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