he is a sweetie and agreed with me.  I thought it best to have a place to stay over the Memorial Day Weekend rather than be out on the road.


I'm posting this for Cindy @ My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday - blog over (here) to see more great posts.

Sandy at Teacup Lane  

Thirty-Six Years Ago

Today is our 36th wedding anniversary!  

And this gorgeous man has made me so happy!

Sandy at Teacup Lane

A Hot Day Here in Indiana

We arrived in Elkhart, Indiana in the early afternoon on Sunday.   Elkhart is called the "Trailer Capital of the World".  Many RV manufacturers are located here - one you may have heard of is "Coachman".  We visited the RV Museum today and had fun looking at all the vintage RVs - the oldest from 1913.  Unfortunately, the download internet speed at this campground is very slow so I'm not going to post any photos of the vintage RVs today.  It reached 95 degrees F. here today which is a very unusual high temperature for the month of May.  Very hot today.   But we are comfortable sitting in our A/C RV.  Tomorrow we are back on the road. 

Pretty in Pink

Pretty in Pink!

Just as we were leaving home yesterday for the start of our RV Alaska Trip I took some photos of my lone surviving Peony plant.  We had all of our over grown landscaping pulled out in the front of our home last fall and they missed this plant.  I'm glad... because now I can transplant it to another area in our yard.  Isn't it a pretty pink flower?  

Our truck and 5th Wheel Travel Trailer almost set up for the first night in Ohio on our trip to Alaska.  See all the water - we had heavy rains and was it muddy around this site.

Hubby drove 392 miles yesterday through overcast, dark, misty and foggy weather with heavy rains to reach our first campground in Streetsboro, Ohio.  It's a pretty campground with large ponds.   Boy, were we tired.  We didn't watch TV or DVDs...just too pooped out.  We sat in our easy chairs and talked until bedtime.  Streetsboro is a town near Kent, Ohio where we met while attending Kent State University.  It's about an hour's drive east of Cleveland, Ohio - the area where we were both raised.  

Tomorrow we are visiting the new RV Museum at Elkhardt, Indiana and we should have some vintage RV photos to share with you.

Sandy at Teacup Lane

Alaska Or Bust

Can't wait to read these on the road...

We are starting our RV journey from the Philadelphia area to Alaska today.  After all the packing and planning... the kick off day has finally arrived.  We will be living out of our second home - our RV - for the next three months.  

Although a smaller RV may have been easier to drive around Alaska we will be more comfortable in our 33 foot 5th wheel travel trailer.    It is like a small apartment suite with a separate bedroom and bath, kitchen and dinette/livingroom combination.  We even have two HD TVs.  

Hubby will be doing the driving while I talk, read, eat, crochet and sleep.  LOL!  Hubby is estimating he will be driving about 15,000 miles round trip.  The 5th wheel handles very nicely on the road even better than two of our previous RVs (a 24 foot travel trailer and 34 foot motorhome).

We will make our way across the northern USA and cross into Canada at Montana.  Most of the Alaskan Highway is in Canada.  Supposedly we will be crossing back and forth between USA and Canada several times while on the Alaska Highway.  We haven't planned what we are doing yet in Alaska except for making reservations to take a ferry at the end of touring Alaska in August from Haines AK to the state of Washington.

Along with the "Milepost" these are the books we will be referring to on our trip...

The majority of campgrounds do have internet service but the service level may vary from excellent to poor.  When I can I will be posting about our journey on my blog.  I hope you will join us on our trip of a lifetime. 

Sandy at Teacup Lane

Show and Tell Friday - Before and After Our Back Yard

BEFORE - 2004

It’s Cindy’s My Romantic Home  "Show And Tell Friday"!

I have posted photos of our back yard with our new screened in porch and deck previously.  Now I thought I would show you what it looked like when we moved in and before we built the new porch and deck.

The old wooded deck was built by the previous owners.  It was in horrible shape - warped badly, screws and nails popping, rails loose - and just plain ugly.  You couldn't walk on it in bare feet.  The only good feature was the nice large size.  The old deck had one of those roll up awnings  - which didn't work very well if there was any wind and when the sun set there was no shade at all.  We moved in to our home in January 2000 and this photo was taken in 20004 just after we had the Serviceberry tree planted next to the deck.  The tree looks like a big bush here in the before photo.

AFTER - 2010 - same view today six years later

BEFORE - 2004 - Serviceberry tree and one of  “little” Leyland Cypress evergreens to the right

BEFORE - 2004 - we planted six Leyland Cypresses - our back yard is  very narrow - that is our neighbor’s garden.  The River Birch tree hasn't been planted yet.

BEFORE - 2006 - River Birch tree planted in front of growing Leyland Cypress evergreens 

BEFORE - 2004 - the Leyland Cypress evergreens planted just inside our property line.

AFTER - 2010- same view today - those Leyland Cypress evergreens grow 3 to 4 feet per year!

BEFORE - 2004 - looking down  our back yard  property (just planted Leyland Cypress evergreens) line to our side yard  which goes all the way back to the big trees .  Our side yard is pie shape and  is the largest part of the yard.

AFTER - 2010- same view today - the back yard is totally private!  That's our River Birch tree in front of the Leyland Cypress Evergreens.  The white bark shows up beautifully in winter.  

After - 2010 - our view today ... our new porch is three years old now!  

We  designed the new screened in porch and deck (it's a little bigger than the old wooden deck) with the two staircases but had professionals build it.  


Hope you enjoyed our Before and AFter Back Yard.  Our new porch is our pride and joy.  We love sitting out here .  Thanks for visiting me!

Blog over to our host Cindy’s My Romantic Home (here) to see more “Show And Tell Friday”!

Sandy at Teacup Lane

REDnesday - Roses are RED

Our “Deep Red Beauty”

Roses Are Red,

Violets are Blue,

Sugar is Sweet,

And So Are You!

It’s REDnesday!

The previous owners of our home planted this rose bush .  So...unfortunately I don't know it's true name.  But I'm calling it "Deep Red Beauty".  This photo was taken in 2004.  She is a beauty... isn't she? 

We are in the final stages of packing for our upcoming RV trip to Alaska.  Almost everything listed on our "to do" list is done.  This morning I was cleaning out the refrigerator and dumping food down our garbage disposal when all of a sudden I noticed I was standing in water.  Water was pouring out from under the sink.  I yelled for hubby and turned everything off.  We discovered a hole in our garbage disposal the size of a dime.   Of course we don't have time now to replace it.  But we were happy that it wasn't our water pipes that were broken and leaking.  Doesn't it always seem that things happen like this just as you are trying to get ready to leave to go somewhere?  I think it is called Murphy's Law. 

Please blog over to our host Sue at It's a Very Cherry World (here) to see other REDnesday posts.

Update:  One of my readers identified the rose as a "Papa Meilland" which is apparently one of the world's most fragrant red hybrid Tea Rose.  It is known for it's rich, deep, velvet red color .

Sandy at Teacup Lane

Black Beauty - A Work In Progress

It’s Mosaic Monday!

I'm making progress on my huge 288 granny square blanket project.   I've named this blanket "Black Beauty"!  So far I have finished eight rows of black squares by the "join as you go" method.  Whew...and I won't even be half way until nine rows are done.  Previous posts on Black Beauty (here).

The black really makes the colors POP!

Setting up colors...row by row

This yarn, "Simply Soft", is so super duper soft.  It feels wonderful!

But.. black yarn is a bear to crochet!

Black Beauty... not even half done....

Blog on over to our host Mary at The Little Red House (here) for more Mosaic Monday!  Thanks for visiting me.

Sandy at Teacup Lane

My Gift from Kate The Garden Bell

Here's a peek at my surprise!

Lucky me!  I won the recent give-away at Kate's The Garden Bell (here).   Kate is one of the sweetest ladies in blogland!   

Look at this camera strap and gorgeous crocheted cover - all in Kate's yummy colors!  Can you believe she dyes her own yarn!  WOW!

Oh, my... I love the purple and blue flower and yellow button!

And here's another delicious purple, pink and blue flower and yellow button!

But wait - there is more - Kate surprised me with a crocheted mini-Garden Bell bag - her version of the Elizabeth Cat bag.  If you didn't know Elizabeth Cat just set up her own blog (here) and she is one of the most talented crocheters showcasing her work on Flickr.  Now how did Kate know that I have drooled over Elizabeth Cat's bags?   Isn't Kate's mini bag just beautiful!  Am I lucky or what?  

  

And that's not all - Kate threw in some of her Extra Lollipop Guild Yarn!!!  Look at those dreamy colors!  Happy me! Now what can I make with this colorful yarn??...the possibilities are endless.    

 I love everything Kate!    

If you haven't already - please visit Kate over at The Garden Bell (here).  You will be treated to the most fantastic photography and crochet.  Kate is a master of both mediums.  

Thank you so much Kate!   You made my day!

Show and Tell Friday - Little Bunny

If you have visited my blog before you know I'm crazy about BUNNIES!

I caught this little bright eyed bunny hopping around my house.

I think she wants to nibble at the leaves in the pot.  Isn't she a sweetie?

Hop over to Cindy's My Romantic Home (here) for more Show and Tell Friday!

REDnesday - Meet "Miss Kitty"

It's REDnesday!

I'm pleased to introduce "Miss Kitty"!  I found "Miss Kitty" standing among other dolls and teddy bears - at of all places - the doll room at a model train store.  Hubby stopped at the store and didn't even mention to me that there were dolls and teddy bears there too.   So you can imagine my surprise when I found this little gal.  

"Miss Kitty" is a teddy bear from the Victorian Collection of Annette Funicello Collection of Teddy Bears.  She has deep, rich, rudy, red mohair fur tipped with black.  Isn't her black hat with the black feather cute?  And doesn't she have a lovely black embroidered nose and black bead eyes.

And she wears a precious cameo brooch on a black velvet ribbon.  

"Miss Kitty" stands on my red tufted leather chair (passed down from my brother).   That's my first granny square throw I crocheted. 

I apologize I had to use my flash on the last photo - it is so dark and dreary here.    

Blog on over to Sue's It's A Very Cherry World (here) for more REDnesday!   

"Miss Kitty" says she is very happy to meet all of you and thanks you for visiting.