My Blog Won an Award and more

This was a big surprise.

https://bloggers.feedspot.com/cottage_blogs/?feedid=644867&_src=f2_featured_email

Click on this link to see all 35.

I was Number six of thirty-five!

I love this quote so much and couldn't agree more♡

Once again, I am sorry for being late with my weekly post. For the past 10 days I have been trying to process a claim for my four year old mattress with a "forever warranty". As it has turned out "forever" is 10 years so I was still qualified. Of course, they had no records so I had to prove ownership. Luckily I had saved my mailing labels. I had to take photos of the tags on the mattress and the "damaged" top cover. It wasn't stretched on properly and had huge wrinkles. There was also a sag in the middle 3 inches deep. Luckily I took excellent photos that satisfied my claim. Yesterday after a 2 hours on wait on my phone and over an hour with my third "sleep expert", I was finally successful getting a replacement. I have the Order Number and the confirmation. Whew!!! It should arrive in another day or two and needless to say I am thrilled. I also have arranged for help removing my current matteress for disposal and help putting on the new one. Wish me luck. The current 2025 replacement has a different top cover that won't wrinkle. I'll add to this post if there is a problem. Fingers crossed.

As usual, August is flying by. I mention this every year, don't I?

xo, Rosemary

HOLLY HILL ~ An Old House in New Vernon, NJ

One of my friend's parents owned this house in New Vernon, New Jersey when I bought my first house there in 1975. The house was formerly owned by Henry Colgate (click on his name to read the history of the house).

Back of house.

The gardens were lovely. I remember when this house was for sale and I toured it. Luckily a real gardener, her husband, and children bought the house!

I had a terrible time inserting the links and photos. I found them (and more) on a Smithsonian site. More views of house & garden in link below.
https://edan.si.edu/slideshow/viewer/?eadrefid=AAG.ADM_ref1069

This photo is a copy of Henry Colgate's 1923 Christmas Card.

From my own archives. Copied from a local scrapbook.

Sorry I am late this week publishing my weekly post. I completely forgot over the weekend. Better late than never, right? 

xo, Rosemary

Airedales, Deer, Limelights and a Watermelon

I purchased this pair of bronze airedale terriers from the huge antique flea market in Brimfield MA in the 90s and love them. Only the daughter has the Theodore B. Starr foundry mark but they are definitely a pair. They are on my slant front desk in my livingroom.

This is my first fawn sighting this year and I'm not thrilled with the deer this year. I can't remember another year when they've eaten so many of my plants and shrubs.

This photo is a little out of order but it shows a buck eating sunflower seeds. I finally got smart and brought this feeder in at night.

OK, back to my current deer problem. My biggest and best Limelight hydrangea got eaten early in the season and has recovered nicely but my barricade is still in place. I might move it today since I mowed my yard yesterday and the shrub is actually nice and filled out and has grown taller than they can reach.

This watermelon was delicious. I hope the one I buy today is half as good. This photo is in the downstairs summer kitchen in my cottage.

See you later. xo, Rosemary

Odds and Ends from The Last Week in July + More

 

Here's the latest Cheerful Cherub. It's very timely, isn't it? The artist was only 20 years old when she was hired to do this daily artwork and poem for the Chicago Sun Times. She had already been doing them for her own personal pleasure for a long time. She took her art portfolio to the newspaper and they weren't interest in anything she showed them. When she was packing up to leave several of these Cherubs fell to the floor. When the editor picked them up and looked at them he was charmed and hired her on the spot to continue them for the paper. 

I took this photo early Saturday when the morning dew was still on the leaves. Many if you left comments that you had never heard of Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). Most of the other flowers have already shed their seeds and a small round green pod is left. In my reading I have learned these mature into a reddish rounded fruit that remain all winter and add interest to the plant. I'll keep you posted.

Mrs. Groundhog has three little ones this year and they are adorable.

I had a large tree that was overhanging the house cut down last year and have so enjoyed the weathervane on the stump. My property is badly overgrown due to all the rain we've had. I'm in the process of looking for someone with a large tractor to do some field mowing for me.

This was a big hit on my Instagram Story on 7/29. I can't remember any of my childhood phone numbers because we moved around too much. I have an 85 year old friend who can remember his though. He can also remember his high school locker combination and all sorts of other useless stuff but he cannot remember his cell phone number or ANY passwords. I made him a "business card" with his cell number, name and address, and email address. I put it behind his clear cell phone case. Now he just hands over his phone at doctor's offices, etc. when someone asks for any information. It has been so very handy for him. I have an address book for all of my passwords. I have a friend who could NOT remember her passcode to unlock her new iPhone. The only place it was written down was "in her phone". Apple locked her phone for 2 weeks before she could get it back. So it's very important to have a system for all the things we have to save to work and play on the Internet. 

Any time I add something to my weekly post you will get another email from "follow it". So open the email and scroll down for something new I've added.

Thanks for stopping by to see my weekly post. xo, Rosemary

Buttonbush for the Polinators and Milkweed Caterpillars and More!

This is the first year my Buttonbush has bloomed. I planted it three or four years ago from three bare rooted native plants the Land Trust was giving away. It wasn't my first choice but I got there late. A friend recommended this as it would attract bees and butterflies. I babied the "sticks" and it took a couple of years before they looked like an actual shrub. This is the first year and the bush got buds that finally bloomed and it's glorious. It turned out to be my favorite plant and I am so glad I was late to the event. I had never heard of Buttonbush and now it is thriving in my yard. 

There are only a couple of blooms in this photo but now it is absolutely covered with them.

I have been enjoying the monarch caterpillars on my milkweed plants too. They seem to grow overnight. This is a fat one.

I photographed this rabbit on Saturday morning happily eating weeds in my driveway. It froze and let me photograph it and didn't move until I started walking. Friends with vegetable gardens don't like them but they don't bother me and they are welcome to my weeds. We have had more rain this year that any summer I can remember so the weeds have really taken over. I'll get them hacked down and mowed eventually.

The above three images are from one of my favorite books, The Cheerful Cherub by Rebecca McCann. It was published in 1928 and includes 101 favorite posts by her in that appeared in The Chicago Sun Times newspaper. Her original drawings and little poems featured The Cheerful Cherub and his little dog. She was only twenty years old and wise beyond her years, right? I'm trying to catch you up on the three I have put on my Instagram. Enjoy!

I finished this book last weekend and liked it a lot. It's about the early 1940s in NYC when penicillin was new and in short supply. You could die from a cat scratch or a skinned knee if you got an infection. It reads like a historical novel and is full of facts that were unknown to me with a little romance thrown in too. 

Have a great week. 

xo, Rosemary

New Thrifted Bookcase for My Living Room

Don't you love this heavy iron bookcase I found recently? I thought I would hang it on a wall somewhere in my cottage but couldn't find a place plus it is very heavy and I would have had a hard time securing it to my plaster walls. Thankfully it was freestanding and fit perfectly on a tilt-top table in a corner formed by my fireplace. I Then I couldn't what to display on it until I remembered these leather bound books in my attic. They turned out to be perfect and I couldn't be happier. 

As I mentioned earlier, I am active once again on Instagram and you can follow my daily postings there. I'll try to post something on my blog every Sunday. 

https://www.instagram.com/contentinacottagerosemarybeck/

See you in a week. xo, Rosemary

I am posting again on INSTAGRAM

 https://www.instagram.com/contentinacottagerosemarybeck/

STAY IN TOUCH WITH ME ON A DAILY BASIS ON INSTAGRAM

click on the link below.

contentinacottagerosemarybeck

See you there. 

Many of you have already reconnected with me there.

xo, Rosemary

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2024

One of my favorite Jessie Willcox Smith images.

Cranberry muffins I made long ago when my mom was still 

with me. My favorite trivet is standing in the background.

I was up super early this morning on a rainy Thanksgiving Day. I think it will stop before my dinner with friends at 3:30 this afternoon.

I copied these images from some of my older posts about Thanksgiving HERE. Click on the link if you want a trip down memory lane. Enjoy!

xo, Rosemary