Twas two weeks before Christmas and all through the house...

Not a creature was stirring, not even a... Dee Dee.

You would never guess from the photo above of our little Dee Dee angel that she is almost solely responsible for our decision to not put up a Christmas tree each year.

We call her the "little orange terror", not because she rips around the house terrorizing everyone, but because she is methodical and relentless in the way she "terrorizes" us humans that share her domain. If a kitty could win an award for perseverance, she would get it. It doesn't matter how many times she's been told "no", removed from the scene of an offense, or even squirted with a spray water bottle. After a 30-60 second break, Dee Dee will just return to whatever repetitive naughtiness she was instigating prior to being reprimanded.

Needless to say, after repeatedly finding her midway up the Christmas tree in years past doing her best imitation of a "partridge in a pear tree" and subsequently bending the artificial tree limbs to the point of no return, we decided that it just wasn't worth the hassle.

So Rosehaven Cottage goes without a yearly Christmas tree in the true sense although we do have two mini Christmas trees that flank our fireplace mantle where Dee Dee cannot reach them.

Wrapped Christmas presents in years past also met their fate under the paws and teeth of Dee Dee who is obsessed with paper products of any kind. She loves the sound of crinkling paper and comes running whenever she hears the smooth "swoosh" sound of my paper-cutter when I'm doing some paper craft or the distant "crunch" of a paper pattern when I'm cutting out a sewing project. Therefore, wrapping paper and tissue paper aren't safe for long. In the past, most gift bows spent more time off the gifts than on. Sigh...

Fortunately, I am a photographer. So instead of decorating our home with decorations, brightly wrapped presents, and Christmas trees that would all be too much for Dee Dee to resist, I capture images of other people's beautiful decorations and displays and then look at those throughout the Christmas season. It gets me the Christmas spirit to go "window shopping" without the "Grinch-iness" of having to repeatedly scold an naughty OCD kitty cat.

Without further adieu, let me share some of my favorite images from this Christmas season thus far.

All photographs featured here can be made available as unframed or framed prints, high-quality posters,
bound journals, tile coasters, keepsake boxes, greeting cards or a variety of other products.

Please email Cindy at rosehaven_cottage@yahoo.com for customization information.

Don't hesitate to ask about a special request.

Check out our online store to see the variety of products available and pricing.

The Most Recent Recipient of our Rose Medallion for Excellence Award

We are pleased to award another Rose Medallion for Excellence. This time the award goes to Kari and Kijsa and their blog Ask Kari and Kijsa.

For those that love beauty, a visit to Kari and Kijsa's blog will be a treat beyond description. The two sisters have created a gem of a blog with a gorgeous layout, aesthetic, and look. It is so appealing to Cindy's fellow designer's eye that she often likes to go and just look at it like a favorite book. But great design can't stand on its own without soul and heart--which their blog just exudes. We cannot even find the words to describe it adequately. Go visit their blog and you'll see what we mean!

Christmas "Decorations" in the Garden

Here at Rosehaven Cottage, it would be a true natural phenomenon if we ever saw snow. Still, the December nights have gotten chilly with temperatures sometimes down in the 30's. The nice nip in the air has made a lot of wonderful Christmas color come out while still being warm enough to let other plants show off their colors too. As I walked around the garden this afternoon with camera in hand, I saw so many "decorations" in the foliage and wanted to share them with you.

The little japanese maple tree has responded to the chilly nights with spectactular red foliage that looks so Christmas-y.

The strawberry plants are doing the same and look perfect for the holiday with their red and green leaves.

There are "gold stars" in the garden too in the form of rudbeckia blossoms.

And teeny tiny "upside down stockings" are all over the pineapple sage (much to the hummingbirds' delight).

The dusty miller is providing "drifts of snow" with its lovely silver foliage.

Since we haven't had frost yet, the canna lily is still ablaze with its amazing red tropical-looking flowers that seem to say "Mele Kalikimaka" (the Hawaiian way to say "Merry Christmas").

And the "holly berries" in our garden come in the form of rosehips on the ancient old rose-with-no-name.

All photographs featured here can be made available as unframed or framed prints, high-quality posters,
bound journals, tile coasters, keepsake boxes, greeting cards or a variety of other products.

Please email Cindy at rosehaven_cottage@yahoo.com for customization information.

Don't hesitate to ask about a special request.

Check out our online store to see the variety of products available and pricing.

We have a wonderful new distinction!

We are so pleased to announce that Rosehaven Cottage's Health, Wellness & Food blog has been invited to be a Featured Publisher on foodbuzz--an online community for foodies!

Of course we graciously accepted the invitation and can finally make the announcement now that everything has been finalized.

We are so excited to be a part of this new foodie community and hope that many of our regular readers will take the opportunity to "buzz" on over to FoodBuzz and check it out!

All photographs featured here can be made available as unframed or framed prints, high-quality posters,
bound journals, tile coasters, keepsake boxes, greeting cards or a variety of other products.

Please email Cindy at rosehaven_cottage@yahoo.com for customization information.

Don't hesitate to ask about a special request.

Check out our online store to see the variety of products available and pricing.

A Special Guest Came to Call at Rosehaven Cottage

You're probably wondering why Thomasina is all puffed up and doing what we call "Halloween Kitty". Well...

My mother brought her little doggy Chica over for a visit on Saturday. I wanted Chica to meet the kitties, because she's really very well-behaved with her own kitty roomate, Mollie and doesn't have any interest in cats that she sees on her walks. And just as predicted, Chica was a very well-behaved and gracious little guest. She didn't bark once.

I had figured that the two cats Chica would meet first would be Dexter and Dee Dee because they are the "official greeters" around here when guests arrive. I was wrong. Interestingly, Thomasina was the first kitty to meet Chica. I thought there would be a lot of hissing and carrying on with Thomasina since she tends to be quite a diva around here. But there wasn't! Thomasina just made herself very big and puffy for the first few minutes. Then her tail went down and her posture relaxed, and she proceeded to follow Chica everywhere!

Then Dexter woke up from his nap and started tailing Chica too. The poor little dog was so small in comparison to even our petite 7 lb. Thomasina, let alone our massive mancat, Dexter! Mom and I followed the little parade around the house so we could rescue Chica if necessary. Chica was so curious about all the new smells to discover that she was pretty much ignoring her followers.

Dexter never hissed either. He didn't even puff up his tail. He was completely fascinated by this little creature that was obviously not of the feline persuasion!

Over the course of the visit, all the kitties ended up meeting Chica except for Lydia (she's too shy for visitors). And there was no hissing or hitting or rudeness of any kind. I'm such a proud kitty Mommy! Dee Dee did end up hissing twice during the visit but those hisses were directed at Gus Gus who was annoying her as usual. Tom Tom didn't like the dog at all and made himself scarce, but the others seemed completely baffled and their curiousity kept them entranced. They couldn't seem to figure out what this little creature was. It looked kinda like a rodent... kinda like a cat... kinda like a squirrel... definitely not a bird... what the heck was this thing????

When Chica had had enough of being stared at by all the giant kitty faces, she jumped up next to Mom and felt safer. The kitties would just watch her and sniff in her general direction. What the heck was this thing, anyway?

Then Dexter came over to me and started to softly "meow" while touching me lightly with his lifted paw as if to say, "Mommy, is this thing staying here? Is it going to live here now? Do I have to like it? Do you still love me?"

I gently assured him by saying, "Chica is just visiting, Dexter," which didn't assuage his feline anxiety.

Then I said what I often say, "Dexter, I loved you first and I love you best."

He was content with that answer and went off to get a snack.

All photographs featured here can be made available as unframed or framed prints, high-quality posters,
bound journals, tile coasters, keepsake boxes, greeting cards or a variety of other products.

Please email Cindy at rosehaven_cottage@yahoo.com for customization information.

Don't hesitate to ask about a special request.

Check out our online store to see the variety of products available and pricing.

Anybody know about "Kitty Currency"???

Hubby called me out into the back garden earlier today to help him get everything situated so he could begin jackhammering out the 40+ year old concrete pad from the now-defunct "shed". He came to my studio window to get me, so I opened it a crack to talk to him, then went out in back, leaving the window open. Much meowing out of the still open window ensued at that point. It was Thomasina. Her meows ranged from desperate to chortles to sounds that I swear are just like R2-D2 in Star Wars. She's still trying to convince us that she needs to go back outside.

When I came back inside about a half an hour later and went back into my studio, I found that Thomasina had brought one of her stuffed socks to the window. She's been trying to "buy us off" for days now. Apparently, this was another attempt.

Her meows must translate, "Look! See this great sock I brought you guys?!?! Isn't it wonderful? If I let you have it for keeps, then can I go outside? I'll even bring it really close to the window so you can sniff it."

What I want to know is how much is a sock like this worth in "kitty currency"?