Hey, let's celebrate, come on.......................

Starting today with the drawing for my giveaway - such fun. So grateful to all of you who entered by leaving kind comments on my 100th post - hopefully I can keep going and share more interesting things with you. As many of you know - especially the Anglophiles out there - I'll be "crossing the pond" in October, first time since starting my blog, so will take plenty of photos of cottages and such to share with you.

So, a celebration is in order............................

I do love hats, especially vintage looking hats - here's a few of my Summer ones. The two gimp braid hats were custom made by a designer friend and I just love them. The tan one I wear a lot in Summer as it looks almost like a straw hat - the cream one comes in handy for weddings and such. The cinnamon color one with pretty roses is amazing - light as a feather fabric (stuffed with tissues for this pic) - found in a quaint little hat shop in Tiberon, CA when visiting a few years ago. All these hats flatten and pack easily - nice to tuck in luggage when traveling - never know when a wet or windy day of sightseeing may need a hat.

Oh my gosh, I'm digressing and making this a fashion post instead of a fanfare for the WINNER!

......................who is........................... Mary at http://isabellascloset.blogspot.com/

Congratulations dear Mary - hope you will enjoy the little gifts.

Please e-mail me with your mailing address. I'll get the parcel in the mail this week.

So, hats off to Mary. This is such fun and I won't wait for the 200th post, I'll plan another giveaway long before then - already have a new idea in mind for some special items to share. All you artistic "crafty" gals - you know who you are - will love it......... so keep watching.

Again, thanks for visiting me. I love hearing from my wonderful circle of friends and sharing in all your varied interests. Hope this will be a great week...........and don't forget your hat!

For Inspiration Friday - Romance in Art

My last post included the beautiful painting "The Soul of the Rose" by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917). Several people, including Rowan (visit her to see beautiful English countryside and more), have mentioned how they love that painting so I thought I'd include a few more of his well known works. I too love these paintings. Waterhouse was an English Pre-Raphaelite painter most famous for his paintings of female characters from mythology and literature. He belonged to the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which was formed in 1848 - a year of numerous uprisings in Europe - in order to reintroduce the high principles and "innocence" of Renaissance art as practiced prior to the master Raphael.

These women all look cool and collected - the wind and water settings, the diaphanous gowns, the streaming hair.

"DESTINY"

~1900 Oil on Canvas~

Towneley hall Art Gallery, Burnley, England

"OPHELIA"

~ 1894 Oil on Canvas ~

Private Collection

"BOREUS"

~ 1903 Oil on Canvas ~

Private Collection

"THE LADY OF SHALOTT"

~ 1888 Oil on Canvas ~
The Tate Gallery, London

~ Such romantic women ~

Hope this is a fabulous weekend for you.

"Giveaway" reminder

LAST CALL for my giveaway!

If you go to my post of August 6 you will see the details of the giveaway celebrating my 100th post. If you would like a chance to win these little gifts but haven't entered yet, please leave a comment on that post so I can put your name in the hat for the drawing. I plan to do this on Monday, August 20 (edited - forgot have Grand Jury Monday so will do this on Sunday and will post the name of the winner that morning).

Meanwhile, do take time to stop and smell the roses ~ Summer will soon be ending but the roses are just beautiful now ~ they usually do well around here until early Fall.

I love this painting, The Soul of the Rose by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) - her hair, the exquisite fabric, and of course the roses.

Here are the gifts I'm sharing - including the English rose fabric, rose painted dish and rose card.

Remember ~~~~~~

Best Mac & Cheese ever!

My 10 y.o. granddaughter begged me again last last week - several times - to please, please, please make the "posh mac & cheese" for lunch before she returns to school this month. This particular recipe from a British supermarket magazine (Sainsbury's) is touted as being, quote, "fit to serve the Queen" and I have to agree - even though I doubt Her Majesty will be sitting at my table any day soon! So this morning we grated three cheeses (cheddar, gruyere and parmigiano reggiano) and set to work - this is definitely not the type of mac & cheese you get in a box at the grocery store - it's the grown up version of the kids' favorite.

The first pic shows the magazine version - beautiful and delicious to say the least.

This pic shows our version, it's a little darker because we made our breadcrumb topping from whole wheat bread rather than white - doesn't that make a somewhat high calorie/high fat dish just that tiny bit more nutritious!!!!? Everything else is the basically the same - mini penne pasta being a little more elegant than macaroni - and juicy sliced tomatoes from the garden rather than those rather chewy little cherry tomatoes suggested in the recipe.

Yum - here we enjoyed our mac & cheese along with a mixed green salad - I really do think that even the Queen would have enjoyed this lunch in our gazebo!

On the treasure trail at SuzAnna's again!

Remember the blue cake plate I showed you recently - well there it was on my return last week, still waiting for a place in some old English gal's home where she can display her "fancy cakes" at tea time. It's Royal Albert's Enchantment (love that word) pattern, dated 1950 - but in perfect condition.



While visiting my fave treasure place again (twice in one week - and they're only open 4 days, Thurs-Sun.) I found these "must haves". Another neat painted sign - I adore anything made from LINEN - tablecloths, napkins, placemats, clothes...............and someday, when I come across affordable ones, I really want a set of linen sheets, ooooh! I hear they're fabulous!

The unusual painted drawer, from an old dresser perhaps, curved on one side with a lovely curved handle (I lined it with wallpaper) is now holding rubber stamping inks and embossing powders - just a different container for ordinary items.

This sweet creamy white compote dish caught my eye and I'll find many different uses for it - again in perfect condition.

Before leaving SuzAnna's I snapped a few more pics of interesting treasures - I couldn't bring them all home unfortunately, but hopefully someone else did.


Here is the patio umbrella with the gauzy "curtains", what a great idea. Loved that look, especially on the stifling three digit day.

Susie found this amazing mini claw foot tub - old but in mint condition - how adorable is this! Would be perfect in a secret garden corner along with an outdoor shower, lots of ferns and shade plants in all the green hues - an oasis from the heat!


And lastly, that fabulous tin roofed BIG bird feeder I really want - will it ever go on sale? Of course it would also be a squirrel feeder if filled with seed I guess. I just love the way it looks and could use it on my outdoor table to hold condiments - when it's cool enough to eat outside again!

This is my "Inspiration Friday" post. Hope you have treasure hunting on your "to do" list this weekend, and that you have a fabulous place like SuzAnna's somewhere close by.

Summertime, and the living is NOT easy

Oops, hang on, just have to wipe my brow and push the a/c down a couple more notches.............that's much better.

I always drink my coffee hot and black............except on days when the temperature hits triple digits..........then it's long, tall iced coffee, with a touch of heavy cream so it coats and sticks on the ice cubes for a minute before swirling into the dark java below. Today the heat index was 107 degrees, tomorrow will be worse, perhaps 111 degrees. I'm fortunate I don't have to leave the house, I can stay here in air conditioned comfort, fanning my lounging self on the love seat, sipping more iced coffee, frosty lemonade, chilled water - looking at cool October back issues of magazines, humming "September Song", dreaming of pumpkins, falling leaves, my much loved shearling vests, a chill in the evening air, the bracing early mornings with dew on the grass. Roll on Fall say I - my favorite time of year.

Today, after two steamy hours of hand watering to keep the garden going, I looked around the house for cool things to put me in a frigid mood.

My pretty beaded bowl.

The quaint birdhouse with a crystal perch - sorry birds, you'll have to make a housecall to get into this one.

Crystals dangling from the front porch chandelier.

A shimmering mica star on the cool blue bedroom wall.


My sterling necklaces and bracelets - too hot to wear but cool looking just hanging around.

The gorgeous Italian bath crystals in the frosted bottles ~ though I must say a cold shower is better in this heat.

Mid-afternoon snack - after ice, lemons are the coolest - and a mix of these two is even better.

I rarely drink beer - just like the first cold sip - but this English beer mug straight from the freezer looks, and feels, so cold.


And this evening..............after a bowl of chilled cucumber Gazpacho, what could be more refreshing than a glass of this fabulous Italian LIMONCELLO liqueur, served over ice in Edinburgh crystal after 15 minutes in the freezer. Mamma mia, Italians certainly know to squeeze their lemons!


Hope you are staying cool. Just think, in a couple of months and we can gripe about the cold. Of course we should be grateful for every day, no matter what the weather. It's certainly a subject we always seem to have plenty to say about.

Let's Celebrate ~ and a gift to the winner!

Just realized, yesterday's post was my 100th.................definitely time for a little celebration!!!!!!!!

Where does time go? Just six months ago I had a great circle of friends, some from childhood and school days in England, some in other states who were once neighbors and now pen pals, some who have been my support group right here in Raleigh for the 30 years I've lived here. All my long time friends are precious but now I also have a second circle..........all of you, my great blog friends who have visited me often and left helpful, funny, and admiring comments. I am enjoying sharing my interests in decorating, gardening, cooking and traveling with each one of you. In turn, I'm thrilled to read about your interesting lives in so many different parts of the world, including the USA, Canada, S. America, British Isles, France, Germany, Holland, Australia, S. Africa, Morocco, and Scandinavia.

To celebrate, I would love to share these gifts with one of you. When you stop by this post leave me a comment and I'll put your name in the hat. Drawing will be held toward the end of August - kids will be in school, "dog days" will hopefully have cooled somewhat, thoughts of Fall will be starting, and new projects will beckon.

The parcel will include two October issues (1994/1996) of the original VICTORIA magazine to inspire you - a generous yard of an "almost vintage" English rose patterned polished cotton fabric (enough for a pillow) - a sweet little English bone china dish with painted roses - a dainty real vintage hankie - a vintage (1908) rose "penny post card" - some English tassel trim - and a French blank book to write down your inspirations for Fall decorating and art projects.

Will look forward to hearing from you and entering your name in the drawing.