Unexpected Garden Visitors

OK Pink Bee - this one's for you.

Can you see her?

Sitting there so quietly right in front of my nose while I tied up the tomato plants one morning in May last year. Mama gray fox, glowing golden in the sunshine, had come to nurse her four adorable offspring. The kits appeared from under my neighbor's shed where she had apparently hidden them for safety. For several weeks we watched them feed, play, grow. Dad fox would stop by now and then, he was camping out in my rear neighbor's garden which is heavily overgrown, and would climb over the fence and come through my garden to check on his family. The kits often came around the fence and into my garden, playing like puppies until Mom chased them back. These were the two who seemed to enjoy posing - when I called to them they would pop out from under the shed and sit still for the camera. This shot was published in the local newspaper in the House & Garden "Backyard Sightings" section.

Here the four of them are playing after lunch - they were probably about 8 weeks old. (Click on photos to enlarge)
By the second week of June my neighbor - an elderly lady alone - decided six foxes in our quarter acre gardens were just too much. We called the city animal control officer and they brought a large humane cage to trap the animals. Can you believe not one of those wily foxes were stupid enough to try out the cat food left inside, hooray!!! Then, one day in June, they all disappeared, probably into the small wooded area across the cul-de-sac.

However.................................just two weeks ago, at dusk, Mom fox trotted across my front lawn, made sure no traffic was coming, and headed across the road into the woods. As you you can imagine, I will be watching this Spring - will they return with another litter? Will keep you posted.

The sad part is that these beautiful animals are losing their natural habitat as more and more parcels of suburban land are being bulldozed bare to build "McMansions", office parks, and shopping centers. I like to think they can still find a tranquil spot to raise their young - perhaps their choosing a little cottage garden is a sign that Nature is still, and always will be, kindly and caring, despite the atrocities of mankind.

Special day on my calendar

Today is a sad one for me - the anniversary of my dear Mother's death. Despite the fact we had been separated by "the pond" for 40 years, we had managed to see each other almost every one of those years, either by me crossing over in boats and planes, or by her flying here and having the time of her life. In the easier days of transAtlantic travel, we both enjoyed those flights, chatting with the "stewardesses" through long nights, moving around the cabin freely, and Mother was even celebrated with a bottle of champagne the time she was flying here on her 80th Birthday! Four years ago today, I visited with Mother in a small "cottage hospital" to say goodbye. I arrived the day before, having hurried to get a flight and get home in time. She was a proud lady who loved her country fiercely - she said she would never have let me come to America if she had known I would never return to England to live. And so..................on an early Spring day, as the sun warmed the beautiful green Devonshire countryside, we said goodbye, and for me, those long flights home will never be the same.

Fill out a "happiness card". It makes one realize that life is full of many wonders that enrich our days no matter what.

Today is very warm and the garden is calling to me. It's a tranquil place where I can think of Mother and remember how she taught me to enjoy digging in the dirt! I plugged in this little fountain on the etagere shelf - almost immediately my pair of Carolina wrens flew in for a drink. This photo I treasure more than anything, it was taken in 1913 in London. My Grandmother is holding twin daughters with her eldest daughter standing on her right. The boy on her right and girl on her left are my Mother and her twin brother. Five children in four years, wow!
Wishing you all a wonderful day surrounded by the love of your family and circle of friends.

Enjoy Life - It's Delicious

Today was kitchen clean up day - such a good feeling to have everything bright and shiny - until the next greasy, splattering pots boil over!! The 'frig looks great too now that all those leftover veggies have gone to the compost bin.

Even kitchen walls can display the written word - my love of lettering is omnipresent in my home.

I love Emma Bridgewater's "Nursery Ware" crockery. The words remind me of my childhood in an English kitchen.................and TOAST & MARMALADE still is, and always will be my most favorite breakfast!!
Umm....................can you smell the most delicious Italian risotto cooking on the stove? Best ever was in the little cellar restaurant under my hotel in Cortona, Italy - so loaded with black truffles and Parmigiano Reggiano I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! Cortona, home of Frances Mayes of "Under the Tuscan Sun" fame, is a beautiful hill town - well worth a stop on the way from Rome to Florence.

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I recently made this container for my arborio rice - was really pleased with the result.

Kitchen is closed................back in the morning, perhaps for porridge with brown sugar and cream, next best thing to the toast & marmalade!!!

Sunday Teatime

At exactly four o'clock this afternoon dear hubby and I stopped our respective busy work inside the house - we're getting ready for family visiting from Arizona this week - made a lovely pot of tea, and took it with a plate of chocolate biscuits to the gazebo. Temperature had reached 75 and it was beautiful outside. Great to relax for half an hour, watch the robins and woodpeckers who seemed the busiest birds around today, the daffodils dancing in the light breeze, and just enjoy the total feeling of Spring in the garden.

Two of my favorite teapots. The pretty blossom painted one above I use often for afternoon tea parties. Below is the very special delicate pot for one with matching cup and saucer, tiny side plate and bowl, which belonged at first to my Grandmother, and was then acquired by me from my dear Mother's estate. This coming Thursday will be four years since her death................I will make myself a special cup of English tea in the little pot that afternoon before calling my brother in France to talk about "our Mum". How special she was................how much we miss her.

First tulips appeared this weekend - tiny ones tucked among the pansies in a pot!

Sending each of you a breath of Spring.

Let There Be Lights!

Remember I mentioned English lampshades? Here are some of my creations. This photo was taken for a business promotion some years ago when I was designing and sewing custom shades, and selling them for money!! No longer, too hard to market and do all the actual work........and fingers are not so nimble now! I was taught by my Mother who made them in England - found a custom frame maker in California, started hunting for beautiful silks and trimmings, then pulled, pinned, and stitched until my fingers were like pin cushions! All this while still holding a full time job. Most of the shades around the house I've made. Drawers and boxes of leftover fabrics, braids, tassels, trims, now await new and less intensive projects.

If only the days were longer and time went by slower, right?

This is a little "angel shade" I had fun with - made from organza and sporting a silky tassel.

Dining room chandelier shades made from embossed silk bridal fabric - have left the holiday garland up because it looks so pretty and quite appropriate for Spring too!

Hope your life is full of light.

Lemons and Cottages

Trying all the lemon remedies I can get my hands on - drinking them with honey, sucking on them in lozenges, just looking at them and wishing this cold away. I've kept this page from a magazine on my 'frig all Winter. After pears, lemons are my favorite fruit for shape, color, and cooking..........how clean they smell. My Mother told me she craved lemons when pregnant with me - would suck on them despite their acidity. Could this be why I love them so?

The village of Cockington is a quick walk along a narrow country lane from my childhood home in Devon. It's where I spent many a Summer's day playing. The thatched cottages are amazing and although some are now gift shops and tea rooms, the 14th century forge is there and the farrier still shoes the local farmers' horses. The church, just visible behind the Manor House in the small picture, is 12th century and I attended an aunt's wedding there. This special village was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.
Lovely old books with peeling spines - what tales do they hide? Golden daffodils are very pretty - creamy narcissi full of perfume are extremely gorgeous. For those of us who are into altered books, these aged ones are much too fragile to play with, but if you are lucky enough to have some this is a lovely way to display them for Spring.

"...............................there are five ploughs and fourteen serfs and six cottagers (occupiers of smallholdings not exceeding 5 acres). There are 15 acres of meadow, 50 acres of pasture, and 50 acres of wood........worth 50 shillings"..............Domesday Book of 1086.

Now that was true "cottage living".

One of those days

Well the cottage cleaning went much slower than planned yesterday.........the sore throat of three days developed into a miserable cold which has slowed me down! Today, besides picking dh up from the airport later, I plan to doctor myself with warm lemon drinks, hot milk and brandy, and lie low - cleaning can wait, it's just too much of a chore when one is sick!

Some living room (which in England would be "sitting room") vignettes - they did get dusted thank goodness - show some of my quirky ideas. I do love the cottage style but am always ready to throw in some baroque or Bohemian bits and pieces. Also love to bring the outside in by giving some of my garden treasures time indoors. Guess that makes my style eclectic.

Garden books including my set of three, much beloved, illustrated "Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" volumes by Edith Holden - who died tragically by drowning in the River Thames while collecting nature items to draw and paint.
Love this china jardiniere on the bottom shelf - has the French word "JARDIN" (Garden) on a green toile de jouy background - best buy ever at Ross a couple of years ago.
As mentioned earlier, I love anything with the written word - this little ROSEBUDS pot is a favorite.
I love this idea for old frames found while treasure hunting the local flea markets. If you don't have anything to fit it but still want to hang, put another already framed picture in the chosen spot and hang the empty frame around it. My English style handmade silk shades will be the subject of another story I'll save for later.

I woke before the morning, I was happy all the day, I never said an ugly word, but smiled and stuck to play.............................Robert Louis Stevenson

Cottage Cleaning

News just in, read all about it..........family company coming from Arizona next week to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. My husband's Grandparents were from County Kerry. So, will spend today doing some much needed sprucing up around the house! We enjoy our fireplace so much on chilly nights and burn good oak wood - makes a lot of dust though!

I do enjoy collecting soup tureens - usually white or cream. Love making soup, especially from recipes from the old British "Cranks" vegetarian restaurant in London which has been around since the sixties! A couple of good hot soups, crusty bread, and a beautiful salad, make a quick Winter evening party...................especially with a good bottle of wine or some hearty ale along side. Always finish up with a rich classic English dessert - sherry trifle is our favorite!

Hibernian Pub will be just the place after the downtown parade on March 17 - quite authentic with beautiful old wood bar imported from Ireland, handsome Irish bartenders.............and really scrumptious "fish 'n chips". Come on by, would love to meet you there, raise a glass, and wish you the Luck of the Irish!

Must leave you for now - don't you just hate having to put creative endeavors aside to do housework, sigh!

A COTTAGE IS...........................................

................a little bit of heaven on earth.

If someone asked you "what's your definition of a cottage?" how would you answer? Many of us who read these wonderful "cottage blogs" really do embrace the idea of turning our homes into cottages even though we are living in the American version! Sometimes the outside of our house almost resembles a cottage style, though probably without a thatched roof! We paint in country colors, build garden structures, plant pots of cottage garden flowers, grow peas, beans, and oh so British Brussels sprouts, get hollyhocks to make a Summer fence, linger on teak benches by goldfish ponds, and serve tea in Summer houses and conservatories. Meanwhile inside - we plan, design, paint, sew, arrange, and then rearrange furniture, burn wood fires, hunt flea markets and yard sales for treasures, all in hopes of eventually living the cottage life...................and revelling in that comfy, warm, snug, country inspired feeling, the true feeling of home.
(Some years ago there was a British thatcher living here in North Carolina and I wanted so much to have him thatch my potting shed - alas I waited too long and he upped and moved to France to cook as he was also a trained chef).


My home in Devon, England is well known for tiny villages and hamlets tucked away in the river valleys and rolling countryside. Dairy farming has been a way of life since Anglo-Saxon times - and of course Devonshire Cream teas are always announced on a rustic, handprinted sign on the farmhouse gate.

Do tell me about your cottage dreams. Why do you like this style of living? With so many huge homes now being built here, why have you decided a smaller, cozy cottage is more your style? Have you ever been to the British Isles and visited authentic cottages.......in villages or at the seaside perhaps?

Take me Home............or traveling

Today I ventured out early to "Tuesday Morning" for their current sale - these are a few of the items that called out "choose me, choose me". The concrete planter is already "mossy" and the shade of green I love. The two decorating books are great - especially love Country Living's "Country Color Combinations", some beautiful photos and use of paired colors. The sweet little green silk gift bag with tassels will be perfect to hold a gift for my Northwest art friend - she loves embroidery as well as tassels!! The balls of textured yarn in Spring colors will be useful in my art projects. I also found plain cards and envelopes at bargain prices, and a box of cards - Van Gogh's famous Starry Night, Cafe de Nuit, Irises etc., this for my granddaughter as he's her favorite artist.

At the Cafe de Nuit, Arles

A hot June day in Provence - how lucky to be visiting such fabulous places when one is nine years old - hooray for Grandparents who travel!! Arles - loving the history of the place where Vincent Van Gogh spent time painting, drinking and fighting! Such a sad life but such beautiful art encompassing all the brilliant, saturated colors of Provence and the South of France.

Vincent's room in his yellow house, Arles.

More stories from France another time.

The waiting game

This time of year is much about waiting. Waiting to start digging in the garden; waiting for the trees to burst out in a thousand shades of green; waiting for blossoms, pink, white, red; waiting for warmer days.......and nights; waiting to get out and walk off the Winter cobwebs (if you're not one of those amazing "walk in any weather" people); waiting to sit on the front porch with a steaming mug of morning coffee and see the sun come up; then back in the afternoon with a cup of fragrant Earl Grey tea...........................................and then, before you know it, the evenings are warm enough to actually enjoy a sunset aperitif outdoors before dinner!!

I love my front porch and will share pictures soon - meanwhile this is a Spring morning at my childhood home in Devon, complete with rainbow over distant Dartmoor.

I'm missing home - always do in Springtime - it arrives early, the hedgerows smothered in pale yellow primroses - followed by hidden bluebell woods, home of fairies I'm sure!

"Oh to be in England now that Spring is here".

Not that I don't like Winter, I really do, especially since moving to North Carolina! I must live where there are four distinct seasons - and I really enjoy each one for the beauty it brings. Today I made my "art pal" in the snowy Northwest a Spring surprise box. She loves tassels and music so I'm hoping she'll enjoy this one. Made use of fabrics I had - decorated an empty chocolate box - added some tags (I love making tags). Will send it on its merry way tomorrow!

More Tulips Around the House

As I said, I really do love tulips and am waiting for my Pink Impressions to bloom in the garden.

....................................and then, this afternoon, around a garden corner I found my sweet sleeping cherub guarding the first Alyssum blooms peeking out from the oak leaves...................can Spring be far away?

The Potting Shed - where all my garden goodies are stored for the Winter......time for a clean out so I'll be ready to break new ground as it warms.

MARCH
As the month advances so does the tide of green that sweeps over the garden. Every day there are new buds, shoots and delicate blooms to admire.......weeds too! For gardeners the urge to get outside and do things becomes irresistible.

How I love Dutch tulips

Seems we all have Spring Fever and just can't wait for the clocks to change and enjoy those longer evenings - three weeks earlier this year here in the USA. Garden chores are are making themselves highly visible now - will have to get the old joints loosened up before all that raking, bending, kneeling etc. Meanwhile the indoor versions of my favorite flower, the tulip, are scattered about the house on pots I've decoupaged and prints I've framed. I enjoy these while the true ones are struggling to poke through the earth - hopefully I'll share pictures of them later. I now plant tulips mostly in pots to thwart the dastardly squirrels and voles - daffodils are not on their menu, thank goodness, so they're out there waving in the Saturday morning sunshine. Enjoy your weekend whether under sunny skies or falling snow flakes - every day is wonderful so make the most of it!

My thanks for the warm welcome

My North Carolina cottage in the Fall

First and foremost I must thank the great women who have already visited my new blog and sent such lovely comments. I'm sure, like all of you at the beginning, I kept wondering if anyone would find me and send a comment - now I'm so happy to think I'm already becoming a part of what seems to be a fabulous group of creative women! We all seem to have similar interests in so many different fields - but the bottom line seems to be enjoying and sharing beauty gleaned from Nature, our homes and families, and our diverse artistic talents.

I'm enjoying your blogs immensely. My only problem is difficulty with my Google account where I don't seem to be able to post comments on your blogs. Hope to get this sorted soon and then you will hear from me as I view your awesome pictures and read your wonderful words.

Snow on the Victorian gazebo this January.

Early Spring in North Carolina

The bodacious Valentine's Day roses have become dried flowers - still beautiful as they fade - cannot toss them away so they will languish in a precious tiny English cut glass vase given to me years ago by my Mother.

Meanwhile, Spring seems to have arrived with several warm, sunny days. My pair of Carolina wrens are busy building a nest in the kitchen window box for the fourth year running. It's tucked under a clump of purple pansies and a small conifer - I hope to get a new family to watch as I wash dishes!

Still playing with my new toy.................

Looking across "the pond" from England on a Winter's Day

This could become addictive! Anyone else out there, please tell me how you stay away from your blog. Do you check it constantly or have a specific time of day set aside to check, post, or read other peoples' blogs? Guess it depends on how often you can access your computer, whether you work, or like me, are retired and have a bit more freedom - luverly!!!

A new day - my first post!

Well I did it - made the decision to become a Blogger even though it's such an unattractive, lumpy sounding name! I hope to share thoughts and passions for my home here in the United States, along with those I still hold dear to my heart for the place of my birth in beautiful Devon, England, with a little bit of the South of France thrown in for extra measure as my brother and his family live there.

Hopefully I will learn the tricks of this new trade and be able to share pictures of things I love, places I visit, items I create, and thoughts I think, and in turn share in things you may be passionate about in your life.