Thursday, April 30, 2009

Periwinkle

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.

~Audra Foveo~



The color Periwinkle, in the form of Spanish Bluebells, envelopes a mossy bench in my garden every May, invoking memories of Provence.




It's no wonder this sunny hue is employed to brighten the stony facades in France and Spain.
I'd love to be strolling those quaint streets again.


Instead, I'll just have to get out the periwinkle 'Spode' dishes and have myself a cup of tea among the flowers.



Then bring the color indoors



Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Kichen Makeover





I love vintage silver and cutlery (some purchased in France) with lots of white. I still have brick on one whole wall and wood cabinets and floor so adding lots of white is a necessity.


The desperately, needed and much appreciated, kitchen re-do was recently completed.With the help of Drake (who comes decked out in well equipped tool belt) and Ben, the makeover is accomplished. John and Casey also worked on it. White bead-board back splash( replacing pink rose wallpaper :-[ Oh what a change! ) , silver drawer pulls, outlet covers and lights.






At the other end of the room

Drake

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Lovely Fairy Garden Houses


No child but must remember laying his head in the grass, staring into the infinitesimal forest and seeing it grow populous with fairy armies.

~Robert Louis Stevenson, Essays in The Art of Writing~






Mosaic floor and bentwood domed Fairy dwelling.
Designed and crafted by Ilex, Ivy and Bambi


Fairyland in pot~Designed by Shannon


If we opened our minds to enjoyment, we might find tranquil pleasures spread about us on every side. We might live with the angels that visit us on every sunbeam, and sit with the fairies who wait on every flower.

~Samuel Smiles~



Monday, April 27, 2009

Herb Gardening~ With Help From My Girls



Ivy, Ilex, Holly and I enjoy a day in the herb garden.





Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity.

~Lindley Karstens~

Design you own Herb Garden

Step 1~ Design for your tastes and site - plan for herbs you'll actually use and pick a spot with at least half a day of sun for your herb garden. Measure your available space and make a drawing of it on graph paper for a working design.

Step 2 ~ Take a page from traditional English herb gardens - give the bed a focal point for year round interest. Plan for a sundial, bird feeding station, wire obelisk, tall sculpture or trellis at the center of your herb garden.

Step 3~ Choose cottage garden ambiance for a friendly herb garden that overflows its borders with flowers. Use any shape - circles and ellipses are popular - for a cottage style bed and define it with a path that circles and bisects it for maintenance.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Your Faithfulness

Psalm 89:2, 8
I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself... O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you.


Psalm 117
Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us,and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.



Isaiah 25:1O
LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Living Lovely~Global Perspective~Part 2

This is a follow up and continuation of yesterdays post. I mention that the books we chose for our home library were often set in other countries.
Here is a short list of our absolute favorites!

Heidi
~ Johanna Spyri~
set in Switzerland

Hans Brinker
~ Mary Mapes Dodge~
set in Holland

The Wheel On The School &
Dirk's Dog, Bello
~Meindert DeJong~
both set in Holland

The House Of Sixty Fathers
~Meindert DeJong~
set in China

I Am David
~ Anne Holm~
set in Europe

Island Of The Blue Dolphins
~ Scott O'Dell~
set in an island of the Pacific

Cricket In Times Square
~ George Selden~
set in New York

Star of Light
~ Patricia M. St. John~
set in Morocco

Treasures Of The Snow
~ Patricia M. St John~
set in Switzerland

Where The River Begins
Rainbow Garden
Tanglewoods Secret
The Secret Of Pheasant Cottage
~ Patricia M. St John~
set in England


These books by Patricia St. John were particularly fun for me read to our girls because the author was an acquaintance of ours in Morocco and I read these books as a child in the 50's. I can't say enough good things about them and I'm pretty sure they are still available.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Living Lovely with Family~ Global Perspective~

1951

I'll warn you now, this is a long post for the usual *woman of few words*






As someone who lived almost my entire childhood overseas, you'd think I would have no trouble coming up with a few great old photos, and a story or two to support my feeling, that a life lived with no wider global lens than is common to most American children, is a tragedy. Instead this is going to be a goofy tale of how Cheri gets an old photo onto this blog.


... So.. yesterday I start wracking my brain to figure out how to get a few of the ancient slides that I know exist in my Dad's computer in California onto my blog. Well that's going to be too complicated one e-mail at a time ... so...

Think, think, think...there are no albums or boxes of pictures from 60 years ago sitting around for me to rifle through and snap images onto my digital camera and transfer to the computer ( yes that's how I've been getting the oldies up) but I seem to remember a disk Dad left here a few years ago, labeled "France, Spain '50's"...Yes! OK now I think you put this disk in a drawer... got it! Of course there are SO many pictures on that baby (most of which aren't France and Spain) that my slow computer refuses to even take a glance . Have I mentioned that my 80- something Father is light years ahead of me on this computer thing? But he's not here and Russ has the nerve to be at work =( So most of the day yesterday was spent trying to get those pictures up on the screen. When I would finally get one ,I'd use my silly method of snapping it with my camera. Now I knew I at least had it where I could cope with the next steps...transfer to computer... re-size in the program Russ installed ( dial- up takes FOREVER to load regular size) then get on the Internet and fix each picture in* picnik*( this is the fun part) . I think I'll show the before and after on one of these.



Yes this is really my Dad-- not some movie star.

Happy birthday on Sat. Dad. Love you!



Have I mentioned that I also love picnik - first a little color adjusting to warm it up, then crop a bit, then 60's effect, then sepia with some color added back, then clone out some of the age specks, then frame with postage stamp, and add a caption.



Voila ! Today I have a handful of photos to prove that we indeed lived in some pretty interesting places once upon a time. And if I hadn't described all this in detail you might have gotten the mistaken impression that I had these darling postage stamp photos lying around all over the place.

Not so!









I owe a great debt of gratitude to my parents for being brave enough to leave these sunny shores and embark on the great adventure that was our life. For them to serve as missionaries in Portugal, Spain, Morocco, and Aruba, for the next 40 something years, takes true and brave hearts.

Strangely, my husband ( whose family were also missionaries) and I married, built a house on 20 acres and put down such deep roots that we hardly ventured across time zones much less international date lines with our 3 girls. I guess the adventurous spirit was all used up for us in our youth.

Sadly for our children then, we were only able to pass on the Global Perspective through tales and perhaps osmosis. The books I chose for our home library tended to also be set in foreign countries which is probably the second best way, besides travel , of getting a child out of their small world view.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Monday, April 20, 2009

Ilex


The Birthday Girl
Gets Her Party

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Joyful


Well I have to ask you! Have you ever seen a
patch of Lilly Of The Valley looking more
Joyful?
You can almost hear them clapping!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Branches About To Blossom


Are we to look at cherry blossoms only in full bloom,
the moon only when it is cloudless? To long for the moon while looking on the rain, to lower the blinds and be unaware of the passing of the spring - these are even more deeply moving. Branches about to blossom or gardens strewn with flowers are worthier of our admiration.

~ Yoshida Kenko~




Drenching the pavement, warming the wall, bathing the cat in a slumbering sprawl ...Waking the buds that break from the tree. Shaking out gold, and all for free.


~ Tony Mitton, Spring Sunshine~

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Living Lovely With Family~ Milestones


Milestones and anniversaries were Celebrated
~
Talents were Praised
~
Accomplishments Heralded
~
Performances always Attended
(inadequate cameras in hand)
.....
Now with new cameras in tow
we Celebrate the Milestones of the next generation