It's a red, white & blue kind of week . . .

I love decorating with red, white & blue for summer

It helps that we live in a blue and white house

with a red door.

This adriondack chair sits on the front porch all the time, but a change of pillows gives it a patriotic look.

It was easy for the back porch to get a summer update

by simply changing the flowers to red and white -

 flags and a wooden soldier finish off the look.

With no blue flowers in the garden, I had to get creative with my floral arrangements - lavender is combined with red asters and white alyssum.

A few colorful pieces added to the shelves give the kitchen a fresh summery look.

The dining room is always dressed in red, white & blue.

Setting a patriotic table

just requires flags and colorful dishes.

A few flags in the entry

and the guest room finish off the red, white & blue theme for the week.

What about you - do you decorate with red, white & blue this time of year?

Time For Tea

My lovely daughter-in-law, Aylin, read an article recently about great spots in Los Angeles to enjoy high tea.

The ladies of the family decided it would be a great Mother's Day celebration, but we had to wait until last Sunday for everyone's schedule to coordinate.

Aylin settled on The Peninsula in Beverly Hills.

I wanted to take a little something for everyone so I bought white teacups at the thrift shop.

To spice them up, I tied colorful ribbons onto the handles

 and personalized them with names or initials.

My plan was to use flowers from my garden, but in case I didn't have enough, I bought two bouquets at Trader Joe's.

I have an whole new appreciation for florists 

after arranging the bouquets over and over again to get them just right.

There were just 6 of us at tea - that's me in the white dress with my sister in the sunglasses.

We had such a lovely time, that we have already chosen our next spot for tea.

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Join me at Poofing the Pillows for Thoughts of Home on Thursday

Cruisin' the Neighborhood

 

Not much has changed since the last Garden Party.

I added flowers in rusty metal containers 

to the baker's rack on the porch

and my Matilija Poppies are nearly to the top of the windows.

There are lots of buds this year and we expect to be looking at fried eggs next week.

With so little going on in my garden,

I thought you might like to join me for a cruise through the neighborhood.

Bougainvillea is a common sight in southern California

as are poppies.

 I am so jealous of the poppies in this recently completed little garden. 

Poppies won't grow in my yard, but they will thrive in a crack in a driveway!

Lots at the beach are quite small and houses are very close together.

Some people are buying houses next to each other and building on 2 or even 3 lots.

Finding a spot for greenery in a small space means planting on the fences,

gates 

and trellises attached to the house.

There is a median running down the center of the main boulevard at the beach.

Due to budget cuts, the city no longer maintains the median so neighbors have created lovingly cared for gardens along the median.

Drought tolerant plants are a necessity in our area of the state.

And palm trees

in the background

are a common sight.

We lived behind this house 39 years ago when we moved to town and those thick trunks were baby palm trees then.

This little garden space was finished recently and they planted mature palms.

Just around the corner from our house is an elementary school overlooking the ocean.

I love that the teachers are allotted space in the garden where the students can oversee the growing of vegetables and flowers.

I think I need to plant some artichokes.

One of Steve's favorite subject to paint is old trucks and this one we spotted across the street from our lane might just be a future painting.

Here we are, back on Brunswick Lane.

I hope you enjoyed your bike ride and seeing how gardens grow in my little section of town.

Now it's your turn to link up your garden posts.

And don't forget to visit all the hosts

Jann of Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson

Laura of White Spray Paint

Laura of Decor to Adore

Jemma of At Home With Jenna

Stacey of Poofing the Pillows

An InLinkz Link-up