Welcome to Christmas at Rose Water Cottage

I cannot believe all that has taken place since my last post.
Where do I even begin?

Okay...so let's see....

I finished the bookmarks for sister-in-law, and her ladies' retreat was a huge success...

My book, Eliza Visits Martha's Vineyard, is off to the publisher, Vineyard Stories, on Martha's Vineyard (we should have a wonderful little hardcover book by next Spring)..

We celebrated Halloween by trick or treating with a little ballerina...

...who has a passion for playing the piano...in a hat...

My son Matthew married his Jenny under the Hunter's moon...

in October...
and words cannot describe what an incredibly beautiful event this was...

and my dear husband saw to it that I acquire the most exquisite confection for the occasion...
(a 1900's edwardian 3 piece ensemble of silk, with hand-embroidered detailing....words fail me...)

We were fortunate to have a long-time friend of our family drive our newlyweds off into the moonlit night. We love you, dear Beverly!

....and then Matthew turned 30 in November. Where did the time go?

Mom and Dad arrived home safely from Africa, after a 4 month stay, just in time for his 82nd birthday.

We adopted the sweetest little kitty girl (my birthday present) and named her Lucy Maud (of course, because we LOVE Anne of Green Gables with a passion!)

Here are a few sweet photos...(Susan's Girl Kitty is her hero:)

She has mastered every adorable pose ...We LOVE her...

This was the ride home, snuggled in my arms, after adopting her from our local Animal Shelter...

It didn't take any time at all for her to know this is HOME.
It was so wonderful to have Susan Branch and some very supportive SB girlfriends (Karen, Patricia, Debs, Rosinda, Laura, Belinda, Jane, Cathy, Georgie, Erin, and even a new GF, Jane Hissey ...author/illustrator of the Old Bear books, which Sophia ADORES) along for the journey.
I wore my "Girlfriends" bracelets with SB and Martha's Vineyard charms...

We tweeted, wildly, back and forth, until we were home with our sweetheart, safe and sound...and even into the next few days...checking in on her progress and how she and little Scout were getting on...

And here they are today...continuing to "warm up" to each other, just a bit more each day...

Whew!  Now that you're all caught up...

...fetch your cup of hot tea, hot cider, or hot coffee (assuming it is chilly/cold/raining/snowing where you live:)...

....come up the flagstone path...

Welcome...
to Christmas at Rose Water Cottage....

It's beginning to look like Christmas.  With fresh pine and cedar garland hanging along the gingerbread trim, I feel as if we live in our very own storybook cottage, nestled somewhere in a storybook wood...

Speaking of storybook cottages...and storybook woods...I read a blog post at Natalie Jo's "Piccalilli Days."  She had visited the real Grandmother's House in New Hampshire, the house that served as the illustrator's inspiration of the 1948 edition of Little Red Riding Hood. In a photo she had taken in the cottage, there was the sweetest shelf holding a display of storybooks. (I imagine they were all versions and editions of the famous story.)

I showed husband the photo, he searched the internet, and it wasn't long until we had our very own, 100 year old storybook shelf for our storybook cottage...

It serves as a perfectly perfect spot for those wonderful old books and some sweet little characters...and a Merry message, by way of old alphabet blocks.

Here is our Little Red, a 1940's Nancy Ann doll, her storybook wood (unpainted trees found at Hobby Lobby, painted by yours truly) alongside the sweet old book.  Eliza has loaned her sweet picnic basket she received as a housewarming gift from cousin city mouse...

Sophia, so intrigued by the story, dressed as Little Red Riding hood (using the Tasha Tudor scarf that had recently arrived by post) and acted out the entire story, over and over and over...
Oh, my dear, what big blue eyes you have!

This book, entitled Prayer for a Child (the same author/illustrator as Little Red Riding Hood), is filled with images of Wendt and Kuhn figurines. I loved this page "Bless the lamplight, bless the fire"...

...as it reminded me of how thankful I am for the blessing of a warm fire and candlelight....

I fell in love with those little figurines...  their faces are so sweet.

Also, on Natalie Jo's blog, she mentioned Woodettes... the cutest set of toys from the 1940's...hard to find... I mean..INCREDIBLY hard to find! So when I found this set on ebay, I snagged it...

...but they were in rough shape.  Someone had their share of fun, though, painting away with the watercolors provided in the set. This is Alice in Wonderland (before the makeover:)

and this is Mary with her Little Lamb (who had apparently lost his head somewhere through the years)...

So I had my work cut out for me...but I was so excited to have a few more characters for my shelf.

And because I love the sweet faces of the Wendt and Kuhn figurines, I decided to apply the same sweet features to these two little girls. This was the result ....

I found a tea set for Alice and a little lamb for Mary. Everyone is happy.

(Thank you sweet kindred, Patty, for the teeny tiny silver candlesticks and the hand made teeny tiny beeswax candles)

Next, came Little Jack Horner...who was also quite a mess...but with a bit of paint and a lot of love, he has turned out to be such a darling boy, sitting on his tiny red stool with his yummy Christmas pie (and a big purple plum on his thumb) ....

I had so much fun painting Mary's straw hat...(I suppose you might have noticed I chose not to paint the characters as shown on the box...we sure love our Peter Rabbit colors;)

Side note....Sophia has watched the painting of these characters and has been so curious. It has been a wonderful way to teach the nursery rhymes and songs, while she falls in love with each "story come to life"... She inspects the plum and the pie and their shoes and their faces... it is all so precious!

She loves our new shelf, with all her friends, and all her favorite books...

She loves that Little Bo Peep has found her sheep...

She reaches up to the book stand to gently touch this tiny bit of forget-me-not sweetness...

The British Garden Flowers book was acquired through Natalie Jo's Etsy shop. This illustration is my most favorite....with that wisp of a blossom to the right of the roses.  The little girl reminds me of Phia, always toting a baby doll.

So, here, in our storybook cottage, nestled in an imaginary storybook wood, I hang fresh pine and cedar garland and inhale the fragrance...

and set a table with pink lustreware atop a turkey red tablecloth as Tasha Tudor, did.

The mantel...which is new to our home but formerly resided in a 1920's home in the area...has a length of crocheted lace woven throughout the garland and twinkle lights, mingling with pink lustreware teacups and a gold open-weave ribbon ... and through the antiqued mirror, you see a glimpse of the storybook shelf...

The bird's nest amongst the garland and lights, sits above Take Joy, on the old piano.  The beeswax candles, crackling as they drip, light the room as they lit Tasha's cottage, with such a soft glow....

They're lit atop the table, as well...

...alongside my most favorite Christmastide storybook, Tasha Tudor's Snow Before Christmas.

Now, Bella with Rose Stockings (handmade by Christine LaFever) would argue that The Doll's Christmas is my favorite...as it has been quite the inspiration for the doll's house extreme makeover and festivities...(more on that subject, at a later date)...

I have been the busy little elf in Santa's workshop, these days, so I am unable to show many of the projects in progress...but this is one I am happy to share...

This evening I completed a precious little felt ornament for our precious little Phia...I couldn't get over how much it looked like her...and my hope is that she'll remember this Christmas, always, as the celebration of the year she found that this is HER Home ... and Tim and I are HER Family ...and that THIS is where Love lives....

...where visions of sugar plums can dance in her head...

****************

When I look through the lace curtains of the front window,  I see a lovely log home....

...and when I look out through the screen door, with its gingerbread trim....I see pine and cedar draped around my little porch...

...and I think...
.. this is the next best thing to a storybook cottage in a storybook wood,
 and I am one happy, thankful, loved Grammy.

Blessings, friends....
...Rabbit Rabbit,  SB girlfriends...
..and may you all have a warm and peaceful Christmastide season.

Home Sweet Home

The  *cleansing*  of clothes from closets, odds and ends from cabinets and drawers, furniture and paintings too large for a cottage, began weeks ago...and is now complete...

The serious packing begins. The reality of a move, that will begin in 3 days, requires boxes...and more boxes...

 ...and still...more are needed. 

 *Grammy has more books and tea sets and teapots than realized....and so many more tiny treasures* 

The farm table is filled....patiently and silently, Grammy's beloved tick tock clock waits...a picnic basket provides a temporary haven for all the miniature friends, and the fresh hydrangeas begin to wilt..it is time....

for all of these things to make an empty house a home.

Our *home* is in the boxes...for now, but .... 

in 3 days, these boxes of *home* will enter a tiny house...

and transform it into a cozy cottage....Rose Water Cottage.

Stopping for a break, after a little package arrives...(yes...another book)...I pick up my knitting needles...and pause for a bit, to re-aquaint myself with the darling story of Stuart Little.

  

He was such a dear friend, when I was a girl....in a new school...a new library...with a kindred Librarian, perceptive of an awkward little girl's interests...named Mrs. Beasley. 

She kept that most popular doll, bearing her very name, in a cradle next to her desk. I had received the gift of this same doll a few months earlier, for my 10th birthday....before the move to another city ...another state...another school.  Mrs. Beasley, the librarian, was my new best friend.

She introduced me to Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, The Borrowers, and Laura Ingalls Wilder's, The Long Winter. 

The next Christmas, I requested a rocking chair for my doll....as Mrs. Beasley always sat in a rocker...

and Santa brought a gift that would follow this little girl ...all the way to her home as a Grammy...

This cherry sewing rocker is finally reunited with its friend who has spent many a year in a box,  in an attic.

They will help make Grammy's cottage a home...in 3 days.

Midst the packing, and errands, and appointments...we return home, and there, another package awaits...
bearing the name of our dearest new friend Penny...from Angelsdoor...

Ahhhh!!! This means just one thing ....Bebe...our sweet little Bebe,  has arrived!

Scout bounces and sniffs with anticipation, for she has heard Grammy speak of this sweet little mouse, who traveled to Paris....in such a fine frock...and fascinator, to match...

The bubbles found inside, assure us of safe travels...

...and oh, how precious, were her accommodations...

Mistress Penny, spared no expense...making sure she arrived in great "Parisian" style...
Her luggage is the most exquisite, I have ever seen....

And she was sure to tell Miss Bebe, that a passport is a very special thing....providing passage abroad...and home again.....

Such love...at first sight...

"Bonjour, mon petit chou-chou."  ....
**translated~"Hello,  my little cabbage."  ....a french term of affection....

I begin to chuckle, and laugh, and squeal....does she not have the most darling little expression?
My friends....I am in love!
    Je T'aime...Mademoiselle!

In a tiny little box she traveled...and now, a breath of fresh air...
an introduction to Husband.... and back inside she hops...into the softest batting...
for she is ever so anxious to arrive at her final destination..
.... a sweet cottage of pink...
where she...and we.... shall be....

Dearest Penny(of Angelsdoor), who crafted this wee little thing, and my dearest Anita(of Castles, Crowns, and Cottages), who had the vision of her being, I THANK YOU ....from the bottom of my mousie-loving heart!

She will always remind me of one fanciful weekend in Paris...and new friends, who God placed at a DIVINE appointment.
Bon Soir, Mes Amies...
Bisous!!

The Language of Flowers

"I cannot imagine a more appropriate plant to symbolize female ambition, its tall pretty pastel blooms swaying at the back of our cottage gardens."

This is a quote from a lovely book, which has become quite the resource in my home, describing the Hollyhock...one of my very favorite flowers, and one that I must plant in the gardens of our Rose Water Cottage.

I first heard reference to this book as I watched one of my best loved series...Cranford...one dreary, winter evening while husband was away.  Wearing my long, white, victorian-style nightgown, wrapped under a cozy blanket, with beeswax candle lit,  teacup of hot tea by my down-cushioned chair...I approached the quiet evening and this wonderful BBC production (a dear-to-my-heart birthday gift from my mother). 

Remember these specifics, as you come upon an evening with a clear agenda. 

In the movie, based on the delightful book by Mrs. Gaskell, the ladies witness the delivery of a bouquet of anemones, received by a young lady. With their dresses swishing, as they hurry to search for the tiny book, there is a rapturous sigh as one reads from the text, the flower's meaning. Steadfast love...another chorus of ....ahhhhhh.....

 

In the movie, the book was so tiny, it seemed as if it might be a miniature. How I searched for such a clever little book...one that was antiquated and similar in size...but not one could I find. The book I came upon, shown above, has suited me and has become a lovely addition to my library. Each page is beautiful in itself, with lovely botanical paintings and other Victorian inspired themes. The meaning of each flower is followed by its origin...I refer to this quite often, in these days of discovering English Cottage Gardening.

In the movie 'Cranford' ... one of my favorite terms used by the women of the quaint little town, is "Elegant Economy."   The candles on their mantles and at their bedsides, were used quite sparingly, as beeswax was quite a luxury.

How fortunate I am to have found such a splendid gilded copy of this favored book.

The tiny beeswax candles were found in Old Salem...the wonderful little town in North Carolina...at the Moravian Bookstore and Gift Shoppe.

You will see a vintage Webster's Dictionary amongst the books in the photo....it dates from the early 1900's, and it was acquired to discover the definitions of words used at the turn of the century...as this is the era in which most of the books in my collection were written. I hope this will prove helpful to you, as well.

Preparing for a move...

....it's never fun...weeding out things...has begun. 

A Big House, we've lived in, a Cottage we're buying. Where did all this come from?  Downsizing?...I'm trying!

3 weeks till we're moving, so daylight is wasting...to pack it all up, is surely exhausting!

News spreads to the Dormice...John Jacob is ready.

Eliza says, "John, will you pack and be tidy?"

"All of our things are precious possessions, made with great care and lots of affection."

Christmas wrappings are rounded up...

Dishes to disburse...

Teacups to be tucked away...

Like a bunny, I must hop!

For on I go to every room... and more and more I find....

shelves of Spring and Easter things...

books and books, galore!

In every single little nook...

I'm finding more and more..

...oh, my word, will you just look!

my books, I love to hoard!

So...

          Teacups and books... are all I shall be packing,

           If more than that is needed, I will not have a care!

          For in my nest, with tea and story, nothing will be lacking.

           The world may go on in a hurry, I shan't be with them there.

         A cozy cottage...with cushions fluffed and plenty,

          Will comfort tired bodies, and never leave us weary.

         The fireplace a-glow and dancing, what could be more enchanting?

          We'll drink tea for hours, 'til our eyes become bleary.

         We'll nod off to dream...dreams that are lovely,

          waking as moonbeams lay soft on the floor.

         Our prayers we will offer...prayers that are humbling,

          thanking our Maker that less shall be more!

                                      

Christie "Grammy" Ray

                                      

May 2011

Xavier's in the Kitchen at Grammy's

Grammy sees a post on "Our Scented Cottage"...Recipe for Upside Down Blueberry Cake...for blueberry lovers....a box of fresh blueberries in the fridge...an afternoon with Xavier....Mother's Day on its way...Mommy likes blueberries...to the kitchen we go...

Blueberries swimming in butter and brown sugar, so we move to the mixing bowls.

Three pretty eggs (farm fresh from friends Glenn and Debbie)....selected and cracked (this was quite an interesting lesson)...little hands learning how to tap, tap, tap... takes practice, practice, practice.

With a whisk, the real fun begins! "Grammy, I just wuv heppin' you in the kitchen!"

Then we reach for the milk...

Flour comes next...little arms begin to tire..."This is hard Work, Grammy!" Yes, it is, but we have much discussion about Mother's Day, and he decides this will be her present...Now, he is reconciled to the task at hand...

Xavier sees Grammy taking pictures and says, "Didju take a picture of dat?" Pointing to the iPad with Laura's "Our Scented Cottage" recipe, I had to include this photo, along with a very big Thank You to our dear friend for her post....

After pouring the batter into the skillet (this job went to Grammy), into the oven it goes....

My Grandma Effie's iron skillet is used ....her home always kept the scent of blueberry muffins... the very fragrance now fills our keeping room...and piques one little boy's appetite. A bowl of Grammy's Cereal (Special K with Vanilla and Almonds) satisfies...

Precious...this boy loves his cars!

Mommy arrives before the cake has finished cooking. Oh, he does NOT want to leave ....He needs that cake!! for his Mommy!!!
Grammy promises the cake will be delivered and they can enjoy his cake tomorrow; tired little boy heads home with tired mommy..

The timer is buzzing and the oven is opened. The skillet is hot and the blueberries are bubbling at the edges of the cake. It cools for just a bit....

The flip is tricky, but managed...

A tiny "taste test" sliver is sliced...if there had been a scoop of vanilla ice cream on hand...Oh, my!
What a perfect day it is when Xavier's in the kitchen with Grammy!

It is May Day!

I remember celebrating May Day when I was a little girl...beautiful ribbons streaming from a pole on the playground at school...weaving in and out...all of the children marching around.... such fun!
I found the lovely picture above, entitled "The Children's May Pole," in the antiquated book "Happy England" by Helen Allingham.  My dear friend Diane at Corgncombe Courant, had the most beautiful post featuring this book and its quaint scenes of country life in England. I have enjoyed having my own copy, now, and am ever thankful to Diane for introducing us to this treasure!

We awoke this morning to thunderstorms and left for church as the rain continued to drizzle....
When we arrived home, pulling into the drive, we looked towards the pond and exclaimed with much delight..."Look! Canada Geese!!"

Xavier was beside himself with excitement, for we had not had them visit....we had only seen them as they flew across our property on infrequent occasions. We approached very carefully, trying not to disturb them, but as we drove up beside the pond, they suddenly honked and took flight!

The pond was full to overflowing...but at least we enjoyed a few minutes without rain, to capture a few more photos, updating the progress of our flowers at 'Morning, Glory' cottage....

The hollyhocks are filled with buds, now, and we are so anxious to see them bloom this year. The peonies are ready, as well...

This is the most spectacular sight, to the gardener who thought a sweet plant had ended its will to produce...

As we move further up the drive and park our car, I come to the hydrangea bed for a glimpse at their progress. The climbing hydrangea is in bloom, and I spy little buds on the other lovelies at her side.

Once inside our home, we look to a very special book to retrieve more information about the geese..

Again, we thank our dear Diane for sharing this most beautiful and informative book, on a recent post describing the fascinating call of the red-winged blackbird.  Xavier, along with anyone who chooses to peruse this book, is intrigued, and anxious to tap the little button and hear the famous call of the Canada Goose.

We dig further into our ever-growing library, and find photographs of the beautiful peonies that grew in Tasha Tudor's cottage garden...

The English Cottage Gardening Book is such a feast for the gardener's eyes...a wish book, of sorts...each page provoking dreams of flowing, trailing, blossoming, borderless beds ...a must-have for cottage gardeners...

Someday, I will find these particular fragrant beauties...

Thank you to dear Natalie at Rookery Ramblings, Office Manager of Tasha Tudor and Family, for posting the availability of this exquisite, hard to find, book.

So on this rainiest of days on the first of May, we gaze through the bay window, over the fresh green grass, saturated by these rains, and ponder the beauty to come...as these showers will bring our flowers! Happy May Day!