Domestic Life

"How terrible it must be not to see and feel beauty.... I'm so glad I can find happiness in all lovely little things... It seems to me that every time I look out of a window the world gives me a gift.” 
― L.M. Montgomery, Mistress Pat

For some reason, 5 days without power has unleashed some kind of inner Martha Stewart.  Oh sure, the seeds were already sown with the painting of the sitting room (and the still unpainted dining room and hallway - thanks to Arthur, I await my painter still), but for some reason, having no running water and electricity made me want to de-clutter and clean!

In the last three days, I have done just that.

My fridges have never sparkled so... It turns out they are ESPECIALLY easy to de-clutter and clean when everything has been thrown out...

I've washed all my cupboards.

Decided I needed to reorder my cookbooks and make a little tea corner.

Polished all the silver.

Brought out some colourful dishes I had that I thought needed to be used everyday

Threw a pool party for 10 people

Just before the guests arrived and pre spilling of a whole plate of watermelon for which the ants were ever so thankful..

Mostly, I am just loving electricity and puttering around the house and property...

The new front door is in place and I look forward to the day when the virginia creeper creeps back around...

The Astilbe is replacing the peony now.  I can't seem to get enough of it; I am quite mad for the lace-like fronds..

And I wander around the house in little jersey dresses and bare feet...

Really, it is quite nice.

Will any of you be watching the world cup finale tonight?  I bought Argentinian wine so I think you know which way I am leaning...  And despite my love of the Dutch team, one can't help but feel badly for Brazil who has come in 4th.

And finally, a new book recommendation:

The book tells the story of two young people - one French, the other German - during World War II and the events that lead their characters together.  It is just brilliant and I loved it so much I read it in the dark with a flashlight when the power was out!

Hope you have a fantastic day!  Stay safe out there! xoxo wendy

Sew Much Fun!

I haven't had a sewing machine since around 1988.  When I grew up we had a (very) old singer sewing machine, circa 1950s I think.  It was a beast to lift and to sew with and the bobbins were always getting tangled.

editorial aside: even as I wrote bobbin, I had only a modest level of certainty that what I was describing was, in fact, a bobbin.  When I checked online, I was right.

In my early twenties, my friend Joyce bought a new sewing machine and I inherited hers, which I used with great enthusiasm for about 6 years.

But I am feeling the siren call of sewing again.

I went to the local fabric shop in search of new curtains and was gobsmacked by the variety of materials.  In a giddy fit, I ordered new cushion covers to be made for my sitting room and bought new material to make fresh curtains for under my kitchen sink.

However, that material sits unsewn (well really, it's only been a week...) as I begin to look around at possible contenders for my new sewing machine.

I am unlikely to begin making my own clothing again, but one never knows, and so I am unsure as to how much sewing machine a person like me needs.  On the other hand, I see the beautiful things that Dina makes over at her blog My Superfluities and think "hmmmm"....

I mean how much fun to sew this and then make a matching opera coat?

Oh and I have a hankering to make slip covers for the tweed couch's cushions..

Do I need 30 kinds of stitches?  Do I need to spend hundreds of dollars or can I get a sturdy little machine for less than $200?

Mostly,  I want to be able to do the odd homekeeping task, clothing repair, etc. 

But I am kind of hankering after learning to sew again.  I was never a great sewer but now that I have time, I think it would be fun to try again!

So I would love any advice you might have about sewing machines!  And your experience if you are just getting back into sewing!

Thanks in advance!

The Aftermath of Arthur

It was supposed to be a sub-tropical storm for goodness sakes...

But Arthur made his was up the eastern seaboard, and the outer edges of the storm, the most violent winds and rain, hit our part of New Brunswick with full force and stayed stuck  there for hours.  By the time he left us, fully 90% of the people in our city had no power, including ourselves.  And since we are not on the city system, we also had no potable water or sewage.

There were massive lineups at gas stations and shops when they finally opened, everyone came to realize the importance of having some gas in your car, the need for a generator if these weather systems become more frequent (which they appear to be doing) and that if you can't find ice (almost no one could), you cannot eat the contents of your fridge very long.

After 5 days n this situation, we finally gained power last night.

There are still 25,000+ who are going into their 6th day without power.

The damage is everywhere.  Fredericton lost over 2000 trees alone, and the damage they created going down was horrible.  It is amazing that no one was hurt!

Trees were simply uprooted, as if one was pulling a carrot from the ground:

We lost 4 trees on our property and all of the contents of two fridges and freezers.  But thanks to good friends, we showered at others' houses who did have water and were able to eat out.

The biggest pain was that I was working on a small contract that required me to be writing a draft report and continually searched all of the city for WiFi hotspots.

And my back muscles have gotten considerably stronger with picking up the hundreds of huge branches that fell on our property.

I didn't mind a bit not having technology, so it was a nice enforced break!  

I have new appreciation for the lives of my grandparents and great-grandparents.  And like a good girl scout, I will be getting prepared for the next time..

More cheerful chatter tomorrow!  stay safe out there!

xoxo wendy

Vinegar fit for a Midsummer's Night Dream!

Adventures in flowers continue!

According to Wikipedia:

Vinegar is a liquid consisting mainly of acetic acid (CH₃COOH) and water. The acetic acid is produced by the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria.^[1] Vinegar is now mainly used as a cooking ingredient, but historically, as the most easily available mild acid, it had a great variety of industrial, medical, and domestic uses, some of which (such as a general household cleanser) are still promoted today.

How positively un-poetic!

I do love a vinegar - besides the basic white, so vital for cleaning, I have a whole stash of flavoured vinegar for cooking.

And while I adore a good champagne vinegar, my heart has, heretofore, belonged to balsamic vinaigrette, the older the better.

But thanks to Martha Stewart, vinegar is about to become a little more romantic...

In the July issue of Martha Stewart Living, Martha included a recipe for a lovely herb blossom vinegar:

Infuse distilled white vinegar with various herb blossoms, such as elderflower, chive, and Thai basil, to make vinaigrettes and sauces. First, fill a glass container half- way with washed, cut blossoms, then pour white vinegar to the top. Cover and store in a cool, dark place for three days. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, discard the blossoms, and pour the vinegar back into the bottle. It will have taken on the delicate taste of the herb, plus a blush color. Garnish with leftover herbs if you plan to serve immediately, but be sure to remove them before storing in a cool, dark place for up to a month.

Well of course I had to try it!

I will share the results in the next few days, but isn't that divine looking?

It looks like something that Puck would splash on his salad out in the woods while making mischief (or something that the Littlest Rascal might splash on those stinging nettles..)

Surely it will make the menu on some fairy romp in the back yard?

Really, a meal out of doors is the most divine aspect of summer.  It is often hard to achieve here without a bug net, thanks to the mosquitoes and black flies, but the mere thought of it makes me all happy inside, as per these images:

If these are too fancy for you, a picnic is always just the thing...

I will bring the vinegar!

Have a great day! and Happy 4th to my American friends!

Stay safe out there!

xoxo wendy

Some Things I am OBSESSED with these days and Canada Day (and Gigi's Birthday!)

Happy Canada Day!

147 years ago the True North Strong and Free came into being, and, if I do say so myself, it has been a pretty good run so far!

I am lucky to live in a (generally) peaceful country whose citizens, according to the latest poll, value our universal health care system and Charter of Rights and Freedoms over all else.  Yes, we are polite, but we are a good time at a party and we are kind.  We are not in your face, but we can go the distance.

It is hot here again today so we will likely swim and then head downtown this afternoon, where there is music and food a-plenty.

Happy Canada to my fellow Canadians!

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I am currently obsessed with some things that I feel the need to share!

The documentary Tim's Vermeer.

We stumbled upon this on apple TV on the weekend and were gobsmacked, it was so good!

The synopsis from the official website:

Synopsis

A Penn & Teller Film

Produced by Penn Jillette, 2013

Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did 17th century Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer ("Girl with a Pearl Earring") manage to paint so photo-realistically -- 150 years before the invention of photography? The epic research project Jenison embarks on to test his theory is as extraordinary as what he discovers.

Spanning eight years, Jenison's adventure takes him to Delft, Holland, where Vermeer painted his masterpieces, on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artist David Hockney, and even to Buckingham Palace to see a Vermeer masterpiece in the collection of the Queen.

This is part adventure/part mystery/part magnificent obsession/part genius in the best way possible and it made me so grateful that a) there are people like Tim in the world and b) Penn and Teller thought to make a documentary about it (and good documentarians they are, actually!).

I can't recommend this enough!

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I finally got around to reading The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert this past week.

Well, I read it over 2 days actually, because I was so caught up in the world that she has created out of one woman's seemingly small, and at times tragic, life.

We fall in love with Alma Whittaker from the get-go.  The book is sweeping, brilliant, and timeless in its storytelling.

This was sort of on my radar last year, but got lost in the accolades for The Luminaries, The Goldfinch and The Interestings.  This book belongs in that company, I am happy to say, and now that it is out in paperback, I highly recommend picking it up.  I cried my way through the last 15 pages, though I am a softy....

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FIFA World Cup

Until 2 weeks ago, I had never really watched soccer (or as the vast majority of the world knows it as, football, which makes a lot more sense to me and I nominate that american football be renamed carryball forthwith! No hate letters from American and Canadian football fans please!) except for the Canadian women at the last olympics.

To be fair, until this world cup, I had been too busy to be follow much in the way of sports, but I am obsessed, obsessed I tell you!  I love watching the play, love the fitness of the players, the almost operatic acting as they fall to the pitch.  It is my kind of game!

And I have a crush.  An unlikely bloke perhaps, but I loves him nonetheless:

Arjen Robben of Team Netherlands:

He is mesmerizing on the field, a looping Mercury on the pitch, weaving this way and that among dumbfounded opponents.  And while others tire as the match proceeds, he seems to dig deeper and deeper, finding unimaginable sources of energy to keep going.

It was always going to be Netherlands for me, and here's why:

In 2008, our family visited the Netherlands for the first time.  It was a pilgrimage of sorts; Barry's great-uncle had been killed in Germany, near the border with Arnhem, and was buried in the small village of Holten in the Netherlands (which is absolutely lovely by the way and worth a visit).  One evening we left our B&B on the outskirts of Arnhem and went to dinner in a lovely local bistro.  It was a gorgeous night and we were the only ones there.  We left the restaurant and wandered around the neighbourhood.  Not a person in sight.

For persons like ourselves, ever vigilant for zombie epidemics, it was eerie..

However, when we returned to the B&B, our host Jurgen explained that there was a euro match on and everyone was home watching.  Everyone.  I asked who the Dutch were playing.  "Oh we're not playing," he explained patiently.  "Germany is playing.  We all stay home to root against Germany."

That my friends, is dedication AND a grudge.

I could kind of relate to that..

And frankly, the Netherlands is the most lovely country I think I have been too, at least from a gardening perspective.  The Dutch are orderly and adore beauty and while I aspire to the former, I am completely besotted with the latter.

Now I need to find some orange before the quarter-finals....Hmm, wonder if any of our sports shops have a jersey...

Have a wonderful Canada Day and a special shout-out to Miss Gigi, who is celebrating a birthday today!

stay safe out there!  We stand on guard for thee!  xoxo wendy

The Peony

“The old cobbler had believed in something he called "the signature of all things"-namely, that God had hidden clues for humanity's betterment inside the design of every flower, leaf, fruit, and tree on earth. All the natural world was a divine code, Boehme claimed, containing proof of our Creator's love.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, The Signature of All Things

There is, at times, an advantage to being a few weeks behind everywhere else when it comes to gardening.  I can ooh and ahh over Rosemary's garden over at Share My Garden or Janet's at The Gardener's Cottage weeks, nay months, before my own blooms.

Even here in New Brunswick, I can see what's about to come into bloom in my own garden about two weeks sooner if I only go downtown.  So really, you get to enjoy the season that much longer.

In my little corner of the world, we are starting to slip into summer and what was a slow march to glory in the cooler June days has become a quick step, a dizzying paso doble, as one flower passes off the mantle of star to the other.

This week begins the week of the Peony.

The peony is almost everyone's favourite flower.

Unlike the rose, it is almost carefree (except for the two that need to be moved this summer as they will not bloom due to too much shade...), seems to get hardier and hardier and more prolific as the years pass and fills every vase to over-flowing...

I counted yesterday and I have 15 on my acreage, all in varying stages of coming into bloom.  I need more.  Can there ever be enough?

 The first to bloom is always my most dramatic beauty, the Queen, who is blessed with one of the few spots of full sun on our property:

What I love about peonies, besides the myriad of varietals available, is that every stage is equally lovely, from the tight balls of colour fairly straining to burst forth...

to the tentative unfurling...

to the show:

The peony is the showgirl of the garden, and she earns her keep.

While the Bachelor's Buttons are almost riotous in their display (look at me! look at me!), the peony just has to be.

And the peonies arrive in the nick of time, just after the snowball bushes are spent, evidence of their brief and glorious lives everywhere:

And while the bridal veil spirea have a very Anne of Green Gables sense about them...

and the Irises their stately disarray

There is only one plant in the garden right now that can compete with the peonies and that is BUTCH:

There is something so delightful about watching the garden unfold, week by week, day by day.  It is different every year and when you are sitting out in it, enjoying an ice tea and reading a good book, you are grateful for the hard work you've put into it.

Last night was hot and after watching a movie, we went out and sat in the gazebo, waiting for the fireflies to come out, which they did.  In the moonlight, my garden is a mysterious place, a place of secrets.  I cannot help but agree with the cobbler in the Elizabeth Gilbert quote above.  (BTW - I am reading and LOVING that book but more on that when I finish it!)

Summer is fleeting and we must enjoy it!

Some like a garden where the hand of art
Appears in every terrace, walk, and bed,
Where vases stand in even rows apart
And shrubs are taught symmetric shade to spread:
But little art I wish; enough for me
This garden where the flowers grow in sweet
simplicity.

Fair is each budding thing the garden shows,
From spring's frail crocus to the latest bloom
Of fading autumn. Every wind that blows
Across that glowing tract sips rare perfume
From all the tangled blossoms tossing there;
Soft winds, they fain would linger long, nor any
farther fare!

 ....

But sweeter far in this old garden close
To loiter 'mid the lovely, old-time flowers,
To breathe the scent of lavender and rose,
And with old poets pass the peaceful hours.
Old gardens and old poets, happy he
Whose quiet summer days are spent in such sweet
company!
-John Russell Hayes, The Old Fashioned Garden

 Have a lovely Sunday and: GO NETHERLANDS!!!!!!!

The Decorating Muse - What's Yours?

My last post on lightening my colour palette has begat this post on what gets us going when we decorate.

I am no decorator.  While I have had help from time to time (see: coral debacle), 90%+ of our home is my vision, for good or bad.

My taste is like me - a collection of bits and bots, whims, fancies, tricks of light.  There is nothing prized except the art work in terms of value and the antiques because they are all family heirlooms.

I do not know really know decorators except for Canadian Sarah Richardson, Nate Berkus and Elsie deWolfe.

When I see others in your blogs and in the magazines I do pay attention, but I must be honest: I have pedestrian taste.  I cannot afford, nor would my good Scot blood allow, most things I see.

And actually, I am quite content with that, most of the time, though I admit to wishing I better understood principles of design, as it would no doubt hold me in good stead.  At present, when something works it is almost always accidental.   And when something bothers me, I cannot explain why it bothers me except it makes my stomach hurt, similar to bad writing and too many cheesies.

Often what starts me down a road is something that is kind of quirky.

This early 1960s toy kitchen (I had the yellow version)

and my parent's canisters from the same era

led to my kitchen:

And as much as the soothing blues have inspired me to paint the dining room, so too has the portrait of my mother in her blue sweater as a young girl:

old picture and excuse the mess!

As an aside, many of you will recall that My mom and her younger brother Barry (!) grew up with Donald Sutherland and were very good friends with him.

Sadly she never got to meet him again after he went Hollywood, which I think was always sad for her in some ways, and kind of a relief in others.  I was thinking of them the other day when I saw this preview for the next Hunger Games movie:

Donald just chews up the scenery in the best way possible in these movies!

But I digress....

Every Ralph Lauren lifestyle ad I've ever seen inspired me to paint our library a deep navy.

A sweater I have inspired the peacock-coloured walls of my bedroom:

As funds and time allow, we "upscale" a bit - get the better lamp, a window that actually opens and closes, trade in the old thing for something a little finer.  But generally, there is nothing fancy here and though I am often inspired by the nesting magazines I read, I do not always see myself in them because their spaces seem too perfect, too staged for my lackadaisical tendencies.  Even as I sit here writing this in my office I am looking down at an old business card I dropped three days ago by my feet and I notice the extension cord that needs to be wrapped up and put away.  

And if I tell the truth, I am most taken with spots with lots of imperfection, lots of character.  The dent for me is as interesting as the piece itself.  I am fascinated by what people collect and bare walls make me nervous; I feel they would swallow me whole!

So I would love to hear about what starts you decorating and how you choose your styles and colour schemes?  Do you copy many things?  Do you get help?  Please share!

Have a lovely evening and stay safe out there, especially all intrepid travellers!

xoxo wendy