The BEST Marble Bathroom

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This bathroom is wonderful. I love the floor with the black marble continuing up the wall instead of a wooden baseboard. I think this must be an old house with a remodeled bathroom and isn't it wonderful? Even the pipes under the sink are gorgeous. I give this room two thumbs up, five stars and an A+. Maybe one day I'll find more photos of this house to share. xo

Country House w/ Garden Oxfordshire UK

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Country House, Oxfordshire, England.
Photograph by Andrew Montgomery.
I wish I could see the whole landscape with the quads around the sundial. 

Ali MacGraw Now

This is what 78 looks like and I love that Ali MacGraw is growing old so gracefully.

She's as beautiful as ever. She wrote a great article about how she has found inner peace.

Her clothing designs are beautiful and she wears them so well.

A fire burned her house down in ‘93 and took with it many of her designer treasures, including original Halstons. MacGraw has since stuck to a uniform: tees, black skinny jeans and ballet flats, plus accessories — just like what she’s wearing in the above photo — and, “one or two things a year that are hair-raisingly expensive but I know will last my lifetime.”

Mourning Dove at My Birdbath

I have many dove families living in the spruce trees in front of my house. This one stayed in the same position for a very long time, seemingly hypnotized by the raindrops falling softly in the dish. Then he took a really long drink but didn't fly away. I think he must be a juvenile. Luckily, I was sitting at my laptop in my pantry looking out the window, wondering what I could post for my followers to see. Problem solved. xo

My Sewing Thread Jar

One of my friends gave me this glass jar with the rope handle last summer and I could never find the perfect use for it until I decided to use it for my huge collection of sewing thread. I put the jar next to my sewing machine for scale in this photo that I enhanced using the Snapseed App. The wall behind my sewing table really isn't grungy at all. Most of these spools are wooden and many contain silk thread. Somewhere along the way, I must have purchased someone's thread collection because I will never have a use for many of these colors. I had them all in a jumble in a large hat box and in a desk drawer when I was looking for a spool of white thread and it hit me that I should display them in my jar. It sits on the ledge below my three windows with the new blue and white checked curtains I made this month. I put this photo on Instagram yesterday and people are loving it. Do you have a lot of thread too? Why not display it in one of those large lidded cookie jars like Ina and Martha use for flour on their cooking shows? I pulled out the spools of white and black thread and the heavy thread you use for sewing on buttons and put them in a drawer. I know I'll have to dump the jar if I need a specific color that might be buried in the center of my stash but I don't mind. It makes me happy to look at it when I'm up in my attic sewing room. See you later, xo.

Seaside Vacation: Jill Barklem

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I don't know this book but I love this seaside vacation scene. The children can play while the parents gather seagrass and make baskets. 

Sea Story: Primrose and Wilfred Sail to Sandy Bay (Brambly Hedge) The tale of Primrose and Wilfred's meeting with their seashore cousins.

Content in a Cottage on Instagram

Here is the link to my frequent Instagram Posts.

The photo above is a screen shot from my phone showing my most popular posts from the hashtag called #contentinacottageblog. It changes from day to day depending on the number of clicks on various posts. The first photo is a dark cloud I spotted when I walked past one of the French doors in my living room on the way to my kitchen. I grabbed my phone and snapped the picture of the pointing finger cloud and uploaded a graphic from my blog. The center photo is of a snow swag on my picket fence several winters ago. The snow melted slightly and then the temperature dropped and froze the swag in place. You can follow me on the first link and follow my hashtag on the second link. Thanks in advance. xo

Outdoor Dining Room

It's mid-August and summer has been quite a challenge recently for planning outside entertaining. via

I love this teak outdoor dining set. It gets filtered sun now but I spy the newly planted wisteria that will provide shade quickly, once it gets established.

I woke up to rain this Monday morning and I wish I could send it where it is so desperately needed in California. Sending prayers instead. xo

Sunday Sketch

I love this playful illustration. via

Have a good one.

Cooking Corn on the Cob in Microwave

Step One: Shuck and desilk your corn.

Step Two: Tear off a length of wax paper longer than your ear of corn so you can roll up the ear and twist the ends. I guess I will eat this ear for lunch after I microwave it for 4 minutes or so. 

Last night I ate 2 ears and cooked them for 6 minutes. I have a small, countertop microwave. For me this is the only way to cook corn. Boiling pots of water in the summer is something I avoid at all cost.

I had a corn stand for three years at my previous house, High Meadow Farm in New Vernon NJ. I had a farm assessment and the first year I planted corn in my big front field, it was fabulous. The second year, the deer discovered it and it was only so-so. The third year was my last year. Even though I planted a lot of Indian Corn around the perimeter to try and fool the deer, it just wasn't worth the work.

I sold herb vinegar too. I had printed notes for customers to cook their corn in the microwave and always got little notes back, along with the money in my honor-system cigar box, saying they were thrilled with the results.

Let me know if you do this and how it worked for you. You might have to experiment with the cooking times.