A peek…

At another corner of the living room

We keep moving this guy around…

looking for it’s home

Would you paint the credenza? Maybe white lacquer?

I know I’ve asked before

Don’t take heed of the stuff

thrown on top.

I’m lazy.

real.

The horses? A pic from Pioneer Woman…blown WAY up and Black and whited.

I can smell them.

in a good horsey way

you?

Die Akker

Hittin' the Road!

On my way to New York, then Dallas.   Hope to catch up soon!

Of Châteaux And Gâteaux

Our now done and dusted summer holiday was spent in a new to us area of France. This year we ventured further south to the Loire Valley. This region appealed especially to himself who who has long wanted to see some of the famous châteaux. Our comfortable cottage turned out to be in a central location ideally situated for touring the area. What is more we had access to a television set for the all important World Cup Final. The weather was fine if a little too hot and humid for me - a new word entered my French vocabulary ~ 'canicule' i.e. a heatwave. Fortunately a cracking thunderstorm eventually cleared the air and made being a tourist more comfortable. 

So the stage was set for a week of château visiting ~  images of endless spiral staircases, tapestries, four poster beds, paintings and statues as well as whirlwind of historical facts are still circling around my brain. First there was Chenonceau which was the finest of the bunch according to the literature I had read beforehand. This turned out to be the biggest disappointment. Not only was it unbearably crowded (maybe our fault for visiting on a Sunday afternoon) but part of the chateâu was covered with scaffolding and tarpaulins - what a shame. Himself and I agreed that perhaps the best method of visiting would be by boating under the arches which span the river. Still there was a most interesting kitchen garden to stroll in afterwards ~

Then on to Amboise from its lofty perch high above the river ~

Moving on to Valençay where we were treated to a most entertaining open air performance ~ 

This was followed by a trip to Chaumont-sur-Loire which was the most enjoyable visit for me. Now I wonder if this could be because the chateâu is the setting for an annual garden festival. More of this magical setting and the garden festival in another post ~

From Chaumont to the smallest chateau we came across all week - the chateâu at Fougeres-sur-Bievre  ~ 

We rounded the week up with a visit to Chambord which is the largest chateâux of the Loire Valley  and according to our French host the most French of the chateâux. We gave up trying to count the rooms ~ 

   

Of course such dedication to the cause required some energy and what better to fortify us than consumption of gateâux - as usual France did not disappoint ~ 

Bewitched!

B IS FOR?

BUTTERFLY!
Now I have featured a butterfly in a previous round of ABC Wednesday but this happens to be the biggest and most beautiful butterfly that I ever did see. Whilst on holiday in France recently I noticed a little girl crouched on her haunches, taking photos of a flower bed or so it seemed. A budding botanist I thought. Getting nearer to her my eyes alighted on the subject of her photo - not a plant but a most glorious winged creature which was settled on a scented pelargonium. I did not recognise the butterfly but it turns out that it is a swallowtail. I found out that we have swallowtails in the U.K. but they are confined to the fens in Norfolk. Their continental cousins are larger. Sadly this little body has suffered wing damage at some point but is still beguilingly beautiful.

I had to make furious silent signs to attract himself's attention and by time he arrived the butterfly had alighted onto another scented plant - a heliotrope or cherry pie plant. We watched it linger there for some time before it floated off on the balmy breeze.

If you go over to ABC Wednesday you will be able to see a bevy of posts on the letter B.

Green Jacket - Macon, Georgia

I was surfing and ran into a blog doing some research on restaurants in Macon, Georgia and it reminded me that during the summer of 1976, I worked at The Green Jacket in Macon.  If you know anything about golf, the name of the restaurant will sound familiar.  Personally I knew nothing about golf, the Augusta National nor the Masters, when I took the job there.  It's been interesting as I've gotten older and learned how significant the Green Jacket is and how fortunate we in Georgia are to be a part of the history.  (My girlfriend's cousin at the age of 17 was kicked out of the Masters for life for yelling "Fore" as a prank but that is a different story)!!!

In 1976 several exciting things were happening in Macon.   The Allman Brothers were a significant force in music and Greg had just married Cher.  The film The Bingo Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings was being filmed in Macon.  During the summer while working at The Green Jacket, both Cher and Billy Dee Williams, stopped in to dine.  In 1976, I was a very small town girl with a very small world.  To this day I think back to the time and marvel at how amazing it all seemed.

I learned a lot working in a restaurant.  I learned that lightening will not strike you down for walking into a bar (raised a Baptist - I was afraid), people working in restaurants work hard with long hours, and, lastly, you never know who you might meet.

Guess we all worked interesting jobs at some point in our lives.   Some of my friends have de-beaked chickens, put fat in the pork 'n bean cans on an assembly line, pulled the peel off tomatoes in the canning process, packed peaches in Ft. Valley, packed panties in a South Carolina mill, served as an intern on Capitol Hill and as a waitress on Mackinac, Island.  Just curious, what was your most interesting first job?  This one wasn't my very first job but it is one of the first and one that I was glad to have tried it, if only for a summer.

''One Potato, Two Potato''

New potatoes ~ what utter deliciousness but at one point I thought that I might be counting my 2010 harvest on one hand. I thought that the potatoes were going to be the equivalent of last year's tomato failure. I have not grown potatoes in the ground before but this year having extra growing space at the allotment, I made the decision to plant two raised beds up with potatoes. My earlies are the tasty 'Lady Crystl' which I was introduced to last year by my lottie neighbours. The first disaster that befell them was when they were caught by the late frost we had in May. Oh how sad they looked having previously looked most healthy and vigorous. More experienced lottie neighbours advised that they would perk up and catch up but they have not flourished since. They limped along, did not gain much height and never flowered. Some of this may well be down to the drought we experienced in June and my haphazard watering regime. 


All the tomes I read advised that you can start harvesting once the flowers are done and dusted. What if you never get flowers? There is no advice for those for those of whose who are in this predicament. Still I had a rummage or two and to my surprise have unearthed quite a few tubers which have proved more than edible. The good news is that there are still more to come and although there are certainly not enough to see us through the winter or to fill the hessian sack I bought in anticipation, there are more than I thought there would be. In the meantime I am pleased to say that the other bed, planted with the maincrop' 'Pink Fir Apple', is faring much better and I am looking forward to the tasting thereof. 


The post title is a reference to a chidhood counting rhyme which some of you may be familiar with. I wonder it is known outside the U.K.


"One potato, two potato, three potato, four 
Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more
One potato, two potato, three potato, four
Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more"

…From the bottom of my heart

I would thank you from the bottom of my heart…

But for you, my heart has no bottom.

I don’t know how to express my sincere and humble thanks to all of the warm and beautiful

emails and comments I received.

We have been through a roller coaster of events with our son in the hospital.

He is home…and slowly healing…

and for that we are soooo so thankful.

Your prayers and thoughts and pure caring were felt…

sooo beautifully and warmly felt.

There will never be words that can come close...

and I want to wrap my arms around the whole cyber lot of you!

Thank you.

thank you.

Now back to decorating….. :) and visiting your beautiful blogs!

Barbara...Walters? No, Nalls

One of my favorite blogs is Life at Willow Manor and one of the things I've enjoyed most about Willow's blog over the past couple of years is the way she shares stories about her family members as she brings to life some of her fascinating family history.   I've also felt an added connection at times because some of the "settlers" in her family have been connected to middle Tennessee.  My dad's family settled in that area and much of his family still lives there or is buried there.  That part of the country is an important part of my life.

What does this have to do with Aunt Barbara?  Well, my mom's side of the family is a different story.  I knew some of my mom's family but they weren't very good at sharing their ancestry nor do they all get along so it's always been difficult to share stories or trace threads of the past.

Then word came that Barbara died.

 
I knew of her but never met her BUT I have fallen in love with her!  We almost shared the same birthday (10/13 and 10/14) AND she was a broadcasting pioneer.  Long before there was Barbara Walters, there was Barbara Nalls, one of the first female broadcasters in the industry!   I've learned that some of the works she was most proud of were her interviews with ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, JACQUELINE KENNEDY and JOHN WAYNE.   I wish I had known her but what an incredible career she had.  It's also interesting to note that her dad was the first person to own a gas station in the D.C./Arlington area.  Isn't that a strange thing to think about!


My husband comes from a family with a long history of amazing people and I've often been a "wishful thinker" hoping that somewhere in my past there is some rich history that I never knew about.  Now it's true.  There is a rich history with an amazing woman with a legacy and I'm so proud to have discovered my Aunt Barbara.   Rest in peace dear Aunt and know that your niece will treasure your memory forever.

My children and grandchildren will carry your American spirit forward into the next generation.

Daylily Identity Crisis

Now when it comes to going on holiday, I am always reluctant to depart when there are new flowers about to come out for the very first time. Just before we left home this daylily was showing signs of opening but would not oblige me by revealing its true colours before departure. We returned home earlier this week to be greeted by some amazing torrential rain yet ironically we have a hosepipe ban in this part of the country (normally renowned for being somewhat on the damp side). Some flowers had obviously been and gone in our absence but last night whilst hunting molluscs by torchlight, I noticed that there was a firm promise of colour today. Yeeeeeeay - I was greeted by flowers this morning ! I am fairly new to daylilies and must admit that I can't quite make my mind up about them. I find many of the flowers attractive but I am not always taken with the foliage, particularly as mine all seem to have large strappy leaves. Perhaps I should seek out the finer leaved varieties. This one though a gift from a friend is a definite keeper. She is without a name and we refer to her as P1070758.jpg -isn't that sad? I wonder if anybody could help us reunite her with her name?

Melancholy Gentleman

A IS FOR?



ASTRANTIA!

After a two week absence abroad it is good to be home although we have returned to wild and wet weather more reminiscent of autumn than high summer. Just as well that I took this photo of one of my favourite flowers the astrantia before we left, as there have been no opportunities to amble in the garden today. One of the common names given to this plant is melancholy gentleman which seems most apt in all the rain. Much more on the letter A over at the amazing ABC Wednesday.

Praise - again

Girls Rock - A Camp!!!

I LOVED camp when I was young and I went to camp until I was 14.  It was such a great experience to try my hand at archery, skeet shooting, canoeing, hiking, camping and crafts of all kinds.  Well I'm here to tell you that camp options have changed since the 60's and 70's.   My niece just finished a week at GIRLS ROCK Camp and what a cool camp it was!  The camp is about music and self-expression and so much more.  It's a camp that's designed to encourage creativity, compromise,collaboration, acceptance of others, production, teamwork and to build self-esteem. 

Dressed and Ready to Go For Hair, Make-up and Sound Checks

My niece Melanie is a reserved young lady and is often described by my sister as having a "gentle spirit."   It was great to go to the Girls Rock Camp concert last night to see Melanie come to life on stage.   

 Melanie and Mom (my sister) - Before the Show

When camp starts on Monday, the girls arrive being assigned to a band "job" - either merchandising, writing or other tasks that must be completed by Friday.  Many of the girls have never played an instrument but during the week each girl learns quickly.  Volunteer musicians work with the girls to coach them as each newly formed band learns to play various instruments, write lyrics, music, create marketing merchandise to promote their band and rehearse like crazy.  In addition there are classes and exercises on topics such as self-defense and self-expression.   At the end of the week the girls put on a concert at the Variety Playhouse.   

 Mel Under the Marquis - A Camp With Bright Lights!!!

 Melanie Played Bass - She Started Last MONDAY!!!!

Doesn't She Look Like a Natural?

Camp Songs - No More Singing 'Round the Campfire

Guess what?  They have a LADIES ROCK CAMP!  From what I hear it's a fantastic camp with a major difference - cocktails!    After the concert my sister asked me if I wanted to join her at Ladies Rock.  I responded that I'm planning on going to a gardening clinic instead.  Her comment back, "We go ahead and be boring!"   Okay Cath - I'm thinking about it.

I just had to share a few pics of Rockin' Melanie!!!  Rock on!!!

P.S.  At thirteen I was lucky enough to have attended this historical event - Jimi Hendrix and lots MORE!!!!   It just goes to show you that there's a little "rocker" in all of us!

Another Velvia Sunset

Actually the same sunset as the one that I posted on the 4th July, only about 10 minutes later (and zoomed in a bit), hence more delicious red colour.

This Fuji Velvia 50 film is simply the best for these wild colours! This is straight from the scanned jpg, no saturation or sharpening added. All I did in my favourite graphics program was touch up four tiny dust spots, resize and brand. No grain removal needed, at ISO 50 it is plenty smooth enough!

Nikon f801s, Junky Quantarray 35-80 zoom, Fuji Velvia 50, scanned with a CanoScan 5600F, edited in the GIMP.

A Blog Award With So Many Little Details

Some people don't like blog awards but I received this one I'm going to participate but break the rules just a little bit.   Cheri at Cherri's Chatter honored me with the Versatile Blogger Award.  I very much liked being tagged versatile and thus decided to participate in this award though I'm going to bend the rules a bit.  

1st Rule is easy - Say thank you Cheri aka Cheryl!   Thank you so much for the compliment!   I met Cheri when she was featured on the Words of Wisdom blog as a Blogger of Note.

2nd Rule - Tell seven unknown/little known things about yourself.  This becomes harder but here goes.

1.  I hate Jello and egg whites.  To me they have similar texture and it just makes me sick to think about eating either one.  Generally I will try anything but don't ever ask me to eat Jello or egg whites.

2.  Speaking of eating.  I have eaten dog food.  That's right.  My sister-in-law and I were always curious what it tasted like and then she dared me to taste it.  As I said above, I will eat almost anything so I tasted dog food. 

3. I am a movie junkie to the point I'm sometimes held back from other weekend activities because I need to watch a movie (but I couldn't tell you a thing about "Housewives of...,", "The Bachelor," "American Idol," or any other primetime show.  I love going to the theater and collecting movies so that I can watch them over and over again.  My current favorite is Avanti and I can't stop singing the theme song. 

My husband and I have had so much fun with the character Anna, the Sicilian maid in the film.  Doesn't Giselda Castrini look a bit like Prince? 

4.  I love to travel - for work, for pleasure - it doesn't matter and I don't mind doing so alone.  I have friends who won't even go to the movie by themselves and are horrified by the thought of going on a trip alone.  Not me.  I'm going to NY on business in a couple of weeks and I can't wait.  Business is on Monday and Tuesday so I'm headed up on Friday to build in a weekend of fun!  

5. Speaking of travel - we are planning a trip to Iceland!!! I can't wait.  We are going in September and I am sure that I will have lots to share from that trip. 

6. I'm a survivor of a car bomb.  In 1983 we were visiting Lebanon and had gone to the movies (of course) when a bomb went off outside the theater.  Seconds before the blast we had just walked past the vehicle that was loaded with explosives.  I was four and a half months pregnant so when they finally allowed us to flee the scene, I can assure you I was a scary fright.  Immediately after the blast I had a bad nose bleed from the pressure of the explosion.  The theater staff held us all in place for about 25 minutes to be sure there wasn't a second explosion, then we ran down the middle of the street to avoid falling sheets of plate glass.  It was a scary time!  We visited the U.S. Embassy exactly one month to the day before it was bombed and I've thought so much about the sweet Marine we talked with while waiting for our appointment.  He was from Virginia and  when he heard me talking he came to me and said, "it's so nice to hear a southerner's voice."  I've always hoped he wasn't killed in the blast.

7.  I'm a workaholic though I never wanted to work.  In my deepest dreams I'd always planned to be a housewife.  I started working when I turned 16 and I've been working since.  Working has made me a far more interesting person than I might have been otherwise so for that I am grateful. 

Okay, I have rattled on with the 7 unknowns.  Now for the last rule.  Give the award to 15 other bloggers.  Can I break this rule and instead offer it to 15 other bloggers?  If you want to receive this award and participate in sharing info about yourself, send me an email and I will compile a list of participants to add to my post. 

Happy Sunday and have a wonderful week.

A Rococo Redo

I'm not too good at remembering to take before and after pictures but today I finally painted a cute little shelf that I bought for a couple of dollars on eBay.  I just happened to get an almost "before" and an "after" picture.  I was so pleased with the little rococo piece. 

Here's how the corner shelf looked before a couple of coats of white paint and gold trim were added.

I'm feeling a bit like Debbie Travis!   Happy weekend!

Ancient Measuring Equipment, and a small pot.

Taken at the Fort Klapperkop Museum in Pretoria, South Africa.

Nikon F801s, Nikon 50mm F1.8D, heavily expired but frozen for years Kodak Ektachrome EPR 64 ISO film. Sigma EF 500 flash hand held to my left on a Nikon flash extension cord. Scanned on a CanoScan 5600F. Edited with the GIMP.

Summertime and Susan Branch

I can't think about celebrating summer without pulling out my favorite summer cookbook.

I just love this book - to look at, to cook from and to escape in my mind back to simpler times when summer was about vacation, starry nights with fireflies, gardening, flowers and sandwiches.   

My former neighbor and dear friend, Judy, and I have a very special bond because of this book.  When we were neighbors every summer we would schedule a night for a cookout and Skip and Go Nakeds!  

The guys always wanted to share our pink drinks!!!  

If you haven't seen this cookbook, you might enjoy having a look.  

Praise

Nikon f801s, Tamron 100-300 zoom, Fuji Superia 200, scanned with a CanoScan 5600F, edited in the Gimp.

Finding grace…

Sometimes life hammers with a jackhammer. Sometimes it shifts the concrete and the foundation that you know.

Sometimes just sometimes you need to stop. To adjust the lenses. To take a breath.

Today our family is in need of hope…and prayers…and thoughts…and strength…and peace

…and grace.

I’ll be back…sometime…maybe soon.

but for now, most importantly, I need to focus on family.

Thank you...so so much.

What happened when .....

~ I attended a creative plant gardening and photography workshop. I still get ridicously excited by late presents and recently enjoyed a belated Christmas gift. Himself having kindly treated me to a new camera at Christmas threw in an extra ~ a one day creative photography workshop which I attended a couple of weeks ago. The workshop was held at Bluebell Cottage Gardens/Lodge Lane Nursery where I have attended a couple of workshops previously on the subject of plant propagation.



Venturing onto a photography course was a new venture for me and I was somewhat apprehensive before I arrived. When chosing my new camera I debated long and hard whether to enter the realms of a DSLR. However after much reading about the subject and with welcome and valuable advice from fellow bloggers Karen, Shirl and the Garden MS S I decided that this would be too big a step for me. Instead I went for a more sophisticated compact camera which has a seemingly bewildering array of fiddly bits, bells and whistles on it. I was hoping to be more familiar with all the bits and bobs before the course but as usual the best laid plans of mice and men ......... Luckily there were only five of us there on the day and it was a most non threatening environment. Our tutor Andrew Williams was a former engineer who had gone into photography later in life.



The morning whizzed by quickly as Andrew delivered a well illustrated presentation to us - some of it went over my head being of a somewhat technical nature but other bits registered and have been digested. Then a quick tour round the garden so that we knew its layout. We were asked to think about possible shots that we might like to take and or a theme that we would like to concentrate on. After an al fresco lunch we were let loose in the garden and nursery to take photos to our hearts content. Luckily the course was held on a day when the garden and nursery are not open to the public so we did not have to contend with people popping up everywhere. Back then to base, where Andrew downloaded a few of our respective photos so that we could get some constructive criticism from the rest of the group. I left feeling more confident about my new camera and certainly picked up a number of useful hints and tips, including suggestions of reading material and websites. I will include these in another post later this month. In the meantime I am off to have fun putting my new found knowledge into practice.

StatCounter

If anybody needs a website counter and statistic collector and you don't have a budget worth speaking about, then I highly recommend StatCounter, they are the best I've seen. Below is a screenshot from my yearly stats... looks like a little growth happening there since I started the blog in 2008! Hooray!

It's really easy to use and is great for seeing if anyone is actually visiting the blog you work so hard on updating!

What brand of film do you prefer?

There is an interesting question asked here about which brand of film is your favourite. Here is my answer to that question:


I like a few, depending on the application.

A good all round cheap daily use film: Fuji Superia 200 (cheap to buy and develop, and surprisingly good quality, a little grainy but in a nice way)
Black and White: Ilford XP2 400 (cheap to develop, sharp and has great exposure latitude, unobtrusive grain)
Landscapes: Fuji Velvia 50 (expensive to buy and develop, but incredible colours and no grain)

...there are many other very competent films out there and really it comes down to what "look" you prefer. Try as many as you can, compare the results and then concentrate on getting to really know how to use those films to get your own unique look and style.


How about you guys, what do you prefer to use and why?

All Fired Up!

The sunset was just catching the taller grass in this field and lit it all up with the colours of an African sunset!
This Velvia 50 is good stuff!

Nikon f801s, Junky Quantarray 35-80 zoom, Fuji Velvia 50, scanned with a CanoScan 5600F, edited in the GIMP.