To the Manor Born

I think I've been watching too many British period piece films lately.

I seem to think that I'm living in a castle or manor house with lush lawns and maybe even a pond or two, with a fountain of course.

At my lovely home, with its soaring ceilings and finely detailed carved mouldings, are a whole staff of people at my beck and call.

Someone to tend to my varied rose gardens, and to bring fresh flowers to my bedside table each morning before I wake.

And another bouquet to accompany afternoon tea...with gluten free scones...hah!

Yes, my manor house is quite lovely this time of year, you would like it should your carriage end up turning down the tree lined lane of my imagination.


 

And after such a long journey to get here, I would surely have a bath drawn for you, scattered with what else but fresh rose petals.

The first blooms of the season are here on my David Austin Roses, and their heady fragrance has me channeling a little upper crust luxury I think. :)

For Jim

In life, most of us are blessed to have friends, people who are there to support us, who share common interests, who just "get" who we are, and take us "as is."

Mr. Tide and I have friends like this, and while some live right next door to us, others are far away.  One of our far away friends is a man we call Papa Jim.  In his profession as a police officer I'm sure he's quite intimidating, heck, I wouldn't want to get on his wrong side, but we know the other side of Jim.  The guy who gushes over his wife, kids, and grandkids...they are the light of his life he is proud beyond belief.  

He is the kind of man who always has something nice to say, can make you laugh, and even when he has his own troubles, he's always more worried about someone else's issues.  And though his day job calls for him to be rough and tough, he is the kind of person who reads this blog.  He doesn't read it because he likes house'y stuff, flowers, or pretty things, but because I write it, and because I talk about my family on here, so he can keep up with our day to day happenings.

Jim is, by any definition, the kind of person you hope to call friend.  Yesterday Papa Jim underwent major surgery for cancer.  He's walked this path before, and battled back like nobodies business, so I have no doubt he will meet this head on yet again and kick it in the butt.

The surgery didn't go as smoothly as hoped, and he has a slightly steeper hill to climb until he's back to feeling like himself again.  And we, meaning all of us who are lucky to know this great man, will be right behind him...providing him with the kind of strength and support that friends give to one another at times like this.

So to you Jim, we (and I mean the whole clan) say thank you!  Thanks for being that role model friend that we all aspire to be.  Thank you for loving your family with all of your heart and still spreading that love around to those of us who are honored to call you friend.  Get Well Soon!!!

Lovely Surprises

 

The past few weeks the UPS truck, Fedex, and our mailman's jeep have been paying frequent visits to our humble abode.  Between things I've ordered and happy little packages sent by others arriving nearly every day, it's been a little bit like Christmas.

Recently the lovely Tricia Rose of Rough Linen fame created her very own bread bag out of some of her beautiful linen.  After road testing the bag herself she offered to send a few out to her readers, and I was one of the lucky ones to receive one of her bags.

Now I know I've been mostly gluten free since January, but trust me, I will find a million and one good uses for this lovely bag.  And just having it makes me pine for Tricia's linens which are on my "most wanted to buy" list!  Thank you Tricia!!!

The next lovely package to arrive on my doorstep was one from The Polished Pebble.  Those of you who have followed my blog for any length of time know that along with my love for Rough Linen's wares, I share equal affection for Kelley and her amazing design talents!

Along with her design business, Kelley just opened a shop where she sells one of a kind vintage pieces and some of her homemade goodies, like soaps and potpourri.  Kelley was so sweet and sent me some samples of both her Lavender and Rose potpourris and to say they smell heavenly would be a bit of an understatement.

Each generous bag is filled to the brim with the scent of her Ojai Roses or snippets of the beautiful lavender she grows in the highly coveted yard of her California home.  Now my home can smell a tiny bit like what I image lounging in her backyard on a gorgeous summer day must feel and smell like! Thank you Kelley!!!

Last but not least are some documents I ordered from Oscar Naylor on Etsy.  Alwen, who owns Oscar Naylor was so wonderful to work with and helped find me just the right antique ephemera I was looking for.

These are beautiful vintage documents, many dating back to the 1700 and 1800s and I plan to get them framed to hang in just the right spot in my house.  And along with the items I ordered, Alwen gifted me with a few extra goodies...thank you so much Alwen, I will treasure these!

So as you can see, it has been like Christmas around here, with lovely little surprises showing up each week.  And with Mother's Day right around the corner I think there might be a few more surprises coming my way.

I hope you each have had a few pleasant surprises at your house lately, and for those of you who are moms, I wish you each a VERY Happy Mother's Day!

On Point

Well it's been a month almost since I last posted.  And during that time I've been very busy with work obligations.  I have been keeping up with many of you though, and I've secretly been spying on you through your blogs, just in a quiet hiding in the shadows sort of way.

 

I had thought that I might abandon this little blog altogether and simply gracefully fade away as I threw myself headlong into my work, but as a few of you predicted, I did miss this little bloggy place I've created for myself over the past 2 years.

And so while I was away dipping my toe into new waters and new ventures, I made some decisions.

1.  I will run my blog, it will not run me.

2.  I will post less often and not feel stressed if I can't find the time, even if it means weeks pass by.

3.  I will visit my long list of blog favorites and not feel obligated to comment on those blogs, and in return I hope others will understand and feel free not to comment here but just enjoy the images.

4.  I will not feel guilty if I am unable to reply to each comment or email...I will need a bit of help with this one as "guilt" is my middle name.

5.  I will enjoy blogging for the safe haven that it was meant to be and not for the hectic crazy place we sometimes cause it to become. (and I'll keep it going for you, Mom and Dad W)

6.  And I will live each day to the fullest, follow my heart AND my gut, and I will do the things that make me happy...life is far too short to do anything but.

  I hope you are all well and that life is treating you kindly.  Until next time...

  à bientôt

Through Rose Colored Glasses

These are the last of the roses for this year.  They put on quite a show, and I enjoyed every last blossom, but now it's time for them to take a little rest until the springtime. 

Sometimes it is just better to view life through rose colored glasses, or at least with a few rose blossoms by your side.  I hope that things in your world are rosy right now!

And Then There Was One

My dad had a whole slew of sayings he used to describe certain situations.  Some were more tasteful than others, like when he would come in on a very cold evening he would say that it was colder than a well diggers ___...I'll let you fill in the blank.

On days when he had lots to do but felt as though he was spinning his wheels a little, he would say he'd been fiddle farting around.  See what I mean about his "colorful" way with words?!  No wonder I became a writer with those genes! ;-)

Today, I did a bit of fiddle farting around myself.  I left home at 12:30 pm and didn't get home until almost 9 pm.  And although I did get some things accomplished, like having a great lunch with a friend, visiting another friend in the hospital, and getting all of my hair chopped off, some of that time was spent getting nothing done.  Or at least not everything I wanted to get done.

Like getting all of the photos for the winners of my last giveaway sent out...I'm working on that so please bear with me.

I also spent a little time this morning playing around with some new textures from French Kiss Textures.  I love when I find pretty new textures to play with, it makes my day.  Both of the photos above have only French Kiss textures applied to them, and I'm really happy with how they turned out.

When I went outside this morning I realized that almost overnight our trees have shed their colorful coats and are now naked in preparation for the winter.  All of our trees save one, the one pictured above.  A rebel of a maple tree that is still awash in shades of gold tinged with orange.

I will be interested to see how long it can hang onto its showy foliage.  And then there was one!

Simple Minded

Thank you everyone for your wonderful support, and I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one with too much holiday decor...for every season!

After donating some of my fall items, I have found that the pieces I decided to keep mean even more to me and look even better now that they can stand alone.

I've decided that my new approach to holiday decorating will be more simple minded, kind of like me!  I have always incorporated natural elements into all of my holiday decor, but I feel like now I will put even more emphasis on bringing the outdoors in, and trying to embrace the less is more philosophy that I am so drawn to these days.

I find that everywhere I turn I am seeking simple, clean lined items that are easy on the eye and super functional, like these cute little white cafe au lait style bowls I picked up yesterday.

I had passed by these many times at Target, and I really loved them but talked myself out of them each time.  Then, while surfing blogdom the other day I saw these on someone else's blog and thought, you know I really should just buy them.  I can't remember which blog it was...sorry...that would be my simple mindedness that I mentioned earlier.  Whoever it was, they had found these on sale and picked some up...I was not so lucky, at my Target they weren't reduced.

While I was at Target, searching for my perfect little bowls, I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in quite awhile.  Her daughter and our son Bugs had gone all through school together, and as parents of older kids know, once your children leave middle school and beyond, you hardly ever see the parents anymore, so it was nice to catch up.

She looked great, which she always did, and she had her arms full of stuff for her house, which was always beautifully put together.  When I told her what my mission for the day was, she mentioned that if I could wait until Sunday, the bowls would likely be on sale here too.  Not a snowball's chance in you know where of that happening.  Along with my simple mindedness, I'm also horribly impatient.  And the thought of slogging my way back over there, which is about 1/2 hour away to save maybe $4 just wasn't enough incentive for me to wait...sorry Mr. Tide! ;-)

After walking through my living/dining room for the past few days with it looking a lot like a bad, bad photo studio a la lighting equipment and props scattered all around, I finally had had enough and set to clearing out some of the chaos.

Things are looking better in there, but I still have a few tubs of stuff to put back in the garage, but that will wait until tonight or tomorrow.  My mission today, besides a meeting I had earlier today, is to go buy some new walking shoes.  Ever since we returned from Europe, where we estimate that we walked between 6 and 8 miles a day...sometimes more, I have tried to continue that by walking at least 2 1/2 miles every day.  It's not nearly as much fun to walk down our little lane instead of the streets of France and Germany, but where we live is beautiful and quiet, so I can't complain.


 

Before I gave all of my props and equipment the 'ole heave ho out of the living/dining room, I did take a few more still life shots, just for the heck of it.

I wanted to create a few that had a feminine edge to them, so I used some of my great grandmother and grandmother's antique pearls, and of course some pink roses from our rose bush.

These will be the last roses of the season, which always makes me a little sad, but I know they will be back next spring looking and smelling as wonderful as ever!  The winds of change showed up last night, quite literally as it was a blustery evening, and today there is a chill in the air and gray skies which look a little too much like snow for my liking!  

I got a lovely email from Lili today and she said that up her way in Maine they are expecting a record snowfall this weekend!  And Joan did a post today showing the 2 inches of snow they received last night!  EEK, can you imagine?!  The thought of snow in October is way more frightening than Halloween...at least for me it is!

I hope each of you has a wonderful weekend!