Foxglove at Colonial Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg has the best old-fashioned gardens. This photo is from one of my favorite frequent posters on Instagram. She wanders around the village capturing the old houses and gardens, both flower and vegetable, and they are all fabulous. This garden is happening there right now. xo

Happy Mother's Day 2018

Anna 1920-2012

Photo above on my first birthday September 1943.

It's true. Nobody loves you like your mother and I had a great one. This will be my 6th year without her but she lives forever in my heart. We had a long run together and I'm happy about that. She's still my guiding light. xo

I was looking through some old Mother's Day posts and you might enjoy some really wonderful home-made cards celebrating mothers here.

Trophy Cups on my Mantle

I decided to have a graduated display because I wasn't pleased with anything else. I brought out some of my miniature boxes and chests from other parts of the house and came up with this as my final staging. The silver trophies haven't been polished since before Christmas and they don't look that bad in this photo but in person they are quite tarnished. Once I get started, it won't seem like such a chore. I enjoyed polishing my newest addition yesterday but it's time to do something else around the cottage. Enjoy this Mother's Day Weekend. xo

Antique Engraved Armorial Trophy Cup

This wonderful English hand-engraved trophy cup with an armorial crest was my favorite find yesterday at an estate sale. It was black with tarnish but it is now transformed. I spent the morning rearranging my collection of trophies on my fireplace mantle and their mounts too. I collect small boxes too and have for years. This cup is silver over copper and I love that the engraving has exposed the copper after years of being polished. I shall try to find this armorial in my Royal Book of Crests. No matter what I bring home and no matter how small it is, I usually spend the day finding the perfect spot and arrange and rearrange until the new (old) items are perfectly at home in my cottage. This was a nice way to spend a dark and gloomy Saturday morning and I finally have achieved an arrangement that is pleasing to my eye(s). I haven't been to a sale in a very long time and I'm glad I went to this one. 

Have a great Mother's Day weekend. xo

Wonderful Pantry in Madison NJ

Is it possible to buy a home just because you love the pantry and it's your favorite room in the house? One of the agents in my office has the listing in Madison NJ and the rest of this 1925 cottage is nice too. MLS # 3460000 -- $595,000. I would love to find the perfect buyer so let me know if you have an interest or want more information. xo

His and Her Marble Sinks

This bathroom is beautiful and very well thought out. I love the two marble sinks with the high back splashes and sides against the shiplap wall fitted with sconces and hanging mirrors. The cabinet with drawers and shelves in the middle is handy for both sides and eliminates the need for built-in vanities which would hide the beautiful walls, baseboards, and penny tile floor. The brass fixtures are lovely and the pipes, though functional, are now statement pieces. Now if only we could see the rest of the room! via

UPDATE: A wonderful reader found the link for a complete tour of this house showing another view of the bathroom too. Thanks Lesliec.

Coral Charm Peonies

Coral Charm Peony ~ Mia Tarney

I honestly can't tell if this is a painting that looks like a photo or a photo that looks like a painting. Either way, these peonies are gorgeous. I don't have this variety but mine are coming up very nicely and are about two feet tall with small buds. How does your garden grow?
After more research, I learned this is a painting and it's simply gorgeous, isn't it? Her flower paintings are beyond amazing.

House Wrens are Busy at My Cottage

I adore these little birds who have built nests all around me in my Bird Bottles from Williamsburg. This Carolina Wren is building in the back and loves to sit on this post and sing to me. I could never get this close with my iPhone and took this photo from my balcony with my Nikon. Deep blue skies are over the cottage today and the sun feels good and not too hot. See you later. Enjoy your day. xo

Climbing Nasturtiums

I absolutely love this idea.

Nasturtiums are my favorite summer flowers whether they are blooming or not as I adore their round leaves too. They are really showing off their climbing ability from a single stake in a rather small pot. This gorgeous alcove is the perfect place for this beautiful photograph. LOVE!

Curious Barn Owls in UK Church Window

Richard Brooks photographed the three young Barn Owls looking out of the quatrefoil of a local church one evening in July after staking out the site most evenings over a three week period. Enlarge this amazing photo here.

As the perfect place to perch, it must have been the answer to their prayers.

Three inquisitive young barn owls used this lofty window for an early evening surveillance mission in a Norfolk churchyard.

Standing in the stone quatrefoil of Christ Church, Fulmodeston, they were keeping a beady eye open for a tasty snack of mouse, vole or shrew.
Read the article in The Daily Mail here.

Amazing Chalk Stream in England

This crystal clear stream is in Ovington, Hampshire, UK. I fell in love with this on Instagram where it was posted by stampsandstamps and is shown there as a video showing the moving water of this crystal clear stream. I have never heard of a chalk stream, have you? I hope that's watercress growing on the bottom. Click here to see the video. Enjoy. You're welcome. Have a lovely weekend. xo

House Tour

I would love to have my washer and dryer off the kitchen like this one in a mud room.

The pink weeping cherry tree overlooking the backyard, barn and pool in the way back was very gorgeous.

I wasn't able to gain entry to the barn complex but I loved the outside.

Rose Covered Cottage in Nantucket

Too beautiful for words. Aren't those climbing roses lovely? via

Kitchen with a Great Ceiling

The ceiling is my favorite element in this beautiful kitchen. I wish I could show you the rest of the room so we could see what the sitters on the stools would be viewing but I cannot find more pics. I am off to an early office meeting wondering what to wear. I haven't gotten out my summer clothes and it's supposed to be in the high 80s today and I will wilt. See you later. xo

Images from My Cottage

Storm clouds over my balcony on Sunday at dusk. Moments after I took this photo, the heavens opened up and it started pouring.

The grape hyacinths are blooming and I adore the deep vivid blue color of this sweet spring flowering bulb.

This clump of jonquils is bigger than ever this year. I did everything in the book to them after they bloomed last season to ensure a splashy return and it worked. They are planted in a raised bed outside my mom's bedroom on the lower level of my cottage where she had her own quarters. She had to give up her condo in Charlotte after turning in her driver's license due to her diminishing eyesight. I actually bought my cottage with this living arrangement in mind. We had such fun furnishing the whole lower floor together with treasures from consignment shops and yard sales. She still missed her independence but adjusted to having me be her eyes. I can remember when she planted these bulbs that have numerous blooms in the clump to remind me of the 10 years we had here in my cottage.

The wild violets are back in my front yard. I love them and leave them alone by not mowing my grass for as long as I can hold off.

I have posted all of these photos on Instagram so many of you have already seen them. xo

English Storybook Cottage + Floor Plan

I would be thrilled to see someone build this charming English cottage near me. Could you even find the craftsmen to take the time necessary to pull it off? Masons today aren't often even given the opportunity to construct real chimneys like this or real stucco on the home's exterior. It upsets me no end to see a wooden box go up instead and stone or brick veneer applied later. Why are forever homes becoming a thing of the past? Click here to enlarge.

Broadway Tower Folly: Cotswolds UK

Broadway Tower

Broadway Tower lies prominently on top of a hill close to, and overlooking, the village of Broadway in Worcestershire. It was built for the 6th Earl of Coventry as a folly on his Springhill Estate, and was completed in 1799. The Tower is in the shape of a castle. It is 65 feet tall and its top (at 1089 feet above sea level) is said to be the highest point in the Cotswolds.

As with so many follies or curiosities, more than one reason has been given for its creation. The most likely is that it was used long ago as a signaling beacon since it was visible both from Springhill and also from Croome Court, another family estate some 20 miles away near Worcester.

In later years Broadway Tower was used as a holiday home. One occupant was William Morris, relatively well known (amongst other achievements) for designing fashionable wallpaper - some of which can be seen inside the Tower today.

Broadway was the first town in the Cotswolds I visited back in the early 1970s. The Broadway Tower was closed and I did not get to go inside. Now I want to go back and see the wallpaper!!!

Photo by Richard on Flickr found here

Home Office Under the Stairs

This dear little home office under the stairs is well thought out and I could sit there happily to pay bills. I would, however, need a handrail for those beautiful white twisty stairs. Even a fat rope tight to the wall like you see on boats would be fine. Safety first! Have a wonderful weekend. xo 

via

Reading Nook Under the Stairs

This is so much better than a closet under the stairs, right? via

Flower Girl

I simply adore this garden woman.

“The Gardener” 2002 Poster Art Print by Lizzie Riches

Plants On My Balcony

I repotted my ancient red geranium and divided it too.

This geranium is light pink and has buds.

Three more baby geraniums on the bottom shelf of this corner plant stand. It's missing a foot on the right side but it is still very stable. This flaw resulted in a bargain price at a garage sale!

Rosemary plants. The big one in the center is the mother of the others.

Yesterday at sunrise. I love long morning shadows.

Today, it's pouring rain. I brought them all inside last night and I can tell they are eager to go outside again. Maybe tomorrow -- baby steps. See you later. xo

Roswell Georgia Dream Cottage

New cottage. Looks old.

Kitchen/dining combination.

Wonderful porch.

You will definitely LOVE this wonderful article from Southern Living Magazine about a designer who returned to her hometown to build a new cottage that looks old. Tour it here with LOTS of photos.

"Building a house in your own hometown takes creativity, flexibility, and a little bit of guts. Anna Braund brought all three—plus a clean palette and a respect for local traditions—to her old-meets-new cottage in Roswell, Georgia."

J is for Jasmine

The Jasmine Fairy by Cicely Mary Barker via

In heat of summer days

With sunshine all ablaze,

Here, here are cool green bowers,

Starry with Jasmine flowers;

Sweet-scented, like a dream

Of Fairyland they seem.

And when the long hot day

At length has worn away,

And twilight deepens, till

The darkness comes—then, still,

The glimmering Jasmine white

Gives fragrance to the night.

Since their first publication in 1923, Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies have enchanted both adults and children alike around the world. The botanically accurate drawings in the 170 original illustrations, coupled with the enchanting fairy images based on real children from Cicely's sister's nursery school still endure.

House Plants Outside on Work Table

I found this primitive old work table on the side of the road quite late on the last day of the town's junk days for residents. I have had it for a couple of years or more. The top had some kind of covering and a million rusty nails. I honestly didn't know the front stretcher was in old blue paint too. The paint was what attracted me to it in the first place in a huge pile of discarded items, probably from a barn. Yesterday I removed the composite top and all the rusty nails and scrubbed it down with hot soapy water. I moved some of my house plants outside today and it is starting to get me excited about my balcony again. I washed it down yesterday with a deep cleaning deck wash in a bucket of hot water and swabbed it with a mop. It is looking almost new again in the hot sun this morning. The sun is continuing to bleach the embedded mildew. I shall stop obsessing about it now and maybe concentrate on a little inside cleaning. (Smile)

I adore my roadside finds and feel good about saving this table from the landfill, especially since today is EARTH DAY 2018. Happy Sunday. See you later. xo

Mother Flamingo with Her Chick

-- A long way to grow by Laurie A. Reuben --

I don't think I've ever seen a baby flamingo.

So Cute!!!

Garden Shed / Art Studio

Tiny but powerful and it ticks all the boxes: dutch door, garden tool storage, greenhouse, art studio, cupola, weather vane, roses, and more. Very sweet. via