Front porch photo

Well, it's later, 24 hours later, and here's the porch. Got a bit sidetracked by a visit from my friend Cindy. She's a talented artist, and a talented cheerleader for other artists, and always inspiring to be around. She's bringing me a Chinese marriage rug on Tuesday, in hopes I can sell it for her. She figures anyone who can find a buyer for Barbies Dream Sofa (over eight feet of crown shaped fuchsia velvet magnificence), can pretty much sell anything. Help me out, dear friends, and check back here on Wednesday morning, just in case it's the rug of your dreams! I'll even include a photo of the diva of divans, as that's certainly a once-in-a-lifetime sight.

As to the porch decor, some of you may have heard that feng shui lists dried flowers as a no-no. All I can say, is that I've loved dried flowers in the winter, since I was a little girl, and discovered that one store in town would giftwrap your purchases, topping them with velvet ribbons and dried floral sprays, for free! This was a high-end art shop, but they sold Crabtree and Evelyn soaps and other English import goodies, and I could just about afford one of those $5 items for each family member, with my paper route money.

I don't remember what I gave to whom, just how luxurious the wrapping looked compared to the standard stuff used down the street at Levinger's Rexal Drug, where grumpy, gray haired ladies looked annoyed at a ten year-old asking for giftwrapping service for the giant Hershey Bar purchased for a first crush. The people at Baker Printing and Lithography, in contrast, treated me just like any valued customer. The dried flowers are staying on my porch.