Welcome Back to the Porch

So many good friends 'visited' the porch today there wasn't space enough to have you all stay for a nice cup of English tea! So, guess what, you're invited back tomorrow, or any day convenient to you. The kettle will be on and I've made another loaf of pumpkin bread. It promises to be another beautiful sunny day - teatime is 4:00 PM - see you then.

Replaced the seashells in the iron urn with Autumn gourds. You can just see a few bright red hummingbird vine flowers in the background. This delicate vine, along with the morning glories and jasmine, has 'curtained' the end of the porch this Summer - green protection from the afternoon sun.

Cobalt blue and pumpkin orange, quite lovely together.

Knew I'd find a use for this little kiddie chair - we can of course remove the pumpkin if you want to sit here with your cup of tea. My lovely flowers from Deborah are so perfect at the front door - such a thoughtful gift which I'm enjoying each day.

Autumn is a second Spring when every leaf is a flower...........Albert Camus

Porch Posts

Sometimes I sit here enjoying the joys of Nature. I'm grateful to have a front porch, even though it's small. It adds another element to my cottage home, bringing me closer to the garden plantings and abundant wildlife. At dusk I've watched the fox walk across my lawn to reach her young at supper time. The squirrels scurry up and down the oaks where they have their nests, stopping to drink from the fountain and nibble from a nearby bird feeder. Add the possums, the chipmunks, an occasional raccoon, the evening bats, the neighborhood cats.............you're getting the idea aren't you, a very busy place. But then there are the birds, so many species, colors galore, warbling their soothing songs, too many to list right now, but had to tell you about this special little one.

This Carolina wren has taken up residence on the porch. For the past ten nights, this little guy has slept in a corner of the porch ceiling facing in toward the wall. Who says birds don't sleep? This bird arrives each evening a little bit earlier than the night before as the evenings draw in - today it was 7:20 PM. It appears to go to sleep almost immediately, and doesn't wake and leave until the first rays of dawn hit the porch. How do I know? Like an idiot I set my alarm early, get to the window and watch through the blinds. One morning it awoke, flew to the chandelier, opened it's beak and grabbed a nice juicy moth as it flew by........................breakfast on the porch, a great way to start the day.

These pics of the wren are little blurry as I took them through the window.

If you look at the top left hand corner of the porch, beyond the chandelier, you can see the little ledge where Jenny or Johnny wren sleeps.Newfangled........................."new and often needlessly novel" (American Heritage Dictionary). And what is this newfangled, bedangled, twiggy thing you say? My amazing outdoor, gently electrified, lamp created by a local artsy twig lady. Although comfy in it's former home, it begged to leave SuzAnna's shop to come sit a spell on Mary's front porch. Now, I have lamps, and being a lampshade designer/maker, I love lights and shades. But this lamp spoke to me........please pick me, take me to light your porch with a glow from the lovely angel with wobbly wings.........smile at my little attached birdhouses, feathered and bark birds..........despite my twigginess, my iron limbs are sturdy and my finial shabby chic.

For Christmas I will add white fairy lights - Valentine Day red hearts - there will be no stopping me when it comes to lighting up this "twiggy's" life.

Tea and Sympathy in France

Some of you have already found the French husband ~ you know who you are ~ and you kindly share the ups and downs of your exciting lives in France. Actually the ups seem much more prevalent than the downs. Life in Provence, Paris, small villages, and little towns, make many of us envious to have that romantic life too - but difficult to persuade these American husbands to up sticks and move "across the pond".

Recently, while treasure hunting, I found these French lovers enjoying a spot of tea. Apparently French tea is disappointing, especially to the English! My family now living in France take pounds of "real tea" across the Channel, by boat, plane, hovercraft ferries, and through the "Chunnel" (the tunnel which runs under the English Channel). Oh yes, the wine goes to England but those Brits make sure their tea gets to France.

The jug was displayed in another corner of SuzAnna's shop - I just had to borrow it for this picture so a second French couple could join them for afternoon tea. Notice even a French poodle came to the party!

These are two pages from the scrapbook I made following my trip to France last year.

We're all dreaming about and imagining how romantic life can be be living in France. Please keep telling us about it and sharing your great photos. We love it all and want more.

Friends, fun and frivolity

Another fun blog thing..........................one gets to meet new friends in person..........and not necessarily wearing fancy hats or pinned with notes like this gal. Yesterday I spent a delightful time with Deborah from Pictures, Pots & Pens . We met online and found we live a couple of miles apart. She'd been wanting to visit SuzAnna's so we made a date to shop and eat.

We spent time browsing and shopping - SuzAnna's treasures become more exciting and interesting each visit. Here we are chatting over lunch at "Cafe Capistrano" - great freshly prepared TexMex food. Aren't we angelic looking!!

Discovered we both love chairs - here's a cute white child size rocker - perfect for one of those pumpkin displays, and that iron bed would be great in the garden for real vines to twist and climb. This Sunday ALL the chairs will be pulled down from the rafters, placed outside for a huge "chair sale". What fun - will try to get back for that event. Those gals really know how to entice treasure hunters.

This chair is adorable!

Deborah came bearing a delightful and thoughtful gift - this very lovely and unusual chrysanthemum which is now keeping my pumpkin company on the front porch. Thank you so much Deborah - it's so pretty.
I believe that friends are quiet angels who sit on our shoulders and lift our wings when we forget how to fly~~~~~~~~~~Unknown

Inspiration Friday - Autumn Gold

This weekend the sun and heat will return after two days of clouds, drizzle and a heavy downpour last evening. How the gardens loved it - how we the gardeners loved it too.

Yesterday I bought a big, fat orange pumpkin for the front porch - I'll show you later when I've done a little seasonal decorating. Meanwhile I'm sharing these striated and nobbled beauties someone else was lucky enough to find. There must be special areas in the country where these are grown. We only have the garden variety....................old fashioned, run of the mill, big 'ole orange guys.

Want to make a good harvest golden soup this weekend - maybe butternut squash. Some moist, russet shaded, pumpkin bread would be tasty - warm from the oven served with a steaming cup of Earl Grey tea on the front porch..........in the late afternoon.

The turning leaves, gold in the late day sun.

Enjoy your weekend.

Autumn Greens

Before the shorter days take on Autumnal hues, remember the greens............they are still here in different forms.
Traditional orange pumpkins, golden butternut squash, Indian corn, rusty gourds, rosy hips and berries - all brighten up the Autumn landscape................but I'm almost green with envy for these!

Pull up a chair, sit and ponder awhile.................watch the early morning mist rising up from the Autumn garden, hear the fresh green acorns falling through the russet oak leaves. Can this be the one.....................will it become a mighty oak?

Today in the Garden

...................Opossum "playing possum".......................

We're catching feral kittens this week - stray mom put them under my neighbor's shed about a month ago - now they are old enough to leave mom, three of the four were tempted into captivity by "kitty tuna" and "turkey with rice" - nothing apparently tempts mom, she's still on the loose with the other kitten.

However, this morning that little can of cat food was just too good to pass up for this little guy. People say they're so ugly, they're cute. I thought it was just too sweet. It curled up quietly after it's breakfast and never made a sound, it's tail around it's toes, still and silent. Went quietly with the humane officer who promised he would set it free in a wild area somewhere. Opossums do not carry rabies but they can give a painful bite with those big teeth.

Then it was on to the watering as today is our allowed day for sprinklers during this long water restriction by the city. Luckily the night time temperatures are dropping a little so that is helping bring back some life to the struggling plants and shrubs.
The coleus are still doing well and these colors are great for Fall.

My gourds have been stored away since last year and seem none the worse for all those months in a hot attic - they are perfect on the back deck with hydrangeas which dried to a rusty brown.Hope your garden is taking on that lovely golden Fall look - our trees will be turning soon and then not long until leaf raking time.......and jumping in the piles. I assure you we do get a lot of leaves here in heavily wooded North Carolina......just wait and see.