The Journey is the Reward

A magnificent French staircase similar to the one in my brother's village home in Southwest France.

I'll be gone for about a week ~ on Spring Break!

Up and down the stairs today as we ready and pack for a trip North. First stop Washington, D.C. where we'll be attending a military burial at Arlington National Cemetery for a very dear friend who passed away last week.

Following that we head to Bucks County, Pennsylvania to visit family ~ my mother-in-law who will be celebrating her ninetieth birthday soon, and dh's sister and her great family.

The original door and hardware to my brother's house ~ the key to the castle.

We'll be locking up our home with something much less romantic!

Perhaps some 'post cards from the edge' if I have time, if not I'll catch up on my return.

Always remember - LET THE JOURNEY BE THE REWARD.

Wren Update: Today it's rained nonstop ~ great because we've been in a drought. Checked the wrens' nest on the porch and saw not only mom sitting on her eggs, but dad was squeezed in there also. Such a sweet surprise ~ guess he wanted a warm dry spot to hang out!

Crowning Glory!

Ooooh, I'm so excited.

Friends who joined me for the guest room makeover in February, will recall how much I wanted to remove the huge white ceiling fan/globe light hanging in the center of this small room above the bed. The French inspired redo just cried out for an elegant, romantic, vintage chandelier to finish off the room and make it comfortable for guests............and me when sitting at the secretary of course! It was a bit of a battle with dh. He was concerned the loss of a fan would make the room too hot in Summer ~ we do have central a/c ~ and that an old fixture could be a fire hazard. Well we've overcome the negative and here to accentuate the positive is my beautiful chandelier ~ just hung today thanks to my daughter's boyfriend who is an electrician.

My great gals at SuzAnna's found this vintage chandelier for me and allowed me to bring it home to try. Being as our ceilings are low it was hard finding a fixture shallow enough, however this one with several links removed from the chain was perfect. The five lights are sufficient and by installing the dimmer switch at the wall it can be adjusted which is nice for a bedroom. I decided to buy it, took it to a lighting shop, had it rewired to be sure it was safe, and they also secured all the crystals. They told me it a was a great piece with nice details on the cast brass, very good crystals, and candle holders (cream touched with gold edges) in perfect condition.

I also bought a medallion for the ceiling which I painted pale cream to match the candle holders - it was stark white and looked far too new on the ceiling.

Just discovered it's really difficult to photograph lighted chandeliers ~ glare on the ceiling casts strange shadows ~ but I think you can get an idea as to the effect this little beauty has on this room. I am so thrilled ~ thanks dh, you're the best! If it's too hot in Summer I see they have the neatest looking table top fans now, quite elegant, I even spied a very French looking one at Homegoods last week!



Before I leave you to go sit under my chandelier..............perhaps even sleep in the guest room tonight just to get the feel and pretend I'm back in France.............

................one more project I've just finished, the little toile pillow with the gorgeous looped ribbon trim that picks up the colors of the shutters.

I think I can now say the guest room makeover is completed.................and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. Thanks for your patience and interest over the past 2 months ~ funny how these projects start out with a small idea such as "let's repaint the walls", and then just seem to grow ~ such fun.

Cottage Tulips

Several decorative items around my cottage depict tulips and, although these are Spring flowering bulbs, to me they are so beautiful I just love to have some around all year.

This old window frame.......................................

..............the really pretty switch plate which is next to it...........



These are two pots I decoupaged with copies of old tulip prints..................

.................and although I'm not a great lover of faux flowers, I have to admit the silk version of these pink beauties found at Pottery Barn a few years ago, are the closest I've seen to real - they look so much like my beautiful Pink Impressions from the garden!
Once the real ones are over I like to keep these on my hearth until Summer flowers bloom.

As the snow and ice melts, the temperatures warm, and the trees bud and blossom, I hope so much you are enjoying Spring things around your house.

Pink Impressions

Tulip time at last. Yesterday I cut a couple of my favorite blooms, Pink Impression a large deep pink cup with a striking black center, to enjoy indoors. I rearranged some of the old French blue and cream covered books I'm searching for and aging - the angel is apparently bored stiff waiting on this process...............can aging take this long!

The old zinc capped canning jar, while holding wooden spools for future projects, has become a useful bookend.

Love, love these tulips, the clear colors, the smooth leaves and strong stems, the way they open and close with the light, and how they continue to grow after cutting once in water. Perhaps I should move to Holland ~ then I could hang out with sweet Heidi and, while sipping tea and becoming real friends instead of just long distance ones, could admire and sigh with joy at the acres of gorgeous tulips.

More tulips around the house another time.

French Breakfast

Southwest France ~ June 2006

Notice the pink shutters match the climbing roses - how fabulous - and you can click to enlarge and see croissants in the shop window.

I don't push many prepared food products but have mentioned how much I enjoy certain items found at Trader Joe's. We have to drive about 15 mins. to shop at their store in Cary, NC, however, Raleigh will have it's own in about a year - and it will be just down the street from my house, yippee!!!

There is no tiny French boulangerie with freshly baked bread and pastry smells wafting on the early morning breeze near my house. So, just had to mention these great croissants they were sampling last week at the store, and which we enjoyed for breakfast this morning. This little 4X6 inch box holds 8 frozen croissants (takes up just a small freezer space).

You leave them out on a baking sheet overnight, in the morning they are proofed and puffed - brush with beaten egg if desired (I did) - bake for 15 mins. and voila, light, crispy croissants to eat with nothing better than French strawberry preserves. Not for every day perhaps - altho' they don't seem to hurt the French - but great to have on hand for company or a weekend treat. I plan to have them on sunny Spring mornings when we can breakfast in the gazebo and share the crumbs with the birds.

Notice, I'm using my new cake plate already!

Wings and a Prayer

When I drop dh at the airport, as I did yesterday, I usually stop at Homegoods on my way home. I stroll around the aisles and almost aways find a treasure or two at bargain prices.

This lovely cream matelasse coverlet, made in Portugal, was on the linens clearance shelf marked down from $80 to $30. It will take the place of the white one in the guest room as it looks older.......and more French!

China - impossible to get through that section of this great store without buying something for daily use or to add to a growing collection ~ such an amazing selection, great prices! A pink transferware plate to add to my little collection, a beautiful cream glazed edge cake stand, also from Portugal, which will be used to display more than food sometimes!

In the garden section I fell head over heels for this elegant angel. Rather than tuck her in the garden ~ she's so delicate ~ I've placed her on my dressing table for now ~ she brings such a sense of peace.

I think she looks right at home next to the mica star.
Let your arms enfold us

Through the dark of night

Will your angels hold us

Till we see the light

................From 'Prayer' by Secret Garden...............

Visitors at My Front Door

She's such a tiny bird....................but what an amazing one.

Here she sat a few days ago in my back garden, enjoying the Spring sunshine and singing loudly from her large repertoire of songs.

This Carolina Wren has made a permanent home on my front porch since late September of last year. She apparently found the perfect nighttime roost in a corner of the porch ceiling, arriving there each evening at dusk and sleeping until the light of dawn. I know because I set my alarm on a couple of occasions just to be at the window to watch her wake, stretch, and fly away as the first rays of sun touched the porch!

When I left for England in mid October I said goodbye never expecting to arrive home two weeks later and find her still there. In December, when darkness fell earlier and the nights turned much colder, she decided to try a new boudoir, a porch hanging basket complete with a fast dying Boston Fern. Each evening she announced her arrival by singing loudly while perched on a metal obelisk in the flower bed, then flying to a wicker chair and actually looking into the dining room - then she'd fly up into the fern for the night. On a couple of occasions I actually saw two Wrens get in that plant at night - guess love was already in bloom on those cold nights!Needless to say, the dead plant has hung brown and crisp, all Winter, I just couldn't take it down.

A few weeks ago I noticed the faux flowers in the wall planter were in disarray and while working a little floral design magic I spied the beginnings of the nest. I knew it was a wren's nest as they usually build one in the kitchen window box. Watching, I soon saw the male coming and going with twigs, grass and leaves. A male wren starts to build several nests in different locations then takes his mate on a tour, like going on the Parade of Homes, and she inspects each one. Of course the gal always gets to choose when something as important as a home for her babes is at stake, right? The tiny mom-to-be then finishes the nest building, lining a small depression at the back of the cavity with pine needles, grass and soft bits and pieces to cushion her eggs. I'm amazed, and thrilled, that she picked this nest so close to where we come and go all day long - guess she trusts us and thinks we're good landlords after spending six months rent free on our porch! The nest is deep and one has to glance in at an angle. On Easter Sunday I looked in too fast not knowing she was there and scared her, she flew out and there inside were two teeny tiny speckled eggs. Today I can make out three and as they usually lay 4-6 there may be more within the next couple of days.

Guess the Winter floral display will not be changed to something a little more Springy for a while - so the holly spray will have to stay!

Below is a closeup of the nest - as you can see the entrance is somewhat sideways and mom and her eggs are way back to the left. I love these Wrens because they are fastidious in their nesting habits - I know from watching the kitchen window box families from other years. Sometimes dad takes over feeding the first brood while mom renests - having 2 and sometimes 3 broods a year. When the babies fly off and the nest is finished with, it is spotlessly clean - much different from the finches who leave their nests so dirty!

This photo is the Carolina Wren from the Birds of the Carolinas Field Guide by Stan Tekiela - a little book I refer to often when learning about the beautiful birds visiting my garden.

Hopefully we'll have a new family at the front door in a few weeks - I'll keep you up to date on the happenings and perhaps will be able to get a photo of the fledglings to share.

........the Primrose Path

Lead me down the primrose path any day!

The wild English Primrose was always my favorite flower as a child and I wish so much I could grow it here. 'Going primrosing' was a joyful event, a Spring afternoon pastime of country lovers. Ushering in Spring, celebrating Easter time, often the blooms were even ready for celebrating 'Mothering Sunday' as we called 'Mother's Day'.

On with the wellies (Wellington boots) as the fields were usually muddy from Spring rains. Tuck a handful of lengths of soft cotton string in a pocket. A glance at puffy clouds racing across the Southwest sky from the English Channel towards the tors of Dartmoor, showers later for sure.

Along the lanes we hurried, snapping a yard long strong twig from the hedgerow, and almost running down narrower lanes, just one farm tractor wide, toward the little village of Edginswell ~ just about 20 minutes in the fresh breeze.

The tiered orchard had heritage apple trees with gnarled trunks and pretty pink and white blossoms. My memory recalls the farmer was kind and allowed swarms of children to clamber noisily, but carefully, over his land. The primroses, with wild violets tucked between, smothered the grassy slopes. We gathered small bunches in our hands, surrounding the pale yellow flowers with a few glossy textured leaves, tied each with a piece of that soft string, leaving ends long enough to tie to the hazelnut twig. Within an hour, the twig would have bunches hanging along its entire length and, resting it over a shoulder, the trip home up the lanes, a climb across a stile and through a field, would take no time.

Some for the elderly neighbors who couldn't get out. A bunch for the nice man across the street who grew vegetables and sold them from his little barn. A bunch set aside for Tom, our milkman, who came every morning with a fresh pint of Guernsey with the thick cream at the top of the bottle, and half a dozen new laid brown eggs. The rest were placed in Mum's china vases, cream jugs, odd glasses. All around the house these simple pale yellow flowers caught one's eye from tabletops, the tiled mantelpiece, the kitchen window sill, a bathroom shelf. Primroses declared Spring was officially 'around the house'.

..................A memory of my childhood in England...........

Above, a page from the chapter MARCH in The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady ~ Edith Holden's amazing naturalist's diary written in 1906. She captured so well the beauty of the simple wild flowers such as primrose and violet.

Easter Garden

Just a few images from our beautiful Easter Sunday here in my North Carolina garden.

The sky was blue and the air warm........perfect for an egg hunt.

The lilies bloomed..................

My version of a Simnel cake was delicious.......................................
The garden surprised us with fresh violets............................................budding azaleas.......................

.................. perfumed Narcissus....................
................the big Thrasher was back...............

.....................and, I don't have pictures, but must tell you how excited I was to see that Mrs. Carolina Wren picked the nest in the wall planter by the front door and has already laid two eggs today! Just hope she's not disturbed too much as we come and go.

I'm hoping your Easter was beautiful too.

Easter Blessings

~ Wishing you and your family a beautiful Easter ~

Technicolor

A few more photos from my zoo trip this week. Despite a chill in the air and the skies mostly overcast, there was plenty of color to brighten up the afternoon.

Our winged friends were dressed in such brilliant finery............and the blooms in the tropical domes were spectacular.

I've never seen a frog such as this in my garden ~ perhaps it's time to construct a pond.......with a waterfall..........aquatic plants........and at this point in the conversation dh's eyes start rolling back and that pained look appears on his face!

This is a beautiful Mahonia............it brings tears to my eyes because the voles chewed through my beauty this past year after it had reached several feet in height......and then just toppled over one day. Perhaps a tropical dome in our back garden, on a vole proof concrete footing..............just kidding dear!

The Big Guys

I love animals but prefer they be allowed to stay in their natural habits. I dislike circuses because of horror stories I've heard about the way the animals are housed, treated, and made to perform for humans. Therefore zoos are only on my list of places to visit.......occasionally.

The magnificent San Diego Zoo was a one time treat a few years ago. The National Zoo in Washington, D.C. I've visited a few times as I lived in that city in the '60's. The North Carolina Zoo is small compared to the first two and this was my third visit in the 30 years I've lived in this great state.

The visit this week was at the request of friends - we live equidistant from the zoo so it was also a chance to socialize. Sharing these photos with you........of the animals, not our friends!

Below is Wilhelm, known as Willy. He and his mate, she was not in the water on this day, are one of the positive zoo stories. This pair was actually rescued from a Mexican traveling circus. While performing in Puerto Rico it was discovered how abominably they were being housed (in tiny cages), underfed (they were extremely thin almost to the point of starved), and generally mistreated. The pair were taken from the circus and brought here to the NC Zoo where they are gradually gaining weight and of course now have a much more comfortable home where they can move about and swim.

This dear bear Willy put on quite a show for us - tossing balls with his head, lifting a huge plastic bucket on to a raft, swimming with a canvas strap, then springing out of the water and waiting for applause. It was obvious he still enjoyed performing - thank goodness it's under much better circumstances.



Unfortunately our plans to eat in 'Tuscany' following the zoo visit didn't work out as the restaurant only serves dinner Thursday, Friday and Saturday! We did meet the owner who allowed us inside to look around.........small, pretty, homey and definitely on the list when next in town later in the week. Instead we went to 'Capri', not as nice but still Italy, and who can go wrong with anything Italian!