Summer Days Around the House

Hello Friends! We've been carried away on a tide of events this spring, where leisure time and our usual pursuits have taken a back seat. But I have missed my blogging friends! You who are always welcome to come and share in the simple and cozy cottage life with me.

It's pretty casual, but cottage living should always be informal and comfy with a few pleasurable things to look at. Our stream of summer guests just settle in. I just got tired of waiting for the right moment to happen and picked up the camera to share my day with you!

I love simple flowers in bunches for the table. I know some of you go out your back door and gather up some of your own, but we mostly get our flowers at the market. This time it's stocks and cheery chamomile!

Not much focus on indoor decor lately. Just a bit of shifting around and finding nonexistent places for things in this tiny house.

The lines between indoors and out get blurred anyway this time of year as we spend as much time as we can outside.

The doors are open early to let in the cool morning air, and then shut up again as soon as the day gets too warm.

But as soon as the sun goes down the doors are flung open again for the cool evening air in our dry New Mexico climate. (Not very buggy either!)

Mornings on the east patio are best for starting the day with a sweet breeze and birdsong. Sometimes this space looks spectacular, but right now we are lucky to have a bit of color in a pot or two alongside the herb pots.

It's another bitty cozy place to nestle into in the fleeting early hours, either alone with your thoughts or with a bit of good company. Today started with a bit of breakfast chocolate to drink for me. Yum!

 

By ten o'clock it's already getting a bit too hot.

Geraniums are one of the sure things for pots out here.

And just a few fresh herbs right outside the door are perfect for us!

This English boxwood has been in the same pot for a few years now. But then we can only have something no-fuss, since we do not really garden.

Right about now it would be time for a grand tea party for granny camp! But our teen and pre-teen girls are spread far and wide this summer.

So we have scheduled some tree and lawn work instead! (It's sort of endless.)

The roses are between bloom, but we have a hollyhock starting to peek out.

And an occasional bunny, squirrel, or roadrunner slips through the garden gate, in case you think nothing much happens here any more! Haha!

We are just settling into these lovely early days before the real heat sets in. . . .

Hope it's lovely soon for all of you too!

Blessed days ahead!

Jacqueline

My Blooming Snowball Bush

Viburnum, Guelder Rose, or Snowball Bush, by any other name it looks and smells as sweet, right? Although I don't think it gives off much of a fragrance. . . . That doesn't stop me from looking forward to its bloom all year!

There is nothing like flowers to change the whole attitude of a room, and I forget from time to time what an impact a lovely bouquet can make. I mean whole blogs are run on just armfuls of flowers! I don't know how it's done. 

I go through phases where I indulge regularly on grocery store bunches, but even in the warmer months there is never a profusion of bloom straight from our garden around here. So each little petal is cherished and dresses up the ordinary in our rooms. 

I love how long they last after cutting too.

Looking back over past posts it's amazing how rooms can evolve from year to year. But I like a little something new to look at when the season changes. Still enjoying my doggies in this room, so I have added a little still life behind them as a back drop.

No major changes right now, but I get a lot of satisfaction from my revolving collections, and never change things up much anyway. A lace tablecloth is the other different thing for this week in the dining room.

Always my dish collections too, of course.

But the new things get featured more, like this recent pansy covered pitcher on the shelf. I have been looking for just the right droopy purple flowers to put in it. And I like seeing my birdie platters in the spring too.

The floral Evian bottles get pulled out in the spring and summer. . . .

And this little white Johnson Brothers pitcher is new to me along with its little matching vanity vase. So fun to find things together like that!

Here is the vase holding more flowers....

That little squat ironstone pitcher is a new flea find too.

As is the vintage glass celery jar. Pressed glass is another one of my weaknesses. Remember when celery and carrots were always on the table right along with the bread and butter? Anyway there are so many pretty versions to be found around now, some of them turning purple. 

So for a few days my dining room is going to feel a bit festive with the May Day blooms around. So happy for spring to be here!

So nice that you stopped by!

Welcome to May!

Hope it's a great weekend for you ahead!

Jacqueline

Country Brocante Style, and a Peek in the Nursery

Hello friends! No sooner did I hit "publish" on my last post than I got the latest copy of Victoria Magazine in the mail with blue china on the cover! Thanks to all of you for sharing your love of blue with me!

Lately I have been tucking away in the nursery to get a little quiet time away from things. There is a good view of the lawn and fresh air from an open window on calm days, and for the time being I have taken down the ironing board and replaced it with a folding table. 

I think a guest room like this is sometimes called a "spare" room. But it is an essential room for me in our little three bedroom house. I have mostly used it as a busy room, but with the makeshift desk and chair, I find I am spending more leisure time here. 

One of my favorite things in here is a sweet print of a self portrait by Elisabeth Vigee LeBrun, a prominent French portrait painter of the late eighteenth century. If you Google her you may realize that you are already familiar with her paintings.

I didn't know this myself until after I brought the portrait home from a flea market and researched it. But Madame Le Brun has a remarkable history as an early female artist that I think might be an inspiration for all my young granddaughters!

There are still lots of other female influences found in here. . . .

You may recognize these pages by Edith Holden too. But it is from her lesser known book Nature Notes which was discovered AFTER the more prominent volume by her: The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady. Nature Notes was actually created the year before Country Diary, though it was only discovered and published a decade or so later. Both were received to wild, and lasting, acclaim. 

Wonderful to peruse year round!

I also laid out this scrumptious old quilt that is only for show. It greatly increases the "happy" quotient in this room for me.

And maybe this beautiful new book also caught your eye! I am showing just a few random pages to show you below. But there are LOTS of wonderful photos included. You may like it too! Country Brocante Style, by Lucy Haywood.

Well, I hope you enjoyed a little down time with me today! Here we are at the weekend already again. I hope it is wonderful for you!

Thanks so much for popping by!

Wishing you lovely days ahead!

Jacqueline