Finishing Touches, Flowers, and Friends

Although we finished painting our beach cottage over the Fourth of July, it still had an unfinished look--kind of like it had no pants.

It needed lattice to finish it off, so our only plan for this past weekend was to cut and hang about a dozen sheets of the white plastic version of lattice (no painting needed:-). We finished that project on Saturday afternoon and then had an unexpected visit from our friends Jeb and Beth, who were on their way to Rehoboth Beach. They brought us a beautiful coral-colored echinacea--a perennial flower that comes back every year and spreads nicely.

We planted it that evening in front of the house, but it looked lonely:

So Sunday morning found us at Lowes with a cart full of plants:

including two more echinaceas like the one Jeb and Beth had brought:

We also bought six bags of mulch, and within two hours, our formerly weed-filled flower beds were filled with black-eyed Susans (they have a lot of growing to do but were a bargain at $1.99 each):

echinacea:

and ever-blooming hydrangeas:

When we cleaned out under the trailer a few weeks ago, we found some corroded pieces of decorative aluminum from an old screen or storm door.  I saved them because I thought they were cool, and they ended up making a perfect little border for the hydrangeas:

We'll probably thin out our day lilies at home and fill in the bed where the white chair is sitting in this picture:

We even put up a new mailbox to replace the faded black plastic one that came with the place:

We still have a huge pile of construction trash to get rid of, including some pink plastic blinds that we unearthed when we were installing the lattice:

But with our friends Martin and Jennie joining us for an indoor picnic over July 4th weekend:

and Jeb and Beth stopping by for a quick tour and flower delivery yesterday, our little place at Kitts Hummock now truly feels like a home away from home.