Landscape Design

Come on in and let's look around..

so many possibilities

deodar cedar..my favorite tree

big pond

view from the house to the back of property

view from the garden 

dusk

our woods with magnolias

ardisia

I take a lot of pictures for the sake of studying our landscape and creating design that we like.

I have been the designer of this land we call Winterpast.  A lot of pictures and a lot of pondering and studying have gone into the last 16 years of gardening here.  There are still many dreams and plans in my heart.  I have done it all without spending a lot of money..My sweet husband doesn't really care what I do in the yard and helps me bring my dreams to fruition.  I had an idea and a vision for the  raised beds garden and he executed the whole thing with help from one man.. building all the beds and hauling in tons of compost to fill the beds..

As I look through the years of photographs, I can see the progress we have made.  I do love this land and dreamed of having a plot of my own where I could do whatever I wanted. 

I am from a long line of extreme gardeners and think of them all the time..especially my Grandmother Lewis. She was an extraordianry woman and won many awards for her flowers and horticulture work as a home gardener and hybridizer of daylilies among other things..

Grandmother

her daylily seedlings with hollyhocks in background

Oh how I wish I could have a conversation with her today...we share so much in common...

We have had really warm weather this week and it has given me spring fever.  Even the flowers are starting to wake up but...WAIT..winter is returning this weekend.  Before we know it, spring will surely be here and gardening will begin again in earnest.

What are your gardening dreams for this year?  I have enough to go around if you don't have any..LOL

Have a great weekend..

Love,

Mona

Memories Everywhere

Just a few pictures....I hope your days are festive and peaceful.....

just a few things that belonged to my Grandmother Lewis on my dressing table..real life, not staged..

Decorations are minimal this year and I really like it that way..the little dolls that my Mama made years ago for her Christmas tree, angels from Goodwill, this lovely cream and gold nativity, and a dawn sky that got me out very early..and a silverplate pickle dish with bokeh from the Christmas tree.

This time of year there are so many memories of Christmases past.  I could sink into nostalgia if I allowed myself to do that. Instead I entertain the memories for a little while as I go about creating new memories for this year..  Living very much in the present, but knowing that my past has led me up to this point in life.

Merry Christmas y'all....maybe I'll be back before the end of the week with more pictures...

Love, Mona

Setting a Pretty Table

This one was H.A.R.D for me...   When Kathleen said she wanted to have a wedding china challenge, at first I was excited.....then...reality set in...That lovely wedding china that I got in 1973 was from a marriage that ended in divorce..hmmm....what to do...I most certainly do NOT celebrate that wedding..even thought I still love the china I picked out as a young twenty year old.. I pulled it out weeks ago and set the table, and then..I waited..and waited.  pondering what to do about this challenge. whether to even join in the challenge.

When I married my present husband, we eloped and their was no big wedding..the focus this time was on marriage, not wedding....  There were no trips to the jewelry store to pick out china, crystal, and silver..  No bridal registries, etc...so there is no 'official wedding china'...

I finally decided this morning..what the heck..it is what it is...  I love this china, I do NOT love my first wedding or my first marriage... I do not in any way want to dishonor the man I am married to now.  He is my forever husband .....life threw me a curve ball...
and now, I consider this china SPOILS OF WAR!!

That was a very long introduction to this wedding china post...Thank you Kathleen for making me consider and rethink some issues in my life....wink, wink

That dried rose is there because what once was alive is now dead....but I am choosing to see the beauty even in that dead marriage...this china lives on and we still enjoy the beauty of these plates...
It is Provencal by Royal Doulton and was special ordered from England just for me...nothing like a small town jewelry store to be so personal..

I chose timeless Chantilly by Gorham for my sterling..

The stemware is Antique by Lenox..  I also chose a fine crystal by Wallace but this one matches these plates... Every bride was expected to have a fine china, crystal, and sterling and then the everyday china, crystal, and silver....This was my everyday china and crystal...

Now, here is the twist and turn...the plate on the left is Harrison Rose by Haviland and belonged to my paternal Grandmother.It was what I used as my 'fine china' ..I sometimes regret not choosing the pattern of fine china that the lady who owned the jewelry store talked me out of getting...something about hindsight and 20/20.. LOL  One day I might buy it anyway..but I doubt it...

I have a small collection of cake toppers..the romantic in me...

And these lace bells...ahhh, yes..just thinking about them makes me tear up...  They were handmade by my Grandmother Lewis in 1948 for my parents wedding reception.. Just holding them and knowing how much work and love and artistic effort she put into the decorations for her only son's (my Daddy's) wedding reception.  They had eloped so there was no big wedding but there was a BIG reception later...  I treasure these little bells made from lace and glitter and satin ribbons with a little wooden ball for the clapper...

This is the bride and groom that reminds me the most of me and my husband.  If we ever redo our vows, I will use this one...

Well, I made it to the end of this post and so did you....Thank you for hanging in there...Believe me, I would have written my story differently..all roses and no thorns...but that is not how my life has been..there have been thorns and I am sure there will be more..BUT..I have decided to smell the roses anyway even if there are thorns.. Just because it has been hard at times, I still press on..and on...and on....a lot of life is still left to live.....

Thank you all for being my friends...it means a lot..Knowing you all are there helped me to press on and get this post about wedding china done..even if it is a bittersweet part of my life...
China----good
Wedding----not

Love, Mona


I am joining Kathleen's wedding china challenge
Tablescape Thursday


Come visit....lots of people have gorgeous wedding china to show you and other goodies too...

St Patty's Shamrocks...the real truth....as I see it..

There is nothing like the color green to bring me out of hibernation.. I can't believe I haven't done a tablescape since before Christmas....well, I finally got my tablescaping on.....so, here we go....

There is so much to choose from in our home when the color green is in play..the whole house is decorated around this color and it is my foundation color for most of our dishes...

I decided to go simple.....

ONE shamrock (aka 4-H cloverleaf) and ONE cabbage (St Patrick's Day food of choice).....

Green Ballerina Pottery bowls for potato soup.  The cabbage leaf plates are perfect for holding corned beef and cabbage with cornbread..

The silverplate is a recently acquired huge set from ebay.  The pattern is White Orchid and was my Grandmother Lewis's pattern..so it's both beautiful and familiar to me...

The cabbage tureen and underplate are someone's very good ceramic art from 1972..

small green leather roses on an Irish Linen tablecloth.....

                                                                  the maker of the plates

Vintage green glassware compliments the setting.  We use them everyday and I don't know the maker...

My favorite thing about St Patrick's Day is the food..and then the greenness of it....Everybody wears and decorates with my favorite color..

I can't wait to see how all of you celebrate this day. and what it means to you..

As a side note, I tried my best to buy a little shamrock plant for the table....  I could NOT bring myself to do it..LOL  and here is the reason..  In my part of the country, oxalis is an obnoxious weed that I have heard my grandmother and parents talk about all of my life..how to get RID of it!!!   and now it is a little plant that is popular and is sold at this time of the year under the name of ..you guessed it...Shamrocks...LOL   So, I could not in good conscience pay money for a weed that we have been trying to get rid of for years....But, I tried..I really did...stood in front of them a looooong time at Trader Joe's..then walked away and decided this stained glass one was more my style....
Guess what I found growing in the weeds yesterday while I was weeding!!  yep, oxalis (shamrock)..one person's trash is another person's treasure...thought you  all might need a laugh..and how we interpret things differently.....

Happy St. Patricks Day

Thank you for stopping by..I am excited to be back in the saddle again...

Love, Mona

I'll be joining  Kathleen's Let's Dish , Susan's Tablescape Thursday, and Seasonal Sundays...

Y'all come visit too...