Most of the photos here at Rabbit Run Cottage
can be enlarged just by clicking on each one!
There you go...see? Easy!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Operatic Table Style

My favorite area at the Cincinnati Flower Show was the "Dramatic Table Setting" tent.
Each table was set to showcase a particular opera...The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni,
Rigoletto, Aida, La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, La Traviata, Carmen...
The tableware, the flowers, the bits and bobs of table decor all expressed the beautiful music so well. Even the food was created with flowers and plants...
(As always, each photo may be clicked on to make it larger)
See if you can figure out which opera each of these represents...
I know that showcasing table settings by others is cheating just a bit but these were just too much fun not to share them with you!
I hope your day is a sweet one...
Love and Hugs,
Susie Q

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

A Tweak Here, A Tweak There...

You have all been so, so sweet to me about Rabbit Run Cottage. Not perfect
but perfect for me...for us. You also encouraged me to share more pictures of our little spot in the world. So, like it or not, here goes!
Last week I found a tray that was just right for my dining room. I had one there for 6 years but it was not the vintage tole painted one I so desired. I have looked often, and in many places, but the right one popped up on Ebay last week. I put in my bid...a low one at that..and was shocked when I won! That almost never happens! It arrived yesterday and
I could not wait to hang it. I just LOVE it!
As always, each photo can be made larger by clicking on it...
Then, at Tuesday Morning last week, I uncovered two sweet little
oil paintings. Here are the rabbits... Here are the roosters... This is a shot of my hutch's top. A vignette of beloved items... The figures and red box were brought home from our trip to China. The tea pots were all gifts from friends. The oil painting was from Kirkland's 7 years ago and was the first rabbit item I purchased solely for Rabbit Run Cottage! I would love to introduce you to Harvey Norbert Burns. He was a birthday gift from my husband and son. I found him in a shop while out for the day with two of my dearest friends. They loved him and helped name him so that makes him REALLY special to me! Oh, and I am aware that Norbie dresses a bit flamboyantly... it is just his style! He has quite the dramatic and artistic flair don'tcha know!
This is the top of our china cabinet. The lovely Royal Doulton figures were a gift from someone I hold very dear to my heart.
The lamp was a fun find and always makes me think of my sweet blog friend, Andi, and her dog Bully! The picture is our Daniel, his HS Senior photo, and it makes me happy to see it there.
So, there you have it. a few of my dining room trinkets...
I hope your week is going well and that you have nothing but happy thoughts.
Love and Hugs,
Susie Q

Monday, April 27, 2009

The Earth Laughs In Flowers...

I will be the gladdest thing
under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one!
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
On Friday, Mom and I headed down to Cincinnati to attend the 2009 Flower Show. It was the first year we have gone and we were not disappointed!
It was quite warm, 92 degrees by one stall's thermometer, and humid but we still enjoyed ourselves immensely.
As always, you may click on each photo to make it larger!
There were things of beauty right from the start...
The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks. ~Tennessee Williams
I would have loved to bring this cart home with me!
These fairy houses reminded me of our dear blog friend sweet Pea!
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe
and had so many children she didn't know what to do...
...so she planted their shoes with lettuce and soil
and peppers, sweet onions and potatoes to boil.
There were ideas a plenty and lots of things to buy...
Flowers are the sweetest things that God ever made and
forgot to put a soul into.
~Harriet Beecher
The Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the Flower Show sites along with me.
Later this week I have many more photos to share...some oh so pretty table settings that I think will inspire you and delight your senses!
Have a wonderful week, enjoy the warm Spring air and smile! You are SO special!
Love and Hugs,
Susie Q

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Perfect Home

Ah, the perfect home...do you live in one? I used to be okay with the fact that I don't but since I began blogging almost 3 years ago, I am reminded, almost daily, how UNperfect my home is!
No, not by any of you. Sillies! You are all so dear to me and would never do such a thing! Pish posh!
No, it is just good old Susie Q...me, myself and I...who does the reminding. I look around bloggy world and see some of the most amazing homes. Some are large and grand, others small and cozy. Some are brand spankin' new while others have the charm of yesteryear etched into each nook and cranny.
So many of you have done such lovely things to your homes. Every day I see another room makeover, a charming table scape or a knock out addition to an already stunning room.
And yes. As much as I admire these things, and have never felt that I was the type to be jealous, I find myself having more than a few twinges of envy. Yes, envy. Me perfect? Hardly!
When I began blogging I made the decision that this would be a tangible journal of my days and nothing more. Meeting so many wonderful and oh so special people has been the most delightful
result of my entry into blogging. That, and that alone, is my reward for posting the occasional rambling post. I have no real desire to earn a living at blogging, make a splash at writing professionally or in
offering my advice on anything...not decorating, politics, religion, cooking, gardening or
parenting. Heck, I am the last person who should be giving advice on anything!
I simply wanted to be able to reach out to other people and share the day's events. And share we do. Over a cyber cup of hot tea and that imaginary buttered scone we have discussed our lives, hopes, our worries, our homes. Our perfect homes.
We share the corners of our homes that are beautifully appointed, clean and well organized.
I know that none of us would be too eager to share our unmade
beds, dusty bookshelves or that rumpled sofa...you know the one...
the one that the dog has made his own.
Okay, so maybe this only happens in MY house but hey.
Time for some honesty...my bed does not always get made. Nope. And the cats
scatter litter all over the bathroom. I know. You are shocked right? Even worse, it gets scattered out into the rest of the house! Whew. I am on a roll now...
...let's talk pet hair. I have one dog and two cats and each one sheds about 1678 lbs of hair a day.
You will never see pictures of the couch with the lovely old sheet across it. It is there to protect the cushions from said pets and it is just one more UNperfect aspect of my house.
Shall I mention laminate and vinyl? These seem to
be two words that cause far too many to go into anaphylactic shock and yes.
My house has both. Not a bit of granite or marble or stone anywhere.
It took us almost 7 years to replace the bath counters with Corian! Sheesh. I hope to add stone or tile floors to the baths and kitchen soon but other things took priority. Silly little things like taxes and car repairs, college fees and orthodontics.
I purchased new lighting fixtures for the bathrooms oh, let's see. 3 months ago? Uh huh. And have they been put up? Surely you jest! But between Bill's work schedule and out of town conferences and my daily marathon of errands, well, this was put on that old proverbial back burner.
I often find myself misty eyed at how little has been done aesthetically to this cottage of ours...in reading my ever growing list of blogs, I see houses that have more done to them in 7 days than we have done in 7 years...and I began to feel that all too familiar twinge. Envy yes, but even worse, dissatisfaction.

I have come to the conclusion that for me to have the perfect home, I

must secure oodles of one or two of the following:

Money

Time

Creativity

Talent

Energy

I am sad to say but, these days, I am in short supply of all five!

*sigh*

In my daily blog visits I see homes that seem so, so well, perfect. Houses that are always getting
another spiff up, another tweaking. I begin to feel sad for poor Rabbit Run Cottage.
As clean as I try to keep it, as well tended as I attempt to keep this cottage of ours,
I find myself dwelling on each spot, obsessing over each nick, bemoaning each worn and well loved cushion.
What would my blogging friends think if they saw my not so perfect home?
The one with the chips on the counter and the 2 small tears in the vinyl flooring?
The one with the clouds of cat hair and the all too tiny dining room? The one where
the spaghetti was spilled on the carpet and the dog decided to make a sofa cushion his chew toy.
The one where the gaggle of kids traipse through leaving muddy footprints, dirty glasses and
fingerprints.
Uh huh. That house. The one that will never be featured on a decorating and design blog. The one that would make the CEO of HGTV and the editors of decor magazines shudder.
But dear Rabbit Run Cottage never complains. Nope.
It shelters us from the cold, the rain and the stress of the outside world.
It has housed a whole heap of love,
masses of laughter, countless hugs, loads of friends, numerous family
members and did it with
it's own sweet style.
Unglamorous, a little rough around the edges and showing some wear and tear.
In it's

own way, Rabbit Run Cottage, as delightfully UNperfect as it is, is ever so, truly so, most assuredly so, perfect. Perfect for me.

Now, how about that cup of tea?
Love and hugs,
Susie Q

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

What A Wonderful World...

...what a wonderful weekend! And now I am officially exhausted! Whew.
I hope all of you are beginning your week with smiles and feeling good...Spring was definitely out in force last weekend. Today? Not so much! It is rainy and cold. But I can just look back and feel warm...so. Just what were we up to? Let's take a peek...
...and as always, most pictures may be clicked on for a larger view.
We took a drive through the St. Anne's Hill and the Oregon District neighborhoods of Dayton. We always love the old houses, the cottages being a huge favorite.
Don't you love the front door here? This pretty place in just across the street from a great seafood spot, Jay's. We love this house, especially the front stoop. Here is a closeup of it...the purple door and the stainless steel accessories! LOVE that. LOVE this red house...
...and this side garden.
This is our favorite place...a sweet cottage that I would
LOVE to see inside. Maybe someday...
Here is the cottage's side courtyard.
I love this house and look at their wonderful front yard and porch.
Still all decked out for Easter.
Then we drove past a few of downtown Dayton's churches...
this one, Holy Trinity, was built in 1860 and has always been one of my favorites.
Friday night found us out with several of my high school friends. We met at a local spot to hear
The Stumps. The Stumps are something of a legend in the Dayton area and have been together since the 1960s. What great music! They play mostly songs from the 60s and 70s and what's not to love about that? The drummer is their newest member and just happens to be a friend from our high school days! We all wanted to be there to support him, the band and have a good time listening to classic rock and roll.
Saturday was busy...at 10 am, a group of us from church met to
clean up the city bike and hike trail. It was a delight to see how well it had been cared for and how little trash was there. Good work Dayton! Then it was time for a treat...Kipper decided that it had been too long since we had taken him to Ritter's, sooooo....
Okay Dudes. Here is where *I* take over the story. What the old lady t'ain't tellin' you is this. They said it was too cold to go to the last Dog Night at Ritter's. Come on dudes. It was ONLY 20 degrees and a little icy. Gee whiz. So I figured they owed me ya know?
Whoo Hoo! Here we are!!
T'ain't it beautiful dudes? It just glows in the sun. *sigh*
There were only a few peeps there but this little dudette really had it bad for the Kipster.
So's I gave her a tumble and smooched her nose...
Dad had to hold my cuppa so's it didn't get away...I have one mean slurp ya know!
Oh wait dudes!! A little help here...hello? STOP laughin'!
Whoa...help a little dude out?
If they would stop laughin' for one second and help me I could get this off my face...my mom better NOT be takin' my picture...
Aw gee dudes...the 'scream is all gone and so's my story is ended.
Don't I look sad? *sniff* Till next time!
After Ritter's we headed over to Woodland Cemetery. It is truly one of Dayton's gems and such a lovely, historic and peaceful place. The geese and ducks were all enjoying a warm Spring day...
This is the gravesite for the Wright family...
You might recognize two of these names...
Then we drove around some of our favorite parks to take in more Spring beauty...
Late afternoon arrived and so did softball practice.
Grace seems ready to catch those grounders...
Grace at bat...
Grace and her BFF, Miss K. You should see Miss K pitch! This girl has quite the arm!
Then it was dinner out for our little athlete. She chose her favorite
Chinese restaurant and her favorite dish. We met our good buddy, T, and had a lovely time. As we headed home, this was the sunset that greeted us.
Talk about a perfect ending to a sweet day!
Sunday was a little rainy but we still enjoyed our day. After church, Mom, Bill, Grace and I headed to a favorite spot for brunch. Afternoon was spent at the movies with Grace and our friend, Z. Z and Grace wanted to see 17 Again.
Is that Zac Efron downright adorable or what? And no. I am NOT robbin' any cradles here. I would still prefer my beloved Brian Dennehy but I am just sayin'...
That evening we met our dear friends T and C at a benefit dinner. The Robyn's Nest is an animal rescue organization that does some awesome things. We had spaghetti, salad, bread and dessert and enjoyed seeing all the fur babies up for adoption.
This was Charlie Brown...such a sweet boy...
And this is Hannah. She was rescued just a few weeks ago and is looking for a new home.
Okay. Truth time. I fell in love with her and oh how I want to bring her home with us. I have yet to convince Bill that we need another pet but oh how I love her. She is such a small girl...won't get any bigger...and a sweetie. Even if it isn't here, I pray she will find a new home soon.
I send each one of you lots of love and many hugs. Enjoy your week and savor each day.
Life is SO good...
Love and Hugs,
Susie Q