Some of This and Some of That

Is it just me, and I know it's not because my husband feels the same way, but is Downton Abbey absolutely dreary this season.  Everyone's unhappy, and I don't like the way Lord Grantham is looking at the new maid.  It's so bad I'm looking to Thomas and O'Brian for comic relief and you know that's not right.
On a lighter note this week's Header Picture is one Mac copied from a card our daughter sent him a few years ago.  Though it doesn't show in the picture, hanging below the painting is an old rod and reel and some antique reels and lures.  Mac loves fishing.
I've been working on the railroad, all the live long day or at least painting the engine.  I decided to paint the engine red and gold and the rest of the train in green and gold.  So I've got the first coat on.
I'm trying to teach myself how to paint on glass  and this little vase is my first real attempt.  I did a little candle holder earlier, but I didn't really know what I was doing.  This turned out a bit better.  What I read says I need to bake it or let it air dry for 21 days.  Given my past experience with putting glass in the oven (I blew up a dish in my new oven) I think I'll air dry it.

I'm supposed to be cleaning bathrooms today and I've avoided it as long as I can so I guess I had better get going

DISASTER!!!!

The table in happier days

The lovely library table and the painting in my entryway were out of alignment, so I straightened the painting and pushed the table a little bit.  Disaster struck!  The table literally fell apart and everything on it went crashing to the floor.  I was shell-shocked!  But I was lucky, other than a small blue and white dish that Mac says he can glue together, everything was ok.  Don't know why the table decided to fall apart, central heating is always a factor with old wood furniture.  Mac said that perhaps the last time we put it together (we always take it apart when we move) he might have  used screws that were too short and over time they worked their way our.  Right now the top is standing against the wall in the dining room and it's a solid chunk of wood, no veneer here, rather about 2 inches of solid oak.  We bought this table years ago in Germany from an antique dealer and we think it's probably from the 1920's.  So now Mac has an afternoon project, putting the table back together again and the little blue dish that broke.

The table now

Like new again

And he did get them put together very quickly, the table with longer screws and the dish with glue, so all is well again.

New Apron

Finished my new apron, made of denim, should be fairly durable.  Now I need a hook inside the pantry door so I'll have a place to hang it.

Sad But True

This is a little bear who lives in my laundry room, but it could be a picture of me.  I'm not very fond of housework, it's so repetitive and so unrewarding.  When you clean something it stays clean for moments only.  I'd rather make a mess than clean one, cook, sew, crochet, paint  anything but clean.
 Mac said he'd never realized how unrewarding housework until he retired a year a head of me and spent a lot of time taking care of the house.  He said no matter how well you did something or cleaned something you were just going to have to do it again, and again and again.
I finished up my Christmas apron and my small Christmas quilt that I will put on the back of my couch next Christmas.  No close ups, I made too many mistakes, but I enjoyed making it and I learned a lot.
I cut out my next apron,  the material is denim with little flowers.  A bit sturdier than the Christmas one I made.
Next on my "to do" list is to paint the wooden train I got for Christmas, not sure yet what colors I want to use.

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday was gloomy, foggy and busy, very busy.  Up at dawn or what passes for dawn for us, for as I've said before I am not a morning person, to go for a medical exam that involves smashing things and x-raying them.  That went well with results given within hours.
Then my new car had its 6 month check-up and oil change, free, part of the lease.  I've only put 1600 miles on it in 6 months which means I'm averaging around 266 miles a month.  Not bad when you consider we live out in the boonies and even the trip for yesterday's exam worked out to about 60 miles round trip.
While that was being done we did our morning walk and went for a fast food breakfast at Krystals, a place that specializes in square hamburgers, but also fixes a decent breakfast.  I'd never eaten at a Krystals before, and though it won't make my list of top places to dine, it was ok.  Except for giving me grits instead of hash browns.  You know you're a real southerner if you like grits, I blockaded them on one side of my plate and ignored them.
We then managed to get our grocery shopping done at the commissary, which was quite crowded with some actual shoppers, too many people with cups of coffee standing in the middle of the aisle staring at the rows of food as if they weren't quite sure what it was, and several semi-grownups blocking the aisles while staring at their phones.
Home by noon to medicate the cat who's doing much better.  I've finally learned how to hold her while Mac shoots the medication into her mouth, I wrap her in a towel so that she can't add to the network of scratches she's given me.  Though if looks could kill I would be in for some serious medical problems.

Today is beautiful, well up in the 70's with sunshine, so after our morning walk I went out to take some pictures in the yard.  My Camellias are finally blooming, all of my neighbors' have been blooming for months. They're all show and no smell, but I like them anyway, wish I had some white ones.

The Carolina Jasmine around the pool has been blooming for a couple of weeks.  It's usually the first plant to flower here.

The water in our lagoon is very low, over the last 2 years we've received 20inches  less rain than we should have and this year is not starting any better. Even so  I still enjoy the view.  In the 2nd picture, if you look very closely in the sunshine on the water you can see a load of fish who thought I was Mac coming out to feed them.

The next picture is of an orange tree that we grew from a seed, but not intentionally.  We were eating oranges outside day and throwing the seeds into the bushes. next to the steps.   Well last year we were pulling weeds out of the gardenia bush next to the steps and realized that one of the plants wasn't a weed, it was an orange tree.  So Mac dug it up and put it in a pot where it has done quite well.
Next are Mac's fava beans, also know as broad beans.  He planted them in November and we thought they'd just winter over and start producing in the spring, but winter has been so mild that some of them are starting to flower.  Who knows we may be eating beans much sooner than we expected.

I know this beautiful weather won't last, and in fact we're supposed to have highs only in the 50's by Sunday, but oh it's nice for now.

Lower Brockhampton

Lower Brockhampton a moated farmhouse in Shropshire is one of our favorite places in England and we have visited it several times.  We sat so long drawing and painting there one time that when they closed the place for the day  they left the gate open and told us to lock it when we left.  Mac painted this in about 1997.

Arm, Leg and First Born Child

I'm Worth Every  Penny of It.

Talk about expensive!  Miss Kitty has not been very well this last week , she frequrntly has trouble with hair ball and she keeps trying to throw up.  In addition she needed her shots and to get her flea medication so it was off to the vets this morning.  The vet thinks she might have an upper respiratory infection.  So she prescribed an antibiotic and prednesone for her to take for a week.  When it all added up I could have bought a small South American country with what it cost.  Hope this takes care of it or I'll be looking to hock a bunch of  cat toys.

Helen Allingham and English Gardens

Helen Allingham

Reading Rowan's post this morning (her site is Circle of the Year) about A.R. Quinton and his wonderful watercolors of a vanishing or vanished England reminded me of some of my books on the same subject.
Long before I ever visited England or even dreamed I'd go there I was given a book entitled The Country Garden of an Edwardian Lady, by Edith Holden which was first published in the 1970's and was my first introduction to water colors and a nature diary.  It made me want to see England and to paint, though that didn't happen for a while.















Then traveling in England I discovered the wonderful Victorian artist Helen Allingham.  Her beautiful watercolor paintings of rural England, the cottages and the people living there were so wonderful that I knew I had to try and paint some of them.  Though not very successful it only made me admire her paintings even more. Found in a used bookshop on one of our trips to England was a copy of The Happy England of Helen Allingham  by Marcus B. Huish and The Cottage Homes of England by Stewart Dick with illustrations by Helen.  I return to these books again and again for inspiration.

The Lesson

A modern book of the water color paintings that I bought in Moreton-in-the-Marsh a few years ago is Lesley Holmes A Cotswold Sketchbook.  We love the Cotswolds and always visit the art galleries and shops in each of the villages.  I'd seen this book in several of them and knew I had to have it.  I love her style of painting and have visited most of the places she has painted.  Another thing I like about her is that she has had no formal training and is entirely self-taught!  That gives me hope.

Along with a love of Victorian cottage paintings I developed a love of English Gardens and have always promised myself I'd manage to "grow" one some day.  Living first in the desert of southern California and now the swamps of coastal Georgia has made me make compromises but not give up hope of having this style of garden.

Three books that have inspired me about English gardening are "The Medieval Garden" by Sylvia Landsberg, English Herb Gardens with an introduction by Rosemary Verey, and best of all The Morville Hours by Katherine Swift the story of how Katherine Swift arrived at the Dower House at Morville in Somerset in the 1980's   to create a garden.  The book is divided into the hours of the Divine Office, Lauds, Prime,Terce, etc, and is the best garden book I've ever read, in fact after seeing it again it will have to go into my "to be read" pile of books.

I need to thank Rowan for reminding me of these books!

Addictions

Addictions come in all shapes and sizes and can  be a real problem to get rid of.  My younger sister is trying to beat her smoking addiction.  She has smoked since she was a teenager, but it is wrecking her health.  She has emphysema and was hospitalized with pneumonia and nearly died last year.  After that she managed to quit for 3 months.  Then she was hospitalized again just before Christmas with breathing problems  and she knew she had to try again.
I give her all the encouragement I can, I'm a former smoker, but I kicked the habit nearly 30 years ago.  It wasn't that hard for me, I was lucky.  Mac, a light smoker, quit with me and we learned how to do other things beside sit and smoke.
My sister says that even though the smoking is wrecking her health thinking about that hasn't helped her quit.  What's working for her right now is thinking about the money she's saving by not smoking.  It's an expensive habit.
I hope she can quit this time and that those around her who smoke, don't smoke near her.
As for me, I have an addiction that I've tried all my life to kick and still haven't managed. Not shopping, playing games, gambling or overeating, no  I bite my nails.  Not a life threatening habit, but one I'd sure like to get rid of.  It's not like cigarettes though, you have to go out of your way to get them, your fingernails are there all the time, tempting you.  Particularly when you're in the middle of a good book.  Crocheting which keeps my fingers busy helps, but I can't crochet all the time.  Others have told me that going for manicures helped them kick the habit, but I'm really not the manicure type.  I hope some day to lick this problem, but I'm not hopeful, addictions are exactly that addictive.

No, Not That Kind of Birdcage

One Down, 29 to Go

When we first moved into our house I was pleased that there were no pulls on the doors or drawers in our kitchen.  Our house in California had been  Spanish style and the drawers had  large wrought iron pulls that my clothes were always getting caught on and more than once I'd caught my ring on one and it felt like I was going to pull my finger off.
But after 8  years I realized that  I wanted pulls.  Not having them meant I was always getting drawers and doors dirty when I was cooking and reached out to open one.  And sometimes your hand would slip when you were trying to pull open a drawer and it hurt like the dickens.  So I've been looking for a style of handle that I liked and wouldn't cost an arm and a leg.  I found the style, it's called Birdcage, and I knew the finish I wanted, brushed nickle, what I didn't want was the $6-$8 that most places wanted for them.  I have 10 drawers and 20 doors in my kitchen, so I needed one with a reasonable price, which I finally found at Home Depot.  I bought one handle and brought it home to see if I liked it in my kitchen as well as I had in the store.  I did,  so Mac installed it today, now to slowly buy the rest of them because even at a reasonable price that's a lot of handles.

Yankees in Georgia Part Three

And now we get to the final return.  Mac retired from teaching (I talked him into teaching after we moved to California) in 2002 and I was planning on retiring in 2003 so it was time to find where we wanted to retire.  We were living in a small (50,000 people is a small town in California) town in southern California where we owned a beautiful house, but the town was desert-ugly.  If we stayed there we'd probably substitute teach to supplement our retirement and nothing much would change in our lives.  But we were missing our daughter badly, she had not liked California and had stayed only a few years before moving to Virginia and then Maryland.  We wanted to be closer to her but didn't know if we could deal with the snowy Maryland winters.  So we started thinking about Georgia, but didn't particularly want to go back to the Augusta area, and remembering how much we use to enjoy coming down to Savannah we decided to come down here and look around.
We were looking for a one-story house on a bit of land, what we ended up with was a gigantic two-story house on a lagoon near the Ogeechee River.  It was love at first sight for Mac when he walked out in the backyard here, realized he could fish morning, noon and night, and said this was the house he wanted.  I love the house too, though I wish it had fewer stairs.  We've been here 8 1/2 years now and still love it.
If you add up all the years we've lived in Georgia it comes to almost 16 years, longer than we've ever lived any where.
Will we always live in Georgia, probably not, we're closer to our daughter now and get to see her quite frequently, but as we grow older we know we want to be even closer to her, so we'll probably end up in Maryland, just not quite yet.