~~The PINK FAIRY has BLOOMED!~~

2008 ~~ "THE FAIRY" Rose ~~ a week ago!





2007 ~~ "THE FAIRY" Rose ~~ a year ago!

The Pink FAIRY Rose has bloomed! And my oh my how it has grown since last year! In the bottom picture up there it was barely halfway up the arbor this time last year. I was so surprised that not only did it make it to the top this year but it went all the way over & halfway down the other side. And that tiny little red rose on the other side of the arbor last year has grown all the way up to meet the FAIRY at the tippy top! These pictures were taken last week & as all roses do they have already faded but I'm hoping for another bloom....

Well I'm still "out of the blog loop" when it comes to keeping up with what's going around here! It's because so much is going on around here! So many new projects & we are busy as "BEES".....which I will blog about soon!

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY!! xoxoxoxo

~~Garden Surprises from the Wildflower Fairy~~

A very unexpected Wildflower Garden has just come to life before our very eyes!

We had a mound of leftover dirt that we had used to fill in holes that our happy chickens dug ~~ Last fall we spread it all out flat & then scattered a variety of seeds - mostly wildflower mix all over it. Just THREW them out there! And then kind of forgot about it - didn't do a thing to it!

Until a couple of weeks ago - when THIS appeared ~ like a Wildflower Fairy had waved her magic wand & wa-laa - there it was! Red Poppies, Blue Bachelor's Buttons, Red Clover, Yellow Coreopsis, Purple Larkspur......It changes & grows every day as more & more little buds open & bloom!

A couple of nights this week we've headed down the road to do our favorite wildflower drive ~~ I love picking huge bouquets of them ~~ and we dug up a few more lovelies to add to add to our new fairy wildflower garden - foxgloves, wine cups, daisies ~ And YES - that IS a purple BOWLING "gazing" BALL smack in the very middle sitting on a stand I picked up from a dumpster in Fredericksburg last month! It was TZ's idea to make it a "gazing" ball stand & I've grown to like that big spash of purple in there! He bought the bowing ball - two of them actually - $1 at a garage sale ~ to paint them like ladybugs for the garden....a very cool idea he saw in a garden magazine!.........but that's another story!

The whole garden is a little unkempt~shabby chic-ish~looking but I kind of like it that way! No planned garden style made by me - just did it's own happy thing!

My Pink Fairy Rose is JUST on the verge of a beautiful bloom! I will bring it to you soon!

Friday night & we're always on the dance floor right about now but decided to give our boots a rest & take a night off......we're up early tomorrow morning to head to the Bowie Trade Days to look for a new *NICE* Rooster, Pet Turkeys, & **FLOWERS**!!!!..............Happy Weekend!! xoxoxo

~~A Lovely Day in Texas~~

I love walking through our woods......all nice & shady & green again.....

Wayyyyy tooooo many water lilies have come up this year.....and don't plant Pink Primrose unless you want a million of them.....they DO take over a flower bed - I have lots of thinning to do!

Our front porch "anniversary" pond we started a year ago......
Purple Petunia - a Lowe's bargain @ $5.74.......50 cent pillows - last Saturday's garage sales....


TZ's Clematis & 25 cent trellis - repainted........



After last week's B & B trip I came home & dug out the Hammock.......

I LOVED this lovely spring day at our little cottage ~~ windows all open, breezes blowing, & all the lace curtains fluttering in the breeze. After last night's nice long steady rain everything was crisp & fresh & SO green! We've had tons of nice spring rain lately in North Texas - some very scary thunderstorms though - even very damaging hail every Wednesday or Thursday for the last 4 weeks.

But our gardens are very Happy & coming to life! Today there were more water lilies blooming than I've ever seen at once. In fact our big pond has way too many lilies so soon I will have to take lots of them out. Everything is nice & green & the trees are a solid canopy again. We are out in our yard taking garden tours every evening & doing lots of planting & projects.
I am way TOO happy that SPRING is here!

I've had a very busy week with ebay & have listed lots of new unique & interesting things......tomorrow is garage sale Friday so I'm off to Denton to look for more treasures!

~~Love Trip to Fredericksburg~~

Fields of Poppies & Verbena at the Wildseed Farms......unfortunately there weren't many roadside wildflowers like last year's beautiful Bluebonnet fields........not enough rain this year :-(

I have many nicknames but TZ usually calls me Kitty Zam ~ this was my love trip road bag.........this one had a bobblehead puppy & Snoopy coloring book along with lots of goodies.......my last road trip goodie bag had a baby doll & a Barbie coloring book....... :-)
He knows I'm just a little girl at heart!

The Cheshyre Cat Cottage Bed & Breakfast.........


Front porch looking at the woods........

We kept the windows open & could hear this pretty fountain from inside..........


Walking Paths around our Bed & Breakfast..........

Hammock in the Woods.........

Lots of pretty pots of Flowers all along the main street of town............

Fields of Red Poppies............

The old Railroad Bat Tunnel where you can watch tons of bats fly out in the evening............they fly out right behind where TZ is standing..........the train tunnel is in the picture above.....that little green spot in the middle is the opening of the tunnel on the other side.........

The Pretty Arbor where we were married.......it's SO pretty here.....

The old Mill Wheel in the park.......

Yellow Columbine.......

Lots of Roses........



We were all packed & ready to go on our yearly Bed & Breakfast Anniversary Trip to the lovely little german town of Fredericksburg, Texas ~~ I opened my car door & was SO surprised to find my "love trip" goodie bag that TZ had secretly packed for me.....inside was a fuzzy little bobblehead puppy because he knew I would miss Cabo & Cookie so much......a Peanuts Coloring Book & box of crayons.......potato chips......gum.....& a big pack of Almond Joy mini Candy Bars! SO sweet & brought me to tears before we even left the driveway......the love trip!

And what a fun trip we had! Fredericksburg is one of our favorite places because we were married in that pretty town underneath a beautiful outdoor wisteria arbor in a gorgeous park full of roses, columbine, iris - tons of pretty flowers & statues, an old mill wheel. We go back almost every April & I especially love it because it's early spring & everything has turned green ~ lots of flowers everywhere ~ huge red geraniums which is on the top of my next Lowe's list!

This year we chose the Cheshyre Cat Cottage Bed & Breakfast ~~ the sweetest, most peaceful & serene place all tucked away outside of town in the middle of trees with paths lined with gazing balls, hammocks, peace & quiet. We did the walk up & down the main street of beautiful shops & restaurants but most of all we enjoyed the flowers, Wildseed Farms, Luckenbach, & the old railroad Bat Tunnel. Instead of shopping the shops we looked for garage sales & thrift stores ~~ there is a thrift store there that I could spend hours in! And we always get lots of inspiration for new gardening ideas, projects, & instead of buying anything in the shops we get great ideas for things to go home & make ourselves!

It was a very happy, fun, & special anniversary love trip to a beautiful place with lots of memories!

It's always nice to come back to home sweet home though & we have ideas galore to get started on in the garden!

~~Here a Chick*There a Chick & I've been Tagged!~~

BUTTERSCOTCH ~~ He's Pretty but he's VERY MEAN!!

Meet the new members of our family.....14 new feathered babies! Our grown hens already give us more eggs each week than we can eat but with the price of eggs these days a few more can't hurt! We're always happy to share & the eggs you gather yourself are always the best. We have brown eggs & colored eggs & they are so creamy & good.

We've had the new babies a couple of weeks & they are growing so fast!

On the other hand, we have a very mean rooster - he's a beautiful big Buff Orpington but he attacks us! I have bruises & cuts on my leg & knee from his attacks. I plan to find a new NICE rooster soon!
Sorry Butterscotch :-( You will have to go to a new home before the new babies head to the coop.

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I'm happy to have been tagged by Suzanne ~ Painter of the Past at Pear Tree Primitives to tell you how I came up with my blog & business name ~~ kattz*cottage
This is interesting because I've always wondered how so many blog names come about & why they are chosen!! So here is mine ~~

kattz*cottage

KAT is a nickname from my husband TZ

TZ is my nickname for him & it's his initials

Put the two together & you have "kattz".....& I have LOVED Cottages since I was a little girl & I do live in my dream cottage ~~ I have collected Cottage china & Cottage pictures for years & years & there is nothing COZIER than a Cottage!

In the fall of 2002 we started a new adventure called Geocaching and "kattz" is the geocaching name we came up with by putting our names together. Geocaching is SO much fun! It's all about treasure hunting with a GPS & it takes you to some of the most beautiful places! Since 2002 we have found 1666 geocaches & we have placed 50 of our own to be found. We do lots of geocaches on every trip we take ~~ you never know where they will lead you! You can find us through www.geocaching.com as "kattz"!

Since kattz was our geocache name I decided to change my ebay name to kattz*cottage ~~ so on from there it just made perfect sense to be kattz*cottage in the blogging world too!

I will pass this tag on to anyone who would like to tell us your "blog name" story!

Beautiful, warm, & sunny 80's here today ~~ hope yours is beautiful too!