Summer pleasures........................

The eloquent, elegant, and always delightful Pamela Terry, designer, author, traveler, owner of magnificent Edward, and one of my favorite blogging friends, recently asked her readers "what were they enjoying this Summer day?"    

 You can visit and enjoy Pamela's always delicious posts here at From the House of Edward.

Yesterday I was able to spend one of my favorite kind 

of days, so here's what my response would be to 

Pamela's question.

A Summer day in my garden. It started early due to the building heat and humidity of a typical North Carolina morning. I pulled a muscle in my back (again!) last weekend so have been careful in what I do around the house and garden. Yesterday I was able to prune the now fried, then drowned, hydrangeas.......due to terrible weather here whilst I was away in the Pacific Northwest, then tidy up a bit after Bob mowed the lawn, water the pots and hanging baskets.........and my favorite bit, take photos of Nature's glory.

Click pics to enlarge ~

Who is he?

A grasshopper? A locust? I can't find him among 'green garden bugs' online. His yellow eyes and 'tail' should identify him - anyone else spied this one, or know who he is please?

Edited: Thanks so much to the anonymous reader who left a comment saying this is a Katydid! I checked online and it definitely is, and he is actually a she! I can't recall ever seeing one of these beautiful insects in the garden here previously.

What amazing camouflage! He certainly seemed happy on the hydrangeas, climbing rapidly from flower to leaf until he found a shady spot.

I also hosed out the gazebo.............removing spider webs, creepy crawlies, dust, and general detritus of outdoor living. Replaced the cushions stored in the potting shed whilst away, and added the white candles to the olive basket I mentioned in an earlier post. We enjoyed dinner out here in the evening, our first this Summer. We have foxes still, including a young one who stopped by to sniff around the grill after cooking veggie burgers, red peppers, and Halloumi (from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus) cheese slices..........to make this interesting and tasty new salad now that cherries are in season.

Recipe from UK Country Living magazine - July 2013 issue

I checked the two fig trees, one shown above, and am amazed at the number of figs to be harvested later this year. I will be up to my eyeballs making figgy jam come early September. Note the presently empty bird feeder to keep birds and squirrels away from the figs - we'll fill it again post-harvest!

I decided the now spent pale green Hosta flowers were just too pretty to throw out with the yard waste being collected by the city truck yesterday morning. Cut them for the dining room table, a bit contemporary but I like the mix............

................and those no longer blue hydrangeas, already wearing their faded green Autumnal gowns, are still beautiful and ready to dry for arrangements, so I cut a bunch for the hearth.

May I continue with Pamela's thoughts and ask what you might be enjoying on this Summer day?

Are YOU a basket case?

While on the subject of baskets (see last post) I'm adding a few more here......................

...........I love using these vintage gym baskets for 

storing magazines, you know, the ones which 

pile up and await perusal when/if you ever have time 

to kick back in a shady spot on a Summer afternoon 

with a nice cup of tea, or a tall chilled lemonade.

Will today be that day perhaps?

Vaikom Village, Kerala, India

Last year in India, see more HERE, 

I thought these were exquisite baskets 

and wished I could have managed to bring some home. 

The ladies were very elegant and, despite the torrid 

heat, seemed cool and calm as they created by hand.

Still in a hot place - temperature hovering around 104F 

when we visited - 

the Aboriginal women sat outside quietly 

weaving colorful baskets.

Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia - September 2012

More HERE about this amazing place.

Do you enjoy baskets around your home?  If so how do you 

use them - what do they store/hide? Dare you tell us!

Olive Baskets and Fishing Floats...........

Perhaps you've seen vintage olive baskets popping up in decorating publications recently.........even Pottery Barn had some for sale in their 'flea market' section, overpriced I have to say. I purchased one at the beginning of the year from an online source (Christina at the beautiful blog, Greige). I've enjoyed it so much on a small corner table in my dining room. Purple tulips dangled over the rim at Easter, a huge bunch of blue hydrangeas jostled for space one recent week - picked prior to the torrential daily rains now dashing them to the ground, turning the blooms rusty brown so early in the season, and making me so sad. 
When two more baskets were available at an affordable price from Kristen, a dealer at SuzAnna's Antiques, I jumped at the chance and brought them home. 

Being somewhat large for the farm table - where I often sit to blog - I've now moved them to new homes. One sits on my hearth. Another on the table in the gazebo and I've added chunky white candles which, if it ever stops raining here, we will enjoy on Summer evenings while sipping a glass of chilled 

Sauvignon Blanc, and supper alfresco.

I can see them back on the table at Christmas perhaps holding two small balsam fir trees - decorating fun ahead.

The baskets are authentic so have dents and dings..........but oh how I love their pale blue grey metal and a little rusty patina on the galvanized base and handles. Some people say they are from Turkey rather than Greece, and were used to gather grapes, either way they are gorgeous and bring dreamy thoughts of the old ways in the European countryside. I can picture the olive groves at Summer's end, trees laden with fruit, the harvesters arriving to gather the bounty, piling them into these baskets once they have ripened from green to black under the hot sun.

Fishing float, Falkland Islands natural yarn, Indian dough bowl.

My decor is definitely leaning toward a collection of larger items lately. I'm loving these old pieces from around the world. No, I didn't carry the old fishing float back from Japan last month. This one probably took about 10 years to bob across the Pacific Ocean and end up on the beaches of Oregon, Washington or Alaska. I did notice, while in Japan, they are now using ugly pink and orange Styrofoam floats so the beautiful glass ones are becoming collectors' items.

Modern fishing floats - Rishiri Island, Japan - June 2013

To learn more of the fascinating history of the glass fishing 

floats go HERE.

Large eye-catching items make a statement, especially in small spaces. I was getting tired of moving, rearranging, and most of all dusting tiny ornaments scattered about the cottage. Perhaps I'm getting lazy in my dotage......or have I at last found what I truly like, want to live with, and what are becoming my favorite things?