The Last Day of June 2014

I haven't posted on my blog since June 8th.  The best of intentions ran afoul of a busy life and a total lack of organization.  I'm not sure what it is but I seem to get a lot less accomplished since I retired.  Really, I finished more projects when I was working full-time.  I'm hoping that I can bring some organization and scheduling to my life so I can actually finish something.

I've been working in my garden a lot but not a single area is completely finished.

There's been a lot of dinners and lunches out with friends.  A fun lunch at Ashburnham Ale with two of my terrific nieces, Brittney and Morgan.  Several lunches with friends and former co-workers....a lovely dinner with my Mom, my cousin, Chris from Narragansett and her mother, Dot at The Original Greek restaurant.  I love Greek food.  

Two dinners and a breakfast at my best friends' farm.  Last Saturday, Deb and Lantz invited me to their family BBQ weekend (I'm an honourary aunt).  It was a great weekend....I borrowed camping equipment from my nieces and slept in a tent for the first time since I was a kid.  It was a great time...great people, great food, margaritas and beer and lots of lovely fresh country air.  I love farms so much!  Here are some pictures that Lantz' sister Sharon took.

Tomorrow is Canada Day but there won't be any rest for the wicked.  My sister, Cathy is coming from Chatham on Friday to stay for a week so I need to get a few things done around here before I'm ready for company.

Julie

One of My Favs: Aiken House and Gardens

One of my very favourite bloggers is Carolyn over at Aiken House and Gardens.  Her blog is full of beautiful romantic water-colour views of a life I can only dream of.  It takes my breath away.  She lives in the prettiest province of Canada, Prince Edward Island.  Yes, exactly, the land of Anne of Green Gables....

I loved my childhood trip to PEI and we brought back a big jar of red sand from the beach, speckled with teeny tiny white shells.  That jar stood in the basement until my parents sold the house upon retirement.  I used to love running my fingers through the red sand.

Welcome to Carolyn's garden...

Just look at the perfection of it.  I've been out in my garden all afternoon and barely made a dent in the weeds.  I know the work and the love that goes into this masterpiece.

I want to wake up here..

I want to drink my morning coffee here...

I want to curl up here with a hot cup of tea and a pretty magazine...

Carolyn makes everything pretty and cosy and welcoming.  She loves beautiful linens and dishes.  Two things we have in common. but her display skills are extraordinary.

I can never get enough of transferware!

A quilt as a tablecloth...I'm in heaven.

Have a seat...dinner's almost ready.

After dinner, let's take a walk down to the water...

If you've had a hard day and you just want to escape to someplace peaceful where you can steady your breath,  click here and be transported.

Bye for now from Carolyn's sweet granddaughter and favourite garden assistant.

Julie

PS Make sure you check out Carolyn's books and her Pinterest site - very fabulous.

R.I.P. Lucy

Julie

One of my Favs: Muddy Boot Dreams

The thing that first drew me to Muddy Boot Dreams was the name of the blog.  What a great visual it gave me.  Living in the country, enjoying all the seasons, gardens, flowers, animals...all those lovely romantic visions that I associate with dreaming of a country life.  That's what the title meant to me and I found all that and more.

Oh the photography...it is simply breathtaking and I am so impressed and so jealous.  This is something I would like to be good at but I know that I'll never measure up to Jen.  It would be totally worth spending time on Jen's blog if all you ever did was look at the pictures but take the time to read her prose.  She is intelligent, insightful, funny and entertaining all at once.

She has the cutest cat Bootsie (although Boo may not like being called cute).

I'm a sucker for a gorgeous cat and Boo has that claim to fame.  I'm sure we can all agree with that.

Jen's garden is beautiful too and I aspire to have one this pretty.  Just look!

Jen is Canadian as well but lives in British Columbia.  This is an area of the country that I'm not familiar with so I love reading about the differences and the similarities.  She makes winter look like a place you want to be and I'm not a big snow bunny,

See what I mean???  Zip on over and pay Jen a visit and you'll be glad to meet another denizen of our blog "village".

Julie

Working in the Garden and My First Strawberry

The last few days have been fine in the Peterborough area and I have been working in the garden.  I'm half done the veg garden so no pictures yet.  As for the rest of my time, well I've been waging war with gout weed that has taken over my back gardens.  Right now I'm working on the left side and the violets and the gout weed take a long of time to decimate.  With my arthritis, it is a slow slog.

So instead, I'm going to show you some pretty pictures from the Greenhouse on the River.

I love the greenhouse in the spring...the smell and the humid warmth and the green lushness.

I always wanted a little one of my own.

I bought a cute little strawberry plant to hang by my sunroom.  Hoping to get to the strawberries before the birds do but I won't begrudge them a bite.

See that bright red strawberry...it was delicious!

Happy Tuesday!

Julie

One of my Favs : Mockingbird Hill Cottage

I am going to start a new feature on my blog on Sundays called One of my Favs and I'm going to introduce you to bloggers I follow and why I love them so.

We are starting with the lovely Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage.

She lives in the sweetest little cottage...

with her lovely and talented husband, Don...

and their beautiful girl, Scout

Claudia's blog is a slice of life blog and they are always the ones I enjoy the most.  We've been talking about the naked niche lately and Mockingbird Hill Cottage fits that to a tee.  While there are some topics that recur (like her wonderful posts about renovating and decorating a dollhouse), Claudia gives you a new glimpse into her life every day.  It isn't long before you feel like her BFF.  She has such a warm and welcoming way about her that you feel like she's just ushered you in for a hot chocolate or cold lemonade, depending on the season.  You have a cuddle with Scout and hear about the garden and her latest job and what lovely piece she has picked up for one of her collections.  You look over the book she's reading and the quilt she's working on and if Don isn't away on an acting job, he may wander in with his guitar to sing you a song he wrote.

This is a house and a blog full of love and creativity and it's become an essential part of every morning for me.  If you haven't met Claudia yet, wander on over and feel the love.

xo

Julie

The Garden is Beckoning

When I got up this morning and sat in the sunroom with my coffee, the view of the garden filled my heart with joy.

Everything is so lush and green!

And there's a lot of work to do but I'm inspired!

Looks like the garden fairy has left the building and the door open!  Unless it was a squirrel..

Julie