Rustled pears...revisited.

This was the work in progress, last week, at attempting to bring a bit of the outdoors in....I was having guests for brunch and wanted a little decor to accompany the food...twigs and a few green branches from our woods...

....I had envisioned some tiny pears, still on the branch, to finish off the arrangement......luckily I found just the abandoned pear tree on one of the country roads near my home...

.....the treasured, vintage French cookbook, below, under glass, was purchased at Refuge, my favourite home decor store, owned by Liz Hawley in Niagara on the Lake...

It was pouring rain, when I saw the Bosc pear tree by the side of the road....but my garden clippers are always in the trunk.....I was totally drenched, but not deterred....

.....our country roads yield an abundance of material for anyone looking for some natural beauty to decorate with, especially this time of year....wild grapevines, gorgeous rose hips, wild sumac (beware of poison sumac!) and colourful twigs and gnarled branches....

....I rarely buy seasonal decorations, but rely on what I have at hand, or in the garden....

This vintage, Mason soup tureen, the pattern Friarswood, I filled with moss from the garden, kale, and some small gourds recycled from a prior fall scheme....

I love beautiful, floral fall bouquets, of any kind.....but my material of choice is simple, natural elements found in Nature.......enjoy this glorious time of year.....N.xo

I have recently, grudgingly switched to Google+....my follower list has disappeared...if you wish to receive new posts just register by email, at the top of my sidebar :/

September of my life.....

September is birthday month around here....mine, my cousin Mary's, my husband's..... Our anniversary....I love this time of year...

.....the lower terrace late this afternoon.....

I feel a kinship with the Earth, Mother Nature....these days....her groaning bounty of goodness you see at every fruit stand, the grapevines laden down, the bunches waiting to be harvested...peaches, nectarines and pears, all ready for preserves or just juicy enjoyment!

 

My own garden, offering up bursting blooms of faded hydrangeas, in just the perfect colours..the Japanese anemones, always flawless and abundant....

....fuelling my imagination with woodsy, earthy settings of Mother Nature's priceless gifts to us....

 

...from my Pinterest board Garden Views....

I begin to feel the urges of hunting and gathering...much like the squirrels and chipmunks outdoors...

I begin to bake and cook....above a lemon torte in the making...

.....and a chocolate hazelnut version of the same.....

 

 

Readying the house for cooler months with soft furnishings, pillows and throws....these 24" cushions were sewn with vintage curtain panels and trimmed in bottle brush fringe....they cozy up the wicker side chairs to our French refractory table in the new dining/mini conservatory.....

.....and thinking ahead to the holidays, yes, just a few months away!!

 

....our Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated the first weekend in October.....yes!!

I've got a bit of a jump on cleaning up in the garden....and actually finding the time and inspiration to do a bit of decorating....

This Grey Ghost pumpkin fills in the gap, where more Greek oregano used to thrive in an outdoor urn...

....and indoors...

....still working on the vintage flower basket.....thinking of adding branches of green pears as soon as I can rustle some up!!

...ornamental kale and pumpkins pair well together for a simple arrangement on a bed of moss....because

I am an incurable collector, I try to keep things simple...

...a local grower just down the road grows these perfect, white Cinderella pumpkins....I believe they are called Boer pumpkins....

 

....a late fall afternoon in the garden.....

...with every warm, sunny day left, I still want to be outdoors...here in Jordan, our grape harvest is in full swing...driving down our country roads with the windows down, you can smell the grapes on the vine, hear the bangers constantly, trying to keep the birds away from the grapes needed for ice wine....not harvested till January.......Mother Nature is in the last stages of her glory, ripe and bountiful.....beautiful and satisfied.......life is good.

N.xo

The second picture in this post, is from the beautiful blog French Kissed....

 

Just when you're not looking.....

It has been a crazy summer, in so many ways! Things were just getting nicely back to some degree of normal...we could see a path in the garage and carriage house, where boxes used to be...furniture piled high, waiting to be allocated a new spot, was finding it's back into the newly renovated spaces....

....a challenge at times, but taking on a bit of fun, finally!

The two " floribundas love seats, recovered in inexpensive cotton duck, and two bedroom chairs, previously covered in yellow damask, now nicely ensconced in the open kitchen/great room, in green pastoral toile...I had the fabric squirrelled away for approximately three years, waiting for my vision of this room to come together...

 

I am still undecided about a stove back.....so a small, vintage painting of sheep, is softening this space....

Yep....sheep, pigs, cows are on my mind, at the moment!!

A little peek in the corner, of a lovely vintage etching of cows on the river Wye....on the end wall of the new kitchen....I just can't help myself here....my husband is just shaking his head, wondering where this is going!!

 

The stacked stone fireplace, also hides the TV, behind beadboard doors, on a sliding, barn door type hinge....perhaps this is contributing to my barnyard mentality decor of late !! Really, my aim is towards a mix of country English and French?? Anyhow, things were moving along nicely, when just two weeks ago a severe, severe thunderstorm, flash flood hit the Niagara region. Our area received over ten inches of rain in less than two hours....because of a power black out for eight hours, our two sump pumps became disabled, and our entire NEWLY renovated lower level was flooded....we had everything sitting in 10 inches of water...

The dumpster is back!

 

....and so are the boxes! I truly believe, that all this erratic weather is due to global warming, and how we are responsible for what is happening to our planet, globally...I think it will be something we cannot easily fix and a way of things to come, at least in my lifetime...

 

In the meantime, while we wait for estimates, insurance adjusters and quotes, the garden has provided a refuge...always there for me to regroup, think and collect my thoughts...it has been an amazing summer for hydrangeas...the rains and cooler temps are perfect for them to flourish...

 

Lace caps...

...and mop heads, from potted Easter hydrangeas which I stuck in the garden, left to their own devices, growing after several years of patiently waiting...

 

Potted caladiums below, loving our shady terrace...

 

 

Perhaps, my favorite...oak leaf hydrangeas...

...so it appears, when we are feeling the most happy, grateful and possibly fulfilled....a new challenge or bump in the road arises....

.....very insignificant here, in the grand scheme of things....precisely that....they are just things, that will be fixed and replaced....perhaps placing to much importance on it......God trying to tell me something?

 

I'm not sure what that is at the moment...but with summer moving on rather quickly, I have my hands full again...Pinterest has my undivided attention, whilst I search for ideas for new laundry rooms, built ins and family room inspiration..

I hope all of you are enjoying the last days of summer, I appreciate all of your comments and responses to my very infrequent posts over the last year......it is heartwarming when I see you in my inbox, and truly is a highlight of my day...

N.xo

 

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Roses in trees.....

Roses in trees....

 

A few weeks ago, I came across a very idyllic photo, which left me with my jaw gaping...it was a photo of Sophie Loren's garden in her Roman villa, photographed in 1964, for Life magazine.....roses growing through gnarled old trees with an understory of grazing sheep... perfection!

 

 

This was all the inspiration I needed to trellis my roses....why not tree branches instead of the standard iron tuteurs or cages commonly used to corral arching canes and heavily laden bushes....I was on a mission!

Luckily, living in the woods affords an abundance of fallen tree material....I love the look of cherry tree bark and branches....they have just the right texture for the delicate roses....soooo, we drove some reinforcing iron rods into the soil and attached the beautiful cherry branches....there were some very skeptical looks and arguments in the process...but I was not to be swayed!

 

Here, if you look closely, the iron rod is holding the cherry branch securely against the rose bush...

 

 

 

 

 

Cinderella Fairy, attached to a fallen, cherry tree branch.....

Like most gardens, the roses wait for no one...their first blush is a fleeting glimpse of beauty, whose questionable longevity is subject to sun, wind and rain....

I finally scored Pierre de Ronsard from Palatine Roses this Spring....looking beautiful after just a few months in my garden....yes!

In the kitchen...

 

Trying to capture them indoors....for a bit.

 

 

....and a little bit longer on some sap buckets....

Till next time....I hope I can post a bit more often, but I do visit my blog friends when I have some down time, between gardening and unpacking boxes!!!

N.xo

 

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