My sink runneth over, a table for 2 and the Grand-daddy of all lilac festivals!

My sink runneth over....

You may have guessed by my previous post that I have a love affair with lilacs.

Ever since I can remember they were part of my life.

As a little girl, I remember my mom would always pick abundant bouquet's and fill our home with their sweet scent.

And as the saying goes, "you want to make hay while the sun shines"!

Because my sweet lilacs our on their last hurrah.

So I set a simple table for two.

Or there may be 3 of us since my little grand-daughter is coming out tonight.

My bargain lilac plates.

Purchased years ago from K-Mart.

$16 for a 20 piece set and they always come in handy

this time of year.

Of course the star of my table are my abundant lilacs.

Having a long, cold winter does have it's benefits.

Lilacs do best with prolonged periods of cold during the winter months.

That is why they don't do well below zone 7 or so.

Now if you truly love lilacs like I do, you may want to go to the biggest and most beautiful and grandest lilac festival around.

And where you say?

Well that would be Mackinac Island, Michigan.

They have a 10 day lilac festival each year.

And let my tell you it is grand!

And why not?

The Grand Hotel is there and they sponsor some of the events.

Such as a Grand luncheon lilac buffet, a Grand Hotel lilac tea and more.

This year, The Mackinac Island Lilac Festival runs from June 7-16.

Here is the breathtaking view you will see as you cross on the ferry to this magical place.

They have a horse drawn carriage Grand parade and even a lilac queen!

There are events galore.

For more information check out their website @

www.mackinacislandlilacfestival.org

 or you can find them on facebook too.

Dan and I were there in the summer of 2008.

The lilac festival had just ended, but many of the lilacs were still looking good.

It's my dream to get back there this summer in time for the lilacs.

And I do have a plan...now I just need to tell my hubby about it.

Thanks for coming by,

I am joining:

Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Oh the places I've been @ The Tablescaper

Be Inspired @ Common Ground

It's a lilac festival at my house!

I have been waiting two years for this!

It's my favorite time of year. The time of year when my lilacs just burst forth in all their glory.

You see we've had some crazy weather the past two years.

In March of 2012 we were hitting 70 to 80 degrees day after day.

Not your typical Wisconsin March weather.

I loved it!  But there was a price to be paid and I didn't love that.

You see the lilac trees starting budding like crazy.

Then April came along and we had several hard freezes.

And poof!

All my beautiful buds were gone.

And come mid-May there wasn't a lilac in sight.

And oh how I mourned.

Because you see, it's my favorite time of year.

Well this year is different.

We have a bumper crop of lilacs.

See pic above.

Those are my dark purple ones.

And these are my true lilac ones.

See how they are bursting in bloom!

My bush back here is huge!

So I am filling my house with the sweet scent of lilacs.

Every vase, every tabletop and every corner I can find is filled to the brim with my blooming lilacs.

All my blue-ball jars are filled as well.

I wish you could smell them.

I wish I had a scratch n sniff button on here.

My house is filled with their sweet scent.

And while I was out cutting buckets of lilacs....

little Addison sat over on her Grandpa' lawn mower.

It seems to be one of her favorite past times right now.

She even pretends to get down and be fixing it...ha!

And after Grandpa got home from work he went outside and gave his favorite little gal a ride.

Oh Spring time...I love it!

Freshly mowed grass, the scent of sweet lilacs and...

this.

My flowering crab apple just lit up today!

It's not the biggest yet...

But it sure is beautiful!

Thanks for visiting my lilac festival.

 I hope you have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend.

I am joining:

Seasonal Sundays @ The Tablescaper

Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Met. Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Inspire me Tuesday @ A Stroll thru Life

Spring has really sprung here!

Finally after what seemed to be the longest winter I can remember, we have blooms and green.

 I have been so happy to be outside.

Watching things green up. Planting annuals and perennials and even cleaning and pulling weeds hasn't seemed too bad.

 Yesterday our apple trees just burst with new blossoms.

We had sun, we had rain and we also had a bit of humidity.

The plants seem to be loving it.

Come August and September I will have apples galore!

My lilacs are coming along nicely and will be opening soon.

I have been planting a lot of annuals too.

Using old things and new things, whatever I can find.

And finally I hope this makes you smile!

My little grand-daughter Calista, enjoying an ice creme cone last Saturday night.

She is 21 months now and boy do I need to get out and see her soon.

It's hard when they live so far away.

Take care all and have a wonderful week!

Cindy

Bunnies and Blue Ball jars and May Day.

I finally got my anniversary collection of the ball blue jars!

They are pretty lovely and I will find so many uses for them.

I ordered mine from Ace Hardware and they shipped them to my local store for free.

I have 6 of them but I ran out of flowers for my table.

This cute domesticated bunny showed up in our yard last year.

She stayed off and on most of the summer.

Late in the fall we didn't see her anymore and we doubted she could make it through the winter.

But lo and behold she is back!!

Addison is totally smitten by her.

We named her Oreo which we thought was quite fitting.

She is starting to warm up to us again and hopefully we will be able to catch her and make her a nice fun bunny shelter.

Addison loves to take her carrots!

But first, she always has to take a bite herself.

I love her attitude and spunk!

I've babysat a lot this week and my Mom has had some more health issues.

I guess I know what my calling is.

Right now it's a 2 year old and a 77 year old and they are both very spunky!

My daughter Katie Rose, celebrated her 23rd birthday on May 1st.

Boy it's totally true about how quickly time goes by.

A little collage of her.

I think Addison resembles her a lot.

We celebrated with gifts and dinner and cake at our house.

I helped Addison make her Mommy some birthday cards.

And the weather has been totally rotten around here.

 Some area's around us got 9 inches of snow the other day!

Just not right in May is it?

We were lucky and only got a sprinkle but the weather was nasty.

We are supposed to warm up and get some spring again.

This winter weary blogger can't wait.

Happy Weekend friends,

Cindy