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mctavish6

Christmas Trees

mctavish6
17 years ago

Janice, your creativity is great! I'm impressed that you thought to trim and fix an artificial tree. This is the first year that all three of my trees are artificial. The one in the living room was the first artificial one. It had to be small because there's not much extra room but since we sit here, we see everything up close. I use to cut a tree with the boys for the front porch and we would buy a cultured tree for the dining room. They lost interest so I got a slightly larger artifical one for there a few years ago. I usually start decorating at the end of November so the one real tree in the dining room was always put up last. Last year we bought a beautiful Grand Fir and were assured it had just been cut. Even though the dining room is a very cool room, by Christmas Eve it had become so dry the needles were falling off. I never felt safe turning the lights on after that. I'm in the habbit of leaving my decorations up until the end of January at least. This is the time I really enjoy everything, the work is done, I do jigsaw puzzles on the table...anyway this year we finally got an artifical tree for the dining room. My husband measured the 9 foot ceiling and convinced me that with the stand, a 7 1/2 foot was all we needed. I kind of wish I'd seen Janices brilliant idea first. Never mind, it's a very realistic looking tree (different from the others). It took me a while to remember the picture posting and I had to re -do everything but I'll post some other decoration pictures soon. I decorate everything, friends and family think I'm obcessed. Sort of like HOSTAS!!


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Comments (18)

  • mctavish6
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    I meant for this to be an answer to the decoration thread Janice started. I don't know what I did to begin a new one? I had enough trouble remembering to reduce pictures on photobucket. The mind is going. I tried to start the car with a dog biscuit the other day. Happy New year everyone.

  • Janice
    17 years ago

    LOL--a dog biscuit, McT??? I know what you mean though--it's getting tougher isn't it!
    I know we share the same "birth-day" but I'm betting I'm older than you--or did we have
    this discussion before? See, forgetfulness is definitely increasing for me!

    I love all your pictures and especially love your dining room tree, just as it is!!!
    It does look real!! You've answered all the questions I asked in my thread, when I
    viewed your pics there before reading this one!!! We do think alike in many ways!!! LOL

    Oh, and the "view" you have is just breathtaking! I do envy you that sight you have every morning!
    janice

  • hostasformez4
    17 years ago

    McT, Your trees are wonderful! My question is about the cat in the livingroom picture. Is the cat inside or outside? It's a beauty.

    Connie

  • mctavish6
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thank You Connie, I love doing the Christmas Trees. The cat is outside looking in. I'm surprised he's not standing on his hind legs trying to dig a hole through the glass. That's what he usually does. His name is Bo (Jangles). He's our newest addition to the cat family. I think he's at least part Maine Coon Cat. If you're interested in seeing my other cats there are pictures on my registration page (or whatever it's called). Click on mctavish6

  • hostasformez4
    17 years ago

    I'm impressed! I will have to try to do something like that to my blank home page but I'm sure I can't top what you have done!

    Your pictures of your many flowers were so beautiful
    and the scenery was breathtaking. Do your roses
    have a lot of fragrance when they bloom?

    My question is this. How far out in the country do
    you live and are you ever snowed in for days in the
    winter?

    Connie

  • hosta_freak
    17 years ago

    McT,your Maine coon cat looks a lot like mine,almost the same coloring. Mine is named Newton. Here he is in one of his favorite activites. Phil
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  • mctavish6
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Connie, The roses almost all do have a fragrance. It's been an ongoing experiment with them since I've lived here. I use to live on the west coast, a zone 7 or 8 I think and I could grow all the tea roses or whatever I wanted. Here, it's 4/5 and just cold enough that many of them don't make it through the winter or don't bloom if they do. I switched to shrub roses, old fashioned roses, David Austin & Canadian hardy roses(2 of the Canadian roses are John Davis, the lighter pink, and John Cabot, the darker pink with the clematis shown on my home page) I see you are in zone 4 also. If you've had trouble with roses and can get some of these, they are care free really. The David Austins are great but some are hardier than others.

    I think I have the best of both worlds with where I live. My nearest neighbors are 1/4 mile away and the road dead ends at my house so I have a wonderful feeling of isolation (I'm a hermit). I am also lucky enough to be 2 minutes from the little villiage of two or three hundred people. There is a store, post office and school. It was perfect when my boys were little and back and forth to friends. I am about 5 mile outside a town of 20,000 people with everything else I would want (execpt good restaurants which is another whole issue!). We've had a few times in 17 years we changed plans because of the snow, but my husband and I both have 4 wheel drive and he's fearless with snow. Growing up in Calif., I'm much more cautious. I'm enclosing a picture I took on Christmas Day off the balcony on the living room side of the house. You can see the little collection of houses at lake level at about the 8 o'clock position. That's the villiage. The town is out of the picture, and out of site to the left.

    Phil, Newton is georgeous. Tell him Bo say's hi. They do look very much alike.


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  • Janice
    17 years ago

    I love your "page" too, "McT"! I'd like to come up with one for myself, too, but just not "inspired" right now to do so.
    Your's shows your definite "creativity"! Very interesting to look at!

    I have a yellow version of your cat, "McT" and your's too, "Phil"!! And my "yellow" version
    came from very close to your "neck of the woods", Phil, the mountains my parents home sat on in Murphy, N.C.!

    I'm loving the "insights" into our lives!

    janice

  • tsbccowboy
    17 years ago

    What a view! Especially when it is cloudy & drizzly here in Minnesota.

  • hosta_freak
    17 years ago

    Mct,you have to have one of the best views! I've said it before,but your topography looks just like here,except we have no water near our house. Is that a lake or part of a bay on the Pacific? Phil

  • mctavish6
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    I love my view too and am glad you all do also. That is a lake that we look at. It is actually just an arm of a rather large lake that is shaped like an H. We face west and at the height of summer the sun goes down just at the base of large mountain on the right. We are in the interior of BC about 300 miles from the ocean. The climate is much hotter in the summer and colder in the winter. I especially like the long, hot summers. It is a wonderful spot we were lucky enough to find. I'm thankful all the time for it. The sense of privacy is tops on my list. No one can see our house and we don't see anyone else. I can garden in pajamas in other words! Phil, I'd love to see pictures of your area that looks like this. I know your garden in the trees is wonderful. We don't usually post pictures of "non-hosta" views of our gardens or houses. I'm always interested in pictures of plants, houses, pets - whatever. McT

  • micke
    17 years ago

    McT, if you ever put your place up for sale let me know! that is exactly what I want, less neighbors, small village and great view! ohh I would be in heaven!
    I love your trees, my place is too small, we barely have room for the one, and that is just because about 5 of my housplants get squished up togather somewhere else for awhile:)

  • i_dig_it
    17 years ago

    Gorgeous!
    And I love the cat pics too! I noticed Bo right away when I came to that picture and wondered too if he was inside or out.
    I have 5 cats now and most of them spend time like Newton is.....lounging in their beds.

    Janet

  • hosta_freak
    17 years ago

    McT,this is not from my house but just down my road,(called Misty Mountain rd.),looking toward the west. This was Nov.2005 around Thanksgiving. We never had any appreciable snow in 2006. Phil
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  • mctavish6
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Gee that's pretty. If it isn't snow, that must be frost on your mountain. Your trees look different, more rounded. I supose at zone 6 you have different ones than we do. We have mostly cedar and evergreen, fir, pine, spruce, plus larch and birch, maple and willow. What is the evergreen, rounded one in the middle of your picture? It looks like you're pretty far out in the sticks too.

  • hosta_freak
    17 years ago

    We have a lot of evergreens here,especially Hemlock. That may be what it is.This pic was taken with a telephoto lens,so the mts. are a lot farther than they look. I am about 3 miles from the city of Franklin,and yes I am in the woods. It's so quiet here sometimes,that you can hear birds,when they fly by,and the little creek gurgling down below my garden. Phil

  • Janice
    17 years ago

    I've bumped this back up because I didn't get to see Phil's pic!
    Any chance you can put that photo back up, Phil!

    janice

    BTW--McT--your house is so warm and sunny looking! I love the "Buttercream" looking walls.
    Just the color we have in our bedroom!!! Our wood trim and built-in bookcases are done in
    "Ashen Green" and the interior walls/shelves of our bookcase are "Raspberry Truffle" (red)!
    We do think alike McT when it comes to colors, etc.!

  • GeorgeCortazzo
    10 years ago

    Real Christmas Tree the parts of my family's tradition this year. There are many sizes, types and varieties of Real Christmas Trees available to buyers now-a-days, so prepare yourself before you head out to the farm or your local retail lot & makes homes fresh.