Inspiration Friday - Dining Delights

As a follow up to my last post which mentioned much about food and wine, I thought I'd share some lovely dining areas which should inspire you this Friday. I love dining areas that mix old pine farm tables with funky chairs. Perhaps the sideboards hide crisp linen tablecloths, napkins and placemats, old silver cutlery in velvet lined mahogany boxes, big white china platters for holidays, and Bougies de France - those marvelous dripless candles.

A fancy kitchen corner complete with a fireplace - now that would be a special place to curl up with tea or coffee and a good book while awaiting the oven timer to beep.
Wishing each of you a wonderful weekend sharing good food with family or friends at your special table.

Don't forget, a few fresh flowers for your centerpiece!

France - heading South

My brother moved to France permanently 4 years ago. He left the hectic, expensive life of London for a tiny village of 1100 inhabitants in Southwestern France......... and has never looked back.

For many years he, his wife and daughter had always taken their holidays in the countryside of France, loving the relaxed lifestyle, the fabulous food and the abundance of great wines at cheap prices. About 12 years ago they bought a holiday home in a village in the Minervois, just twenty minutes from the famed double walled city of Carcassonne and historic Cathare country, less than an hour from the beaches of the Mediterranean, and a two hour drive from Northern Spain.

Within a couple of years, and much traveling back and forth, they owned a wine importing business, my sister-in-law doing most of the work while my brother continued his stressful corporate job in the fashion business in the bustling center of London. Then Sara Lee Corp. bought his company, moved their American directors to London and subsequently, after many years of giving his all to his job, he was given the "golden handshake". It was for the best........................he now has a completely different life, happy and stress free, and has traded his Armani suits for shorts and flip flops!

Their London property sold and a second French house was purchased in a village just five minutes from where they were living. This area is famous not only for excellent wines, but also the red marble quarried to build the Palace of Versailles and many other famous French historic buildings. Their 200 year old rustic beauty with a huge two level garden, unusual in a village setting, needed a complete restoration. For almost four years they worked on this house and finally moved in just before Christmas last year. The first house sold and they are now "at home, at last" and loving their life.

If you've read my earlier posts you'll know that last Summer DH and I, together with our traveling granddaughter, Jasmin, flew to France. Following the few days in Paris we headed South - it was a fabulous time. Seeing family and sharing their new life was exciting. I have to admit I could easily be comfortable in that picturesque village, surrounded by vineyards and olive groves, with the mountains in the distance, and the colorful open air markets selling everything one needs for a simple, yet rich life. I've always said I can survive on bread, cheese and wine....and they have the best!

The 200 year old stone house - Jasmin at the upper window. I love shutters - and the European ones actually work - you open the windows inward and then throw open the shutters outward - I love doing that at the start of a fresh day!

My sister-in-law's potager (kitchen vegetable garden) on the lower level. There are three natural springs on the property - one here to water the garden, one on the upper level where the swimming pool was built which can be filled from the spring, a nice water saver. The third actually ran through the kitchen in a trough in the floor tiles - that one they've had diverted as they prefer modern faucets to fill the tea kettle! The local bakery - we'd walk through the village in the early morning to buy warm croissants just out the oven, and farm style bread to spread with butter and my sister-in-law's delicious homemade jams and marmalade. Late afternoon the bakery would reopen to sell fresh crunchy crusted baguettes for dinner. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I saw the fresh produce at the outdoor markets! Every shiny fruit and vegetable was so perfect. The farmers were obviously proud of what they had lovingly grown and now displayed on their stalls.

After wine production this area also grows olives and produces oil. The markets always had several stands like this with many different types of olives.

Later I'll show you more of the Minervois and also of our visit to Spain and Provence.

Reading about beauty and great food!

Yesterday my friendly postman Jerry hand delivered my mail, which included a parcel, to the porch - a nice surprise when I opened the front door to view the brilliant green of the garden after some rain. I prefer to patronize a local independent book shop, complete with squishy old arm chairs and strong coffee, and I get their senior discount without having to buy a membership card (one of the perks of age!). I did have a credit at Amazon.com though so went ahead and ordered these three books.

The French-Inspired Home which many of you seem to have and love and I can see why. Know I will enjoy this one.

The cook book The French Market is by one of my favorite authors Joanne Harris whose amazing novels include Chocolat (we all loved that movie!), Five Quarters of the Orange and Blackberry Wine. The recipes look delicious and the photos of French scenes and fresh foods are gorgeous.

Jessica McClintock's Simply Romantic Decorating is one many of us have been anxiously awaiting, and from a quick flip through it late last night I think it's been worth the wait. Oh my, anyone with a love of romance in their decor and pale dreamy colors will want this book. Most of the photographs are of her amazing Victorian house in San Francisco - wait 'til you see the kitchen! There is a chapter named Romantic Projects ~ know that will keep us all extremely busy painting and sewing in the coming months.

These will be books I'm going to enjoy while sitting on the porch with my afternoon tea.

Celebrating April

Oh; how this Spring of love resembleth

The uncertain glory of an April day!

Which now shows all the beauty of the sun

And by and by a cloud takes all away.

......................................Two Gentlemen of Verona ~ Wm. Shakespeare

Today started out chilly and still quite windy but I was out in the garden early. Yesterday's quick stop at Wal-Mart (ugh!) for veggie burgers (yum!) took an unexpected detour through the garden section where these fresh and fabulous Confederate Jasmines and Mandevillas, along with two cute Hostas, and a really sweet little trailing Ivy, somehow ended up in my shopping cart! My DH was trying to figure out why on earth I needed a cart in the first place....just for veggie burgers, hmmm!!

So here they are on the front porch welcome mat - but by the end of this afternoon all were in their new homes. The Jasmine is blooming and smells wonderful, and one of the Mandevillas has pink buds ready to open - this one will be trained to climb the porch.

When buying my vintage treasures at SuzAnna's last week I also found these two really nice pale green iron planter baskets. Of course the plastic fern pots wouldn't fit through the top so I bought flexible fiber liners and replanted the ferns in those. They look much nicer this way.

OK, remember I asked for assistance on this purchase last week!

The very green potting table spied at SuzAnna's - sitting there as bold as brass (or perhaps more like grass!) in the middle of a huge conglomeration of garden stuff in the outdoor section of their wonderful shop. Several of you wanted it for yourselves, others thought it a good buy at $120 and said go for it -------so I did and it was delivered FREE, along with some other things I'll show another time, by Susie and Anna themselves - lovely ladies. We had a cuppa with raspberry scones - and they did the house tour to see where I'm using all the neat things I've bought from them. This afternoon I had a fun time placing odds and ends on the table - now there's not much room remaining to do any actual potting - but I want to use it more as a serving piece anyway. I had no idea that I already had such a collection of this shade of green pots and things, even that neat round candle. On the lower shelf are some of my collection of old English stone crocks. The iron urn I've filled with shells - the plants will be moved to garden beds soon and I'll get pots of annuals for color, along with herbs for the small terra cotta pots.

Will be recovering the cushions in the gold/brown French zoo toile soon. Another plan is to hang an old window from chains above the back of the table - will copy some botanical prints onto the glass panes first. I'm debating painting the porch ceiling a very pale blue - this was apparently a usual thing in days gone by - and I think the chandelier would show up better against a color. What do you think?

Thanks all of you who encouraged me in this purchase. I'm really thrilled with how this has turned out. Although the porch is small that end was not being utilized so the table is fine and still leaves room for three wicker chairs and a small round table. This window is my dining room - it's so pretty looking outside, like an extension of the room.

Green Thumb Not Required

Last year I decided to give this smiling cherub a home. I think she had been sitting too long in the relentless heat of a North Carolina Summer...................she just deserved something better, especially after being discarded by some unloving, obviously non-garden person.

While sitting on the front porch late Saturday afternoon, enjoying a crisp glass of Pinot Grigio - I managed to catch this male towhee visiting my cherub. She seems much happier in the cool of the ivy and periwinkle, and she really enjoys feeding her feathered friends. Despite very high winds the past two days which whipped and churned everything in the garden, my clematis, "Dr. Ruppel" is blooming on the the bird house post - love this one. It clung on for dear life.

Time to get those terra cotta pots scoured and bleached ready for new plants - I've already seen petunias, coleus, marigolds, impatiens and more, at my local garden places. This is the time of year I need to be tied and bound to the back fence - otherwise I just hop in the car and head out - can't resist shopping for more plants.

But, come on now, we do have to indulge ourselves now and then...................after all it's Spring and we've waited patiently for months to get down in the dirt again.
I wish you happy hours in your garden, even if it's just potting up a few lovely friends to add color to your balcony or window sill. One of the prettiest gardens I've ever seen was a tiny roof garden in New York city. You don't need acreage to enjoy Nature.

Through My Garden Gate

Welcome! Please step through the arbor gate and come join me in some much needed Spring clean up! Note the trumpet vine, blooms opening but many were zapped by the three night freeze last weekend. You can just see the climbing rose starting on the left side and it will eventually climb the arbor. Cut it back each year because it grows so much. It's a rather odd pinkish red shade so luckily the orange trumpet vine has usually finished blooming by the time the roses are out - a bit of a clash of hot color there! Oh well, in a cottage garden everything Nature provides for our eyes to feast on is gorgeous. I keep fairy lights on year round - like to see them sparkling as I drive up in the dark.

Directly back from the arbor is "Jasmin Cottage" my potting shed, built about 8 years ago. I painted it sage green with purple shutters. Stencilled a "rug" of roses and grape vines, hung a chandelier and just made it a fun place to pot, paint, and putter.

I'll be adding some new fun things to the garden this coming week - I went a bit crazy at SuzAnna's Antiques yesterday - the big items should be delivered tomorrow. I took all these pics today before the storms arrive!

The back garden is quite pretty now - trees have leafed out, azaleas still blooming despite the cold snap, and perennials such as Hosta, Solomon's Seal, Lilies, are really coming along fast.

You can't see it but I have a Wisteria on the right side of this arbor. It was a tiny plant in a pot from a now deceased dear friend's garden. I planted it in the ground and have been tending it and loving it for four years - at long last it's growing and I will be training it to grow on the arbor.

The major job today was to clean the gazebo and deck of the heavy pollen - it's been really bad this Spring. DH helped - we moved out the dining furniture, hosed everything including the screens. It was so clean and shiny we decided to grill out and enjoyed dinner in the gazebo. The birds were our musical entertainment - singing constantly as they came to the feeders for their supper. Discovered a Chickadee nest in the white bird box on the back fence - several tiny speckled eggs with babies just hatching! Also a Wren's nest in a flower pot in the window box on the potting shed - no eggs in that one yet.

In case it's not obvious, I just love my Victorian style gazebo. Last Summer we built a new extended deck and added the totally screened gazebo so that I can eat outside during mosquito season - I'm so allergic to those nasty flying meanies, they make my life miserable! It's large enough for a round table and four chairs, there is a ceiling fan and light with a dimmer. Extra outlets allow for a heater and fairy lights - at Christmas we had a tree and hung big paper stars - very pretty. Now the weather is pleasant you will find me out here for morning coffee, afternoon tea, and often supper, and it's the best place for paging through those decorating and gardening mags. and reading a good book!
Hope everyone is having a good weekend - I know the weather is very bad for some of you - we are due storms tonight. Stay safe dear friends.

French Inspiration for Friday

Inspiration Friday has rolled around again - thought I'd share these soft shades in photos from a favorite French magazine. In the Spring I love to bring the garden into the house by adding some items usually found outdoors - birdhouses and found nests, pretty pots, pieces of painted architectural wood, and lots of white pitchers filled with fresh flowers. Old galvanized watering cans and troughs are perfect against white - see lots at my local antiques markets so may start a new collection.

In the same magazine were pages of amazingly beautiful transparent curtain panels. This one stopped my heart for a moment, so gorgeous puddled on the floor with the sunlight streaming through. When I exchanged the euros into dollars my heart stopped again..........the price was.........well how can I put it, "priceless"!! Instead, with my budget for the bedroom bay window project I headed to Target, and there I actually found four panels I loved - pale gold burnout velvet.......a little Bohemian, and long enough to puddle just a bit. I'm happy.