Hello, December

Last December I published a red copy of December page from The Procession of the Months by Walter Crane. It seems like yesterday. I worked outside chopping down tall weeds with my electric hedge trimmers and cleared quite a lot of lawn. It felt good to be outside. This was my third day in a row doing such. Today it's much colder and there is a freezing rain that could turn to snow later. I unearthed my snow shovels yesterday too. Enjoy what's left of the first day of December 2019. xo

Unseen Beatrix Potter drawings found inside books at Melford Hall Suffolk

Hooray for the cleaning lady who discovered these unseen drawings while she was dusting the books at Melford Hall, a stately mansion in Suffolk England. The delicate drawings depict scenes inside and outside Melford Hall, a Tudor mansion owned by relatives of Potter, whom she visited often between 1899 and 1938. Potter and her cousin Ethel Leech were very close, growing up together in Kensington. After Leech married Reverend Sir William Hyde Parker in 1890, Potter would often stay with her at Melford Hall. Read the entire article here. Old books hide many secrets, don't they? xo

Beatrix Potter Watercolor 1898: SNAIL

Beatrix Potter 

(British author and illustrator) 1866 - 1943

A Snail and her Young, 1898

Fine ink and watercolour drawing.

This is definitely a drawing I've never seen and you probably haven't either. I suppose the mother snail is watching one of her eggs hatch and she's using a magnifying glass! I never knew they laid eggs so Beatrix is still educating me. I love the red clover flowers embellishing the artwork. There must be a story behind this artwork because it took her almost a month to complete it. She must have discovered the eggs and watched the whole progress as they matured and became baby snails. She must have been the one using a magnifying glass so she transferred the process to the mother as a bit of the whimsy we all know and love in her artwork. via

15 FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT BEATRIX POTTER

Pam found a video on YouTube showing a snail laying eggs that look like pearls. View it here. Thanks, Pam!!!

Rowena Cade: Reading Chair

I blogged about this photo in 2012. It's much more meaningful since I learned all about this remarkable woman in an episode of Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages on PBS. Read more here. I love her hair and her outfit from head to toe. I am rather certain this was not staged but a chance photo by someone catching her unaware. She was such a hard worker and a real artist in cement and stone at the open-air amphitheater she created in Cornwall. Numerous links here.

Daffodil Cottage

Garden Goals. via

August 1st + Two Legal Drama Movies

August is a month to try to enjoy in spite of the heat because once September rolls around the rest of the year flies by.

I enjoy legal dramas and two that I have enjoyed on Kanopy are shown below.

Emma Thompson is wonderful. View movie trailer here. I loved the interior design of her London apartment too.

This movie is based on a true story and the legal trial takes place in England. 

Based on the acclaimed bookDenial: Holocaust History on Trial, DENIAL recounts Deborah E. Lipstadt’s (Academy Award® winner Rachel Weisz) legal battle for historical truth against David Irving (BAFTA nominee Timothy Spall), who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier. In the English legal system, in cases of libel, the burden of proof is on the defendant, therefore it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team, led by Richard Rampton (Academy Award® nominee Tom Wilkinson), to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust occurred. View video movie clips here.

Kate Ellis: British Crime Writer's Writing Shed

Kate Ellis is a British author of crime fiction, best known for a series of detective novels, which combine history with mystery, featuring policeman Wesley Peterson. This delightful small building is where the magic happens.

Hydrangea Explosion

Wow. I love how happy these hydrangeas are all smashed together and blooming their hearts out. via

Perfect Napping Place

This napping dog has it all figured out by sleeping inside and outside at the same time. Yawn. xo

Lamb on Bredon Hill, Worcestershire

So cute. Photo of this shy lamb was found here.

Collecting Twigs for the Fire: Beatrix Potter + Peter Rabbit

Beatrix Potter ‘Collecting Winter Fuel’ December illustration for Peter Rabbit’s Almanac for 1929. This illustration could also be used for the March 2019 weather almanac for New Jersey USA.

Wild Snowdrops

I saved this Instagram photo of naturalized snowdrops on the grounds of an English Manor House. Mine are just sending up their green shoots but it will be a while before they are mature enough to bloom. I brought them with me from my old house when I moved in my cottage. Snowdrops are my favorite harbingers of spring.

VICTORIA, Season 3 Premier TONIGHT

Set your DVR or prepare to watch Season 3, Episode 1 tonight on PBS. I am thrilled my favorite series is back, finally! 

Mark your calendars: Season 3 will begin on Sunday, January 13.

Stars Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes will reprise their roles as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Season 3 will begin in 1848 as the royal couple faces the challenges of their growing family and worries that the riots and revolutions breaking out across Europe will make their way to England’s shores.

“It’s a time when the whole of Europe is falling apart,” creator Daisy Goodwin said during PBS's session at the biannual Television Critics Association Press Tour. “French kings were getting thrown off the throne, there were riots in Berlin. It’s all going pear-shaped.”

How much of Victoria’s multi-decade reign will Season 3 cover? We’re not sure. But what we do know is that it won’t get to 1861. Goodwin has promised that Albert will be part of the full season, meaning we won’t have to face his death just yet. Article found here.

English Hare Portrait

Photographed by Margaret the Novice in Suffolk England. Click on the link and follow the arrows to see more delightful photos of this hare that posed for her while she sat in her car. Love! xo

Holly with Berries Botanical

Elizabeth Blackwell's A Curious Herbal

Flip through this early 18th century volume of hand-colored copper plate engravings HERE. Use the arrows to flip back and forth. What a treat! Merry Christmas. xo

See and listen to the whole book from the beginning, including the cover here courtesy of the British Library.

Cat Nap in a Window

“Cat in a cottage window” by Ralph Hedley (1848-1913) via He was a realist painter, woodcarver and illustrator, best known for his paintings portraying scenes of everyday life in the North East of England. I love this painting!

Beatrix Potter Rabbits Gathering Wood

Here is yet another Beatrix Potter image I haven't seen before. After gathering twigs for the fire, the rabbits are preparing to put the big log on the sled to drag it home in the snow. I wish I could see more artwork about this story. via Click photo to enlarge.

Kep the Dog by Beatrix Potter 1909

This study of ‘Kep’, one of Beatrix Potter’s sheepdogs, dates from a visit to Near Sawrey in March 1909, when Potter made a number of studies of the Lakeland landscape in snow. Potter gave this drawing to Stephanie Hyde Parker, the daughter of her cousin Ethel, who stuck it in an album: remnants of the album can be seen in the floral motif adhered to the lower left of the design, and in a drawing by Amy Hyde Parker attached to the back of the study.

Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale.

Beatrix Potter purchased Hill Top in Near Sawrey, her first Lake District farm, in 1905. After this date she visited Hill Top regularly for holidays, eventually settling permanently in nearby Castle Cottage following her marriage in 1913.

In the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum. Click on photo to enlarge.

Kate Greenaway Tile 1881

Earthenware tile, transfer-printed and hand-coloured. Designed (1881) by Kate Greenaway. Made by T. & R. Boote. Image and text information courtesy V&A. via This is lovely, isn't it?

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2017. All Rights Reserved

English Robin on A Snowy Holly Branch

This beautiful photograph is a living Christmas Card. Agreed? via I love the English robins with the upside down hearts on their breasts.