A few years ago Phil and his brothers emptied their childhood home in preparation of selling it after their mom passed away. Phil brought home a portrait of himself from his early teen years that his brother had started painting but never finished. I instantly loved it!

You've surely seen many pictures and read stories of our brother, Larry. He's an amazingly talented man and I adore him. So we placed the unfinished portrait on a wall in the guest bedroom. Each time I go in that bedroom and see my daddy's old suitcase, the table Phil's dad built for his mom when they were newlyweds, and now the unfinished portrait, I smile. I've been blessed with good men in my life and covered with a strong love. I want Two Holt to honor these special men.

Phil and I visited an arts and craft show in Highlands today and left with the perfect 41st wedding anniversary present for each other- an original painting framed with local wood.

Meet Ace...he's one of triplet cubs born this past year. The artist loves painting bears encountered on their land. In his wild real life, Ace has a brother and a sister and the artist has painted each of them, too.

And take a look at the beautiful handmade frame...

Ace adds the perfect touch to our dining area fireplace! Don't you just love him?

Have you noticed all the Facebook pages for communities across the US participating in the PAINTED ROCKS projects? The idea is to have lots of people paint fun or inspirational rocks, post the Facebook information on the back of the rock, and then hide the painted rocks around the community. Those finding the rocks may keep or re-hide after posting a picture of the rock on Facebook. The "Columbus GA Rocks" Facebook caught my attention a few weeks back. I loved following the Facebook page and seeing the creative rocks placed around that town by their 12,000 members! Not all the paintings are as beautiful as the ones below but all rocks are celebrated. What fun!

I decided to start a Facebook page for Highlands and set it up as 'Highlands NC Rocks'. Then I enlisted Phil's help and started collecting rocks and painting.

Through trial and error we found it best to use acrylic paint, small paintbrushes and sometimes toothpicks to apply the paint, and spray sealer to protect the rocks from weather.

These rocks were placed around Mirror Lake...

We painted a few to place around our church, First Baptist...

And a couple for the hospital grounds...

The remainder were placed around Main Street...

Phil and I hope these rocks will bring a smile to those who find them. Meanwhile, we'll be painting a few more rocks. We hope to find a few rocks painted by others one day soon!

Phil and I have been busy working in the gardens around Two Holt. When I mentioned to a neighbor that we needed to clear the lot behind us which we bought three years ago, she told me she had the perfect couple for the job and introduced us to the Hollands. Mr. Holland retired from the forestry department several years ago and he does an excellent job in clearing land. He even pointed out this stand of yellow lady slippers and advised me to keep the stand because the yellow blooming slippers are rare. The lot we bought extends Two Holt's back boundary all the way to the road behind Two Holt- Wyanoak Road.

When the Hollands were finished, I was amazed. No more thorny briars! No more underbrush so thick no one could walk the lot! The pictures below show the beauty we now see from our back windows.

The Hollands will return in a week or so to burn the trash piles. Then we'll just need to keep it in this shape!

We've been busy this spring! As construction ended we were finally able to address some troublesome spots. Remember how Two Holt looked last year?

Well here it is today...

We decided to make this area our shrub garden. Along the lattice skirt we planted Princess Blue Holly shrubs and one Blue Prince to pollinate the others and give us bright red berries at Christmas. These shrubs will eventually grow to the height of the deck floor.

So what other shrubs did we add? Three Goldmound Spirea...

Two Holly Leaf Tea Olives...

Three Munchkin Oakleaf Hydrangea...

One Incrediball Hydrangea...

One New Dawn Climbing Rose...

...and two Butterfly Bush shrubs, two Forsythia shrubs, two Endless Summer Hydrangeas, one Jersey Highbush Blueberry (self-pollinating), one Flame Native Azalea, and assorted perennials--Becky Shasta Daisies, May Night Salvia, Indian Summer Rudbeckia, White Swan Coneflowers, and David Garden Phlox. Lovely, lovely, lovely!

We worked in our newly created Garden Bell Garden...

Our garden bear seems to like the lupines we planted.

We planted a Japanese Maple.

We planted three Mount Airy Fothergilla which should have impressive orange fall color along with lots of creeping phlox for spring color.

And we started our Living Wall in this garden by adding plants between rocks.

Here's the overall effect that this garden gives Two Holt...

I always say our Sitting Garden is finished...

...but I always seem to find a little space for a few more perennials. This year I added two Fragrant Bouquet Hostas, one Great Expectations Hosta, and a pot of coral bells with Creeping Jenny added for contrast.

And I just had to have three of these Rainforest Sunrise Hostas next to my pot of Japanese Painted Ferns.

When I saw how lovely the Bleeding Heart was next to our steps entering the garden, I had to plant another one.

We planted pots of annuals and sat the pots around the gardens.

I also have pots of Hosta sitting around the garden.

And I made my window box in the Kitchen Garden a perennial home for minature Hosta such as Mouse Ears and Lemon Drop. Tiarella and ivy are also at home here.

So let me show you some photos of the garden as of today.

I don't think it's possible to walk through a garden and not smile! Happy gardening, everyone!