Indiana Christmas at Home

It has been MONTHS since I have blogged, and I am duly ashamed of myself.  I am not even sure why!  Anyway, I resolved to go through the house and take pictures of the Christmas decorations and show you some things here.

It is such a beautiful and special time of the year.  Lights twinkle everywhere, and people seem just to be happier for some reason.  The hustle and bustle....packages .... children all excited .... stunning music .... the word that comes to mind is 'twinkling.' Everything seems to twinkle.  Houses smell like cookies in the oven.  Outside is the aroma of woodsmoke.  

This morning, it was so COLD and the radio reports were warning people not to go out because it was snowing lightly over a sheet of ice that had formed last night.  Scary.  I stayed in, much to my disappointment.  When I trudged down to the mailbox yesterday, it was so treacherously slippery that I ended up taking baby steps wherever I could find some crunchy snow. I was reminded of Tim Conway and his hilarious skits with Mrs. Wiggins!!!!  That pretty much clinched it in my mind not to go out today, especially with warnings over the media not to venture outside.

 This darling tin house, lighted inside with a fragrant candle was a gift from a former next-door neighbor.  We have both since moved, but thankfully, we keep in touch.

Precious little live poinsettia was also a gift from a dear friend at church.  It seems to add just the right bright touch to the arrangement in the front hallway.

 I tried to catch the snow falling this morning that looked exactly like thousands of miniature diamonds falling from the sky.  Sparkling.  This photo only looks like specks, but believe me, it was magical.  I tried again with the photo below, but the snow flakes still only looks like white fuzz in the picture!

 Knitting daughter made all kinds of ornaments 40+ years ago.  I cherish these.  She was just learning how to knit!!!  This, in the event you don't recognize it, is a star.

 And Beekeeper daughter made dozens of shrink art (remember that?) ornaments that go proudly on the tree every year these 40+ years.  Love them.

 Of course, Brownie, who has been in the family for generations, is well loved and makes his appearance every Christmas.  This year he stands guard beside the mantle clock.

 Absolutely wouldn't be a truly trimmed tree without the elementary school ornament with the glitter and photograph!

 More shrink art creations.

 This is Wally's second Christmas, and he is very good about not 're-trimming' the tree.  He just makes cuddly beds under the tree and dreams out the window at all the critters and fluttering birds.

Another knitted bell creation.

Wally is good about leaving the tree alone (other than making a bed under it) but he has a love of strings, ribbons, pieces of fabric, and even has a favorite 'toy' that is basically a large piece of felt scrap.  So, rather than take a chance that he would try to eat ribbon and get himself in an intestinal emergency situation, I have been keeping all the wrapped presents on the dining room table and cabinet tops.

A gorgeous hand crafted ornament from a real artist friend.  I love it.

A fresh bright arrangements for the library glass door.

I will close with the newest watercolor.  I liked the colors so I bought a cheap frame at Michael's and hung it in the kitchen.

I resolve to blog AT LEAST once a week and to keep in touch, take more photographs, and share with you the love of home and family.  It isn't a Christmassy picture, but it is bright and happy.... good things!

Merry Christmas and love to each of you,
Janet

English Garden - in Indiana

Year Two in the Garden

This is the second summer for the backyard garden.  It is beginning to fill in and fill out!  Several new plants have been added, as well as a little stone pathway to make it easier to walk through, pick flowers, and weed.  Always the weeds!!!!!  

It is far from ideal, but I thought you might like to see pictures of the garden and the beehive as they are this year.  Presently it is terribly hot and humid, so spending time tending the plants is not a pleasant task.  I've been staying inside more than is good for garden growth, but I am hoping the heat spell will break, and I can get back out there and do some pruning and weeding and possibly some moving and transplanting of things that may do better in another spot.

The above photo is a Passion Flower, an unusual vine I have always liked.  I was able to locate one at the local nursery here and planted it along a little iron fence on the side of the house.

I also splurged this year and purchased two of the David Austin Heirloom roses.  Graham Thomas and Abraham Darby were the two I selected - extremely fragrant with very abundant full blossoms.  Here is a little bouquet from the first picking of these roses.  So far, they are doing well.

Blackberries are getting ripe - plump, juicy, tasty!

I will close with Wally sitting on the windowsill, one of his favorite viewing spots!!!!

Stay cool.  Enjoy the summer.  Blessings!

Janet

April in Indiana

April is here!  More from the pages from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

I thought I would just share some recent photos of place settings, Easter table flowers, a small luncheon tea party, the kitty in the sun, a quilt in the making, and various little things around the house.  

There is just no place I would rather be than here in my pretty little home and yard. Baking, cooking, arranging flowers, keeping the house clean and shopping for groceries, planning menus, working in the yard, having friends in to share a dinner.  I just enjoy it all.  An old throw-back to the previous generation, I suppose.  I am so thankful to have the resources to be retired and enjoy all the fruits of years of work and saving and planning.

Lately, I have been playing all our old favorite Cd's.  Tony Bennett's greatest hits, Robert Goulet, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, some of the musical shows like South Pacific, Sound of Music and Oklahoma ..... good romantic poetry put to music.  Makes me happy - grateful for all the married years we shared and being young and in love. Such good memories.  So many people these days don't have lasting marriages, and this makes me very sad indeed. I have been blessed.  It wasn't easy, but nothing worthwhile is easy, is it?  I am grateful and determined to make this chapter of my life a happy one too.  It's hard and lonely being by myself, but there are very good things too.  

Anyway, below are some pictures of various things around the house.  I hope you enjoy them.

First of all, the quilting group has been saving all our scraps.  Wonderfully Kind has been laboriously and lovingly cutting them into six-inch long pieces of various widths.  Little Miss Witty helped scale a design and graph it out so we could begin constructing the 'scrappy' quilt.  We plan to donate the finished product to charity.  After a Sunday afternoon of sewing and sewing and sewing some more strips together, Constantly Joyous, Wonderfully Kind and I began to construct and lay out the design to see if it would work.

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Blessings,

Janet