Pink Saturday at the Zoo

A visit to the North Carolina Zoo some time ago was colorful in more ways than one.

Tropical birds in all shades of pink were flaunting their feathers. My favorites have to be these gorgeous flamingos and ibis.

As for plants, I just loved this shrub (below) which was blooming all around the tropical birds. Its pink is so pretty. I would enjoy having one grace my garden.........which right now resembles a zoo complete with several homeless cats passing through, battalions of squirrels, birds by the dozen, a lone raccoon who crossed the deck one evening recently, and goodness only knows who trekking through after dark!

Mustn't complain though. In nearby Durham, NC a black bear is busy inspecting gardens, knocking over bird feeders to find food, and scaring a neighborhood unused to such large wild visitors. A bear in my garden I definitely don't want!

I'm on vacation in New England and sending wishes for a great Independence Day celebration to any and all friends who stop by here today.

Thanks Beverly for still giving so much of your time to Pink Saturday. I'm certain there are a lot of pink friends to visit today at How Sweet the Sound.

Special Note: Today I visited the nicest blog friend and her husband in Massachusetts! I'll have more pics to share soon of Janet of Housepeepers. What a warm and wonderful welcome at her beautiful home...................and a delicious breakfast too! Thanks so much Janet.

Janet & Bob's lovely home and garden.

Very busy day visiting Plymouth and Boston. The rain stopped and the sun came out, it was near perfect, hooray!

Last Looks

Before saying goodbye to the interesting folks at the fabulous Market Imports on that recent visit, a few more interesting items from around the world caught my eye.

Afternoon in a Provence sunflower field ~ June 2006

If you can't get to the sunflower fields of Provence this Summer ~ the rusty metal version could be planted in your garden!

Perfect blue buckets, some rust, no holes; gray galvanized metal watering cans (for the rusty sunflowers) and containers of every shape and size.

Several friends want to visit this shop and I will have fun showing them around. Next time I go I'm sure I'll find many more great things to share with you.

Note: Yesterday, July in New England was like no other - cold, early morning thunder, torrential rain falling like cats and dogs, glimpses of sun, amazingly beautiful cloud patterns, and fog so thick at the shore we couldn't see the ocean or anything else at times. Granddaughter Jasmin's words, as we drove across the almost invisible bridge into Newport, Rhode Island......."I feel like I'm in heaven". Plans changed, Boston today instead of yesterday - couldn't face sloshing through the city in rainforest conditions......beside, we didn't bring our wellies!!!

But it wasn't all bad......soon I'll show you treasures discovered in the most beautiful New Hampshire shop!

From Carolina Blue to Northeast Grey

Leaving Raleigh in brilliant early morning sunshine. Even Jasmin, getting over a 'flu-like cold caught at Summer camp, had a bright smile. Flight to Dulles went fine........then things went downhill rather than skyward for a while! Sat on the tarmac for almost three hours in the tiny commuter jet. The heavens were heaving up North, many air routes closed to the Northeast. Three hours with a cup of water and a fabulous flight attendant (a former high school teacher) who did her best, and succeeded, to entertain and placate us. Thank you Nancy from St. Louis, you are one of United's best.

We arrived in New Hampshire, hungry! We stepped out into the drizzly rain and discovered it was cool - no actually it was cold. However we were safe and our luggage was there. Traveling can sometimes be harrowing but it's still worthwhile. We're off to Boston tomorrow.......hope the sun comes out and I can get photos to share with you.

Gift From the Heart

Have you ever shopped with a friend who found an object you wanted for yourself? You kick yourself, think "if only I'd seen it first", hope perhaps she'll change her mind and put it back on the shelf. Even when your friend realizes you want to take it home, and kindly offers it to you, you say no, no, you found it first.....take it and love looking at it, using it, dusting and washing it, even treasure it!

On one such day at SuzAnna's Antiques, my dear Brazilian friend, Vanessa, found the beautiful footed bowl with handles and delicate decoration. The above scenario took place! It looked French. Faience porcelain perhaps? I love French. Vanessa was generous to offer it, I couldn't accept. We enjoyed our time together, we hugged goodbye.

FAST FORWARD......................

Last Saturday evening. Summer Open House party at SuzAnna's Antiques. Friends, fun, laughter, shopping, sipping wine as the sun went down. Vanessa took the pretty bowl from her car, handed it to me. She changed her mind. Decided it was meant for my home not hers. The most generous gift........a gift from the heart.

Thank you dear friend. You are so special.

Wanderlust................

..........a very strong or irresistible impulse to travel.

Summer vacation time is here.

I'm leaving on a trip tomorrow. Off to picturesque New England with DH and 'traveling granddaughter'. It's where I lived for 12 years before before coming South.

No Porch rocking for a week.

Boston beans. Plymouth Rock. Newport cliff mansions. White Mountains of New Hampshire. Green Mountains of Vermont. Maine lobster. Clambakes. Old Man of the Mountains. Old Stomping Grounds. Independence Day parade. New England shore. LL Bean (open 24 hrs. 365 days!). Hometown happiness.

DH is from New Hampshire, a truly beautiful state. We will meet up with his older brother and his wife who are flying in from Arizona to celebrate and enjoy an old-fashioned 4th of July in a small country town. Time will be spent at the coast, munching lobster rolls and dipping little neck clams in drawn butter!

Sun, sea oats, and the Atlantic ocean.

We'll be driving around a lot and I'll have the chance to meet a blog friend whom some of you know...........Janet of Housepeepers who lives in Massachusetts. Janet is funny and friendly and I'm really looking forward to meeting her. Do visit her blog - she's just returned from a Mediterranean cruise and has posted beautiful pictures (and hilarious stories) of Naples, Isle of Capri, Malta and Rome, with lots more to come.

Brocante in Carcasssone, France - October 2008

Last, and by no means least, I'll be antiques hunting along the highways and byways of the charming New England states. I've already found a shop where I just might find some French treasures, can't wait to get there.

I'll post, and visit you............if I have time and WI-FI is available.

Enjoy your 4th of July celebration...................wherever you are.

Purple Flowers

A walk around the garden yesterday revealed I really love purple flowers, cool blue purple, warm red purple.

Purple with pink, lovely. Purple with yellow, colorful............and purple with lime green, amazing, a showstopper!

My kitchen window box is beginning to look fuller. These plants get a lot of sun and require daily watering and weekly fertilizing now the hot weather is here.

The hostas are blooming. Above their huge clumping shield-shaped leaves, spires of purple flowers resembling bluebells shoot into the air. Hostas are amazing plants, disappearing completely through the Winter then twisting up out of the ground to surprise again in Spring, usually bigger and better than the previous year.

The purple lacecap hydrangea is fully open now. Afternoon heat sends it into a droopy slump, but it perks up during the cooler night hours and looks fresh and rested in the early morning air.

Purple butterfly bush (buddleia) is in full bloom and attracting many bees.

Do you have a favorite flower color in your garden?

Just paint over it............

Remember the guest room makeover last year? I painted old vintage shutters. All that happened after my first trip to Provence in high Summer. Sunny colors of fabulous Vincent Van Gogh paintings, fields of sunflowers, lavender, purple iris, rich red grapes, cobalt blue sea ~ were my inspiration.

Second time around, last October, the glaring sun had faded the countryside. Autumnal shades surrounded me - russet and ochre of the vineyards after the harvest was over, lavender fields turning to dusty gray under paler washed blue skies. Still stunning ~ I loved it all, even more perhaps.

Dried lavender fields and windmill - nr. Minerve, France. Oct. 2008


Last week I dragged the shutters out into the 'cloud shine', better painting when the sun's not too bright.......or scorching hot!

I lightly sprayed unevenly with cream first, then dry brushed with Valspar's Gravity.
I like this softer look. On entering the room, which is small, you no longer see the shutters first and foremost!

Vintage monogrammed hemp French pillow cover purchased at La Madone in Provence.

Do your decorating projects occur spontaneously? Do you enjoy refinishing, repainting, re-purposing items in your home?
Do you usually buy new furniture, or hunt for gently used, vintage or antique items? Have you ever had a mad moment when, on a trip, you purchased an item which had to be shipped home because those overheads are so minuscule?
How about shipping an entire container load from Europe..............now that's my dream!

Pink Saturday - Cottage Pink

Many a childhood ramble took me here to the village of Cockington in Devon. Wandering along the lanes from my home up on a hill down into the valley near the sea, passing these pink cottages was always fun. Yes, they were even pink that long ago!!!

Rose Cottage is now a tea room with lovely gardens by a stream.

The former School House is a quaint gift shop.

Bet you would have loved going to a school this pretty!

Nice to be back participating in Pink Saturday. These pics are from my recent visit home to England in April.
Hurry on over to visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see all the fabulous Pink Saturday posts.

"Thieves Market"

It was quite some time since I'd visited the Thieves Market Mall in town. Surprising how sometimes those old strip shopping center store fronts hide treasures you didn't know existed. One booth in particular caught my eye, so many things in my style.

Although I liked these....................................

........and would like to find a spot in my kitchen for this.....

......................I really fell in love with these! More aged books to add to the ones I purchased in France last Autumn.

When I enquired as to the price - no tags - the cashier thought they were just being used by the booth owner as props. She called her and asked if she'd sell them, she said OK.......a bargain at $3 each. How about those pretty tinted glass drawer pulls. There were dozens in many unusual muted colors and designs.

Above ~ the 'new' old books are the horizontal ones on the right in my dining room dresser.

A few more standing here next to the leather bound French prayer books I found at a French brocante.

Mirepoix, France ~ October 2008

French brocante, North Carolina junk store.....who knows what treasures are tucked away in dusty corners waiting to be discovered. Next week I'm off to New England and I've already located a shop I must visit in New Hampshire. Perhaps I'll find something special to share with you.

Santo Bastidor

Several years ago I was shown a 'santo bastidor' in a tiny mission church in San Antonio, Texas. The priest was actually British! He had come to serve the Hispanic parish for a short time after training in Spain to become proficient in the language, but stayed on for several years. It was sunset. The sun cast its fading rays on the mission bell creating a beautiful image. He graciously unlocked the tiny church and showed us around, pointing to the walls he had painted and the furniture he had repaired out of love for this poor community that had embraced him. The life sized santo (saint) was stunning. It had been stolen and damaged, but recovered and repaired and was kept locked up for safety. When we left the mission it was pitch dark and I recall the difficulty we had finding our way back to the car.

I have been interested in these statues ever since. Originally from Colonial Spain, they were used in religious celebrations as the Virgin Mary or other Catholic Saints. During community fiestas they were decorated in flowers, jewelry, wigs, and handmade dresses which covered the 'cage' skirt. Remaining authentic santos are hard to find and command high prices. They have the beautiful patina of age, sometimes glass eyes, and often stand on ornate carved bases.

Many santo bastidors are from the Philippines, as was this newer reproduction. The carved wood is smooth with a beautifully painted aged finish, the arms and hands are movable. I felt fortunate to come across this santo locally. She is quite striking and fits into my new way of accessorizing with fewer but larger meaningful pieces.

The wings are a wonderful 'extra'. They are metal with a gilt finish, and detachable. I will use them during the Christmas season along with a jeweled pendant and perhaps crown the santo with a woven wreath of holly and ivy.

The face of this santo is almost mesmerizing in its shape and countenance. The eyes look straight ahead, a secret, bemused smile seems held back. A feeling of calm and peace emanates from the figure.

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

~ Mother Teresa ~