Fabulous Find

Love at first sight.  I'm not sure what time period this teapot comes from, forties or fifties.  It's so unusual, so unique and so large.

It seems rather appropriate as we head towards autumn when all the geese start to congregate and some head south.

Well two things came together love and money, yes it was the right price too, so all came into alignment.

Large teapots always remind me of camping with my parents.  Mum had a huge brown enamel teapot we used to brew tea up in.  Dad always had a pint mug of tea. so one pot did us all.  Happy memories.

Christy

Update On My Garden After All This Rain

My garden is running riot with all this rain.  The cleome has seeded itself in many areas, such as in front of my Simla room sliding doors.  As you see Tink likes to accompany me.

One of my garden disappointments this year is the dying of my weeping pussy willow;  which for so many years did so well.  But this spring it did not come back very well after winter and with the drought most of the summer it just died.  I don't think it will come back.  I'm thinking of replacing it with a giant hosta, leaving room for the Japanese maple to spread.

I can't keep up with the wisteria growth.

With working full time and then all the rain it's hard to keep up with everything.

The boy cuts the grass, but it hasn't been dry enough to do so.

Christy

Orchid Came Back To Life

My beautiful orchid which a friend bought for me several months ago and was glorious for a while and then seemed to go downhill.  Well I thought let me put it out in the garden near the hedge where there will be some shade.  I watered it regularly and then nature watered it very regularly, drowning it every time.

Well I thought they didn't like too much water, but it seems to have thrived in this environment.  I'm glad I never cut back the main stem, because a new shoot came out of the old stem and then put forth eight, yes eight new buds.

Before the hurricane on Saturday I decided to bring it indoors and that's were I have it now.  But I don't think I'll go back to watering it with one eggcup full a day, it seems to thrive on much more.

I'm enjoying it's glorious over the top beauty.

Christy

P.S.  Orchids always remind me of Geogia O'Kefge

The Aftermath

Well it seems for us hurricane Irene was a storm in a teacup, but for others, things were not good and it seems that Vermont really got hit and they weren't even mentioned as being in the path of the storm early on.

We did not even loose power so that was great.  It did rain and rain.  During a hurricane the rain seems to fall so differently to everyday rain.  It seems to fill every space as it falls, denser and coming from every direction.  It was fairly windy it kept coming and going in gusts and then would die down and pick up again.

After two days at home not doing too much I decided that I'd better accomplish something.  So I cleaned my sitting room floor and some dusting.

Tinkerbell is a naughty little cat, she thinks the Chinese rug is her special wee patch right on one of the corners.  She just will not stop.  I just couldn't keep up with her and I can't seem to stop her.  So decided to take the rug up and put it in the garage until such times as I can afford to have it cleaned.  Rob helped me carry it out.  Now I have bare wood floors which I scrubbed up and one long rug in front of the sofa which I took from the upstairs hallway and it's just enough to make it look not too bare.

So the room seems fresher and I don't have to feel irate at that naughty, naughty cat, who if she was not so cute and sweet natured I'd send her to the knackers yard.

I also washed the covers to my large sofa cushions we sit on.  I still have to wash the back ones. but those I have to unpick and then sew back up again.

I did get on my blog Lil Bit Brit Lit and wrote up some reviews on books I've read this summer.

Christy

I Guess We're Ready For Hurrican Irene

 

Went into the garden and folded up the umbrellas and put them in the shed.  Picked my tomatoes, some greens and my gladioli, so they wouldn't get smashed.

Cooked up a meal, of sausage and greens, we will have that over pasta with tomato sauce.  Cooked potatoes for potato salad, filled up some water containers.  Bought some cat food and an extra gallon of milk for tea, that would be a total disaster if we did not have enough milk.  Tea calms my stress.

It's 4:30 PM and the wind is picking up just a bit.  It's been dull all day and sprinkling. 

The convention was cancelled and all transit systems in NYC and Philly are closed down. This is the first time in my memory that they have closed down everything. So we will see.

Christy

P.S.  Do you like my little flask?  It was a gift from a friend which I love it's just right for packing.  Hubby put it in the dish washer and half the decals came off on one side.  What to do I was most disappointed, so I bought some more decals and stuck them on, flower and camping emblems, just right.

Test Shots The Boy Has A New Lens

These are some test shots the boy took this morning with the new lens he bought for his dad's Sony camera.

Waiting for Irene, that's Hurricane Irene.

Christy

Hurricanes and Earthquakes

Well this will be a memorable week.  One earthquake and One hurricane Irene.  Do you think prophecy is being fulfilled?

Christy

Earthquake - Tuesday 23rd August 2011

Well today we had an earthquake,it was about 1:55 PM local time. Yes can you believe that, in our area?  Well actually yes I can.  Between 5.8 and 6.0 on the Richter scale.  I was at me desk at work and everything started shaking.  We've had a lot of construction going on in our building but almost instantly I knew it was more than that.  I went into the main office and said "I think it's can earthquake" of course what did I do?  Nothing, now that's a bit silly.

The epicenter I believe was 90 miles south of Washington DC, and was felt up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

Well that's enough excitement  for one day.

Christy

Kniiting In Tuscany. by Nicky Epstein

This book caught my eye at the library.  And even though I'd rather crochet than knit, it caught my eye.

Well knitting in Tuscany, what fun, what pictures and what's not to appeal to a girl.

It's full of lovely item's to knit, yarn shops and restaurants to visit there, with a backdrop of Tuscan scenery.

I love Tuscany and especially Sienna, so shot that page to show.

I love this shawl in yellow it seems to reflect the light of Tuscany.

Christy

High Wages. by Dorothy Whipple

I got this book from the library, it came all the way from the Oswego Lake Library, doesn't that conjure up some rather picturesque images in your mind.

Actually one year when Rob was about eight we took a trip up to Canada, past the One Thousand Island in the St. Lawrence River.  We camped at a State Park campground on this Lake Oswego, in New York State.  It was a very nice campground, with some sites right on a sandy beach by the lake.  Quite sort after I'm sure.

High Wages set before and after the WWI  Is about a young girl who works in a haberdashery, where people would come and buy all the things they would need and then send to the dress maker to have a costume made up.  It gives a full picture into the life of a shop girl then, living on the premises and being over frugally kept by the shop owner.

This was the time when ready made dresses and clothes were just becoming available.  Jane sees that this will catch on and dressmakers will be a thing of the past.  A kindly benefactress lends her the money to set up a shop of her own.

There are two love interests.  The ever faithful Wilfred and Noel, good looking and from the upper class.

I did enjoy this book, it gives you a wonderful insight into a shop girls life then, moves along at a good pace and has a satisfactory ending.

Of course you could probably tell by the grey cover and inside frontispiece that this is a Persephone Book.  I always love their face cover designs which they choose from the era of the book.

There is a forward by Jane Brockett.

Christy

Made In Staffordshire

When I saw this plate in the Thrift, I couldn't pass it by.  I've never seen a commemorative plate for Norristown.  150 years Sesquicentennial, and I never knew that word; which obviously means 150.  Plus the fact it was made in Staffordshire in the sixties.  And at $3.00 why not.

It commemorates how the town used to be. 

Christy

Glad For My Gladioli

 

Here are some single blooms of Gladioli from my garden, with Rosemary and Sage in a crystal vase.  I love being able to use a single bloom and sit it in my kitchen near the sink where I can enjoy it.  The gladioli are blooming one by one.  Even though all planted at the same time, they seem to be staggering out a bloom here and there over an extended period of time.  I thought I would have a glorious show, but instead of that I have a bloom here and there, so I cut it and enjoy it in the house.

It has done nothing but rain and thunder since August started.  The garden is taking on a jungle type growth of greenery and the lawn is totally out of control.  The flowers if not felled to the ground are enjoying the continued watering.

I put my orchid outside and it sprouted eight blooms so I will have to keep an eye on that.

Enjoy your gardens.

Christy

Fran's Victorian Room

This is Fran's Victorian Room, isn't it lovely?  She decked one room in her house out like this.  This is Rosie's mum's house, where the graduation was held.  You can see me in the mirror and the kitchen is behind me.

Christy