🐾 Dog Breeds That No Longer Exist 🐾

It's a dreary Friday here at my cottage. I spent the first two hours in a webinar for continuing education credits for my real estate license. The sun is supposed to come out later this afternoon and maybe I will rake some wet leaves.

I enjoyed reading this BBC fascinating article about dog breeds that time forgot. See link below:

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211105-the-bizarre-dog-breeds-time-forgot

Listen to a 7 minute segment on NPR about Turn Spit Dogs. There is an illustration too:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/05/13/311127237/turnspit-dogs-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-vernepator-cur

🐾🐾Enjoy🐾🐾

Have a great weekend.

Historic Lodge in England

The Lodge, Greys Court, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England via National Trust https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/

HISTORY OF THE FAMILIES WHO OWNED GREYS COURT

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greys-court/features/the-families-of-greys-court

This is a good read with photos♡

Enjoy. xo

🐾Two Lovely Paintings of Dogs🐾

Yes, please. 

I love the dog paintings and the chair too.

photo source

Sleeping Porch in A Grand Old House

 I have always loved houses with sleeping porches and this one is wonderful. I would feel very safe sleeping outside up high like this. I would be uneasy on the ground floor. What fun it would be to wake up there on a summer morning. Watching it snow outside in the winter in this seating area would be fun too. I copied this photo from the MLS.

First Peek: Beds on My Lower Level

Yesterday, I put my vintage flannel fish sheets on the twin beds and covered the box springs too. The hooked rugs are companions. Long ago (2003) I bought these WOOLRICH items that are now discontinued and I am loving the look of a fishing lodge downstairs. The bed on the left is one small step down to the sitting room area opposite a large sliding glass door. The door you see in the hallway leads to the laundry room. I am still sorting linens and odds and ends in the part of this room you can't see quite yet. I am not planning on bedspreads, just blankets at the foot of the bed; I love the sheets too much to hid them. I have two pillows with matching fish pillow cases to pull out for guests. The large pillows there now are almost as wide as the mattresses and don't hide the headboards so they are out for the everyday look. My mother and I bought these painted iron beds from a farmhouse garage sale in Oldwick, NJ for a whopping $6.00 for the pair. She always brought me luck when we shopped together.♡

Christmas Books to Read Starting December First

I found a blog you will want to bookmark called TYGERTALE: A BLOG ABOUT BRILLIANT CHILDREN'S BOOKS. https://tygertale.com/

The illustration above is for reading on the 8th day of December:

Brambly Hedge: Winter Story by Jill Barklem 

There is even a delightful 25 minute animated movie of this story to watch at the end.

The entire blog post about Christmas stories to read each day in December leading up to Christmas Day is: https://tygertale.com/2020/12/25/the-best-christmas-ever/ 

Each recommendation has a link leading to the book with numerous illustrations. You will love it!

Enjoy and share. 

PS: It's okay to start early🎄

Latest Free Find for My Lower Level TV

I am still rearranging as I find new items to decorate my lower level! I found this small chest upside down at the recycling center after a night of rain recently. I thought the brasses on the drawer fronts were nice so I put it in the trunk of my car. The top was covered with all sorts of paint spots as if the previous owner had used it for as a painter's easel. I really wasn't planning to use it as a piece of furniture, I just wanted the brasses. BUT when I got it home, I realized it was the perfect size and height for the small TV I had in the attic and seldom used. After I touched up all the nicks and scratches with a small brush dipped in Old English Furniture Polish. After wiping off the excess, I put a small rug on top to hide the paint blobs, and it was transformed. It isn't old and many of the parts are made of "pressed wood" but it's perfect for all the other things down there that are either garage sale finds or curbside finds and it's the correct scale too. My mother sold all of her furniture when she sold her condo in Charlotte and came to live with me in 2001. We had such fun finding her new furnishings and now I am enjoying adding and rearranging down there. I never look for the things I bring home, they somehow find ME.

 

Have a great weekend and don't forget to set your clocks BACK an hour before you go to bed tonight. xo

 

My New Motto

NOW IS THE NEW LATER. It's true, isn't it? 

I have done so many things recently that I have been putting off until "later" and it has paid off. So many people I know have been doing the same thing. via

The Tattoo Artist by Norman Rockwell

This magazine cover and artwork is new to me. I grew up in a household full of magazines and eagerly awaited the arrival of new ones. The Saturday Evening Post was one of my favorites and I especially loved the covers by Norman Rockwell. 

The Tattoo Artist, Norman Rockwell, 1944, Brooklyn Museum: American Art Reproduced on the cover of “The Saturday Evening Post” (March 4, 1944). © 1944 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN. www.curtispublishing.com All rights reserved. www.curtispublishing.com Ó 1944 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN All rights reserved. www.curtispublishing.com Size: 43 1/8 x 33 1/8 in. (109.5 x 84.1 cm) Frame: 49 x 39 x 3 in. (124.5 x 99.1 x 7.6 cm) Medium: Oil on canvas. Photo and information found here.

Two-Toned Sheep

He's darling, isn't he? Don't you love his black face? via

Wonderful Old House with Steep Roof

I adore this house and especially the steep roof. It looks untouched and all the owners have resisted putting in dormers. There are no openings on the north side either. This house was built for cold weather and I wish I knew the location. It looks like rural New England. The rubble wall is wonderful too. Love it all♡. Found here.