A Place For Everything

Spring has me cleaning up and looking for the perfect place for everything.

This old cupboard can hold an enormous amount of goods. Its shallow shelves can be more accommodating than larger kitchen cupboards in some ways. At any rate this is where my recent china acquisitions have ended up together.

I'm pleased at the harmonious result. My older things are right at home with the newer collections.

The new transferware doesn't even take up much space when it's all stacked up together!

An older bowl up top in the Alfred Meakin "Charlotte" pattern blends in so well with the rest.

My favorite McCoy pot reigns up here too.

I love the look of open shelves for china, and plan to have them in our kitchen too one day. (The new chamber pieces that I have tucked in here too almost seem part of the same dish set.)

I'm always hunting for more marmalade jars like this at a good price.

It's all just an illusion, of course. It doesn't take long for things to get out of order again. But at least spring cleaning makes you feel ready to get on with a new season or two outdoors.    

Happy first day of spring!

It's official, and so, so welcome this year.

Looking ahead to a beautiful weekend. . .

I hope it's beautiful for you too!

Thanks so much for popping by! 

Jacqueline

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Shabby Art Boutique~Shabbilicious Friday

French Country Cottage~Feathered Nest Friday

The Charm of Home~Home Sweet Home

Common Ground~Be Inspired

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Timewashed~Blissful Whites Wednesday

Cultivating Linens

Worlds collide when our grandchildren visit. Not in a bad way, mind you. But somehow values can change drastically over three generations! When the air clears after the house has gone quiet again, I get busy setting the house straight and tending my linens.  

Laundering, ironing, and cleaning frees me up for mindfulness. Much the way gardening does, I imagine. (And I have to imagine that, because I do very little gardening! Haha!) Here it is spring, and I am cultivating linens instead. Always acquiring, developing, and maintaining.

I keep a rather old world vibe about this place. And I have some old world values. (One eats at a table, for instance.) But I was a little worried that my darling granddaughter (age 10) might feel too concerned about marker stains (permanent) that she had made on the tablecloth while drawing one day. (Am I too fussy?) In the end, I felt glad that she understood that it matters to me. We try to be sensible about pretty table linens. They are for enhancing real life, not interfering with it. 

Anyway. . . when I'm done messing with and admiring my clean linens (and philosophizing), the ones I use most regularly get casually stowed nearby, like in this old crate which sits near the table.

Or this huge basket that lives in the dining room taking up too much precious space. It sits close to the table, taking its place at the corner like some permanent guest for which allowances must be made. 

These are the hues and textures of our daily life. The colors that most often feed our senses at the table. 

And when worlds collide, it's probably best to remain somewhat neutral.

 . . . At least at the dinner table!

I hope your own world turns out beautifully this week!

Thanks so much for always stopping by!

Jacqueline

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Metamorphosis Monday@Between Naps on the Porch

Knick of Time Tuesday@Knick of Time

What's It Wednesday@ Ivy & Elephants

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May The Road Rise Up To Meet You

It's nice to have an occasion to remember my Irish roots. We're celebrating March 17th this year  with a bit o' Shamrock green. I had no idea that it has this pretty white bloom, but I know there are a number of  different varieties. This one charmingly bows its head and closes its leaves at night to sleep. 

I'll be remembering my Mom, and the other family Kelley's, and raising a pint of Black and Tan. I'll search for the local pipe band, and recite a line or two from the Dubliners. (. . . snow was general all over Ireland.)

An emerald tea cup and Irish linen will grace the table for a day or two. I'll want a nice brown soda bread to go along with it, or better still, a wonderful thin apple tart with clotted cream. 

I'll be wanting a stroll down a neighborhood lane on a soft day in Galway City (don't you know), or a stop in at the Quays Pub on Quay Street. I'll be happy to cry in my beer if I hear the right version of Danny Boy.

 Oh, the pipes, the pipes are calling. . . .

"May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks.

 May your heart be as glad as a song.

 May each day bring you bright, happy hours

 that stay with you all the year long."

Happy St. Paddy's to you!

Jacqueline

Simple White Things

It's the simplest of things that can bring joy. The sun finally showing through. A fruit tree coming into bloom. A memory from a younger spring.

The simplest of objects can give me a lift too, such as an old wire basket like this one. It's meant for lifting fruit jars from the canning pot when they are done with their boiling water bath. One of the distant pleasures of my life is the sound of jar lids popping from the vacuum created when they finally cool off, and the sight of rows of canned peaches on the shelf after a long days work.

My own equipment disappeared somewhere along the way of the transitions of life. And it's not likely that I will use this rack much the way I once might. (My mother used one to sterilize baby bottles and formula back in the day.)

But it makes a nice basket for stowing and carrying. Dishtowels by the sink, perhaps. To fetch items back and forth from the patio. Or to display a flower pot.

 A jumble of objects from a lifetime ago look cheery piled together in it. Especially if they're white.

For me, the simplicity of white is one of the most enjoyable things of all. . . .

Happy White Wednesday to you!

Jacqueline & Co.

Join me at

TIMEWASHED for Blissful Whites Wednesday here.

Common Ground~Be Inspired

French Country Cottage~Feathered Nest Friday

Shabby Art Boutique~Shabbilicious Friday

My Romantic Home~Show & Tell