Miss Potter returns!

Just had to share this with you. I cannot claim authorship for a wonderful article with tons of photos of Beatrix Potter drawings on BibliOdyssey's Blog today. Please look. I have added a permanent link for this blog under my heading called Sites I Like. I will continue to share wonderful findings from time to time. This will definitely delight one and all. Here is the link. Enjoy!

One of my earlier posts was a rave review of the dvd movie entitled MISS POTTER. If you are a fan of her books and artwork, this film is a "must see". I am always pleased to receive comments. That's all for now. More later.




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Good Night

Just got in from a little "midnight mowing" and it's time to tuck in. I love to mow after dinner until it gets almost too dark to see anything. See you tomorrow afternoon or later...it's going to be a busy day.

1917 Architectural Design for a $12,500 House

This is my favorite house plan ever! Scanned from one of my 1st edition architectural books. In the early part of the previous century the white pine council published bi-monthly booklets called The White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs ~ A Bi-Monthly Publication Suggesting the Architectural Uses of White Pine and its Availability Today as a Structural Wood. At the end of the year they were hard bound. I have hard bound firsts of volumes 2, 3, and 4. They must be very rare because I have never been able to locate the first volume. I do have a complete set of the modern reprints but nothing compares to the originals!

The house pictured above is one of the winners of a contest called: The Second Annual White Pine Architectural Competition for a House to Cost Twelve Thousand Five Hundred Dollars. It was judged at the Greenbrier in White Sulpher Springs, West Virginia on May 17 & 18, 1917. My guy did not win any of the top prizes (1st ~ 4th) but he is the 5th mention for Design No. 194. I wonder if he became famous in his area? Let me know if you have heard of Benj. Schreyer, New York, N.Y. Don't you wonder if this home was ever built and if it is still standing? There are two enclosed porches on the first floor and two sleeping porches on the second floor. Oh, for a sleeping porch! The plot plan is lovely too.  I did not scan the detail sheet showing the fireplace side of the dining room, the front entrance, a couple of cornices, the north and west elevations. and the cross section.

Hopefully this design will inspire one of my readers and this home will be built again.

UPDATE: I have noticed a lot of interest in this post. I reblogged about this house with full sets of plans HERE.

OCD episode at the clothesline.

It is official ~ I definitely have OCD. I put up a clothesline between two trees behind my garage recently and am loving it. There is nothing like climbing into bed on the first night you have clean sheets that were line dried. They smell like sunshine! I may never use my dryer again! But I have real issues with the basket full of wet clothes! I have to hang like things together which makes for a lot of digging through the pile. Why can't I just pick up an article and hang it up; then hang whatever is as the top of the pile beside it in a random sort of way? But not me...if I hang up one towel I have to look for all the other towels I just washed until they are all together. Same thing with the pillow cases, etc. As far as I know there is no clothesline police. Does anyone else have this problem. Or is it just me?

99 cent gas in Morristown, NJ on 8/3

Now this is post worth reading if you live anywhere near Morristown, NJ. I was reading The Morristown Daily Record online just now and noticed an article about a church that is having a Gas Giveaway and offering really cheap gas (99 cents per gallon) on Sunday, August 3rd at the Exxon station on Morris Street in Morristown across the street from the train station. Make sure your tank is empty three weeks from today! My last gas purchase was cash only @ $3.99 per gallon. See you in line at the gas pump!!! You heard it here first! Afterwards you might want to go to The Morristown Farmer's Market behind Headquarters Plaza. Sounds like a plan!

Lady's Mantle with Dewdrops

I love the way the dewdrops collect around the edges of my lady's mantle. I added the postage stamp border with a great free on-line photo editor called Picnik. I am off to recycling. Enjoy your Saturday.

Feel free to leave a comment if you are enjoying my new blog.
I would love to hear from you!

Design on an old cement pot.

I made the mistake of planting a boxwood in this great old cement pot and it is beginning to explode. I am afraid it will crumble to pieces if I try to repot the shrub. What a shame. I love the design and the way it has weathered over my 30+ years of ownership. Boo Hoo!

Bees are few & far between!

I have a lot of clover on my 2-acre property. I love it. Not many people have it these days since it is considered a broad-leaf weed. Who decided that things with a broad leaf don't belong in a lawn? Do children get to look for 4-leaf clovers these days? That was practically a rite of passage in my childhood.

The landscapers love those "weed and feed" products. Homeowners should take a stand and stop these applications! Or start taking care of their own lawns. I turned mine over to a landscaper last year and it broke my heart. They used those weed whackers around all the trees and injured the bark. I am doing it alone this year (as I have always done in the past) and have never been happier. I don't have a string trimmer...I use the old fashioned kind that you have to squeeze by hand. I once read that the best thing for a property is the footprints of its owner. Words I shall live by! I try to mow in stages so that the few remaining honey bees will stay around. This colony collapse disorder is a huge problem.

Enjoy your day! Over and out.

Meet Tabitha

She is the best cat in the world. I got her for my mother in December of 2006 from St. Huberts Giralda, the local animal shelter. It was founded in 1939 by Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge. I think she loved animals more than people because that's who got the greatest portion of her considerable estate. We looked at 3 previous locations that were having cat adoptions that day but just couldn't find the right one. We should have gone to St. Huberts first but didn't...can't remember why. We got our dog Webster there. Anyway, we looked at almost every available cat and put them all back. I kept avoiding this one because the note on her cage said she had "hairball" trouble. And they had named her BEACHBALL because of her shape. We were given a private room to test out the felines and when one of the workers brought this cat into the room she immediately picked us to be her family. She nestled herself in and started purring. We took her home and have never looked back. Hairballs don't seem to be a problem either. She gets plenty of outdoor exercise on the long walks we take together and she's lost her beachball shape. The new name Tabitha suits her.

I need new friends.

It is official. I need new friends!!! Here are some comments I have received upon showing off my new blog to existing friends and associates.

•What's a Blog?
•Wow, that's the first one I have ever read.
•Where do you find the time?
•Can you help me do one too?
•What's the value?
•Why would I want to read it?
•Who reads it?
•Who took your pictures?
•What site did you use?
•Do other people have blogs too?
•Who taught you how to do it?
•How much does it cost?

So far only four of my old friends have shown any genuine interest...♥Stacey, ♥Kelly, ♥Lynn, and ♥Marybeth. I have a link to Stacey's Blog. See my section called Sites that I Like. She is a fabulous cook and you will love her recipes and dialogue.

My photograph for the day is a bluebird perched on top of a birdhouse on my property. Who took the picture? I did!!! That is the main purpose of this blog. I needed another creative outlet for my photography and this is the perfect venue. I hope you will check in each day to see my new posts.

Mowed grass this morning.

Today was perfect for mowing. Overcast and breezy. I was way behind and it took me quite a while to do half of my property. After 3-1/2 hours I decided to call it a day. Plus the sun came out and I was so hot I could die anyway. I have a huge project going with the grass clippings. I normally don't save them in the grasscatcher on my snapper riding mower...but lately I have. I have been spreading them quite thickly in areas with weeds and it is working beautifully. When I bought my first house in 1975, I bought a book called How to have a Green Thumb without an Aching Back by Ruth Stout. I still follow her teachings. Mulch away and don't be afraid to put it on thickly. Grass clippings are the best. Plentiful and free. You practically never have to water anything either. The picture I chose for today's posting is from an antique engraving dated May 1st, 1806. I like this barrow so much better than the orange plastic one in my garage. Actually I hardly ever use it. I much prefer my Garden Ways Cart with the big bicycle tires...my first purchase on becoming a homeowner. I put it together myself and it has served me well. I couldn't have collected all those grass clippings without it!

Blue and White Checked Curtains.

I love blue and white checks. The fabric for these curtains has been made and remade 5 times since 1972. They started out life in a New York City walkup on West 74th Street. They covered a large sliding glass door that opened on to a deck. They are currently on a tension rod that fits inside the casement. They are still going strong. Never lined. This woven fabric is only a little faded on the reverse side. I wish I had more for the great price I paid on the Lower East Side. I am always shocked when I see the prices for designer fabric. So I shall be content with what I have!

Fun with Photoshop Elements

This beautiful apple is from an antique natural history engraving dated 1806. I deleted the background and placed it on a one of my leaf studies. Nice, isn't it.

Leftovers tonight.

Mac and cheese leftovers tonight. Watermelon too. Yum. Easy and quick comfort food.

Hearts in Nature

This flower was planted by a bird. I once had a feeder hanging over this spot. If you look closely at the center, you will see little hearts. Click on the photo to see a larger image. I did not even notice the hearts when I was taking the picture. I was so surprised to see them when I did my photo editing with Photoshop. Isn't Mother Nature amazing?

Too wet to sit outside.

It rained pretty hard earlier. Thankfully, the cushions on my chairs are covered in a rainbrella fabric that dries very quickly. You have to remember to lift them and empty the puddles of water that collect in the fanny impressions. My geraniums are 3 or 4 years old and winter over nicely in the house. I used to buy new ones every year and finally wised up. Wouldn't a solar-powered greenhouse be nice? The ultimate adult sandbox!

I am catching up on my movies this weekend. All free rentals from the library. I just finished MISS POTTER and loved it. I have always been a fan of Beatrix Potter and found the story of her life to be quite enchanting. The English countryside was breathtakingly beautiful too. I almost never buy movies, but this DVD just might be the exception. I definitely want to watch it again and again.

YIKES! Big moth on the loose! (Photo Manipulation)

This is one of my favorite pictures of my mother taken about 20 years ago way before digital. She is almost 88 years old and still just as beautiful. She has actually outlived the huge old tree. It was on Main Street in Mendham near a white church with a red door near the pizza place and it has been cut down because it was destroying the sidewalk. What a shame! I scanned the snapshot and when to town with Photoshop Elements ~ my favorite processing program. I am still learning how to use it. I started out with 4.0 and am now using 6.0. I collect and sell antique prints. If I sell something amazing, I usually keep a high resolution copy. The moth you see on the tree was one of many on a single sheet of an 18th century entomology engraving. I picked the one that was easiest to outline and deleted the background. Then I moved it to the tree and added a drop shadow. I added a drop shadow to the entire composition to make it float in mid-air. I love the end result and hope you do too.

Independence Day 2008

Have a Great July 4th Celebration

I think these cleomes in the rain look almost like fireworks. They reseed themselves every year and by the end of the summer they are very tall. This photo is from last year. They've just started to bloom this week. The sky is gray and it looks like rain so I thought this photo was fitting. Enjoy your holiday!

I wear many hats.

I have been collecting antiques all my life. My grandparents were collectors and I was taught at an early age to appreciate old things. I have a hard time buying anything new. I have been told that I have a good eye and from time to time I will share something wonderful with you. I sell on eBay too under the seller name springvalleyantiques. I am also a realtor. You can reach my website from the sidebar.

So much to learn.

Well, my first post was a disaster. I have to learn how to use Blogger, won't I? I wanted the picture to be under my post...not above it. And there is too much white space in between. I will try again. I really have to organize my photos so I can find them more easily too. I am going to add my logo to see if I can make it appear below this text.

That's better. Just what I wanted to do. Hooray! This is going to be harder than I thought.

My first post!

I have been wanting to do this for soooo long. I have a lot to share and hope you will visit me often. I live a simple life in a delightful cottage in the most beautiful part of Morris County, New Jersey. I can honestly say that I am content too! How great is that? I enjoy my Nikon D40 and will post at least one of my photographs in every post. I think my bluebird house looks wonderful with the blurred background.