I'm so excited and grateful.....

This evening I was ***dancing with the stars***........no, no no, I mean dancing with my dh, around the confines of our small living room, to celebrate my award. I have been tagged by sweet Andrea, Southern Heart, for a Thinking Blogger Award. Wow! me, who never wins anything, actually received kind and generous accolades after just a short time blogging - that's even nicer than getting presented with an ugly gold Oscar himself. Where on earth would one put an Oscar in a cottage? Thank you so much Andrea - you are, and always will remain, one of my very special blog friends.

The only part of this picture that resembles me is the hair - I do have a radiant red bob - well I'm quite tall too!

Watch this space - I will soon be tagging some of the special people whom I've met recently.

Simple Garden Treasures.....and Pleasures

During my bookshop visits yesterday - looking for the May Romantic Homes magazine (doesn't seem to be on our newstands yet) - I found this adorable tote bag at Barnes & Noble. It's regularly $9.95 but if you buy any two items it's only $4.95. I purchased another magazine I've been looking for, the April/May issue of Somerset Memories, to view art blog friend Linda Harre's magnificent altered books made for her twin grandsons, and a greeting card, and bought my pretty bag to use for toting Spring reading etc. It's made of heavy coated paper which can be wiped clean, printed on all sides with beautiful English cottage roses and calligraphy. Handles seem strong and it has a snap to close the top. It's so pretty I'm leaving it out to admire as an accessory!
Out in the garden today I drifted along with the pollen - whew! it's bad this year - to take some photos of my cherubs enjoying the Spring sunshine and blooms around them. This little sweetie, while talking to her bird friend, is excited because the climbing rose is actually climbing this year - hopefully it will get to the top of this arbor and bloom magnificently before the hot Summer sets in - last year we had just a couple of yellow roses on it. Remember the old saying........."First year sleep, second year creep, third year leap". This actually is the third year so I'm waiting, and hoping, to be pleasantly surprised.

If you can enlarge photo - sometimes they do, sometimes not - you will see the angel, frog, and kitty in the background marking my granddaughter's hamster cemetery. This was constructed over the past few years following teary-eyed "funerals". Snuggles and Ginger are now in a better place, "hamster heaven".
The Carolina Jasmine is doing well this year. It was huge a few years back but had to be cut down to the ground when replacing the rickety old fence - now it's blooming profusely again, and the flowers are as yellow as yellow gets - such a contrast to the "Carolina Blue" sky. Way to go!

And, while "fenced in" you have to admit these are cute little copper roofed bird houses from Tuesday Morning. They've held up well for over a year despite being left out all Winter. The tiny Chickadees love them - they don't seem to nest in them, just pop in and out and perhaps sleep in them at night. I love to look over and see the little heads sticking out, makes me giggle!Hope you are enjoying the treasures hiding in your garden.

A Simple Easter Time

I plan to enjoy Easter at home working in the garden if the weather is kind. We're expecting a cold spell with low overnight temps. and are praying it doesn't damage the shrubs and plants - they are so beautiful now. The dogwoods in their white and pink airy dresses, the cherries wearing flouncy double petal pink gowns, and azaleas of every shade in every garden. One of the good things about older neighborhoods is the big size of the flowering shrubs, as well as huge beautiful old trees.

The Easter Bunny (shhh! it's really Granddad with bunny ears) will make an appearance and the egg hunt will take place early afternoon when it's a bit warmer.

I then plan to open this pretty, very pink, box. It has been sitting here for a week under the watchful eyes of the resident rabbits. A genuine Italian Easter cake is hidden inside - no idea what it looks like, says it has chocolate cream filling - it just has to be yummy, everything from Italy always is. Join us in the gazebo for cake and tea - I'll even make you a raspberry hot chocolate if it's really chilly.

Blessings to each of you at Easter.

More thoughts on L'Italia Bella

You're invited to pull up a chair, a country hand painted chair, and we'll sit around the rustic pine table, under the arbor. Let's open a bottle of Vino nobile di Montepulciano, slice some fresh blushing pears, top with shavings of fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano, spread slices of particularly gorgeous melting Taleggio on to crusty farmhouse bread. Let's just sit back looking across the Tuscan landscape to the medieval hilltowns beyond the olive groves and vineyards...................... and we'll know life can't get better than this. Oh, but you say, I thought she was English and here she is spouting off about Italy. Those who have been to Italy know how the beauty of the country gets under your skin and it's impossible to forget each small detail, whether you've spent years, weeks, or just a few days soaking up everything Italian.

Next year I hope to return to Italy - dh and I are considering a trip which will encompass more of Tuscany, Venice, and the Golden Triangle area of Lake Como. These photos show the view from Varenna where English friends are currently completing the decoration of a hillside home they have purchased and will be renting out to visitors...................now that looks like a truly beautiful place. I'm seriously thinking of mailing off my deposit for next Summer!!!

Hope you can all visit Italy some day........you will not be disappointed I assure you.

Meandering through Europe

If I could be somewhere else for Easter I think I'd choose Italy this year. This magazine picture reminds me of the time I spent in Tuscany a few years ago - dining one mild Fall evening on risotto with truffles in a rustic country dining room. I was in heaven and vowed I would return in another life as a Tuscan country woman living in a hill town where time stands still. I'll have to dig out those photos, taken before I went digital, stored in shoe boxes of course because we never got the albums finished, did we?

I would love to share with you what I found so beautiful about Italy.

Have you ever tried this wall finish called Ancient Damask? It's so amazing and involves plaster and stencils, staining and burnishing. But would I ever finish if I started - it would be so time consuming everything else in my life would have to be put on hold. You wouldn't hear from me for weeks........I think I'll stick with good old plain paint. But this is so European and gorgeous!

When in France I thrill to sights such as this in the markets. French linens, jute twine and string; golden, ochre and honey-toned blocks of hard-milled soap, stamped with interesting words and seals. Why do these natural, country items always look so beautiful? Perhaps because they are just that.........natural from the countryside.

These are words at the bottom of my staircase just inside the front door. I read them every day, sometimes several times a day in passing which is quite easy to do in a small cottage style house! They always evoke memories of the places I've seen and loved~ today I thought I'd share just a few thoughts about Italy and France in preparation for the stories yet to tell about my family's beautiful home in Southwest France.

Teach your children to explore the world, to see how other people live, to gaze at their historic places, to eat their food, hear their songs, dance to their music...............to travel every chance they get. Traveling is education wrapped up in memories treasured forever.

Back Garden Chronicles

Early evening I was sitting here on the front porch with a glass of chilled Chardonnay - my reward for a day well spent in the garden. As mentioned in my earlier post, I worked in the back garden and couldn't have picked a more beautiful day to do so. A perfect sunny 65 degrees, just a very slight breeze now and then. The neighborhood whirred with the sound of lawn mowers, several bumble bees buzzed around the Carolina Jasmine on the back fence - a good sign - dogs barked amiably, birds sang constantly, a red tailed hawk glided in slow circles overhead looking for lunch.

As you can see, the trees are opening their bright green buds and the tulips are in full swing. The grass is lush and thick - makes one want to run barefoot through it. Ummm, think I'll do just that tomorrow morning before heading out to a local Crafter's Flea Market for some serious bargain hunting. All the neighbors should be out in their yards - and they'll say "Mary gets older and crazier each day".......................kinda like that wonderful essay titled "A Gardener's Golden Years" about gardening in pj's and bunny slippers!!

Here's a shot of the potting shed today - so glad many of you think it's cute and would like one, thanks for the lovely comments. You will never regret building one if you garden - it becomes your little "bolt hole", a room of one's own so to speak. I painted mine after it was constructed - inside I had counters and shelves built, and windows installed on all sides to let in plenty of light. Note the pollen covering the bench - it's thick and heavy now - sneezing is becoming the local pastime.

The George Taber azaleas are blooming - these are my favorites because they are big blossoms, loose and cottagey looking, and they grow into huge bushes under the big oaks.

And last, but by no means least, there above my head among the buds, sat an Eastern Bluebird........truly the "bluebird of happiness".......such lovely birds and quite tame. We have a family living somewhere in the back garden - always at the feeders and sitting in the trees. Note the bluebird nesting box on the potting shed wall - been there 3 years now but nary a single bird, blue or any other hue, has ventured inside yet!

It was a wonderful day to be alive and beautifying God's little acre - altho' I only have one quarter of it! This is just the start though - stick with me and you'll find me "Out Tending My Garden" as it says on my painted sign on the arbor gate, from now until.......................forever I guess. We looked at condos a couple of year's ago - but we're still here enjoying cottage living.

How Green is Your Valley?

This is where I'm headed this morning - to do some much needed work in the back cottage garden. This is a pic from last year - it's not this green yet but everything is springing forth rapidly after warm weather and some much needed rain.

I love my potting shed. An earlier post (March 4 - More Tulips............) will show you the interior. Having electricity is great as I can heat and cool - I had the cutest chandelier hung which gives such a pretty light at night so I turn it on if we're eating outside on the deck or in the gazebo.

This tiny sparrow came by for a bath in a puddle - so adorable!

Off to climb into gardening gear and get down and dirty! Must clean up the remaining oak leaves - a love/hate relationship there - dislike raking but thankful they have protected my lovely sleeping plants during the chilly Winter months.

To you wonderful gardening friends ~ hope you are able to dig some dirt this weekend ~ then we can all head to the garden center, starting picking out new plants - and hide the charge slip from dh! Don't you love that part? I mean lovely new plants - not having to justify the cost, sigh!

It's been said many times " a garden is a joy and a job forever" which is true, but what better place to be lost in thought and surrounded by the awesome beauty provided by Nature - that makes all the hard work so worthwhile.