Friendship Token

The back of a Victorian 1883 Liberty Nickel.

I love the penmanship that was somehow etched into the metal looking as if it were done with a single stroke. I love the two engraved hands  symbolizing the friendship. source

♡ F + B ♡

Joan Didion's Kitchen

Vogue Magazine 1972

I never would have pictured this kitchen belonging to Joan Didion. It appears she's a real cook and this surprises me because she is so very thin  and I just never imagined her cooking. I love the wire baskets, the herb pots holding up the cookbooks, and her recipe cards in a real box!❤️

UPDATE: Thanks to PAM here is the article she posted in the comments. The 100 Greatest Home Cooks of All Time and Joan Didion is near the top of the list. Who knew? Thanks, Pam❤️

Your Dog & A Gardening Poster

Here is another Illustrated Quote I made long ago and posted back in December 2010 so newer followers probably haven't seen it. 

The seed planting posture made me laugh. I use this position too when I have on my "good" clothes and don't want to get my knees dirty when weeding. Poster image found on Pinterest.

Hello, August -- Gather Your Rosebuds

First published on my blog back in 2008

New version of this etching from my Royal Book of Crests showing what a difference a thin black border can make. It's not that obvious when you view it on a computer and in the full version of my blog with the gray background. But it makes all the difference in the world when you see it in the email version if you subscribe or in the mobile version if you are viewing on an iPad or your phone. August always make me want to hold on to each day in the last month of summer and gather all the buds I possibly can before the leaves start falling.

xo

My Bookshelves & One More Dahlia

It's hard to show you anything but dahlias so here is a detail of the bookshelves in my bedroom.

And ONE MORE dahlia, shot this morning in my front garden. Have a great weekend. xo

Dahlia Day 7-- Fully Open

Overnight raindrops were still on the first dahlia of the season this morning around 9:00. We had very hard rain for about an hour at dusk last night. This variety has very substantial stems and stalks so no damage was done.

The shape has change dramatically from flat on the back to being rounded from the back view.

A profile view showing ball form.

Other side.

Front view showing the holly-shaped leaves and stems. I have decided this is a BLACK SATIN dahlia.

The limelight hydrangea I rooted from my mother plant in the back yard is very sturdy this year. Last year the stems were wimpy and couldn't support the blossoms so I cut it back to the ground. This year the stems are sturdy and the big blossoms are standing straight and strong. You really can't kill this shrub no matter what you do. Sometimes a severe pruning is just what the doctor ordered.

xo

Copper Cookware Love + Dahlia Day 6

I hope this kitchen has a full time copper polisher and I'm sure it does because it belongs to Martha Stewart. This lifetime collection is amazing and so very beautiful. I need to do some metal polishing myself, both silver and copper. Dust and tarnish are my personal indoor housekeeping enemies.  View the slideshow and see 14 photos.

Martha and the Art of Collecting Copper Cookware 

See my own copper pots HERE and HERE.

See an old post of mine about how I polish my brass and copper HERE.

Day 6 -- I got down low enough with my camera that the nibbled petals don't show too much along the top edge. Pam wanted to see the center and there are petals in that location still in the process of opening. I honestly thought it was going to be a center like that of a daisy but I think eventually the center will disappear. We shall see! xo

Dahlia Day 5 + New Ones

Miss Dahlia it is fully formed and an insect has nibbled away at some of the outer tips. The center has virtually disappeared. Now I know to pick them earlier and have them open fully inside the house. 

This one is blooming in the back yard and it's a beauty too and has some companion buds.

I really don't want to cut it since it is also a first bloom for the back yard but I'll keep an eye out for insect damage.

I was able to get in some quality mowing yesterday afternoon late when it was all shaded. Last night it rain again and I will wait a day or two before doing the front since there are two sunny days coming up with no rain or thunder showers. xo

Limelight Hydrangea + Dahlia, Day 4

When you read the label on a limelight hydrangea as seen in the right background, please believe it when it says the mature size can be up to 8' x 8'. All the rain we have had this season made mine get that large and I don't think there's any stopping it from getting even taller. Last year, I pruned it from the bottom to encourage height. I want it to become more of a tree so the deer can't reach it. They have begun to nibble recently so it needs to get even taller. They munched a little on the Lacecap too. I am especially pleased with my grocery store geraniums in the planter against the window wall. They are blooming their hearts out.❤️

Here we go with day 4 of my dahlia that is supposed to get to be 4 feet tall but I think it's a little taller. I think it will open up a little more around the center before it is fully "in bloom" and I can stop boring you with its beauty. When I look at the plant from inside the house through my living room window, it looks jet black with a yellow dot in the middle. As you get closer you see the deep red tones.♡🤎♡ I am so behind in my mowing and seriously must get out there this week.😩 

xo

Foggy Morning + Dahlia Bud's Day 3

The morning fog is the result of last night's rain and an already hot Monday morning. I watched Miss Potter again last night on Hoopla, a free movie service powered by my library card. That is a movie you can watch over and over and love more each time.

Here we have Miss Dahlia on Day 3. I couldn't be happier with this color which is a dark burgundy that looks almost black in a certain light. If all the tubers turn out to be this variety, I will be thrilled. This site is a good one if you want to learn more about dahlias. xo

Here is is after lunch when all the rain and dew drops were burned off by the sun. It gets prettier every time I walk past.

Dahlia Bud Opening: Day 2

My first year with dahlias is just starting to happen. I took this photo a few minutes ago on Sunday morning after an overnight rain. This is day two of my first bud beginning to open.

The plant is taller than my old boxwood and still growing. I was given a box full of tubers and planted them all not knowing whether or not they were viable and with no idea of the color. I think most of them came up but the heights are all different. I will be sure to pull them up before the first killing frost and store them over the winter. I will keep posting this particular bud as it opens more each day. See yesterday's post on Instagram for day one in the opening process. xo

Moving Bathtub in Switzerland

Click to view: This is the most bizarre thing I have seen in a long time, maybe forever.

It is a moving bathtub on a rail, like a railroad car, that goes outside overlooking a backyard. I was going to try to copy it but it's better viewed in the link above. So very strange😱

45 Zero Waste Hacks to Delight You

Are you hooked yet? 

I adore both of these, 

especially the Injure Bread Men! 

Here is the link to see 43 more things people out there are doing to recycle castoffs into upcycled things with a second life. 

Article found on Bored Panda 

Enjoy, and you're welcome. 

Waste not, Want not.

xo

Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme with Music

Another scanned page from an old book. I think it would have made music lessons more enjoyable for children. My mother was forced to take piano lessons and she disliked them immensely, so much so she couldn't play a note later in life. 🎹 

I was never able to read music and I've heard that part of the brain is also where learning a foreign language is located. I was never good with those either. I woke up to a nice cool morning in the low 60s and it felt wonderful. xo

18th Century Dog Collar Inscription

Too tired to post tonight so here is an old illustrated quote I made back in 2011. I have always been interested in antique dog collars and I love the comical inscription on this 18thC one worn by a dog presented to the Prince of Wales by Alexander Pope. I copied the dog from my Royal Book of Crests and added the text.

I AM HIS HIGHNESS' DOG AT KEW,

PRAY TELL ME, SIR, WHOSE DOG ARE YOU?

See the old post here. 

xo

Hanging Out The Clothes

An illustration from one of my old picture books for children. I love the flowering trees used as clothesline posts. Notice the high brick wall to "hide" the laundry, especially the undergarments. Randolph Caldecott was the illustrator.

See all of my old posts about this illustrator and MANY more examples of his delightful artwork. I love each and every one and you will too. Enjoy. xo

Bookplate Etching: A Miniature Work of Art

I have blogged about this bookplate from a 1931 gardening book in the past, as well as on an Instagram post shown below. The small shell beside the bookplate shows its actual size. I have more than one book with this bookplate and the one I scanned above did not have the wrinkles in the left margin. I experimented with the scanner on my new printer over the weekend and the scan above shows all the detail in this bookplate. So many bookplates are miniature works of art that are worthy of being enlarged. The engraver was Banks B. Gordon. He was hired by the Etchcraft Company to engrave the steel or copper plate for printing a design that had already been drawn by an artist. I'm not sure whether he was an artist himself and could do custom work directly with the end user of the bookplate.

The book collector with more than one bookplate design to paste in her books was C. A. Maude Eden. See another one I have blogged about with a poem about her love of books, birds, and flowers. xo

1736 Child's Tombstone Returned to Newbury Massachusetts Graveyard

This stolen tombstone for two year old Abigail Chase has been returned to Newbury, Massachusetts, settled in 1635. An astute auctioneer in Bucks County Pennsylvania is responsible for the recovery of this looted hand-carved folk art grave marker. This article speaks to the diphtheria epidemic that raged through colonial New England for five years between 1735 and 1740 taking out 22 of every 1000 people, mostly children. At the same time, scarlet fever advanced from the south, the two plagues eventually meeting in Essex County in the autumn of 1735. The Museum of Old Newbury is planning a ceremony later this summer when the recovered stone is unveiled at the Old Bridge Street Cemetery to celebrate long-lost Abigail’s memory. 

Read the entire article in the link below. 

https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/pook-pook-reunites-puritan-family/

Saturday Blooms

Random blossoms from my back yard shot yesterday (Friday) after mowing with the walk-behind mulching mower when the grass was finally dry enough. Today I'll do the front before the afternoon rain that may or may not transpire. All the hydrangeas are outperforming this year as you can see. The first photo is a gift from a neighbor as a thank you for a favor. At first I thought it was a potted plant but after research I learned it is a compact hydrangea. The label said summer splendor but all I could find online was red splendor. Anyway I am going to plant it and see what happens. My neighbor said it was deer resistant too. I am going to love something with such vibrant colors. The second photo is my Lacecap Hydrangea and the third and fourth are my Limelight that has become a tree this year this year rather than a woody shrub. Last year, I cut back the bottom branches to encourage this and it worked. Have a great weekend. xo

John Brunsdon, Printmaker with A Video Biography

I came upon this printmaker quite accidentally and I love his work. After he passed, all of his plates were destroyed so that all of his prints offered for sale by the Estate were printed during his lifetime. The print above called Valley in The Hills has been sold. I thoroughly enjoyed his video biography on youtube where he takes you through his entire life with archival footage. It's really fascinating. I have embedded the video below but it's also available within his website where you will see many more examples of his artwork and gain a bigger understanding of printmaking from start to finish. His color process, done all at once, is on the film too.
JOHN BRUNSDON 1933-2014

British Artist, Printmaker, and Painter

JOHN BRUNSDON -- THE PRINTMAKER. This YouTube Video is offered by The Tate Gallery -- Watch when you can set aside 20 minutes of viewing time. I promise you will enjoy the film. xo

My Attic Office Showing New Printer

There have been a few questions about the actual size of my new printer so here are two photos that might answer how it compares with the Apple iMac desktop computer in my attic home office. This is what is called "selective" photography with areas in the photo tidied up but not the rest of the space, if you know what I mean.😂

Here it is all in a closer view, ready for printing and scanning. I didn't realize how much I have missed my old scanner either. I have used it quite a few times and I remain very happy with my purchase. Are you sick of hearing about it yet? This is my first all in one printer that just happens to be wireless. I wasn't even shopping for that feature but it's very handy.

xo

Cookie Recipe for My Cookie Mold

 I found the perfect recipe for my Hessian Soldier mold thanks to a comment from @kathiquilts suggesting he would make Springerle cookie. I searched and found a recipe but I like the same auther's Traditional Speculoos Cookie better (also called Windmill Cookie). She illustrates how to use a mold like mine only hers are wooden.

The recipe calls for Baker's Ammonia (Ammonium Bicarbonate) and I have never heard of this but it's an essential ingredient to prevent the cookies from becoming too hard. I searched google and Whole Foods has it. She explains this on her blog post with recipe here. She walks you through every step with numerous photos. Enjoy. Save this recipe for the holidays.

xo

Hessian Soldier Cookie Mold from Williamsburg

I purchased this Virginia Metalcrafters item hanging on my wall long ago at an estate sale. It turned out to be the perfect size to hang in my pantry/office on a narrow space beside the front window. He is a Hessian Soldier made of Aluminum (called Silvertone) and was copied from an old mold used in the Bake Shop at Williamsburg. The impressed stamp shows the Virginia Metalcrafters’ familiar Betty Lamp hallmark.

I have never made a cookie with it but I would use a shortbread or maybe a gingerbread recipe if I ever tried.

I have seen a similar design on fireplace andirons too. There are wonderful items out there and it's up to people like you and me to find them, display them, brag about them, and love them again.

UPDATE: I FOUND A RECIPE TO USE WITH THIS MOLD HERE.

xo