NATURE IS ON OUR SIDE

Rabbit Rabbit! So much to celebrate! Daffodils and budding trees, and the green! Our most dependable source of joy, the change of seasons has come! More proof for the world that nature is truly on our side! Just tickle her with a hoe, she laughs with a harvest. MUSICA

For, lo the winter is past . . . Hooray! Happy Spring everyone!!! April! April! April! I love this month! My favorite thing about it is the colors … or, I should spell it way the British do . . . colours . . . because I’m thinking it’s a certain kind of colours I love … Beatrix Potter colours …. the soft blues, yellows, pinks, and greens that sing spring. My favorites, in wall paint, quilts, flowers and watercolors. Our Spring here in California, at our new old house on the Central Coast, is in full swing. The kind of Spring you dream about, no holding back. The flowers are yellow, pink, and white ~ and blossoms on crabapple and fruit trees are beginning to show, and it’s totally greened-up to the nth degree. I have lots of good pictures to show you! But first, to celebrate IN-house, Kellee has added lots of springy new things to our webstore, flowery notepads and sunshine stickers, new cards, loose teas, and don’t for get the mold and the recipe for LAMB CAKE!

If you have never made one of these wonderful cakes to celebrate Easter and Spring, a new baby, a tea party, or mother’s day, there is still time!

 This lamb, looking good from either side, is the crowning glory of any party!

I wrote special instructions along with the EASY recipe to make sure you are successful in your first foray into lambing. So here we go! Get your tea! And come with me, to the sea, to the sea, the sea of love . . . .  

I have been SO busy this last month! One thing I’m often asked is about my daily schedule . . . how I organize myself ~ which I think is interesting to hear from everyone! It’s all so creatively different! So, because I’m so jam-packed right now, (with projects of my own making of course) I thought this would be a good time to tell you. I don’t have a choice these days, if I want it all, which I do, I have to have everything on lists and prioritized, because I’m just not going to be happy unless all three of my priorities happen. First priority, number uno, is my new book . . . well, old book being made new again! Don’t worry, I wash the garden off my hands before I touch the beautiful clean paper! Nothing else can happen in a day until I do what must be done there. Except for today. Today I’m taking time for US!

This is the book so far! I think I’ll have the 30th Anniversary of my revised Summer Book ready to give to the printer in just two more weeks … I’m so excited. I still, after all these years, can’t quite believe I’m allowed to do this! I think I might have gotten a bit carried away this time . . . possibly making too many changes and adding too many new pages. but I did try to hold on to the essence of the Summer of ’95 on Martha’s Vineyard ~ the inspiration that started it … Thirty MORE summers have passed since the original book, and I’m putting all of them to work. It helps to be living in a place of perpetual summer. Days of sunshine and flowers make it all just an exercise in gratitude! My walk under blue skies every day fortifies my mission. Would you like a little preview?No, this isn’t the preview . . . well, looking at it one way, maybe it is!

First, to set the mood, here I am, working, and if you look close at those pages, you’ll see your first preview of the new book! Two new pages! And, please note I do not work alone. I’m afraid if I show you too much I’ll ruin the surprise ~ but look below for more preview. The color isn’t quite right here, they’re actually softer , but you’ll get the gist. Take note of new inspiration of Green! Perfect because green symbolizes nature, growth, renewal, and harmony!

“…Sweet airs that give delight, and hurt not” . . . perfect, right? I redid some of the title pages . . . putting in different summery art, new summery quotes . . . wearing out the green watercolors . .

I rewrote the page about Library Days ~ the library was such an important part of my childhood summers, I wanted to say more about having that gift so close by ~ what used to seem ordinary has, in passage of time, began to feel like a little miracle . . . in fact, Library Days is now two pages instead of one . . .
And there are a lot more pages about the garden, about nature, star gazing, parties, and fun things to do during the summer.

And  lots of new Summer Food too! I’m just about to do the pages for cakes, tea, and jams! 

In case you missed it in my last post, this will be the new cover! The finished book is scheduled to be here in July ~ if you’d like to pre-order your copy, just go HERE!

It’s turned out to be a very creative time for me. Besides the book, the second priority that gets a piece of my day is the house and garden ~ and who doesn’t love that!? I’m like that all the time anyway, but Spring really REQUIRES it! Home is the most creative job in the world! I washed some windows yesterday and went around staring at the beauty of it! More sparkle, more green inside! We aren’t doing everything we’d like to do with the house right now ~ when the old house sells on the Island we’ll be able to get ourselves in all KINDS of trouble, hopefully this summer. Our that old Captain’s House is such a wonderful house, but many people want everything modern these days, we just weren’t one of them! It will take a certain person to see the romance and old-fashioned charm we saw and tried to make more of in the 35 years we were there. The kind of people who read a lot of books and fairy tales set in New England (and in Olde England too) when they were children and became homesick for a different time and place even before they saw it, that’s the buyer we’re hoping for. The one who feels very comfortable in 1849!

 One of the things a lot of New England houses have in common ~ you must have noticed, is white paint and dark shutters. So in the same spirit in which we decided to plant an English  Garden in California, even though it’s not England, I thought to myself, why can’t this long, low, double-wide dwelling in California be transformed into a New England house? I don’t see why we can’t make charm and old-fashioned romance in a double-wide? Lot’s of people do it. I never thought it was pretty before, but it has a porch, and lately I’ve been seeing it as sort of a mid-century low-slung, cottagey kind of house. Rose colored glasses help a lot! Because, truly, reality is something you rise above. The front porch is actually a wooden deck, facing the sunset, half in sunlight, half in shade of a nearby tree (below), big enough to eat dinner on. Right out the front door, boom, you’re eating. Easy. No fuss. Like my Great Grandma’s porch in Iowa. Not about fancy, about cozy, useful, comfort. That was a plus, I always wanted a front porch, but never in my life has my house had one . . . until now . . . just took me a minute to recognize it when I saw it! So, very quickly, and VERY inexpensively, we changed the porch and outside of the house into the closest thing to a New England house we know how to do until we can replace the roof and the deck! I have some before and afters for you:  First thing, no New England house should be without Adirondack chairs. We usually see them in white like we had on the Vineyard, but in our case, with a plain deck and white house, it made sense to get black ones for contrast! I could have gotten red or any color, but I really don’t want any outdoor decorations that compete with the garden for she is the star of my show. And this time, we got Adirondack rocking chairs! We ordered them from Home Depot, they came in a flat box through the mail, and Joe put them together, and that was the beginning!

We were on our way! We can sit outside in the evening . . .

and watch the sky turn colors . . .

We found two more chairs by accident, kind of wrought iron (only probably not made of that) rocking chairs, at the hardware store! So now we’re almost ready for a party! Houses are smaller here, but then again, California people are outside so much of the time, the indoors doesn’t NEED to be as big. Look at all that porch space we weren’t really using! We just need to remember to take better advantage of the outdoor spaces we already have.

I found a little black shelf at an antique store in the village, and that’s what you see between the chairs. And remember that tin cat with the marble eyes? Perfect spot for it. More will come, but this is it so far!

Down below the deck on the left is a volunteer jasmine sneaking up on the deck behind the new chair, and soon will be tied up so it can crawl onto the house … the smell is heaven. I sit there and rock and smell and feel like Ferdinand the Bull. And just like we had wisteria scenting up our springtime on Martha’s Vineyard, wafting through the upstairs bedroom windows, we now have Jasmine . . . both inside and out . . . I bring bouquets of it in. It lasts forever and smells like a flower shop in our house.

See the box by the door, leaning up there, that’s our first box of shutters! This is the BEFORE picture! Someday we will probably have solar panels on the back of this house. We already have a well. I’ve always loved the idea of being self-sufficient. If it works out, off the grid we go! It’s nice to have plans even if we don’t get to do them all!

We ended up ordering six shutters, enough to do all three windows on the front of the house. And Joe took over.and Now, voila! What do you think? I think homier and cozier. And we didn’t even have to paint! Before you ask, yes, I know, I’m waiting till I find the perfect table. 

The new shutters look like they’ve been there forever. So easy, simple, and inexpensive with pretty good bang for the buck! More access to this! If we were still living in the historic district on Martha’s Vineyard, we’d actually have to get permission ~ they want to keep it historic which is why it’s so pretty . . . but there are rules about what shutters need to be made of, this would have cost more and taken more time! But here, in the wild wild west? Not so much. Once more, to compare, this is the BEFORE

I still like it anyway. But now I like it better!

XX

Here’s a project still in dream form. This little side porch would make such a pretty garden room. Another sort of ignored outdoor space I need to think about. I’m already using it that way, and I’ve been thinking of ideas for changes, but my dance card is full right now, so it isn’t even ON a priority list. It’s just waiting. And, while this idea percolates, I garden around it.

Can you picture it? Maybe paint the back wall green? Maybe someday we change the doors to French doors? And put a large potting bench where the white shelf is, to go all the way under the window with maybe even a deep sink to wash lettuce (2 chairs and a bar?), and paint that wall green also … And a comfy chair not made of wicker, ratan, or wood, where spiders won’t make their homes? with a book nook, or something. And maybe paint the concrete floor? Maybe paint it to look like bricks? And that little fountain over there? YESS!If you’re the kind of person that enjoys makeovers, I think you’re going to love it around here the next few years!

And if you’re the kind that saw that cup in the video and thought, I want one of those, then go HERE. Celebrating 250 years of the magical history of the country we all love.♥️ And FYI, for my girlfriends, the way things are going these days, I am sorry to have to tell you, but we may not be getting anymore mugs from England. Import is costing an arm and a leg… the shipping alone is crazy. And I can’t imagine asking anyone to pay any more than they already do. Sooooo . . .

But haven’t we had a good run? What a gift to have had access to these beautiful cups for so long. They are truly collectors items now . . . just as planned! Don’t let that stop you from using them, enjoying that thin little lip, feeling the specialness of their design! And you know what? Never say never!♥️

So, this will cheer us up . . . here’s a quick tour of our green world and life in the garden! I’ve been reading how GOOD gardening is for us, not only for fresh air and fresh food, bees and butterflies, physical activity and connecting to nature, but for underlying things like stress. While birds sing, I feel stress shedding off every time I’m out there!They say even LOOKING at pictures of gardens is good for you! 

I planted lettuce starts, said my prayers . . .

And look what happened! FOOD! So delicious! The freshest crunchiest spinach and lettuce for our salads. And these, our very own artichokes! Out there for the picking!

The alstroemeria is going WILD! This is such a worthy plant if you have the right climate. It comes in every color, is fluffy and beautiful and lasts forever in the garden, AND in a vase. I planted this one during one visit years ago… she’s the gift that keeps on giving.

This is ceanothus, referred to as California lilac. I think you can see why ~ because unfortunately, the New England-type of Lilac doesn’t grow here ~ It LIKES to freeze! But I love this too, it’s a very common ground cover here, you can grow it as a bush, a tree, and this one is a 6′ hedge, all in bloom now, the flowers smell like grape Kool-aid, delicious.

Oranges, blossoms, and scented geraniums fill the air, perfect for the

Ranunculus sparkling in the rain . . .

Sweet peas finally grabbing onto my kite string . . .

I’ve planted herbs, tomatoes, petunias, marigolds, strawberries, and roses; I’ve seeded hollyhocks (now about an inch tall) and forget-me-nots, among other things. I don’t get to garden EVERYDAY, but I try to do SOMETHING. Once in a while, I’ll get up early, work hard on the book, and late in the day, I go out and stay out until dark. Heavy into weeding. SO dirty! Never walk by the garden without grabbing something! Our barn cat Simon is very sociable and follows me around while I work. He’s a little love. Rolls over so I can rub his big fat tummy.

 And so handsome.

This was my kitchen window yesterday morning ~ it was raining. Hence, the green! House came with a shelf over the sink! Just like the old one. Can feed birds just outside. It’s smaller, but still there! I don’t know, feels like a miracle to me! Maybe just because I’m noticing more!Had to pop my head out to take a picture . . .

BTW, update on our weird wildflower orchard. I know some of you wonder how it’s going. Such a project. Totally worth it when we get it right. Note that half of it is growing and I can see tiny wildflowers coming along ~ but the other half is barren! Not even weeds! Yes, we noticed it too, so we’re figuring it out. See all those bags on the left? That’s manure we’re about to spread across the dirt. It was on sale. Next will be a layer of topsoil, then a layer of sand . . . For texturizing the soil. It’s a low spot there, water puddles, doesn’t drain. That’s our next step. But take note, holes are dug for fruit trees and they all went into the ground yesterday! Two apples, a lime tree and a cherry tree that has been grafted with 4 varieties ~ joined our apricot, plum, walnut, lemon, orange, fig, and avocado trees. Proof positive…

Here’s Joe, we’re out front making the secret sauce! Putting in the sweat equity, starting a second compost pile. That dark spot is a shovel full of dirt in mid-air! (Joe thinks this might be a good place for a farm stand! Help!)

And this shot brings me to priority #3. Moi. I needed to lose the stress weight I gained last year all through this move, I’m a eat-for-comfort kinda gal, I need to do it for for good health and so I can open those still-packed boxes that say on them, “Don’t open until you weigh 140 lbs.” Gardening is a huge help, I’m so comforted I forget to eat! ~ and #3a, I need to read books and learn stuff so my brain doesn’t fall into disuse ~ so, to cover everything in priority 3, I walk, 50 minutes a day, round and round this property, while listening to my audible book, which at the moment, is Jon Meacham’s (with a calming voice like butter that takes you right back to the times), book And There was Light, his Pulitzer-Prize winning biography of Abraham Lincoln. So between the walk, and the GARDEN, heavy bags of fertilizer and potting soil, and weeds with roots like large carrots for which I need every muscle in my body to pull, and Abraham Lincoln, I have slowly lost 9 pounds! YAY! Plan is to be able to open those boxes by Gladys Taber’s Birthday!

So in a giant nutshell, that’s it for how I spend my day. Not counting laundry and dishes, feeding cats, etc., this is how I manage time. At least for now. Till The Summer Book is done. So I have about another two weeks. I love doing this so much. When I’m done, I get to spread myself into more garden and more social life! And just a few hours a day of my next art project, not due for what now seems like a long time, which will end up feeling more like tomorrow!Here’s a little story: When I came into the kitchen early morning a couple of days ago Joe had left three fortune cookies on the counter. I LOVE fortune cookies, I don’t eat them, after trying a thousand times I finally realized they probably aren’t even really food ~ but I do love the fortunes. I WANTED to open one immediately, but felt unsure  ~ so I filled the kettle and boiled water for tea, scooped up some of my earl grey with lavender and let it steep while I fed Jack … before I gave in to myself. I was worried because I’m too busy to accidentally involve myself with negativity, hexes, or bad omens ~ nervous about taking a chance with Panda Express. But of course that didn’t last long and I suddenly grabbed one, promising myself only to believe it if it was good. And here it was . . .

Wow! How perfect! All I want is to celebrate my Summer Book (and give everyone something of the doily mentality to look forward to this summer), see the sweet peas bloom in an English Garden, rock on the front porch of a New England House, live where I can garden year round, be healthy and strong, and all at the same time. That’s not so much is it? So that fortune was perfect! There were three fortunes to choose from! And this was the one I got. Needless to say, I didn’t open the others. This was perfect. Even Joe was impressed! Two days later, I did open another one, telling myself no matter how good it might be, I would have to ignore it. I already made my choice it would mean nothing. And I got this: Which just made me laugh because there is no trying anything new! I am newed OUT right now.How very lucky.

Blessings on you Girlfriends for this new season and for always. Look for your joys in the little things of home and family. They are what matters forever and in the long run. And may your blessings be bountiful and fully counted . . . because, remember . . .