Cat Watercolor by Shozo Ozaki

I love this, especially the face.

Watercolor by Shozo Ozaki

found here 

xo

Busy day ahead. Tractor repair man stopping by and another estimator for painting my house. Wish me luck.

August is Here All Too Fast

You know summer's almost over when you see 

'Back to School' ads on TV.

Ping Pong Paddles on a wall.

 CLINGSTONE, A faded, shingled 103-year-old mansion set on a rock in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, is one family's labor of love. It has been maintained for the past 47 years by working weekends in exchange for free lodging and food.

Read more about this in my 2011 blog post HERE.

I sold a house several years ago to a woman who volunteered there after she read the enchanting story in the New York Times. She said it was one of the best experiences she ever had!

xo

Peter Rabbit Book 1914 Story by Beatrix Potter Illustrated by Virginia Albert

I HAD NO IDEA BEATRIX POTTER BOOKS WERE EVER ILLUSTRATED BY ANYONE ELSE! This book was published in 1914 and we are so thankful it has been digitized by Project Gutenberg as an eBook. It appears to be a very large children's book. See every page and read the story. Most are full page color illustrations but some are black and white. READ HERE.

See a video of a bookseller holding and talking about Beatrix Potter's 1902 first edition HERE.

Have a great Sunday. 

XO

Wonderful Embroidery Pattern: Peace & Plenty

I found this on Pinterest. It's a Kathy Schmitz download. Her Instagram account is wonderful too. See it here. xo

Buttons Made from Beach Stones

What a great idea. 

All you need is a drill or a Dremel Tool to make the holes. 

See more photos here on Bonkers About Buttons.

xo

I found a tutorial for making your own here.

Lovely Embroidered Tablecloth

via

This is wonderful, isn't it? I love it.

It would make me smile every time I passed by the table.

What a fun tablecloth. I think the person who did the embroidery had fun doing it.

xo

Beautiful Pots of Geraniums

I adore red geraniums in clay pots and these are simply breathtaking. The stone wall leading up to the house is wonderful too. Love❤️♡❤️

Photo found here.

Three Besties 🐾🐾

via

via

Aren't they adorable?

You can just tell they love each other.

♡♡♡

xo

Summer Garden Party

This Instagram photo is from a book by a Southern Author and interior designer that is coming out in a few days called Celebrating Home, A Time for Every Season by James T. Farmer III. It looks like a "must have" coffee table book, doesn't it? Click on the Instagram link to see more photos and follow him if you don't already. See a long list of his other books HERE. Enjoy your Sunday. I'm doing another Open House today. xo

William Merritt Chase Group Portrait (his family)

Beautiful family portrait. Portrait Group (Dorothy, Helen, and Bob) (c.1904). William Merritt Chase (American, 1849-1916). Oil on canvas. North Carolina Museum of Art.

Chase first met his wife, Alice Bremond Gerson, in 1879 when she was only thirteen, and still known as Posey. He married her on 8 February 1886, although some sources claim it was 1887, when she was nineteen and he was thirty-six. Initially, the couple lived with William’s parents in Brooklyn before moving to their own place in Greenwich Village. Between the years 1887 and 1904, Alice bore a total of eleven children, of whom seven are believed to have survived childhood. They include Dorothy, Helen, and Bob, depicted in this work. 

photo found here 

Yesterday I went to an early afternoon movie with two girlfriends to see Where The Crawdads Sing and enjoyed it thoroughly. Have a great weekend.

Edwardian Villa in Johannesburg South Africa

Annabelle Desfontaines's villa in Westcliff, Johannesburg, South Africa was built in 1902.

Dog bed in kitchen♡🐾🐾♡

♡Dutch Door Love♡

You are in for a treat. 

There are SO MANY additional photos to view here.

Enjoy!

xo

The Most Wonderful Kitchen

There's so much to see in this kitchen and I love it all. This is a REAL cook's kitchen for sure. Wish I could see more! 

I have been advised this is a kitchen in France. The Instagram account is called Cat_in_France. Click here to see all of her posts.

xo

Boot Room in A Regency Country House

Boot Room

Flower / Mud Room

Great article and more photos here.

Just.Wonderful

xo

Refreshing Swimming Pool

I would love to jump into this pool right now. We just had a downpour and you can cut the humidity with a knife. This one looks super refreshing, doesn't it? xo

photo found here

Such an Elegant Bathroom

I have been saving this image on my desktop and now I don't know the source. I shall post it when I find it. Isn't this elegant bathroom amazing? Every detail is perfect. Simply stunning. Hope you have a great Sunday. I certainly did. We had a very light rain overnight that gave my parched grass a good soaking. I was able to leave the windows open and listen to the pitter patter of the raindrops and it was wonderful. Today I played around with repotting things, weeding, transplanting and just a few other lazy day things.

Found the source.

Meredith Ellis Design 

Kipps Bay Decorator Show House

Dallas, Texas

https://www.meredithellisdesign.com/interior/kips-bay

Walk-in Closet off bathroom.

More built-ins inside closet. So wonderful.

xo

New Construction with Antiques

This is a lovely room in a new home designed by classical Architect Patrick A. Hearn. Found on Instagram here. I love the two easy chairs sharing one ottoman. The two antique clocks in this room are lovely, aren't they? xo

Breakfast of Champions

I just wanted to show you my morning cereal with freshly picked wild raspberries. The mother robin was feeding raspberries to her last youngster who refuses to leave the nest. The other two have already fledged. I did a marathon mowing today front and back. I did the front in the morning and the back in late afternoon when the shade set in. Hope you have a great weekend. xo

Beautiful Envelope Art

When ink pens were the preferred writing instruments and postage stamps were reasonably priced, there was envelope art. The highly deorated ones are called Valentine Envelopes♡. Beautiful image found here.

Beautiful Vintage Button

via

Can one old button deserve an entire blog post?

Yes, this one can.

Agreed?

xo

My Wild Raspberries are Getting Ripe

Every morning I go outside and pick enough wild raspberries from the edge of my woods to put on top of my cereal. You have to get up early to beat the birds. Isn't this raspberry embroidery lovely? xo