This cottage had a primitive touch which made Annette and Becky as happy as clams! It was a very nice place and they had nice hosta beds too.
Annette, Jan and Gay admire the lovely flower bed that you see down below.
As soon as you walked into this yard, this flowerbed grabs your attention. Nancy has these flowers in her backyard too-the dark red variety. I forgot what they are called.
Love-love-love this old classic summer cottage! It was not in the greatest shape, that's for sure, but was like stepping back in time as not a lot has changed in probably 100 years. Big bedrooms, lots of narrow wainscoat-everything you imagine in an old lakeshore place.
We're not supposed to take pictures inside but I had to sneak this one inside the front porch. There were two hanging beds, one just behind Jan in the brown shirt and one further down the porch if you click on the photo you might be able to see it. Lots of taxidermy in this house and a huge fieldstone fireplace in the living room.
Here's the front. The big screen window on the second story is a bedroom with an amazing view of Lake Darling. It's located right behind Bug-a-Boo restaurant and it caught my eye before the tour so I was excited when we drove up and found out it was a cottage on the tour!
This is the back of the cottage-look at those old crank out windows. There is a little guest house with two bedrooms and a very cute and tiny screen porch-10x10 at the most just to the right of this photo. The granddaughter of the owner of this place recently bought this and is selling the adjacent lot for only $500,000.00!! For that price a garage and fire-pit is included.
All you red lovers will like this charming home. It's another 100 year old cottage that has undergone many remodels. This one had a nice open kitchen/living room/dining room. 
They had a wonderful deck and LOTS of deck furniture...more red for you. The evidently haul in semi loads of sand to maintain this beach.
This is the vinyl coated wicker. We saw tons of this on the tour. I have some too and got mine at Fleet Farm and Target. My Fleet Farm set is down at the cabin and is my favorite. It's so easy to maintain.
I could enjoy a good magazine in that lounger, a boring one too for that matter. They are very close to Lake Darling. Zoning restrictions prevent new homes from being that close but if you remodel an existing you're okay.
This was the last house, a 120 year old farmhouse on Lake Ida. The owners were going to tear it down and rebuild but had a change of heart and remodeled instead. An interesting side note...Don Shelby has a summer place near this home. My favorite part of this house was that they saved the old porches and trim and enclosed them with screens. The screen porch on the left is off the master bath and to the right is off the kitchen. If you click on the picture you can probably see the porches in decent detail.
The lilacs have always been on this corner and rarely bloom since I'm always cutting them back. Dan and I decided to take them out yesterday kind of on a whim and now we're wondering why it took us so long to do that. It's much cleaner looking and gives a nicer view of the yard from the porch too.
I'll just stick a few hostas in there and that will make a nice easy border connecting the two that are already well established. Since it looks like today won't be rainy after all, I plan to do that this afternoon. Dan is off to his double header in Wahpeton.
Whenever we set a bag down in the kitchen before departure or on arrival home, Big Kitty is there in less than a mn making herself at home. Dan often travels with a clothes basket between home and Shakopee and she jumps right into that too. It's just a funny thing that she always does. 
This side of the garage used to be a huge eyesore. I do not remember adding that day lily but it looks happy there.
This is the first new bed that I added in June. There are about 10 hostas and 3 sedum plants clustered around this old wheelbarrow that I found in the woods behind the cabin. It's located to the left of the driveway as you come into our place. There are some wild daisies and a charming blue wildflower that blooms like crazy all over the point this time of year. You can see it in the fake arrangement further down. It makes a nice cut flower and lasts for quite awhile.
Just a little window box on the east side of the garage that never gets noticed. That's a tiny hosta growing in the middle.
The hostas along this sidewalk to our house have been here as long as the sidewalk, 7-8 years? I know I posted this already but they got so huge this year...yes I know...that's what she said. I'll save you the trouble Warren. :)
I'll end with my favorite place to read. This is our second Sky chair after the first finally wore out. This one is to weather the elements so we'll see how long it lasts. They're made in Boulder Colorado and they're the most comfortable chair to have outside. Much better than my hammock which is still sitting sadly down in our basement.
It looks like the laundry is hanging from our pergola but it's just the panels I hung for privacy and a cozy feeling blowing in the strong winds we have today.
The hostas are in full bloom. I think they look pretty right now but in a couple of weeks they will look all scraggley and I will have to cut off all the old blooms. 
Here's a brand new hosta bed that I put in 2 weeks ago. The grass won't grow here behind the house but I know the hostas will. In a couple of years the dozen hostas here will be full and lovely.
The big hostas that you see here are about 7 years old. They make a nice border. I wish I had used more varigated but I used what I had on hand-plain old green.
This bed is three years old. It's another spot where the grass wouldn't grow and it's starting to look pretty decent. Every year I try to add two or three more hosta beds. I've done two this year and hope to get another in. Less to mow you know!
I told you that buckthorn was evil! See how it's sneaking up on the left side of this oak? Just hoping that I won't notice? I see you all right and your days are numbered.
50% of this arrangement is fake. Can you tell which part? I didn't think so. I read an article in a country living magazine a few months ago about adding real flowers to artificial and how it's a very common practice. I've been doing this with some of my fakes for a few years so I was glad to hear it's "okay." Not that it really would have mattered.
Here's another arrangement that's about 50% real. The artificial flowers give you a nice base and hold the real flowers in place. It lasts much longer because half of the arrangement NEVER dies! Anyone else using this little trick? If not, you should try it.
Today is going to be one of those summer days where I don't go anywhere, not even into Elbow. It's a beautiful day just like yesterday. I started mowing yesterday and I'm working at it today too. I like to do chunks. If I did the entire yard at once it would take at least 3 hours. So I do a bit, go in the house, read, clean, surf the web, eat, then head out and do another chunk. It's tolerable that way and it works for me. 
I used the night setting on my camera to try to capture the beautiful moonlight reflections we had last week. This came somewhat close. 
This came from Shari's blog. Carly models the new aprons her mom has been sewing and the highly coveted Rachel Ray Pyrex bowl. Carly loves to cook and help Shari in the kitchen! She looks so grown up in this photo-I can't stand it.
Here's that barn I love at the Mn Arboretum. Did I post this already...oh well.
At the museum in Madison, they had a schoolhouse and I had to pose in my favorite role. I only wish my desk was always this neat!
