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

Cat in Wildflower Field

Could anything be cuter?

I do believe this tuxedo cat is posing🐈‍⬛

found here

xo

The Original Photographer of 1932 Lunchtime Skyscraper Photo

Charles C. Ebbets finally getting credit for the photo below. Look at those spectator shoes and fabulous outfit. He's a real daredevil too!

Lunchtime Atop a Skyscraper when Rockefeller was under construction during 1932- until completed. Photographer was listed as "unknown" until 2003.

The original glass negative discovered by the family of Charles C. Ebbets finally giving him credit for this photo in 2003 after 70 years of being unknown. Read the whole story HERE. Enjoy and have a great Sunday. I am doing a public open house today nearby. Wish me luck. xo

Seeing Spots Before My Eyes

Dalmatian Family photo found here

These puppies are adorable and I'm sure they are a handful for the mom. I wonder if they are all spoken for? They look old enough to be living with their "furever" homes. Happy Saturday. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. xo

1928 Construction Work

This image takes my breath away. No helmets, no gloves, leather bottom shoes, no net, just a few wooden boards to walk on, bucket in the way so must step over it, such danger! I am hyperventilating just looking at this image. 

Workers installing a Greek Revival architectural column on the Civil Courts building in St. Louis, Missouri, 1928. (Photo by W.C. Runder) photo found here

Victorian Garden Cloches in Cast Iron

I always admire these cloches in Charlie McCormick's garden in England. @mccormickcharlie on Instagram click here.

Charlie ofen has long rows of them in the spring.

They are expensive but so very authentic. Curious?

Claverton Cloches Click and look. Swoon.

Oh well, it doesn't cost anything to look.

xo

Cat with Mirror Image Kitten

Aren't they lovely?

The eyes especially!

Mirror images.

found here 

xo

Great July Porch

The blue floor and blue ceiling are so soothing. I would need a chaise with a back you could collapse for naps. Click HERE for more photos of Extown Cottage. Click on each photo to enlarge. David D Harlan, Architects.

♡ EXTOWN COTTAGE ♡

Enjoy what's left of your Sunday.

xo

Farmer Mowed my Field Today

I'm so glad I was home when my first field mowing was done today. The ground was nice and hard and very dry so the conditions were perfect. We might get rain later today or tonight and that would be perfect too. The weather leading up to July 4th on Monday appears to be very nice. Hope you have a great long weekend. 🇺🇸

xo

Beautiful Clouds at Dusk

I took this photo last night at 8:30 and I'm so glad I captured the beauty of the clouds against the dark blue sky. Well, can you believe how quickly June passed? I can't. I did a lot of end of the month paperwork today and now I have a clean slate for July tomorrow. Now it's off to my bedroom for some quality BritBox viewing. xo

Perfect Place to Stay Cool

What a perfect place to spend some time and smell the pines. 

I love the deck chairs too. Photo found here. Vacation time is here. School's out and July is around the corner. Have a great one if you have plans. xo

 

Beautiful Vegetable Garden

Real gardeners live here. Is there anything more beautiful than a wheelbarrow full of freshly picked vegetables? How does your garden grow? xo

photo source

New Sofa in My Living Room

I bought a new sofa at an estate sale this weekend and my friend with a truck and another friend helped. I know it looks identical to my old sofa because the style is so similar. It is upholstered in corduroy and I love it. It's much more supportive for my back and doesn't need to be adjusted every time I get up. The back is tight and the two seat cushions are quite firm but very comfortable. I bought it on Saturday and had a realtor Open House on Sunday. This morning I bounded out of bed to start moving furniture around so there would be a clear path for the guys at 3:15. The weather was rainy but we stuck with our original plan and the heavens cooperated, thankfully. The lady who was conducting the sale said this is the way everybody buys furniture these days and I agree. I have been scouring the internet recently looking at sofas so I knew a good deal when I saw it. I can hardly believe June is almost over and the fourth of July is only a week away. Time flies in the summer, doesn't it? 

Another view.

xo

Tiny Nantucket Cottage

"Little Starbuck"

Don't you want to go inside?

I do too!

I only wish the utility company had put the meter around the corner. Found on Instagram Here's the link. 

Have a great Sunday. I'm helping another agent at an Open House today.

New Dahlia Bed This Year

I park my car between the barn and the first column. A few weeks ago I dug out a new bed for my numerous dahlia tubers that successfully survived being stored in my bunker. I honestly thought they were all dead or I would have planted all or most of them a lot sooner than I did. One day I saw they were sprouting and went to work. Digging out the turf in this small area was hard but worth it. I used the diggings to fill in some sinkholes in my lawn they were the result of tree trunks rotting beneath the soil. 

The tubers are growing fast and furiously and this will be a wonderful cutting garden when they bloom. I planted some of the best ones out front several weeks before this project and they are already over three feet tall and very full. Dahlias are so easy and so rewarding but I am not fond of the digging up part in late fall but it's really a small price to pay for the lovely flowers they produce. Have a great weekend. xo

Local Peacock Showing Off

 I wish I had seen this in person but I know where he lives. My friend sent this photo to me and I thought it was worth sharing. He's definitely posing for the camera -- look how firmly planted his feet are! WOW.🦚

Peacocks are the most amazing birds.

xo