Here’s how spring is progressing in our home! Musica for today: our new favorite song . . .I’ll get you hooked yet!♥
But first, just so you know, the drawing for the Rose Chintz teacups is still open; just leave a comment at the bottom of this post, and you’ll be entered in the drawing! You can read more about it and see pictures if you scroll down one post.
I just couldn’t wait to show you what we found in the hall next to our dining room!
I think many would see this as a harbinger of spring, which was exactly my first thought; plants are bursting up through the floor! How adorable! Get the camera!
But, with a little help from Joe’s more mechanically-minded, reality-based thinking, our second thought was, What’s going on in the basement? Is there massive plant growth down there? Now we’re afraid to open the basement door! 
Well, Joe’s probably not, but I kinda am. I’ve never really gotten used to having a basement even on a good day.
Our basement was dug in 1849; it has a dirt floor so it smells like old dirt down there; the walls are made with granite blocks. It’s very deep, plenty high enough to walk around in, it’s very cold, and it has rooms! They probably kept their apples and potatoes and other garden produce down there in the old days. And who knows what else.
You get there through an outside door on the porch; the door opens with a long creak to a steep set of granite stairs going straight down into a dark, what appears to be, hole. The stairwell is very deep and draped in cobwebs suggesting that a person should definitely duck when they go down the stairs; the corners are alive with long legged black creatures that seem to “winter” here; they like it in the summer too; I don’t know if they jump. I’ve only been down there maybe four times in the twenty-three years we’ve lived here. Our basement goes under the entire house. I call that area of the house “Man Country.” It’s where Joe keeps his paint cans, for one thing; and he seems to like it down there. But of course, he was born in this part of the country (Connecticut) where every child grows up with a basement.
I grew up in California, no house I ever saw had a basement; all I ever learned about basements was through Halloween stories (“he’s on the first step; he’s on the second step . . . slooowly he turns…” . . . my dad, entertaining us around campfires with ghost stories), horror films, and movies like Arsenic and Old Lace, where the darling old ladies buried their gentlemen friends in the basement. So basements, to me, had no lure. I wasn’t all that wild about attics either, for the same reasons.
Having 
basements and attics were two of the many new things I had to get used to when I moved to this part of the country; every old house has them!
I never went into the basement of my first house until I completely owned it; did not visit it in the course of buying the house. Even then I knew it was man country down there (this definition comes from having four brothers and learning very young what was and what was not, man country; I’m sure there are plenty of intrepid happy normal women who love basements too, don’t get me wrong; I like the basement, I just don’t like to go there!), there were no men around me at the time; I rest my case, pathetic as it is. It never occurred to me (because I was young and this was my first house) that it might be the place where the furnace was, which is something a savvy home buyer should take an interest in.
Now I understand that having a basement is a wonderful thing! It’s extra storage space! It’s where many people do their laundry; it’s where they keep their children when they turn into teenagers; but I’m also pretty sure it’s where Lizzie Borden kept her ax. I will love our basement if, and when, a giant hurricane comes to the island; we’ll make friends then. Why am I talking about this? Oh yes, Joe (Oh yes, I’m spoiled) needs to go find the beginning of this plant before it eats the house!
I really didn’t think I’d be writing about basements this morning! I meant to write about happy harbingers of spring, and then our basement crept into the story. That’s how letters to my girlfriends have always been. We go from cheese blintzes, white tablecloths, and Rose Chintz dishes to scary old basements in the blink of an eye. That’s another thing I like about us! We’re diversified!
Now, here is a true harbinger of spring. Normally, one hundred percent zero things bloom on Martha’s Vineyard in February, no camellias ever bloom here this time of year. At least, I’ve never seen it. But, I went to my girlfriend Annie’s house the other day 
for tea, and the six foot camellia bush next to her front door, outside, was blooming, all over, like this!! I want to be afraid about what this could mean, planet-wise, but I’m too happy having them on my kitchen windowsill right now! I will let this pass for one winter; if it’s like this next winter, I’m going to start having a fit. Let’s all have one!
What else? Oh! You know what I think would be fun? If, when you leave your comments, at the end, you always type in where you are, what city, state, or country. I love hearing where people are so I can imagine, or try to, their surroundings. Plus, then everyone with the same name will start to look a little different! We have girlfriends from Alaska to Florida, Maine to Hawaii, and so far, just today, I’ve heard from Finland and France! Love it! Sing with me!
♫ I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. . . ♪
I was going to show you more of my dinner party diary, but I think I’ll save it for later, this should be enough for today; I have stuff to do, and you probably do too! I kept you long enough the last couple of days! Love hearing from you! Love how you’re connecting with each other too. Have a great day! ♥
Susan
How bazaaro is that? I have never seen such a thing as this! who can grow a plant right out of the floor? Loling just pain weird but in a good away! as for basements have to tell ya not one for the smelly damp under and in the hole man cave thing have to pass! let me be in the light and leave the underworld to the moles! thank you very much… Besides Susan you trike me as a girly-girl and cant say I blame ya! XO
Hi Susan! Its a beautiful spring day here in Staten Island, New York. My tulips are coming up already and I love your camelias on the windowsill. Love to you and let us know about your hallway plant. Angel
Have had a lot of smiles reading the comments today — and loved all the locations — saw two OH posts in a row — Hi, Greenfiled for one — I’m a born Buckeye girl myself though I have been in the OC for forty plus years now — well, except for the five we lived in Belgium. And the OC is NOT like that unless you are money, money people which I am not — just in case anyone remembers the “reality” show. So plants growing into the house — I’ve had that and can’t wait to hear what’s up with your little sprout. Basements? Oh yes, LOVE my basements — all of them — the little rooms at the first one — under the front porch storage space, along the wall two fruit cellars, in the opposite corner the coal cellar — close to the coal furnace and a couple other small ones. the wringer washer and the two rinse tubs lived there and Monday laundry days were a party for children as long as we kept out from under foot when mom, grandma, great aunt and sometimes an aunt were busy doing load after load of laundry to be carried out the slant cellar doors at the back of the house and hung either in the yard on the lines or on lines under the back porch — and in spring — spring time cleaning — the lace curtains stretched on pin edge curtain stretchers drying in the sun. Summertime between Mondays — found us lounging in cool water in those big laundry tubs hauled out to the side yard! Storms found us in the basement. Always a basement till moved to CA long ago. No rea l attic though. Then came Belgium — they have some basements there — high ceilinged with arched stone over one’s head — strange little cubbies here and there uneven floors. And attics there one could have moved into multi level houses and still an attic above. LOVE houses — they’re all unique and all the same — to shelter us and give a home to cherish place and people.
this dottie’s in the OC
Yoo hoo — you missed this one!
Yes Dottie in the OC, I am LOVING hearing where everyone is from! It should be the blog rule!
umm, I’m from CA, don’t know, where is OC ?
…maybe Ontario, Canada???
Short for Orange County is what I’m thinking!
OrangeCounty, California, USA — and so now it’s MY turn to be confused Joan lives in Canada or in California — if California — one
might think OC might ring a bell so I’m thinking Canada. These darned two-letter codes get confusing when we go global! and even country codes vary. USA can be lots of other letter designations in say Spain, or Belgium or some other country.
I live in sunny Southern California (Torrance & 75 today) and basements are creepy to me too. Even when they are fixed up they have that creepy vibe. Good thing Joe doesn’t mind. . . I call places I don’t care much for Manland. Please let us know what happens with the beanstock.
Georgetown, TX here!!
I think I have seen too many scary stories too and when I see a basement like that, my imagination runs wild thinking “who used this basement for very unmentionable deeds”… scary!!
I have 117 saved emails from you in my ‘Susan Branch’ yahoo folder so if I’m ever in need of a pick-me-up, I can go back a read a few and listen to the happy music you tag in them! Thanks for reminding me to enjoy the little details of life <3
Debbi 🙂
117! I talk too much!
oh no way you talk too much!!! your emails are so uplifting and encouraging!! don’t we ALL need that?! i believe so!! please don’t stop talking! we appreciate and love it too much! it encourages us to ‘pass it forward’ too <3
Okay, hello from Chicago IL where winter is finally here–up to 9″ of snow expected tonight, some I’m hoping that none of the local flowers are blooming yet. Love your story about the flowers at Martha’s Vineyard…must be that warm Atlantic air! Read your blog every day there’s a new post….it’s like a cozy little vacation for me. Thanks a million Susan.
Maryellen Shute
Never had a basement either ’till I moved to Atlanta…but ours’ is just another floor to our house…no creepy crawly creatures. I’m bistate-al: Atlanta, GA, and Destin, FL. I’m in lovely Balmly Georgia today…windows and doors open…it’s glorious!
Oh, pray! please tell MORE of your dinner party stories!
Central Point, Oregon
It’s like Jack and the BeanStalk! 🙂 And you already have a Jack! ha.
love the teacups!
Not to be a killjoy here…but that looks like English Ivy and it is destructive. I have had it come through a brick fireplace into the house! So what appears sweet and springy may be ominous. I’m sure the man of the house is all over it! Let us know what you find!
Lori
Loveland, Colorado
Truth is most important! Not a killjoy!
Lowell, Massachusetts, the Mill city.
Well, hearing your story of avoiding the basement I have not been our basement in 33 years! We have an older house (about 130 years) no attic. The house is built on a stone foundation (and yes every year we get a mouse or two) and thankfully the previous owner had cemented the floor. I have never been afraid of basements new, or old until we bought this house. This basement just gives me the creeps, of course having a ghost doesn’t help! Our Washer/drier is on the main floor, so there is no need for me to go into hubbies “Man Area” of the house. It is an interesting story that belongs to the house as far as the ghost, but that is for another time!!!!
And I would just love those cups! and I am sure my ghost would too! (we call it old Mr. Meisner). LOL
Ginny
Living in Lovely Lowell, MA
I have a basement and rarely go there. It is so utilitarian. I came from Philadelphia and almost every house had a basement and many were finished off with panelling and man/bar type things. At least the basements I saw were that way. There was always a story about everything, much like todays urban legends…well, a lady was having her girlfriends over for dinner or just a visit, who knows, and the hubby was confined to his basement. Several times throughout the evening, the “mister” stuck his head out of the basement and said “another beer or I’ll appear”. Naturally that became a phrase often quoted by the men in our family…whenever they were shooed away.
I would love to not have to do laundry in my basement!
Here in Maryland I’ve been up in my attic today putting away my winter decorations (the snow village and garland and icicles I like to leave out after Christmas). It’s not tall enough to stand up straight, but it covers my whole one-story house–I’d collected so much stuff in the 30 years we’ve been here that I had a huge yard sale last summer and shared half of what was up there with anyone willing to pay a few cents and then haul it off. My scary story is the snake skins I’ve found up there–one was in a suitcase!
By the way, your comment about French in your reply to my last comment got me interested in buckling down and learning it once and for all. I even blogged about it and linked to your Blog. Thanks!
How exciting to see that sprout of green! What a tenacious wee survivor of a plant, finding that tiny crack of light and growing and growing to reach it. Imagine (if plants had feelings, maybe they do?) how proud and excited it must have been to reach that goal and push through out of the dark into heaven! How extraordinary:)
Is it from a sweet potato?
Yes, the mild weather is a bit worrisome, it is raining buckets here today and it should be snow. Europe is getting our snow.
Cheers,
Shelagh from Nova Scotia
Greetings from Grayslake, IL … 40 miles north of Chicago and 40miles south of Milwaukee, which are two wonderful cities. Your tales of the basement remind me of a home we had several years ago that was built around the same time as your home and I think the same “type” of basement. My daughters and I wouldn’t go down there, but sent my husband any time a travel to the basement was necessary. Now we have a newer home with a nicer basement.
Wow, we are neighbors! Grayslake is 10 minutes from me!
Isn’t this fun? I would like to comment on every one!
Hi Susan – writing here from my home in Cincinnati Ohio (which does have a basement).
First I just want to say THANK YOU for the directions you posted explaining how to get to the blog on the web to be able to post a comment. I had been reading your blog thru my e-mail, and as you know, I just wasn’t getting the whole picture!
As for basements – each house I’ve lived in has had a basement – but this is the first home I’ve owned that has an actual “cellar door” to the outside. And if you remember that wonderful childhood song “Say Say my Playmate”, I can now invite friends to “Come out and play with me/and bring your dollys three/climb up my apple tree/slide down my rain barrel/ slide down my cellar door/and we’ll be jolly friends forever more!” Actually, however, I guess that I will have to install a rain barrel! Love to you-
My mom always sang that song, I know all the words! 🙂 Oh she couldn’t come out to play, cuz it was a rainy day, with tearful eyes, she heaved a sigh . . . 🙂
For some reason, I like the idea of a basement with an actual dirt floor. If only that almost 200 year old dirt could talk!
What a fun post!
Jake at Dapper and Dreamy and IN Eugene, Oregon!
Hi, Susan! In Ann Arbor, MI, I think I might see some crocus shoots, but that’s it. It’s still in the 30’s here! I couldn’t imagine life without a basement–where else would i “put stuff”?
Hi Susan! I love reading all about your adventures. The plant growing in your
house made me laugh! I’ve grown up with basements my entire life, but I still
don’t like to go down there without all the lights on! My grandfather in Wisconsin
use to have a dirt floor basement also, and we used to think it was so cool!
Thanks for sharing all your beautiful photos, and love the camellia.
Carrie from Ohio
One day my mother discovered an ivy plant growing up her living room wall that came in through the foundation. She let it grow clear up the wall and across the mantle. It was quite a conversation piece! We were all sad when one day it withered up and died. You said you wanted to know where I live…well, I’m a Utah girl but now my husband and I are retired and are volunteering on a farm in Cambridgeshire, England for 18 months. We live in a 200 year old farmhouse in the middle of a wheat field. We are falling in love with England too!
Oh you lucky thing! How did you find that position?
I live in the beautiful hills of West Virginia. Isn’t it amazing how strong a plant is? To be able to grow through the tiniest opening looking for light. We used to live in a one hundred plus year old farm house. The ivy found its way into our living room. I thought it looked rather pretty there but my husband wouldn’t go along. Men are so practical!
Always enjoy opening your Blog each day to see if there’s some new tid bit about your island life ,or kitty adventures, etc. I also love that you love cooking in old iron pans…such fun!
Greetings from Columbia MD! That song IS starting to grow on me. In the house I grew up in we called that place under the house the cellar. I loved that place–so cool in the summer and lots of little rooms to hide in. Now I live in a split level and what the real estate world calls my basement is half my house!
Hi Susan, I had to laugh that Joe is the practical one who thought about what might be going on in the basement. I grew up in NJ and we had a ‘rec’ room in the basement area, in addition to the laundry, furnace part of it. And we had the kind of attic wherein you had to pull the stairs down to get into it. I actually loved it. I now live in Helena, MT.
Hi Susan! Love reading your blogs here in Fort Worth Texas!
~Kelly
Lovely teacups, they remind me of my English grandmother.
Kathleen
South Haven, MI
I am a California girl born and raised so no basements for me. However, your story brought back memories of my summer visits with my favorite Aunt Dorothy and Uncle John in Kansas. I was 8-12 years old. I loved to help my aunt bake in her kitchen but refused to step down into the deep, damp and dark basement where she stored canned items etc. I was conviced there were scary spiders, mice and cockroaches running amuck down there. One time when I was visiting there was a tornado warning and I didn’t know what would be worse…to be swept away or go down into that basement! My Aunt Dorothy made my favorite recipe for Ginger Cream Cookies and I can still see the page of the cookbook with a soldier drawing in the margin for they were excellent cookies to mail in tins during WWII. To this day, I wish I had the cookbook but at least I do have her recipe! It became the Cookies for Santa recipe in my family. Can’t wait to find out about the floorboard seedling! Happy Spring!
Hi Susan. I’m from Findlay, Ohio and wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your website. I visit your site daily for my “daily dose of attitude adjustment”.
It always brightens my day!
Thanks for all you do for us!
Dawn
Happy Early Spring Susan — I’m one of those few lucky Californians who has a basement — more of a “baragement” ’cause we’re on a hillside and the bottom level is half basement and half garage. Having fun creating/decorating laundry and media rooms down there. Looking out the front window of main level and see our red camelia in bloom, too. We live in Southern California, in Hidden Meadows, in the hills above the Lawrence Welk resort. Last week, we could see snow on Mt. Palomar from front views and sun shining on the ocean from back views. Watched the cute little finches this morning while I had my breakfast and they feasted on the pyracantha berries out back. Love it when it rains here, love it when it’s sunny and warm, love it anytime! Orange trees are in bloom and smell heavenly. Spring fever is definitely in the air! I’m baking my mom’s chocolate chip cookies today — she called them Jubilee Jumbos and they’re very different from the traditional Nestles Toll House back-of-the-package recipe.
Back to the kitchen….my favorite room in the house….Here’s hoping you enjoy your SoCal weather while it lasts. Give my regards to beautiful Martha’s Vineyard….
Love you, love your blog,
-Marianne-
Thank you, will say hello!
Never had a basement – never want one!
Thanks for all the smiles you add to my life.
Dotty in Raleigh, NC
Del Jean from Colorado
Thank you, Susan, for the beautiful Camellia! I recall they were amazing new beauties while I attended the University of Oregon years ago…since Colorado doesn’t have Camellia ability!
Our wonders this week, here on the river, have been a fresh snowfall that is now quickly melting in 40 F weather, and very happy chickadees singing their little lungs out in the Blue Spruce trees!
We have a basement that has painted walls and cement floors and my husband keeps it clean but I still don’t like to venture down there!!
Note to RNG. . . please pick me, please pick me!!!
Carol (Daisy)
Writing late in the day… and others have already said it – first thing I thought when I saw it was a bean stalk!!
Also, you mentioned taking Jack outside in your previous blog. Was wondering how that went? Once he has the taste of it, you might not be able to keep him in. My kitty is still recovering & we’ve still been advised not to let him out… it’s been so hard with our wonderful unseasonably warm days. Sometimes he trys to open the knobs by himself or thinks he can wedge his foot in the crack to somehow get out. He was an outside boy when he came to us, so has been a big change for him. My husband & I both love your black & white kitties pictures & videos. =^..^=
Just thought of this after I posted…don’t know if this will go through – if it’s a bean stalk… it will be something for your Jack to climb!! …Sorry I had to write it!
yay!! Great thought.
I love it!
Thw I love it.. was supposed to be on the Jack and Beanstock comment above. just so you know. 🙂
Hahahaha! Wait until Jack does find it….! Something else for him to play with! Let me know if you even hear a sweek from the goose that lays the golden eggs and I’ll come help you water that thing! FOSB 4~Ever! ~ Doreen ~ (Florida)
Ha Ha Ha!!! I LOVED your blog today! I was born and raised in California. What was a basement?? We had a crawl space under our house. I read about basements and attics in Nancy Drew books…ooh…very scary places…no thank you. Then I moved here to PA. We have a basement AND an attic!! When we were looking at houses to buy, everyone acted so nonchalantly when it was time to go into the dark of the basement. I tried to, but the death grip on the stair railings and my v-e-r-y s-l-o-w descent usually gave me away. I’m with you Susan! Definitely “Man Country”!
Another thing that surprised me when I moved here. Geraniums aren’t shrubs! Who would have guessed??
Josie Adragna
Butler, PA (in what is usually snow country)
Looking out my windows at a beautiful day here in Pacific Palisades! The view of Santa Monica Bay and Catalina is gorgeous and it’s about 75 and a lovely breeze blowing. Our camelias are also blooming and so is my Christmas cactus which is on it’s 3rd bloom. We can see the planes taking off over the ocean from LAX and I’m thinking about my grand daughter Megan who is about to fly from Boston to spend her 2nd American Jr semester in Buenos Aires, Chile! No worries Grandma…she’ll be just fine!!! Growing up in Seattle we alway had an attic and a basement so I miss those here in Pac Pal but our garage serves as a basement packed to the brim. Let us know what is growing down there….hope a teenager didn’t leave you a surprise if you know what I mean! Happy Early Spring but don’t put away the snow shovel. We lived in DC for 3 years and the end of February we had a blizzard and over 3 feet of snow.
Ritchie Saunders
Pacific Palisades CA
I live in Michigan and we call dirt basements a “Michigan basement”. As a child we had a dirt basement and I was scared to go down there. The boogie man might be there. We (my hubby and I) have a nice “finished” basement and I’m down there all the time. However, my grandkids will not go down there alone. Go figure!
PLEASE show us the origin of the plant in the hallway! I don’t think I have ever seen anything like it!
Love the Michelangelo quote. Modesto, CA is enjoying camellias and tulip trees in bloom and more spring showing every day.
Susan,
How many gals do you think are changing their minds today about buying a house with a basement after reading your blog? That one does sound kind of creepy! I wonder if anyone has a basement here in Los Angeles.
I love your blog each day! Can’t help but feel good after reading it.
Kathy
Susan…..don’t leave us hanging….what is in THE BASEMENT???!
Lorie
Bethany Beach, DE
Susan, I’ve always loved basements and attics! Never had one since I’m from Florida, but I’ve always wanted to buy an old house and then go on an adventure in the attic to see what kind of neat things I could find! Please let us know about Joe’s adventure to the basement……. we all want to know what he finds!
As I have said many times “I don’t do basements.”
Perfectly said!
I was born and raised in California but I spent some time in New England when my husband was in the Navy. (submarines, New London, Conn) I so loved it there. But of course when my husband got out of the Navy we moved back to California (Central Valley), and family. We made one trip back East on our 30th Anniversary. Love it, love it, love it. We had basements when we lived there. But they weren’t really scary. Love, love, love your blog also.
Hi from Orangevale, CA!
Our Camellias are blooming now, too, but of course ours always bloom at this time. Our daffodils are up, the 4 leaf clover plant is flowering again – all the whole year, but a few weeks in the winter – the hyacinth and the chinaberry bush are all blooming in our yard. We are having spring, but it’s not unusual. Feb. 1 is usually the blooming start for trees like almond, purple leaf plum and the bush magnolias, and they are blooming. It’s a really pretty part of the year.
But you didn’t tell the “rest of the story”…. did your man find the plant in the basement? It could be coming through from outside. Best to discourage that, if you can find the source. (I personally would love a free plant growing in the house, but they tend to ruin your building.)
Hugs!
Yes, this would definitely be the worry!
How could I forget to share the story of the SQUIRREL in our Michigan basement…one day I was down the basement doing laundry when in my peripheral vision I saw “movement!!!”…I slowly turned my head to see a SQUIRREL looking right back at me from the top of a box!!!…I immediately ran up the stairs screaming at the top of my lungs…I immediately tucked a towel under the door and called my husband…he rented a safe trap and put peanuts inside, put it down the basement…the next day the peanuts were gone, but no sign of the squirrel…after several days of trying unsuccessfully to catch the squirrel, we called Critter Control…a man came right over with his own safe trap and a jar of “magic brown stuff”…long story short, the next morning the squirrel was in the trap, Mr. Critter Control came to pick him up and release him miles from our house!!!…Mr. CControl said the squirrel was probably getting warm on top of the chimney on the roof…we didn’t know there wasn’t a special cover on the chimney to keep out critters…and the squirrel probably fell down the chimney and landed in the basement where there was a swinging door at the bottom of the chimney where the squirrel entered the basement!!!…needless to say, we had the cover put on our chimney asap!!!
PS — remember I love PS’s? — SPRING in the OC means February brings five feet of paper white narcissus into bloom — one stalk fills an entire room. Then there’s mock orange — and the roses just go year round with little rest stops now and then. Spring in Belgium meant fresh cherries in the back yard of the rented house — I MISS those a lot. And huge deep burgundy peonies and forsythia and quince. Also bosberries — currants to us — growing outside one’s door. So much GOOD wherever one may be — but we need to remember to focus on it and that’s what we love about Ms. Branch here.
Yoo hoo — my earlier post is STILL not moderated but this one has been? The earlier one — signed “this dottie is in the OC” — is feeling left out. Sniff.
Just takes me a while, each one has to be clicked through, and we have company coming for dinner — theres 132 right now!. . . might not get to it until later, sorry!!!
I loved your basement story….I was totally creeped out! lol. It brought back memories and even smells from my growing up years. I was born and raised in Kansas and lived there until about 16 yrs ago when we moved to WA, so I am too familiar with really nasty basements in old houses and the super wonderful basements in the newer homes. Every house in Kansas seems to have a basement just in case of the tornadoes. My first memory was at one of my Grandmother’s….she had a massive house and the basement was the length of that house and she had set up a “play” area in the FAR corner of the dark cemented , cold, creepy , unfinished basement for me. I would never go down there! lol. Anyhoo…I have lived in homes with all sorts and yours looks to be one of the old creepy ones! Sorry, but I agree with you…Joe should be the only one who goes down there! lol. Let us know what was growing……..I love horror movies (that arent TOO horrorific)….lol
I just LOVE Spring. All that fresh air. I aired out the house yesterday. I ran errands today. I went to Michael’s yet again and I can’t find those little wooden tags you had hanging up in a blog pic. 🙁
Did you ask them, I know someone else mentioned they found them at their Michaels . . . but maybe they don’t all carry the same things?
Eeeeekkkkkkkkkkk……..I have never liked basements….and in the South most of the homes are on concrete slabs. ( Not good when these is bad weather, because there is no place to hide from tornados)……but otherwise, no basement creepiness lurking below the home either…..ha ha!
My entire family though, is originally from Michigan, and I grew up with homes having basements.
Susan, reading the blog post immediately took me back, to “the scariest basement of all”…..my Grandma’s house and her basement…….a terrifying place to me as a little girl. It was dark and damp, and I was sure there were ghosts hiding behind every pillar! My Grandma kept all her goodies in a cabinet and on shelves down there…. everything she canned in Ball jars sat on those shelves. Jams, jelly, pickles, peaches, beets, applesauce, herring….and more. The terrifying part was being chosen to be the one to retrieve, the jars for lunch or dinner!!!!!! That is a feeling not to be forgotten…
being the chosen child……you had to show bravery to slowly move down each stair…..always on the lookout for the goblins that were watching your every move…….down to the bottom of the stairs……find the right jar…..and sprint up the stairs at the speed of lightening to safety.
Wow…….what memories…….and I would never had thought about it…..if it were not for you telling us all about the green plant and your basement!
Let us know if Joe made it out of the basement………..eeeeeeeekkkkkkkk!
Deb in Birmingham, Al.
LOL!!! my grandma’s basement was really spooky, it had one of old furnaces and it was noisy and scary down there. never liked having to go down in that basement and i was always the first out of there….. 🙂 (blushing)!!!!!
That comment about Lizzie Borden made me laugh! We do not commonly have basements in Mississippi but definitely have attics! Dark, spider filled attics.
Hola Susan, y Buen dia a todos!
Normally in this part of the world we have great weather for most of the year. However, the past several weeks were strictly out of the ordinary. It was COLD and RAINY. Lots of rain. Our ‘rainy’ season doesn’t start until August, so to have 3 weeks of this New Englandy weather just didn’t feel right. But the other day, Voila! we have our beautiful, spring-like weather. Windows are open, doors are open! Ah, we can all breath again. It’s amazing the affect weather has on us. By the third rainy day, tempers were frayed, grumpiness abounded. However, the tourists were determined to make the best of it. They were in Mexico and by golly, they would wear their shorts and flip-flops. Despite that most of us who live in this town never wear shorts and flip-flops. You need something a bit sturdier than flip-flops to navigate our cobbled-stoned streets. Many of our flowers bloom year-round which was a definite selling point for me to move here. And I miss my basement. The basement in our newer home in CT; not the old, dirt-floor basement in my family home. I agree with you, Susan; that kind of basement is for men only!
Hi Susan,
I forgot to wish you a Very Happy 25th Anniversary. It sounds like you and Joe were meant to be. I love reading your blog. My sister-in-law told me about it. She was the winner of your beautiful quilt. It is a lovely quilt. I feel as if you are one of my dear friends who keep me updated on all there activities. I live in Hamburg, New York now, but have lived in Cranberry, Pa, and also The Woodlands, Texas. I wish I was back in Texas now. The weather is beautiful there now. The blue bells will be coming up soon. We had a dusting of snow here last night. I , like you, am ready for spring.
Say Hi to Cindy for me! Thanks Elizabeth!
Now you’re making me homesick for TX, too. The wildflower trails, the fields of blubonnets and wine tasting stops along the wine trails — thought we might settle in and retire there but turned out we aren’t – but will sure visit because we fell in love with Austin and the hill country and lots of other things about TX in the short while we were there. And years before we actually lived there we almost took a job and bought a house in — The Woodlands — how funny is that?
Ahhh Spring, spring, spring. Love this song, as 7 Brides for 7 Brothers is my favorite movie…well, along with Singing in the Rain. Never heard this version before. It has more lyrics. Now it is all stuck in my head again 🙂 As a teenager on a Grand Forks N. Dak. AFB I had a room in the basement. My dad built it for me. Got me away from all those younger brothers and sisters – my own little world. Not scary at all, but then, it wasn’t constucted to house veggies or spiders or strange growing plants. Thank you for the head and heart journeys you take us on. Carol in lovely Scottsdale, Az
I had to chuckle when I saw that vine popping up from the baseboard. It looks a lot like the ivy that we had working its way in over the window sill, a few years ago (I called it Audrey, after the Little Shop of Horror’s plant). We told her, ‘Seymour doesn’t live here!’ and sent her away. Hopefully she won’t find any other ways in! Attics and basements have always picqued my imagination, maybe since living in southern California, there aren’t many of either here, just sort of crawl spaces, above and below. Considering our nearly year round growing season, maybe that’s a good thing!
Spring has definitely started springing here -though perhaps less unusual for such early spring weather here, as it is in your neck of the woods, it’s coming on a little faster than ever before. As charmed as I was to see our apple tree blossoming on Valentine’s Day, I must admit I was a little nervous about it too. Guess I better get my gardening gloves on!
p.s. Thanks for the Willard!
p.s.s. And thanks for my new favorite song 😉 . I’ve been trying to think of other ‘spring’ songs, but all I could think of was ‘April in Paris.’ Attention songwriters: the world could use more songs about spring – oh, and gardening too!
Hello, warm and sunny 74 degrees in San Jose today. I can smell the daphne plant in my front yard. This fragrance always reminds me of my “next door mother” Florence who introduced me to this plant years ago, I miss her especially when I open the front door. This signals the beginning of Spring for me. I am fortunate to have several camillia plants on the north side of my house and get a peek at the different blossoms from my kitchen and bathroom windows. These plants remind me that I have a little green in my thumb.
I am very curious about the mystery plant but I could not blame it for wanting to take a peek be a part of your warm and welcoming house. Thank you for brightening my day.
From Central Illinois: I absolutely love having a basement. It hides away all the laundry and things in storage. Also, very nice to have during storms and tornado warnings. BUT, my basement has a linoleum floor and is well-lit, etc. I don’t believe I would want to go into yours either, but isn’t it neat to think about the owners from long ago whom probably really utilized it a lot. (People were tougher back then! ha ha!!) Can’t wait to hear what that sprout is coming from!! Looks like Jack’s beanstalk roaring through.
Dirt walls in the basement is another thing we have in common, Susan. The house I grew up in was built in 1842 for the first President of Wabash College. When the railroad went through a number of years later, it wasn’t kosher to have the President’s home looking at the tracks so….they picked up the glorious columned mansion and moved it! They didn’t spend much time on the basement for that honored gentleman though and I never relished any trip to the basement. My dad built birdhouses there and my oldest brother built a dark room for his photography hobby in it. Just goes to show ya….it was a man’s cave! I am in Indianapolis, IN and getting ready to go rehearse with the English handbell choir at church. Teacups are still on my mind…..: )
my issue with basements and attics is that they have very distinctive odors. once you’ve smelled one, you never forget. they all have that same scent. i’ve never had a plant grow indoors like you have, but, knowing me, i might let it grow for awhile. Imagine a little plant, with such a strong will to survive, grasping for warm and sun even in the most inopportune place. The powerful spirit in it’s will to live makes me unwilling to be the bearer of bad tidings. Sigh. You can imagine how happy the weeds are in my garden, too! Oh, well. Have a great day, all!
We are surrounded in boxwood; that smell is an acquired taste — for Joe, it’s always been the smell of home — I won’t tell you what it was for me when I first got here. . . . but I love it now too.
Seeing the photo of your basement stairs, make me think of my childhood home in Cedar Brook, NJ and our spooky basement with its dark corners, curious smells and low ceiling.
My sister and I loved playing down the basement and scaring each other to death.
Children are so silly and so wonderful. Thank goodness we start out that way.
Imagine a world full of only serious, no nonsense adults.
what a sweet little sprout! I love attics- my favorite book growing up was The Pink Maple House- about a girl who moved away from her friends and school into a house that had a pink maple in front of it and the house looked pink. Her best Friend comes for a visit and they discover the way into the attic and it is filled with all sorts of fun stuff- trunks and old toys etc etc etc. They also discover a secret passage. As for the basement- some I like, some I dont- We had one in pennsylvania that was part of an old log cabin ( of course Lincoln stayed there) and the house was built on top. it was creepy down there but we played on the non creepy side! I don’t have one now and I dont have an attic either- Twould be nice to have the storage space….
Bobbie in Amboy IL
It’s Sue from Lewisville, Texas.
How I miss my basement! I grew up in Ohio and spent 26 years in Colorado and all homes had basements (or at least “crawl” spaces – yuck!) It is terrifying to have the sirens going off for a tornado warning down here and have nowhere to go except a small powder room. Yes, basements are great for storage, too! Although we have been decluttering, now we have to rent “storage for all those antiques and “treasures!”
Your flowers are lovely -must be that sea breeze! Remember that old “Victory Garden” show from Boston? Denver was approximately at the same latitiude, but had a very different frost free date. Texas really hasn’t had winter either this year. A couple of weeks ago we had a flake or two of snow and the newscasters were all excited saying, “Two tenths of an inch in … suburb!”
Don’t you just love the USA? So many different microclimates, people, and experiences to be had! No reason to ever get bored… Not that I would ever get bored with your blog. It was an unexpected treat to see it today after you sent the Willard yesterday. Thank you for the time you put into these.
Hugs,
Sue (wishing I WERE in Colorado!)
Patty in So Cal.
When I was little and daddy would go off to war, Mom, my sister, and I stayed with my grandparents in Warren, Pennsylvania. They lived in a large home with a basement and attic. Also, a separate side of the house where a bachelor, great uncle lived by himself. Grandma always made his meals and did his laundry. Anyway, The basement had a part where the coal was stored and a window where they dumped the coal through. I sort of liked going down there because there were interesting things hanging or put up on shelves. I remember gramma’s old ice skates hanging from a nail down there…and her ringer washing machine. She made soap there too. Thanks for the reminder of that place today.
My aunt and uncle lived in Centerville, on Cape Cod, and the ivy on their house used to grow through the bathroom wall and into the shower! Thank you for the camellia photo. We’ve had a mild (for us) winter here in Montana, but today it’s snowing a little. I can’t do any housework at the moment, I’m too sore, but it’s a good excuse to have a cup of tea and read Willard! Elizabeth in Montana
Midland, Ontario Canada…♥
Curiosity is killing this cat….what was growing up from the deep dark basement? It looked a little like a “Bean Stock”… Has your boy “Jack” found it yet?
blessings,
Cindy♥
hello again everyone, now i know spring is around the corner…i just found my grandma’s old recipe for ice box cake, chocolate of course. 🙂 things are definitely getting better now. now i can play with the recipe and maybe make that chocolate icebox cake into a mocha chocolate icebox cake or a chocolate ripple one, spring can’t be too far away when there is a chocolate icebox recipe around and summer is just a hoot and holler away. i am dying to know what the plant is that is growing in your hall, did Joe find out yet??? we know its almost spring as we have a white lily of the valley plant that blooms right by our back porch step every year. that and our crocuses, daffodils and hyacinths are coming up about now. i figure by St Patrick’s day the daffodils will be in full bloom along with the crocuses. definitely time to think about the first rototilling for the veggie gardens, and maybe looking into seed catalogs for ideas on what veggies to try this year and look for more flowers for the front porch and the kitchen porch, along with more fresh herbs. have a wonderful day everyone. hugs……. 🙂
Love Bing and Fred, but no Spring, Spring, Spring yet here in Sunny Colorado. Woke up to 10″ on new snow this morning. But the sun is shining, the roads are just wet, the bunny in the back yard is out enjoying the sun, and the day is nearly a perfect Colorado day. Thanks so much for the chance to win a tea cup.
Hi Susan!
No basement here in The Woodlands, TX although it might be nice to have a safe place to go in hurricanes and tornadoes. 🙂 I am “rooting” for your little sprout! Little thing sure has a will to live. Love your blog and loved the Willard I got in my email this week! Thanks for all you do!
Hugs,
Lisa Hay
Susan,
Your blog is simply put a high point in my day! I love seeing that little green shoot peeping up through the crack in your home and also kinda the wonderment as to WHAT is growing in the basement? ( is it Audrey from the Little Shop of Horrors? LOL!)
It is spring-ish here too in Southern California where I am ( Orange County girl) The tulips are actually starting their blooming as of this week. Loving it!
Noel
Not only did this post make me LOL, as I too live in an old farmstead home and have encountered many oddities such as this, but it hit me as the perfect metaphor for what I’ve been struggling with at work this week. After coming back from a conference with tremendous new and innovating ideas to share (so that’s me, the little green spout of life), I’m met with the standard push back of “this is the way we’ve done things for the past 30 years, change is too hard” (so my institution is that floor and wall holding back the budding ideas). But there I terry on, sprouting away! As unwelcome as she may be, I’m rooting for the seedling today 🙂
A wonderful weekend to all out there!
Keep on sprouting Jennifer . . . I’m rooting for you!
Oh my Gosh!! Inspiration!! Spring is coming as we prepare for a snowstorm here in Michigan…Love the teacups..would look absolutly lovely with my mauve pink kithcen and embossed white wallpaer with pale pink teapots and aqua and pale yellow accents…You are such an inspiration Susan!!
Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made and forgot to put a soul into…. (Henry Ward Beecher)
I love spring and summer.
I love Your blog/
Iza
Call me awful, but now I have this marvelous mental image of Joe going down the stairs armed with a machete and then blasting the Indiana Jones theme from the basement.
Our last place in Oregon also had an over-achiever from outside — a morning-glory vine that, every spring, made a beeline up the side of the house and in through a crack in the window frame of the nice, sunny spare room. Once it had grown nearly a foot into the room before we noticed.
~ Soozcat, from green and rainy Washington State
Hi Susan! I’m a little north of you in West Newbury, and the best I can find today are the budding branches of my salmon flowering quince.It’s loaded! I cracked up at your reference to the “Panama Canal”…oh those divine shivers when Johnny arrives at the door! Love that movie. Thanks for the “chat”, it’s so virtually fun!
The food/party journal is such a great idea! Thank you for all your inspiration!
I grew up in Michigan with asements now with me in las Vegas no basements here.I do not miss them and the creepy crawlies either
Your music today should have been “Little Shop, little shop of Horrors. . . ”
I can totally relate — I hate basements too! Not even too fond of them when they’re “finished” basements. A basement is still a basement!
Nancy from Wheaton, IL
When my sister and I were growing up, we played in our basement–dolls, house. BUT, we did not go close to the big red furnace! It looked and sounded scarey. And you especially didn’t want to go BEHIND the furnace (cobwebs–and you know what that means!). So although we loved playing down there (especially in the summer when it was hot outside–it was always cool in our basement.) there were places we avoided. And you can tell that I must live in the East–Lancaster, PA–to be exact.
Susan, the daffodils are peeking up in my front flower bed, and we’re under a Winter Weather Advisory for up to 3 inches of snow here tonite and tomorrow for Crest Hill, IL, just north of Joliet, about 30 miles from downtown Chicago! And I need to go visit my horse out in Oswego tomorrow & exercise her otherwise she’ll be very unhappy. I hope the snow goes north to Wisconsin – if it does snow, you better believe I’ll dig out those daffodils!
I’m from the midwest and we have always had a basement. My house was destroyed by a tornado in 1990, but my daughter and two dogs were safe because they went in the basement.
I would love the pink chintz teacups and saucers. So fun to have for tea.
I tried to leave a message earlier, but I don’t think it went through – so if this is a duplicate, please delete. Thanks.
See, that’s when a basement really does come in handy!!!
Oh how funny! All I could think of was the movie Little Shop of Horrors and that plant saying “feed me Seymour!” You made me smile today.
Hello Susan,
I am going to have a fit right now with this spring weather in February. I live in Nevada City, California (foothills) near Tahoe on one side, and Sacramento on the other. We should be having snow right now. It always snows on my Daphne so it stays blooming for 2 months. Right now it’s so confused and so are all the flowering trees around town. I saw a Tulip tree just today all in bloom. :o( We at least need some “rain, rain, come today and come again another day”!!! Oh well…
Thank you for your blog. It makes me smile! Good luck to your little house guest…let us know what it is lurking down in your basement!
Melissa, Nevada City
Susan, roll the dice and pick my post! I would love the cups to sit next to my other cups in my secretary. My husband bought my cups after my granddaughter and I had tea in a tea room downtown. We wore antique hats and shawls that were hanging on a hall tree. We had loads of fun. Thanks for thinking of your “fan” club! Blessings
Clontarf, Queensland, Australia
Oh my!! How I’d LOVE a basement and an attic Susan! One could do so very much with both of them I’m sure. Dreams of a studio with fabulous natural lights, dreams of amazing storage space in the basement.
Basements aren’t seen very often down here in Australia! Or anywhere here in Australia really. Definitely not here in my surrounds though, coz our land tends to get very soggy when it rains, as it is at the mo, because we’re all built on reclaimed swampland!! I can just imagine the rising damp and even leakage we would experience in a basement! But perhaps in the oldest parts of Melbourne and Sydney where the styles of the Home Country(Britain) were included when people first settled here. Some of those homes still stand……so it’s very possible.
I’m loving the idea of Jack with his very own beanstalk though. So very story book-y.
Not Spring here yet sadly, just coming into Autumn. But of course I really don’t mind this time of year either, as it cools down from our (usually)hot summers. Just wish we had the leaf colour change and falling that you have over there and also down south here. We get very little of that here in the sub tropics/tropics. 🙁
x
Susan! You can’t just leave me hanging like that! What about the plant?! Did Joe find the origin? Is it the beanstalk? Maybe your Jack has something to do with it…I must know, one way or another! Do tell!
BTW…
It is 77 degrees here in Aliso Viejo, CA today. My jasmine vine is blooming and the clover is coming along nicely, just in time for St. Patty’s.
Lucy
We had an open basement in the house I grew up in … opened into the back yard – more like a split level than a basement, I guess. I’d love to have one now!
And I’d love to win the teacups, too! I just went back to cups/saucers (from mugs) last year and really like the whole production of it!
Thanks for the opportunity!
Hi Susan: Loved your blog and Willard! I right away ordered the CD. Thank you – great musica. Wishing you and Joe a Happy Anniversary and many many more 25 years. We have been married for 47 so I think 50 will be in the works. I live only 90 miles from your Dad. Hope you can visit Payson sometime. Hugs, Fran
I grew up with a nice, multi-purpose basement — a second kitchen for mom’s canning, a laundry room, the garage, my dad’s carpenter shop, and our “rec room.” Nothing too scary there. Then I moved south — and there were few basements in this area — and I wanted one for storing all of our junk. We finally found a house with a basement – and it also proved to leak several inches of water with every rain and was the home to hundreds of lacy-legged centipedes. Ugh! Thousands of dollars later, it’s dry and “relatively” bug free. It’s getting cozy, but it still kind of gives me the creeps. So Susan, I know what you’re talking about. (Danville, VA)
Hi Susan–
Loved your scarey basement story although here in Upper Michigan we all have basements of one sort or another. I just know that we could not get along without ours as it is where we do our laundry and store everything (attic too). So you get used to them. Course ours does not have a dirt floor. I’ve seen some awful ones too! Just a thought on your plant growing from the floorboards… it kind of looks like a sunflower stem growing from a sunflower seed. You do feed the birds and could have dropped a seed on the floor, right??!?? I know we get those growing all over in the Spring (outside!). Do keep us all posted.
Oh My Gosh…….a creepy cellar…..I don’t mind basements as long as they don’t have dirt floors. That REALLY creeps me out. lol. I am with you Susan! Although I think I would at least go down with Joe to see what it looks like in event you do have to use it for safety…….may as well see now than to be under stress and fear and deal with it later too. Oh well, loved your descriptions of it and the pictures, well, I have to admit, does look pretty scarey to me too. lol. We are having a blessed sunny sunset that is breathtaking over the lake here in Vermont right now. Hope yours is as gorgeous too. The teacups are gorgeous and will envy the lucky winner for sure. Blessins from Vermont
Your tea cups are as pretty as the Camellias! Please send some me some cold weather down here to Jacksonville, Florida, we sure could use it, I don’t know what happened to our winter!
Hello from Memphis, home of the king Elvis Presley. It’s 75 degrees here this afternoon. What a winter day in February! Warm but extremely windy. And this weekend the low is supposed to be in the 30’s. We have had a weird winter here. I don’t have a basement in my current house, but my grandmother did. It had the most distinct smell. I would go down there but I never wanted to shut the door while I was down there. Kind of scary……
I’m in Winters, CA and the wind is howling today. Sunny, though. We have a 1/4 basement in our house and it looks similar to yours although the entrance is blocked by a doorway wide “picket fence.” To keep my daughter from going down there alone my husband and I told her that a child-eating monster lived in the basement. She was pretty old before she caught on and will probably send me her psychologist’s bill, but she NEVER went in the basement. 🙂 LOVE your blog. Like having a virtual cup of tea. Toodles!
hahaha, if not for that, it would be something else! 🙂
Wow, I would love to check out your basement… it would keep apples, potatoes and squash in good shape for months. I have enjoyed your art for years, now I will be checking daily for your pearls of wisdom. I feel more like spring already!
You are so funny Susan!! I have to tell you, when visiting a dear friend a few years ago; her older, beautiful home only had a bathtub in her bathroom. Well, her husband really wanted a shower, so he put his own make shift version (you guessed it), down in the basement! So not only was it cold and dark, now you were naked! Yikes! Quickest showers I’ve ever taken!!! I’m sorry, maybe that was too much information. LOL
northern Arizona ~ close to your dad ♥
It’s Jane from Seattle again. My daughter and I had a lovely little lunch in her fun neighborhood which sits above the city. There are fabulous old churches there and as we passed one on the way to her apartment, I gasped at how very high the daffodils were, as well as little crocuses and other wonderful plants. We’re just a breath away from Spring!
Susan, I sure miss having a basement for the storage, but a creepy, dark, damp basement? No thanks. I wanted to ask you about your dinner party post – do you remember where you got your bird vase? I love chubby little birds and that vase made my heart happy! Thanks so much, Pam K. from Dallas, Texas (previously Pittsburgh, PA and before that Hickory, NC).
Spring has arrived at your house, we have snow. Love your pictures. Many, many, many years ago I visited your beautiful Martha’s Vineyard. Someday, I will come again, your pictures keep me inspired as does your daily blog!!!!!
Basements are blessings in times of tornadoes out here on the prairie. I keep dog brushes down there along with my candles and water/food supplies. So when/if I have to go down there with my dog, Lacy, (yep, in the dirt), I brush her and it relaxes us both and time passes quickly.
I was always terrified of the basement in grandparents’ old house on the farm where I grew up. It too was a dirt cellar complete with spiders, webs, mice and the smell of dirt-covered potatoes. Not only that but there was a cistern in the middle of the floor – a deep, black hole which we children were never to go near. Once, I did edge close to the precipice and peer into the abyss but was so frightened of falling in, I turned and ran back up the stairs to safety before anything could happen. I had all but forgotten that memory.
Anyway, on to the more cheery topic of impending spring. Here on the west coast of Canada spring is making its appearance in little ways. The snow drops that have been in suspended animation for the past couple of chilly weeks are now beginning to open. I have seen fat buds on magnolia trees and even a tiny folded leaf or two on my hydrangeas. When we get rain in our valley new snow still appears up on the surrounding mountains but the days are longer and the temperatures milder, so there is hope of winter being over.