Restoration for the soul....and dining room

Shades of grey ~ Appartement Chanvre ~ La Madone, Provence.

It's that time of year again. The cottage needs a little TLC here and there. My dh held his breathe and sighed while I trotted joyfully to the paint chip displays in the big box DIY store. Now they are stuck in the door moldings and window frames so the colors can be viewed in the changing light of day and night. These may not be my final choice but they are a start.

Since staying at La Madone in Provence last October, the peaceful shades of grey, the palest hint of blue edged in white have interrupted my sleep and invaded my dreams. Don't get me wrong, I love the warm neutrals of cream, linen, oatmeal too, but as my dining room is a South facing sunny space, I think I can safely try these French shades to change the look of the room without it feeling cold.

I have a great painter who will do this job because it's more than just slapping on a coat of pure color. The 1980's popcorn ceiling has to go ~ big messy job! There is a large crack in the corner wall beyond the hutch requiring attention ~ guess the cottage has settled a bit in her old age ~ and the wallpaper border will have to be removed. There is a chair rail in this room. Several years ago I wallpapered below with a heavy embossed paper similar to Lincrusta which is used a lot in England to hide flaws in old construction. I love this look and have repainted the paper a couple of times. I'm thinking of painting above the chair rail in a very pale grey with just a hint of blue, and the paper below in a shade just a tad deeper. I'm not going for a blue room, just the palest blue grey.

Can my Welsh Dresser change its nationality and become French? After packing away the china for a while, I'm thinking of repainting it French grey which will be a fresh background for my white and cream china. This dresser is in two pieces and the last time I painted it I was able to lay the top section flat on the dining room table making it a much simpler job........I think!

Appartement Chanvre dining area at La Madone, Provence.

The plan is still only in my head right now and I'll let you know when things start moving.

Do you have any redecorating projects in mind for this year?

Time and Thyme again

Like most of us in the Northern hemisphere, I haven't done a garden post in a couple of months or more. My garden is sleeping. Shrubs and plants were hibernating until after Christmas when a sudden warm snap changed things. Here in the Southeast US, lack of snow cover and many days in the sunny 50's and 60's mean we do have a few plants strutting their stuff, trying to impress us.

I guess 'Thyme' waits for no man after all.............it's blooming in the sunshine and even the Sage in this same pot has a few fresh leaves...............I must create a Winter dish with fresh herbs.

Being vegetarian for more than thirty years, I have collected some great recipes including this Winter favorite, Bean & Winter Squash Stew with Chili, Mint and Cream.

Bluebell bulbs - behind the pansies - are already peeking through.

The pansies, ah the sweet pansies. How they love the chilly weather when the sun also shines. They add color to the layer of oak leaves used as mulch. Always deadhead your pansies to ensure many new blooms and spreading growth through late Spring ~ once the heat of Summer arrives, sadly, they leave us.

These bright Violas are happy in their large pot and will grow into a huge clump by Spring.

Unfortunately no hibernating hedgehogs in my garden, but I recall the real one in my childhood garden in England ~ he spent his Winter under the same hedge for years.

Interesting garden notes from the great UK Country Living magazine ~ I was happy to learn that ivy does NOT kill trees. I love the romantic look of it climbing skyward and have to admit I have some in my garden doing just that!
Yes, we must do more to protect our birds, especially in new housing developments where the land is often stripped of trees and shrubs.

All garden photos taken yesterday, January 12, 2009

What's happening in your Winter garden? Is your 'green acre' more white than green these days?

True Friends

ear friends surround me and make my world a happy place.

Friendship can start in odd ways. Perhaps the strangest way is becoming pals with someone you meet in the virtual world of blogging. You find you share interests such as collecting flying pigs and transfer ware china, or treasure hunting at vintage shops. The latter has worked often for me as I really prefer white soup tureens and I leave the piggies for friend Jenny!! Then, somehow you arrange to meet in person, and you have one heck of a good time together and the friendship blooms.

Other friendships started in school, with neighborhood playmates, or later in life with colleagues we worked or socialized with. The friendship lives on year after year until one evening you look at each other over a Starbucks, or a wine glass, and think where on earth have the years gone? Girlfriend, we are suddenly old!

When I arrived in Washington, D.C. in 1962, my first 'home' was a well run 'residence for young women' where, for about $25 a week, you had a comfortable room and two excellent meals a day. You were safe, no male callers were allowed beyond the lobby (my dh remembers those days!), and well cared for thanks to a lovely housekeeper who was English and felt like a second Mum to we girls. There were a dozen or more British women living there who, like me, had longed for adventure and to see America. We had been accepted, following interviews and office skills tests such as typing and shorthand (anyone remember that now archaic skill?), to come and work for a year in a secretarial position in our nation's capital..............this was when having a secretary with a British accent was apparently some kind of status symbol! The other residents were mostly young American women who had moved from other states to work on Capitol Hill or in other federal government agencies in the District.

Within a few weeks, in a room across the hallway from mine, Paula appeared, and life changed forever! She arrived from England and we immediately became best friends. The amazing part was that we grew up within a couple of miles of each in the same Devon town - but had never met as children before her family moved to the North of England. Once in D.C. we had a marvelous time, details of which I've promised never to divulge on this blog, ha! ha! We both decided not to return to England at the end of the year but to settle permanently in the States. She moved to California, married, and still lives in the San Francisco area. I married and moved first to New England, and then to North Carolina. Even with so many miles between us, for 46 years we've always kept in touch and met whenever and wherever we could. We even visited each other's parents on trips home to England over the years, but we have never been in England at the same time! This will soon change as we are spending time together in our childhood Devon town this Spring - how exciting is that?

2006 ~ Hilton Head Island, SC ~ Bob, Mary, Paula and Sterling

Paula and Sterling are not only the greatest couple, and the best of friends, they are perhaps the most traveled couple in the world! If they're not in the Guinness Book of Records they certainly should be! Paula has recently set up a great web site to share her fantastic photographs taken in places many of us never get to visit, such as Africa and Antarctica. Be sure to visit her here at Paula's Planet where you will see amazing animals, icebergs and much more.

Do you have a very special friend who has been a big part of your life for many, many years?

Pink Saturday..........avec moi

A pink daydream in the middle of Winter. I hear Paris has been cold and wet lately, but somehow the 'city of light' is always beautiful in any weather. I've been there on the hottest of Summer days (2006), on wet and chilly pre-Christmas days some years before, and way back in the '60's my dh took me there in Autumn when it was perfect for my first view of all that magnificent city has to offer.
Next time I would love to be there to see the city dressed in pink blossoms.

Framed in Paris pink at SuzAnna's Antiques.

A magazine image with the pink Paris feel.

I Love Paris ~ Cole Porter

I love Paris in the Spring time

I love Paris in the Fall

I love Paris in the Summer when it sizzles

I love Paris in the Winter when it drizzles

Vintage hangers to which I added Paris style.

Enjoy a Winter Pink Saturday even though you may be snowed in. I love Winter but must admit Spring will be welcomed when it arrives with pink blossoms.
Thanks as always Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting another Pink Saturday. Hurry on over to see the many participants sharing their pink today!

Friday's Favorite Family Foto

t my brother's home in France in October, I was pleasantly surprised when he shared some very old family photos I had never seen before. They were recently passed along by a distant family member in England. This was my paternal grandmother whom I knew nothing about. Because my father was raised in foster care, I always thought his mother must have died young. Obviously this lady lived to be a good age and I see so much of my father in her. I wish he had been more open in discussing his roots - I believe his childhood was sad and he would never talk about those early years. I don't even know this woman's first name but do know she was from Brixham, Devon where my father was born in 1900.

Perhaps this is not really a favorite family foto, but seeing my lost grandmother's face is special. I notice my hands look a lot like hers with long fingers and pronounced bones. I wish so much I'd had the opportunity to know her when I was a child. I only lived a few miles from her.....................a scenic twenty minute ride around the bay on a double decker bus and I could have been tapping on her door!

Visit Deborah at Pictures, Pots & Pens to find out who else is sharing favorite family photographs this week.

The Written Word

I'm just thrilled beyond words at the response to my posts on bringing back hand written letters! It seems many of you feel, as I do, that this fading piece of daily life deserves resurrection sooner rather than later.

Because several of you are ready to put pen to paper, I think you should definitely write to someone you already know. If they haven't received slow mail from you in a while, think how much the sight of your envelope will change their day, bring them joy, and hopefully make them want to write back to you.

If you would like to write a short note ~ or a fill an envelope to bursting with this and that ~ to a blog friend, there are several who have commented on my recent posts on letter writing who are holding their breathe as they wait for a real letter to show up at their home here or overseas. I suggest looking at the comments on my recent posts, picking a new friend and exchanging an e-mail note (yes, you'll have to use modern technology first!) to acquire their slow mail address.

Then the fun will begin when, perhaps on a dreary January afternoon, you will find comfort sitting at your desk or kitchen table, cup of tea at your side, penning a few lines to an old or new friend, knowing you are part of bringing back the true written word.

This lovely book published by Laughing Elephant would make a great gift to any writing enthusiast ~ you may also enjoy having it in your own personal collection. It covers everything about writing by hand with beautiful pens and colored inks, and has wonderful vintage illustrations and many, many quotes about the pleasures of hand written letters.

Letters are one of the most tangible memories of our friendships, and we should save them as we save photographs, and other personal mementos, so that we can evoke past friends and vanished times.

~ Edward St. Paige

My Mother's Letters

These letters were written to me by my late mother. They span twenty years of family life from 1976~1996. They were preceded by fourteen years of more letters which, sad to say, due to moving, I did not keep. From the moment I arrived on US soil my mum and I wrote weekly. Those hundreds of airmail envelopes and aerogrammes crossed the pond, usually by air. We were too anxious to share news to await delivery by the cheaper sea mail option taking a month or longer. Only parcels came by sea. Phone calls were on special occasions only as a 3 minute call in 1962 was $25.00. We weren't cheap, just poor!

Around 1996 my mother's health deteriorated due to her age and she found writing difficult. Correspondence became mostly birthday and Christmas cards with her always elegant handwriting eventually becoming scratchy and weak looking. The former long paragraphs turned into a brief "Love always, Mum". The telephone then became our method of keeping in touch, weekly phone calls with much cheaper rates, sometimes several within a few days when things weren't going so well. Her visits to the US also stopped but I journeyed home whenever possible.

My mother died in 2003 while I was with her ~ hard to believe almost six years have passed since that day.

How I treasure these letters I do have. Beautifully penned pages of news from 3,000 miles away. Some are sad, such as details of my father's illness and subsequently going home to be with him for a little while before he died in 1976. Then mother's loneliness during the years following her retirement, and her inability to ambulate on her own because of arthritis. Her letters always shared news of my brother's busy life........so busy that he didn't write me often! His university years, his tennis training and eventual Jr. Wimbledon matches, his romances, his years of interesting jobs, then his marriage and becoming a dad.

I read every one of these letters above on the one year anniversary of my mum's death. It was hard but wonderful to sit for many hours, sliding each beautifully written letter from the envelope, and reading about so much life, so much history. Many tears were shed but there were many chuckles too.

So this is why I am hoping that families will continue to write a letter by hand now and then. Sharing news in a letter that your child, grandchild, even great-grandchild may read some day, is an awesome thought. They will thank you when they find that hand written envelope, carefully remove the pages and read your lovingly penned words.

***********

Pen and Ink

Nothing gives greater pleasure than a letter penned by hand. Paper and pen still have their magic. We still entrust them with our dearest wishes and innermost thoughts and dreams.

~ Kate's Paperie With Bo Niles

Above and below - Wedding cards

Life would split asunder without letters.
~ Virginia Woolf

Birthday card for a dear friend.

I love to make special occasion cards like these above although I must be honest and tell you that I don't make as many as I did prior to blogging! This will change in 2009 ~ back to the drawing board, literally! I also plan to write more letters by hand. I still have older friends in England who don't use a computer and perhaps never will. They will be the recipients of a letter during the year, not just a note written inside their birthday or Christmas card.

My recent post By Hand has opened Pandora's box, though hopefully there are no evils inside! There are several of you out there who are are excited about hand writing a letter to a blog friend. Some of you are already pairing up and planning to write with pen and ink. Maybe that letter will drop on your doormat or peek from your mailbox soon. Can we return to days of the 'pen pal' and look forward once again to the post/mail arriving at our home with something other than those bills and junk mail?

And none will hear the postman's knock

Without a quickening of the heart.

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

~ W.H.Auden

I often wonder what would happen if the Internet collapsed permanently and we could no longer e-mail. Many of the younger generation have never penned a real letter full of news about their lives. I have always encouraged children to write letters by providing the necessary accouterments. A great gift at any time is a box with some attractive paper and envelopes, personalized return address labels, seals, stickers, a nice pen and a roll of stamps. Of course children today may need you to sit with them when they first put pen to paper. Encouragement, praise and patience to compose and execute a well written letter will be needed.........after all, this may be a totally new experience for them.

I hope you will write a letter to someone. You don't need to have perfect penmanship. You can use a modern roller ball pen if you don't posses a fountain pen and ink. Nice writing paper and envelopes will bring a smile to the recipient's face, or you can use a sheet of composition book paper, even a notepad. Your letter does not need to be long and rambling, even short notes are enjoyable. You may not be an artist (however I believe everyone can make a squiggle that often looks better than a million dollar painting!), but you can attach a sticker or rubber stamp an impression to add some pizazz. Whatever you choose, the recipient of your letter will be happy. You will be sharing something very personal that has come from your heart and hand.

Letters give life a rich dimension. They can be saved, savored, reread and treasured for hundreds of years.

~ Alexandra Stoddard

The healthy plan is......................

...........................I'll start the new year with fresh juice, yogurt, organic granola, blueberries and of course coffee, lots of strong black coffee.

In France it's strong black coffee with a buttery croissant or pain au chocolat. So why are the French in better shape and apparently healthier than many US citizens? It's all about walking. Walk the village streets as I did in October. Walk the wide boulevards of Aix-en-Provence, Paris and other French cities. No fancy equipment required. Jogging not necessary. Walk to the bakery, the village grocery, the flea market, through the vineyard, up into the hills for the view and the fresh air. I know ~ most of us can't do those romantic sounding walks, sigh!

Just get out there and do it anyway. Let's all walk somewhere today!

Images by my granddaughter Jasmin as we plan our

healthy lifestyle for 2009.

By hand..........

............we kept in touch by sitting down, pen in hand, covering sheets of pretty paper in perfect penmanship.

These letters would be signed, sealed, stamped and delivered. Dependent on how many miles they traveled by land, sea, and later through the clouds, in days or weeks they would drop through the letter box in the front door, or await the daily opening of the mailbox at the curb.

The first person to pick up the mail would call out, "there's a letter for YOU". The handwriting was neat and sometimes recognized. A favorite cousin from "across the pond". An elderly auntie who shared family history. An old school friend keeping you up to date on who got married. The stamp, often pretty and perhaps foreign, would later be soaked off and given to a child who'd started a stamp collection.

The joy of opening an envelope containing a hand written letter seems to be almost forgotten in this world of technology and speed. Perhaps that's why receiving a card with handwritten greetings is still so pleasant. E-cards and e-mails are nice because they still show someone is thinking of you, but they can't compare to carefully slitting a parchment envelope and pulling out pages lovingly written with a vintage fountain pen.

I sit on the love seat in my bedroom in the late afternoon sun, a delicate curl of warm steam wafts from a cup of Earl Grey. Opening my mail is no longer very exciting, just advertising, medical news, offers for items nobody needs, and of course bills! But now and then, my heart leaps, there's a handwritten envelope, a pretty canceled stamp......................and inside news that may already be old but reading it brings joy knowing someone took the time to write.

Do you still receive handwritten letters? Does your heart flutter knowing someone special took the time to actually write to you with a pen?

Are you interested in joining a group who would exchange words, thoughts, short letters written by hand so that you could still experience this now old-fashioned joy?

Pink Saturday

Just when I thought I was all 'pinked out' I took a trip over to SuzAnna's Antiques to hunt among the displays for more precious pink treasures. First I hung about outside looking for something to photograph..............and there he was, not pink but grey. Pink and grey look good together! Anyway, hanging out playing with a purring kitty gave me time to look about and find........................

..........these Pepto pink garden chairs looking really snazzy up against the purple door......

...........some pink frames, a pink watering can, pink rush seat chair, and a great pink screen door with a heron.

The kitty was soon chased off by a tiny Yorkie named Charlie who's person, Tracy, has a room full of gorgeous things for sale at SuzAnna's, see some of them in my recent post here. So I went inside and found a pretty pink smocked and embroidered frock for a toddler princess, a pink lined china shell................

.........more pink china with painted roses, glasses and glass plates..........

..........and this pink framed teddy named Tim who would be

so cute in a little girl's bedroom.

It seems there's always something pink tucked away some place, so head on over to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound and see her list of Pink Saturday friends - bet they've all found something pretty to share.

Enjoy your first weekend of the new year.

Choosing your wheels - Part 2

Only because you asked. Many were the wrong color. Several caused severe sticker shock!

But one was perfect for me!

My parents married while serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II. I grew up in a place and time where very few people had cars ~ money was tight and used for food, bus fares, and the basics of life. My parents never owned a car. I rode a bike to school for many years. Even into the early 1960's when I left England, I could count the number of friends who had cars on one hand. I didn't get a driver's license until I was in my 30's and had lived in the USA for almost 13 years.

I've had OK cars and very nice cars, but I've never craved a luxury car. As long as a reliable car got me from point A to point B, I was happy. My first ever new car was crushed in my driveway when a mighty oak fell on it that terrible night Hurricane Fran paid North Carolina a horrific visit in 1996. My last new car purchased in 2002 was loaned to a needy family member over a year ago and has never returned! This is why my wonderful dh saved to buy me some new wheels.

And ladies..................perhaps I should have added this to that list in my previous

'Hot Wheels' post.

When your dh eventually joins you in the world of the retired, don't let him talk you into existing with one car if you've always been used to two. "Honey we can work out a schedule for the car and, if need be, we can always go everywhere together". Heed my words, this seldom works. After spending a year doing just this I could share horror stories.

So, in answer to your question, the Toyoto Avalon Limited is my new car! After three Camrys, all fabulous cars, I'm now the owner of a somewhat 'posh' car in my golden years. Like I've said before, age does have it's perks. Sometimes it's free coffee and a cheaper movie seat...............this time it's a really big perk and I'm extremely grateful.

I'll pick the car up Monday and toot the horn if I pass by your house!

Hot Wheels - Part 1

Have you done this recently? Trudged back and forth through lines of cars, carefully comparing sticker prices. Did you change your mind on your favorite color twenty times? Did you know that even on a cold, sunny Winter day, when placing your hands on a light colored car it's cool to the touch, while a dark colored car is red hot?

Two days at two dealerships.........I deserve a new car after all this!

Hot cars and grandma ~ sounds better than cars and hot grandma!

Important lessons for ladies ~ learned from chilly visits to new car dealerships.

• When shopping for a new car.................if you have one, always take a granddaughter with you. Preferably one who's spent a lot of time in your care since birth. I'll elaborate on this later.
• Let this wonderful grandchild hold your camera. When you arrive home and upload your photos of the day, you will be gloriously entertained by a slide show beyond comparison to anything you could shoot yourself. They know how to work all the controls effortlessly, including 'color change'. Oh to see the world through creative 12 year old eyes again!
• Know a wonderful person who has a brother/sister who is a new car sales person. This sales person will be wonderful too!
• You should carry bug spray, even in December. Apparently there is a bug who loves hanging out on shiny new car roofs...........and he brings his entire family along to hop in your hair while you bend over gasping at those sticker prices on the window.
• Remember, you'll always need twice the amount of money than what you budgeted for the car of your dreams..........some extra bells and whistles may have to be crossed off your wish list. Be prepared to wave a wand in hopes a fairy godmother (or wealthy sugar daddy!) will appear who can come up with something a little more classy than a pumpkin coach pulled by mice.
  

Anyone know the name of these bugs?

There are often shadowy/shady characters hanging about a car dealership ~ sometimes they're the customers, not the dapper salesmen who seem to appear the instant you pull into the parking lot. (No offence to any readers who are car sales persons ~ you do a great job most of the time).

Now, about having a granddaughter tag along. She will always be on your side............even though she adores her granddad. She will loll in the back seat during the test drives, extolling the virtues of the reclining rear seats, the overhead reading lights, the extra leg room now she's getting taller. When sitting at the sales person's desk while granddad crunches numbers with a pained look, she will blithely repeat, several times, that her grandma deserves the nicer car, she's earned it, she's worth it, that it's the perfect vehicle for granddad's girls to drive around town, down to the shore, up to the mountains! Yes, a granddaughter can cinch the deal in your favor because her granddad is "the best granddad in the whole world".

Thanks Jasmin.......and granddad. Now, let's ride!!!!!