Blue Shelfie

so, while i'm in the house mode, spring cleaning and moving things about, might as well go all out and leave a record of how things looked around may of 2014.  

or should i say, how i made it look.  because the truth is all these things get shifted around alot.  

the enamelware, as you might recall, was originally on a shelf above my table in my art studio.  much of the jug collection remains there but i love how the blue enamelware looks inside this old grundgy

cabinet.

i started my collection about 4 years ago.  enamelware is expensive and hard to find so one piece at a time has been added., mostly old coffee and teapots and one ice bucket.

 i love how it contrasts with that pale pink of the cecile brunner roses and how it goes with the pink garland on the enamel cannister on the left.  i have bid and lost many a time on ebay for the matching coffeepot and utensil holder.

my favorite blueish color that my family is growing tired of is just about in every room in the house and extends to the garden since i fell in love with sissinghurst. 

Querencia

i sit outside as i write this, the days have turned so beautiful that it is a sin to be indoors.  in spite of a four day heat wave, i have spent most of my waking hours here, watering the new plantings twice a day since they haven't developed a good root system yet and the santa ana winds have already broken two branches off our trees. they are my babies: cosmos, sweet peas, yarrow, sages of various types, hollyhocks, roses, malva and black eyed susans as well as melons and beets and tomatoes all competing for my love. 

i have tilled and nurtured the soil with Amend, tossed and turned that soil, watered and watered it over, the sweet smell of manure an assuring scent of blooming things to come.  it will take time; the pierre ronsards alone take three years to become robust according to a friend.  but what joy to see each little planting grow, give fruit and reward me.

i love to create little spaces, small garden vignettes so that everything tells a story.  

this little darling accompanies me next to the kitchen sink as i hand wash dishes, connected to my love of running water.

the inside of the house has been hard to photograph

in spite of a good camera and a certain know how

it's easier for me to photograph close ups, macros and details.

or maybe it's just the layout of the house that is so hard to photograph. i keep trying.

here are all the things that make me happy

night and day, day and night

where i write my story

where i create, sew, paint, mend and embroider

where i ultimately build my dream, step by step, pebble by pebble, seed by seed.

and after all is said and done

a siesta