Content in a Cottage

Friday, January 20, 2012

Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds

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This iPhone photo snapped from my third floor window doesn't even begin to show the number of blackbirds flying into the woods. What a sight to behold at my cottage this afternoon. Blackbird pie is not on tonight's menu.

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This happy family appears to be thrilled to see such a pie on their dinner table. Here is another Randolph Caldecott drawing from one of my antiquarian books illustrating the nursery rhyme Sing A Song for Sixpence.

A Dusting of Snow in Scotland

I fully expected to wake up to a dusting of snow this morning but the weather report turned out to be much ado about nothing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining one bit. This probably isn't snow in Scotland either, but a heavy frost. See you later. via

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Sleeping Under the Stars

Wouldn't it be fun to sleep under the stars in this delightful bedroom? The stars have been amazing here at the cottage the last few nights and I could see the constellations quite clearly starting with Orion's belt. I haven't taken the wonder dog out for his last walk yet and I think it will be cloudy. A dusting of snow is predicted tonight. Sleep tight. See you tomorrow. via

Restorable Carpenter Gothic House in Decay

I hope someone saves this great old home. via

Cottage Bungalow Circa 1923

I love this tiny cottage with a front porch and an upstairs sleeping porch. I want the plan book too!

This house and plan were shown in the 1923 plan book, The Books of a Thousand Homes. It featured 500 small house plans. Most of them really were small by today's standards. This one reflects the post WWI movement away from the horizontally oriented Craftsman-style to the more modern and very romantic aesthetic of the 1920s. This particular plan was by Olsen & Urbain, Architects.

The Books of a Thousand Homes: 500 Small House Plans edited by Henry Atterbury Smith.
via ©American Vintage Home on Flickr