Monday, July 22, 2024
Too hot to bake.....and more about Bob!
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Growing up in Devon -
This beautiful scene depicts part of my English childhood. Created in pastels after a visit to my home town, a dear friend now long gone, gave this to me so I would always remember where I came from and what I loved about the countryside where I spent so much time. The tall oak tree in the center of the fields was one I often climbed in with my best friend. She and I would balance astride a sturdy lower branch, talk about our dreams and the future. These fields were where my mother and I would gather mushrooms early mornings . . . . . . before the dairy cows came out and trampled them.
Much changed over the years before I decided to come to America. We grew up and my best friend became a hair stylist. I went to college and trained to be a secretary, remember them? We had boyfriends and danced in clubs. My mother worked several jobs and we gave up tramping through the damp fields, preferring to sleep a little later before going to work. My dad worked hard too, and my brother became a great tennis player whilst still in school, trained and played mixed doubles with Sue Barker as his partner - Brits reading this know who she is of course!
Friday, May 17, 2024
Time Will Tell --------
Monday, April 22, 2024
Earth Day 2024 ~
I've never had luck growing beautiful hellebores in my garden, or delphiniums, lupins, euphorbia, Japanese anemones . . . . . and many more plants I recall were easy peasy to grow in my childhood home in Devon, England. My mother, among so many other creative jobs and hobbies, also had a green thumb and worked wonders in our small gardens in front and back of the bunglalow. People passing by on foot, which most did back in those days before everyone sailed by on wheels, stopped and admired our front garden. Around the small lawn were beds of mixed shrubs, some evergreen others flowering, including fuchsia, always a favorite. A fragrant lilac was tucked in a corner, pyracantha espaliered up a wall below a bedroom window. Perennials such as peonies and dahilas were so abundant they would take your breathe away. A boxwood hedge, trimmed to around four feet surrounded everything. Our soil was rich, our rain came often, and we never needed a garden hose for watering.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Complicated - but there's always the garden!
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Through the garden gate.........
This Magnolia liliflora in the garden by the gate was planted 16 years ago when quite small, just 18" in its garden center pot. It's now about 20 feet tall. A moderately fast grower until about 20 years of age, it should top out around 25 feet with a 20 ft. spread. One of the earliest multi-stemmed flowering trees in the USA, it blooms from late winter and is a beautiful first indicator of spring, with flowers opening before the green leaves appear. . . . . . .I think you will agree it's very lovely.
Saturday, March 2, 2024
Family and the Secretary ~
A Saturday morning memoir ~
Those days are gone. My life is different now. I miss much and managed to do much more in times gone by. I'm not a fan of aging. I wish I had more energy, that my legs and arms were stronger, my feet more sure and comfy where planted. My memory though still good doesn't always give me a word immediately. Names are sometimes forgotten. I look things up but I don't ask Siri.
I sleep upstairs in my 'room with a view' and let my better half enjoy the master bedroom downstairs. I have to have the light on and read for a while in bed or I can't fall asleep. He falls asleep when his head hits the pillow, snores and changes position a lot. I never seem to move once I'm sleeping soundly. I wake up with hair flattened on the same side every morning. I like my bed and always say "goodnight" to my long gone, much missed Mum. I recall in her later years, long after my Dad died, when she told me snuggling into her bed was the best part of her day. She lived to be 91. She looks down on me from the photos on the wall, a child with her siblings in one, age 21 in another, and as a bridesmaid - and the dressmaker of all four gowns - at a sister's wedding in another. Sepia photos of children in lace up boots. Girls with hair bows, a boy in short trousers, grandmother holding her second set of twins. Five children in four years! The historic part of my maternal English family. I remember them all and feel their absence every day.
- Chandeliers for glitter and glamour - French would be best
- Small furniture items in need of love and new homes
- Ironstone Platters, must be crazed, cracks add character
- Antique silver flatware/trays - unpolished of course
- Old beautiful linens for tables and beds
- Shells, coral, barnacles - for seaside decor
- Old bound books - fun to read and play with