I just can't believe....

 I just can't believe...

.
  That I actually grew these flowers... 

.

 and had enough to spare for the potting shed.

 I just can't believe...

that  I am laying bricks in 90 degree heat..

But I am.

  I just can't believe....

 I am blessed with  a loving husband, who BUILT this pergola...

 IN 90 Degree heat...

(I will show you how he built it next time around)

  I just can't believe..

 The Lord of the manor, captured this great photo! 

(it is not camera trickery)

I just can't believe...

 that the sales from  my first book book, built this beautiful barn, and that I have pumpkins and melons growing with zest right in front of it.

 We call it "the barn that Jack built", Hopalong Jack, that is.

  I can't believe..

I am still working on this illustration..but,

 It will be finished within 2 days.

 Believe it or not! 

 

 Happy June to you all!

 May it be simply...

 .

UNBELIEVABLE! 

( I still can't believe that I grew these flowers... gosh!)

Creating a Frontyard Cottage Garden

 I will be the first to tell you that I am an amateur gardener. I am sure that Master gardeners around the globe would chuckle and guffaw at my meager accomplishments. But to my mind, ANY and every garden is a thing of beauty, whether it be in a window box, a postage stamp yard or a span of  acres and acres. I don't believe there is such a thing as an ugly garden.
    
 (Yes, that is a real, live chicken sitting on my table)

At this time, we have 9 separate and distinct gardens, mostly flowers, but we do throw in fruits and vegetables as well. Recently, I took video of all my gardens, because, well, I want to share my little successes and failures with those of you who garden, or maybe inspire those who wish to start a patch of joy.

 BEFORE

 
This first garden grew from a desire to get rid of an ugly front lawn, a pathetic front lawn, a front lawn rife with grubs and  bad soil and lots of tree roots. I started by claiming bits at a time, a corner here, a section there. It took about 3 years to get to where we are now, in this frontyard cottage garden. Each year, I add another layer of two to the stone wall, as well. This year we added about 2 1/2 feet to the top of the wall.
AFTER

.

This is my most unruly and wild garden... it's a mass of harmonious confusion, where promiscuous larkspur  soar 5ft up and daisies and primrose socialize freely... everywhere!

  Now, please take a REAL walk with Fionna and Myself, as we waddle the garden paths of Garden #1, the Front Yard Garden.
  Remember, you can't hurry a stroll through the garden.

       This is best viewed on You tube, runs about 7 minutes and please turn on your volume so that you can hear the birds.  If you prefer the video without commentary, I have also loaded one with only the background sound on You Tube. Forgive the bouncy camera work, after all, it was Fionna holding the camera.

Waddling round in the Hollow with Fiona Goosefeathers II

PART ONE

"Greetings and a heck of a hearty HONK, HONK, HONK! Tis I, Fionna GoosefeathersII, giddy with anticipation as I prepare to take you on my first Hopalong Hollow tour.

 Following in the webby feetsteps of my predecessor, the dearly departed Fiona Goosefeathers the First, I am now, OFFICIAL tour guide in the Hollow.  Won't you Puh-leese follow me?

 Let us meander past the roses and chives along the brick paths, ( my, my, the mistress is certainly NOT a brick layer, will you look at these lumpy paths??!) 

  But, says she, ' "If it's good enough for Colonial Williamsburg, it's good enough for me" '... Whatever that means.

 "A professional garden lady spoke disdainfully about Knockout Roses, so the Mistress planted even MORE of them, and surrounded them with wild flowers, she's stubborn. We think that garden lady would not like the wildflowers either and consider them "weeds". But we like them.

"Notice the strawberry beds. Normally,  those pesky PEABODY boys have poked holes in the fruits and taken the best of the best, BUT I got up extra early this morning to pick a basket JUST for us!  Please help yourself...oh, uh, excuse me, that extra large plump one on the top.. that is mine.... but you can have ANY of the others.

 "Speaking of the peabody boys, let me just tell you, ever since they grew those garish tail-feathers they have been unbearable! Strutting here, strutting there, walking the ridgepole of the potting shed to show off those tails  to  full advantage. Personally, I think those colors rather gouache... and prefer the subtle greys and tans and whites of... of... well, goosefeathers.

 LIKE HAMISH, MY DREAMY DREAMBOAT..... ahhhhhhh!

"Oh dear, speak of the devil and the devil appears! Here they come, hurry, hurry,

 before they see us and start following us about!"

  

Just slip silently past the stone lady..

"I don't know who she is, she never says a word, just stands there with her apron open.

She sort of gives me the creeps... but the Mistress sees her everyday from her kitchen window and tells the Lord of the Manor, " I just love that girl!"

" Here you will see the Mistress attempt to protect her new lavender plants from marauding chicken cultivators  Silly Mistress, does she really think putting her plants behind bars will protect them from crazed chicken gardeners?

 

  HAH! not a chance, just look at what they did to her little moss garden she planted last week!

"Bits and pieces of mosses scattered all about, hither and thither, simply ruined! Why, if it were my moss garden, I would ring those chickens scrawny necks, indeed I would!"

,

 As we wander up the hill I ask you to observe the strange creatures who dwell here. Each and every night, I thank my lucky stars and the fireflies above that I was not born one of these.

S-H-E-E-P

 Can you imagine it?

80 degree heat and wearing an arctic parka?  It's a good thing the Mistress is handy with her kitchen shears. She clips and clips and snips away like a whirling dervish!

  But it takes her hours and hours.

and most of the debris is simply waste material, oh so very icky.

  Save for a little pile of soft fluff.

,

 

" When Mistress has finished the job,

 she looks  and smells just like a barn rat!

 That's what I call love...

 but how one can love a sheep is beyond my goosey self.

 Sheep never bathe... unlike we feathered folk who are quite particular about our toilette.

Bathing is especially enjoyable in the Mistress frog pond... ooops, I shouldn't have mentioned that , well, we only ate a FEW of those frogs. Now, you won't breathe a word of  that, will you?

We splash  with regularity at least 25 times a day!

after playing in the mud.

 " Now, I would be remiss if I did not take you to Mistress pride and joy, the potting shed garden.

"No, No, NO!

  That is the BEFORE picture, when those SHEEP people had to live in that old shack!

That's more like it..

"Oodles and oodles of flowers and plants. It's also a handy place to lay eggs,

if you know what I mean.

.

  "Oh I have so much more to show you, but seeing as this is my first time as tour guide, and I have worked up quite an appetite, what say we  mosey on over to the creek bank for a few crawdad canapes??

 and pink lemonade? "

 Thank you Fionna Goosefeathers II, Now, what's this about my frog pond??!

to be continued....

We three blonds!

Anne of Green Gables lamented that " It's so difficult finding a kindred spirit these days"

 Poor Anne! If only she'd had a blog! I have been privileged to meet two of those  aforementioned "kindreds" this last weekend. Isn't it the best of the best when your penpals turn out to be just as wonderful in person as they are in print?!!

We three blonds.

Our Mary ( the blond with the brilliant smile), me, Jeri (the dishwater, greying blond in the middle), and Christie (  the statuesque, pretty blond on the end)

This weekend my husband and I participated in an Art Festival in lovely Historic  Franklin,Tennessee. I was looking especially forward to this because we had plans to meet up with these 2 great ladies from  blog land, who live in this area.

Christie of "Grammys house, a quaint Victorian Cottage" was going to escort James and I to the home of Our Mary, ( that is our pet name for her) of "Heritage Stitchery", for an evening of good food and a LOT of conversation.

Mary is the most gracious hostess of all time, in her foyer AND on the dining table, she created a beautiful vignette of bunnies and florals,( in honor of  my " Hopalong Jack" via my "Hopalong Hollow" book series, thank you Mary!)

 She served us an elegant meal..

starting with this...

"Carrots and peas,

Beneath the trees,

 And jolly good company, 

If you please!"

Even the plates beneath the food were gorgeous... 

The  main course and DESSERT were scrumptious too,(ice cream, pound cake with tangerines and cream puffs!) but I found myself so lost in conversation and overwhelmed with delight in my new friends, that I don't think I cleared my plate. I wish I had more photos to show you, but my batteries in camera were dead, what an idiot. I am. ( Christie shared these pictures with me.)

 It is such a joy to meet your kindred's. You know them from their blogs, comments and emails, but there is something so special about meeting in person, giving a sisterly hug and visiting the homes in which they dwell.

 Mary is a magnificent needleworker with a heart of gold, and her walls are covered with Samplers and Heritage Stitchery beyond compare.

  ( this is where you must imagine a photograph of some fabulous embroidery work)

If you have ever gotten an "Anonymous" comment from Mary on your blog, YOU are a lucky person, for she always leaves the most interesting messages, ( it's like receiving  a poem, written just for you)

She gave me this little bun "topiary".. green, my favorite color.

I popped him into my impatiens as soon as I got home.

        Christie's home is just what she claims it to be, a quaint Victorian Cottage, each corner filled with every imaginable tiny  teapot and bit of filigree, antiques and romantic floral furniture, and 12 foot ceilings

(photo courtesy of Christies blog).

Christie is also the creator of a new series of books, cards, patterns and recipe cards with her imprint of "Rosewater Cottage Press"

 

Her stories are of "ELIZA" a wee cloth mouse, that lives in her house. Visit her blog to see what it's all about. http://christiegrammyshouse.blogspot.com/

I told Christie that her artwork feels so comforting.. like a sugar cookie fresh from the oven, and it's true!

  Each book is made with thick, high quality paper, classy, but with a homespun look.

 So, we had a most wonderful weekend, and to top things off, our 3 husbands, got along very nicely, talked politics and exchanged stories,

 and left we 3 blonds alone to chatter away the night.

When we got home, 

I was pleasantly greeted by Miss Merryweather, first time mother of 3 baby chicklets!  She clucked and cackled in pride.

 I was so happy to see that one of the chicks favored it's daddy, MONET, 

who was put into a casserole by that dastardly fox  last month!

 I found that my strawberry bed had not been decimated by the Peacocks,

.

 AND, my gardens had grown even bigger in the last 4 days!

  

My Potager is full, herbs, roses, lavender, oxeye daisy the arbor is covered with wisteria.

This front yard garden is blooming with dozens of varieties of bearded Iris. This used to be lawn, now it is completed as a long flower border. I will show some before and afters next week.

Ground cover roses and bitty little viola faces are in full throttle and

the delphiniums are blooming.

AND

My favorite flower of all time,

 the FOXGLOVE, has returned>

For years I have tried to grow these.

 I have finally got a nice bed growing in perpetuity.

 So all is well, here in Hopalong Hollow.