17th Century Hand Embroidered Bed Hanging

In the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in The American Wing. See many more detailed photos here. Cotton/Linen embroidered with red wool. Size is 76" x 74" with a scalloped border. Intensely embroidered all over! The design was stamped on the fabric in England but probably embroidered in the New World. The panel descended in the Clapp family, members of which emigrated from England to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1680. It's amazing this needlework survived isn't it? Enjoy!

Gorgeous Outdoor Cat

Gorgeous cat in a beautiful setting. via 

Have a great weekend. xo

My Tools of The Trade

Doesn't everybody's kitchen counter look like this? I am in the midst of one of the hardest projects I have ever undertaken. Think trying to fit a square peg into a round hole! All of my central air conditioning ducts are in the ceilings and they don't have louvers behind the grilles and are always ON. In the winter all the warm air escapes making my house colder than it should be. I ordered the louvers and am in the midst of retrofitting them behind the decorative grilles made by Reggio Registers. My ceilings are plaster from the late 1930s and it took me over 3 hours on one hole yesterday chiseling out the ragged edges to get one louver in place. You know I don't admit defeat easily so I am all caffeinated and ready to attack the one over the other French door in my living room. 

My Grilles are in this design, 

painted the same color as the ceilings.

https://www.reggioregister.com/

Louvers look like this.

Wish me luck. Sometimes I wonder why almost nothing in my life is easy and ordinary? Is this because I live in an old house or do I just look for seemingly impossible projects to make my life easier that actually make my life harder while the work is being done? That is the question. xo

Workin' wear. Yesterday I didn't have a hat and didn't put on goggles or a mask until well into the project. Today it was all about Safety First.

Today's louver was inserted in 15 minutes. YAY!

I have ordered some white pliable clay that will air dry in 24 hours and be hard enough to drill thru (fingers crossed). I thought that would be neater than spackle. I want to encapsulate all this stuff that looks like crumbling concrete. It should be delivered today. I still have to scrape all the gunk from behind the grilles that stuck when removing them. To close the louver, I have to attach the grille in the proper direction so I can reach thru one of the openings with a screwdriver to close the louvers for winter. This can only work in one direction so I have to make sure it's correct before screws are inserted. 

The DAS clay is made in Italy! 

It looks like a block of Cream Cheese.

It initially looks a little gray but dries bright white

This clay comes in a terracotta color too.

Would be great for flower pot repairs.

Here is my first encapsulation after a overnight drying session.

It's not pretty but functional. I had to rebuild an area behind the left screw hole because material behind it fell out and I had to completely rebuild the right-hand screw hole because the chunk fell out. All of this unsightly mess is completely covered by the grille. 

Larger view of the construction site.

xo

BEST JOYFUL MOTHER'S DAY for AN OWL (Video)

For the last two years, a hopeful owl named Luna has tried to be a mom. Sadly, however, despite her best efforts, things just didn’t pan out. “Not only did her eggs fail to hatch this year, but she also lost her clutch last year,” Robert E. Fuller, a British wildlife rehabilitator, wrote. But this year, Luna’s wish finally came true. 

When Fuller came to learn of two owl chicks who’d become orphaned and were in need of a parent, his thoughts turned to Luna. Knowing that her maternal instincts were going unfulfilled again this year, he decided to introduce Luna to the two needy babies.

Fuller placed them inside her nest, awaiting her return. But would she accept them?

Footage of what happened in the video above erased all doubt. 

Have you ever seen such a joyful reaction?????? 

Love at first sight.🦉♡♡ 

This wonderful story was found here.

Watch this 28 minute film when you have time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN3gfeFtpz4  

It's by 

Robert E.Fuller too and is entitled 

Tawny Owl Chicks Flourish Against All Odds 🐥 |Tawny Owls of Ash Wood 🦉

PS: I read some of the comments on YouTube and found this one. 

 "Even better is knowing Luna was a foster owlet too." 

Isn't that amazing????? Do you think she remembers she was a foster child? 

This story just keeps getting better and better. 

Another commenter said HE WAS RAISED BY OWLS😂

Old Fashioned Laundry Room

I have a "thing" for old porcelain sinks and this is one that's new to me. Love the overhead pull-down drying rack. This might be a country kitchen too. Anyway, there are other laundry rooms here for you to check out. My own kitchen sink wears many hats as a potting shed sink, dish-washing sink, hand-laundry sink, hair-washing sink, and can rise to many more non-culinary occasions when called upon. XO

A New Way to Exercise

Click on this link to watch.

Turn on the sound.

This is the most amazing thing EVER.

So inspiring.

The lady in the suit can really cut a rug.

Enjoy. xo

Great Screen Porch

Pretty nice, isn't it? So simple and classic.

Screened in porches always bring back fond summer memories. Photo found here. xo

New Antique Chair in My Living Room

This Gothic Revival chair between my TV and a sofa (not shown) to the right has a mate that lives in my entrance vestibule. It's perfect there when I need to sit and put on my boots or put down a parcel. I bought the pair several weeks ago at a local garage sale. This morning I put a blooming geranium on this one for a Sunday morning photo shoot. It's a dreary day having rained all night and that's fine with me. 

I have had a young handyman working off and on for weeks doing odd jobs I cannot do myself (like sheetrock removal and replacement for a soffit in a bathroom). Water damage is the worst and I had two episodes over the years in my cottage. One was when the pan under attic central air conditioning unit overflowed and found a path all the way to my mother's quarters in my walk-out lower level, too nice to be called a basement. The other time I had water was due to a roof leak. The ceiling in the hallway near my first floor bedroom needed scraping, spackling, and painting. I found other places in both bedrooms that had peeling plaster that needed repair too. So there was sanding in those rooms too before painting. The first floor repairs were finished a week or two ago and everything's back in order after two deep vacuuming sessions.

The soffit had to be totally replaced in a full bath downstairs and some other ceiling repairs down there too requiring spackling, sanding, and painting. He did a great job and I am very pleased. The paint matches perfectly too. I got everything back in order in the kitchen and hallway down there and today I will do the bedroom and sitting room. I just need to put all the drop cloths back where they belong and do a deep vacuum cleaning and I will be all set. My laundry list is getting shorter but there are still things to do. There is an old saying, "Life is 90% maintenance" and that sounds about right, doesn't it? Those who aren't homeowners spend it on self care. DIY homeowners ask themselves whether they should get a manicure or weed the garden? I have never had a manicure and have no plans to get one😂

Enjoy your Sunday. xo

Here is a closeup of the back of the chair. A small piece of moulding is missing from the center column. The companion chair in my vestibule is missing all three little pieces at the columns' bases. I might try carving the replacement one of these days. xo

Great Kitchen in Edinburgh Scotland

I found more photos and an article about a kitchen I blogged about recently and loved here. I thought it might be in France but turns out it's in Edinburgh in a Georgian Apartment. Now I love it even more. Read the article and see more photos here. Enjoy. xo

 

Two Easy Chairs Beside Fireplace

I like this chair arrangement a lot. You will enjoy seeing the rest of this Washington townhouse decorated for Christmas here. Sorry it's out of season but I couldn't wait.🎄

Tiny Hand-Written Book by 13 Year Old Charlotte Brontë 1829

Think tinier than a playing card. 

April 26, 2022: A tiny manuscript by then-teenage author Charlotte Brontë will be returned to the parsonage where she lived her entire life. Friends of the National Libraries (FNL), a British nonprofit, purchased the book, which contains Brontë’s only remaining unpublished poetry, for $1.25 million, and will donate it to the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, England, per a museum release. The article says you need a magnifying glass in order to read her poems. Read the Smithsonian Magazine article here. 

Sold by James Cummins Bookseller, New York City at the Park Avenue Armory's 62nd Annual New York International Antiquarian Book Fair (NYIABF). I know him personally and have sold a few rare books to him and bought many from him in his NJ Shop. This is such an exciting find, isn't it?

Screen Door Season is Upon Us

This screen door is perfectly designed for this Dutch door. When the bottom door is closed and the glazed Dutch door is open you see nothing but the plain screen. Love it! via

This is a delightful entrance foyer, isn't it?

Sheep Portrait

At first I thought this was a 6-legged sheep and then I saw the outline of an extra ear. It's a lovely portrait, isn't it? via

Wonderful Setting

via

I trued to find out more about this photo to no avail. I want to see more! Hope you all had a nice Mother's Day. xo

My Mother May 1979

H A P P Y   M O T H E R ' S   D A Y

I took this photo of my mother in May of 1979 after pulling off the road to photograph her walking in this field of daisies. Miss her every day since she passed 9-1/2 years ago (1920-2012). Nobody loves you like your mother. 

She lives in my heart.♡

Have a wonderful day celebrating our mothers. 

xo

Delightful Laundry Room

This laundry room is fabulous, isn't it?

I love the drying rack with a pulley.

found on Instagram

The folding doors to conceal the washer and dryer are lovely too. I would like an outdoor clothes line too, just steps away. It was cold and rainy yesterday and today is a repeat. Missy and I are having a nice weekend regardless of the weather. I hope it improves for those of you celebrating Mother's Day tomorrow. Have a Happy! xo

Another view of this laundry room.

Curved Stairs in An Old House

How wonderful to see these untouched curved stairs in an old house. via I mowed the front yesterday for the first time this year in order to beat the rain. I mowed the back a week ago. I didn't get up this morning until 8:30 and Missy was still fast asleep. There's nothing like a rainy day for sleeping in, is there? Especially after a hard day of outside work the day before. Not that Missy toiled, but standing at the window to supervise is a dog's work. All the landscapers are mowing in the rain because it's Friday. I like to schedule my mowings around the weather report. Today is going to be a lazy day. Enjoy yours too. xo

Missy is Back

Missy arrived late yesterday (Wednesday) and will be here until Monday morning. In this photo, she was giving me "that look" meaning it was time for me to put down my camera phone and start preparing her supper. Five o'clock is her favorite time of day. She's only supposed to be fed once daily, but I sneak in a light breakfast when I have her. She deserves a reward for being such an easy house guest. xo

Linen Storage in Hallway

Putting laundry away would be a pleasure if I had a built-in linen press like this one. I have seen many old homes with them and have always been envious. One house in particular comes to mind. It had fine linen storage in the entrance hall near the dining room and another on the second floor hall for bed and bath linens. Just.Wonderful. via

John Muir Quote

I have always loved artwork printed on dictionary pages and this one is extra special. This John Muir quote about the woods is printed on a "forest" dictionary page!🌲 Artwork found here.

COME TO THE WOODS

FOR HERE IS REST

JOHN MUIR

Also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", John Muir was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States of America. read more