CAIRDE: ☘️Seven Irish Dancing Lads☘️

I can't get enough and you won't either once you watch their dancing and hear their backstory. Here's the link. They have an Instagram too @_cairde ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️

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My Hula Hoop is Back in Action

I haven't used my weighted Hula Hoop in several years. There was an episode about them on The Drew Barrymore Show recently so I went up to the loft over my garage to get mine out of storage. Now I love it all over again and have gotten up to 400+ revolutions before I make a mistake. It was like riding a bicycle. I hadn't forgotten how! I have looked and looked online and I think this is the one I have.

This is an old photo from a 2012 post when Webster (2002-2016😪) was afraid to come into the kitchen to get the dog biscuit on the floor opposite the threshold. That saddle divides the wide pumpkin pine boards in my kitchen from the narrow maple flooring in my living room.

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When to Start Your Garden Seeds in Your Planting Zone

I found the most amazing link for all of my gardening followers who start their plants from seeds. WHEN TO START SEEDS CALCULATOR

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HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING

I didn't hear any crowing when I woke up early this morning but a rooster must have welcomed the first day of spring somewhere. I photographed this image from my 19th century Royal Book of Crests.

I started doing a little bit of spring cleaning yesterday doing the inside windows in my kitchen and two in the living room. It's still too chilly to start on the outsides. Enjoy this promise of finer days to come. xo

Mario Buatta ~ THE PRINCE OF CHINTZ

I lived in Far Hills for almost 3 years when I first moved to New Jersey in 1973. Sister Parish and Mario Buatta were designers' names I heard over and over when shopping for home furnishings and antiques. I enjoyed this video preview of his own collections offered by Sotheby's 2020 Auction in NYC after his death. via

Buatta’s Manhattan apartment, AD, 1997. 

Photo: Scott Frances

Read his obituary and loving tribute from Architectural Digest here.

Painted Curved Stairs

Don't you love these painted stairs? The hall wardrobe, in the same green paint, is lovely against the white beadboard walls and unstained, natural wood floors. Image from Tumblr.

Chintz Fabric on Furniture

Would you rather have timeless Chintz on your furniture or floral wallpaper? via  The room pictured is Yves Saint Laurent's final home.

Gorgeous Wetlands with Water Fowl

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Someone got up early to snap this gorgeous photo and I love it. 

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!

One of my favorite posts.

Colorful Flowers Blooming Gif

I love this animated gif 

found here.

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John Derian: Easter Decoupage

I have always loved all of John Derian's decoupage.

His line for Easter is fabulous!

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Purple Martin Bottle Gourd Bird House

Purple Martin 

From Illustrations of 

The Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, 1886

Illustrated by Howard Jones

I have a bunch of these bottle gourds I grew one year and they were so much fun. I need to make bird houses from them his year.

Hand holding Christina Rossetti's poem "Echo" by FATIMA RONQUILLO

FATIMA RONQUILLO

8×6 inches, oil on panel

private collection 

Hand wearing a lover's eye ring

Holding a Poem

ECHO ~ by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Red-Bellied Woodpecker at My Feeder

Red-bellied Woodpecker at my feeder.

He's my favorite visitor and he comes often.

Winter is back but most of the snow has melted,

except for my Snow Mountain out front.

Have a great weekend! 🥰

Bold Wallpaper in Powder Room

I found this photo on the MLS and I think it is a great example of a trend to use bold wallpaper in small spaces like a powder room.

Rachel Grant's Paintings

In 2021 I want to find a small hoard of books that feel like Rachel Grant’s paintings. Try putting that into a book search. I hope she found them!

Beautiful Woodcut with Three Birds

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Lisbet Schulz, German Printmaker, Circa 1940s.

Hand-painted woodblock print.

Click photo to enlarge.

It's so beautiful!

Blue and White Rabbit Mug

Your coffee, tea, or hot chocolate would probably taste better in this mug, right? via

Hearts on A Cat's Ears

HERE'S YOUR SMILE FOR THE DAY

Don't you love this cat's markings?

Another Kitchen to Love

It's lovely, isn't it? It must be wonderful in the summer when both doors are opened wide for outdoor dining on the patio. photo source

Passenger Pidgeon (Extinct Bird) with Red Oak Leaves and Acorns

Pigeon of Passage (Palumbus Migratorius) from The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands (1754) by Mark Catesby (1683-1749). Original from The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. I have read so many accounts of this bird that was so plentiful at one time that they blackened the sky when migrations flew over. They were game birds and over hunting led to their extinction.

Image source: Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. 

Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon, passed away on September 1, 1914, in the Cincinnati Zoo. She was believed to be the last living individual of her species after two male companions had died in the same zoo in 1910. Her remains are on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution. Read more by searching Google for "Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon".

Broccoli Cornbread

I need to go grocery shopping so badly but keep putting it off until there is nothing to eat so I made broccoli cornbread for lunch today, the easy way. I steamed some frozen broccoli florets, chopped them after they defrosted, and added them to the batter of Martha White self-rising Corn Meal Mix. It was delicious as you can see from my photo. I sometimes do this with a can of drained whole kernel corn and that's good too. You can also use creamed corn. I've never tried green peas but I'm sure those would be delicious too.

I got my first Moderna Vaccine yesterday and haven't had any side effects at all. Even the shot was painless at the CVS pharmacy. Gail, northern California has already checked in on me as you will see on the comments of my last post. Dose #2 is in 3 weeks on April 1st. I am so relieved to be half way there. xo

UPDATE: A lot of you tell me you learn things from me so here goes. I met a lady yesterday who said her GPS took her to the wrong CVS. She said she had driven to the correct one several days prior and thought her GPS was just taking her a different way. I told her she should have driven the way she knew and her GPS would have corrected itself and she said she never knew that. I often tell WAZE how I want to go. I put in a driving request if I already know most of the route except the part at the end. I start driving the way that is familiar to me paying no attention to the voice instructions except at the end. Every time I contradict WAZE it corrects itself and lets me do what I want. This also teaches my phone a new route. I will do anything to avoid major highways and am teaching my GPS all the back roads. I hope this tip helps someone.

Elegant Entrance Vestibule

It's Small But Mighty! 

Gorgeous too. 

I love everything and the sliding doors are genius. 

Even the ceiling is wallpapered. Love it.

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MARCH: Planting Bulbs

Eugène Samuel Grasset (French 1845-1917) 

The Beautiful Planter 

Calendar page for March 1896

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Eugène Samuel Grasset was a Swiss decorative artist who worked in Paris in a variety of creative design fields during the Belle Époque. He is considered a pioneer in Art Nouveau design.

New Finch at My Feeder

I had a new bird at my feeder yesterday, a HOUSE FINCH with beautiful red coloring. Purple finches were among the first birds to visit when I hung this feeder in the fall. The bird books say this is a western songbird bird that has become plentiful in the east and likes to hang out with sparrows. I found an interesting history that says If House Finches discover your feeders, they might bring flocks of 50 or more birds with them. Bring them on! The Juncos on the bottom posts don't mind sharing. xo

Tree House Designed By An Architect

This fantasy tree house is the stuff dreams are made of, isn't it? I love looking at architectural drawings and house plans and this could possibly be my favorite one ever. xo

My Red-Bellied Woodpecker Hanging On

This bird's body really isn't built to latch on a feeding post, but he figured out a way. Today's photo shows how he manages. Where there's a will, there's a way! It was a lazy, rainy Sunday and I enjoyed it thoroughly. xo

Curious Bunny

HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY

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Stair Treads with a Painted Carpet

Designer Raquel Garcia’s Connecticut home. 

Alyssa Rosenheck photo for Elle Decor.

I woke up really early this morning and decided to try to schedule my two Covid-19 vaccinations on the CVS site. When I first logged on around 4:30 there were appointments open in almost every city on the New Jersey site. I think there must have been too many people trying to do the same thing because I kept ending up on a page that said Check Back Later. Sometime around 6:45 all the towns started showing up as FULLY BOOKED but I checked the Appointment Link and still got one for my first shot this Thursday and my second vaccine on April 1st. I am thrilled. Make sure your wallet is handy with all of the required identification card numbers even though there is no cost. The appointment confirmation comes in a text plus an email and it's very comprehensive and there's even a link for directions if the CVS is an unfamiliar town. 

I could walk to the CVS near me but my appointment is around 25 minutes away but I've been to the area before and I don't have to travel on a highway so I am not complaining.  https://www.cvs.com/immunizations/covid-19-vaccine

xo

Flower Basket Engraving

Victorian Flower Basket

Vintage Victorian style flowers in a vase engraving. Original from the British Library.

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1878 Bird Print: My Hawk & Blue Jays

A color lithograph with my Cooper's Hawk and Blue Jays.

STUDER'S BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA

Leather Binding with embossed gilt cover and a detached spine.

Title Page dated 1878

This book was rather a poor man's Audubon's Birds of America because the birds were not hand-colored but printed in color thanks to the invention of chromolithography.

Photoshop Fun: Apple on Leaf

APPLE ON LEAF

I photographed this beautiful apple from one of my antique prints and erased all the background and superimposed the image on a photograph of some leaf veins I took with my Nikon. This was long ago and I couldn't begin to do this again because it was very tedious. I added the shadow on two edges to give a floating effect too. Those were the days when you could buy a Photoshop software disc and use it forever. Then my computer crashed and times had changed. Now you have to rent the use of software and pay a huge fee every year forever and I am not willing to do that. So I do everything in the way of photo editing on my phone or with free apps like Snapseed. I'm thrifty that way. xo

Pancake Supper I Cooked Long Ago

I found this photo I took long ago and I have no memory of this meal. It looks like a large pancake spread with jam and coconut flakes and it looks delicious. That's my coffee table and everything on it is mine too. Remember when I said I lost many photos and more when my computer running Windows XP crashed? Well, I just found some of them saved to Google Photos and this is one of them. Click to enlarge.

Click the link if you missed my morning post about an Equestrian Painter. 

Today was beautiful and unseasonably warm with a high of 52°. There was a lot of melting too, thank goodness. I broke up ice patches that should be gone in a couple of days. See you tomorrow. xo