Wounded Bulldog on 1908 Penny Postcard

AFTER THE DUEL
You should see the other guy!

Antique postcard with Dec. 3, 1908 postmark. Benjamin Franklin is on the one-cent stamp. Boy, postage has really gone up!

Wild raspberries = free food...

Have you ever tasted wild raspberries? They are so much better than all the rest! Tart and sweet at the same time. There is only one problem ~ you have to get to them before the birds. I have tons bushes on my property and most are in treacherous locations; either on steep slopes or behind poison ivy. Both prove to be quite difficult when wearing flip flops. Tomorrow morning I shall wear my boots!

Smiling bulldog...

I was looking through some ancient magazines this evening and came across this silly photo. I though it was very fitting for wishing you a happy weekend. Have fun and enjoy everything you do.

Best birthday hat ever...

This is my BBF - Best Baby Friend! She celebrated her first birthday on Tuesday. One of her presents was this fabulous hat. Doesn't she look beautiful? Everybody should have a baby friend. I am so lucky. I gave her one of those ugly dolls and she grinned from ear to ear. Her big brother and two big sisters liked it too.

Thistle do...

I finally have a flower that is beginning to bloom on my giant thistle bush, weed, plant, or whatever. It is gigantic and I am so glad I did not pull it up. The state bird of New Jersey, the goldfinch, loves it. I never tire of seeing this beautiful bright yellow wild canary with black wings. Many photo opportunities await! Butterflies will gather here too. So stay tuned!

You can click on most of my photos if you want to see the larger version.

Perils of Country Living...

Webster and I got an early start this morning. I love the way the sun's rays are filtered through the trees. I call this my poison ivy tree. If they ever find a use for this as a cure for some disease, the first stop for harvesting should be here. Don't look at the next photo if you are afraid of snakes! This snake in the grass clover was very cooperative. He did not move an inch and I think he was actually posing for me. I tried to get his red tongue but missed every time. Aren't I brave? My blog is one month old today and tomorrow I will have an archive! Yippee. How am I doing so far? I think I have mastered nearly everything and have my layout looking almost perfect. It's a good thing too. If I were to continue working so hard on the design, I would have to change the name of the blog to NEGLECT IN A COTTAGE.

In and around the cottage...

Here is my dog outside the front entrance.

I am a little concerned about the fall colors that are already appearing. I usually take this to heart and start planning ahead for the leaf season!

A peek inside my pantry.

There is still a lot of summer left. I always have a hard time letting go of the current season. It is so hard to imagine anything other than flip flops on my feet! 

Sunflower planted by a bird...

A happy accident growing in my driveway. I am so glad I did not pull up the seedling. Sometimes laziness pays off!

Enjoy your day.

Eudora Welty

EUDORA WELTY
1909-2001

"I am a writer who came of a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within."

The photo above is one of her self portraits. I meant to honor this fine southern writer and photographer on July 24 to commemorate her passing in 2001. Sorry I am a few days late! If you missed it, you will definitely want to read her obituary by Albin Krebs in the New York Times. It is 4 pages long and is a wonderful tribute. I often think back on her words expressing her early love of books.

''It had been startling and disappointing to me to find out that storybooks had been written by people, that books were not natural wonders, coming up of themselves like grass,'' she wrote. ''Yet regardless of where they came from, I cannot remember a time when I was not in love with them -- with the books themselves, cover and binding and the paper they were printed on, with their smell and their weight and with their possession in my arms, captured and carried off to myself. Still illiterate, I was ready for them, committed to all the reading I could give them."

Have you ever seen a simpler work space? Why do we feel that we just can't be productive unless we have a big place? There are blogs, flickr groups, and websites devoted to this subject.

She was organized too. I guess it could go either way after 76 years in the same house. She probably never fell victim to the computer. It is a good thing too because her hand-written and typed archives are invaluable. Look at the ball fringe on the curtains. I can remember sewing this on my kitchen curtains in the early 1960s.

It makes me feel so much better to see these piles of books on her dining room table. Now I don't feel so bad about the piles on my kitchen farm table.

Her home in Jackson, Mississippi is open for tours by appointment.

She lived in this very house from the time she was 16 until her death at age 92. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Garden lovers will want to view the gardens designed by her mother. The photo above shows one variety of the many camillas on the property.

A garden tour seems to be forming outside the lattice-work fence. There is always something in bloom.

The garden arbor. I love the look of this ~ especially the height of the fence. I wonder if this would keep the deer out?

The garden plan. Nothing has changed. The gardens are maintained by volunteers.

LINKS:
eudorawelty.org
Eudora Welty biography
Eudora Welty garden
Eudora Welty house ~ don't miss the virtual tour!

One of my favorite things...

I have had this little hedgehog pincushion for so long I can't even remember where it got him. He was completely black and was full of holes and I didn't really know what he was. I think this was one of the items I found in a desk drawer. Believe it or not someone once sold me a desk and said the purchase included the contents of the drawers! I had such fun going through them and found some treasures.

He is from England you know! The hallmarks on his belly say that he's sterling (the English always say solid silver) made in Birmingham in 1903. He is stuffed with some kind of hair. He really took on a new personality once I filled all the holes with pins. Isn't he wonderful? I have always loved hedgehogs...just like Beatrix Potter! I can just see her mending while using this item and suddenly see it come to life!




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TGIF...

If today is any indication, it should be a wonderful weekend. Have a great one!

Avoiding housework in summer...

SWEEPING
I like to sweep the front porch steps;
The sun shines and the birds all sing.
I hate to sweep the kitchen floor ~
I never see or hear a thing.

I have always wondered why I dislike doing housework in the summer. This little cartoon sums it all up, doesn't it? I find it quite impossible to take care of the inside and the outside all at once. In the summer I concentrate on my outside rooms. Winter is for inside work.

I scanned this page from an old book of mine entitled The Cheerful Cherub by Rebecca McCann published in 1928. She contributed a daily cartoon of this cute little guy each day in The Chicago Post as an antidote for gloom.

How to subscribe to a blog...

I am going to attempt to teach you how to subscribe to my blog. Notice I said my blog but my tutorial will enable you to subscribe to all blogs or anything that has an RSS feed. Confused? Don't know what an RSS feed is? Well I didn't either until I watched a video on YouTube. You will thank me a thousand times once you master this simple technique.

First I have to ask you a few questions. How do you log on to my blog? Do you have a shortcut on your desktop? Am I listed in your favorites? Do you click on my blog often only to be disappointed that you have already read my current post? Wish you could be notified when I post something new? Well you could if only you had a Google RSS Reader.

A really cool dude from Common Craft will now teach you in a very easy to understand film.

Now wasn't that easy? I found a page on Google.com that has picture icons of all the products they offer. I couldn't possibly exist on the internet without a great number of these items. I am a Google Girl all the way! When the page comes up, look on the right side under communicate and click on the icon for the Reader.

Now I will teach you how to subscribe to MY BLOG in your reader. At the top of the page under SUBSCRIBE TO I have two boxes. Click on the one that says posts on the little arrow to the right and some choices drop down. I have no idea what the first few mean...just look for the little orange box at the bottom with the word Atom. Click on that. Then copy the URL in the address box at the top of your toolbar. Then paste it in the add subscription box in your reader. And there you are! Aren't you proud of yourself?

Still can't do it? Don't know how to copy and paste? We could never be friends! Just kidding ~ I will do it for you. Here is the URL: http://contentinacottage.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Now go and ask someone to teach you how to copy and paste. I read somewhere that if you don't know how, you should just put your computer and monitor out at the curb on trash day. Just bite the bullet and do it...it will make your on-line life so much easier.

PS...UPDATE: I just tried something new and it's awesome. When you click on my POST box a little icon pops up with a + sign and a Google box. If you click on that another box pops up that will enable you to put the subscription directly in your reader. Cool. I try to learn something new every day and just did! Please share your new-found knowledge with a friend.

Heat wave is over...

Thank goodness the overnight rain brought a wonderful cool front to New Jersey. The heat wave is over! It's a good day to play inside without guilt. You could curl up with a good book, watch movies, read the New York Times, or work on your blog. I slept much later than usual this morning and am so glad this is a free day for me. I searched through my photos and found some raindrops on a window to share with you. Now what I really need is a second cup of coffee. See you later!